A Treatise on Man: His Intellectual Faculties and His Education

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"See the apology by Naudé, for great men accused of magic. The author there thinks himself obliged to prove that Homer, Virgil, Zoroaster, Orpheus, Democritus, Solomon, pope Sylvester, Empedocles, Apollonius, Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, Paracelsus, &c. never were sorcerers."--A Treatise on Man: His Intellectual Faculties and His Education (1810) by Helvetius

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A Treatise on Man: His Intellectual Faculties and His Education (1777) by Helvetius

Full text of volume 1

PREFACE.

MY inducement to engage in the following work, was merely the love of mankind and of truth ; from a persuasion, that to become virtuous and happy, we want only to know ourselves, and entertain just ideas ofmorals. Mydesign can scarcely be mistaken. Had I published this book in my life- time, I should, in all probability, have exposed myself to persecution, without the prospect of any personal advantage. That I have continued to maintain the same sentiments which I advanced in my Treatise onthe Understanding, is the consequence of their appearing to me the only rational principles on the subject, and of their being generally adopted, since that time, by men of the greatest learning and abilities. Those principles are farther extended, and more accurately examined, in the present work than in the former ; my reflection having suggested a number of new ideas, while I, was emA ployed 2 iv PREFACE. ployed in the composition. Such thoughts asare less intimately connected with the subject, are thrown into notes, at the end of each section ; those only being retained in the text, which were of an explanatory nature, or served to remove objections, which could not be directly answered, without greatly encreasing the limits, and retarding the progress of the work. The second is the most encumbered with notes, because the principles which it contains, being more particularly controvertible, require the support of a greater accumulation of proof. It is not improper on this occasion to cbserve, that there are several reasons which may render a work contemptible in the opinion of the public ; such as, that the author has not taken sufficient pains to merit approbation ; that he is defective in abilities, or chargeable with disingenuousness. I can safely affirm , that I have nothing with which to reproach myself on the latter of those heads. It is only in prohibited publications that truth is now to be found ; for in others, falsehood is discernible. The greater number of authors are in their writings, what men ofthe world are in their conversation : solicitous only to please, they are wholly indifferent, provided they attain their purpose, whether it be by means of falschood or truth. A writer PREFACE. A writer who is desirous of the favour of the great, and the transitory applause of the present hour, must adopt implicitly the current principles of the time, without ever attempting to examine or question their authority ; and from this source arises the want of originality, so general among literary productions. Books of intrinsic merit, and which discover real genius, are the phænomena but ofvery few periods in the space ofmany ages ; and their appearance, like that ofthe sun in the forest, serves only to render the intervening darkness more conspicuous. They constitute an epoch in the history ofthe human understanding, and it is from the principles they contain, that future improvements in science derive their origin. It would ill becoine me to say any thingin praise of this work ; I shall, therefore, only observe, in respect to its principles, that I have advanced no sentiment which was not suggested by my own reflection, nor affirmed any proposition which I do not believe to be true. In exposing some prejudices, I may be thought perhaps, to have conducted myselfwith too little reserve. I have treated them with the same ingenuous freedom, which a young man, is apt to use towards an old woman, whom he is under A 3 no vi PREFACE. no inducement either to flatter or depreciate. Through the whole inquiry, truth has been my principal object ; and this consideration, it is to be hoped, will stamp some value on the work. A sincere love of truth is the disposition most favourable for discovering her. I have all along endeavoured to express my ideas with perspicuity ; and have never sacrificed any sentiment to popular prepossession. If, therefore, the book be void ofmerit, it ought to be imputed to the fault of my judgment, and not to a depravity of heart. Few, I believe, can with justice say so much in their own favour. To some readers this work will appear to be written with great boldness. There are periods in every country when the word prudent bears the same signification with vile ; and when those. productions only are esteemed for their sentiments, which are written in a style of servility. It was once my intention to have published this book under a fictitious name, as the only means of reconciling with my own safety the desire I entertained of rendering service to my country. But, during the time I have been employed in the work, a change has happened in the circumstances and government of my fellow- citizens. The disorder, which I hoped in some measure PREFACE. vii measure to remedy, is become incurable : the prospect ofpublic utility is vanished, and I defer the publication ofthe work, till its author be no more. My country has at length submitted to the yoke ofdespotism. She will never again produce any writer of extraordinary eminence. It is the characteristic of despotic power to extinguish both genius and virtue. The people of this country will never more signalize themselves under the appellation of French the nation is now so much debased as to become the contempt of Europe. No fortunate crisis can henceforth ever restore her liberty. She will expire of a consumption. Conquest alone can afford a remedy proportioned to the virulence of her disease ; and the efficacy even of this, chance and circumstances must determine. In all nations there are certain periods when the citizens, undetermined what measures they ought to take, and remaining in a state of suspense between a good and bad government, are extremely desirous of instruction , and disposed to receive it. At such a time, if a work of great merit makes its appearance, the happiest effects may be produced : but the moment once past, the people, insensible to glory, are, by the form of A+ their viii PREFACE. · their government, irresistibly inclined towards ignorance and baseness. Their minds are then like parched earth : the water of truth may rain upon them, but without producing fertility. Such is the state of France. Henceforth, among the French, the estimation of learning will daily decline, with its utility ; as it can only serve to shew in a stronger light the misery of despotism, without supplying the means of evading it. Happiness, like the sciences, is said to advance progressively over the world. Its course is now directed towards the North. There great princes cherish the seeds of genius, and genius is ever accompanied with a high degree of public felicity. Nothing can be more opposite than the state ofthe south and north parts of Europe at present. Clouds of thicker darkness are perpetually overspreading the South, produced by the mists of superstition and of Asiatic despotism. The horizon of the North becomes every day more bright and effulgent. A Catherine II . and a Frederick, render themselves dear to humanity. Convinced in their own minds of the value of truth, they encourage the cultivation of it in others, and afford their patronage to every effort by which it may be farther investigated. It is to such sovereigns that PREFACE. ix that I dedicate this work : it is by the auspicious influence of those that the world can be enlightened. The former brightness of the South becomes more dim, while the dawn of the North shines forth with increasing radiance. It is the North that now emits the rays which penetrate even to Austria. Every thing there hastens towards an extraordinary change. The assiduous attention bestowed by the emperor to alleviate the weight of the imposts, and improve the discipline of his army, shews plainly that he entertains a desire of becoining the darling of his subjects ; that he wishes to render them happy at home, and respectable to foreign nations. The esteem for the king of Prussia, professed from his earliest years, afford a presage of his future virtues ! Esteem always indicates a similarity of disposition to the object of it. CON-

CONTENTS. VOLUME I. CHAP. 1. Of the different points of view from which we may consider man of the influence of education, ... page 1 CHAP. II. Ofthe importance of this question, ....…………………………………… The advantage that may result from the investigation of it. CHAP. III. Of false science, or acquired ignorance, 3 The means bywhich it obstructs the progress ofeducation. CHAP. IV. Ofthe dryness of the subject, and the difficulty of treating it, SECTION I. 10 THE EDUCATION NECESSARILY DIFFERENT IN DIFFERENTt men, IS PERHAPS THE CAUSE OF THAT INEQUALITY OF UNDERSTANDINGS HITHERTO attribuTED TO THE UNEQUAL PER- FECTION OF THEIR ORGANS. CHAP. I. Notwo persons receive the same education, ...... ibid. CHAP. II. Ofthe moment at which education begins, CHAP. III. Of the instructors of childhood, ...... 13 14 That the same means are not universally adapted to every- person ; on which account individuals must differ in point of understanding. Of the different sensations by which the same objects may sometimes be excited. CHAP. IV. Of the different impressions which objects make on CHAP. V. Ofa collegiate education, ..... That an uniformity of it is not adapted to all capacities. 18 20 CHAP. VI. Of domestic education, ....... That in every individual it must be different. ......... 21 CHAP. xii CONTENTS. CHAP. VII. Ofthe education ofyouth, ……………………………………………………. page 24 That the education of those depending more upon chance than that of infants, its dissimilarity must of consequence be yet greater in every person. CHAP. VIII. Of the chances to which we often owe illustrious characters, .... Accidents circumscribed within certain limits. Inconsistency observa- ble in the precepts of education. CHAP. IX. Of the principal causes of the contradictions in the precepts of education, 36 CHAP. X. Examples of contradictory precepts inculcated in early youth, 42 That this inconsistency is caused by the opposition which subsists be- tween the interests of the clergy and those ofthe laity. That every false religion is detrimental to the public. CHAP. XI. Of false religions, That popery ought to be reckoned among the false religions. 50 CHAP. XII. Popery is of human institution, ..................... 52 That popery is a local religion : the idea of an universal religion not inconceivable. CHAP. XIII. Ofan universal religion, ................ 55 That such a religion is simple, and nothing else than the best possible legislation. That the case is not the same with those religions which are mysterious. What those are, the establishment of which would be productive of the least disadvantage. CHAP. XIV. Of the conditions, without which a religion is de- structive to national felicity, ................................. 59 CHAP. XV. Among the false religions, which have been least de- trimental to the happiness of society ? 65 It follows from the different questions examined in this and the pre- ceding chapters, that supposing all men to be naturally endowed with equal capacities, the difference of their education alone would necessarily occasion a great diversity in their ideas and talents : Whence I conclude, that the actual inequality observed in the under- standing ofdifferent persons, ought not to be considered, in the case ofmen organized in the ordinary manner, as an undeniable proof of their capacities being likewise unequal. SEC CONTENTS. xiii SECTION II. ALL MEN, COMMONLY WELL ORGANIZED, HAVE AN EQUAL AP TITUDE TO UNDERSTANDING, ............................. page 92 CHAP. I. As all our ideas proceed from the senses ; the under- standing has been consequently regarded as the effect of more or less sensibility in the organization, ibid. In order to prove the falsehood of this opinion, it is necessary that we form a clear idea of the word Understanding, and consider it sepa- rately from the unind. ... 109 CHAP. II . Ofthe difference between the mind and the soul, 97 CHAP. III. Ofthe objects on which the mind acts, CHAP. IV. Howthe mind acts, ..... 111 That all its operations may be reduced to the remarking of the resem- blances and differences between objects, and their fituess or unfituess with respect to us. That the judgment formed after a comparison of physical objects, is a pure sensation and that the case is the same in every judgment relating to abstract ideas, &c. CHAP. V. Ofsuch judgments as result from the comparison of ideas that are abstract, collective, &c. .................... 114 That this comparison supposes the exercises of attention and labour, and consequently an interest in the object. CHAP. VI. Where there is no interest, there is no comparison of objects with eachother, • ...... 119 That, as interest derives its origin entirely from physical sensibility, all human motives may be reduced to the principle of sensation. CHAP. VII. Corporeal sensibility is the sole cause of our actions, ourthoughts, our passions, and our sociability, CHAP. VIII. Of sociability, ....... 124 ...... 134 CHAP. IX. A justification of the principles admitted in the Treatise on the Mind, ............. 141 CHAP. X. The pleasures of the senses are, in a manner even un- known to nations themselves, their most powerful mo- tives, ...... ..... 145 That a superiority of understanding is independent, not only of the acuteness of sensation, but likewise of the strength of memory. CHAP. XI. Of the unequal extent of the memory, ............ ………….. 150 That a great memory by no means constitutes a great genius. CHAP xiv. CONTENTS. . CHAP. XII. Of the unequal perfection of the organs of the senses, page 155 That a difference in the degrees of understanding is not the result ofan extreme delicacy of mind. That the difference between men, in respect of sensation, is entirely relative. CHAP. XIII. Of the different manner of receiving sensations, 165 172 CHAP. XIV. The small difference perceived between our sen- sations, has no influence on the understanding, CHAP. XV. Of the understanding or judgment, Of the ideas annexed to this term. ....... 176 CHAP. XVI. The cause ofthe difference of opinions, in morality, politics, and metaphysics, That this difference proceeds from the vague and uncertain significa tion ofwords ; for example, of Good, of Interest, of Virtue. CHAP. XVII. The word Virtue, excites in the catholic clergy no other idea than that of their own advantage, 194 CHAP. XVIII. Of the different ideas that different nations form of virtue, ..... .... 200 CHAP. XIX. There is but one method of fixing the uncertain signification of words ; and but one nation that can make use ofit, .... 205 That there is only one nation that can make use ofthis means. That it consists in fixing with precision the idea of every word in the dictionary. That ifwords were properly defined, moral, political, and metaphysical propositions would be as demonstrable to the judgment as any geome trical truth. That, if men universally adopted the same principles, they would with greater certainty arrive at the same conclusions ; since the combi- nation of the same objects, whether in the physical world, as is proved by geometry, or in the intellectual world, as is evident from metaphysics, is uniformly productive of the same result. CHAP. XX. The excursions of men, and their discoveries in the intellectual kingdoms, have been always nearly the same Fairy tales, the first proof of this truth. Moral tales, the second proof. Religious tales, the third proof. 208 That there is a great resemblance between all those different kinds of tales. CHAP. XXI. The impostures of the ministers of false religions, 218 That they have every where beenthe same ; and that the priesthood bas universally acquired its authority by the saine means. CHAP. CONTENTS. XV. CHAP. XXII. Ofthe uniformity in the means bywhich the ministers of false religions preserve their authority, page 223 From a comparison of the facts, stated in this section, it follows, that, as an acuteness of sensatio. occasions no diversity in the impression of objects, all men of common organization have equal promptitude of mind : a truth easy to be proved by a series of other propositions. CHAP. XXIII. There is no truth not reducible to a fact, 228 That all simple facts are within the reach of persons of the most ordi. nary understanding ; consequently, that there is no truth, whether already discovered, or afterwards to be discovered, to which all men organized in the common manner, may not attain. ... CHAP. XXIV. The understanding necessary to comprehend the truths already known, is sufficient to discover those that are unknown, That, if all men organized in the ordinary manner may investigate the most obscure truths, they are of consequence endowed with equal promptitude of mind. SECTION III. OF THE GENERAL CAUSES OF THE INEQUALITY OF UNDERSTANDINGS, CHAP. I. What these causes are, ………….………….. That they may be reduced to two. 292 ibid. One is an inequality between the degrees of desire with which men seek for instruction. That other is the difference of their situation ; whence that of their knowledge results. CHAP. II. Every new idea is the gift of chance, .............. 263 That chance has greater influence on our education than is commouly imagined ; but that this influence may be diminished. CHAP. III. Ofthe limits to be set to the power ofchance, ... 267 That chance presents us with an infinite number of ideas that those. ideas prove useless unless matured by attention. That attention is always the effect of some passion, such as that for glory, truth, &c. CHAP. IV. Of the second .cause of the inequality of under- standings, ..........................................………………….. 270 That men are induced by their passions to bestow the attention neces- sary for maturing those ideas which chance throws in their way ; that inequality in respect of understanding depends partly upon a difference in the force of their passions. That an inequality in the strength of the passions is by some cousi dered as the effect of a particular organization, and therefore as purely the gift of nature. SEC- xvi CONTENTS. SECTION IV. MEN COMMONLY WELL ORGANized are ALL SUSCEPTIBLE OF THE SAME DEGREE OF PASSION : THE INEQUALITY OF THEIR CAPACITIES IS ALWAYS THE EFFECT OF THE DIFFERENCE OF SITUATION IN WHICH CHANCE HAS PLACED THEM. THE ORIGINAL CHARACTER OF EACH MAN, (AS PASCAL HAS OB- SERVED), IS NOTHING BUT THE PRODUCE OF HIS FIRST HABITS, ………………………………. page 277 CHAP. I. Of the little influence which organization and tempera- ment have on the passions and characters of men, ... ibid. CHAP. II. Ofthe alterations that have happened in the characters of nations, and of the causes by which they were produced, 280 CHAP. III. Of the alterations that happen in the characters of individuals, 285 That they are the effect of a change in their situation, interests , and those ideas which are suggested by self- love. CHAP. IV. Of self-love, ................ ............. 283 That this sentiment, which is the necessary effect of physical sensibility, is common to all men : that it excites in every person a desire of power. That this desire, as is shewn in subsequent chapters, produces envy, avarice, ambition, the thirst of glory, of esteem, of justice, of virtue, ofintolerance, and, in a word, of every passion that exists in a state of society. That those different passions, necessary for exciting into action the ca- pacities which all men enjoy in an equal degree, are in reality no- thing else than the desire of power, disguised under different names. CHAP. V. Ofthe love of riches and glory, The immediate effect of power. CHAP. VI. Of envy, ......... The immediate effect ofthe love of power. CHAP. VII. Of justice, ....... .................... ……………………………………............................ ... 290 293 301 CHAP. VIII. Of justice considered in the man of nature, 302 CHAP. XI. Of justice considered in polished man and nations, 306 CHAP. X. Individuals, like nations, esteem justice solely forthe consideration and power it procures them, 309 CHAP. XI. The love of power under every form of government, is the sole motive of man's actions, 312 CHAP. CONTENTS. xvii CHAP. XII. Of virtue, The immediate effect of the love of power. 318 CHAP. XIII. Of the manner in which the greatest part of Europeans consider virtue, ……………………………...……………………………… ...... 322 That, if they honour it in speculation, it is an effect of the education they have received . That if they pay no regard to it in practice, it is a consequence of the form of their government. That their love of virtue is always p.oportioned to the interest they have in practising it. Whence it follows, that the love of virtue ought to be referred entirely to the desire of power and of esteem. CHAP. XIV. The love of power is in manthe most favourable disposition to virtue, 325 CHAP. XV. Of civil intolerance, ................…………………………………………... 327 The immediate effect of the love of power. That this intolerance prognosticates the ruin of empires. CHAP. XVI. Intolerance frequently fatal to princes, ......... 330 CHAP. XVII. Flattery is no less pleasing to the people than to sovereigns, 335 CHAP. XVIII. Of religious intolerance, 341 The immediate effect ofthe love ofpower, CHAP. XIX. Intolerance and persecution are not of divine com- mandment, ........ 345 CHAP. XX. Intolerance is the foundation ofthe grandeur of the clergy, 349 CHAP. XXI. The impossibility of suppressing in man the senti- ment of intolerance ; means of counteracting its effects, 355 After what has been said, this conclusion may be inferred ; that ail our factitious passions are properly nothing else than the love of power, disguised under different names ; and that this love of power is itself entirely the effect of physical sensibility. CHAP. XXII. The genealogy ofthe passions, ................. 360 It follows from this genealogy, that all men organized in the common manner, are susceptible of the kind of passion necessary to excite into action the capacity of mind which they enjoy in an equal de- gree. But can those passions operate in all with equal force ? To this objection I reply, that such a passion, for example, as the love of glory, may operate as strongly upon the mind as that of self-love. CHAP. XXIII. Ofthe force ofthe sentiment of self-love, ... 362 That this passion is sufficiently strong in all men, to excite in them such a degree of attention as is requisite for investigating the most obscure truths. VOL. I. CHAP. xviii CONTENTS CHAP. XXIV. The discovery of great ideas is the effect of con- stant attention. 366 From this section it results, that in men organized in the common man ner, the inequality of understanding is merely an effect of the dif ference of education ; including in this difference that of the situa tion in which chance has placed them. ON ON MAN; HIS INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES AND HIS EDUCATION. CHAP. I. OF THE DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW FROM WHICH WE MAY CONSIDER MAN ; OF THE INFLUENCE OF EDUCATION. THE science of man, taken in its utmost extent, is immense ; the study of it is long and painful. Man iз a model exposed to the view of different artists ; every one surveys it from some point of view, no one from every point. The painter and the musician consider inan ; but merely with regard to the effect that colours and sounds have on his eyes and his ears. Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire have studied him, but only in relation to the impressions that are excited in him by actions of greatness, tenderness, pity, rage, &c. Moliere and Fontaine have considered mankind from other points of view. VOL. I. B In 2 TREATISE ON MAN. 1 Influence of education on Man. In the study that the philosopher makes of men, his object is their happiness. This happiness is dependent on the laws under which they live, and the instructions they receive. The perfection of these laws and instructions supposes a preliminary knowledge of the human heart and mind, with their various operations ; in a word, of the obstacles to the progress of the sciences of morality, politics, and education. Without this knowledge, what means are there to render men better and happier ? The philosopher should, therefore, trace out the simple and productive principle of their intellectual faculties and their passions, the only principle that can inform him of the degree of perfection to which laws and instructions can carry them, and shew him what is the power of education over them. I regard the understanding, the virtue, and genius of man, as the product of instruction . This idea presented inthe Treatise on the Understanding appears to me invariably true ; but perhaps it is not sufficiently proved. It is admitted that education has more influence over the genius and character of men, and of nations, than was imagined ; and this is all that has been granted me. The examination of this opinion will make the first part ofthis work. To educate mankind, furnish their minds, and render them happy, we must know of what instructions and what happiness they are susceptible. Previous TREATISE ON MAN. 3 Importance of the question proposed for examination. Previous to the entering on this inquiry, I shall say a few words. 1. On the importance of this question. 2. On false science, to which is also given the name of education. 3. On the dryness ofthe subject, and the difficulty oftreating it. CHAP. II. OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS QUESTION. Ir it be true that the talents and the virtues of a people determine their power and their happiness, no question can be more important than this are the talents and virtues of each individual, the effect of his organisation, or ofthe education he receives ? I am of the latter opinion, and propose to prove here what perhaps is only advanced in the Treatise on the Understanding. IfI can demonstrate that man is, in fact, nothing more than the product ofhis education, I shall doubtless reveal an important truth to mankind. They will learn, that they have in their own hands the instrument of their greatness and their felicity, and that to be happy and powerful nothing more is requisite than to perfect the science of education. B 2 But 4 TREATISE ON MAN. Connection between the science of Man and the science of Government. But by what means shall we discover whether man be in fact the produce of his education ? By a thorough discussion of the question. If this examination should not give the solution, we ought still to make it ; for it will be useful, as it will compel us to the study ofourselves. Mankind are, but too often, unknown to him that governs them ; yet to guide the motions ofthe human puppet, it is necessary to know the wires by which he is moved. Without this knowledge, what wonder is it that his motions are frequently so contrary to those which the legislature requires. Ifsome errors should creep into a work that treats on man, it may still be a valuable work. What a mass of light does the knowledge of mankind throw upon the several parts ofgovernment ! The ability of the groom consists in knowing all that is to be done to the animal he is to manage ; and the ability ofa minister, in knowing all that is to be done in the management of the people he is to govern. The science of man makes a part of the science of government. (1 ) The minister should connect it with that of public affairs. (2) It is then that he will establish just laws. Let philosophers therefore penetrate continually more and more into the abyss of the human heart, let them there search out all the principles of his actions, and let the minister, profiting by their discoveries, make of them, according to time, place and cir-/ cumstances, a happy application. If TREATISE ON MAN. · 5 Talents and virtues the effect of education. Ifthe knowledge of mankind be regarded as absolutely necessary to the legislature, nothing can be more important than the examination of a problem which implies that knowledge. Ifthey who are personally indifferent to this question, shall judge of it only as relative to public interest, they will perceive that of all the obstacles to the perfection of education, the greatest is to regard our talents and virtues as the effect of organisation. No opinion is more favourable to the idleness and negligence of instructors. If organisation make us almost entirely what we are, why do we reproach the master with the ignorance and stupidity of his pupils ? Why, he will say, do you impute to education the faults of nature ? What answer will you make him ? When you admit a principle, how can you deny its immediate consequence ? Onthe contrary, ifwe prove that talents and virtues are acquisitions, we shall rouse the industry ofthe master, and prevent his negligence ; we shall render him more assiduous in stifling the vices, and cultivating the virtues of his pupils. The genius most ardent in carrying the instruments of education to perfection, will perceive perhaps in an infinity ofthose minute articles, now regarded as insignificant, the hidden seeds of our vices, our virtues, our talents, and imbecilities ; and who can say to what point genius may then carry its discoveries ? (3) Of this we are certain, that we are as yet ignorant of the true principles of education, and that it is at the preB 3 sent 6 TREATISE ON MAN. The intellectual inferiority of polished nations accounted for. sent day reduced almost entirely to certait false sciences, to which even ignorance is preferable. CHAP. III. OF FALSE SCIENCE, OR ACQUIRED IGNORANCE. MAN is born ignorant ; he is not born a fool ; and it is not even without labour that he is made one. To be such, and to be able to extinguish in himself his natural lights, art and method must be used ; instruction must heap on him error upon error ; more he reads, the more numerous must be the prejudices he contracts. If silliness be the common condition of mankind among polished nations, it is the effect of a contagious instruction ; it is because they are educated by men of false science, and read silly books ; for it is with books as with men, there is good and bad company. The work of merit is almost every where prohi bited (4). Good Sense urges its publication ; bigotry forbids it, for bigotry would command the world ; she is, therefore, interested in the propagation of folly. Her aim is to blind mankind, and bewilder them in a labyrinth offalse science. It is not enough that men be ignorant ; ignorance is the middle point between true and false learning. The ignorant man is as much above the falsely learned, as he is below him of real science. . TREATISE ON MAN. 7 It is to be attributed to bad instructors, science. The desire of superstition is to render man stupid ; her fear is that he may become enlightened. Now to whom will she commit the care of making him a brute? To the scholastics, for of all the sons of Adam they are the most stupid and conceited (5). "The "6 mere school divine, according to Rabelais, holds the " same rank among men as that animal does among " beasts, who neither labours like the ox, nor bears a "burden like the mule, nor barks at a thief like a dog, "but like the ape, soils all, breaks all, bites the passen- "ger, and is noxious to every one." The scholastic is powerful in words, and weak in argument, therefore, what sort of men does he form ? Such as are learnedly absurd and stupidly proud (6) . With regard to stupidity, I have already said it is of two sorts, one natural, the other acquired ; the one the effect of ignorance, the other of instruction. Now of these two sorts of ignorance or stupidity, which is the most incurable ? The latter. The man who knows nothing may learn ; it is only requisite to excite in him the desire of knowledge. But he who is falsely learned, and has by degrees lost his reason when he thought to improve it, has purchased his stupidity at too dear a rate ever to renounce it*. His mind overloaded with the weight of a learned ignorance, can never mount up to the truth ; it has lost the spring

A young painter having drawn a picture in the bad manner of his master, shewed it to Raphael, and asked what he thought ofit ? I think, says Raphael, if you knew nothing, you would scon know something. B 4 that 8 TREATISE ON MAN. Early moral maturity of the Greeks and Romans. that should raise it up. The knowledge he must acquire is connected with that he must forget. To place a certain number of truths in his memory, itis frequently necessary to displace the same number of errors. Now this displacement requires time, and ifit be at last effected, the man is formed too late. We are astonished at the age the Greeks and Romans acquired maturity. What various talents did they display in their adolescence? At twenty, Alexander, already a man of letters and a great general, undertook the conquest of the East. At the same age Scipio and Hannibal formed the greatest projects, and executed the most difficult enterprises. Before the age of maturity Pompey, the conqueror of Europe, Asia, and Africa, had filled the earth with his glory. Now how did these Greeks and Romans become at once men of letters, orators, generals, and ministers of state ? Howdid they qualify themselves for all sorts of employments in their republics, exercise them, and even frequently abdicate them, at an age when no one in our days is capable of assuming them ? Were the men of antiquity different from the moderns ? Was their organisation more perfect ? No doubtless. For in the sciences, and the arts of navigation, physics, mechanics, the mathematics, &c. we know that the moderns excel the ancients. The superiority the latter have for so long a time preserved in morality, politics, and legislation, is thercfore to be regarded as the effect of their education . The instruction of youth was not then confided to scholastics, but philosophers. The object of these philosophers TREATISE ON MAN. 9 Bad system of modern education. philosophers was to form heroes and great politicians. The story of the pupil was reflected on the master ; that was his reward. The object of an instructor is no longer the same. What interest has he in exalting the mind and soul of his pupils ? None. What is his aim? To weaken their natural abilities, to make them superstitious ; to disjoint, if I may be allowed the expression, the wings of their genius ; to stifle in their minds all true science, and in their hearts every patriotic virtue (7). The golden ages of these school divines were the ages ofignorance, whose darkness, before the time Lutherand Calvin, covered the earth. Then, says an English philosopher, superstition reigned over all nations, " Men were changed, like Nebuchadnezzar, into " brutes, and being like mules, bridled, saddled, and " and loaded with heavy burdens, they groaned under "the weight of superstition ; but at last some of these " mules began to kick, and throw off at once their " loads and their riders." No reformation can be hoped in the plan of instruction so long as it is confided to the scholastics. Under such tutors the science taught will never be any thing more than the science of errors ; and the ancients will preserve that superiority over the moderns in morality, politics, and legislation, which they cwe not to the superiority of their organisation, but, as I have already said, to that of their instruction. I have now shewn the futility of false learning, and have evinced the importance of this work. It remains to speak of the dryness of the subject. CHAP. 10 TREATISE ON MAN. Difficulty oftreating the subject. CHAP. IV . OF THE DRYNESS OF THE SUBJECT, AND THE DIFFICULTY OF TREATING IT. THE examination of the question 1 have proposed requires a refined and deep discussion . Every discussion ofthis sort is tiresome. That a man who is a real friend to humanity, and already habituated to the fatigue of attention , should read this book without disgust, I should not be surprised, and his approbation would doubtless content me, if from the beginning, to render this work useful, I had not proposed to make it entertaining. Nowwhat flowers can be thrown on a question so serious and important. I would instruct the man of common capacity, and in almost every nation men of this sort are incapable of attention : hence proceeds disgust and it is in France especially that this sort of men are the most common. If I I passed ten years at Paris ; the spirit of bigotry and fanaticism was not then predominant there. may believe the public report, it is now the fashion with the higher classes to be more and more indifferent to works of reflection . Nothing affects them but a ridiculous description (8), which satisfies their malignity without disturbing their indolence. I renounce, therefore, the hope of pleasing them. Whatever TREATISE ON MAN. 11 Its nature and tendency. Whateverpains I might take, I should never diffuse sufficient entertainment over a subject so dry and serious. 1 have observed, however, that if we judge of the French nation by their works, either the people are less light and frivolous (9) than they are thought to be, or the spirit of the men of letters is very different from that of the nation. The ideas of the latter appear to me grand and elevated ; let them, therefore, write on, and rest assured, notwithstanding national partialities, that they will every where find just judges of their merit. I have only one thing to advise them, and that is, sometimes to dare to despise the opinion of a single nation, and to remember, that a mind truly great will attach itself to such subjects only as are interesting to the whole race of mankind. This of which I here treat is of that nature. I shall only repeat the principles advanced in the Treatise on the Understanding, to examine them morethoroughly, to present them in a new point of view, and to draw new consequences from them. In geometry every problem not fully resolved, may become the object of a new demonstration . It is the same in morality and politics. Let no one therefore decline the examination of a question so important, and whose solution moreover requires the exposition of truths hitherto but little known. Is the difference in the minds ofmen the effect of their different organisations or education ? That is the object of my inquiry. SECTION 12 TREATISE ON MAN. No two persons reccive the same education. SECTION I. THE EDUCATION NECESSARILY DIFFERENT IN DIFFERENT MEN, IS PERHAPS THE CAUSE OF THAT INEQUALITY IN UNDERSTANDINGS HITHERTO ATTRIBUTED TO THE UNEQUAL PERFECTION OF THEIR ORGANS. CHAP. I. NO TWO PERSONS RECEIVE THE SAME EDU CATION. I STILL learn ; my instruction is not yet finished : when will it be ? When I shall be no longer sensible ; at my death. The course of my life is properly nothing more than a long course of education . What is necessary in order that two individuals should receive precisely the same education ? That they should be in precisely the same positions and the same circumstances. Nowsuch an hypothesis is impossible it is therefore evident, that no two persons can receive the same instructions. But why put off the term of our education to the utmost TREATISE ON MAN. 13 Commencement of education. most period of life ? Why not confine it to the time expressly set apart for instruction, that is, to the period of infancy and adolescence ? Iam content to confine it to that period ; and I will prove in like manner, that it is impossible for two men to acquire precisely the same ideas. CHAP. II. OF THE MOMENT AT WHICH EDUCATION BEGINS. Ir is at the very instant a child receives motion and life that it receives its first instruction : it is sometimes even in the womb where it is conceived, that it learns to distinguish between sickness and health. The mother however delivered, the child struggles and cries ; hunger gripes it, it feels a want, and that want opens its lips, makes it seize, and greedily suck the nourishing breast. When some months have passed, its sight is distinct, its organs are fortified, it becomes by degrees susceptible of all impressions ; then the senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, ' in a word, all the inlets to the mind are set open ; then all the objects of nature rush thither in crowds, and 14 TREATISE ON MAN. Of the instruction of childhood. and engrave an infinity of ideas in the memory*. In these first moments what can be true instructors of infancy ? The various sensations it feels : these are so manyinstructions it receives. If two children have the same preceptor, ifthey are taught to distinguish their letters, to read and repeat their catechism, &c. they are supposed to receive the same education. The philosopher judges otherwise : according to him, the true preceptors of a child are the objects that surround him ; these are the instructors to whom he owes almost all his ideas. CHAP. III. A OF THE INSTRUCTORS OF CHILDHOOD. SHORT history of the infancy of man will bring us acquainted with them. He no sooner sees the light than a thousand sounds strike his ears ; he hears nothing but a confused noise ; a thousand bodies offer themselves to his sight, but present nothing but objects imperfectly defined. It is by insensible degrees that an infant learns to hear and see, to perceive and rectify the errors of one sense by another.†

See Mr. Buffon's eloquent and admirable discourses on inan.

The senses never deceive us ; objects constantly make the 9 Being TREATISE ON MAN. 15 External objects the best preceptors of infancy. Being constantly struck by the same sensations in the presence of the same objects, he thereby acquires a more complete remembrance ofthem, in proportion as the same action of the objects is repeated on him ; and this action of them we should regard as the most considerable part of his education . The child in the mean time grows ; he walks and walks alone; numberless falls then teach him to preserve the equilibrium of his body, and to stand firmly on his legs ; the more painful the falls, the more instructive they prove, and the more adroitly, attentively, and cautiously he walks. The child grows strong ; he runs, he is already able to leap the little canals that traverse and water the garden. It is then that by repeated trials and falls he learns to proportion his leaps to the width of the canals. He sees a stone fall into the water and sink to the bottom, while a piece of wood floats on the surface : from this instance he acquires the first idea of gravity. If he take the stone and the wood out of the water, and by chance they both fall on his feet, the unequal degree of pain occasioned by their fall, engraves more impressions on us they ought to make. If a square tower appears round at a certain distance, it is because at that distance the rays reflected from the tower must be confounded, and make it appear as it does ; it is because there are certain cases in which the real forms of bodies cannot be ascertained without the united testimony of several senses. strongly 16 TREATISE ON MAN. Difference of experience produces a difference of education. strongly on his memory the idea of their unequal weight and hardness. If he chance to throw the same stone against one of the flower-pots placed on the borders of a canal, he will then learn that some bodies are broken by a blow that others resist. There is therefore no man of discernment who must not see in all objects, so many tutors charged with the education ofour infancy*. But are not these instructors the same for all ? No The chance is not precisely the same for any two persons ; but suppose it were, and that two children owed their dexterity in walking, running, and leaping to their falls ; I say, that as it is impossible they should bothhave precisely the same number of falls, and equally painful, chance cannot furnish them both with the same instructions. Place two children on a plain, in a wood, a theatre, an assembly, or a shop. They will not, bytheir natural position, be struck precisely in the same manner, nor consequently affected with the same sensations. What different subjects morcover are by daily occurrences incessantly offered to the view of these two children.

If I have here described the several states of infancy in a

cursory manner, it is because I am fearful of tiring the reader. What imports him to know the time the child is in passing through the several periods ? It is sufficient that they are passing through. It is by no means necessary that my narration should be as long as the infancy of man. Two TREATISE ON MAN. 17 Difference of the impressions produced by different objects. Two brothers travel with their parents, and to arrive at their native place they must traverse long chains of mountains. The eldest follows his father by the short and rugged road. What does he see ? Nature in all the forms of horror ; mountains of ice that hide their heads among the clouds, massy rocks that hang over the traveller's head, fathomless caverns, and ridges of arid hills, from which torrents rush with a tremendous roar. The younger follows his mother through the most frequented roads, where nature appears in all her pleasing forms. What objects does he behold ? Every where hills planted with vines and fruitful trees, and vallies where the wandering streams divide the meadows, peopled by the browzing herds. These two brothers have, in the same journey, seen very different prospects, and received very different impressions. Now a thousand incidents of the same nature may produce. the same effects. Our life is nothing more, so to say, than a long chain of similar incidents ; let men never flatter themselves, there fore, with being able to give two children precisely the same education. What influence moreover may a difference of instruction, occasioned by a trifling difference in surrounding objects, have on the mind ? Who does not know that a small number of dissimilar ideas, combined with those which two men already have in common, can produce a total difference in their manner ofseeing and judging? • VOL. 1. Supposing 18 TREATISE ON MAN. Different impressions produced by the same objects. Supposing, however, that chance should constantly offer the same objects to two persons, does it present them whentheir minds are precisely in the same situation, and when consequently those objects will make the same impressions on them ?

CHAP. IV. OF THE DIFFERENT IMPRESSIONS WHICH OBJECTS MAKE ON US. THAT different objects produce different sensations is self-evident. Experience, moreover, teaches us that the same objects excite different impressions, according to the moment at which they present themselves ; and it is, perhaps, to these different impressions, that we are principally to attribute the diversity and great inequality that is to be found in men educated in the same country, in the same habits and manners, and who have moreover the same objects before their eyes. There are in the mind certain moments of perfect repose, when its surface is not agitated by the least breath of passion. The objects that then present themselves sometimes engage our whole attention ; we examine more at leisure their different appearances, and the TREATISE ON MAN. 19 The impressions of objects depend on accidental circumstances. the impressions they make on our memory are much more complete and durable. Occurrences of this sort are very common, especially in early youth. A child commits a fault, and for punishment is shut up by himself in a chamber. What does he do ? He sees in the window some pots with flowers, he plucks some of them, he considers their colours, and remarks their shades ; his idle , situation seems to give an additional discernment to his sight. It is then with the child as with the blind ; if the latter have commonly the senses of hearing and feeling more keen than other men, it is because he is not like them disturbed by the action of the light upon his eyes, because he is the more attentive, and more concentered within himself ; and, lastly, to supply the sense he wants, he is, as M. Diderot remarks, more interested to improve those senses that remain. The impressions that objects make on us depend principally on the moment at which those objects strike us. In the example just mentioned, it is the attention that the child is , as it were, forced to give to the only objects that are exposed to his sight, which makes him discover in the colours and form of the flowers, those nice differences that a distracted view, or a superficial glance would not have permitted him to observe. It is thus that a punishment, or some similar incident, frequently determines the taste of a young man, and makes him a painter of flowers ; by first giving him some knowledge of their beauty, and then a love for those pictures that represent them. C ? Now · 20 TREATISE ON MAN. Of a College education. Now to how many similar incidents is the education of youth liable ? and how can we imagine them to be the same in any two individuals ? How many other causes, moreover, prevent two children, whether at home or at college, from receiving the saine education ? CHAP. V. OF A COLLEGIATE EDUCATION. CHILDREN that have been brought up in the same college, are supposed to have received the same educa. tion. But at what age do they enter the college ? At seven or eight years. Now at that age they have a!- ready charged their memories with ideas, which being partly owing to chance, and partly acquired in the parental abode, arise from the state, the character, the fortune, and wealth of their parents. Can we then be surprised that children entering a college with ideas frequently so different, should discover more or less ardour for study, more or less taste for certain branches of science ; and that the ideas they have already acquired being united with those they receive in common in the schools, should produce in them a considerable alteration ? From ideas thus altered, and combining again among themselves, must frequently arise unexpected productions. Hence TREATISE OF MAN. 21 Of domestic education. Hence that inequality in minds, and that diversity oftastes observed in the pupils of the same college*. Is it thesame with domestic education ? CHAP. VI. OF DOMESTIC EDUCATION. THIS sort of education is doubtless more uniform ; it is more the same. Two children are brought up under their parents, have the same preceptor, nearly the same objects before their eyes ; and read the same books. The inequality of age is the only difference that appears to have any influence on their instruction ; would you render that ineffectual ? Suppose thenthese two brothers to be twins? But have they had the same nurse ? What does that signify ? It signifies a great deal. How can we doubt the influence of the disposition of the nurse on the child ? At least they made no doubt of it in Greece, as is evi-

I have elsewhere observed, that it is to chance, that is to say,

to what is not taught by a master, we owe the greatest part of our instruction. He whose knowledge should be confined to the truths he learns from his preceptor, or his tutor, and to the facts contained in the small number of books that are read in the classes, would doubtless be the most ignorant child inthe world. с 3 dent 22 TREATISE ON MAN. Different effect of domestic education on two individuals. dent by the consequence in which the Lacedæmonian nurses were held. In fact, says Plutarch, ifthe Spartan does not cry even at the breast ; if he be insensible to fear, and already patient under sufferings, he owes it to his nurse, In France, where I live, as in Greece, the choice of a nurse therefore cannot be matter ofindifference. But suppose the same nurse to have suckled these twins, and to have brought them up with the same care. Is itto be imagined, when returned to their parents, the father and mother will have precisely the same degree of affection for these two children ? and that the preference imperceptibly given to one of the two, will have no influence on his education ? Suppose, moreover, that thefather and mother should regard them equally, will it be the same with the domestics ? Will not the tutor have a favourite ? and will the fondness that he shews for one ofthe two chil dren be long unnoticed by the other ? The different passions, or patience of the master, and the softness or severity of his lectures, will they have no effect on the children ? In the last place, will these two twins enjoy the same state ofhealth ? In the career of the arts and the sciences, suppose them both to set off with an equal pace, if the first be stopped by some disorder, and suffer the other to advance too far before him , his studies will become disgusting to him. If a child lose the hope of preeminence, if he be obliged in a certain sense, to acknowledge a number of superiors, he becomes thereby incapable TREATISE ON MAN. 23 To excite emulation the principal point in education. incapable of a vigorous application : even the fear of punishment is then ineffectual. This fear causes a child to contract a habit of attention, makes him learn to read, and perform all that he is enjoined ; but it will not inspire him with that ardour for study which is the only pledge of great acquirements. It is emulation that produces genius, and a desire of becoming illustrious that creates talents. It is from the moment when the love of glory fires the breast, and takes possession ofthe man, that we are to date the progress of his intellectual faculties. I have always thought that the science of education is, perhaps, nothing more than a knowledge ofthe means ofexciting emulation, which may be lighted up or extinguishied by a single word. Acommendation bestowed on the care with which a child examines an object, and the exact description he gives of it, has sometimes been sufficient to excite in him that sort of attention to which he has afterwards owed the superiority of his understanding. A collegiate, or domestic education is therefore never the same for any two individuals. From the education of childhood we will proceed to that of youth. Let not this examination be regarded as superfluous. This second education is the most important : mankind have then other instructors, with whom it is proper to be acquainted. It is in youth, moreover, that our tastes and our talents are formed. This second education, the least uniform, and the most abandoned to chance, is, at + the 24 TREATISE ON MAN. Of the education of youth. . the same time, the most proper to confirm the truth of my opinion. CHAP. VII. OF THE EDUCATION OF YOUTH. Ir is at leaving the college and entering the world that the education of youth begins. It is less uniform than that ofchildhood, but more dependent on chance, and doubtless more important. The youth is then attacked by a greater number of sensations : all that surrounds him strikes him, and strikes him forcibly. It is at the age when certain passions spring up, that all the objects of nature agitate and impel him the most strongly. It is then that he receives the most efficacious instruction ; it is then that his tastes and his character are determined ; and, lastly, that being more free, and more himself, the passions excited in his heart determine his habits, and frequently all the future conduct of his life. In children the difference of understanding and character is not always very obvious. Engaged in the same sort of studies, subject to the same discipline, and moreoverwithout passions, their exterior is sufliciently similar. The TREATISE ON MAN. 25 Objects which instruct youth on entering the world. The seed, that by springing up, shall one day make so much difference in their tastes, is either not yet formed, or at least is yet imperceptible. I compare two children to two men sitting on a bank, but with their backs to each other. If they rise up and walk in the direction they sat, they will insensibly become further distant, and soon lose sight of each other, unless by again changing their direction, some accident make them again approach. The resemblance ofchildren in schools or colleges is the effect of constraint. When they leave the college the constraint ceases. Then begins, as I have already said, the second education of man ; an educacation the more directed by chance, as youth on entering the world find themselves in the midst of a greater number of objects. Now the more the surrounding objects are multiplied and diversified, the less can the father or the master depend on the result of their impression, and the less part the one and the other have in the education of a young man. The new and principal instructors of youth are the form of government under which they live, and the manuers that form of government gives to a nation. Masters and pupils are all subject to these instructors ; these are the principal, but, however, not the only instructors of youth ; among these I also reckon the rank a young man holds in the world, his wealth or indigence, the societies with which he is connectQ ed; 26 : TREATISE ON MAN. Influence of chance upon the human character. ted ; and, lastly, his friends, his books, and his mistresses. Now it is on chance that depend his opulence, or poverty, and the choice of his society ( 10), his friends, his books,land his mistresses . It is on chance, therefore, that depends the choice of the principal part of his instructors. It is chance, moreover, that place him in this or that position, excites, extinguishes oOP modifies his tastes and passions ; and that has, consequently, the greatest part in forming his character. The character of a man is the immediate effect of his passions, and his passions are often the immediate effects of his situations. 1 The most striking characters are sometimes the produce of an infinity of little accidents . It is from an infinity of threads of hempthat the largest cables are formed ( 11 ) . There is no change that chance cannot produce in the character of a man. But whydo these changes almost always operate in a mannerunperceived by himself? Because to perceive them, he must have a most severe and penetrating eye on himself. Now pleasure, idleness, ambition, poverty, &c. equally divert him from this observation. Every thing turns him away from himself. A man has, moreover, so much respect for himself, so much veneration for his

Does a man seek the company of the learned ? Does he

live habitually with those of superior abilities ? He becomes enlightened. It is to a desire I always had to converse with such men, said a celebrated author to me one day, that I owe my · feeble talents. Own -TREATISE • ON MAN. -27 Influence of chance upon the human character. own conduct, as being the consequence of such sagacious and profound reflection, that he can rarely permit himselfto examine it : pride forbids, and pride is readily obeyed. Chance has, therefore, a necessary and considerable Influence on our education. The events of life are frequently the produce of the most trifling incidents. I know this assertion disgusts our vanity, which constantly assigns great enuses to effects that appear to it of great consequence. To destroy the illusions of pride, I shall prove, by the aid of facts, that it is to the most trifling incidents the most illustrious citizens have sometimes owed their talents. 1lence I conclude, that chance acts in a like manner on all mankind, and if its effects on ordinary minds are less remarked, it is merely because minds of this sort are themselves less remarkable. CHAP. VIII. OF THE CHANCES TO WHICH WE OFTEN OWE ILLUSTRIOUS CHARACTERS. For my first example, I shall cite M. Vancanson : his pious mother had a spiritual director, who lived in a cell, to which the hall where the clock was placed served as an antichamber. The mother paid frequent visits 28 TREATISE ON MAN. Vaucanson- Milton. visits to this director. Her son waited for her in the antichamber: there alone, and having nothing to do, he wept with weariness, while his mother wept with repentance. However, as we commonly weep and weary ourselves as little as possible, and as in a state of vacation there are no sensations indifferent, young Vaucanson was soon struck with the uniform motion of the pendulum, and desirous of discovering its cause. His curiosity was roused ; he approached the clock case, and saw, through the crevices, the wheels that turn each other ; discovered a part of the mechanism, and guessed at the rest. He projected a similar machine, which he executed in wood with a knife, and at last was able to make a clock more or less perfect. Encouraged bythis first success his taste for mechanics was determined. His talents displayed themselves, and the same genius that enabled him to make a clock in wood, showed him the possibility of forming a fluting automaton. Achance of the same sort kindled the genius of Milton. Cromwell died, his son succeeded him, and was driven out of England . Milton participated his illfortune ; he lost the place ofsecretary to the protector, was imprisoned, released, and driven into exile. At last he returned, retired to the country, and there, in the leisure of retreat and disgrace, he executed the poem which he had projected in his youth, and which has placed him in the rank of the greatest of men. If Shakspeare had been, like his father, always a dealer in wool ; if his imprudence had not obliged him to TREATISE REATISE ON MAN. 29 Shakspeare--Moliere--Corneille. toquit his commerce, and his native place ; if he had not associated with libertines, and stolen deer from the park of a nobleman ; had not been pursued for the theft, and obliged to take refuge in London ; engage in a company ofactors ; and, at last, disgusted with being. an indifferent performer ( 12), he had not turned author ; the prudent Shakspeare had never been the celebrated Shakespeare ; and whatever ability he night have acquired in the wool trade, his name would never have reflected lustre on England. It was a chance nearly similar that determined the taste of Moliere for the stage. His grandfather loved the theatre, and frequently carried him thither. The young man lived in dissipation ; the father observing it, asked in anger, if his son was to be made an actor. Would to God, replied the grandfather, he was as good an actor as Montrose. Those words struck young Moliere ; he took a disgust to his trade, and France owes its greatest comic writer to that accidental reply. Moliere, a skilful tapestry maker, had never else been cited among the great men of his nation. Corneille loved ; he made verses for his mistress, became a poet, composed Melite ( 18) . then Cinna, Rodogune, &c. is the honour of his country, and an object of emulation for posterity. The discreet Corneille had remained a lawyer, and composed briefs that would have been forgotten with the causes he defended. Thus it is, that the devotion of a mother, the death of Cromwell, deer-stealing, the exclamation of an 30. TREATISE ON MAN Genius the effect of chance. an old man, and the beauty of a woman, have given five illustrious characters to Europe* . I should never have done if I would enumerate all the writers celebrated for their talents, and who owed those talents to similar incidents+. Many philosophers adopt my opinion on this particular. M. Bonnet compares with me, genius to a lens, that burns in one point only. Genius, according to us, is but the produce of a strong and concentered attention to any art or science ; but whence does this attention proceed ? From a lively taste we feel for that art or science. Now this taste is not the mere gift of nature §. Is a man born without ideas ? He is born also

It will doubtless be said, that similar incidents would not

produce similar effects, except on men organised in a certain manner ; I shall answer this objection in the next section. It will not be improper, however, to add here one more instance ; Newton, in his younger days, was a student at Cambridge, but during the time ofthe plague retired into the country. As he was reading under an apple-tree, one of the fruit fell and struck him a sinart blow on the head. When he observed the smallness of the apple he was surprised at the force of the stroke. This led him to consider the accelerating motion of falling bodies, whence he duduced the principles of gravity, and laid the foundation of that philosophy which will reflect honour on the English nation, when, perhaps, the names of Cressy, Agincourt, and Blenheim will be utterly forgotten. T. See his Analytical Essay on the Faculties ofthe Mind. § If children have seldom the taste we would give them, it is the fault of their instructors, and not that of their organisation. without : TREATISE ON MAN. 31 The power ofchance exemplified in Rousseau. without tastes. We may, therefore regard them as acquisitions arising from the situations in which we are placed . Genius then, is the remote produce of incidents or chances nearly similar to those I have cited (14). M. Rousseau is not of this opinion : he is, however, himselfan instance of the power of chance. On entering the world fortune placed him in the train of an ambassador. A bickering with that minister made him quit the political career ( 15), and follow that of the arts and sciences. His choice lay between eloquence and music ; equally adapted to succeed in both those arts, his taste remained for some time undetermined ; a particular series of circumstances made him at last prefer eloquence ; a series of another kind would have made him a musician. Who knows ifthe favours of a fair singer would not have produced that effect ( 16). No one at least can affirm , that love could not have made an Orpheus of the French Plato. But what particular incident made M. Rousseau enter the career of eloquence ? I do not know ; that is his secret ; all that I can say is, that in this pursuit his first. success was sufficient to determine his choice.

The only disposition to science a man has at his birth, is the

faculty ofcomparing and combining. In fact, all the operations ofhis mind are necessarily reduced to the observing of the relations which objects have to him, and among themselves. In the next section I shall examine what this faculty is in man. The 32 TREATISE ON MAN. Thepower of chance exemplified in Rousseau. The academy of Dijon proposed a prize for eloquence. It was a whimsical subject* ; the question was, Whether the sciences be more hurtful than useful to society? The only striking manner of treating this question was to take part against the sciences. M. Rousseau was sensible of this ; and composed on this subject an eloquent discourse, that deserved and obtained great encomiumst. This success formed the remarkable epoch of his life. Hence arose his glory, his misfortunes, and his paradoxes. Charmed with the beauty of his own discourse, the maxims ofthe orator ( 17) soon became those of the philosopher ; and from that moment, devoted to the love of paradoxes, nothing was difficult to him. Was it necessary to maintain, in orderto defend his opinion,

He that proposed this prize probably thought, that the only

wayto become equally estimable with any other, was to prove, that any other is as ignorant as himself. † A man who is master of a fine style, and is well versed in sophistry, will always shine by taking the paradoxical side of a question. He that should attempt to prove that we see the light ofthe sun at mid- day, howjustly soever his arguments were ranged and how beautiful soever his language, would have but few readers. Whereas, he that should assert we see the sun's light at midnight, and support his assertion in pleasing language, by something like argument, would have many admirers. For the human mind, though not convinced, is always pleased to findthe appearance of argument where it has no right to expect any argu. ment at all. T. that TREATISE ON MAN. 33 The power of chance exemplified in Rousseau. that the man absolutely brutal, without art, without industry, and inferior to every known savage, is notwithstanding more virtuous and happy than the polished citizen of London or Amsterdam ? he was ready to maintain it. Thedupe ofhis own eloquence, and content with the title ofanorator, he renouncedthat of a philosopher, and his errors became the consequence of his first success. The least causes have often produced the greatest effects. Chagrined at last by contradictions, or perhaps too fond of singularity, M. Rousseau quitted Paris and his friends : he retired to Montmorenci ( 18). He there composed and published his Emilius ; and was pursued by envy, ignorance and hypocrisy. Esteemed by all Europe for his eloquence, he was persecuted in France. They applied to him this passage, cruciature ubiest, laudature ubi non est*. Obliged at last to retire to Swisserland, and continually more irritated against persecution, he there wrote his famous letter addressed to the archbishop of Paris. Thus it is that all the ideas of a man, all his glory, and all his misfortunes, are frequently formed into a series by the invisible power of a first event. M. Rousseau, therefore, as well as an infinity ofillustrious men, may be . considered as one ofthe chefs d'œuvres of chance.

This sentence is applicable to almost every philosopher whose

writings have obtained the public esteem . VOL. I. D Let 34 TREATISE ON MAN. Great effects produced by trifling causes. Let me not be reproached with having stopped to consider the causes to which great men have so frequently owed their talents ; my subject obliged me to it. I shall not grow tedious by details. I know that the public is fond of great talents, and that the trifling causes by which they are produced appears of little consequence. I see with pleasure a river roll its waves majestically through the plain, but it is with labour my imagination mounts to its source, to see it assemble the volume of waters necessary to its course . Objects present themselves to us in masses ; it is with weariness we attend to their decomposition. I cannot persuade myselfwithout difficulty, that the comet which traverses with such rapidity our mundane system, and menaces its ruin, is nothing more than a certain composition of invisible atoms. In morals, as in physics, we are struck by the great alone we constantly assign great causes to great effects ; we would make the signs in the zodiac announce the fall or revolution of empires. Yet how many crusades have been undertaken or suspended ; how many revolutions accomplished or prevented ; how many wars kindled or extinguished, by the intrigues of a priest, a woman, or a minister. It is for want of secret anecdotes, that we do not every where find the glove ofthe duchess of Marlborough*.

The physicians say, that a great acrimony in the seminal

Let TREATISE ON MAN, 35 • Method ofprofiting by the operation of chance. Let what I here say of empires be applied to individuals it will appear in like manner, that theirexaltation or disgrace, their happiness or misery, are the produce of a certain series of circumstances, of an infinity of chances unforeseen, and apparently insignificant. I compare the little incidents that produce the great events of our lives, to the hairy fibres of a root that insinuate themselves insensibly into the clefts of a rock, and there increase that they may one day spring up. Chance , therefore has, and always will have a part in our education, and especially in that of men of genius ; therefore, would you increase their number in a nation, observe the means that are used by chance to inspire mankind with adesire of becomingillustrious. This observation mude, place them expressly and frequently in the same positions that chance places them but seldom this is the only way to make them numerous. The moral education of mankind is now almost en. matter was the cause of the violent passion of Henry VIII. fór women. It is therefore to this acrimony England owes the destruction ofpopery. History would perhaps degrade its dignity, if it were always to search out in this manner the secret causes of great events but it would be far more instructive.

I must inform the reader, that by the word Chance, I mean

the unknown concatenation of causes proper to produce such or such an effect, and that I never use the word in any other sense. tirely 36 TREATISE ON MAN. Contradictions in education. tirely abandoned to chance. To render it perfect, the plan must be directed by public utility, and founded on simple and invariable principles ; this is the only method to diminish the influence it receives from chance, and to obviate the contradictions that are found, and must necessarily be found, among all the various precepts of modern education. CHAP. IX. OF THE PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF THE CONTRADICTIONS IN THE PRECEPTS OF EDUCATION. IN Europe, and especially in the catholic countries, if all the precepts of education are contradictory, it is because public instruction is there confided to two powers, whose interests are opposite, and whose precepts therefore must be different and contradictory The one is the spiritual power, The other is the temporal power. The strength and grandeur of the latter depends on the strength and grandeur of the empire it commands. The real strength of a prince consists in the strength of TREATISE ON MAN. 37 Pernicious influence of the clergy in Catholic countries. of the nation ; when that ceases to be respected the prince ceases to be powerful. He desires, and ought to desire, that his subjects be brave, industrious, learned, and virtuous. Is itthe samewith the spiritual power ? No; its interest is not the same. The power ofthe priest depends on the superstition and stupid credulity ofthe people. It is of little significance to him that they be learned ; the less they know the more docile they will be to his dictates. The interest ofthe spiritual power is not connected with that ofa nation, but with that of asect. Two nations are at war ; what is it to the pope which is the master and which the slave, if the conqueror and conquered are both to be subject to him ? If the French sink underthe power ofthe Portuguese ; if the house of Braganza mounts the throne of the Bourbons, the pope sees nothing in it but an increase ofhis authority. What does the sacerdotal power require of a nation ? A blind submission, a credulity without bounds, a puerile and contagious fear. Whether the nation renders itself renowned for its talents and patriotic virtues, is what the clergy concern themselves little about. Great talents and great virtues are almost unknown in Spain, Portugal, and in all parts where the spiritual power is most formidable. Ambition, it is true, is common to both powers, but the means by which it is gratified are very different. To raise itself to the highest point of grandeur, the one must exalt the passions of men, and the other debase them. DS If $8 TREATISE ON MAN. Ambition and artifices ofecclesiastics. If it be to a love of the public good, to justice, to riches, and glory, that the temporal power owes its warriors, its magistrates, its merchants, and men of letters ; ifit be by the commerce ofits towns, the valour ofits troops, the equity of its senate, and the genius of its literati, that the prince renders his nation respectable among others, the strong passions directed to the general good then serve as the basis of his grandeur. The ecclesiastical body, on the contrary, found their grandeur on the destruction of those very passions. Thepriest is ambitious, but ambition is odious to him in the laity ; it thwarts his designs. The project of the priest is to extinguish every desire in man, to make him disgusted with wealth and power, and by that disgust to appropriate both of them to himself ( 19). Of this we are certain, that the system of religion has been constantly directed by this plan. At the time that christianity was established, what did they preach? The community of property. Who offered himself as the depository of the goods that were to be in common ? The priest. Who violated the deposit, and made himself the proprietor ? The priest. When the rumour ofthe end of the world was spread abroad, by whom was it authenticated ? The priest. The report was favourable to his designs, he hoped, that struck with a panic, mankind would be anxious about one matter only (a matter in reality of importance) that of their salvation. Life, they said, is but a pas- TREATISE ON MAN. 39 Ambition and artifices of ecclesiastics. • a passage heaven is our inheritance ; why then should we give ourselves up to earthly pleasures ? If discourses of this kind did not entirely detach the laity from earthly enjoyments, it at least weaned them from the love oftheir relations, of glory, of the public good, and of their country. Heroes then became rare ; and sovereigns, struck with the hope of mighty possessions in Heaven, consented sometimes to commit to a priest a part of their terrestrial authority. The priest seized it, and to preserve it depreciated true glory and true virtue. It was no longer permitted to honour such characters as Minos, Lycurgus, Codrus, Aristides, Timoleon; in a word, the defenders and benefactors of their country. Other models were proposed, other names were inscribed in the calendar ; and instead of the ancient heroes, were seen the names of St. Anthony, St. Crispin, St. Claire, St. Fiacre, St. Francis (20) ; in short, the names of all those solitary wretches, who dangerous to society by the example of their stupid religion, retired to cloisters and deserts, there to vege tate and end their useless days. By such models the priests hoped to accustom mankindto regard this life as a shortjourney. They then hoped that being without desires for terrestrial goods, and without friendship for those they should meet on their journey, they would become equally indifferent to their own happiness and that of their posterity. In fact, if life be nothing more than a baiting-place, whyshould we be so interested in the affairs that conD 4 cern 40 TREATISE ON MAN. Contradictory action of the spiritual and temporal power. cern it? A traveller does not repair the walls of an inn wherehe is to pass one night only. in To secure their grandeur, and satisfy their ambition, the spiritual and temporal powers must, therefore, in every country, employ very different means. Charged common with the instruction of the public, they must engrave on the hearts and minds of men precepts that are contradictory, and relative to the interest that one has in kindling, and the otherin extinguishing the passions*. That these two powers, however, equally preach probity, I allow. But they do not attach the same meaning to the word; and modern Rome, under the government of the pope, has not certainly the same idea of virtue that the ancient Romans had under the consulate of the elder Brutus. The dawn of reason begins to appear ; men now know that the same words do not every where convey the same ideas. What therefore is now required of an author ? That he annex clear ideas to the terms he uses. The reign of the dark scholastics may disappear ; the theologians will not perhaps always impose on the people and govern. ments. Ofthis we may rest assured, that they will not at least preserve their power by the means they have acquired it. Circumstances have changed with the

To attempt to destroy the passions of men, is to attempt to

destroy their action. Does the theologian rail at the passions ?, he is the pendulum that mocks its spring, and the effect that mis- takes its cause. times : TREATISE ON MAN. 41 Address to the Catholic clergy. times the necessity ofthe passions is now confessed ; it is found, that by their preservation, that of empires is secured. Passions are, in effect, strong desires, and these desires may be either conformable or contrary to the public welfare. If avarice and intolerance be hurtful and criminal passions, it is not so with the desire to render ourselves illustrious by talents and patriotic virtues (28). By annihilating the desires, you annihilate the mind ; every man without passions has within him no principle of action, no motive to act. You are, O catholic clergy ! rich and powerful upon the earth, but your power may be destroyed with that ofthe nations you command. By degrading them still more, they may be conquered by others, and will cease to be under your subjection. Even your own interest requires that men should continue to beexcited by passions and wants ; to stifle them in man you must change his nature. O venerable theologians ! O brutes ! O my brethren ! abandon the ridiculous project : study the human heart, examine the springs by which it is moved, and if you have not yet any clear idea of morality and politics (22), forbear to teach them. Pride has led you too long astray: remember the ingenious fable of the birth of Momus. The moment he saw the day, says a great poet, the infant god filled Olympus with his cries ; the celestial court was stunned to quiet him, each one gave the child a play-thing. Jupiter, who had just then created man, gave him to Momus, and

ever 42. TREATISE ON MAN. Contradictory precepts inculcated in youth. ever since man has been the puppet of folly. Now among the puppets of this sort, the most rueful, proud, and ridiculous, is a doctor ofdivinity (23). theolo gical puppet ! donot persist in destroying the passions, theyare the vital principles of a state (24). Employ yourself in promoting the general good ; endeavour to trace out a plan of instruction , whose clear and simple principles shall all center in the happiness of the public. How far distant are we from such a plan of instruction ? Parents and masters, with little harmony among themselves, are equally ignorant of what children ought to be taught. Their ideas or education are yet confused, and thence arises that glaring contradiction in all their precepts. CHAP. X. ว EXAMPLES OF CONTRADICTORY PRECEPTS INCULCATED IN EARLY YOUTH. If, in order to show more sensibly the contradiction in all the precepts of our education, I am obliged to descend to a more familiar style, the subject will plead my excuse. It is in the religious seminaries destined for 1 TREATISE ON MAN. 43 T Contradictory precepts inculcated in youth. for the instruction of young ladies, that these contradictions are most glaring. Suppose therefore I enter a convent: it is eight in the morning, the hour ofconference ; there is held a discourse on modesty; the superior of the convent proves, that aboarder should never look at a man. The clock strikes nine ; the dancing-master is in the parlour. Mind your steps, he says to his scholar, hold up your head, and always look at yourpartner. Now which of these is she to believe ? the dancing-master or the mistress of the convent? The scholar does not know ; and therefore acquires neither the grace the first would give her, nor the reserve that is preached to her by the other. Now whence do ' these contraditions arise, but from the contradictory desires of the parents, who would have their daughter at once agreeable and reserved, join the prudery of the cloister to the graces of the theatre ? That is, they would conciliate irreconcilables*.* The Turkish education is, perhaps, the only one that is consistent with what is required of women in their own country (25). The principles of education will be variable and inAgirl is required to be sincere and ingenuous. Ahusband is provided for her; shedoes not like him ; she declares it freely; it is taken amiss. The parents, therefore, would have her true or false, according as it is their interest that she should be the one or the other, determinate 44 TREATISE ON MAN. Cotradictory precepts inculcated in youth. determinate so long as they do not regard one certain point. What point is that ? The greatest public utility ; that is, the greatest pleasure, and the greatest happiness, of the largest number of citizens. Do parents lose this point of view ? They wander here and there in the paths of instruction. Fashion is their only guide. They know that to make their daughter a musician they must pay a music-master, but they do not know that to give her just ideas of virtue they must in like manner pay a master of morality. When a mother undertakes the education of her daughter, she tells her in the morning, while putting on the rouge, that beauty is nothing; that virtue and talents are all *. At that moment company enters to the mother's toilet ; every one praises the young lady's beauty, but not once a twelvemonth a word is said about her talents and virtue +. The only recompence moreover that is promised to her application and her virtue, is the ornaments of dress, and yet they would

Dothey persuade a girl that without talents she will never

get a husband? To-morrow she hears that the most stupid ofher companions has made an excellent match, because she had a large fortune, and that without a fortune no one can be married. + If they commonly praise nothing but beauty in a daughter, it is because beauty is really the most interesting and desirable quality in her we visit, and to whom we are neither husband nor friend ; and with women the men are always on a visit. have TREATISE ON MAN: '45 Contradictory precepts inculcated in youth. have the young girl be indifferent to her beauty. Into what confusion must her ideas be thrown by such conduct ! The education of ayouth is not more consistent ; the first duty prescribed him is the observance of the laws ; the second, their violation, when he is offended in case of an insult, he is to fight, under pain of being dishonoured. Do they prove to him, that it is by services rendered his country, he will obtain the consideration of this world, and the felicity of the next ; what models do they propose for his imitation ? A monk, a fanatical and slothful dervise, whose intolerance has filled empires with trouble and desolation. A father recommends to his son fidelity to his promise. Atheologian then comes and tells the young man, that we are not bound to keep our promise to the enemies of God ; for which reason Louis XIV. revoked the edict of Nantz given by his ancestors ; that the pope has decided this question, by declaring every treaty made between Catholic princes and heretics to be void, and by giving the former the power of violating those treaties whenever they have sufficient strength. A preacher proves in the pulpit, that the God of the Christians is the God of truth ; that it is by their hatred to falsehood his worshippers are known (26). He descends from the pulpit, and then owns, that it is quite prudent to observe certain precautions (27) ; that he 46 TREATISE ON MAN. Contradictory precepts inculcated in youth. he himself in praising the truth, takes great care how he speaks it (28). In fact, the man who should write the true history of his times, in a Catholic country, would set all these worshippers of the God of truth against him (29) . In such a country, a man to guard himself from persecution, must either be dumb, a fool, or a liar. Suppose a preceptor, by force of application, should inspire his pupil with candour and humanity ; his spiritual director enters, and tells him that we may pardon mankind their vices, but not their errors ; that in the latter case indulgence is a crime, and that every one who does not think as he does should be burned. Such is the ignorance and contradiction of a theologian, that he declaims against the passions at the very moment he would excite emulation in his pupil. He then forgets that emulation is a passion, and a very strong passion too if wejudge by its effects. In every part of education, therefore, there is contradiction. What is the cause ? An ignorance of the true principles of this science ; they have nothing but confused ideas about it. Mankind should be enlightened ; the priest opposes it. Does the truth dawn a moment upon them ? Its rays are absorbed in the darkness of scholastics. Error and crime both search for obscurity, the one in words (30), the other in the night. Let not, however, all the contradictions of our education be charged to theology ; there are some also that arise from the vices of government. How will TREATISE ON MAN. 47 Contradictory precepts inculcated in youth. will you persuade a youth to be faithful to society, and to keep the secret of another, when even in England, the government, under a most frivolous pretext, opens the letters of private persons and betrays the public confidence ? How can you flatter yourself with an expectation of inspiring him with a horror of spies and informers, whenhe sees them honoured, rewarded, and pensioned. When a young man comes from the college, and mixes with the world, he is expected to render himself agreeable and constantly preserve his chastity! At the period that the passion of love is most sensibly felt, must a young man be indifferent to women, and live in the midst of them without desire ? Can parental stupidity imagine that when government builds a theatre for operas, and custom sets it open to young men, that, fond of their virginity, they will always behold with an eye of indifference, a spectacle in which, the endearments, the transports, and magical power of

If they would really damp the desires of love in a young

man, what should they do ? Institute violent exercises, and inspire youth with a taste for them. Exercise is in this case the most efficacious lecture. The more we perspire, the more ofthe animal spirits we exhaust, the less vigour remains for love. The coldness and indifference of the savages of Canada, proceeds from the fatigue and inanition produced by their long and wearisome huntings, love, 48 TREATISE ON MAN. Method of rendering education less dependent on chance. love, are painted in the most brilliant colours, and enter their minds by all the organs of the senses • I should never have done if 1 would make a catalogue of all the contradictions in the European education, and especially in that of the Papists. In the thick fog of errors, how shall we discover the path of virtue ? The Catholic, therefore, frequently wanders from it. So that without fixed principles in this matter, it is to his situation, to books, to friends, and to the mistresses that chance has given him, that he owes his virtues or vices. But is there any method of rendering the education of men more independent of chance? and if there be, how is it to be attained ? Teach nothing but the truth. Error is continually at variance with itself: the truth never. Do not abandon the education of the people to two powers, who having two opposite interests, constantly teach two contradictory moralities (31). By what fatality, it will be said, have almost all nations confided to the priesthood the moral instrucLet it not be imagined, from what is here said, that I am for destroying the opera, or the drama. I only mean to condemn the contradiction in our customs and precepts. I am nei ther an enemy to the theatre, nor in this matter of the opinion of M. Rousseau. The theatres are incontestibly pleasing. Now there is no pleasure that in the hands of a wise government may not, by being made the recompence of virtue, become its productive principle. 4 tion TREATISE ON MAN. 49 Necessity for a reform of thePopish religion. tion of their youth ! What is the moral of Papists ? Amedly of superstitions. However there is nothing which thesacerdotal power cannot execute by the aid of superstition. For by that it robs the magistrates oftheir authority, and kings of their legitimate power : it is by that it subdues the people, and acquires a power over them which is frequently superior to the laws ; and finally, by that it corrupts the very principles of morality. What remedy is there for this evil ? There is but one. This science must be entirely reformed. A new spirit must preside over the formation of its new principles, and every part of it must be directed to the public welfare. It is time that under the title of the holy ministers of morality, the magistrates should found it on principles that are simple, clear, and consistent with the general prosperity, and of which all the inhabitants. may form ideas equally just and precise. But will the simplicity and uniformity of these principles agree with the different passions of men ? Their desires may be different, but their manner of regarding objects is essentially the same. They see well and do ill. Every one being born with a just discernment discovers the truth, when it is presented to him in a clear light. With regard to youth, they have more avidity for it, as they are less accustomed to break it, and have less interest to see objects different from what they really are. The minds of young people cannot be drawn from the truth without force. VOL. I. E To 50 TREATISE ON MAN. Reasons against a reform in religion. To produce this effect, all the patience and all the art of modern education are required ; and even then they see by fits the light of natural reason, and the falsity of those opinions with which their memories are charged. Why then do they not efface those, and substitute in their place new ideas ? Such a change of ideas requires time and pains, and is too difficult a task for the greatest part of mankind, who frequently descend to the grave before they have acquired clear and precise ideus of virtue. When will they have just ideas ? When the religi ous system shall coincide with the national prosperity : when religions, the habitual instruments of sacerdotal ambition, shall become the felicity of the public. Is it possible to conceive such a religion ? The examination of this question deserves the attention of the sagacious part of mankind. I shall therefore, by the way, take a view of the false religions. CHAP. XI. OF FALSE RELIGIONS. EVERY religion," says Hobbes, " founded on the " fear of an invisible power, is a tale, that, avowed "by a nation, bears the name of religion, and disa " Yowed TREATISE ON MAN 51 •All religions may be considered political institutions. "vowed by the same nation, bears the name of super- " stition." The nine incarnations of Vistnou are religion in the Indies, and tales at Nuremberg. I shall not make use of the authority of this definition to deny the truth of religion . If I believe my nurse and any tutor, every other religion is false, mine alone is the true . But is it acknowledged for such bythe universe ? No: the earth still groans with the multitude of temples consecrated to error. There is no one that is not the religion of some country. The histories of Numa, Zoroaster, Mahomet, and so many other founders of modern worship, teach us that all religions may be considered as political institutions, which have a great influence on the happiness of nations. I therefore suppose, as the human mind still produces, from time to time, new religions, that it is a matter of importance, in order to render them the least detrimental possible, to point out the plan that should be followed in their formation. All religions are false, except the Christian : but I do not confound that with Popery.

Perhaps this assertion will appear absurd. This absurdity,

however, is common to all men. The ridicule in me, as in them, is the effect of pride. If each one thinks his religion the best, it is because each one says to himself: They who do not think as I do, are wrong. I therefore express myself in the same manner as others. E2 CHAP. • 32 TREATISE ON MAN. Popery is of human institution. CHAP. XII. POPERY IS OF HUMAN INSTITUTION. POPERY in the eyes of a man of sense is nothing more than mere idolatry (32). The Romish church without doubt regarded it as no other than a human institution, when, it made of that religion a scandalous use, an instrument of its avarice and ambition, that served to promote the criminal projects of the popes, and sanction their avidity and pride. But these imputations, say the papists, are calumnies. To prove them to be true, I ask if it be probable that the heads of the monastic orders regarded their religion as divine, when to enrich themselves and their convents, they forbade the monks to inter any one in holy ground who died without making them a bequest. If they were themselves the dupes of a doctrine publicly professed, when they made themselves proprietors (33) of goods, that in quality of stewards for the poor, they ought to have divided among them ? If the popes thought they really practised justice and humility, when they declared themselves the distributors of the kingdoms of America, over which they had no sort of right ? When by a line of demarkation TREATISE ON MAN. 53 • Selfishness of Popery. tion, they divided that part of the world (34) between the Spaniards and Portuguese ? Lastly, when they pretended to reign over princes, direct them in temporal matters, and be the arbitrary disposers of their crowns? O papists ! examine what has been the conduct of your church in all ages. Has it sought to entertain a Roman garrison in every kingdom, and to attach a great number of men to its interest ? (it is the practice of every ambitious sect. ) It has instituted a great number of religious orders ; erected and peopled a great number of monasteries ; and lastly has had the artifice to quarter this ecclesiastical militia in the countries where it was established.

The same motive that made it desire the multiplication of the secular clergy, has multiplied the sacraments and the people, in order to receive them, were obliged to augment the number of their priests. They soon equalled that of the grass-hoppers of Egypt. Like them they devoured the harvests ; these priests, secular and regular, being maintained at the expence of the catholic nations. To bind these priests more closely to its interest, and to enjoy their affection without a rival, the church obliged them to live a life of celibacy, without wives and without children ; but otherwise in a state of ease and luxury, that made their condition continually more pleasing to them. This was not all ; the Romish church, still farther to increase its riches and power, endeavoured, in the E3 name 54 TREATISE ON MAN. Ambition of the heads of the Catholic religion. name of St. Peter, or some other, to raise contributions in every kingdom. By this method, it in effect opened a bank between earth and heaven, and under the name of indulgences, received ready money for bills drawn on heaven and payable to order. Now, as we have seen in every age the sacerdotal character sacrifice virtue to the lust of wealth and power: when we read the history of the popes, and see their policy, their ambition, their manners, in a word their whole conduct, and find it so different from that prescribed by the gospel, how can we imagine that the chiefs of this religion have had any other design than to get possession of all the power and wealth of the earth (55) ? After examining the manners and conduct of the monks, the clergy, and pontiffs, a protestant may, I think, show, for the justification of his belief, and the advantage of nations, that Popery was never any thing more than a human institution . But why have religions been hitherto merely local ? Is it not possible to conceive one that may become universal ? f CHAP. t TREATISE ON MAN. 55 Principles of anuniversal religion.. CHAP. XIII. OF AN UNIVERSAL RELIGION. AN universal religion cannot be founded except on principles that are eternal and invariable, that are drawn from the nature of men and things, and that, like the propositions of geometry, are capable of the most rigorous demonstration . Are there such principles, and can they be equally adapted to all nations ? Yes, doubtless or if they vary, it will be only in some of their applications to those different countries where chance has placed the different nations, But among the principles or laws proper for all societies, which is the first and most sacred ? That which secures to every one his property, his life, and his liberty. When a man is an uncertain proprietor of his land, he will not till his field, he will not cultivate his orchard : the nation soon becomes ravaged and desolated by famine. Is a man the uncertain proprietor of his life and liberty ? He that is in continual fear, is without spirit and without industry : solely concerned for his personal preservation, and wrapt up in himself, he does not regard what passes without him he does B 4 not 56 TREATISE ON MAN. Principles of an universal religion. not study the science of man, nor remark his desires and his passions. It is, however, from this preliminary knowledge that the laws most conformable to the public prosperity are to be deduced. By what fatality have laws so necessary to society, remained unknown, even to the present day ? Why has not heaven hitherto revealed them ? Heaven, I answer, requires that man by his reason should co-operate in his own happiness, and that of the numerous societies of the earth (36) ; and that the master-piece of an excellent legislation should be, like that of other sciences, the product of genius and experience. God has said to man, I have created thee, I have given thee sensations, memory, and consequently reason. It is my will that thy reason, sharpened at first by want, and afterwards enlightened by experience, shall provide thee sustenance, teach thee to cultivate the land, to improve the instruments of labour, of agriculture, in a word, of all the sciences of the first necessity. It is also my will, that by cultivating this, same reason, thou mayst come to a knowledge of my moral will, that is, of thy duties toward society, of the means of maintaining order, and lastly of the knowledge of the best legislation possible. This is the only natural religion to which I would have mankind elevate their minds, that only which can become universal, that which is alone worthy of God, which is marked with his seal, and that of the truth. All others must bear the impression of man, • 5 of TREATISE ON MAN. 57 The priests necessarily hostile to such a religion. of fraud and falsehood . The will of God, just and good, is that the children of the earth should be happy, and enjoy every pleasure compatible with the public welfare. Such is the true worship, that which philosophy should reveal to the world. No other saints would belong to such a religion than the benefactors of humanity ; such as Lycurgus, Solon, Sidney, the inventors of some useful art, some pleasure that is new, but conformable to the general interest : none would be rejected as reprobate, but the enemies of society, and the gloomy adversaries of pleasure. Will the priests † one day become the apostles of such a religion ? Their interest forbids it. The clouds that hover over the principles of morality and legislation (which essentially are the same science) have been brought thither by their policy. It is on the ruins of the greatest part of religions that sound morality must be founded. Would to God that the priests, susceptible of a noble ambition, had sought in the consti-

This is evidently to be understood of mere natural religion,

and has nothing to do with that which is revealed ; for the question here is not, whether the revealed religion be true or false ; but how a natural religion, that would be universally useful, might be established . T. Theauthor means the Romish priests, to whom it is plain he every where refers. T. tuent • 58 TREATISE ON MAN. Glorious distinction which priests might attain. tuent principles of man, the invariable laws by which nature and heaven directs that the happiness of societies be established ! Would to God that the religious system may become the palladium of public felicity ! It is to the priests that these cares should be confided. They would then enjoy a grandeur and glory founded on public gratitude. They might then say to themselves each day of their lives, it is by us that mankind are happy. Such a grandeur, such a lasting happiness appeared to them mean and despicable. You might, O ministers of the altar ! become the idols of intelligent and virtuous men ! you have chosen ⚫ rather to command bigots and slaves ; you have rendered yourselves odious to good citizens, by becoming the plague of nations, the instruments of their unhappiness, and the destroyers of true morality. (Morality founded on true principles is the only true natural religion. ) However, if there should be men whose insatiate credulity (37) cannot be satisfied without a mysterious religion ; let the friends of the mar vellous search out among the religions of that sort, one whose establishment will be least detrimental to society, CHAP. ? TREATISE ON MAN. 59 Expensiveness of the Catholic religion.. CHAP. XIV. OF THE CONDITIONS, WITHOUT WHICH A RELIGION 18 DESTRUCTIVE TO NATIONAL FELICITY. AN intolerant religion, and one whose worship requires & great expence, is undoubtedly a prejudicial religion. Its intolerance must, in process of time, depopulate the nation, and the sumptuous worship exhaust its wealth (38) . There are Roman Catholic countries were they reckon near fifteen thousand convents, twelve thousand priories, fifteen thousand chapels, thirteen hundred abbeys, ninety thousand priests employed in serving forty-five thousand parishes, and besides all these an infinite number of abbés, teachers, and ecclesiastics of every kind, amounting in the whole, to at least three hundred thousand men, whose cost would maintain a formidable army and marine.

In every country containing 300,000 monks, curates, priests,

canons, bishops, &c. they must cost the state, in lodging, cloathing, feeding, &c. one with another, half-a-crown per day. Now, to support this, what prodigious sums must the priesthood raise on the nation, in rents, tenths, pensions, imposts for masses, repairs of churches and chapels, parochial and conventual treasu Are- 60 TREATISE ON MAN. • Expensiveness ofthe Catholic religion. A religion thus expensive to a state (39) cannot long be the religion of an enlightened and well governed ries, seats in churches, offerings, marriages, baptisms, burials, charities, dispensations, missions, &c. The tenths alone that the clergy drawfrom the cultivated lands of a country, are nearly equal to what is received by all its proprietors. In France the arpent * of cultivated land, let at five shillings and six-pence, or six shillings, yields about twenty or twenty-two minots of corn ofthree bushels each. The priest for his tenth takes two ; the price ofthese two minots, or six bushels, may be, one year with another, eight or nine shillings. The priest moreover takes as much straw as may amount to five shillings ; besides histenth of oats and their straw amountingto twenty pence ortwo shillings : total fifteen shillings that the priest takes in the three years for the same land, that yields the proprietor inthe same time sixteen or eighteen shillings, out of which he is to pay the tenth, support his farm, make good the deficiencies of unlet land, and loss byfarmers, &c. From this calculation it is easy to judge of the immense riches ofthe clergy ; suppose wereduce the number to 200,000 ? Their maintenance will then amount to 25,000l. sterling per day, and consequently to nine millions one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds per annum. Now what a fleet and army might be maintained withthis sum ? Awise government, therefore, cannot be desirous of supporting a religion that is so expensive and burthensome tothe subject. In Austria, Spain, and Bavaria, and perhaps, even in France, the priests, (deduction being made for interest paid to annuitants) are richer than the sovereign. Thearpent contains one hundred perches square, of eighteen feet each. T. nation TREATISE ON MAN. 61 • Expensiveness of the Catholic religion. nation (40). The people that submit to it will labour only to maintain the.ease and luxury of the priesthood ; each of its inhabitants will be nothing more than a slave to the sacerdotal power. In order to be good, therefore, a religion should be What remedy is there for this abuse ? There is but one ; and that is to diminish the number of the priests. But there are religions (and the Roman Catholic is of this sort) whose worship requires a great number. Inthis case the worship should be changed, or at least the number of the sacraments diminished . The fewer priests there are, the fewer funds will be necessary for their maintenance. But these funds are sacred. Why? Is it because they are in part usurped from the poor ? The clergy are only the depositaries. Therefore no taxes should be levied on these funds, but such as are absolutely necessary for government. I would ob serve further, that the temporal power being expressly appointed to watch over the temporal happiness ofthe people, it has aright tothe administration of such legacies as are left to the poor, and to take into its own hands the management of all the funds of which the monks have defrauded them. But what use shall be made of them? Apply them to the actual support of the wretched ; either by charities or diminution of taxes, or by the purchase of small possessions, which distributed among those whom poverty has deprived of their property, will, by makingthem proprietors, render them citizens *.

These long notes will not perhaps, afford much entertainment to

an Englishman. They should howeverafford him a sensible pleasure, when he reflects how much happier the inhabitants of this country now are, than their ancestors were a very few centuries past. T. tolerant 62 TREATISE ON MAN. Evils of intolerance. tolerant and little expensive (41). Its clergy should have no authority over the people. A dread of the priest debases the mind and the soul : makes the one brutish and the other servile. Must the ministers of the altar be always armed with the sword ? Can the barbarities committed by their intolerance ever be forgotten ? The earth is yet drenched with the blood it has spilt ! Civil toleration alone is not sufficient to secure the peace ofnations : the ecclesiastic must concar in the same intention. Every dogma is the seed of discord and injustice that is sown among men. Which is the truly tolerant religion ? That which like the pagan has no dogma, or which may be reduced, like that of the philosophers, to a sound, and elevated morality ; which will, doubtless be one day the religion of the universe. It is requisite, moreover, that a religion be gentle and humane : That its ceremonies contain nothing gloomy or severe : That it constantly present spectacles that are pompous, and festivals that are pleasing (42) : That its worship excite the passions, but such pas sions only as tend to the public utility ; the religion that stifles them produces Talapoins, Bonzes, and Bramins ; but never heroes, illustrious men, and noble citizens. The religion that is joyful, supposes a noble confidence TREATISE ON MAN. 63 Wrong ideas inculcated by ecclesiastics. fidence in the goodness of the Supreme Being. Why would you have him resemble an Eastern tyrant? Why make him punish slight faults with eternal torment? Whythus put the name of the Divinity at the bottom of the portrait of the devil ? Why oppress the soul with a load of fear, break its springs, and transform the worshipper of Jesus, into a vile pusillanimous slave ? It is the malignant who paint a milignant God. Whatis their devotion ? A veil for their crimes. A religion departs from its political purpose, when the man who is just, humane toward his brethren, and distinguished for his talents and his virtues, is not assured ofthefavour of heaven : when a momentary desire, a burst of passion, or omission of a mass, can deprive him of it for ever. Let not the rewards of heaven be made the price of trifling religious operations, which convey a diminutive idea of the Eternal, and false conceptions of virtue ; its rewards should never be assigned to fasting, haircloth, a blind submission , and self-castigation. The man who places these operations amongthe virtues, might as well include in the number leaping, dancing, and tumbling on the rope. What is it to the public whether a young fellow flog himself or take a perilous leap ? As the fever was formerly deified, why not deify the public good ? Why has not this divinity his worship, his temple, and his priests ; (43) and lastly, why make a virL 64 TREATISE ON MAN. 1 Humility not to be considered a national virtue. a virtue of self-denial ? Humanity is in man the only virtue truly sublime : it is the principal, and perhaps the only one with which religion ought to inspire mankind, as it includes almost all others. Let humility be held in veneration by a convent : it favours the meanness and idleness of a monastic life (44). But ought this humility to be the virtue of a people ? No : A noble pride has ever been that of a renowned nation . It was the spirit of contempt, with which the Greeks and Romans regarded the slavish nations ; it was a just and lofty opinion of their own courage and force, that, concurring with their laws, enabled them to subdue the universe*. Pride, it will be said, attaches a man to the earth : so much the better ; pride is therefore useful. Let religion, far from oppo-

That theRomans owed much oftheir exaltation to this spirit

is very certain, but it is not so certain that they made a right use of it, or at least did not carry it to an excess ; for as Lord Bolingbroke observes, in his Letters on the Study of History, when speaking of the Roman nation, during the career of their conquests, when theyhad not yet learned the lesson of moderation : " An insatia- "ble thirst of military fame, an unconfined ambition of extending "their empire, an extravagant confidence in their own knowledge “and force, an insolent contempt of their enemies, and an impetuous, overbearing spirit, with which they pursued all their enter- "prizes, composed at that time the distinguishing character of a " Roman ; and their sages had not then learned, that virtues in 66 excess degenerate into vices." T. 66 sing TREATISE ON MAN. 65 Principles of the Pagan religion. sing, encrease in man an attachment to things terrestrial ; let every citizen be employed in promoting the prosperity, the glory and power of his country ; and let religion be the panegyrist of every action that promotes the welfare of the majority, sanctify all useful establishments, and never destroy them. May the interest of the spiritual and temporal powers be for ever one and the same ; may these two powers be reunited, as at Rome, in the hands of the magistrates (45) may the voice of heaven be henceforth that of the public good : and may the oracles of God confirm every law that is advantageous to the people ! CHAP. XV. AMONG THE FALSE RELIGIONS, WHICH HAVE BEEN LEAST DETRIMENTAL TO THE HAPPINESS OF SOCIETY ? THE first I shall mention is that of the Pagans : but at the time of its institution, this pretended religion was nothing more than the allegorical system ofnature. Saturn was Time, Ceres, Matter ; and Jupiter the generating Spirit (46). All the fables of mythology were mere emblems of certain principles of nature. When we consider it as a religious system, was it so absurd to VOL. I. F adore 1 66 TREATISE ON MAN. Principles of the Pagan religion. adore, under various names, the different attributes of the Divinity * ? In the temples of Minerva, of Venus, Mars, Apollo, and Fortune, whom did they adore ? Jupiter, by turns considered as wise, beautiful, powerful, enlightening and fertilising the universe. Is it more rational to erect, under the names of St. Eustache, St. Martin, or St. Roch, temples to the Supreme Being ? But the Pagans knelt before statues of wood or stone. The Catholics do the same ; and if we mayjudge by external appearances, they frequently express more veneration for their saints than forthe Eternal. I am willing to allow moreover that the Pagan religion was the most absurd. It is wrong for a religion to be absurd : its absurdity may have mischievous consequences. This fault, however, is not of the first magnitude ; and if its principles be not entirely opposite to the public good, if its maxims may be made agreeable to the laws, and the general utility, it is even the least detrimental of all others. Such was the Pagan religion. It never opposed the projects of a patriotie legislature. It was without dogmas, and consequently humane and tolerant. There could be no dispute, no war among its sectaries that the slightest attention of the magistrates would not prevent. Its

We are astonished at the absurdity of the Pagan religion :

posterity will one day be far more astonished at the religion of the Papists. worship TREATISE ON MAN. 67 Principles of the Pagan religion. worship moreover did not require a great number of priests, and therefore was not necessarily a charge to the state. Their Lares or domestic gods, sufficed for the daily worship of individuals. Some temples erected in large cities, some colleges of priests, some pompous festivals, were sufficient for their rational devotion. These festivals, inthe vacation from rural labours, gave the inhabitants an opportunity to visit the cities, and became thereby a season of pleasure. Though these feasts were magnificent, they were rare, and conscquently but little expensive. The Pagan religion had not therefore any of the inconveniencies of Popery. This religion of the senses was moreover the most proper for mankind, the best adapted to produce those strong impressions that it is necessary for the legisla ture sometimes to excite in the people. The imagina . tion being thereby continually kept in action, nature was held in entire subjection to the empire of Poesy, which enlivened and invigorated every part of the universe. The summits ofthe mountains, the wide extended plains, the impenetrable forests, the sources, of the rivers, and the depths of the scas, were peopled by the Oreades, the Fauns, the Napæ, the Hamadryades, the Tritons, and Nereides. The gods, and goddesses lived in society with mortals, took a part in their feasts, their wars, and their amours ; Neptune supped with the king of Ethiopia. The Nymphs and Heroes sat down among the Gods. Latona had her altars. F2 The 68 TREATISE ON MAN. Passions encouraged by the Pagan religion. ' The deified Hercules espoused Hebe. These celebrated heroes inhabited the fields and the groves of Elysium. Those fields, since adorned by the ardent imagination of the prophet, who transported thither the Houris, were the abode of various and illustrious men of every sort. It was there that Achilles, Patroclus, Ajax, Agamemnon, and all those heroes that fought under the walls of Troy, were still employed in military exercises ; it was there that Pindar and Homer still celebrated the Olympic games, and the exploits of the Greeks. The sort of exercise and song that had been the occupation of the heroes and poets on the earth ; in a word, all the tastes they had contracted, accompanied them in the infernal regions. Their death was properly no other than a prolongation of their life. According to this religion, what must have been the most earnest desire, the most cogent interest of the Pagans ? That of serving their country by their talents, their courage, their integrity, their generosity, by all their virtues. It became a matter of importance to render themselves dear to those, with whom they were to continue their existence after death . Far from extinguishing that enthusiasm which a wise legislation inspires for virtue and talents, it was by this religion more strongly excited. The ancient legislators convinced of the utility of the passions, had no desire to stifle them. What sort of men would you look for among a people without desires ? Merchants, captains, 5 soldiers, TREATISE ON MAN. 69 Passions excited bythe Scandinavian religion. soldiers, men of letters, able ministers ? No : none but monks. A people without industry, courage, riches, and science, are born the slaves of any neighbour that has boldness enough to put on their fetters. Men must have passions, and the Pagan religion did not extinguish in them the sacred and animating fire. Perhaps the Scandinavian, a little different from the Greek and Roman, led mankind to virtue by a more efficacious method. Reputation was the god of this people. It was the only divinity from whom the inhabitants expected their reward. Every one aspired to be the child of Reputation. Every one honoured the bards, as the distributors of glory, and the priests of the temple of renown *. The silence of the bards was dreadful to warriors, and even to princes. Contempt was the lot of every one that was not the child of Reputation. Flattery was then unknown to the poets. The severe and incorruptible inhabitants of a free country, they had not then debased themselves by servile eulogies. No one among them even dared to celebrate a name that the public esteem had not already consecrated. To obtain this esteem, a man must have rendered some

The advantage ofthis religion over some others is inestimable ;

as it rewards those talents and actions only that are useful to our country ; andthe heaven of other religions, is the reward offasting, solitude, castigation, and other stupid virtues that are useless to society. F3 service 70 TREATISE ON MAN. Method ofchanging received religious opinions. service to his country. The religious and powerful desire ofimmortal fame, therefore, excited men to render themselves illustrious bytheir talents, and their virtues. What advantage must not such a religion, that was at the same time more pure than the Pagan, procure to a nation ! But is a religion of this sort to be established in a society already formed ? The attachment of a people to the prevailing worship is well known, and their horror against a new religion . What method can be taken to change the received opinions ? The method is perhaps more easy than may be imagined. If in a nation reason be tolerated, it will substitute the religion of Renown in preference to all others. But if it should substitute mere Deism, what advantage will it not give to humanity * ! But will the worship rendered to the Divinity, remain a long time pure ? The people are groveling ; superstition is their religion. The temples elevated at first to the Eternal, will soon be consecrated to his several perfections ; ignorance will make of them as many gods. Be it so : and so far let the magistrate permit them to go : but arrived there, let the same magistrate, attentive to direct the progress of ignorance, and more especially of superstition, keep it always in view ; let him observe That is, how much better is it that man should be mere Deists than Papists : not know Christianity, than make it subservient to wicked and contemptible purposes ! T. what TREATISE ON MAN. 71 Thecharacters ofpriest and magistrate ought to be united. what form it assumes, and oppose the establishment of every dogma, every principle inconsistent with sound morality, that is to say, with the public utility. Every man is jealous of his fame. If the magis trate, as at Rome, unites in his person the double office of senator and minister of the altar (47) ; the priest in him should be constantly subordinate to the senator, and religion constantly subordinate to the public happiness. The abbé de St. Pierre has said, the priest cannot be really useful but in quality of an officer of morality. Now, who can better fill that noble function than the magistrate? Who better than he can show the motives of general interest, on which are founded partiticular laws, and the indissolubility of the bond that unites the happiness of individuals with that of the public. What influence would not moral instruction, given by a senate, have on the minds of the people ? With what respect would not the latter receive the decisions of theformer? It is from thelegislative body alone that we can expect a beneficent religion, one moreover that is tolerant and not expensive, and that offers no ideas of the Divinity but what are grand and solemu : that excites the soul to a love of talents and virtue ; and lastly, that has not, like the legislature, any other object than the felicity of the people. Let sagacious magistrates be clothed with temporal and spiritual power, and all contradiction between religious F 4 and 72 TREATISE ON MAN. Causes ofthe confused ideas which men have of mortality. and patriotic precepts will disappear : all the people will adopt the same principles of morality, and will form the same idea of a science in which it is so important for all of them to be equally instructed. Perhaps many ages will elapse before the alterations that are requisite for human happiness can be made in the false religions. What has happened to the present hour ? That men have nothing but confused ideas of morality ideas that they owe to their different situtions, and to chance, which never gives to two men precisely the same series of circumstances, nor ever permits them to receive the same instructions, and acquire the same ideas. Hence 1 conclude, that the inequality actually perceived in the understandings of different men, cannot be considered as a proof of their unequal aptitude to acquire it. NOTES NOTES. 1. (page 4.)THE science of man is the science of philosophers ; to whomthe politicians think themselves, in this respect, far su perior. They in fact know more of the cabals of a cabinet, and in consequence conceive the highest opinion of their own abilities. If they are curious to know their merit, let them write on man, and publish their thoughts : the esteem they will be held in by the public will teach them what esteem they ought to have for themselves. 2. (ibid . ) The minister knows the details of business better than the philosopher. His information in this line is more extensive : but the latter has more leisure to study the heart of man, and knows it better than the minister. They are both, by their diffe rent species of study, destined to elucidate each other. The minister who would promote the public good, should be the friend and protector of letters. Before it was forbidden at Paris to print any thing but Catechisms and Almanacs, it was to the numerous pamphlets ofintelligent men, that France, they say, owed the advantage of exporting corn, which was demonstrated by men of science. The minister, who was then at the head ofthe finances, availed himself of their information. 3. (p. 3. ) To whatever degree of perfection education may be carried, let it not be imagined, however, that all who are able to receive it may be made men of genius. Bythe aid of instruction an emulation may be excited among the people, they may be habituated to attention, have their hearts opened to humanity, and their minds to truth ; in a word, all the people may be made, if not men ofgenius, at least men ofunderstanding and sensibility. But, as I shall prove in the course of this work, this is all the im proved 74 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION I. proved science of education can perform, and it is enough. A nation composed in general of such sort of men would be, without dispute, the first in the universe. 4. (p. 6.) At Vienna, Paris, Lisbon, and in all the catholic countries, the sale of operas, dramas, romances, and even some good books of geometry and medicine is permitted ; but ofevery other sort, the works of superior merit, and that is regarded as such by the rest of Europe, is prohibited . Such are those of Vol. taire, Marmontel, Rousseau, Montesquieu, &c. In France, the approbation ofthe censor, is almost always a certificate ofthe stu pidity ofan author. It announces a book without enemies, which at first will be received with approbation, because no one troubles himself about it, because it does not excite envy, nor wound any one's pride ; and contains nothing but what all the world knows. The general eulogy of the moment of publication, almost always excludes that offuturity. 5. (p. 7.) The scholastic, says the English proverb, is a mere ass, that having neither the meekness of a Christian, nor the reasou ofa philosopher, nor the affability of a courtier, is nothing more than an object ofridicule. 6. (ibid.) What is the science of scholastics ? it is to abuse words, and render their signification uncertain. It was byvirtue ofcertain barbarous terms that the magicians formerly destroyed enchanted castles, or. at leasttheir appearance. The scholastics, heirs of the power of the ancient magicians, have, by virtue of certain unintelligible words, in like manner given the appearance of ascienceto the most absurd reveries. If there be a way to destroy their enchantments, it must be by obliging them to give a precise definition ofthe terms they use. Were they forced to annex clear ideas to their terms, the magic of their science would vanish. We should, therefore, mistrust every work where frequent use is made of the language of the schools ; that in common use is almost always sufficient for those that have clear ideas. He that would trust, and not deceive mankind, should speak their Janguage. 7. (p. 9.) TREATISE ON MAN. 75 NOTES ON SECTION I. 7. (p. 9.) There are but few countries where the sciences of morality and politics are studied. Young people are seldom permitted to exercise their minds on subjects ofthis sort. The priests are unwilling they should contract a habit of reasoning. The word rational is now synonymous with incredulous. The clergy probably suspect that the arguments for faith, like the little wings of Mercury, are too weak to support it. To be a phi losopher, says Mallebranche, we must see clearly ; and to be true believers, we must believe blindly. Mallebranche did not perceive that he made a fool of his firm believer. In fact, wherein does a silly credulity consist ? in believing without sufficient evidence. I shall here be told of the faith of Charbonnier. He was in a particularsituation. He conversed with God, who gave him an inward light. Every man except this Charbonnier, who boasts of blind faith, and a belief on hearsay, is therefore a man puffed up with infatuation. 8. (p. 10. ) Let us sometimes amuse ourselves with the paintings of ridicule. There is nothing better. Every excellent piece of this sort supposes a large share of discernment in him that drew it. What does society owe him ? a tribute of gratitude and ap plause proportionate to the evils his ridicule has banished, by exposing this or that defect. Anation that should regard this matter as important, would be itself ridiculous. " Ofwhat consequence "is it, says an English author, that a certain citizen is singular in his "humour: that apetit maitre is curious in his dress, or a coquet " affected in her behaviour ? she may white-wash, paint, and patch "her face and lie with her gallant, without affecting my property : "the incessant flutter of a fan does not injure my constitution." A nation too much busied with the coquetry of a woman, or the foppery of a petit maitre, is evidently a frivolous nation. 9. (p. 11.) All nations have reproached the French with their frivolity. "If the French, said Mr. Saville formerly, are frivolous, the Spaniards grave and superstitious, the English serious "and profound ; these properties are the effects oftheir forms of ་ ་ government. It is at Paris that the man curious in trinkets and " dress 76 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION 1. "dress ought to fix his abode : it is at Madrid and Lisbon they "ought to reside who love to give themselves discipline, and see "their brethren burnt alive ; and lastly it is at London they " shouldlive, who would think, and exert that faculty which princi- "pally distinguishes the man from the brute. According tothis "author, there are but three subjects worthy of consideration : " nature, religion, and government. Now, as the French, says he, " dare notthink on these subjects, their books, insipid to men, can "afford entertainment only to women. Liberty alone enobles the " spirit of a nation, and the spirit of a nation is that of its writers. " The minds ofthe French are without energy. The only estima- "ble author among them that I have a regard for is Montaigne. "Few of his fellow-subjects are worthy to admire him to feel "him we must think, and to think we must be free * ." 10. (p. 26.) The Jesuits afford a striking example ofthe power of education. If their order has produced few men of genius in the arts or sciences ; if they have had no Newton in physics, no Racine in Tragedy, no Huygens in astronomy, or Pot in chy mistry ; no Bacon, Locke, Voltaire, Fontaine, &c. it is not that the religious of this order never find among their scholars those who discover the greatest genius. The Jesuits moreover, from the tranquillity of their colleges, have not their studies molested by any avocations, and their manner of living is the most favoura ble to the acquisition oftalents. Why then have they given so few illustrious men to Europe ? It is because surrounded by fanatics and bigots, a Jesuit dares not think but after his superiors : it

A great part of that universal respect which is paid to the

writings ofMontaigne arises, I imagine, from his unparalleled frankness. Wesee his inmost thoughts ; and there is in the human mind such a strong relish for the truth, when it does not oppose our interest, that wherever we are sure we see it, we are sure to be pleased. Montaigne wrote whatever he thought ; most authors write whatever they think will please their readers. T. is, TREATISE ON MAN. 77 NOTES ON SECTION 1. is, moreover, because forced to apply themselves for years toge ther tothe study of the casuists and theology, that study, so repug mant to sound reason, destroys its efficacy on them. How can they preserve on the benches ajust judgment the habit ofsophis try must corrupt it. 11. (ibid. ) If all the Savoyards have in a manner the same character, it is because chance has placed them in situations nearly similar, and that they almost all receive nearly the same education. Whyarethey all travellers ? because there is no living with out money, and they have none at home. Why are they laborious ? because they are without assistance, and without protec tion in the countries to which they transplant themselves ; and bread is notto be had without labour. Why are theyfaithful and 'diligent ? because to be employed in preference to the natives, they must surpass them in diligence and fidelity. Why, in the last place , are they all frugal ? because having, like other men, an attachment to their native country, they go out beggars to return rich, and live on what they have accumulated. Suppose, therefore, we had the greatest desire to inspire a youngman with the virtues of a Savoyard, which is tobe done? place him in a similar situation ; and let a part ofhis education be confided to misfortune and indigence. Want and poverty are the only instructors whose lessons are always heard, and whose counsels are always efficacious. But if the national manners will not permit him to receive such an education, what other must be substituted for it ? I do not know : no other can be so certain. Weshould not be surprised, therefore, if he do not acquire any of the virtues we desire him to have. Who can wonder at the want of success in an education that is insufficient. 12. (p. 29.) Shakspeare never played but one part well, which was the ghost in Hamlet. 13. (ibid . ) See the extract in the Dictionary of Moreri, and the extract from the Republic of Letters : Jan. 1685, " It was to "alady to whom was given at Rouen the name ofMelita, that " France 78 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION 1. "France owes the great Corneille." It is in like manner to love that England owes the celebrated Hogarth. 14. (p. 31.) The greater part of men of genius would have it believed that their early youth announced what they should one day be this is their foible. Would they pretend to be of asuperior race tothe rest of mankind? be it so. Let us not dispute this point with their vanity : we shall affront them ; but let us not believe it on their mere assertion ; we should deceive ourselves. Nothingis more illusory and uncertain than these first prognostics. Newton and Fontenelle were but indifferent scholars. The classes are filled with clever children, and the world with foolish men. 15. (ibid. ) The life or death, the favour or disgrace of a patron, frequently determine our future state and profession. How many men of genius do we owe to accidents of this sort. Falsehood, meanness and frivolity reign in acourt ? do men live there without regard to truth, humanity, and posterity ? Who can doubt but disgrace or oppression may be sometimes salutary to a courtier ; he may recollect in exile what man owes to himself; and removed from the dissipations of a court, a habit of study and meditation may chance to produce inhim the developement ofthe mostexalted talents. (See on this head Ld. Bolingbroke's Reflections on Exile.) 16. (ibid. ) M. Rousseau is not insensible ; his very railing against women is a proof of it. Every one ofthem may apply to him this verse. "Tout jusqu'à tes mepris, m'a prouvé ton amour. " All, even thy disdain, declares thy love. * 17. (p. 32.) M. Rousseau in his works has always appearedto me less solicitous to instruct than to seduce his readers. Every where the orator, and seldom the reasoner, he forgets that though it is

It is proper to add here, that M. Rousseau has since made the

greatest atonement a man can make for railing at women ; that of marrying. T, sometimes TREATISE ON MAN. 79 NOTES ON SECTION 1. sometimes permitted to make use of eloquence in philosophic discussions, it is only when the importance of an opinion already received is tobe strongly impressed onthe mind. Was it necessary, for example, to rouse the Athenians from their stupor, and arm them against Philip ? It was then incumbent on Demosthenes to exert allthepowers of his eloquence, but when a new opinion is tobe examined, reason alone should be employed ; he that is then eloquent is wrong. Does the English house ofcommons always pay a due attention to the different use that should be made ofeloquence, and the spirit of discussion ? 18. (p. 33.) M. Rousseau became acquainted at Montmorency with Marshal Luxembourg ; that nobleman had an affection for him, and honoured his talents, protected him, and by that protec tion acquired a right to the acknowledgment of all men of letters. Let not learned men blush to extol the truly great, why should they refuse praise where it is deserved ? if the people have need of instruction, the literati have need of protectors. The friendship of Marshal Luxembourg could not, it is true, protect M. Rousseau from persecution. Perhaps the influence of that nobleman was not sufficiently strong ; or perhaps the protector of the good and great is not so powerful as the hypocrisy of the bad. It may be added to the praise of M. Luxembourg, that he never lavished his favours on those insects of literature who reflect disgrace on their protector. " If great men chuse indifferently, says Lord Shaftesbury, any "subject for their bounty, and are pleased to confertheir favour "" 86 on some one pretender to art, or promiscuously on such of the "tribe ofwriters, whose chief ability has lain in making their court "well, and obtaining to be introduced to their acquaintance. This they think sufficient to instal them patrons of wit, and masters " of the literate order. But this method will, of any other the "least serve their interest or design. The ill placing of rewards "is a double injury to merit ; and in every cause or interest, "passes for worse than mere indifference or neutrality. There can 80 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION 1. "canbe no excuse for making an ill choice. Merit in every kind "is easily discovered when sought. The public itself fails not to "give sufficient indications, and points out those genuisses which "want only countenance and encouragement to become conside- "rable. An ingenious man never starves unknown ; and great 'men must wink hard, or it would be impossible for them to miss "such advantageous opportunities, of shewing their generosity, and "acquiring the universal esteem, acknowledgements, and good "wishes ofthe ingenious and learned part ofmankind. " 66 "Advice to an Author, Sect. I. p. 229. 19. (p. 38.) More than half a million sterling seized in Spain on two procurators of the Jesuits at Paraguay, shows that in preaching a contempt for riches, the Jesuits have not been thedupes of their own sermons. 20. (p. 39.) Of all legends the most ridiculous are those which the monks write concerning the founders of their orders. They say, for example : " That at the sight of a fawn pursued by the "wolves, St. Omer commanded them to stop, and they immediately obeyed. " "That St. Florent having no shepherd, ordered a bear he met " bythe way to feed his sheep, and the bear led them to the pas " ture every day. " That St. Francis greeted the birds, talked to them, and com- "manded them to hear the word of God, and the birds hearingthe "discourse of St. Francis, were exceedingly glad, stretching out "their necks, and opening their beaks. "That the same St. Francis passed eight days with a grass- "hopper ; sung a whole day together with a nightingale ; cured a mad wolf, and said to him, Brother wolf, you ought to 66 promise me that you will not hereafter be so ravenous as you " have been ; which the wolf promised by bowing his head. St. "Francis thensaid to him , Give me your pledge, and at the same "time held out his hand to receive it, and the wolf gentlylifting "up TREATISE ON MAN. 81. NOTES ON SECTION 1. " up his right paw, put it on the hand of the saint." Theywrite also that many other saints took delight in talking with brutes. 21. (p. 41.) They certainly do not attach a clear idea to the wordpassions, when they regard them as detrimental . This is a mere dispute about words. The theologians themselves have never said that the lively passion of the love of God is a crime. Theyhave not condemned Decius for devoting himself in the field of battle to the infernal gods. They have never reproached Pelopidas with that animated love ofhis country which armed him against the tyrants, and engaged him in a most perilous enterprize. Our desires are our motives, and it is the force of our desires which deterinines that ofour virtuesand vices. A man without desire, and without want, is without invention and without reason. No motive can engage him to combine or compare his ideas with each other. The more a man approaches that state of apathy, the more stupid he becomes. If the sovereigns of the East are in general so ignorant, it is because discernment is the child of desire and want. Now the Sultans feel neither the one nor the other. There is no pleasure which a simple act of their will does not procure invention therefore is almost always useless. The only instancein which it becomes necessary, is, when desirous of the title of a conqueror, they would ravish the scepter from some neighbouring potentate. In every other circumstance to require sagacity in a despotic prince, is to require an effect without a cause. Toreckon in an arbitary government on the capacity of a monarch born to the throne, is absurd. So that without the chance of a very extraordinary education, there are few sovereigns at once absolute and intelligent. Therefore history commonly in the number of greatmonarchs, reckons only such as Henry IV. Frederic, Catherine II. &c. and those princes, whose education has been severe, and who have had a fortune to make, and a thousand obstacles to surmount. • 22. (ibid.) A bigot may excel in geometry, and a certain sort of painting ; but when we consider the present contradiction beVOL. I. tween 82; TREATISE ON MAN.. NOTES ON SECTION I. tween the interest of the public, and the interest of the priest, a man cannot, without inconsistency, be at once religious and a statesman, a saint and a good citizen, that is to say, an honest man. This is a truth that will be demonstrated in the course of this work. 23. (p. 42.) It was formerly the petit maitre who knew a things without learning any thing ; now it is the theologian. Ask him about the nature of animals : they are, he will say, mere machines. But by what argument does he support this assertion ? has he, in quality either of sportsman or philosopher, studied the the constitution and manners of animals ? No. He has brought up neither dog nor cat, not so much as a sparrow : but he is a doctor, and, from the moment he took his degree, he has thought himself, like the emperor of China, obliged by the etiquet ofhis rank, to answer to all that is asked him, I know it. The stoical sage was supposed to be versed in all arts and sciences ; he was the universal scholar. The theologian is the same; he is poet, mathematician, philosopher, watch-maker, &c. That he may have all these talents I agree : but I shall not read his verses or buy his watches. Will he permit me to give him a word of advice ; it is, before he talks of animals, to consult the works of M. Buffon, and three or four letters in the Journal Etranger, by an accurate observer and a good writer : and to forbear to attack my sentiments on this point. I have given, they say, a mind and reason to brutes. That is a favour I did the doctors. What was your acknowledgment, Oungrateful mortals ! 24. (ibid.) The property of despotic government is to weaken the movements of the passions in man. A consumption is therefore the mortal malady of these empires and governments, and the people subject to them have not, in general, either the confidence or courage of republicans. Even the latter have not excited our admiration, but in those critical moments when their passions were in the highest effervescence. In what times did the Hollanders and the Swiss perform actions more than human ? When TREATISE ON MAN. 83 NOTES ON SECTION I. When animated by the two violent passions of vengeance, and a hatred oftyrants. Passions are necessary to a people ; this is a truth ofwhich every body is now convinced, except the Guardian ofthe Capuchins. 25. (p. 43.) The Turk supposes woman to be formed for the pleasure ofman, and created to irritate his desires. Such, he says, is the evident design of nature. Therefore that in Turkey they should permit art to add to the beauty of their women, that they should even enjoin them to improve the methods of pleasing, is quite natural. What abuse can be made of beauty that is confined in aseraglio? Suppose, if you please, a country where the women are in common. In such a country, the more methods they should invent to seduce, the more they would multiply the pleasures ofman. Whatever degree ofperfection of this kind they might attain, we may be sure that their coquetry would have nothing contrary to the public good. All that could be then required ofthem, would be that they should preserve so much veneration for their beauty and their favours, as to bestowthem only on men distinguished by their genius, their courage, or their probity. By this method their favours would become an encouragement to talents and virtue. But in Turkey if the women may, without inconvenience, instruct themselves in all the arts ofdelight, is it the same in such a country as Europe, (where they are not shut up, nor common, ) where, as in France, every house is open ; is it to be imagined, that by the women's multiplying the arts to please, they would much augment the happiness of their husbands ? I doubt it : and till some reformation is made in the laws ofmatrimony, what art might add to the natural beauties of the sex, would perhaps be inconsistent with the use that the European laws permit them to make ofit. 26. (p. 45.) There are men who pretend to veracity, by virtue of their calumnies ; whereas nothing is more opposite to truth than slander : the one, always indulgent, is inspired by humanity ; the other, always severe, is the daughter of pride, of hatred, malevoG 2 lence, 84 TREATISE ON MAN. 1 NOTES ON SECTION I. lence, and envy. The tone and gesture of detraction always discover its parent. 27. (p. 45.) We cannot without a crime, conceal the truth from the people and the sovereign ; what man has ever been without reproach in this respect. 28. (p. 46.) If on reading the ecclesiastical history, a youngItalian, shocked atthe follies and villainies ofthe popes, should doubt their infallibility : What an impious doubt ! his preceptor 'would exclaim. But, replies the pupil, I speak what I think; and have you not always forbidden me to lie ? Yes, in ordinary cases ; but in favour of the church falsehood is a duty. And what interest have you in the pope ? A very great one, replies the preceptor. If the pope's infallibility be acknowledged no one can resist his will. The people must obey him implicitly. Now what consi deration does not this respect for the pope reflect on all the eccle siastical body, and consequently on me? 29. (ibid.) Whoever in writing history alters the facts, is a bad citizen. He deceives the public, and deprives it of the inestimable advantage it might receive from that history. But in what nation can we find a just historian, and a real adorer of the God of truth ? is it in France, in Portugal, or in Spain ? No; it is only in a free and reformed country. 30. (ibid. ) Why are the theological disputes about grace interminable? Because, luckily for the disputants, neither one side nor the other have any clear ideas of what they talk about. Do they present such as are more clear in their definitions of the Divinity? Cardinal Perron, after having in a set discourse proved the existence of a God, to Henry III. said to him, " Ifyour majesty please, I will now prove his non-existence just as clearly* ."

There is scarcely any proposition that may not be proved

either true or false, in words ; but this sort of proof is very different from that which enforces conviction on the mind. All the arguments which the most subtle wit can imagine, will never con- vince TREATISE ON MAN. 85 NOTES ON SECTION 1. vince a thinking man, that there is not one eternal, infinite, omnipotent, creating Power ; though they may so confound his ideas that he may not be able to unravel the sophistry. Quibbles ofthis kind, especially when applied to subjects of importance, are a scandalous abuse of the rational faculty, and discover an insolent contempt of the party to whom they are offered. T. 31. (p. 48.) Why do the most part of sensible people regard all religions as incompatible with sound morality ? Because the priests of every religion set themselves up as the only judges of the goodness or badness of human actions ; it is because they would have the decisions of theology regarded as the real code of morality. Now the priest is a man, and in that qualityjudges in conformity to his interest ; and his interest is almost always op posite that of the public ; therefore the greatest part of his judg ments are unjust. Such, however, is the power of the priest over the minds ofthe people, that they have frequently more veneration for the sophistries of the schools, than for the sound maxims of morality. What clear ideas can the people form about them. The decisions of the church, as variable as its interests, involve them continually in confusion, obscurity, and contradiction. What does the church substitute for the true principles ofjustice ? Ridiculous ceremonies and observances. So that Machiavel in his Discourses on Livy, attributesthe excessive iniquity of the Italians to the falsehood and contradictions in the moral precepts ofthe Catholic religion. 32. (p. 52.) Man, says Fontenelle, has made God after his own image, and could not make him otherwise. The monks in like manner have fashioned the celestial court after those of oriental mɔnarchs : theprince is there invisible to the greatest part of his subjects, and accessible only to his courtiers. The complaints ofthe people do notreach him butthrough the ears ofhis favourites. The G 3 monks ( 86 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION 1. monks have, in like manner, environed the throne of the Monarch ofthe universe, by those whom they call saints, and would not have the celestial favours obtained but by the intercession of these saints. But what must be done to render them propitious ? The priests assembled for this purpose decide, that the images of the saints in wood, sculptured or unsculptured, should be placed in the churches, and that the people should kneel before them, as before the Almighty; that the external signs of adoration should be the same for the Eternal and for his favourites ; in short, that honoured by the Christians, as the Penates and the Fetiches by the Pagans and Savages, St. Nicholas in Russia, for example, and St. Januarius at Naples, should be treated with greater respect than God himself. It is on these facts that are founded the accusations brought against the Greek and Latin churches. It is tothe last epsecially, that we owe the re-establishment of Fetichism. Thus France has a national Fetiche in St. Denis, and a Fetiche of its capital in St. Genevieve ; and there is no community, nor even inhabitant, that has not his particular Fetiche under the name of Peter, Claud, Martin, &c. "6 33. (p. 52.) There are no frauds, falsehoods, tricks, breaches of confidence, in short, no methods more base and villainous than those whichthe priests have employed to encrease their wealth. The Capitularies collected by Baluze, vol. ii. inform us bywhat means the clergy of France formerly acquired their tenth. They produced a letter, which they said came down from heaven, "and was written byJesus Christ ; in which our Saviourthreatened "the Pagans, the Sorcerers, and those who did not pay the tenth. "to blast their fields with sterility, and to send flying serpentsinto " their houses, to devour the breasts oftheir women." This first letter not succeeding, the priests had recourse tothe devil. They produced him (see the same Capitularies, vol. i.) in an assembly ofthe nation, and the devil becoming at once apostle and missionary, and zealously concerned for the welfare of France, endeavoured to recall them to their duty by salutary castigations. 5 "Open TREATISE ON MAN. 87 NOTES ON SECTION I. "Open your eyes at last, said the clergy, the devil himself was "the author ofthe last famine ; it was he that devoured the corn " in the ear : dread his fury. He has declared, in the midst of "the fields, with dreadful howlings, that he will inflict the most "cruel punishment on those hardened Christians who refuse the "tenth." So many impostors onthe part ofthe clergy prove that, in the time ofCharlemagne, none but the pious souls paid the tenth. If the clergy were supposed to have had a right to levy it, they would not have had recourse to God and the devil. This fact brings to my recollection another ofthe same sort; it is the sermon of a vicar on the same subject. " O, my dear parishioners, said he, do not follow the example of the "wretched Cain, but much rather that of the good Abel. Cain "wouldneverpay the tenth, nor go to mass. Abel, on the con- "trary, always paid it with the fairest and best, and never once "missed a mass." Grotius, on the subject of tenths and donations, says, "that the scruple of Tiberius in accepting such gifts, should make the monks ashamed of their rapacity." " 34. (p. 53.) The popes by their ridiculous pretensions on America, have given the example of iniquity, and authorised all the acts of injustice which the Christians have there exercised. When there was one day, an examination inthe House ofCommons, whether a district situated on the confines of Canada, belonged to France, one of the members rose and said, " This "question, gentlemen, is the more delicate, as the French, as well as we, are fully persuaded that the land in question does not belong to the natives of the country." "" " 35. (p. 54. ) After these facts, though the papists may still boast ofthe great perfection to which their religion exalts the morals of mankind, theywill make no proselytes. To showthe pretensions of the papists, let them be asked what is the object ofthe science ofmorality? It will appear that it cannot be any thing else than the public good; forifwerequire virtues in individuals, it is becausethe virtues G4 of 88 TREATISE ON MAN, NOTES ON SECTION I. ofthe members constitute the felicity of thewhole body. Now it is evident that the only method to render the people at once learned,. virtuous, and happy, is to secure the property ofindividuals by. soundlaws, to excite their industry, to permit themto thinkandcom•¸ municate their thoughts. But is the popish religion the most favourable to such laws ? are the inhabitants of Italy and Portugal more, secure in their lives and properties than those of England ? Dothey enjoy a greater liberty ofthought? Are their governments founded. onbetter principles of morality, and are they less severe, and consequently morerespectable ? Does not experience prove on the contrary, that the Lutherans and Calvinists in Germany are better governed and more happy than the Catholics ; and the protestant. Cantons of Switzerland are more rich and powerful than the Catholic. The reformed religion therefore tends more directly. to the happiness of the public, than the Romish, and is more. favourable to morality. It therefore inspires better morals, and such as have no other tendency than to promote the felicity of the people. 36. (p. 56.) There are great, and there are small societies. The laws of the latter are simple, because their interests are clear. They are conformable to the interest of the majority, because they are made by the consent of all ; they are, lastly, very exactly observed, because the happiness of each individual is connected with their observance. It is good sense that dictates the laws of small societies ; it is genius that plans those of large communities. But what can determine men to form such large communities ? Chance; an ignorance of the inconveniences attending such socie-. ties, a desire to conquer, a fear of being subdued, &c. 37. (p. 58.) Shaftsbury in his Treatise on Enthusiasm, mentions a bishop, who not finding, in the Catholic catechism, enough to satiate his enormous credulity, was forced to have recourse to the tales of the fairies, 38. (p. 59.) It is with poetry as with despotism, they each of them devour the country where they are established. The most certain TREATISE ON MAN. ' 89 NOTES ON SECTION 1. certain method of debilitating the power of England or Holland, would be to establish there the Catholic religion. 39. (p. 60.) If our religion, say the papists, be very expensive, it is because its instructions are greatly multiplied. Be it so: but what is the produce of these instructions ? Are mankind the better for them ? No. What is to be done to make them so? Divide the tenths of each parish among those who cultivate their lands best, and perform the most virtuous actions. This division of the tenths will produce more labourers, and more honest men, than all the sermons of the curates. 40. (p. 61. ) The History of Ireland informs us, vol. i. p. 303. that it was, at a distant period, constantly exposed to the voracity ofa most numerous clergy. The poets, the priests ofthe country, enjoyed all the advantages, immunities, and privileges ofCatholic priests ; and like them, were maintained at the public expence. These poets in consequence, multiplied to such a degree, that ' Hugh, then king of Ireland, found it necessary to discharge his subjects from such a heavy burthen. That prince loved his people, and was aman ofcourage ; he determined, therefore, to annihilate the priests, or at least greatly diminish their number, and succeeded in the enterprize. In Pensylvania there is no religion established by government : each one adopts that which he likes best. The priests are no charge to the state. The individuals provide them as they find it convenient, and tax themselves accordingly. The priest is there, like the merchant, maintained at the expence of the consumer. He who has nopriest, and consumes no part ofthe commodity he deals in, pays no part of his expence. Pensylvania, therefore, is a model from which it would be proper to copy. 41. (p. 62.) Numa himself instituted but four vestals, and a very small number ofpriests. 42. (ibid.) There is the same difference between paganism and popery, said an Englishman, as between Albani and Calcot : the name ofthe former makes me recollect a pleasing picture ofthe birth 90 % TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION I. birth ofVenus; that of the other, a grotesque painting ofthe temptation of St. Anthony. 43. (p. 63.) Under the reign of Numa, the Romans consecrated atempleto Fidelity ; the dedication of this temple kept them for some time faithful to their treaties. 44. (p. 64.) Whoever affects such great humility, and accustoms himself early to regard life as a pilgrimage, will never be any thing better than a monk, nor ever promote the happiness of the human race. 45. (p. 65.) The union of the spiritual and temporal powers in the hands of the same arbitrary sovereign may be dangerous, it will be said; I believe it. Every arbitrary prince, in general, solely solicitous to gratify his caprice, is but little concerned for the felicity of his subjects. He will frequently make use ofthe spiritual power to legitimate his pleasurers and his cruelties : but it will not be the same if this power be confided to the body of magistrates. 46. (ibid.) Why was Jupiter supposed to be the last ofthe children of Saturn ? because order and generation, the successors of chaos and sterility, were, according to the Pagan philosophers, the last product of time. Why was Jupiter, in quality of generator, called the god ofthe air ? because, said the philosophers, vege tables, fossils, minerals, animals, in a word all that exists, transpire, exhale, corrupt, and fill the air with volatile principles. These principles being heated and put in action by the solar fire, the air must then produce a new generation by the salts and spirits received from the putrefaction. The air, therefore, the only principle of generation and corruption, appeared to them as an immense ocean agitated by numerous different principles. It is in the air, according to them, that the seeds of all beings float, which, constantly ready to re-produce, wait for that purposethe moment when chance shall deposit them in a convenient matrix. The atmosphere appeared to them, to use the expression, always alive; being charged with an acid to corrupt, and with seeds to engender. TREATISE ON MAN, 91 NOTES ON SECTION 1. engender. It was the vast recipient of all the principles of ani mation. The Titans and Janus, according to the ancients, were in like manner the emblem of chaos, Venus or love, that of attraction, the productive principle of order and harmony in the universe. 47. (p. 71.) The union of the temporal and spiritual powers in the same hands, is indispensible. Nothing is done against the sacerdotal body by merely making it more humble. Who does not entirely annihilate it, suspends, not destroys its influence. A body is immortal ; a favourable circumstance, such as the confidence of a prince, or a revolution in the state, is sufficient to restore its primitive power. It will then revive with a vigour the more formidable, as by being instructed in the causes of its abasement, it will be more attentive to overthrow them. The ecclesiastical body in England is at present without power, but it is not annihiJated. Whothen can affirm, said a certain nobleman, that itwill not one day resume its original ferocity, and again cause as much blood to flow as it did formerly*. One of the greatest services that could be rendered to France, would be to apply a part ofthe extravagant revenues ofthe clergy to the liquidation ofthe national debt. What could the clergy object, if careful of their welfare, they were to preserve their benefices during life, and if after that they were to be alienated ? Where would be the evil of bringing so large a quantity of riches again into circulation.

Our author will be excused this wild supposition, as being a

foreigner, and not sufficiently acquainted with our excellent constitution.. Such an alteration in the power of the clergy, would totally destroy that equilibrium in which the essence of our liberty consists. T. SEC. 92 TREATISE ON MAN. The understanding regarded as the effect of organization. SECTION II. ALL MEN, COMMONLY WELL ORGANISED, HAVE AN EQUAL APTITUDE TO UNDERSTANDING. CHAP. I. AS ALL OUR IDEAS PROCEED FROM THE SENSES ; THE UNDERSTANDING HAS BEEN CONSEQUENTLY REGARDED AS THE EFFECT OF MORE OR LESS SENSIBILITY IN THE ORGANISATION. WHENwe learn from Locke, that it is to the organs of the senses we owe our ideas, and consequently our understanding ; and when we remark the difference in the organs and in the understandings of different men, we may conclude, in general, that the inequality of their understandings is the effect of the unequal sensibility of their organs. An opinion so probable, and so analogous to facts must be the more generally It is by the aid of analogics that we sometimes make the greatest discoveries : but in what cases should we be content with adopted TREATISE ON MAN. 93 Different opinions respecting the understanding. adopted, as it favours human indolence, and prevents the pain of a fruitless search. If contrary experiments, however, prove that the superiority ofunderstanding is not in proportion tothe. greater and less perfection ofthe senses , we must seek the explanation of this phenomenon in some other cause. Two opinions concerning this subject divide the learned of the present age. Some maintain that, The understanding is the effect ofa certain sort of interior temperament and organisation. But no one has, by a series of observations, yet deterinined the sort of organs, temperament, or nourishment that produces the understanding . This assertion being vague and a proof by analogy ? When it is impossible to procure any other. This sort of proof is frequently fallacious. Have we constantly seen animals generate by the coupling of the males with the fe males? We conclude from thence, that it is the only method by which animals can propagate. To undeceive ourselves, we should with the most accurate and scrupulous attention enclose a vinefretter in a phial : we should divide the polypus, and prove by reiterated experiments, that there is another method by which ani mals can generate.

Somephysiologists, and among them M. Lausel de Magny,

have said that the strongest and most courageous temperaments were the most acute. Yet no one has ever mentioned Racine, Boileau, Paschal, Hobbes, Toland, Fontenelle, &c. as strong and courageous men. Others pretended that the bilious and sanguine are at oncethe most ingenious, and least capable of a constant atdestitute 94 TREATISE ON MAN. Different opinions respecting the understanding. destitute of proof, is then reduced to this, The under. standing is the effect of an unknown cause, or occult quality, to which is given the name of temperament or organisation. Quintilian, Locke, and I, say : The inequality in minds or understandings, is the effect of a known cause, and this cause is the difference of education. Toprove the • first of these opinions, we must show, by repeated experiments, that the superiority of the understanding does really belong to such a sort of organ or temperament. Now these proofs remain yet to be produced. Hence it follows, that if from the principles I lay down, the cause of the inequality in tention. But can we say, at the same time, incapable of attention, and endowed with great talents ? can it be imagined, that without application, Locke and Newton had ever made their sublime discoveries ? Some again have remarked, that the cogitative and ingenious are ordinarily melancholic ; but have not perceived that they took in them the effect for the cause, that the ingenious is not so, be cause he is melancholic, but melancholic because the habit ofmeditation made him so. In the last place, many have made the understanding depend on the sensibility ofthe nerves : but women have very lively sensa tions. The sensibility of their nerves should therefore give thema great superiority over men. Are their understandings really su perior? No. Besides, what clear idea canwe form after all, ofthe greaterorless sensibility ofthe nerves ? minds TREATISE ON MAN. 95 Theunderstanding dependent on the organization. minds or understandings can be clearly deduced, we ought to give the preference to the latter opinion. Now when a known cause can explain a fact, why should we have recourse to one that is unknown, to an occult quality, whose existence, always uncertain, explains nothing that we cannot account for with out it? To prove that all men equally well organised, have an equal disposition for understanding ; we must ascertain the principle by which it is produced : what is it ?

Mr. Locke was doubtless partly convinced of this truth, when

he said, speaking of the unequal capacity of understandings, he, thought he saw less difference between them, than is commonly imagined. " I think, says he, in thesecond page of his Education, we may assert, that in anhundred men, thereare not more than ninety, "whoarewhatthey are, good or bad, usefulor pernicious tosociety, “but from the instruction they have received. It is on education "that depends the great difference observable among them. The "least and most imperceptible impressions received in our in- "fancy, have consequences very important, and of a long dura- "tion. It is with these first impressions, as with a river, whose “water we can easily turn, by different canals, in quite opposite courses, so that from the insensible direction the stream receives "at its source, it takes different directions, and at last arrives at " places far distant from each other : and with the same facility, I "think, we may turn the minds of children to what direction we "please," Inthis passage Locke does notindeed expressly affirm , that all men equally well organised, have equal aptitude to mental capacity but here he says, what he had been, as it were, awitness of, and what daily experience had taught him. This philosopher 66 All 96 TREATISE ON MAN: Of the principle which produces the understanding. All the sensations of man are material. Perhaps I have not sufficiently explained this truth in myTreatise on the Mind. What then should I here propose ? To demonstrate rigorously, what, perhaps, I have there only asserted, and prove that all the operations ofthe mind are reducible to sensation. It is this principle, had not reduced all the faculties of the mind to the capacity of sensation, which is the only principle that can resolvethis question. Quintilian, who had been for so long a time charged with the instruction ofyouth, had still more practical knowledge than Locke, and is more bold in his assertions. He says, Inst. Orat. lib. i. " It "is an error to think that there are few men born with the faculty " of discerning the ideas offered them, and thatthe greatest part "lose their time, and pains in endeavouring to conquer the innate "idleness oftheir minds. The greatest number, on the contrary, 68 appear equally well organised, to think and retain with prompti- "tude and facility. It is atalent as natural to man, as flying is to "birds, runningto horses, and ferocity to savage beasts. Thelife "ofthe soul is in its activity and industry, whence it has received "the attribute ofa celestial origin. Minds that are stupid and "incapable of science, are in the order of nature to be regarded 66 as monsters and other extraordinary phenomena ; minds of. " thissort are rare. Hence I conclude, that there are great resources to be found in children, which are suffered to vanishe "with their years It is evident therefore that it is not of nature, but of our negligence we ought to complain. " The opinions of Quintilian and Locke, both founded on experience, and the proofs I have urged to demonstrate this truth, ought, I think, to suspend on this subject the too precipitate judgment of the reader. tha TREATISE ON MAN. 97 Of the principle which produces the understanding. that can alone explain to us how we owe our ideas to oursenses ; and at the same time that is not, however, as is proved by experience, to the extreme perfection of those senses, that we owe the greater or less extent of our understanding. If this principle will reconcile two facts, in appearance so contradictory, I shall conclude, that the superiority ofthe understanding is not the produce of temperament, nor ofthe greater or less perfection of the senses, nor of an occult quality, but that of the well known cause, education, and in short, that instead of vague assertions so frequently repeated, we may substitute very determinate ideas. Previous to the particular examination of this question, I think, in order to make it more clear, and to avoid all contest with the theologians, I should first distinguish between the mind, and what they call the soul. CHAP. II. OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MIND THERE AND THE SOUL. HERE are no two words perfectly synonimous. This truth being unknown to some, and forgotten by others, has caused the words Mind and Soul to be freVOL. I. H quently 98 TREATISE ON MAN. Notions of the Parsis respecting the soul. quently confounded. But what is the difference between them ? and what is the soul ? Are we to regard it after the ancients, and the first fathers of the church, as a matter extremely refined, and as the electric fire by which we are animated? Were I here to recount all the opinions of different nations, and different sects of philosophers, concerning it, they would altogether form nothing but vague, obscure, and trifling ideas. The only people that expressed themselves with sublimity on this subject, werethe Parsis. When they pronounce a funeral oration over the tomb of some great man, they cried " Oearth ! O, common mother "ofhuman beings, take back what to thee uppertains "ofthe body ofthis hero : let the aqueous particles " that flowed in his veins exhale into the air, and " falling in rain on the mountains, replenish the "streams, fertilise the plains, and roll back to the abyss "ofthe ocean whence they proceeded ! Let the fire "concentered in this body rejoin the heavenly orb, the " source oflight and heat ! Let the air confined in his " members, burst its prison, and be dispersed by the "winds in the mundane space ! And lastly thou, O "breath of life, if perchance thou art of a nature se- "6 parate from all others, return to the unknown being " that produced thee ! or, if thou art only amixture of "material elements, mayst thou, after being dispersed

A people of Cambaya, in the empire of the Mogul.

+ " in TREATISE ON MAN. 99 Inability of philosophy to describe the nature of the soul. " in the universe, again assemble thy scattered pur- " ticles, to form another citizen as virtuous as this " hath been !" Such were the noble images, and sublime expressions employed bythe enthusiasm of the Parsis, to express the ideas they had of the soul. Philosophy, less bold in its conjectures, dares not describe its nature, and resolve the question. Philosophy cannot advance without the staff of experience : it does indeed advance but constantly from observation to observation, and where observation is wanting it stops. All that philosophy knows, is, that man feels, that he has within him a principle oflife, and that without the wings oftheology, he cannot mount to the knowledge of this principle. Whatever depends on observation appertains to metaphysical philosophy ; all beyond belongs to theology* or scholastic metaphysics.

Some have doubted whether the science ofGod or theology,

be in fact a science. All science, they say, supposes a series of observations. Now what observation can be niade on a Being that is invisible and incomprehensible ? Theology is therefore no science. In fact, what do we understand by the word of God? The unknown cause of order and motion. Now, what can we say of an unknown cause ? If we attach other ideas to the word of God, we shall fall, as Mr. Robinet has shown, into a thousand contradictions. Does the theologian contemplate the curves described by the heavenly bodies, and thence conclude, that there is a power who moves them ? Cæli enarrant gloriam Dei! HE But bah ! Dor M · 100 TREATISE ON MAN. The nature of the soul not yet ascertained . But why has not human reason, enlightened by observation, yet given a clear definition, or to speak more The theologian is then nothing more than an astronomer, or natural philosopher * . No one doubts, say the Chinese Letters, that there is in nature, a ruling Power, though he is ignorant what it is: but when we conjecture the nature of this unknown power, the creation of a God is then nothing more than the deification of human ignorance. I do not entirely agree with these Letters, though I am forced to own with them, that theology, that is to say, the science ofGod, or the incomprehensible, is not a separate science. What is then theology? I do not know."

It is surely much better to be a rational astronomer, or phi

losopher, than a metaphysical quibbler, or atheist, for an atheist, is nothing else : one of those sublime investigators, who, as Pope says, Nobly take the high priori road, And reason downward till they doubt of God. If any one should ask what was the cause of thought, I might reply the action of the soul upon the nerves of the brain. But is the soul material or immaterial ? If the latter, how can immateriality act on matter ; and if the former, in what manner does it act? I cannot answer these questions. I do not know in what manner gravity acts. But what of that, will any one tell me there is no gravity in nature, because I do not know howit is produced? or, because I cannot give a clear explanation of the manner in which thought is produced, that therefore I do not think at all? and with just as much reason do some men doubt, or affect to doubt, the existence of a first creating cause, because they cannot comprehend its manner of existence, that is, because they cannot comprehend what is by its nature incomprehensble. T.

properly

TREATISE ON MAN. 101. Differences between the mind andthe soul. properly, an adequate and minute description of the principle of life ? Because that principle has still es-. caped themost accurate observation . Withthe mindit' is better acquainted. We can moreover examine this principle, and think on this subject without dread of the ignorance and fanaticism, of bigots. I shall therefore here consider some of the remarkable differences between the mind and the soul. FIRST DIFFERENCE. In The soul exists intire in the infant as well as in the adult. The infant, as well as the man, is sensible of pleasure and pain, but he has not so many ideas, nor consequently so much mind or understanding as the adult. Now if the infant have as much soul without havingas much mind, the soul is not the mind* . fact, if the soul and the mind were one and the same thing, to explain the superiority ofthe adult over the infant, we must admit more soul in the former, and agree that his soul has encreased with his body : a supposition absolutely gratuitous, and insignificant,

They deny a child the power of sinning before it is seven

years old. Why? because before that age it is supposed to have no just idea of good or evil. That age passed, it is reputed a sinner, because it is then supposed to have acquired adequate ideas of just and unjust. The mind or understanding is therefore regarded by the church itself as an acquisition, and consequentiy as quite different from the soul. H 3 when Dor M 102 TREATISE ON MAN. Differences between the mind and the soul. when we distinguish the mind from the soul or principle oflife. SECOND DIFFERENCE. The soul does not leave us till death. As long as I live I have a soul. Is it the same ofthe mind ? no. I can lose it during my life : because, while I yet live I can lose my memory ; and the mind is almost entirely the effect of that faculty. The Greeks gave the name of Mnemosyne to the Mother of the Muses, because, beingattentive observers of man, they perceived that his judgment, wit, &c. were in great part the produce of his memory. * Ifa man be deprived of this faculty, of what can he judge ? ofsensations past ? No : he has forgotten them ; and of sensations present, it is necessary to have at least as much memory as will give him an opportunity of comparing them together, that is , of ob

Understanding, or intelligence is also in brutes the effect of

memory. Ifa dog comes at any call, it is because heremembers his name. Ifhe obey me when I pronounce these words, Softly ; take care ; dont touch that ; it is because he remembers that I am strong, and that I have beaten him. What makes animals perform so many tricks in the public spectacles ? The fear of the whip ; of which the look, the speech, and gesture of the master put them continually in mind. If my dog stop and lock at me, it is because he would read in my eyes, whe ther I am pleased or angry, and consequently know if he shall approach oravoid me. My dog, therefore, owes his intelligence to his memory. serving TREATISE ON MAN. 103 . Differences between the mind and the soul. serving alternately the different impressions he feels at the presence of two objects. Now, without a memoryto retain impressions, how can he perceive the difference between those ofthis instant and those that the instant before were perceived and forgotten ? There is then no comparison of ideas, no judgment, no mind, without memory. An ideot, who sits on the bench at his door, is only a man who has little or no memory. If he answer not to questions that are asked him, it is because he does not remember the ideas affixed to the words, or he forgets the first words of a sentence before he hears the last. If we consult experience, we shall find that it is tothe memory (whose existence supposes the faculty of perception) that man owes his ideas and his understanding. There can be no sensations without a soul ; but without a memory there can be no experience, no comparison of objects, no ideas ; a man would be the same in his old age that he was in his infancy . A man is reputed an ideot when he is ignorant ; but he is only really so when his memory no longer exerts its functionst.

Ifthe theologians agree that the infant and the ideot cannot

sin, and that they have each ofthem a soul, it follows that in man sin does not essentially belong to thesoul. ་ The famous M. Ernaud, the instructor of the deaf and dumb, says in a memoir presented to the Academy of Sciences. at Paris, that if the deaf and dumb have only short intervals of judgment, and reflect but little ; if their minds be weak, and their reasoning instantaneous ; it is because their memories are 11 4 Now, 104 TREATISE ON MAN. bie boy au Zensible-Why to Wuthals Differences between the windand the soul. Now, without losing our soul, we can lose our memory ; as by afall, an apoplexy, or other accident of the like nature. The mind, therefore, differs essentially from the soul, as we can lose the one and still live, and the other is not lost but with life itself. THIRD DIFFERENCE. I have said , that the mind of man is composed ofan assemblage ofideas. There is no mind without ideas. Is it the same with the soul ? No : neither thought nor understanding is necessary to its existence. As long as man is sensible, he has a soul. It is therefore the faculty of perception that forms its essence. Deprive the soul ofwhat does not properly belong to it, that is of the faculty of remembrance, and what faculty is left it ? That of perception. It then does not even preserve a consciousness of its own existence, because that consciousness supposes a concatenation of ideas, and consequently a memory. Such is the state of the soul, when it has yet no use of the faculty of remembrance. We may lose our memory by a blow, a fall, or a discase. Is the soul deprived of this faculty ? It must then, without a miracle, or the express will of God, find itself in the same state of imbecility as it was in the human embryo. Thought, therefore, is not absolutely necessary to the existence of the soul. The almost always stupified, and consequently their ideas and their ac tions are, and must be, without consistency. soul TREATISE ON MAN. 105 Differences between the mind and thesoul. soul then, is in us nothing but the faculty of perceiv ing, and this is the reason why, as Locke and experi ence prove, all our ideas come to us by the senses. It is to my memory I owe the comparison of my ideas and my judgments, and to my soul I owe my sensations. It is therefore properly* my sensations, and not my thoughts, as Descartes asserts, that prove to me the existence ofmy soul. But what is the faculty of perception in man ? is it immortal and immaterial? Ofthis human reason is ignorant, and revelation instructs us. Perhaps it will be objected, that if thesoul be nothing more than the faculty of perception , its action, like that of one body striking another, is constantly necessary, and that the soul in this case must be regarded as merely passive. So Mallebranche believed†, and his system has been publicly taught.

M. Marion, regent of philosophy in the college of Navarre,

and several professors, after his example, have maintained that all the operations of the mind maybe explained solely by the motion of the animal spirits, and the traces impressed on the memory. Hence it follows, that the animal spirits put in motion by exterior objects, can produce in us ideas independent of what we call the soul. The mind, therefore, according to these professors, is quite distinct from the soul. † According to Mallebranche, it is God that manifests himself to our understanding : it is to him we owe all our ideas. Mallebranche, therefore, did not believe that the soul could produce them ofitself : he consequently thought it merely passive. The Catholic church hath not condemned this doctrine. lf 106 TREATISE ON MAN. Differences between the mind andthe soul. Ifthe theologians of the present day condemn it, they will fall into a contradiction with themselves that will certainly somewhat embarrass them. For the rest, as menare born without ideas of virtue, vice, &c. whatever system the theologians adopt, they will never prove that thought is the essence of the soul ; and that the soul, or the faculty of sensation, cannot exist in us, without its being put in action, that is to say, without our having either ideas or sensations. The organ exists, when it does not sound. Man is in the same state with the organ, when in his mother's womb ; or when overcome with labour, and not troubled by dreams, he is buried in a profound sleep. If all our ideas moreover, can be ranged under some of the classes of our knowledge, and we can live without havingany ideas of mathematics, physics, morality, mechanics, &c. it is then not metaphysically impossible to have a soul without having any ideas. The savages have little knowledge, they have nevertheless souls. There are some of them who have no ideas of justice, nor even words to express that idea. They say, that a man deafand dumb, having suddenly acquired his hearing and speech, confessed, that before his cure, he had no idea of God or of death. The king of Prussia, prince Henry, Hume, Voltaire, &c. have no more soul than Bertier, Lignac, Seguy, Gauchat, &c. The former, however, have minds as superior to the latter, as they have to monkeys, and other animals that are exhibited in public shews. Pompignan, TREATISE ON MAN. 107 Differences between the mind and the soul. Pompignan, Chaumeix, Caveirac *, &c. have certainly very little understanding, however, we always say of them, he speaks, he writes, and even he has a soul. Now, if having very little understanding, a man has not the less soul, ideas cannot inake any part of it ; they are not essential to its being. The soul, therefore, may exist independently of all ideas, and of all understanding. Let us here recapitulate the most remarkable differences between the soul and the mind. The first is, that we are born with a perfect soul, but not with a perfect mind. 2 The second, that we can lose our mind, or understanding, while we yet live, but that we cannot lose the soul but with life itself. The third, that thought is not necessary to the existence ofthe soul. Such was doubtless the opinion of the theologians, when they maintained, after Aristotle, that it was to the senses the soul owed its ideas. Let it not be imagined, however, that the mind can be considered as entirely independent ofthe soul. Without the faculty of sensation, memory, the productive power of the

The names ofthese despicable mortals are not known in Ger

many, or in any part of Europe, except by some of M. Voltaire's minor pieces, But for him their existence would never have been known. mind 108 TREATISE ON MAN. The mind the effect of the soul. mind, would be without the functions, it would be of no effect *. The existence ofour ideas and our mind, supposes that of the faculty of sensation. This faculty. is the soul itself : whence I conclude, that if the soul be not the mind, the mind is the effect of the soul, or the faculty of sensation †.

The Treatise on the Mind, says, that memory is nothing

more than a continued, but weakened sensation. In fact, the mcmory is nothingmore than the effect of the faculty of sensation. + I shall be asked, perhaps, what is the faculty of sensation, and what produces this phenomenon in us ? The following is the opinion of a celebrated English chymist, on the soul of animals : "We find, says he, in bodies, two sorts of properties, the exis- "tence ofone of which is permanent and unalterable ; such are im- "penetrability, gravity, mobility, &c. These qualities appertain "to physics in general." There arein the same bodies other properties, whose transient and fugitive existence is by turns produced and destroyed by certain combinations, analyses, or motions in their interior parts. These sorts of properties form the different branches of natural history, chymistry, &c. and belong to particular parts of physics. Iron, for example, is a composition of phlogiston and a particular carth. In this compound state it is subject to the attractive power ofthe magnet. When this iron is decomposed, that property vanishes : the magnet has no influence over a ferruginous earth deprived ofits phlogiston. When a metal is combined with another substance, as a vitriolic acid, this union destroys in like manner in iron the property ofbeing attracted bythe magnet. Fixed alkali, and a nitrous acid have each ofthem separately an CHAP. TREATISE ON MAN. 109 Objects on which the mind acts. CHAP. III. OF THE OBJECTS ON WHICH THE MIND ACTS. WHAT is nature? The assemblage of all beings. What can be the employment of the mind in the infmite number ofdifferent qualities ; but when they are united, no vestige of those qualities remains ; each of them then ferments with nitre. In the common heat of the atmosphere, a nitrous acid will disengage itselffrom all other bodies, to combine with afixed alkali. Ifthis combination be exposed to a degree of heat, proper to put the nitre into a red fusion, and any inflammable matter be added to it, the nitrous acid will abandon the fixed alkali, to unite with the inflammable substance, and in the act of this union arises the elastic force whose effects are so surprising in gunpowder. All the properties of fixed alkali are destroyed, when it is combined with sand, and formed into glass, whose transparency, indissolubility, electric power, &c. are, if I may be allowed the expression, so many new creations, that are produced by this mixture, anddestroyed by the decomposition ofglass. Nowin the animal kingdom , why may not organisation' produce in like manner that singular quality we call the faculty of sensa tion ? All the phenomena that relate to medicine and natural history, evidently prove that this power is in animals nothing more than the result of the structure of their bodies ; that this power begins with the formation of their organs, lasts as long as they subsist, and is at last destroyed by the dissolution of the same organs. universe? 110 TREATISE ON MAN. Objects on which the mind acts. universe? That of an observer of the relations which objects have to each other, and to us : the relations that objects have to me are small in number. I am presented with a rose : its colour, its form, and smell please, or displease me. These are the relations it has to me. Every relation of this kind is reducible to the agreeable or disagreeable manner in which an object affects me. It is the conclusive observation of such relations that constitutes taste, and its rules. With regard to the relations which objects have to each other, they are as numerous as are, for example, the different objects which I can compare to the form, the colour, and smell of my rose. The relations of this sort are immense, and their observation belongs more directly to the sciences. Ifthe metaphysicians ask me, what then becomes of the faculty ofsensation in an animal ? That which becomes, I should answerthem, of the quality of attracting the magnet in iron that is decomposed. See Treatise on the Principles of Chymistry. CHAP. TREATISE ON MAN. 111 The mind acts by observation and comparison. CHAP. IV . HOW THE MIND ACTS. ALL the operations of the mind are reducible to the observing of the resemblances and differences, the agreements and disagreements that objects have among themselves and with respect to us. The justness of the mind or judgment depends on the greater or less attention with which its observations are made. . · Would I know the relations certain objects have to each other? What must I do ? I place before my eyes, or present to my memory two or more of these objects ; and then I compare them. But what is this comparison ? It is an alternate and attentive observation of the different impressions which these objects, present, or absent, make on me *. This observation made, 1 judge, that is, I make an exact report of the impressions I have received.

Ifthe memory, the preserver of impressions received, makes

me perceive, in the absence of the objects, nearly the same sensations that they excite in me when present, it is indifferent, with regard tothe question here discussed, whether the objects ofwhich I form a judginent, be presented to my eyes, or my memory. Am 112 TREATISE ON MAN. The mind acts by observation and comparison. Am I, for example, anxious to distinguish between twoshades of the same colour, that are almost indistinguishable ; I examine a long time and successively two pieces of cloth tinged with those two shades. I compare them, that is, I regard them alternately. I am very attentive to the different impressions the reflected rays of these two patterns make on my eyes, and I at Just determine, that one of them is of a deeper colour than the other ; that is to say, I make an exact report of the impressions I have received . Every other judgment would be false. All judgment therefore is nothing more than a recital of the two sensations, either actually proved, or preserved in mymemory*. When I observe the relation objects have to me, I am in like manner attentive to the impressions I rcceive. These impressions are either agreeable or disagreeable. Now in either case what is judging ? To tell what Ifeel. Am I struck on the head ? Is the pain violent? The simple recital of what I feel forms my judgment. I shall only add one word to what I have here said, which is, that with regard to the judgments formed of the relations which objects have to each other, or to us, there is a difference, which though of little importance in appearance, deserves however to be remarked. When we are to judge of the relation which objects

There can be nojudgment without memory: as I have proved

inthe preceding chapter. bear 1 TREATISE ON MAN. 113 Judgment the result ofsensation. bear to each other, we must have at least two of them before our eyes. But when we judge of the relation an object has to ourselves, it is evident, as every object can excite a sensation, that one alone is sufficient to produce a judgment. From this observation I conclude, that every assertion concerning the relation of objects to each other, supposes a comparison of those objects ; every comparison a trouble ; every trouble an efficacious motive to take it. But on the contrary, when we are to observe the relation of an object to ourselves, that is to say, a sensation, that sensation , if it be lively, becomes itself the efficacious motive to excite our attention. Every sensation of this kind, therefore, invariably produces a judgment. I shall not stop longer at this observation, but repeat, agreeably to what I have said above, that in every case tojudge, is to feel. This being settled, all the operations of the mind are reduced to mere sensations. Why then adinit in man a faculty of judging distinct from the faculty ofsensation. But this is the general opinion : I own it ; andit even ought to be so. We say, I perceive, and I compare ; there is therefore in man a faculty of judging and comparing, distinct from the faculty of sensation . This method of reasoning is sufficient to impose on the greatest part of mankind. However, to shew its fallacy, it is only necessary to fix a clear idea to the word compare. When this word is properly elucidated, it will be found to express no one real operation of the VOL. I. I mind ; 114 TREATISE ON MAN. Of judgments resulting from abstract ideas. mind ; that the business of comparing, as I have before said, is nothing else than rendering ourselves attentive to the different impressions excited in us by objects actually before our eyes, or present to our memory; and consequently, that all judgment is nothing more than the pronouncing upon sensations experienced. But ifthe judgment formed from the comparison of material objects be nothing morethan mere sensations, is it the same with every other sort of judgment ? CHAP. V. OF SUCH JUDGMENTS AS RESULT FROM THE COMPARISON OF IDEAS THAT ARE ABSTRACTED, COLLECTIVE, &c. THE words weakness, strength, smallness, greatness, crime, &c. do not represent any substance, that is, any body ; how then can the judgments resulting from the comparison of such words, or ideas, be reduced to mere sensations ? I answer, that as these words do not represent any ideas, it is impossible, so long as we do not apply them to any sensible and particular object, to form any judgment about them. But when they are applied by design, or imperceptibly, to some determinate object, then the word great will express a relation, TREATISE ON MAN. 115 Reason for inventing words expressing abstract ideas. relation, that is, a certain difference or resemblance observed between objects present to our sight, or to our memory. Now the judgment formed of ideas, that by this application beco ne material, will be, as I have repentedly said, nothing more than the pronouncing of sensations felt. I shall be asked perhaps, from what motives men have invented and introduced these algebraical expressions, if I may be allowed the term, which till they are applied to sensible objects, have no real signification, and represent no determinate idea ? I answer, that men thought they should by this method be able to communicate their ideas more easily, readily, and even more clearly. It is for this reason that they have in all languages created so many adjectives and substantives that are at once so vague * and so useful. The language of a polished people invariably comprehends a multitude of pronouns, conjunctions, in short, ofwords that being void ofmeaning themselves, borrow their different significations from the expressions with which they are connected , or the phrases in which they are used. The invention of most of these words is owing to the fear that men had of too much increa sing the signs of their languages, and a desire of communica ting their ideas more easily. If they had in fact been obliged to create as many words as there are things to which they might be applied ; for example, the adjectives white, strong, great, as a great cable, a great ox, a great tree, &c. it is evident that the multiplicity of words necessary to express their ideas would have been too weighty for their memory. It appeared necessary thereforeto invent such words, as representing no real idea themselves, 1 2 Let 116 TREATISE ON MAN. Vague ideas excited by certain words. Letus take for example, among these insignificant expressions, that of the word line, considered in geometry as having length without breadth or thickness ; in this sense it recals no iden to the mind. No such line exists in nature, nor can any idea be formed of it. What does the master design therefore by using it ? Merely to induce his pupil to give all his attention to the length of a body, without considering its other dimensions. When, for the facility of algebraical calculation, we substitute the letters A and B for fixed quantities, do these letters present any ideas ? Do they express any real dimension ? No. Now what is denoted in algebraical language by A and B, is expressed in common language by the words weakness, strength, smallness, greatness, &c. Those words express only a vague relation of things to each other, and do not convey any real and clear idea till the moment they are applied to a determinate object, and that object be compared with another. It is then that these words being put, if I may so say, in equation or comparison, express very precisely the relation of objects to each other. Till that moment the word greatness, for example, recals to the mind very different ideas, accordhaving only a local signification, and expressing merely the relations which objects have to each other, should however recal to the mind distinct ideas, the moment these words were connected with the objects whose relation they expressed. ing TREATISE ON MAN. 117 Vague ideas excited by certain words. ing as it is applied to a fly or an elephant. It is the same with regard to what is called in man idea or thought. These expressions are in themselves insignificant ; yet to how many errors have they given birth : how often has it been maintained in the schools, that as thought does not belong to extension and matter, it is evident, that the soul is spiritual. I confess I could never make any thing of this learned jargon. What in fact is the meaning of the word thought ? Either it is void of meaning, or like the word motion it merely expresses a mode ofa man's existence. Now nothing can be more clear, than that a mode or mannerof being is not a body or has no extension. But to . make ofthis mode a being, and even a spiritual being, nothing, in my mind, is more absurd. What again can be more vague than the word crime? That this collec tive term may convey to my mind a clear and determinate idea, I must apply it to a theft, a murder, or some suchaction. Menhaveinvented words ofthis sort merely to communicate their ideas more easily, or at least more readily. Suppose a society was instituted into which none but honest men were to be admitted ; in order to avoid the trouble of transcribing a long catalogue ofthe actions for which any one was to be excluded, they would say in one word, that no man guilty of a crime was to be admitted. But of what precise idea wouldthe word crime be here the representative ? Of none. This word could be solely intended to call to the mind of the society those pernicious actions of 13 which 118 TREATISE ON MAN. All ideas maybe reduced to sensations. which its members might become culpable, and to caution them to take heed to their conduct. In short, this word would be properly nothing more than a sound, and a more concise method of exciting the attention ofthe society. In like manner, if we are forced to determine the punishment due to a crime, we must first form clear and precise ideas ofit, and thenrecal to ourmemory, successively, the representation of the different crimes a man may commit : then examine which of those offences is most detrimental to society, and lastly, form a judgment which would be, as I have so often said, nothing morethan expressing the sensations felt at the presence of several representations ofthose crimes. Every idea whatever may therefore, in its ultimate analysis, be always reduced to material facts or sensations. Some obscurity is thrown on discussions of this kind by the vague significations of a certain number of words, and the trouble that is sometimes necessary to deduce clear ideas from them. Perhaps it is as difficult to analyze some ofthese expressions, and to reduce them, if I may so say, to their constituent ideas, as it is in chymistry to decompose certain bodies. However, let us but apply the method and attention necessary in this decomposition, and we shall not fail of success. What is here said will be sufficient to convince the discerning reader, that every idea and every judgment may bereduced to a sensation. It would be therefore unne- TREATISE ON MAN. 119 Interest the motive for comparing objects. unnecessary, in order to explain the different operations of the mind, to admit a faculty ofjudging and comparing distinct from the faculty of sensation. But what it may be asked, is the principle or motive that makes us compare objects with each other, and gives us the necessary attention to observe their relations ? Interest, which is in like manner, as 1 am going to shew, an effect of corporeal sensibility. CHAP. VI. WHERE THERE IS NO INTEREST THERE IS NO COMPARISON OF OBJECTS WITH EACH OTHER. ALL comparison of objects with each other supposes attention, all attention a trouble, and all trouble a motivefor exerting it. Ifthere could exist a man without desire, he would not compare any objects, or pronounce any judgment ; but he might still judge ofthe immediate impressions of objects on himself, supposing their impressions to be strong. Their strength becoming a motive to attention, would carry with it a judgment. It would not be the same if the sensation were weak ; he would then have no knowledge or remembrance of the judgment it had occasioned. A mansurrounded by an infinity of objects, must neces14 sarily " 120 TREATISE ON MAN, Instinct rather enten reason Men reason without being conscious ofit. sarily be affected by an infinity ofsensations, and consequently form an infinity ofjudgments ; but he forms them unknown to himself. Why ? Because these judgments are ofthe same nature with the sensations. If they make an impression that is effaced as soon as made, the judgments formed on these impressions are of the same sort ; they leave no remembrance. There is in fact no man who does not, without perceiving it, make every day an infinity of reasonings, of which he is not conscious. I will take, for example, those that attend almost all the rapid motions of our bodies. When in the dance, Vestris, makes a cabriole rather than an entrechat, when Moté in the fencing-school thrusts tierce rather than quart, if there be no effect without a cause, Vestris and Moté must be determined byreasons too rapid, if I may so say, to be perceived. So the motion I make with my hand when a body is going to strike my eye, may be reduced to nearly the same ; experience tells me, that my hand can resist without pain the blow of a body that would deprive me ofsight my eyes moreover are dearer to me than my hand : I ought therefore to expose my hand to save my eyes. There is no person that would not use the same reasoning in the same situation ; but this habitual reasoning is not so rapid, but that weperceive the moment we have put the hand before the eye, the action and the cause of the action. Now how many sensations are there of the nature of these habitual reasonings ? Howmany weak sensations that do not fix our atten5 tion, TREATISE ON MAN. 121 The strength or weakness ofimpressions depend on our situation. tion, or produce in us either consciousness or remembrance ? There are moments when the strongest sensations are, in some measure, imperceptible. I fight, and am wounded, I continue the combat, and perceive not my wound. Why ? Because the love of preservation, rage, and the motion given to my blood, render me insensible to the stroke that at another time would have fixed all my attention. There are moments on the contrary, when we are sensible ofthe slightest impressions ; that is, when the passions of fear, ambition, avarice, envy, &c. concentrate all our attention on an object. Am I concerned in a conspiracy ? There is not a gesture, not a look that can escape the restless and suspicions eyes of my accomplices. Am I a painter ? Every remarkable effect of the light strikes me. Am I a jeweller ? There is not a flaw in a diamond that I do not perceive. Am I envious ? There is no defect in a great character that my piercing eye does not discern. In like manner those passions that by fixing all my attention on certain objects, render me susceptible of the keenest sensations, with regard to them, make me at the same time insensible to every other sort of sensation. If I be in love, jealous, ambitious, or discontented, and in this situation of mind traverse the magnificent palace ofa monarch, in vain are the rays reflected from marbles, statues, and paintings ; to awakenmy attention, some new, unknown object must suddenly and forcibly strike 122 TREATISE ON MAN. 12,2 The strength or weakness of impressions depend on our situation. strike my sight. Unless such an impression occur, I walk on withoutperceiving the sensations that strike me. If, on the contrary, in the calm of my desires, I range through the same place, then, sensible to all the beauties ofnature and art by which it is embellished, my soul being open to every impression will participate of all it receives. I shall not indeed be endowed with that keen and piercing look with which the lover, and the ambitious man behold every object that affects them. I shall not like them see what is only visible to the eyes of the passions. I shall be less acutely, but more generally sensible. Let a man of pleasure and a botanist walk by the side of a river, shaded by stately oaks, and bordered by shrubs and odoriferous flowers. Thefirst ofthem affected merely by the limpidity ofthe stream, the beauty of the oaks, the variety of the shrubs, and the fragrancy of the flowers, will not see them with the eyes ofthe botanist : he will not observe the uniformity and variety among these shrubs and flowers. Having no interest to remark them, he will want the attention to perceive them ; he will receive the sensations from his judgment, but have no remembrance ofthem. It is the botanist, anxious for his reputation, the scrupulous observer, of these various flowers and shrubs, that can alone make himself attentive to the different sensations he feels, and the different judgments he forms. * There is in fact no remembrance without attention, nor any attention without interest. For SNEAKE TREATISE ON MAN.' Corporeal pains and pleasures are the principles ofhuman actions. 123 For the rest, the consciousness or unconsciousness of such impressions, change not their nature ; it is therefore true, as I have already said, that all our sensations carry with them a judgment, whose existence, though unnoticed when they fix not our attention, is however not the less real. It results from the contents of this chapter, that all judgments formed by comparing objects with each other, suppose an interest in us to compare them. Now that interest, necessarily founded on our love of hap piness, cannot be any thing else than the effect of bodily sensibility ; because there all our pleasures, and all our pains have their source. This question being discussed, I conclude that corporeal pains and plea sures are the unknown principles of all human actions*. ་ 1

M. Rousseau, in several parts of his Emilius, denies that bodily sensibility is the principle of all human actions, but the

reasons on which he founds his denial, shew that he has not seriously reflected on the question. CHAP. 124 TREATISE ON MAN. Corporeal sensibility the sole cause of human action. CHAP. VII. CORPOREAL SENSIBILITY 1S THE SOLE CAUSE OF OUR ACTIONS, OUR THOUGHTS, OUR PASSIONS, AND OUR SOCIABILITY. ACTION. Ir is to clothe himself, and adorn his mistress, or his wife, to procure them amusements, to support himself and his family, in a wordto enjoy the pleasures attached to the gratification of bodily desires that the artizan and the peasant thinks, contrives, and labours. Corporeal sensibility is therefore the sole mover of man*, What is called intellectual pain, or pleasure, may be always referred to some bodily pain or pleasure. Two examples will makethis evident. What makes us fond of gaming, even for trifles ? ! Is it the agreeable sensations we then feel ? No : we love it because it relieves us from the disgustful state of being weary of ourselves, and delivers us from that absence of impressions which always produces discontent, and bodily uneasiness. What makes us love high play? The love of money. Why do we love money ? From a taste for conveniences, the want of amusements, the desire of avoiding bodily pains and procuring bodily pleasures. Do we not besides love the emotion that high gaming produces in us? Without doubt. But the emotion felt at the moment I lose or gain a thousand, two, or if you will, ten thousand guineas, takes its source, he TREATISE ON MAN 125 Corporeal sensibility the sole cause of human action. he is consequently susceptible, as I am going to prove, but of two sorts of pleasures and pains, the one are either from the fear of being deprived of the pleasures I possess, or the hope ofenjoyingthose that the increase of my fortune will procure me. Is not this motion in some menthe effect ofpride also ? There aremen sufficiently proud to be mortified when fortune forsakes them, though they play but for pins: but this sort of pride is rare. Besides, this same pride, as is proved intheTreatise onthe Mind ch. 13. disc. 3. is no other than one of the effects of bodily sensibility. The principle ofthe love ofplay is therefore either the fear ofdisgust, and consequently pain, or the hope of bodily pleasure. Is it the same with regard to the internal pleasure we feel in succouring the distressed, by performing an act ofliberality? This is certainly a very lively pleasure. Every action ofthis kind should be praised by ' l, because it is useful to all. But what is a benevolent man? One in whom a spectacle of misery produces a painful sensation. Born without ideas, without vice, and without virtue, every thing in man, even his humanity, is an acquisition it is to his education he owes this sentiment. Among all the various ways of inspiring him with it, the most efficacious is to accustom himfrom childhood, in a manner from the cradle, to ask himself when he beholds a miserable object, by what chance he is not exposed in like manner to the inclemency of the seasons, to hunger, cold, po-. verty, &c. When the child has been usedto put himself in the place ofthe wretched, that habit gained, he becomes the more touched with their misery, as in deploring their fate it is for hu man nature in general, and for himself in particular, that he is . concerned. An infinity of different sentiments then mix with the first sentiment, and their assemblage composes the total sentiment of pleasure felt by a noble soul in succouring the distressed : asentiment that he is not always in a situation to analyze. present • 126 TREATISE OF MAN. • Ofthe different kinds of pain. present bodily pains and pleasures, the other are the pains and pleasures of foresight or memory. PAIN. Iknowbut two sorts of pain, that which we feel, and that which weforesee. I die ofhunger ; I feel a present pain. I foresee that I shall soon die of hunger. I feel a pain by foresight, the strength of whose impression is in proportion to the proximity and severity of the pain. The criminal who is going to the scaffold, feels yet no torment, but the foresight that constitutes his present punishment, is begun*. Werelievethe unfortunate, 1. To avoid the bodily pain of seeing them suffer. 2. To enjoy an example of gratitude, which produces in us at least a confused hope ofdistant utility. 3. To exhibit an act ofpower, whose exercise is always agreeable to us, because it always recals to the mind the images of pleasures attached to that power, 4. Becausethe idea of happiness is constantly connected, in a goodeducation, with the idea ofbeneficence, and this beneficence in us conciliating the esteem and affection of men, may like riches beregarded as a power, or means of avoiding pains and procuring pleasures. In this manner, as fron an affinity of different sentiments, is made up the total sentiment ofthe pleasure we feel in the exercise · ofbeneficence. I have here said enough, to furnish a man of discernment with the means of decomposing, in like manner, every other kind of pleasure, called intellectual, and reducing it to mere sensation.

There is no doubt but the foresight in those dreadful moREMORSE.

TREATISE ON MAN. 127 Remorse owes its existence to bodily sensation. REMORSE. Remorse is nothing more than a foresight of bodily pain, to which some crime has exposed us : and is consequently the effect of bodily sensibility. We tremble at the description of the flames, the wheels, the fiery scourges, which the heated imagination of the painter or the poet represents. Is a man without fear, and above the law ? he feels no remorse from the commission of a wicked action ; provided, however, that he have not previously contracted a virtuous habit ; for then he will not pursue a contrary conduct, without feeling an uneasiness, a secret inquietude, to which is also giventhename of remorse. Experience tells us, that every action which does not expose us to legal punishmnet, or to dishonour, is an action performed in general without remorse*. Solon and Plato loved women and that arise from the union of merrin society for contemptimplies ments, makes men feel a painful bodily sensation. What is this foresight ? Aneffect ofthe memory. Now it is the property of the memory to throw the organs, to a certain degree, into those contractions into which they would be more forcibly thrown, by the punishment itself. It is evident, therefore, that all pains and pleasures esteemed interior, are so many bodily sensations, and that wecannot understand by the words interior and exterior, any thing but impressions excited bythe memory, or by the actual presence ofobjects.

If dishonour, or the contempt ofmankindbe insupportable, it

is because it presages evils, as it in part deprives us ofthe advantages even 128 TREATISE ON MAN. Friendship the result of bodily sensibility. even boys, and avowed it*. Theft was not punished in Sparta: and the Lacedæmonians robbed without remorse. The princes of the East can, with impunity, load their subjects with taxes, and they do it effectually. The inquisitor can with impunity burn any person who does not think as he does, on certain metaphysical points, and it is without remorse that he gluts his vengeance by hideous torments, for the slight offence that is given to his vanity by the contradiction ofa Jew or an Infidel. Remorse, therefore owes its existence to the fear of punishment or of shame, which is always reducible, as I have already said to a bodily sensation. FRIENDSHIP. From bodily sensibility flow in like manner, the tears that bathe the urn of my friend. I lament the loss ofthe man whose conversation relieved me from disquietude, from that disagreeable sensation of the soul, which actually produces bodily pain : I deplore a want ofattention in mankind to serve us, and presents the time to come as void of pleasures, and full of pains ; which are all reducible to bodily sensation.

The Gauls were anciently divided into a great number of

clubs, or particular societies, that were composed of about a dozen families, the women of which were in common. They lived among themselves without remorse, but no one durst tohave a passion fora woman belonging to another club : the law forbade it, and remorse begins where impunity ends. him TREATISE ON MAN, 129 All pleasures referable to bodily sensation. him who exposed his life and fortune to save me from sorrow and destruction ; who was incessantly employed in promoting my felicity, and increasing it by every sort ofpleasure. When a man enters into himself, whenhe examines the bottom of his soul, he perceives nothing in all these sentiments butthe developement of bodily pain and pleasure. What cannot this pain produce ? It is by this medium that the magis trate enchains vice, and disarms the assassin. PLEASURE. There are two sorts of pleasures, as there are two sorts ofpains the one is the present bodily pleasure, the other is that offoresight. Does a man love fine slaves and beautiful paintings ? If he discovers a treasure he is transported. He does not, however, yet feel any bodily pleasure, you will say. It is true ; but he gains atthat moment, the means of procuring the objects of his desires. Now this foresight of an approaching pleasure, is in fact an actual pleasure : for without thelove of fine slaves and paintings, he would have been entirely unconcerned at the discovery of the treasure. pose The pleasures offoresight, therefore, constantly supthe existence of the pleasures of the senses. It is the hopes of enjoying my mistress to-morrow that makes me happy to-day. Foresight or memory converts into an actual enjoyment the acquisition of every means proper to procure pleasure. From what motive in fact do I feel an agreeable sensation every time VOL. I. K I ob- 130 TREATISE ON MAN. Power is coveted as the medium ofobtaining pleasure. I obtaina new degree of esteem, of importance, riches, and above all, ofpower? Itis because I esteem power as the most sure means of increasing my happiness. POWER. Men love themselves : they all desire to be happy, and think their happiness would be complete, if they were invested with a degree ofpower sufficient to procure them every sort of pleasure. The love of power therefore takes its source from the love of pleasure. Suppose a man absolutely insensible. But, it will be said, he must then be without ideas, and consequently a mere statue. Be it so : but allow that he may exist, and even think. Ofwhat consequence would the sceptre of a monarch be to him ? None. In fact, what could the most immense power add tothe felicity of a man without feeling. If power be so coveted by the ambitious, it is as the mean of acquiring pleasure. Power is like gold; a money. The effect ofpower, and of a bill of exchange is the same. If I be in possession of such a bill, I re-t ceive at London or Paris a hundred thousand crowns, and consequently all the pleasures that sum can procure. Am I in possession of a letter of authority or command ? I draw in like manner from my fellow-citizens, a like quantity of provisions or pleasures. The effects of riches and power are in a manner the same for riches are power. In acountry wheremoney is unknown, in whatmanner TREATISE ON MAN. 131 Of wealth and honors. ** " ner can taxes be paid ? In kind, that is, in corn, wine, cattle, fowls, &c.-How can commerce be car ried on ? By exchange. Money therefore is to be regarded as a portable merchandise, which it is agreed, for the facility of commerce, to take in exchange for all other sorts of merchandise. Can it be the same with the dignities and honours with which polished na-. tions recompense the services rendered their country ? Why not ? What are honours ? A money that is in like manner the representative of every kind of provision and pleasure. Suppose a country where the honorary money is not current ; suppose the people to be too free, and too haughty, to suffer a very great inequality in the ranks and authority of the people : in what manner must the nation recompense great actions, and such as are useful to the nation ? By natural riches and pleasures, that is, by transferring a certain quantity of corn, beer, hay, wine, &c. to the granary and cellar of the hero : by giving him so many acres of land to till, or so many handsome slaves. It was by the possession of Briseis*, that the Greeks recom-

In the island of Rimini, no man can marry that has not killed an

enemy, and borne away his head. The conqueror oftwo enemies has a right to marry two wives, and so on to fifty. What could be the cause of such an establishment ? The situation of these. islanders, who being surrounded by nations that were their enemies, would not have been able to resist them, if they had not perpetu ally excited the courage oftheir people bythe highest rewards. K2 penced 132 TREATISE ON MAN. Reasons for coveting wealth and honors. 1 i penced the valour ofAchilles.. What amongthe Scandinavians, the Saxons, the Scythians, the Celts, the Samnites, and the Arabs , was the recompence of courage, of talents and virtues ? Sometimes a fine woman, and sometimes a banquet, where feasting on delicate viands, and quaffing delicious liquors, the warriors with transport listened to the songs of the bards. It is therefore evident, that if money and honours be, among most polished nations, the rewards of virtuous actions, they are in that case the representative of the same possessions, and the same pleasures that poor and free nations grant to their heroes, and for the acquisi tion of which those heroes expose themselves to the greatest dangers. Therefore, on the supposition, that. these dignities and honours were not the representa tives of wealth or pleasures, that they were nothing more than empty titlest, those titles being estimated

Amongthe presents which the caravans at this day make to

the Arabs ofthe Desert, the most agrecable are marriageable virgins. This was the tribute the victorious Saracens formerly de manded of the conquered. Abderahman, after the conquest of the Spaniards, exacted of the petty prince of the Asturias, the annual tribute ofa hundred beautiful virgins. + Ifin despotic nations the spring of glory be commonly very weak, it is, because glory there confers no sort of power, because all power is absorbed in despotism ; because in those countries a hero, covered with glory, is not secure from the intrigues of a vilfainous courtier ; because he has no certain property in his effects, or his liberty ; because, in short, he is liable, at the pleasure of according TREATISE ON MAN. 183 Motives which influence the actions and passions ofmen. according to their real value, would presently cease to be the objects of desire. To enter a breach, a crown piece, the representative of a pint of brandy, and the enjoyment ofa trull must be given to the soldier. The warriors ofantiquity, and those of the present day are the same . Men have not changed their nature, and they will always perform nearly the same actions for the same rewards. Ifa man be supposed indifferent to pleasure and pain, he will be without action : unsusceptible of remorse, or friendship, or, in short, of the love of riches or of power : for when we are insensible his sovereign, to be thrown into a prison, to be deprived of his wealth and honours, and even of life itself. Why does the Englishman behold, in the greatest part of foreign noblemen, nothing more than gaudy valets and victims. adorned with garlands ? Because a peasant in England, is in fact greater than an officer of state in another country : the peasant is free ; he can be virtuous with impunity ; and sees nothing above him but the law. It is the desire ofglory that must be the most powerful principle of action in poor republics ; and it is the love of money, founded on the love ofluxury, that in despotic countries is the principle of action, and the moving powerin nations subject to that sort of government.

The irruption of Brennus into Italy,it is well known, was not

the first, but the fifth made by the Gauls. Bellovesus had invaded it before him ; and how did this chief persuade his countrymen to follow him over the Alps ? By showing them the wine ofItaly. "Taste this wine, he cried, and see if you like it ?

ifyou do, follow me, andconquer the country that produced it."

K3 to 134 TREATISE ON MAN. Origin of human societies. to pleasure itself, we must be insensible to the means of acquiring it. Whatwe seek in riches and power, is the means of avoiding bodily pains, and procuring bodily pleasures. Ifthe acquisition of gold and powerbe always a pleasure, it is because foresight and memory convert into an actual pleasure all the means of obtaining it. The general conclusion ofthis chapter, is, that in man all is sensation : a truth of which I shall give a fresh proof, by showing that his sociability is nothing more than a consequence ofthe same sensations. CHAP. VIII. OF SOCIABILITY. MAN is by nature a devourer of fruits and of flesh ; but he is weak, unarmed, and consequently exposed to the voracity of animals stronger than himself. Man, therefore, to avoid the fury of the tyger and the lion, was forced to unite with man. The object of this union wasto attack and kill other animals , either to feed on them, or to prevent their consuming the fruits There is, they say, in Africa, a sort of wild dogs, that' go troops to makewaron animals that are stronger than themselves. in 5 and TREATISE ON MAN. 135 Origin ofhuman societies. and herbs that served him for nourishment. In the mean time mankind multiplied, and to support themselves, they were obliged to cultivate the earth ; but to induce them to this, it became necessary to stipulate, that the harvest should belong to the husbandman. For this purpose the inhabitants made agreements or laws among themselves. These laws strengthened the bonds ofa union, that, founded on their wants, was the immediate effect of corporeal sensibility . But cannot this sociability be regarded as an innate quality+,

Becausemanis sociable, peoplehave concluded thathe is good.

But they have deceived themselves. Wolves form societies, but they are not good. We may add, that if man, as M. Fontenelle says, has made God after his own image, the horrible portrait, he has drawn ofthe Divinity ought to make the goodness of man very equivocal. Hobbes has been reproached with this maxim : The strong childis a bad child, he has however only repeated in other terms, this admired verse of Corneille, Qui peut toutce qu'il veut, veut plus que ce qu'il doit. He that can do whatever he will, wills more than he ought. And this other verse of La Fontaine, Laraison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure. The strongest always reason best. They who write the romance of man, condemn this maxim of Hobbes ; they that write his history, admire it ; and the necessity of laws proves it to be true. + That curiosity, which certain writers regard as an innate principle, isthe desire in us ofbeing happy, and of improving our condition : it is no other than the developement of corporeal sensibility. K4 a spe- 136 TREATISE ON MAN. Interest and want the principles of sociability. a species ofamiable morality ? All that we learn from experience on this head, is, that in man, as in other animals, sociability is the effect of want. If the desire of defending themselves makes the grazing animals, as horses, bulls, &c. assemble in herds ; that of chasing, attacking, and conquering their prey, forms in like manner a society of carnivorous animals, such as foxes and wolves, Interest and want are the principles of all sociability. It is, therefore, these principles alone (of which few writers have given clear ideas) that unite men among themselves and the force of their union is always in proportion to that of habit and want. From the monent the young savage*, or the young bear, is able to provide for his nourishment and his defence, the one

The greatest part of travellers, say that the attachment of the

Negroes to their children, resembles that of brute animals to their offspring : this attachment ceases when they are able to provide for themselves. See Melanges interessans des Voyages d'Asie, d'Amérique, &c, The Anxicos, says Draper on this head, in his voyage to Africa, eat their slaves : human flesh is as common in their mar kets, as that of beef in ours. The father feasts on the flesh of his son, and the son on the flesh of his father ; brothers and sisters eat each other, and the inother without remorse, feeds on the child she has just brought into the world. In short, the Negroes, says F. Labat, have neither gratitude nor affection for their relations, nor compassion for the sick. Among these people, he adds, mothers are seen inhuman enough to abandon their children to the voracity of the tygers of the woods. quits TREATISE ON MAN. 137 . Filial attachment should be but a secondary affection. quits the hut, and the other the den of his parents*: The eagle, in like manner, drives away her young ones from the nest, the moment they have sufficient strength to dart upon their prey, and live without her aid. The bond that attaches children to their parents, and parents to their children, is less strong than is comnonly imagined. A too great strength in this bond would be even fatal to societies. The first regard of a citizen should be for the laws, and the public prosperity ; I speak it with regret, filial affection should be in inan subordinate to the love of patriotism . Ifthis last affection do not take place of all others, where shall we find a measure ofvirtue and vice ? It would then be no more, and all morality would be abolished. For what reason, in fact, has justice and the love of God been recommended to men, above all things ? On account ofthe danger to which a too great love of their parents would expose them. Ifthe excess ofthis passion were sanctioned ; if it were declared the principal attachment, a son would then have a right to rob

Nothing is more common in Europe, than to see children

desert their parents, when they become old, infirm, incapable of labour, and forced to subsist by beggary. We see, in the coun try, one father nourish seven or eight children, but seven or eight children are not sufficient to nourish one father. If all children be not so unnatural, if some ofthem have affection and humanity, it is to education and example they owe that humanity. Nature . has made them diminutive bears, his 138 TREATISE ON MAN.. Causes which diminish the strength of Alial affection. his neighbour, or plunder the public treasury, to supply the wants, and promote the comforts of his father. Every family would form a little nation, and these nations having opposite interests, would be continually at war with each other. Every writer, who to give us a good opinion of his own heart, founds the sociability of man on any other principle than that of bodily and habitual wants, deceives weak minds, and gives them a false idea of morality. Nature, no doubt, designed that gratitude and habit should form in man a sort of gravitation, by which they should be impelled to a love of their parents : but it has also designed that man should have, in the natural desire of independence, a repulsive power, which should diminish the too great force of that gravitation *. Thus the daughter joyfully leaves the house of her mother to go to that of her husband ; and the son quits with pleasure his native spot, for an ´employment in India, an office in a distant country, or merely for the pleasure of travelling. Notwithstanding the pretended force of sentiment, friendship, and habit, mankind change at Paris, every day, the part of the town, their acquaintance and

Man hates dependence : whence, perhaps, comes the hatred

of his father and mother ; and the proverb, founded on com mon and constant observation, that the love of relations descends, and does not ascend. their TREATISE ON MAN. 139 Sociability not an innate principle in man, their friends. Do men seek to make dupes ? They exaggerate the force of sentiment and friendship, they represent sociability as an innate affection or principle. Can they, in reality, forget that there is but one principle of this kind, which is corporeal sensibility ? It is to this principle alone, that we owe our self-love, and the powerful love of independence : if men were, as it is said, drawn toward each other by a strong and mutual attraction, would the heavenly Legislator have commanded them to love each other, and to honour their parents ? Would he not have left this point to nature, which, without the aid of any law, obliges men to eat and drink when they are hungry and thirsty, to open their eyes to the light, and keep their hands out of the fire ? Travellers do not inform us that the love which mankind bear to their fellows, is so common as pretended. The sailor, escaped from a wreck, and cast on an unknown coast, does not run with open arms to embrace the first man he meets. On the contrary, he hides himselfin a thicket, where he observes the manners of the inhabitants, and then presents himself trembling before them. But if an European vessel chance to approach an unknown island, do not the savages, it is said, run in The command to love our fathers and mothers, proves that the love ofour parents is more the effect ofhabit and education, than of nature, crowds 140 TREATISE ON MAN: Sociability the effect of the necessity of mutual assistance. crowds towards the ship ? They are, without doubt, amazed at the sight, they are struck with the novelty of our dress, our arms and implements. The appearance excites their curiosity. But what desire succeeds to this first sensation ? That of possessing the objects of their admiration. They become less gay and more thoughtful ; are busied in contriving means to obtain, byforce or fraud, the objects of their desires : for that purpose they watch the favourable opportunity to rob, plunder, and massacre the Europeans, who, in their conquests of Mexico and Peru, gave them early examples of similar injustice and cruelty. The conclusion of this chapter is, that the principles of morality and politics, like those of all other sciences, ought to be established on a great number of facts and observations. Now, what is the result of the observations hitherto made on morality ? That the love of men for their brethren, is the effect of the necessity of mutual assistance, and of an affinity of wants, dependent on that corporeal sensibility, which Iregard as the principle of our actions, our virtues, and our vices. In persevering in my opinion on this point, I think I ought to defend the Treatise on the Mind against the odious imputations of hypocrisy and ignorance. CHAP. TREATISE ON MAN. 141 The love ofwomen sometimes excites virtue in men. CHAP. IX. A JUSTICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES ADMITTED IN THE TREATISE ON THE MIND. WHENthe Treatise on the Mind appeared, the theologians regarded me as a corruptor of morals. They reproached me with having maintained, after Plato, Plutarch, and experience, that the love of women had sometimes excited virtue in men. The fact, however, is notorious : their reproach, therefore, is ridiculous. If bread, it has been said to them, be a recompence for labour´and industry, why not women ? Every object of desire may become un Ifhunger bethe principle of so many actions, and has so much power over men, how can we imagine that the desire for women can have no effect on them ? At the moment a youth is heated with the first fires oflove, let its enjoyments be proposed to him as the recompence of his application : let him bereminded, even in the arms of his mistress, that it is to his talents and his virtues that heowes her favours. The young man, docile, assiduous, virtuous, will then enjoy in a manner agrecable to his health, to his soul, and to the public good, the same delight that he would not enjoy, in another situation, without exhausting his strength, debasing his mind, and dissipating his fortune, by living in a state of stupid ebriety. encouragement 142 TREATISE ON MAN. Valour inspired by women in the barbarous ages. encouragement to virtue, when it is not to be obtained but by services rendered to our country. In those ages, when the invasions of the Northern nations, and the incursions of swarms of plunderers, kept the inhabitants continually in arms, when the women being frequently exposed to the insults of ravagers, were in continual want of protectors, the virtue then in highest esteem was valour. The favours ofthe women, therefore, were the recompence of the most valiant, and consequently every man ambitious of those favours, endeavoured to elevate himself to that enthusiastic courage, which about four centuries since animated the renowned knight-errants. The love of pleasure was therefore in those ages the productive principle of the only virtue then known ; that is, valour. When the manners changed, and a more improved policy relieved the timid virgin from insult, then beauty (for in government all things depend on each other) less exposed to outrages of the ravagers, held its defenders in less esteem. If the enthusiasm of women for valour then decreased in preportion to their fear ; if the esteem preserved to this day, for that sort of courage be only the esteem of tradition; if in this age the youngest, most assiduous, obsequious, and above all, the most opulent lover is commonly preferred, it is not surprising ; all is as it ought to be. The favours of women, therefore, according to the changes that happen in manners and governments, either TREATISE ON MAN. 143 The love ofwomen not incompatible with virtue. ther are, or cease to be, the encouragements to certain virtues. Love in itself is no evil. Why should we regard pleasures as the cause of the political corruption ofmanners ? Men have had in all ages nearly the same wants, and in all ages have satisfied those wants. The ages, or the nations most addicted to love, have been those in which men were the strongest and most robust. Edda, the Erse poets, in short, all history informs us, thatthe ages esteemed heroic and virtuous, have not been the most temperate. Youth are strongly attracted by women : they are more eager after pleasure than persons of riper years ; they are, however, commonly more humane and virtuous, at least more active, and activity is a virtue. It was neither love nor pleasures that corrupted Asia, enervated the manners of the Medes, the Assyrians, Indians, &c. The Greeks, the Saracens, and Scandinavians, were neither more reserved nor more chaste than the Persians and Medes, and yet the former have never been cited among effeminate nations. If there be a time when the favours of women can become a principle of corruption, it is when they are venal * ; when money, far from being the recompence of merit and talents, becomes that of intrigue and flattery ; in short, when a satrap or a nabob can, by

Itmay be asked by some, perhaps, when the time was that

the favours of women were notvenal? means 144 TREATISE ON MAN. Power of women to incite to virtue or vice. means of injustice and crimes, obtain from the sovereign the right of pillaging the people, and applying the spoil to his own emolument. It is with women as with honours, they are the common objects of the desire of men. Ifhonours be the price of iniquity ; if to attain them the great must be flattered ; if the weak must be sacrificed to the powerful, and the interest of a nation to that of a sultan ; then honours, so justly invented as a recompence and decoration of merit and talents, become the source of corruption. Women, like honours, may, therefore, according to times and manners, become the alternate incitements to vice or virtue. The political corruption of manners therefore consists only in the depravation of the means employed to procure pleasures. The rigid moralist who preaches incessantly against pleasures, is nothing more than the echo of his ghostly father. How can we extinguish every desire in man without destroying every principle of action ? He who is affected by no interest, can have no motive to produce any action worthy of a man. CHAP. TREATISE ON MAN.` 145 Hunger the most habitual principle of activity in man. CHAP. X. THE PLEASURES OF THE SENSES ARE, IN A MANNER EVEN UNKNOWN TO NATIONS THEMSELVES, THEIR MOST POWERFUL MOTIVES. THE springs of action in man are corporeal pains and pleasures. Why is hunger the most habitual principle of his activity ? Because among all his wants it is that which returns the most frequently and commands the most imperiously. It is hunger and the difficulty of appeasing it, that gives the carnivorous animals of the forest so much superiority of intellect over the grazing herds. It is hunger that furnishes the former with a hundred ingenious methods of attacking and surprising their game. It is hunger that keeps the savages for six months together on the lakes, and in the woods : teaches them to bend the bow, to weave their nets, and set the snares for their prey. It. is hunger also that among polished nations puts the people in action, teaches them to cultivate the land, learn a mechanical trade, and fill a difficult employ. But in the exercise of these employs, each individual forgets the motive that led him to undertake it ; for the mind is occupied, not with the want, but with the VOL. I. L means 148 TREATISE ON MAN. Pleasure and pain the only springs of government. No passion produces greater changes in man ; its empire extends even to brutes. The timid animal that trembles at the approach of another which is even weaker than itself, becomes animated by love. At the command of love he stops, shakes off every fear, attacks and defeats his equals, or even his superiors in strength. There are no dangers, no labours by which love can be dismayed. It is the spring of life. In proportion as its desires die away, man loses his activity ; and by degrees, death deprives him of every other sensation. Corporeal pleasure and pain are the real and only springs of all government. We do not properly desire glory, riches and honours, but the pleasures only of which glory, riches, and honours are the representatives ; and whatever men may say, while we give the workman money that he may drink, to excite him to labour, we must acknowledge the power that the pleasures of the senses have over us. When I said, in the Treatise of the Mind, that it is from the stalk of corporeal pleasure and pain, that we gather all our joys and our pains, I published an important truth.-What follows ? That it is not in the enjoyment of these same pleasures, that the politicalcorporeal pleasures. The body soon becomes exhausted : the imagination never. So that of all our pleasures, it is the latter, that in general, give us, in the total of life, the greatest sum of happiness. depravation TREATISE ON MAN. 145 Hungerthe most habitual principle of activity in man.. CHAP. X. THE PLEASURES OF THE SENSES ARE, IN A MANNER EVEN UNKNOWN TO NATIONS THEMSELVES, THEIR MOST POWERFUL MOTIVES. THE springs of action in man are corporeal pains. and pleasures. Why is hunger the most habitual principle of his activity ? Because among all his wants it is that which returns the most frequently and commands the most imperiously. It is hunger and the difficulty of appeasing it, that gives the carnivorous animals of the forest so much superiority of intellect over the grazing herds. It is hunger that furnishes the former with a hundred ingenious methods of attacking and surprising their game. It is hungerthat keeps the savages for six months together on the lakes, and in the woods : teaches them to bend the bow, to weave their nets, and set the snares for their prey. It is hunger also that among polished nations puts the people in action, teaches them to cultivate the land, learn a mechanical trade, and fill a difficult employ. But in the exercise of these employs, each individual forgets the motive that led him to undertake it ; for the mind is occupied, not with the want, but with the VOL. I. L means 148 TREATISE ON MAN. Pleasure and pain the only springs of government. No passion produces greater changes in man ; its empire extends even to brutes. The timid animal that trembles at the approach of another which is even weakerthan itself, becomes animated by love. At the command of love he stops, shakes off every fear, attacks and defeats his equals, or even his superiors in strength. There are no dangers, no labours by which love can be dismayed. It is the spring of life. In proportion as its desires die away, man loses his activity ; and by degrees, death deprives him of every other sensation. Corporeal pleasure and pain are the real and only springs of all government. We do not properly desire glory, riches and honours, but the pleasures only of which glory, riches, and honours are the representatives ; and whatever men may say, while we give the workman money that he may drink, to excite him to labour, we must acknowledge the power that the pleasures of the senses have over us. When I said, in the Treatise of the Mind, that it is from the stalk of corporeal pleasure and pain, that we gather all our joys and our pains, I published an important truth.-What follows ? That it is not in the enjoyment of these same pleasures, that the politicalcorporeal pleasures. The body soon becomes exhausted : the imagination never. So that ofall our pleasures, it is the latter, that in general, give us, in the total of life, the greatest sum of happiness. depravation TREATISE ON MAN. 149 Object proposed by the author. depravation of manners can consist. Who in fact are a corrupted and effeminate people ? They who acquire by vicious means the same pleasures that illustrious nations acquire by virtuous means. The declamations of certain moralists will never prove any thing against an author, whose principles are justified and confirmed by experience. Let not this discussion of corporeal sensibility be regarded as foreign to my subject. What have I proposed? To shew that all men equally well organised, have an equal disposition for understanding. What have I done toward it ? I have distinguished between the mind or understanding, and the soul : I have proved, that the soul is in us nothing but the faculty of sensation ; that the mindis the effect of it : thatin man all is sensation ; that, consequently, corporeal sensibility is the principle of his wants, his passions, his sociability, his ideas, his judgments, his desires, and his actions ; and that, in short, if all things can be explained by corporeal sensibility, it is useless to admit of any other faculty in us *. Man is a machine, which being put in motion by

Besides the faculty of sensation, man is said to be endowed

with that of remembrance. I know it : but as the organ ofthe memory is corporeal, as its office consists in recalling impressions that are past, and as it must excite in us actual sensations in order to produce that effect, I am not the less authorised to assert, that in manall is sensation, L3 corporeal · 150 TREATISE ON MAN. Ofthe unequal extent ofthe memory. corporeal sensibility, ought to perform all that it executes. It is the wheel, which moved by a torrent, raises the pistons, and with them the water designed to be thrown into the bason prepared to receive it. After having thus shown that every thing in us is reducible to sensation and remembrance, and that our sensations are produced by the five senses only ; to discover next if a greater or less understanding be the effect of a greater or less perfection of the organs, we must examine, if in fact, the superiority of the mind or understanding be always in proportion to the acuteness of the senses, and the extent of the memory. If experience prove the contrary, there is no doubt that the usual inequality of minds must proceed from ano- ther cause. It is, therefore, to the sole examination of this fact, the question proposed is now reduced, and it is to this examination we shall owe its solution. CHAP. XI. OF THE UNEQUAL EXTENT OF THE MEMORY. I SHALL here only repeat what I have said in the book onthe Mind, and shall observe : 1. That TREATISE ON MAN. 151 Memory may exist without genius or great understanding. 1. That the Hardouins, the Longuerues, the Scaligers, in short all the prodigies of memory, have commonly had but little genius, and that they are never placed in the same rank with Machiavel, Newton, and Tacitus . 2. Thatto make discoveries of any kind, and deserve the title of inventor, or a man of genius ; if we must, as Descartes has proved, meditate more than learn, a man may have a great memory, without a a great understandingt.

So Pope in his Essay on Criticism,

As onthe land while here the ocean gains, In other partsit leaves wide sandy plains ; Thus inthe soul while memory prevails, The solid pow'r of understanding fails ; Where beams of warm imagination play, The memory's soft figures melt away. This seems to be a vulgar error ; a strong memory and a feṛtile inventiou frequently go together, the former being ofthe utmost utility to the latter. If a man shall sit down to invent, he will find that a complete retrospect of all he has seen, heard or read, relative to any science, will afford him the greatest assistance in his further inventions or improvements in that science. T. + A great memory makes a great scholar ; meditation makes the man of genius. The original mind, the mind of a peculiar turn, supposes a comparison of objects with each other, and a discernment of relations unknown to ordinary men. It is not so with the man ofthe world : his mind is composed oftaste and memory. He who knows the most remarkable passages in history, L4 He 152 TREATISE ON MAN. Means of acquiring a strong memory. He whowould acquire a great memory, should improve it by daily practice. He that would acquire a certain habit of meditation, should in like manner improveit by daily exercise. Nowthe time spent in meditation, is not employed in storing up facts in the memory, The man who compares and meditates much, has therefore cominonly the less memory, as he makes the less use of it. Of what use, moreover, is a great memory ? The most common will answer the purpose of a great man. He who understands his own language, has already a great number of ideas. To merit. the title of a man of understanding, what is he to do? Compare his ideas with each other, and bythat mean obtain some conclusion new and interesting, either by being useful or agreeable. The memory charged with all the words of a language, and consequently with all the ideas of a people, is like a pallet covered with a certain number of colours : the painter has on that pallet the matter for an excellent picture ; it is for him so to . the most bon mots, and curious anecdotes, is the most agreeable companion. Newton, Locke, and Corneille, were undestood by few. The man of profound penetration is not adapted to the multitude. Ifthe man of the world be not a sublime poet, a fine painter, a profound philosopher, or great general, he is at least quite amiable. If his reputation do not extend beyond the circle of his acquaintance, it is because he does not write, does not improve any science, and render himself useful to mankind, and therefore ought not to expect much esteem. use TREATISE ON MAN. 153 Memory more extensive than is commonly imagined. use and dispose them, that they may produce a great truth in the shades, and a great force of colouring, in aword, a beautiful painting. A common memory has even more extent than is imagined. In Germany and England there is scarcely a man of education, who does not understand three or four languages . Now if the study of those languages be comprised in the common plan of education, it cannot suppose any thing more than a common organisation : all men are therefore endowed by nature with more memory than is requisite to investigate the greatest truthst. Hence I infer, that if the superiority of the mind consists principally, as Mr. Hobbes re. marked, in the knowledge of the true signification of words, and if there be no man who in reflecting on

Ifthe French understand no language but their own, it is the

effect oftheir education, and not their organisation ; let them pass some years at London or Florence, and they will easily understand English or Italian. + Nature, we are told has given to every nation some peculiar quality or genius. There is no nation in Europe that has not made some successful alterations in their military exercises and evolutions, afterthe Prussians. But too much struck with the brilliancy of these evolutions, have these nations cultivated the means of exciting courage in their soldiers ? I doubt it. The Europeans have not the same motives to expose their lives in battle, as the Greeks and Romans had : and consequently, the courage of armies is not manifested in enterprizes equally hazardous ; and may be reduced, perhaps, in every warrior, to the sole principle of not being thefirst to runaway. those 154 TREATISE ON MAN. Imperfection ofthe mind not owing to defect ofmemory. those of his own language only, would not find more questions to discuss than he could resolve in the course of a long life, no man can complain of his memory. There are, it is said, quick and slow memories : we have in fact, a quick remembrance of the words of our own language, and a more slow remembrance of those of a foreign tongue ; especially, if we speak it but seldom. But what can we hence conclude ? Only that we have a remembrance of objects more or less prompt, according as they are more or less familiar to us. There is but one real and remarkable difference in meinories, which is the inequality of their extent. Now, if all men equally well organised, are, as I have proved, endowed with a memory sufficient to exalt them to the highest ideas, genius is then not the product of a great memory. Consult on this subject, chap. iii. disc. iii. of the Treatise on the Mind. 1 have there considered this question in every light. My opinion appears to have been generally adopted, because experience has confirmed its truth, and proved, that in general, it is not to the defect of the memory we oughtto refer the imperfection of the mind or understanding. Does it proceed from the unequal perfection of the other organs ? I shall now examine that question. CHAP. TREATISE ON MAN. 155 Unequal perfection of the organs ofthe senses, CHAP. XII. OF THE UNEQUAL PERFECTION OF THE ORGANS OF THE SENSES. Ir in men all be corporeal sensation, they do not then differ among themselves, but in the degrees of their sensations. The five senses are the organs of those sensations ; they are the passages by which ideas penetrate even to the soul. But are these passages equally open in all ; and according to the different structure of the organs of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell , ought not each man to smell, taste, touch, see, and hear indifferently ? Lastly, should not those menwhohave the finest organs have the greatest discernment , and be perhaps, the only men that can possess it in any remarkable degree ?

Let it not be supposed, however, that there is an extreme

difference inthe common organisation ofmen. All have not the same ear, yet in a concert, at certain tunes, all the musicians, all the dancers in an opera, and all the soldiers of a battalion move equally in measure. † Among men the most perfectly organised, ifthere be few of remarkable acuteness, it is, we are told, because the understanding isthejoint effect ofthe acuteness ofthe senses, and of a good eduExperience, 156 TREATISE ON MAN. Understanding not dependent on the perfection ofthe senses. with rea-1 Experience, I answer, does not here agree son it demonstrates clearly that it is to the senses we owe our ideas, but it does not demonstrate that our discernment is always in proportion to the greater or less perfection of the senses. Women, for example, who are of a more delicate texture than men, have more sensibility in the touch, but have no more understanding than Voltaire, the man, perhaps, the most surcation. Be is so : but on this supposition it would be at least impossible that a good education, without a peculiar and remarkable perfection of the senses, could form a great man. Now this fact is disproved by experience.

The organisation of the two sexes, is without doubt, in some

respects very different but is this difference to be regarded as the cause ofthe inferiority of the minds of women ? No : on the contrary, is is evident, that no woman being organised as a inan*, none ofthem consequently should have as much understanding. Now, can the genius of Sappho, Hyppatia, Elizabeth, Catherine II. &c. be esteemed inferior to that of men ? If women be in general inferior, it is because in general they receive a still worse education. Compare together women of very different condi tions, such as princesses and chambermaids ; I say, that these two ranks of women have commonly as much undestanding as their husbands. Why? Because the two sexes have here received an education equally bad.

Will this be allowed, as to what regards the sensibility of the

organs ? Are there not many women of more robust organisation than the generality of men ? T. prising TREATISE ON MAN. 157 Understanding not dependent on the perfection ofthe senses. prising ofall others, for the fecundity, extent, and di- . versity ofhis talents. Homer and Milton were early blind. A blindness so premature should imply some imperfection in the organ of sight yet how strong and brilliant were their imaginations ? A similar observation may be made on M. Buffon ; he is short-sighted yet what mind more comprehensive, and what style more beautiful . Among those who have the sense ofhearing in the greatest perfection, are there any superior to the St. Lamberts, the Saurins, the Nivernois, &c. Ofthose who have the senses of tasting and smelling in the greatest perfection, are there any who have more genius than Diderot, Rousseau, Marmontel, Duclos, &c. ? In whatever manner we interrogate experience, it will constantly answer, that the greater or less superiority of mind is independent of the greater or less perfection of the organs of the senses, and that all men equally well organised, are endowed by nature with acuteness of the senses sufficient to lead them to the greatest discoveries in mathematics, chymistry, politics, physics, &c.t It has not been remarked, that in the greatest painters, the sense of seeing is much more acute than that of other men. + If a greater or less understanding depends on the greater or less acuteness ofthe senses, it is probable that the different temperatures of the air, the difference of latitudes and aliments, must have some influence on minds, and consequently that the country most favoured by heaven should produce the most ingenious inIf 158 TREATISE ON MAN. Understanding not dependent on the perfection of the senses. Ifthe sublimity of the mind supposed so great a perfection in the organs, before a man is engaged in difficult studies, before he enters for example, into the career of letters or of politics, we should examine if he have the eye of an eagle, the feeling of the sensitive plant, the nose of the fox, and the ear of the mole. Dogs and horses, they say, are esteemed more or less, according as they spring from this or that race. Therefore, before we employ a man, we should ask if he sprang from an ingenious or stupid father. Now habitants. Now, how can we imagine, that from the beginning of time to the present day, the inhabitants of such country must not have acquired a remarkable superiority over other na tions ? That they must not have invented the best laws, and consequently have been the best governed ? Thatthey must not inthe course of time have subdued the other nations, and in short, have produced, in every class, the greatest number of renowned men ? The generating climate of such a people is hitherto unknown. History does not point out any one among the nations endowed with a constant superiority of understanding above all others : it shows, on the contrary, that from Delhi to Petersburg, all nations have been successively ignorant and enlightened that in the same situations every people, as Dr. Robertson remarks, have the same laws, and the same sagacity, and that we find, for this reason, the manners ofthe ancient Germans amongthe modern Americans.

The difference of latitude and food has therefore no influence on the minds of men, and perhaps it has less than is imagined on their bodies. In fact, the greatest part of politicians in calculating the population of cities and empires from the number of deaths, have thence observed, that, at least in the greatestpart of Europe, the duration oflife is nearly the same. these TREATISE ON MAN. 159 Understanding not dependent on the perfection of the senses. these questions are never asked ; Why? Because the most ingenious fathers frequently beget foolish children ; because men the best organised, have frequently but little understanding, and in short, because experience proves the inutility of such questions. All that it teaches us, is, that there are men of genius of every make, and every temperament, that neither the sanguine, the bilious nor phlegmatic, the great or little, the fat, the lean, the robust, the tender, the melancholic (2.) nor the strong and vigorous, are always the most ingenious*. But suppose a man to have extreme sensibility, what follows ? That he will sometimes have sensations unknown to the common rank of men : that he will feel what a less delicate organisation will not permit another man to feel. But will he have more discernment ? No : because those sensations, always fruitless till the moment they are compared with each other, will constantly preserve the same relation to each othert. But, "

M. Rousseau, p. 300 and 323 of his Emilius, says, "The

"more hearty and robust a child grows the more judicious and respectable he becomes. To enjoy the instruments of our intelligence, the body must be healthful and robust. " A good constitution of body renders the operations of the mind easy and efficacious. But if M. Rousseau consults experience, he will find, that the sickly, the delicate, and the deformed, have as much understanding as the most vigorous, and well made. Witness Pascal, Pope, Boileau, and Scarron. † A sensation ofthe memory is nothing but an be replaced by another. Nowafact adds that inay additional fact, nothing to the suppose 160 TREATISE ON MAN. Understanding not dependent on the perfection of the senses. suppose the understanding to be proportionate to the acuteness of the senses ; and that there are truths which cannot be comprehended but by ten or twelve men ofthe first organisation. In this case the human mind would not be capable of perfectibility. I may also add, that these men so finely organised, would necessarily attain a degree of knowledge in the sciences, that would be incommunicable to the common rank of men. Now, such degree of knowledge has never been perceived. There are no truths contained in the works of Locke and Newton, that are not now comprehensible by all inen of a common organisation, and that have not any extraordinary excellence of tasting, smelling, seeing, hearing, and feeling. I may also add, that as there are no two things alike in nature*, each of those persons who have the aptitude men have to understanding, because that aptitude is nothing else than the power of observing the relations that different objects have to each other.

Does the dissimilitude of beings exist in their principles, or in

their developments ? I know not : Of this we are certain, that the race of cattle become stronger or weaker, improve or degene rate, according to the goodness and abundance of their pasture, and the same we observe in oaks : when we see some short, some tall, some strait, and others crooked ; in short, if no two trees are absolutely alike, it is, perhaps, because no two of them have received precisely the sanie culture, or are placed in a similar situation, are exposed to the same wind, or planted in the same soil. finest TREATISE ON MAN. 161 Climateand food have no effect onthe intellectual faculties, finest organisation, must be, in some respects, superior to the rest. Every man therefore, must feel sensations, and acquire ideas that are incommunicable to his fellows. Now there are no ideas of this kind : whoever has such as are clear, can easily communicate them to others. There are, therefore, no ideas that men, of ordinary organisation cannot attain. The causes that would operate most efficaciously on minds, would be, without doubt, the differences of climate and food. Now, as I have already said, the gross Englishman who feeds on butter and flesh, and breathes . a foggy air, has not certainly less understanding than the lean Spaniard, who lives on garlic and onions, in a very dry atmosphere. Shaw, an English physician, who from the fidelity and accuracy of his observations, as well as from the late date of his travels in Barbary, deserves our confidence, says, when speaking of the Moors. " The small progress this people have made " in the arts and sciences, is not the effect of incapacity or natural stupidity. The Moors have an acute "understanding, and even genius. If they do not "apply themselves to the study ofthe sciences, it is be- "cause being without motives to emulation, their government does not leave them either liberty or leisure " Now, the time ofthe developement of inanimate beings, answers tothat ofthe education of man, which is, perhaps, neverthe same, because, no two of them, as I have proved in the first section, can receive precisely the same instructions. VOL. I. M " sufficient 162 TREATISE ON MAN. Powerful patronage will always produce great talents.. "sufficient to cultivate and improve them. The Moors, "like the greatest part of the Orientals, being born " slaves, are naturally enemies to all labour that does " not directly promote their present and personal in- " terest." It is liberty alone that can kindle among a people the sacred fire of glory and emulation. If there be periods when, like those rare birds brought into a country by a storm of wind, great men appear on a sudden in an empire, this is not to be regarded as the effect ofa physical, but of a moral cause. In every government, where talents are rewarded, those rewards, like the teeth ofthe serpent, planted by Cadmus, will produce men. If Descartes, Corneille, &c. rendered the reign of Lewis XIII. illustrious ; Racine, Bayle, &c. that of Lewis XIV. Voltaire, Montesquieu, Fontenelle, &c. that of Lewis XV. it is, because the arts and sciences were under these different reigns, successively protected by Richelieu, Colbert, and the late duke of Orleans the regent. Great men, whatever has been said, belong not to the reign of Augustus or Lewis XIV. but to the reign that protects them. If any imagine that it is to the first fire of youth, to the freshness of the organs, if I may so say, that we owe the fine compositions of great men ; they deceive themselves. Racine was but thirty, when he produced his Alexander, and his Andromache ; but he was fifty, when hewrote Athalia, and the latter piece is certainly not TREATISE ON MAN. 163 Genius not affected by our state of health. not inferior to the former . It is not, moreover, a slight indisposition, which may occasion a state of health more or less delicate, that can extinguish genius. We do not enjoy every year the same health ; yet the lawyer gains or loses every year nearly the same number of causes ; the physician kills or cures nearly the same number of patients ; and the man of genius, distracted neither by business nor pleasure, by violent passions nor grievous maladies, produces every year nearly the same number of compositions. Whatever difference there may be in the diet of nations, or the climate they inhabit ; in a word, whatever difference there may be in their temperament , it will not augment or diminish the aptitude

Atthe end of a certain number of years, a man is, they say,

no longer the same composer. Voltaire at sixty was no longer the Voltaire of thirty. Be it so : yet he was equally sagacious. If two men, without being exactly similar, can run as fast, leap as high, shoot as true, and strike a ball as far, the one as the other, they may, without being precisely the same, have an equal understanding. †The aptitude ordisposition for understanding or discernment, as I shall show hereafter, is only an aptitude to discern the resemblance or difference, the agreement or disagreement between different objects. That the diversity of temperaments and climates may occasion a difference in the manners and inclinations of a people ; that the savage hunters in woody countries, would be herdsmen in a grazing country, may very well be : but it is not M 2 that 164 TREATISE ON MAN. The understanding is not dependent on the bodily faculties. that men haveto understanding. It is not, therefore, onthe strength of the body , or the juvenility of the organs, or the greater or less perfection of the senses, that the greater or less superiority of the understanding depends. To conclude, that experience demonstrates the truth of this fact, is no great matter ; I can less true, that in every country the inhabitants constantly perceive the same relations between the same objects. So, from the moment that these wandering natives unite into nations, when the marshes are drained, and forests cut down, the diversity of climates has had no sensible influence on their minds ; and we there fore find in Sweden and Denmark, as accomplished geometricians, chymists, natural philosophers, moralists, &c. as in Greece or Italy. The climate of Persia, says Chardin, is the most proper "to promote the vigour both of body and mind." Their cli mate, however, gives the Persians no more genius than the French. Ifthe superiority ofthe mind be independent of the greater or less vigour of temperaments, and the greater or less acuteness . ofthe senses, where shall we seek the cause ofthis superiority ? In the perfection ofthe interior organisation I shall be told : but, I answer, ifthe interior perfection of a clock be shown bythe precision with which it marks the hour, in man the perfection of his interior organisation shows itself, in like manner, (at least, so far as regards the understanding) by that of the five senses, to which it owes all its ideas. The perfection of the exterior organisation, supposes, therefore, that of the interior. But to prove that this last sort ofperfection can have no influence on the understanding, it will suffice to show, (in conformity to experience) that its superiority is intirely independent of the greater or less perfection of the five senses. also TREATISE ON MAN. 165 Ofthe different manner of receiving sensations. also prove, that if this fact exists, it is because it cannot exist otherwise, and also, that it is to a cause hitherto unknown, that we must look for the explanation ofthe phenomenon of the inequality of understandings. To confirm the truth of this opinion, I think, that after having demonstrated that in men every thing is sensation, we must conclude, that ifthey differ among themselves, it constantly proceeds from the different. degrees of their sensations only. CHAP. XIII. ON THE DIFFERENT MANNER OF RECEIVING SENSATIONS. MEN have different tastes : but this difference may be either the effect of habit and education, or of the unequal sensibility of their organisation. " If the Negro, for example, feels more pleasure in beholdingthe sooty complexion of an African beauty, than in the roses and lilies of an European, it is in him the effect of habit. If men, according tothe country they inhabit, are more affected with this or that sort of music , and

M. Rousseau in his Musical Dictionary, relates a remarkable

instance ofthis kind. There is, says he, among the Swiss a tune M 3 become 166 TREATISE ON-MAN. Of the different manner of receiving sensations. become in consequence susceptible of particular impressions, this is also the effect of habit. All tastes that are factitious, and produced by the difference of education, are not here the objects of my inquiry ; I here treat only of the different tastes produced by the mere different sensations felt at the presence of the same object. To know exactly what this difference is, we must have been successively ourselves and others. Now as this can never be, it is only by considering, with very great attention, the different impressions which the same objects appear to make on different men, that we can arrive at some discovery relative to this matter. If we examine this point closely we shall find, that if one saw square what another saw round ; if milk appeared white to one and red to another ; if to some men a rose seemed a thistle, and a well-proportioned man appeared a monster, it would be impossible for men to they call Rans-des-Vaches, which was held so dear by them, that it was forbidden, under pain of death, to play it among the Swiss troops for it made those that heard it burst into tears, desert, or die, byexciting in them an ardent desire again to see their native country. It is in vain to seek in this tune for such energetic accents as are capable ofproducing such wonderful effects. These effects are never produced on strangers, but proceed from habit, and by recalling to the minds of those who hear this tune, their country, their youth, their former pleasures, and manner of living, whence arises a piercing grief on reflecting that all these are no more. com- TREATISE ON MAN. 167 Ofthe different manner of receiving sensations. communicate their ideas, and understand each other : but they do understand each other ; the same objects therefore excite in them nearly the same impressions. To make this matter more clear, let us see in one and the same instance, in what men differ and resemble each other. They all resemble each other in one point ; and that is, they would all free themselves from disquietude : consequently they would all be employed, and the more lively that employment, the more agreeable it is to them ; provided, however, the impression be not so pungent as to excite pain. Men differ in this, that the degree of emotion which one regards as an excess of pleasure, is sometimes in another the beginning of pain. The eye of my friend may be pained by a degree of light that gives me pleasure ; and yet we both agree that light is the most pleasing object in nature. Now whence proceeds this uniformity of judgment, with this difference of sensation ? From the insignificancy in the degree of difference, and because a tender sight finds the same pleasure in a small degree of light, that a strong sight does in the blaze of a mid-day sun. Let us pass from physics to morality, and we shall see still less difference in the manner in which men are affected by the same objects, and shall find, in consequence, among the Chinese all our European pro-

Except in what has an immediate and peculiar relation tothe

M 4 verbs : 168 TREATISE ON MAN. Resemblance in the laws and manners of different nations. verbs : whence I conclude, that the trivial differences in the organisation of different people, oughtnot to be regarded ; for in comparing the same objects every nation forms the same conclusions. The invention of the same arts wherever there are the same wants, and where the arts have been equally encouraged by government, is another proof of the essential equality of minds. To confirm this truth, I may also cite the resemblance observed in the laws and governments of different people. Asia, says M. Poivre, peopled in a great part by the Malaccans, is governed by our ancient feudal laws. The inhabitants of Malacca, like our ancestors, are not agriculturists, but have like them a courage the most rash and determined*. Courage, therefore, is not, as some still oriental customs and government, there are no proverbs more similar than those of the Germans and the Chinese.

If the Malaccans, says M. Poivre, had been nearer neighbours to China, that empire would have been soon conquered, and

the form ofits government changed. Nothing, says that author, equals the passions ofthe Malaccans for theft and plunder : but are they the only nation ofthieves ? Whoever reads history, finds, that this love ofrapine is unhappily common to all men, and is founded on their idleness. They are better pleased, in general, to live by plunder and incursions, and by exposing themselves three or four months in the year to the greatest dangers, than be subject tothe daily labour of agriculture. But why then are not all nations thieves ? Because to plunder it is necessary to be situate near nations that have something to lose, that is, such as are agricultu rists and rich ifnot, they have no choice but to labour or starve, assert, TREATISE ON MAN. 169 Universally pleasing impression made by poetry. assert, the effect of a particular organisation inthe Europeans. Men resemble each other more than is commonly imagined. Where they differ it is in the degrees of their sensations. Poetry, for example, makes an agreeable impression on almost every one. Every one repeats with almost equal enthusiasm the hymn to light, that begins the third book of Paradise Lost ; but, it will be said that, if this passage admired by all is equally pleasing to all, it is because in painting the magnificent effects of light, the poet makes use ofa word, that by not expressing any particular degree oflight, leaves every one at liberty to colour the objects with that tint of light which is most agreeable to his sight. Be it so : but if light did not make a strong and lively impression on all, would it be universally regarded as the most admirable object in nature ? Does not that vortex offire in which almost all nations have placed the throne of the Divinity, prove the uniformity of impressions received at the presence of the same objects*. Without this uniformity (which Every country has it Malaccans. In the Roman catholic countries the clergy pillage, like them, the tenth of the harvest : and what the Malaccans take by violence, the priests get by cunning, and by apanic terror.

Toprovethe difference of sensations produced by the sight

of the same objects, people cite the example of painters, who give a tinge of yellow or grey to all their figures ; but if this defect in their colouring were an imperfection in the organ of sight, and all objects really appeared to them tinged with yellow and 9 some 170 TREATISE ON MAN. Different impressions produced by the pictures of nature. some philosophers, not very accurate, have taken from the notion of the absolutely good and beautiful) on what foundation could the rules of taste have been established ? The simple and magnificent pictures of nature strike all men. But do those pictures make precisely the same impression on each ofthem ? No : we learn, however, from experience, that the impressions are nearly similar ; so that objects extremely pleasing to some are always more or less pleasing to others. It is in vain to repeat here that the uniformity of impresssions produced by the beautiful descriptions of poetry, is merely apparent ; that it is in part the effect of the uncertain significations of words, and of latitude in the expressions that corresponds exactly with the various sensations felt by the aspect of the same objects. Adgrey, the white on their pallet would appear so also, and they would paint white though they saw grey.

If I should be asked again why there are in every language

so many words of indeterminate signification, I should add to what I have said on this subject in the 5th chapter of this section, that want presided at the formation of languages ; and that in the invention ofwords, men in endeavouring to communicate their ideas in the easiest manner, perceived, that if they made as many words as there are, for example, different degrees of magnitude, light, gravity, &c. their multiplicity would surcharge the memory : and that therefore it was necessary to suffer certain words to retain that vague signification, which renders their application more ge neral, and the study of languages more concise. 1 mitting TREATISE ON MAN. 171 General result of this chapter. mitting the fact, it is still true, that there are works generally esteemed, and consequently rules of taste, the observation of which produces in all the sensation ofbeauty. If this question be thoroughly examined, it will appear from the different manner in which men are affected by the same objects, that the difference of impression arises more from their moral than their corporeal properties. The result of this chapter is, that the diversity of tastes in men, supposes a small difference only in the degrees of their sensations : that the uniformity of their judgments, proved by the uniformity of the preverbs of different nations; by the resemblance of their laws and governments ; by the taste that all have for poetry, and the simple and magnificent pictures of nature, demonstrate that the same objects make nearly the same impressions on all men ; and that if they differ, it is only in the degrees of their sensations*.

If nature, as has been supposed, gives men such unequal disposition to understanding or discernment, why in the arts of dancing, music, painting, do the scholars scarcely ever equal their

masters , and why does not the unequal disposition in nature overbalance in the pupils the small superior degree of attention that the masters perhaps exercise in the study oftheir art. This will scarcely be allowed. Raphael was the disciple of Perugino, a name that would have been long since forgotten, but for the transcendent accomplishments of the scholar. Many simiJar instances might be produced. T. CHAP. 172 TREATISE ON MAN. The difference of sensations has no influence on the understanding. CHAP. XIV. • THE SMALL DIFFERENCE PERCEIVED BETWEEN OUR SENSATIONS, HAS NO INFLUENCE ON THE UNDERSTANDING. MENat the presence of the same objects can doubt. less feel different sensations ; but can they in conse . quence perceive different relations between these same objects ? No : and supposing, as I have elsewhere said, that snow should appear to some a degree whiter than to others, they would still all agree that snow is the whitest of all bodies. In order that men should perceive different relations between the same objects, those objects must excite in them impressions of a nature altogether peculiar. Wood on fire should freeze some, and water condensed by cold should burn others ; all the objects of nature should offer to each individual a chain of relations altogether different ; and in short, men should be with. regard to each other what they are with regard to those insects whose eyes being constructed in a different manner, doubtless see objects under very different forms, On TREATISE ON MAN. 173 The difference ofsensations has no influence on the understanding. On this supposition individuals would have no ana logy in their ideas and sentiments. Men could neither communicate their knowledge, nor improve their reason, nor labour in common on the immense edifice of arts and sciences. Now experience proves, that men every day make discoveries, and improve the arts and sciences ; therefore they perceive the same relations between objects. The enjoyment of a fine woman may excite in the soul of my friend an intoxication of delight that it does not produce in mine ; but that enjoyment is in both him and me, the most poignant of all pleasures. When two men receive a stroke ofthe same power, they feel perhaps two distinct impressions : but ifthe violence of the blow be doubled, tripled, quadrupled, the pain that each ofthem feels will in like manner be doubled, tripled, quadrupled. Suppose the difference of our sensations at the sight of the same object to be more considerable than it really is, it is evident, that the objects preserving the same relation to each other, would strike us with a constant and uniform proportion. But, it will be said, cannot this difference in our sensations change our moral affections, and cannot this change produce the difference and inequality in minds ? I answer, that all diversity of affection* caused by any difference in the

The only affections that have any sensible effect on the mind,

are those that depend on education and-prejudice. bodily 174 TREATISE ON MAN. The difference of sensations has no infinence on the understanding. bodily organisation, has not, as experience proves, any influence on the mind. We may therefore prefer either red or yellow, and still be, like d'Alembert and Clairaut, an equally great geometrician : our palates may be unequally delicate, and we may be equally' good poets, painters, or philosophers. In short a person may, with a taste for sour or sweet, milk or anchovies, be an equally great orator, physician, &c. All these tastes in us are nothing more than unconnected and sterile facts. It is the same with regard to our ideas, till the moment they are compared with each other. Now to give ourselves the trouble of comparing them, we must be excited by some interest. But when men have this interest, and compare these ideas, why do they draw the same conclusions ? Because, notwithstanding the difference of their affections, and the unequal perfection of their organs, they can all attain the same ideas. In fact, while the scale of proportions in which objects strike us, is not broken, our sensations constantly preserve the same relation to each other. Arose of a very dark colour, when compared with another rose, still appears dark to every eye. We make the same judgments of the same objects. We can therefore always acquire the same nuinber of ideas, and consequently the same extent of understanding. Menthat are commonly well organized, ure like certain sonorous bodies, that without being exactly the same TREATISE ON MAN. 175 • The difference of sensations has no influence on the understanding. same, still yield the same number of sounds . It results from what has been here said, that men always perceiving the same relations between the same objects, the unequal perfection of their senses has no influence on their understanding. Let us make this truth more striking by annexing a precise idea to the word Understanding. Certain bodies yield the same number of sounds, but not of the same kind. It is the same with the mind. It presents ideas or images equally fair, but different, according to the various objects with which chance has filled the memory. Does my memory represent nothing but snow and ice, the tempests ofthe north, and the flames of Vesuvius or Hecla? With these materials what picture can I compose ? That of the mountains that defend the entrance ofthe garden of Armida. But if my memory, on the contrary, presents none but smiling images, the flowers of spring, the silver waves, the mossy ground, and fra grant orange groves, what shall I compose with these delightful objects ? The bower to which love carried off Renaud. The species therefore of our ideas, and our imaginations, does not depend on the nature of our mind, which is the same in all men, but onthe sort ofobjects that chance has engraved on our memories, and the interest we have to combine them. CHAP. 176 TREATISE ON MAN. Ofthe understanding orjudgment. .CHAP. XV. OF THE UNDERSTANDING OR JUDGMENT. W HAT is the understanding in itself ? An ability to discern the resemblances and differences, the agree ments and disagreements which different objects have with each other. But what is in man the productive principle of his understanding ? His corporeal sensibility, his memory, and especially the interest he has to combine his sensations with each other. The under- 7 standing or judgment is therefore in him nothing more than the result of the comparison ofhis sensations ; and a good judgment or understanding consists in the justness ofcomparing them.

Suppose that in each science and art, men had compared

with each other all objects and all facts hitherto known, and that they had at last arrived at the discovery of all their several relations men having then no new combinations to form, what we call judgment would no longer exist. Then all would be science, and the human judgment being obliged to remain inactive, till the discovery ofnewfacts gave it opportunity of comparing and combining them with each other, would be like an exhausted mine that is suffered to repose till new veins are formed. All TREATISE ON MAN. 177 All men have an equal aptitude to understanding. All men, it is true, do not feel precisely the same sensations, but all perceive objects in a proportion constantly the same : all therefore have an equal aptitude to understanding or judgment*. In fact, if, as experience proves, every man perceives the same relations between the same objects ; if all of them agree in the truths of geometry ; if, moreover, no difference in the degrees of their sensations change their manner of beholding objects ; if (to give a corporeal example) the moment the sun rises out of the bosom of the sea, all the inhabitants of the same

It follows from this definition of the understanding, that if all

its operations may be reduced to the observing the resemblances and differences, the agreements and disagreements which dif ferent objects have to each other, men are not, as has been often repeated, bornwith this or that particular genius. The acquisition of various talents is in men the effect ofthe same cause ; that is to say, the desire ofglory, and the attention with which this desire endows them. Now attention can be equally applied to all matters, to poetry, geometry, physics, painting, &c. asthe hand of the organist can be indifferently applied to each stop ofthe organ. If it be asked, why men have seldom different sorts of genius? I answer, it is because science is in each kind, the first matter of the judgment ; as ignorance is, if I may so say, the first matter of folly ; and that men have rarely two sorts of learning. There are few who join, like Buffon and d'Alembert, with the science of a Newton or an Euler, the difficult art of a good writer. I shall not therefore say, with the old proverb, man is born a poet, and becomes an orator ; but I assert, on the contrary, since all our ideas come bythe senses, that man is not born, but becomes what he is. VOL. I. N coast, 178 TREATISE ON MAN. All men have an equal aptitude to understanding. coast, struck at the same instant by the brilliancy ofhis rays, acknowledge him to be the most resplen dent object in nature ; it must be confessed, that all men form, or may form, the same judgments on the same objects ; that they may acquire the same truths", and, in short, that if all have not in fact equal judgmentt, all have at least an equal capacity for it, that is, an aptitude to acquire it‡. To acquire certain ideas, we must meditate. Is every one capable of it ? Yes : when animated by a powerful interest. That interest then endows him with a force of attention, without which he may, as I have already said, be a learned man, but never a man ofjudgment. It is meditation alone that can reveal to us those first and general truths ; the keys and principles ofscience. It is to the discovery of these truths that we always give the title of great philosopher ; because, in every sort of science, it i always the universality of principles, the extent of their application, in a word, the greatness of the whole, that constitutes a philosophic genius. There are some, as I have before said, who attribute to the physical cause of the differences of latitudes, the difference in judgments. But to prove this fact, they must, after the definition here given ofthe judgment, be able to name a country, where the inhabitants do not perceive either the difference, the resemblance, the agreement, or disagreement of objects with each other, and with themselves. Now, such a country is hitherto unknown. It is because discernment is rare, that it is taken for a particular gift of nature. Alchymists, or jugglers, were extraordinary . men, in the ages of ignorance : they were, therefore, taken for sorcerers, and supernatural beings. It was not, however, from the I shall TREATISE ON MAN. " 179 All men have an equal aptitude tojudgment. I shall not insist any longer on this question, but content myself with repeating, on this head, an observation I have already made in the Treatise on the Mind. Ifyou present, I say, to several men a question that is simple and clear, and concerning the truth of which they are indifferent ; they will all form the same judgment*, because, they all perceive the same relations great difficulty of surprising and duping fools by illusion and dexterity. The astonishment in this matter, is, that men can make a serious occupation of such futile arts and illusions. Now, it isthe same with the judgment ; if the aptitude to have it be common, nothing is so rare as a strong and constant desire to attain it. There are, it is said, few men ofgenius : why? because there are few governments that proportion the reward to the labour that the acquisition of great talents is supposed to require. In comparing alchymists and jugglers to men ofdiscernment, my intention is not to degrade the latter by a humiliating comparison : I mean only to show the cause that has for such a long time past, caused discernment to be regarded as a gift of nature. Iwould destroy the marvellous, and not the merit of sagacity ; to it we owe the improvements in medicine, surgery, and in every art and science that is useful. Nothing, therefore, on earth is more respectable than a sound judgment ; and, consequently there is no nation rightly informed of its interest, that has not an esteem for judgment, in proportion to the utility of the art or science which it improves.

Ifmen differ in opinion concerning the same question, that

difference is always the effect, either of their not understanding each other, or oftheir not having the same object present to their eyes, or their remembrance, or because being indifferent to the N 2 between • • 180 TREATISE ON MAN. All men have an equal aptitude to judgment. between the same objects. All are, therefore, born with a justjudgment. Now, it is with the term Just Judg ment, as with that of Enlightened Humanity. Does this sort ofhumanity condemn an assassin to punishment ? It is only occupied at that instant, with the preservation of an infinity of honest citizens. The idea of justice, and, consequently, of almost all the virtues, is, therefore, comprised in the extended signification of the word Humanity. It is the same with the words Just Judgment. This expression, taken in its extended signification, includes, in like manner, all the different sorts ofjudgments. Ofthis, at least, we may be assured, that if all in us be sensation and comparison of our sensations, there is no other sort of judgment than that which compares, and compares justly. • The general conclusion of what I have said of the equal aptitude, that men, commonly well organised, have to judgment, is that being once agreed, That in men all is sensation ; That they do not think, or acquire ideas, but by the five senses ; question itself, they employ but little attention in its investigation, and havebut little regard to theirjudgment. Now, supposing them compelled to attention, by a powerful and common motive, and that they understand each other, and have, moreover, the same object present to their eyes, or their memories : that I say, perceiving the same relations between the objects, they will form the same judgment : whence I conclude, that all have the same capacity of judgment, that is, an equal aptitude to it. That TREATISE ON MAN. 181 Thejudgment is not dependent on the organisation. That the greater or less perfection in the five senses, in changing the degrees of their sensations, does not change the relations which objects have to each other. It is evident, since the judgment consists in the knowledge of these same relations, that the greater or · less superiority of the judgment is independent ofthe greater or less perfection in the organisation. For which reason, women, whose sense of feeling is more delicate than that of men, are not of superior intelligence. It is, I think, difficult to deny this conclusion. But, they will say, if we regard the universal suffrage rendered to geometrical propositions, as a demonstrative proof, that all men, commonly well organised, perceive the same relations between the same objects ; why not in like manner regard the difference of opinion in matters of morality, politics, and metaphysics, as a proof, that at least, in the latter sciences, men do not perceive the same relations between the same objects ? NS CHAP. 182 TREATISE ON MAN. Causeof the difference of opinions in metaphysica. CHAP. XVI. THE CAUSE OF THE DIFFERENCE OF OPINIONS, IN MORALITY, POLITICS, AND METAPHYSICS. THE progression of the human judgment is always the same. The application of the judgment, to this or that particular study, does not change that progres sion. If men perceive in certain sciences, the same relations between the same objects which they compare with each other, they ought necessarily to perceive the same relations in all. Observation, however, does not agree with this reasoning. But this contradiction is only apparent. Its true cause is easily discovered. In inquiring after it, we see for example, that if all men agree in the truth of geometrical demonstrations ; it is, because they are indifferent to the truth or falsehood of those demonstrations ; Or because they not only annex clear ideas, but also the same ideas to the words employed in that science. Or, lastly, because they have the same conception of a circle, a square, a triangle, &c. On the contrary, in morality, politics, and metaphysics, if the opinions of men be very different, It is, because, in these matters, they have not always an interest to see objects as they really are. Or, TREATISE ON MAN. 183 Ideas conveyed by the word good. Or, because they have frequently only obscure and confused ideas of the questions on which they treat ; Or, because they more frequently follow the opinions of others, than their own ; Or, lastly, because they do not annex the same ideas to the same terms. I shall choose, for example, those of good, interest, and virtue. OF THE TERM GOOD. Let us take this term in its utmost extent. To be satisfied if men can form the same idea of it, let us see howthe child acquires it. To fix his attention on this word, something sweet is given him. The word taken in this most simple signification, is applied only to what pleases the child's' taste, by exciting an agreeable sensation in his palate. When a more extensive sense is given to the term, it is applied indifferently, to all that pleases the child, that is to an animal, a man, or his play-fellows. In general, so long as the expression is confined to corporeal objects, as, for example, a stuff, a tool, or an eatable, men form nearly the same idea of it ; and the term recals to the memory, at least in a confined manner, the idea of what can be immediately good for them +.

Sweetmeats are called in French, bons bons that is, good

good. It is from the adjective good, that is formed the substantive N 4 When, 1 184 TREATISE ON MAN. Different ideas of moral goodness. When, in the last place, this term is taken in a still more extensive sense, and applied to morality, and the actions of men ; we find, that it then necessarily includes the idea of some public utility, and to agree here about what is good, we must previously agree about what is useful. Now, the greatest part of mankind, do not even know that the general utility is the measure ofthe goodness of human actions. For want of a sound education, men have nothing but confused ideas of moral goodness. The word goodness, employed by them in an arbitrary manner,. recals to their remembrance only the various applications they have heard made of it (3) ; applications always different and contradictory, according to the diversity of interests and positions of those with whom they live. To come to an universal agreement respecting the signification of the word good, when applied to morals, it would be necessary to have a very judicious dictionary to fix the precise sense of it. Till goodness, which is taken by so many people for a real being, or, at least, for an inherent quality in certain objects. Can men be still so ignorant, as not to know that there is no being in nature named Goodness : that it is nothing more than a name given by man to what each one regards as good for himself, and, in short, that the word Goodness, like Greatness, is a vague expression, void of meaning, and that it presents no distinct idea, till the moment we necessarily, and without perceiving it, apply it to some particular object. such TREATISE ON MAN. 185 Ideas excited by the word interest. such a work be digested, all disputes on this subject will be undeterminable. It is the same with the word Interest. INTEREST. Among mankind few are honest ; the word Interest, must in consequence excite in most of them the idea ofa pecuniary interest, or of some object equally mean and contemptible. Has a noble and elevated soul the same idea ? No : this term recalls to his mind nothing but the sentiment of self-love. Virtue perceives nothing in interest , but the powerful and general spring, that source ofaction in all men, which carries them sometimes to vice, and sometimes to virtue. But did the jesuits annex to this word an idea equally extensive, when they opposed my opinion ? I know not ; but this I know, that being then bankers, merchants, and bankrupts, they ought to have lost sight of every idea of a noble interest ; that this word could not excite in them any other idea, than that of intrigue and pecuniary interest. Now so vile an interest compelled them to pursue a persecuted man. Perhaps they in secret adopted his opinions. As a proof of which they gave at Rouen, in 1750, an entertainment, whose design was to show, "that pleasure forms youth to true virtue." The first act displayed the civil virtues ; the second, the warlike virtues ; and the third, the virtues proper to religion. In this entertainment they proved this truth by dances. Religion 186 TREATISE ON MAN. Strictures on the conduct of the Jesuits. Religionthere personified, dancedwith Pleasure, for her partner; andto render Pleasure more endearing, said the Jansenist, the jesuits have put her on breeches*. Now, if pleasure, according to them, can operate all things in man, what cannot interest do with him ! Is not all interest reducible in us to the search of pleasure+ ?

We must do justice to the jesuits : this accusation is false.

They are rarely libertines. Thejesuit, restrained by his rules, and indifferent to pleasures, is totally devoted to ambition. His desire is to subdue the rich and powerful of the earth, either by force or fraud. Born to command, the great men ofthe earth are in his eyes but puppets, whom he moves at his pleasure, by the strings of direction and confession. He conceals his interior contempt of them by an outward respect. The great are contented with this, and are, without perceiving it, reduced to mere machines. What the jesuits cannot obtain by seduction, they accomplish by force. Look into the annals of history, and there you will see these same jesuits lighting up the torch of sedition in China, in Japan, in Ethiopia, and in every country where they have preached the gospel of peace. In England, we find, that they charged the mine which was to have blown upthe parliament : that in Holland they assassinated the prince of Orange, and in France, Henry IV. that at Geneva they gave the signal for storming the city that their hands are frequently armed with daggers, and but rarely employed in selecting pleasures, and, in a word, that their faults are not those ofweakness but of villainy.

+ Why did the jesuits then rise up with such fury against me ? Why do they go into all the great houses, exclaiming against the Treatise on the Mind, and forbid any one to read it, repeating incessantly, like father Canaye to marshal Hocquincourt, No Mind, Gentlemen, no Mind ? It is because, being solely eager Pleasures TREATISE ON MAN. 187 All mankind are actuated by interest. Pleasures and pains are the moving powers of the universe. God has declared them to be so to the earth, by creating heaven for the virtuous, and hell for the wicked. The Catholic church itself has agreed in this opinion, when, in the dispute between Mess. Bossuet and Fenelon, it decided, that we do not love God' (4) for himself, that is, independent of those rewards and punishments, of which he is the disposer. They have, therefore, been always convinced, that man, actuated by the sentiment of self-love, constantly obeys the law ofhis interest*. after command, the jesuits always desire to blind the people ! In fact, were men rightly informed of the principle that keeps them silent, did they know that constantly directed in their conduct by an interest, either mean or noble, they always obey that interest? that it is to their laws, and not to their opinions, they owe their genius and their virtue : that with the forms of government of Rome and Sparta, Romans and Spartans might still be produced ; and, in short, by a sagacious distribution of rewards and punishments, of glory and infamy, the interest ofindivduals may bealways united with that of the public, and the people compelled to be virtuous ; what method could then be taken to hide from the peoplethe inutility, and even the danger of a sacerdotal power ? Couldthey be long ignorant that the object, really important to the happiness of a nation, is not the creation of priests, but saga cious laws and judicious magistrates ? The more clearly the jesuits have seen this principle, the more they have feared for their authority, and the more solicitous they have been to obscure the evidence of such a principle.

Does the commander desire to advance himself ? He wishes

What 188 TREATISE ON MAN. Vague ideas of virtue. What do the diversity of opinions on this subject prove ? Nothing except that men do not understand each other. They understand each other very little better when they talk about virtue. VIRTUE. This word frequently excites in the mind very different ideas, according to our state and situation, the society in which we live, and the age or the country in which we were born . If a younger brother, according to the custom of Normandy, should avail himself, like Jacob, of the hunger and thirst of the elder, to divest him of his right of primogeniture, he would be declared a cheat by all the tribunals. If a man, after the example of David, should cause the husband of his mistress to be sacrificed, he would be reckoned, not among the number of the virtuous, but of villains. It would be to little purpose, to say he made a good end ; assassins sometimes do the same, but are never proposed as models of virtue. Till precise ideas are fixed to this word, we may always say of virtue, as the Pyrrhonians said of the truth , " it is like the East, different, according to the ." situation from which we behold it." In the first ages of the church, the Christians were for a war. But what in awar are the objects ofthe subaltern officer ? An augmentation of 301. or 401. per annum, to his pay, the desire of laying empires waste, and of the death of those friends with whom helives in intimacy, but who are superior in rank. in TREATISE ON MAN. 189 Notions ofvirtue entertained by the founders of christianity. in dread of other sects; they were afraid of not being tolerated ; what did they then preach ? Indulgence and love of our neighbour. The word Virtue, then recalled to their minds the idea of humanity and gentleness. The conduct of their master confirmed them in this idea. Jesus was gentle with the Essenes, the Jews, and the Pagans ; he bore no hatred to the Romans. He pardoned the Jews their injuries, and Pilate his injustice he recommended charity to all. Is it so at this day? No : the hatred of our neighbours, and barbarity under the name of zeal and policy, are in France, Spain, and Portugal, now comprised in the idea ofvirtue. The church in its infancy, whatever a man's religion might be, honoured his probity, and was little concerned about his belief. "He that is virtuous, is a christian, said St. Justin, though he be otherwise an Atheist." Et quicumque secundum rationem et verbum vixere Christiani sunt, quamvis athei. Jesus, in his parables, preferred* the incredulous Samaritan to the devout Pharisee. St. Paul was scarcely more difficult than Jesus, and St. Justin. Cornelius is cited as a religious man, because he was honest (5).

Jesus declares himself every where an enemy to the priests .

He reproaches them every where with avarice and cruelty. Jesus was punished for his veracity. Catholic priests, have you shewn yourselves less barbarous than the priests ofthe Jews, and can the sincere adorer of Jesus have less hatred for you ? Ch. x. 190 TREATISE ON MAN. Notions of virtue entertained by the founders of christianity. Ch. x. ver. 2. of the Acts of the Apostles, though he was not yet a Christian. It is said in like manner of one named Lydia. Ch. xvi. ver. 14. of the same Acts, that she served God ; though she had not then Leard St. Paul, and was not converted. In the days of Jesus, ambition and vanity were not reckoned among the virtues. The kingdom of God was not of this world. Jesus desired neither riches, nor titles, nor authority , in Judea. He commanded his disciples to forsake their goods, and follow him. What ideas have they now of virtue ? There is no Catholic Prelate that does not cabal for titles and honours ; no religious order that has not intrigues at court, that does not carry on commerce, and grow rich by its bank. Jesus and his apostles had no such ideas ofhonesty. In the time of the latter, persecution did not bear the name of charity. The apostles did not instigate Tiberius to imprison the Gentiles or unbelievers. He who in that age would have compelled others to embrace his opinions, would have reigned by terror, erected a tribunal of inquisition, burned his brethren, and seized on their property, would have been held infamous. The sentences dictated by sacerdotal pride, avarice, and cruelty, would have been read with horror. In these days, pride, avarice, and cruelty, in the countries of the inquisition, are placed in the rank of virtue.3. Jesus hated falsehood. He would not, therefore, · 1 like TREATISE ON MAN. 191 Different ideas ofvirtue entertained by the Monks. like the church, have obliged Galileo, with atorch in his hand, to have retracted before the altar of the God of truth, those truths which he had discovered. The church is no longer an enemy to falsehood : pious frauds are canonised by it (6). Jesus, the son of God, was humble (7), and his haughty vicar pretends to command sovereigns, to legitimate vice at his pleasure, and render assassins meritorious. He has beatified Clement. His virtue, therefore, is not that ofJesus. Friendship, honoured as a virtue among the Scythians, is not regarded as such in a monastery. The rules of the latter even render it criminal (8). The old man sick and languishing in his cell, is deserted by friendship and humanity. If monks were enjoined a mutual hatred, they could not more faithfully observe it than in a cloister. Jesus enjoined his disciples to render to Cæsar what was Cæsar's ; he forbade to seize, by force or fraud, the property of another. But the word Virtue, which then implied justice, had no longer that signification, in the time of St. Bernard, when he ordained, at the head of the Croisades, that nations should forsake Europe to ravage Asia, to dethrone the Sultans, and breakin pieces crowns, over which those nations had no sort ofright. Whento enrich his order, that Saint promised a hundred acres in heaven, to those who would give ten upon earth : when, by that ridiculous and fraudulent promise 192 TREATISE ON MAN. Ideas ofvirtue entertained by the Monks. promise he obtained the lawful patrimony of a great number of heirs ; the idea of robbery and injustice, must have been then included in the notion of vir tue (9). What other idea could the Spaniards form of virtue, whenthe church permitted themto attack Montezuma, and the Incas, to despoil them of their riches, and seat themselves on the thrones of Mexico and Peru ? The monks, then masters of Spain, could have forced them to restoreto the Mexicans and Peruvians ( 10) their gold, their liberty, their country, and their prince : they might at least have loudly condemned the conduct of the Spaniards. What did the theologians ? remain silent. Have they at other times shown more justice ? No father Hennepin, the Franciscan, reports incessantly, that the only way to convert the savages is to reduce them to slavery*. Could a method so unjust and barbarous have been imagined by the Franciscan Hennepin, ifthetheologians of the present day had the same idea of virtue as Jesus ? St. Paul expressly says, that persuasion is the only method to be used in converting the Gentiles. Who has recourse to violence to provethe truths ofgeometry ? Who does not know that virtue recommends itself? In what case, therefore, ought prisons, tortures, and butcheries to be used ? When they preach crimes, errors, and absurdities.

See Description ofthe Manners of the Savages of Louisiana,

page 105. It TREATISE ON MAN. 193. Intolerance ofsome ofthe professors of Christianity. It was sword in hand, that Mahomet proved the truth of his dogmas. A religion, said the Christians, on this occasion, that permits man to compel the beJiefof man, is a false religion. They condemned Mahomet in their discourses, and justified him by their conduct. What they call vice in him, they call virtue in themselves. Could they believe that the Mussulman, so severe in his principles, was more gentle in his manners than the Catholics. Must the Turk be tolerant toward the Christian ( 11 ), the infidel, the Jew, and Gentile ; and the monk, whose religion makes a duty of humanity, burn in Spain his brethren, and in France throw into prisons the Jansenist and the Deist ? Could the Christian commit so many abominations, if he had the same idea of virtue, as the son of God; and ifthe priest, obedient to the advice of his ambition only, were not deaf to that of the gospel? If to the word Virtue there had been annexed a clear, precise, and invariable idea ( 12), men could not have always had such different and extravagant ideas concerning it. VOL. I. CHAP. 194 TREATISE ON MAN. Interested spirit of religious bodies. CHAP. XVII. THE WORD VIRTUE, EXCITES IN THE CATHOLIC CLERGY NO OTHER IDEA THAN THAT OF THEIR OWN ADVANTAGE. Ir almost all religious bodies, said the illustrious and unfortunate attorney- general of the parliament of Brittany, are by their institution animated with an interest, contrary to that ofthe public welfare, how can they form sound ideas of virtue ? Among the prelates, there are few Fenelons ( 19), few that have his virtues, his humanity, and his disinterested spirit. Among the monks, may be counted, perhaps, a great many saints, but few honest men. Every religious body is greedy of riches and power : no bounds are set to their ambition *. A hundred ridiculous bulls, issued by the

The humble clergy declare themselves to be the first body in the state however, (as is observed by a man of much discernment) there are but three bodies absolutely essential to the administration the first, is the body ofmagistrates, who areto defend my property against the usurpation of my neighbour.. Thesecond, is the body of the ariny, charged in like manner to defend my property against the invasion of foreigners. The third, is the body of the citizens, who, appointedto receive the revenues, furnish a main popes, TREATISE ON MAN. 195 Ambition of the Romish church. popes, in favour of the Jesuits, prove this fact. But if the Jesuits are ambitious, is the church less so ? Let any one open its history : that is, the history of the errors and disputes of the fathers, the enterprises of the clergy, and the crimes ofthe popes : he will every where find the spiritual power an enemy to the temporal* , forgetting that its kingdom is not of this world, and tenance for the two others. Now, to what purpose is the order of the clergy, more expensive to the state, than the three others put together ? To maintain the morals of the people. But there are morals in Pennsylvania, and no clergy. The church by declaring itselfthe sole judge of what is, and what is not sin, has thought under that title to be able to assume the supreme jurisdiction. In fact, if no one has a right to punish a good action, and recompense one that is bad ; a judge of their goodness or badness is the sole lawful judge ofa nation : princes and magistrates are nothing more than the executioners ofthe sentences of others ; theirfunction is reduced to that ofthe hangman's. The project was great ; it was covered with the veil of religion ; it did not at first alarm the magistracy. The church was, in appearance, subject to their authority, and waited to deprive them of it, till it should be acknowledged the sole judge of the merit of human actions ; that acknowledgment would universally legitimate its pretensions. What power could sovereigns have opposed to that ofthe church ? No other than the force of arms. The people, then slaves to two powers, whose will and laws would have been frequently contradictory, must have waited till force had decided between them, which should be obeyed. This project, I confess, has not been fully executed. But it is however true, notwithstanding the insignificant distinction oftem0 2 endeavouring 196 . TREATISE ON MAN. Injustice ofthe Romish church. endeavouring continually, by fresh efforts, to possess himself of the riches and power of the earth, and not only to take from Cæsar that which is Cæsar's, but to attack him with impunity. If it were possible, that the superstitious Catholics could preserve any idea of just and unjust, they would be shocked, on reading such a history, and hold the sacerdotal power in horror. Does a prince promise, in such a year, to suppress such a tax ? Does the year pass over, and he boldly break his word? Why does not the church reproach him publicly, with the violation of his promise ? Because, indifferent to the public welfare, to justice, and humanity, it is solely employed in promoting its own interest. If the prince be a tyraut, it absolves him. But if he be what they call a heretic, it anathematises, deposes, assassinates him. What, however, is this crime of heresy : the word, when pronounced by judicious and dispassionate men, signifies nothing more than a particular opinion. It is not from such a church that we must expect clear ideas of equity. The clergy will never give the title of virtuous, but to such actions as tend to the increase of its power and revenues. To what cause, but the interest of the priesthood, can we attribute the contradictory decisions of poral and spiritual, that in every Catholic State there are really two kingdoms, and two absolute masters over every inhabitant. the TREATISE ON' MAN. 197 Animadversions on the Sorbonne. the Sorbonne * ? Without this interest, would they have maintained at one time, and tolerated at all times, the regicide doctrine of the Jesuits ? Would they have concealed its odious nature ? Would they have waited for the magistrate to point it out ? But in receiving that doctrine, they have shown more folly than villainy. That they are dolts, I agree : but can we suppose them to be honest, when we consider the fury with which they attack philosophical writings, and the silence they observe on those of the jesuits ? By approving in their assembly, the morality of those religious †, either the doctors of the Sorbonne judge them to be sound ( 14), without examining them, (and, in that case, what opinion ' can we have of such stupid judges ?) or, they judge them sound, after having examined them, and acknowledge them for such, (and, in that case, what opinion can we have of such ignorant judges ? or, lastly, these doctors, after having examined them, and found them bad, approve them through fear ( 15), interest, or ambition, (and, in this last case, what opinion can we have of such knavish judges ?)

Astriking collection, might be formed of the contradictory

sentences issued by the Sorbonne, before and since Descartes, against almost every work of genius. + There are among these doctors men of learning and probity : butthey are rarely made part oftheir assemblies ; which are, as M. Voltaire observes, commonly composed ofthe dregs ofthe college. 03 In 198 TREATISE ON MAN. . Animadversions on the Sorbonne. In a journal, entitled " Christianity, or, Religion avenged," if the theologian Gauchat, a hired declaimer against the most esteemed philosophers and writers of Europe, is always silent about what regards the Jesuits, it is, because he expects protection and preferment from them. That interest constantly dictates the judgment of the theologians, is wellknown. The Sorbonnists have therefore no longer any pretensions to the title of moralists ; they are even ignorant of its principles. The inscription on some dials, Quod ignoro, doceo, I teach what I don't know, should be the motto of the Sorbonne. Would they otherwise take for their guides to heaven, and to virtue, the favourers of Jesuitical morality? Let these doctors still exalt the excellence of the theological virtues. Those virtues are local ; true virtue is reputed such in all ages, and all countries ( 16). The name of virtue should be given to such actions only, as are useful to the public, and conformable with the general interest. Has theology constantly kept the people from the knowledge of this sort of virtue and has it always obscured in them the ideas of it? It is the effect of the interest of thcology ; and it is in conformity to this interest, that the priest has every where solicited the exclusive privilege of public instruction. The French comedians built a theatre at Seville ; the chapter and vicar made them demolish it : Ilere, said one of the canons, our company will suffer no actors, but their own. O man! TREATISE ON MAN. 199 Different notions attached to virtue at different times. O man! cried an ancient sage, who can ever say how far thy folly and stupidity will carry thee ? The theologian knows, laughs at it, and profits by it. It was ever the increase of their wealth and power that the theologians pursued under the name of religion . We cannot be astonished therefore that their maxims change with their situation, that they have not now the same ideas of virtue as they formerly had, and that the morality of Jesus is not that of his ministers. It is not the Catholics only, but every sect and every people, that, for want ofdeterminate ideas of probity, have had very different notions concerning it, according to the diversity of ages and countries ( 17) .

Why does every monk, who defends with a ridiculous zeal

the false miracles of his founder, laugh at the attested existence of spectres ? Because he has no interest to believe them. Take away interest, and there remains nothing but reason, and reason is Not credulous, 04 CHAP. 200 TREATISE ON MAN.. Different ideas formed ofvirtue by different nations." CHAP. XVIII. OF THE DIFFERENT IDEAS THAT DIFFERENT NATIONS FORM OF VIRTUE. In the East, and especially in Persin, celibacy is a crime. Nothing, say the Persians, is more oppositeto the design of nature, and of the Creator, than celibacy . Love is a corporeal want, a necessary secretion. Should any one by a vow of continence oppose the vow of nature ? God, whogave us organs, does nothing in vain: it is his pleasure that we should use them. Solon, the sagacious legislator of Athens, made little account of this monkish chastity ( 18) . Ifin his laws, says Plutarch, he expressly forbids slaves to perfume themselves, and the love of young people, it is, adds the historian, that even in the Greek amours Solon did not see any thing dishonest. But those haughty republicans, who pursued without shaine all sorts of amours, would not debase themselves by the vile profession of a spy or informer : they did not betray the interest of their country, or violate the property or liberty of their

In Persia a lad no sooner attains the age of puberty than they

give him a concubine, fellow- TREATISE ON MAN.. 201 1 Different ideas formed of virtue by different nations. fellow-citizens. A,Greek or a Roman would not, without confusion, have received. the fetters of slavery. The true Roman could not bear, without horror, even the sight of an Asiatic tyrant. In the time of Cato the Censor, Eumenes came to Rome. At his arrival all the young people crowded round him; Cato alone shunned him ( 19). Why Cato, said they, do you avoid a sovereign so courted, so good a king, such a friend to the Romans ? Let him be as good as he will, replied Cato, every despotic prince is a devourer of human flesh (20) whom all virtuous men should avoid. It is in vain to attempt the enumeration of all the different ideas that different nations (21 ) and private persons (22) have had of virtue. We can only say, that a Catholic who has more veneration for the founder of an order of droues, than for a Minos, a Mercury, a Lycurgus, &c. has certainly no just idea of virtue. Now till precise ideas be annexed to this word, every man must form a different one according to the education which chance has given him. Ayoung girl is brought up by a stupid and bigoted mother. The girl understands by the word Virtuc nothing but the exactitude with which the nuns fast, and recite their prayers. The word, therefore, excites no idens in her but those of discipline, hair- cloth, and puter-nosters. Another girl is brought up, on tlie contrary, byju dicious and patriotic parents, who never give her any examples 202 TREATISE ON MAN. Causes ofthe different ideas respecting virtue. examples as virtuous but such as are useful to our country; nor ever extol any character but such as Arria, Porcia, &c. This girl will necessarily have ideas of virtue very different from the former. The one will admire in Arria the force of virtue, and the example of conjugal love ; the other will regard the saine Arria as a Pagan, a woman of the world, a suicide, and devoted to damnation ; one who ought to be shunned and detested. Make the same experiment on two young men as on the two girls let one of them be an assiduous reader of the lives of saints, and a witness, as it were, ofthe torments which the demon of the flesh makes them suffer ; see them continually flogging themselves, rolling among thorns, feeding on women of snow, &c. . He will have very different ideas of virtue from him who devoting himself to more noble and instructive studies, takes for his models such men as Socrates, Scipio, Aristides, Timoleon ; and that I may come home to the age in which I live, Miron, Harley, Pibrac, and Barillon (23) , " those respectable magis- " strates, those illustrious victims of a love of their 66 country, who by their wise and just maxims, dissi- " pated, says Cardinal de Retz, more factions than all " the gold of Spain and England could kindle." It is therefore impossible that the word virtue should not excite in us different ideas (24), according as we read Plutarch, or the Golden Legend. Thus, says Mr. Hume, TREATISE ON MAN. 203 Causes of the different ideas réspecting virtue. Hume, they have in every age and every country, erected altars to men of characters totally different. Among the Pagans it was to Hercules, Castor, Ceres, Bacchus, and Romulus, that they rendered divine honours ; but among the Mussulmans, as among the Catholics, it is to an obscure dervise, or a vile monk, in aword to a Dominic or an Antony, they decree the same honours, It was after having destroyed monsters and punished tyrants ; it was by their courage, their talents, their beneficence, and humanity, that the ancient heroes opened the gates of Olympus. But at this day it is by fasting, castigation, and poltroonery, by a blind submission and a vile obedience, that the monk opens the gate of Heaven. "" This revolution in human minds, no doubt, struck Machiavel, so that he says in his fourth Discourse, " Every religion that makes a duty of sufferings and humility, that inspires a people with a mere passive " courage ; enervates their minds, debases their spirit, " and prepares them for slavery." The effect would doubtless have nearly followed the prediction, if, as Mr. Hume observes, the customs and laws of society had not modified the character and genius of religions. Wehave seen in these two chapters, what indeter minate ideas are annexed to the words good, interest, and virtue. I have shown that these words, constantly employed in an arbitrary manner, excite, and ought to excite, different ideas according to the society in which 2 we 204 TREATISE ON MAN. Necessity of fixing the signification of words. we live, and the application we propose to make of them. Whoever would discuss a question of this kind, should therefore first settle the signification of the words. Without this preliminary, every dispute of this nature will be indeterminable. Thus men on almost all questions of morality, politics, and metaphysics, understanding each other the less, the more they reason. about them . Thewords once defined, a question is resolved almost as soon as proposed : which proves, that all minds are just, and all perceive the same relations between the same relations between the same objects ; a proof that in morality, politics, and metaphysics (25), the diversity of opinions is the mere effect of the uncertain signification ofwords, ofthe abuse that is made of them, and perhaps of the imperfection of languages. But what remedyis there for this evil? . CHAP. TREATISE ON MAN. 205 Method of determining the signification of words. CHAP. XIX. THERE IS BUT ONE METHOD OF FIXING THE UNCERTAIN SIGNIFICATION OF WORDS ; AND BUT ONE NATION THAT CAN MAKE USE OF IT. • To determine the uncertain signification of words, a dictionary should be composed, in which determinate ideas must be annexed to different expressions (26). This difficult work can be performed only amonga free people. England is perhaps the only country in Europe from which the universe can expect and obtain this benefaction. But is ignorance there without a protector ? There is no nation where some individuals have not an interest in mixing the darkness of falsehood with the light of the truth. The desire of the blind is that blindness should be universal ; the desire ofknaves, that stupidity should be extended, and dupes be multiplied. In England, as in Portugal, there are men great and unjust ; but what can they do at London against a writer ? There is no Englishman who, behind the rampart of his laws, cannot brave the power of the great, and laugh at their ignorance, superstition, and stupidity. The Englishman is born free ; let him therefore 206 TREATISE ON MAN. Method ofdetermining the signification of words. therefore profit by that liberty to enlighten the world ; let him contemplate in the homage that is at this day rendered to the men ofgenius among the Greeks, what posterity will render to him ; and let the prospect animate his endeavours. This age, they say, is the age of philosophy : all the nations of Europe have produced men of genius in this science ; all now seem occupied in the search after truth. But in what country can it be published with impunity ? There is but one which is England. Englishmen*, make use of your liberty ; ofthat gift which distingushes the man from the vile slave and domestic animal, to dispense light to the nations of the carth ! Such a benefaction will insure you their eternal acknowledgment. Whatapplause can be refused to people virtuous enough to permit their writers to fix in a dictionary the precise signification of each word, and by that mean to dissipate the mysterious obscurity which still envelopes morality, politics, metaphysics, theology, &c, (27). It is reserved for the authors of such a dictionary to terminate so many disputes, eternised bythe abuse of words (28) ; they alone can reduce the science of men to what they really know. This dictionary, translated into all languages, would be the general collection of almost all the ideas of man-

Every government, say the English, that forbids to think and

to write on subjects of administration, is without dispute, a govern ment ofwhich no good can be said , kind. TREATISE ON MAN. 207 Method ofdetermining the signification of words. kind. Let precise ideas be annexed to each expression, and the school divine, who by the magic of words, has often thrown the world into confusion, will be a magician without power. The talisman, in the possession of which his ability consisted, will be broken. Then all those fools, who under the name of metaphysicians, have for so long a time wandered in the land ofchimeras, and who, on bladders blown up by wind, traverse, in every direction, all the depths of infinity, will no longer say they see what they see not, and know what they know not ; they will no longer impose on mankind. Then the propositions in morality, politics, and metaphysics, becoming as susceptible of demonstration as the propositions of geometry, men will all have the same ideas of those sciences, because all of them (as I have shewn) will necessarily perceive the same relations between the same objects. A new proof of this truth is, that in combining nearly the same facts, either in the material world as is demonstrated by geometry, or in the intellectual world, as is proved by metaphysics, all men have, in all times, come to nearly the same conclusion. CHAP, 208 TREATISE ON MAN. Desire constitutes a great portion of happiness. CHAP. XX. THE EXCURSIONS OF MEN, AND THEIR DISCOVE RIES IN THE INTELLECTUAL KINGDOMS, HAVE BEEN ALWAYS NEARLY THE SAME. AMONG the imaginary countries that the human mind runs over, that of the fairies, the genii, and enchanters, is the first where I shall stop. Mankind love fables : every one reads them, hears them, and makes them. A confused desire of happiness attends us with pleasure through the land ofprodigies and chimeras. With regard to chimeras, they are always of the same kind. All men desire riches without number, power without bounds, and pleasure without end ; and this desire always flies before the possession. How happy should we be, say the greatest part of mankind, if our wishes were fulfilled as soon as formed? O thoughtless man ! can you be always ignorant, that a part of your felicity consists in the desire itself? It' is with happiness, as with the golden bird sent by the fairies to a young princess : the bird settles at thirty paces from her ; she goes to catch it, advances softly, is ready to seize it ; the bird flies thirty paces fur, ther ; she passes several months in the pursuit, and is happy TREATISE ON MAN. 209 Reflections on fairy-tales. happy. If the bird had suffered itself to be taken at first, the princess would have put it in a cage, and in one week would have been tired of it. This is the bird of happiness, which the miser and coquette are incessantly pursuing. They catch it not, and are happy in their pursuit, because they are secure from disgust. If our desires were to be every instant gratified, the mind would languish in inaction, and sink under disquietude. Man must have desires ; a desire new and easy to be gratified must constantly succeed to a desire fulfilled (29). Few men acknowledge that they have this want ; it is, however, to a succession of their desires that they owe their felicity. Continually impatient to gratify their wishes, men were incessantly building castles in the air ; they would interest all nature in their happiness ; but not being able to effect it, they addressed themselves to imaginary beings, to fairies and genii. If they suppose the existence of those beings, it is from a confused hope that by the favour of an enchanter they maybecome, as in the Thousand and One Nights, possessed of the marvellous lamp, and nothing will then be wanting to 'their felicity. It is therefore a desire of happiness that produces a greedy curiosity, and the love of the marvellous, that amongst different people has created supernatural beings, which under the names of fairies, genii, sylphis, enchanters, &c. have always been the same beings, and by whom prodigies nearly the same have been every VOL. I.. P 210 TREATISE ON MAN. Of philosophical tales. every where performed ; which proves that in this kind the discoveries have been nearly similar. PHILOSOPHICAL TALES. The tales of this sort, more grave and important, though sometimes equally frivolous and less entertaining than the foregoing, have preserved among themselves the same resemblance. In the number ofthese tales, that are at once so ingenious and disgusting, I place the beauty of morality *, the natural goodness of men, and the several systems of the material world ; of which experience alone ought to be the architect : if the philosopher consults it not, or has not the courage to stop where observation fails, when he thinksto make a system he makes nothing but a romance. This philosopher, for the want of experiments, is forced to substitute hypotheses, and to fill up with conjectures the immense interval, which the present, and what is still more, past ignorance, have left in all parts of his system. With regard to hypotheses, they are almost all of the same kind. Whoever reads ancient philosophers will see that they almost all adopt nearly the same plan, and that where they differ, it is in the choice of the materials employed in the construction. of the universe. Thales saw but one element in all nature, which was

The beauty of morality is only to be found in the paradise

of fools, where Milton makes agni, scapularies, chaplets, and in dulgences, incessantly whirl about. the TREATISE ON MAN. 211 Ofphilosophical tales. the aqueous fluid . Proteus, the marine god, who me. tamorphosed himself into fire, a tree, water, and an animal, was the emblem of his system. Heraclitus discovered the same Proteus in the element of light ; the earth appeared to him to be a globe of fire reduced to a state of fixity. Anaximenes made of the air an indefinite agent ; it was the common parent of all the elements. The air condensed, formed water ; still more dense, it formed earth. It was to the different degrees of the air's density that all beings owed their existence. They, whoafterthe first philosophers assumed like them the office of architects of the palace of the universe, and laboured at its construction, fell into the same errors : Descartes is a proof. It is by proceeding from fact to fact that we attain. to great discoveries. We must advance in the train of experience, and never go before it. The impatience natural to the human mind, and especially to men of genius, cannot accommodate itself to a progress so slow (30), but always so sure ; they would guess at what experience alone can reveal. They forget that it is on the knowledge of a first fact, from which all those of nature may be deduced, that the discovery of the system of the world depends ; and that it is only by chance, analysis, and observation, that the first fact can lead to the general principle .

Our author writes here as if he were ignorant of the Newtonian system of the universe, founded on clear, undeniable experi

ments. But can that be possible? T. P 2 Before 212 TREATISE ON MAN." Of religious tales. Before men undertake to construct the palace ofthe universe, what materials should they draw from the mines ofexperience ? It is at length time that all should labour in the structure of this fabric ; and happywill they be to construct some detached parts of the projected edifice the most assiduous disciples of experi ments are sensible that without it they wander in the land of chimeras, where men in all ages have seen nearly the same phantoms, and have always embraced those errors, whose resemblance proves at once the uniform manner in which men of all countries combine the same objects, and the equal aptitude they have to discernment. RELIGIOUS TALES. These sort oftales, less amusing than the first, less ingenious than the second, and yet more respected, have armed nations against each other, have caused rivers ofhuman blood to flow, and have filled the world with desolation. Under the title of Religious Tales, I comprehend in general all the false religions ; these have always preserved among themselves the strongest resemblance. Among the many various causes to which we may ascribe the invention ofthese tales ( 31 ), I cite the desire of immortality for the first. The proof, if we believe Warburton and some other learned men, that God was the author of the Jewish law, is, say they, that in the law of Moses there is no mention of rewards or punishments, TREATISE ON MAN. 213 ་ Ofreligious tales. punishments, or the life to come, or consequently of the immortality of the soul. Now, they add, if the religion of the Jews had been of human institution, men would have made the soul immortal ; a lively and powerful interest would have induced them to believe it such (32) : this interest is their horror of death and annihilation. This horror would have been sufficient, without the aid of revelation, to have made them in. vent that dogma. Man would be immortal in his present state, and would believe himself so, if all the bodies that surround him did not every instant prove the contrary. Forced to yield to this truth, he has still the same desire of immortality. Eson's cauldron of rejuveniscence proves the antiquity of this desire. To make it perpetual, it was necessary to found it on some probability at least ; to effect this, they made the soul of a matter extremely subtle ; they supposed it an indestructible atom, that survived the dissolution of all the other parts, in a word, a principle of life*,

The opinions ofmen, uninfluenced by revelation, concerning

afuture state, will ever be different, according to theirdifferent cir cumstances. The good man will readily believe it, for it is his interest that there should be a future state. The bad man will strive hard to disbelieve it, for he will think it his interest that there should not be afuture state ; but after many unsuccessful struggles his mind must remain in doubt and confusion ; for it is impossible he should ever be certain that there is no future existence. As a frequent reflection on futurity, attended with a firm be PS This 214 TREATISE ON MAN. Of religious tales. This being under the name of soul*, was to preserve after death all the affections of which it was susceptible during its union with the body. This system supposed, men doubted the less ofthe immortality of the soul, as neither experience nor observation could contradict such belief, for neither ofthem can form any judgment of an imperceptible atom. Its existence indeed was not demonstrated ; but what proofdo we want of what we wish to believe, and what demonstration is strong enough to prove the falsehood of a favourite opinion ? It is true we never meet with any souls in our walks, and it is to shew the reason ofthis, that men, after having created souls, thought themselves obliged to create a country for their habitation. Each nation, and even each individual, according to his inclinations, and the particular nature of his wants, has formed a particular plant. Sometimes the savage nations placed this halief of it, makes one of the most valuable enjoyments ofthe present life-ought not a man to rank those who would deprive him of that enjoyment, amongthe most pernicious of his enemies? T.

The savages do not refuse a soul to any thing ; their guns,

their caldrons, or the materials of their buildings. See P. Hennepin, Voyage de la Louisiane, p. 94. The cursory reader will do well to remember, that all here said about a future state, relates merely to the different conjectures of different nations, and has nothing to do with what we are taught by revelation ; but is brought to show, that in a work of imagi nation the human mind operates nearly in the same manner in all ages and all nations. T: bitation TREATISE ON MAN. 215 Ofreligious tales. bitation in a vast forest, full of wild fowl, and watered with rivers stocked with fish : sometimes they placed it in an open level country, abounding in pasture ; in the middle of which rose a bed of strawberries as large as a mountain, different parts of which they portioned off, for the nourishment of themselves and their families. People less exposed to hunger, and besides more numerous and better instructed, placed on this spot all. that is delightful in nature, and gave it the name of Elysium. Covetous mortals formed it after the plan of the garden of Hesperides, and stocked it with trees, whose golden branches were loaded with fruits of diamonds. The more voluptuous nations placed in it trees of sugar and rivers of milk, and furnished it with delicious animals. Each people in this manner furnished the country of souls with what was on earth the object of their desires. Imagination, directed by different wants and inclinations, operated every where in the same manner, and consequently made but little variation in the invention of false religions. Ifwe believe the president de Brosse, in his excellent history of Fetichism, or the worship rendered to terrestrial objects, it was not only the first of religions, but its worship preserved to the present day in almost all Africa, and especially in Nigritia, was formerly the universal religion*. It is known, he adds, that in the

Ifby catholic is to be understood universal, Popery does

P4 Pierres 216 TREATISE ON MAN. Ofreligious tales,. Pierres Batites, it was Venus Urania they worshipped ; that in the forest of Dodona the Greeks adored the oaks. It is also known that dogs, cats, crocodiles ; serpents, elephants, lions, eagles, flies, monkies, &c.- have had altars erected to them as gods, not only in Egypt, but in Syria, Phoenicia, and almost all Asia. We know also, that lakes, trees, the sea, and shapeless rocks, have, in like manner, been the objects of adoration of European and American nations. Now such an uniformity in the first religions, proves one still greater in the minds of men, as we still find the same uniformity in religions more modern or less gross. Such was the Celtic religion : the Mitras of the Parsees we find in the god Thor ; Ariman in the Wolf; Feuris, the Apollo of the Greeks, in Baldar ; Venus in Freia ; and the Destinies in the three sisters Urda, Verandi, and Skulda. These three sisters are seated by the source of a fountain, whose waters lave the roots of a famous ash, named Yarasel ; its branches shadow the earth, and its summit, that reached above the clouds, formed its canopy. The false religions have therefore been almost every where the same. Whence arises this uniformity? From men's being animated by nearly the same interest, having nearly the same objects to compare towrong to pretend to the title. The religion of Fetichism , and that of the Pagans, are those only that have been truly catholic. gether TREATISE ON MAN. 217 Ofreligious tales. gether, and the samne instrument, that is, the same judgment to combine them; they have therefore necessarily formed the same conclusions : it is, because, in general, all are proud ; that, without any particular revelation, and consequently without proof, all regard man as the only favourite of heaven, and the principal object ofits cares . May we not, after a certain monk, sometimes repeat, " What is a capuchin compared to "a planet." 1 Must we, to found the haughty pretensions of man on facts, suppose, as in certain religions, that the Diyinity, forsaking heaven for earth, formerly came down to converse with mortals in the form of a fish , a serpent, or a man ? Must we, to prove the interest which heaven takes in the inhabitants of the earth, publish books, in which, according to some impostures, are included all the precepts and duties that God requires of man ? Such a book, if we believe the Mussulmans, composed inheaven, was brought down to the earth by the angel Gabriel, and given by that angel to Mahomet. It is called the Koran. When we open this book, we find it capable ofa thousand interpretations : it is obscure and unintelligible ; yet such is human blindness, that they still regard as divine, a work in which God is painted under the form of a tyrant ; where this same God is incessantly employed in punishing his slaves for not coinprehending what is incomprehensible ; in short, where this 218 TREATISE ON MAN. Impostures ofthe ministers offalse religions. this God, the author of phrases that are unintelligible withoutthe commentary of an Iman, is properly nothing more than a stupid legislator, whose laws have constantly need of interpretation. How long will the Mussulmans preserve so much veneration for a work sofilled with absurdities and blasphemies ? Toconclude ; if the metaphysics of false religions, if the excursions of human minds in the countries of souls, and the discoveries in the intellectual regions . have been every where the same, let us further see if the impostures (33) of the sacerdotal bodies for supporting these false religions, have not in all countries preserved amongst themselves the same resemblances. CHAP. XXI. THE IMPOSTURES OF THE MINISTERS OF FALSE RELIGIONS. In every country, the same motives of interest, and the same facts have combined to furnish sacerdotal bodies with the same means to impose on the people ; and in every country the priests have made use of them*. A private person may be moderate in his

IntheIndies the priests annex certain virtues, and indulgences

desires, 1 TREATISE ON MAN. 219 Methods by which the priests attain power and wealth. desires, and content with what he possesses ; a body is always ambitious : it constantly endeavours, with greater or less rapidity, to increase its power and wealth. The desire of the clergy has been in all times to be powerful and opulent* . By what method can it satisfy this desire ? By the vending of hope and fear. The priests, wholesale dealers in these commodities, were sensible that the sale would be certain and lucrative ; and that if hope supported the hawker who sold in the streets the chance of a great prize, and the quack who sold on a scaffold the chance of a cure, it would in like manner maintain the bonze, and talapoin, who sold in their temples the fear of hell and the hope of heaven : and if the quack made a fortune by vending one of these commodities only, that is hope, the priest must make a greater by selling both hope and fear. Man, said they, is timid ; there will consequently be most got bythe sale of the last article. But to whom shall we sell it ? To the sinners. And to whom sell hope ? To to extinguished fire brands, and sell them verydear. At Rome father Peepe, a jesuit, sold in like manner little prayers to the Vir gin : he made hens swallow them, affirming, that they would make them lay their eggs better.

What makes all doctrines plain and clear?

Abouttwo hundred pounds a year : And that which was prov'd true before Proved false again Two hundred more. T. HUDIERAS. the 220 TREATISE ON, MAN. Methods by which the priests attain power and wealth. thepenitents. Convinced of this truth, the priesthood considered that a great number of buyers supposed a great number of sinners ; and that as the presents of the sick enriched the physician, offerings and expiations of sinners would enrich the priest ; and therefore as sick people were necessary to one, sinners were to the other. The sinner would be constantly a slave to the priest ; and by the multiplication of sins, which would promote the sale of indulgences, masses, &c. the power and riches of the clergy would increase. But if among the sins the priests counted those actions only that were really prejudicial to society, the sacerdotal power would be of little consequence ; it would only extend to cheats and villains : now the clergy would have it extend to honest men also. To effect this it was necessary to create such crimes as honest men might commit. The priest therefore ordained that the least liberties between the two sexes, that themeredesire of pleasure, should be a sin. They moreover instituted a great number of superstitious ceremonies, and ordered every individual to obey them; declaring that the neglect of the observation of those ceremonies was the greatest of all crimes, and that the violation ofthe ritual law should be, as among the Jews, if possible, more severely punished than the most abominablevillainy. These rites and ceremonies, more or less numerous among the different nations, were every where nearly the same : they every where held sacred and secured TREATISE ON MAN. 221 Methods by which the priests attain power and wealth. secured to the priesthood the greatest authority over the several orders of the state (34). There were however among the priests of different nations, some, who, more dexterous than others, exacted from the people not only the observance of certain ceremonies, but the belief of certain dogmas also. The number of these dogmas increased insensibly, and with them increased infidels and heretics*. What did the clergy then ? They ordained that heresy should be punished with the confiscation of property ; and this law augmented the riches of the church : they decreed morcover, that infidelity should be punished with death ; and this law augmented their power. From the moment the priests condemned Socrates, genius, virtue, and even kings themselves trembled before the sacerdotal power ; its throne was supported by consternation and panic terror : which spreading over the minds ofthe people the darkness of ignorance, became the unshaken props of pontifical power. When man is forced to extinguish the light of reason within him, and has no knowledge of what is just or unjust, it is then he consults the priest, and implicitly follows his counsels. But why has not man recourse rather to the natural law ? The false religions themselves are founded on We say in Europe, God is in heaven : to say so in Bulgaria is heresy and impiety. that 222 TREATISE ON MAN. Virtue diminished by superstition. that common basis. That I allow : but natural religion is nothing more than reason itself (35). Now how can a man believe in his reason when he is forbidden the use ofit ? Besides, who can perceive the natural law through the mysterious cloud with which the sacerdotal power surrounds it ? This law, they say, is the canvas ofall religions. Be it so ; but the priests have embroidered so many mysteries on this canvas, that the embroidery entirely covers the ground. Whoever reads history will find that the virtue of the people diminishes in proportion as their superstition increases*. By what means can a superstitious man be instructed in his duty ? How in the night of error and ignorance can he perceive the path ofjustice ? In a country where all learning is confined to the priesthood, clear and just ideas ofvirtue can never be formed. The interest of the priests is not that a man uct virtuously, but that he do not think. It is necessary, say they, that the son of man know little, and believe a great dealt. Superstition is still the religion of the wisest people. The English neither confess nor pray to saints ; their devotion consists in not working or singing on a Sunday. A man who should play on a fiddle on that day would be reckoned impious : but he is a good Christian if he pass the day in a public house with wenches. + The priests will not allow that God renders to every one ac cordingto his works, but according to his faith. I have TREATISE ON MAN. 223 Uniform means by which priests preserve their authority. I have just shewn the uniform means by which the priests acquire their power ; let us now see ifthe means bywhich they preserve it are not also uniform. CHAP. XXII. OF THE UNIFORMITY OF THE MEANS BY WHICH THE MINISTERS OF FALSE RELIGIONS PRESERVE THEIR AUTHORITY. In every religion the first object proposed by the priests is to stifle the curiosity of mankind, and to prevent the examination of every dogina whose absurdity is too palpable to be concealed. To attain this end, the human passions must be flattered to perpetuate the blindness of men, they must be made to believe it is their interest, and consequently desire it. Nothing is more easy to n bonze. The practice of virtue is more troublesome than the observance of ceremonies. It is less difficult to kneel before an altar, to offer a sacrifice, to bathe in the Ganges (36), and eat fish on Fridays, than to pardon, like Camillus, the ingratitude of our fellow- citizens ; to spurn at riches like Papirius ; or to instruct mankind like Socrates : let us therefore flatter, says the bonze, 224 TREATISE ON MAŃ. Uniform means by which priests preserve their authority. bonze, the human vices, that those vices may be our protectors ; let us substitute in the place of virtue, offerings and expiations, that we may, by certain su perstitious ceremonies, cleanse the foul soul from the blackest crimes. Such a doctrine could not fail to increase the riches and authority of the bonzes. They saw all the importance of this doctrine ; they made it public, and the people received it with joy for the priests were constantly more loose in their morals, and more indulgent to crimes, in proportion as they were more severe in their discipline, and more rigid in pu nishing the violation of ceremonies*. Every temple then became an asylum for villains ; incredulity alone found there no refuge. Now as there. are in all countries but few unbelievers, and many villains, the interest of the greatest number was to agree with the priests. Between the tropics, says a navigator, there arc two islands opposite each other : in the one, no man is reckoned honest who does not believe in a certain number of absurdities, and unless he be able to endure the greatest itching without scratching : it is tothe patience with which they support their prurience that virtue is principally ascribed. In the other isle, no belief is imposed on the inhabitants, and they may

Ifthe catholics be in general without morals, it is because.

the priests of the popish religion have constantly substituted superstitious ceremonies, for the practice of real virtues. scratch TREATISE ON MAN. 225 Artifices by which the priests concealed their ambition. scratch where they itch, or even tickle themselves till they laugh; but no one is reckoned virtuous who does not perform actions useful to society. Must not the people discern the absurdity of this religious morality ? I answer, a priest, wrapt up in a solemn vestment, affecting an austere manner, and obscure language, and speaking only in the name of God and religion, deJudes the people by the eyes and ears ; and though the words morality and virtue are in his mouth void of meaning, it imports little those words pronounced in a mortified tone, and by a man in the habit of penitence, always impose on human imbecility. Such were the tricks, and if I may so say,the splendid mummery, under which the priests concealed their ambition and personal interest. Their doctrine was moreover severe in certain respects, and that severity served still more to deceive the vulgar. It was the box of Pandora that glittered without, but within were fanaticism, ignorance, superstition, and all those evils that have successively ravaged the earth. Now I ask, when we see the ministers of false religions in all ages employ the same means to increase their wealth and power*, to preserve their authority, and multiply

Ifthe priests make themselves every where the depositaries

and the distributors of charities, it is that they may appropriate a part ofthem, and by the distribution of the rest keep the poor in their pay. Every method of acquiring money and authority appears lawful to the priesthood. It is without blushing that the caVOL. 1. the 226 TREATISE ON MAN. The belief of men of genius in the fables of Paganism accounted for. the number of their slaves ; when we find in every country the same absurdities in false religions, the same impostors in their ministers, and the same credulity in the people (37) , if it be possible to imagine that there is essentially between men that inequality of understanding which some suppose ? But supposing understanding and talents to be the effects of a particular cause, how can we persuade ourselves that men ofgreat abilities, and consequently endowed with that particular organization, could have believed the fables of Paganism, have adopted the opinions ofthe vulgar, and sometimes become martyrs to the most palpable errors ? Such facts, which are inexplicable if we suppose the understanding to bethe product of organization, become simple and clear when it is regarded as an acquisition. We do not then wonder that men of genius, in certain matters, should have no superiority in those sciences or questions they have never studied. On this supposition, all the advantage a man of discernment can have over others, (and a considerable advantage it certainly is ), results from a habit of attention, and a knowledge of the best methods to be takenin the examination of a question ; an adtholic clergy charge the repairs of the churches to those very people whose wealth they have exhausted. The churches are the farms of the clergy ; but, contrary to opulent landlords, they find the means of making others support them. vantage TREATISE ON MAN. 227 1 Conclusions deduced from this chapter. vantage that is useless when not employed inthe search of that particular truth. The uniformity of frauds (38) employed by the ministers ofthe false religions, the resemblance ofthe phantoms seen by them in the intellectual regions (39), and the equal credulity ofthe people, prove therefore that nature has not given to men that unequal portion ofjudgment which has been supposed ; and that in morality, politics, and metaphysics, if they form very differentjudgments of the same objects, it arises from theirprejudices and the indeterminate significations that are annexed to the same expressions. I shall only add, that if judgment be reduced to the science or knowledge of the true relations which objects have to each other, and that ifwhatever be the organization of individuals, that organization as is demonstrated by geometry, makes no change in the constant proportions with which objects strike them, it necessarily follows that the greater or less perfection of the organs of the senses, can have no influence over our ideas, and that all men organized in the common manner will consequently have an equal aptitude to judgment or understanding. The only method remaining to render this truth more evident, ifthat be possible, is to fortify the proofs by augmenting them. Let us attempt this by another series of propositions. Q 2 CHAP. 228 TREATISE ON MAN. Every truth is reducible to a fact. CHAP. XXIII. THERE IS NO TRUTH NOT REDUCIBLE TO A FACT. ALMOSTall philosophers agree, that the most sublime truths once simplified and reduced to their plainest terms, may be converted into facts, and in that case present nothing more to the mind than thisproposition, white is white, and black is black (40). The apparent obscurity ofcertain truths lies not therefore in the truths themselves, but in the confused manner of representing them, and the impropriety of the words used in expressing them. Can they be reduced to simple facts ? Ifevery fact can be equally well perceived by every man organized (41) in the common manner, there is no truth which he cannot comprehend. Now if all men can conceive the same truths, they must all have essentially the same aptitude to understanding. But is it quite certain that every truth may be redu ced to those clear propositions above-mentioned ? I shall add only one proof to what the philosophers have already given I deduce it from the perfectibility of the human mind or understanding ; experience demon- strates TREATISE ONʼMAN. 229 All men have equal capacity for perceiving truths. strates that the understanding is capable of it. Now what does this perfectibility suppose ? Twothings : The one, that every truth is essentially comprehensible by every mind. The other, that every truth may be clearly repre sented. The capacity that all men have to learn a trade proves this. If the most sublime discoveries of the ancient mathematicians are at this day comprised in the elements ofgeometry, and are understood by every student in that science, it is because those discoveries are reduced to facts. Truths being once brought tothis point of simplicity, if there be some among them that men of ordinary capacity cannot comprehend, it is then, they may say, that borne up by experience, like the eagle, who alone among the feathered race can soar above the clouds and gaze upon the sun, the man of genius alone can raise himself to the intellectual regions, and there sustain the resplendence ofa new truth. Nownothing is more contrary to experience. Does a man of genius discover a truth, and represent it clearly ? Atthe instant all men of ordinary capacity seize it, and make it their own. The genius is an adventurous chief, who penetrates the region of discoveries : he lays open the road, and men of common capacity rush in crouds after him. They have therefore the force necessary to follow him, otherwise genius would there penetrate Q 3 alone. 230 TREATISE ON MAN, Period when the highest truths are attainable by common minds. alone. Now to the present day its only privilege is to make the first track* . But if there be a period when the highest truths are attainable by common minds, when is that period ? When freed from the obscurity of words, and reduced to propositions more or less simple, they pass from the empire of genius to that of the sciences. Till then, like thosesouls whoare said to wander in the celestial abodes, waiting till they can animate a body, and appear be fore the light, the truths yet unknown wander in the regions of discoveries, waiting for some genius to seize, and transport them to this terrestrial sphere. Once descended to the earth, and perceived by superior minds, they become common property.. If in this age, says M. Voltaire, men commonly write better in prose than in the last age, to what do the moderns owe this advantage ? To the models they have before them. The moderns could not boast of this superiority, if the genius of the last age, already converted into science (42), had not, if I may so say, entered into circulation. When the discoveries ofgenius are metamorphosed into sciences, each discovery deposited in their temple becomes a public property; the temple is open to all. Whoever desires to learn,

It seems to follow from this paragraph, that every man who

will, may understand all the truths in the sublime science of geometry and the depths of fluxions, provided they be properly explained. learns, TREATISE ON MAN. 231 The highest discoveries in art and science comprehensible to all. learns, and is sure to make nearly so many feet of science per day. The time fixed for apprenticeship is a proof of this. If the greatest part of arts, at the degree of perfection to which they are now carried, may be regarded as the produce of the discoveries of a hundred men of genius placed end to end ; to exercise those arts it is necessary therefore that the workman unite them in himself, and know how properly to apply the ideas of those hundred men of genius : what can be a stronger proof of the perfectibility of the human mind, and of its aptitude to comprehend every sort of truth ? If from the arts I pass to the sciences, it will be equally apparent that the truths, whose discoveries formerly deified their inventor, are now quite common. The system of Newton is taught every where. It is with the author of a new truth as with an astronomer, whom curiosity or the desire of glory calls up to his observatory. He points his glass to the heavens, and in the immensity of space beholds a new star or satellite. He calls his friends ; they go up, and looking through the telescope, behold the same star : for with organs nearly the same, men mnst discover the same objects. If there were ideas that ordinary men could not attain, there would be truths discovered in the process of ages, that could not be comprehended but by two or three men equally organized. The rest of the hu man race would be subject in this respect to an in2 4 vincible 232 TREATISE ON MAN. . The highest discoveries in art and solence comprehensibleto all, vincible ignorance. The discovery of the square of the hypothenuse being equal to the square ofthe other two sides of a triangle, could not be known but to another Pythagoras : the human mind could not be susceptible of perfectibility ; in a word, there would be truths reserved for certain men only. Experience, on the contrary, shews us, that the most sublime discoveries, clearly represented, are conceivable by all. Hence arise that astonishment and shame we perceive when we say, there is nothing more plain than that truth ; how was it possible I did not perceive it before? This is doubtless sometimes the language of envy, as in the case ofChristopher Columbus. When he departed for America, the courtiers said, nothingis more ridiculous than such an enterprise : and at his return, nothing was more easy than such a discovery. Though this be frequently the language of envy, is it never that of the heart? Is it not with the utmost sincerity, when suddenly struck by the evidence of a new idea, and presently accustomed to regard it as trivial, that we think we always knew it ? If we have a clear idea of the expression of a truth, and not only have it in our memory, but have also ha bitually present to our remembrance all the ideas ofthe comparison from which it results, and if we be not blinded by any interest or superstition, that truth be ing presen ly reduced to the plainest terms, that is, to this simple proposition, that white is white, and black is black, is conceived almost as soon as proposed. In TREATISE ON MAN. 233 An ordinary understanding sufficient to discover unknown truths. In fact, if the systems of Locke and Newton, without being yet carried to the last degree of perspicuity, are nevertheless generally taught and understood, men of a common organization can therefore comprehend the ideas of those of the greatest genius. Now to conceive their ideas (43), is to have the same aptitude to understanding. But if men can attain those truths, and iftheir knowledge in general be constantly in proportion to the desire they have to learn, does it follow that all can equally attain to truths hitherto unknown ? This objection deserves to be considered. CHAP. XXIV. THE UNDERSTANDING NECESSARY TO COMPRE HEND THE TRUTHS ALREADY KNOWN, IS SUFFICIENT TO DISCOVER THOSE THAT ARE UNKNOWN, ATRUTH is always the result of just comparisons of the resemblances or differences, the agreements or disagreements, between different objects. When a master would explain to his scholars the principles of a science, and demonstrate the truths already known, he places before their eyes the objects of the comparison from which those truths are to be deduced. But 234 • TREATISE ON MAN. Reason why few persons discover unknown truths. But when a new truth is to be sought, the inventor must in like manner have before his eyes the objects of comparison from which that truth is to be deduced : But what shall present them to him ? Chance ; the common mother of all inventions. It appears therefore, that the mind of man, whether it follow the demonstration ofa truth, or whether it discover it, has in both cases the same objects to compare, and the same relations to observe ; in short, the same operations to perform* . The understanding necessary to comprehend truths already known, is therefore sufficient to discover those that are unknown. Few men indeed attain the latter ; but this is the effect of the different situations in which they are placed, and that series of circumstances to which is given the name of chance ; or of the desire, more or less cogent, that men have to distinguish themselves, and consequently their greater or less passion for glory.

I might even add, that it requires more attention to follow the

demonstration of a truth already known, than to discover one. Suppose for example, it be a mathematical proposition ; the inventor in this case is already acquainted with geometry : he has its figures habitually present to his memory ; he recollects them, as it were, involuntarily ; and his attention is solely employed in observing their relations. With regard to the scholar, those same figures notbeing habitually present to his memory, his attention is necessarily divided betweenthe trouble ofrecollecting the figures, and ofobserving their relations. The TREATISE ON MAN. 235 Influence ofthe passions in sharpening the understanding. The passions can do all things. There is no girl so stupid that love will not make witty. What means does it not furnish her with, to deceive the vigilance of her parents, to see and converse with her lover ? The most stupid frequently becomethe most inventive. A man without passions is incapable of that degree of attention to which a superior judgment is annexed : a superiority that is, perhaps, less the effect of an extraordinary effort than of habitual attention. But if all men have an equal aptitude to understanding, what can produce that difference we find between them ? NOTES. NOTES. 1. (page 132.) IF men, and especially the Europeans, say the Banians, always in fear and mistrust of each other, are ever ready to goto war with one another ; it is because they are still animated with the spirit of their first parents, Cutteri and Toddicastrée. This Cutteri, who was the second son of Pourons, and destined by God to people one of the four quarters of the earth, turned his steps toward the west. The first object he met was a woman named Toddicastrée. She was armed with a chuchery, and he with a sword. As soon as they perceived each other, they at tacked and fought together for two days and a half: the third day, tired with the combat, they parlied, they loved, married, and lay together: they had children, that, like their progenitors, are always ready to attack when they meet. 2. (p. 159.) That the most witty and the most thoughtful are sometimes melancholy, I allow ; but they are not witty and thoughtful because they are melancholy, but melancholy because they are thoughtful. In fact, it is not to his melancholy but to his wants that a man owes his discernment : want alone draws him from his natural indolence. If I think, it is not because I am strong or weak, but because I have more or less interest to think. Whenthey say of misfortune that it is the great teacher of man, they say nothing more than that misfortune, and the desire to be freed from it, oblige us to think. Why does the desire of glory frequently produce the same effect ? Because glory is to some a want. Moreover, neither Rabelais, nor Fontenelle, nor Fontaine, nor Scarron were esteemed melancholic, yet nobody denies their superiority of wit, greater or less. 3. (p. 184. ) What I here say of goodness may be equally ap plied to beauty. The different ideas we form of it arise, almost always, TREATISE ON MAN. 237 NOTES ON SECTION II. always, from the explanations we have heard given ofthe word in our infancy. When we have heard a woman of a particular figure constantly extolled, that figure is fixed in our mind as a model of beauty and we always judge of other women according to the greater or less resemblance they have to that model. Hence the diversity of our tastes, and the reason why we prefer a woman of an elegant shape, to one that is gross, and who is preferred by another. 4. (p. 187.) This decision of the church shows the absurdity of a judgment that has been passed on me. How, it has been said, can I maintain that friendship is founded on want and a reciprocal interest ? But if the church, and the Jesuits themselves agree, that God, though all good and powerful, is not beloved. for himself; is it then without some private reason that I love my friend ? Now of what nature can this reason be ? It is not of the sort that produces hatred ; that is a sentiment of trouble and grief; on the contrary, it is of the nature of those that produce love, that is, a sentiment of pleasure. The judgments that have been passed on me relative to this matter are so absurd, that it is not without shame I here reply to them. 5. (p. 189.) The primitive church did not cavil with mankind about their belief : Synesius is a proof of this. He lived in the fifth century ; and was a Platonic philosopher. Theophilus, then bishop of Alexandria, desirous of doing himself honour by a conversion, entreated Synesius to be baptized by him. The philo sopher consented on condition that he should preserve his opinions. A short time after, the inhabitants of Ptolemais asked Synesius for their bishop. Synesius refused the episcopacy, and his reasons for it he gives in his hundred and fifth letter to his brother. " The " more I examine myself, he says, the less I find that I am pro- "perto be a bishop. I have hitherto divided my life between "the study of philosophy and amusement. When I go out of "my closet, I give myself up to pleasure. Nowitts not right, they "say, that a bishop be joyous : he is a divine man. I am be- " sides 238 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION II. "sides incapable of all application to civil and domestic affairs. "I have a wife that I love, and it is equally impossible for me, either to quit her, or only see her in secret. This Theo- "philus knows ; but this is not all. The mind cannot quit the "truths that have been demonstrated to it. Now the dogmas of "philosophy are contrary to those which a bishop ought to "teach. How can I preach the creation of the soul after the body, the end of the world, the resurrection, and in short "things that I do not believe ? I cannot bring myself to be a " hypocrite. "A philosopher, they say, can accommodate himself to the "weakness of the vulgar, and conceal those truths he cannot " believe. Yes; but in that case dissimulation must be abso- “ lutely necessary. I would be a bishop if I could preserve my " opinions and talk of them with my friends ; and if, to keepthe "people in their errors, they would not force me to entertain "them with fables. But if a bishop must preach the contrary to " what he thinks, and think with the people, I shall refuse the " episcopacy. I do not know if there be truths that ought to be "kept from the vulgar ; but I know, that a bishop ought not to "preach the contrary of what he believes. The truth ought to "be respected as the Divinity, and I protest before God that I "will never falsify my sentiments in my preachings." Synesius, notwithstanding his repugnance, was ordained a bishop, and kept his word. The hymns he composed are nothing more than the expositions of the systems of Pythagoras, Plato, and the Stoics, adjusted to the dogmas and worship of the Christians. 6. (p. 191.) Pious calumny is also a virtue of new creation. Rousseau and I have been its victims. How many passages of our works have been falsely cited in the mandates of the holy bishops ? There are therefore now holy calumniators... 7. (ibid ) The clergy who call themselves humble, resemble Diogenes, whose pride was seen through the holes in his cloak. 8. (ibid.) Read on this subject the last chapters of the rules of TREATISE ON MAN. 239 NOTES ON SECTION II. of St. Benedict; you will there see that ifthe monks be obdurate and wicked, it is what they cannot helpbeing The generality ofmen, assured of their subsistence, and without concern on that account, become insensible : they do not deplore in others the evils they cannot suffer. Besides, the happiness or misery of a monk, confined in a cloister, is entirely independent ofthat of his relations and fellow-citizens. The monks therefore must regard menof the world with the same indifference as a traveller regards the beasts he meets in a forest. It is the monastic laws that condemn the religious orders to inhumanity. In fact, what is it that produces in men the sentiment of benevolence ? The assistance, either remote or near, that they may afford each other. This is the principle that unites men in society. Do the laws estrange my interest from that of the public ? From that moment I become wicked. Hence the severity of arbitrary governments, and the reason why monks and despots are in general the most in- human of men. 9. (p. 192.) It was formerly believed that God, according to the difference of times, could have different ideas of virtue ; the church has clearly explained this doctrine in the council of Ball, held on account ofthe Ilussites ; who having protested against admitting any doctrine that was not contained in the scriptures ; the fathers ofthe council informed them, by the mouth ofcardinal Casan. " That the scriptures were not absolutely necessary to the "preservation ofthe church, but only to its better regulation : that "they should be always interpreted according to the present state " ofthe church, which by changing its sentiments obliges us to be- "lieve that God changes his also." 10. (ibid. ) They boast much of the restitutions that religion causes to be made. I have sometimes seen the restitution of copper, but never of gold. The monks have not yet restored the heritage, nor the catholic princes the kingdoms that have been ravished from the Americans. 11. (p. 193.) It is but justice to arm intolerance against intole 9 rance, 240 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION 11. rance, as a prince ought to oppose an army against the army of his enemy. 12. (p. 193) On opening the Encyclopedia at the article Virtue how was I surprised to find, not a definition of virtue, but a declamation onthe subject. O man ! cries the composer ofthat article, wouldst thou know what is virtue ? Enter into thyself. Its defi nition is at the bottom of thy heart. But why was it not in like manner at the bottom of the composer's heart, and if it were there, why did he not give it us? Few authors, I confess, think so highly oftheir readers, and so meanly of themselves. If that writer had reflected more on the word Virtue, he would have perceived, that it consisted in the knowledge of what men owe to each other, and that it consequently supposes the formation of societies. Before this formation, what good or evil could be done to a society not yet existing? "A man of the woods, a man naked and without language, might easily acquirea clear idea of strength or weakness, but not of justice and equity. Aman born in a desert island, and abandoned to himself, would live there without vice or virtue. He could not exercise either of them. Whatthen are we to understand by the wordsVirtuous and Vicious ? Actions useful or detrimental to society. This idea, clear and simple, is, in my opinion, preferable to all obscure and inflated declamations on virtue. Apreacher, who in his sermons gives no clear definition of vir tue ; a moralist, who maintains that all men are good, and does not believe any of them unjust, is sometimes afool, but more fre quently a knave, that would be thought honest merely because he is a man. To pretend to draw a faithful portrait of humanity, perhaps a man should be virtuous, and, to a certain point, irreproachable. What I know of the matter, is, that the most honest are not they whosuppose men to have the most virtue. If I would be well assured ofmine, I would suppose myself to be a citizen of Rome, or ofGreece ; and I would ask myself, whether in the situation of Codrus TREATISE ON MAN. 241 NOTES ON SECTION 11. Codrus or Regulus, Brutus or Leonidas, I should have done the same actions. The least hesitation in this case would teach me that I was but weak in virtue. Of every sort the strong are rare, and thelukewarın common. 13. (p. 194.) The humanity of M. Fenelon, is renowned. One day, a vicar boasted, in his presence, of having abolished dancing on a Sunday, in his village. Mr. Vicar, said the archbishop, let us be less severe towards others ; let ns abstain from dancing ourselves, but let the peasants dance if they like it. Why should we not let them for a short time forget their misery? Fenelon, just, and always virtuous, lived a part ofhis days in disgrace. Bossuet, his rival in genius, was less honest, and always in favour. 14 (p. 197.) The morality ofJesus, and that ofthe Jesuits, have nothing in common ; the one is destructive of the other. This is evident, by the extracts that the parliaments have given. But why do the clergy incessantly repeat, that the same stroke has destroyed the Jesuits and religion ? It is, because, in the ecclesiastical language, religion and superstition are synonimous. Now superstition, or the papal power, has, perhaps, really suffered by the ba nishment ofthat order. For the rest, let not the Jesuits flatter themselves, that they will everbe recalled into France and Spain. It is known by what proscriptions their recal would be followed, and to what excess the cruelty of an enraged Jesuit is carried. 15. (ibid. ) The fear with which the Jesuits were regarded, seemed to have set them above all attack. To brave their hatred and their intrigues, such men as Chauvelin were necessary, noble souls, generous citizens, and friends to the public. To destroy such an order, courage alone was not sufficient ; genius was also requisite. It was necessary to show the people the poignard ofthe regicide, wrapped up in the veil of respect and devotion : to discover the hypocrisy ofthe Jesuits through the cloud of incense which they spread around the throne and the altars ; to embolden the timid prudence of the parliaments, and make them clearly distinguish between the extraordinary and the impossible. VOL. I. 16. (p. 242 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION II. 16. (p. 198.) It is with the judgment aswith virtue. Thejudg mentapplied to the various sciences of geometry, physics, &c. is judgment in all countries. The judgment, when applied to the false sciences of magic, theology, &c. is local. The first of these, is to the other what the money of Africa, the shells called cowries, is to the gold and silver money, the one has circulation among someNegro nations, the other over the whole earth. 17. (p. 199. ) Onwhat should we establish the principles of a good morality ? On a great number of facts and observations. It is, therefore, tothe premature formation of certain principles, that we ought, perhaps, to attribute their obscurity and falsity. In morality, as in all other sciences, what should be done before we form a system ? Collect the materials necessary for the construction. Wecannot now be ignorant, that an experimental morality, founded on the study of inen, and ofthings, as far surpasses a speculative and theological morality, as experimental philosophy exceeds a vague and uncertain theory. It is because religious morality never had experiment for its basis, that the theological empire was ever regarded as the region of darkness. 18. (p. 200.) The monks, themselves, have not always held chastity in equal esteem. Some of them, called Mamillares, have held, that a man might, without sin, feel the bosom of a nun.. There is no act of lasciviousness, that superstition has not in some part made an act of virtue. In Japan, the Bonzes may love men, but not women. In certain cantons of Peru, the acts of the Greek loves were acts of piety ; it was an homage to the gods, and rendered publicly in their temples. 19. (p. 120.) Mrs. Macaulay, the illustrious author of a History of England, is the Cato of London, " Never, says she, has the "view of a despotic monarch, or prince, soiled the purity of my "looks." 20. (ibid. ) Is is an absurdity common to all nations, to expect humanity and science in their tyrant. To attempt to make good scholars, without punishing the idle, and rewarding the diligent, is TREATISE ON MAN. 243 NOTES ON SECTION 11. is afolly. To abolish the law that punishes theft and murder, and require that men should not steal or murder, is a voluntary contradiction. To desire that a prince should apply himself to the affairs of the state, and that he should have no interest to apply himselftothem, that is, that he should not be punished, if he neglect them to desire, in short, that a man above the law, that is without law, should be always humane and virtuous, is to desire an effect without a cause. Cast men bound into the den of a tyger, and he will devour them. The despot is the tyger. 21. (p.201 . ) The Calinucks marry as many wives as they please ; they have besides, as many concubines as they can maintain. Incest is no crime among them. They see nothing more in a man and a woman, than a male and a female . A father without scruple marries his daughter : no law forbids it. 22. (ibid.) Every one says, I have the most just ideas of virtue : whoever does not think as I do, is wrong. Every one laughs at his neighbour. Every one points with his finger, and never laughs at himself but under the name of another. The same inquisitor who condeinned Galileo, doubtless, condemned the wickedness and stupidity ofthe judges of Socrates : he did not think that he should one day be like them, the scorn of his own age, and of posterity. Does the Sorbonne think itself despicable for having condemned Rousseau, Marinontel, myself, &c. No; it is the stranger who thinks so, in its stead. 23. (p. 202. ) Barillon was exiled to Amboise, and Richelieu, who sent him thither, was the first minister; says cardinal de Retz, who ventured to punish in the magistrates, that noble firmness with whichtheyrepresented to the king those truths, for the defence of which their oaths obliged them to expose their lives. 24. (ibid.) If it be true, that virtue is useful to a state, it must be also useful to give clear ideas ofit, and to engrave them , in the most tender infancy, on the memories of men. The definition I have given ofvirtue in the Treatise on the Mind, Disc. iil. chap. 13. appears to inc to be the only one that is just. " Virtue, I have " there said, is nothing more than the desire of public happiness. R 2 The 244 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION 11. "The general welfare is the object of virtue ; and the actions it "enjoins, are the means which it employs to accomplish that ob- "ject. The idea of virtue, I have added, must therefore be " every where the same." If in various ages and countries men appear to have formed different ideas of virtue, if philosophers have, in consequence, "treated the idea of virtue as arbitrary, it is because they have ta "ken for virtue itself, the several means it makes use of to accom- "plish its object, that is to say, the several actions which it enjoins. " These actions have certainly been sometimes very different, " because the interests of nations change, according to the age "their situation ; and lastly, because the public good may, to "certain degree, be promoted by different incans. ” and The entrance offoreign merchandize permitted to-day in Ger many, as advantageous to its commerce, and conformable to the good ofthe state, may be to-morrow forbidden. To-morrow the purchaser may be declared criminal, ifby some circumstances that purchase become prejudicial to the national interest. " The same "actions may therefore become successively useful and prejudicial “ to a nation, and merit by turns the name ofvirtuous and vicious, "without the idea of virtue's suffering any change, or ceasing to "be the same." Nothing is more agreeable to the natural law, than this idea. Could it be imagined that principles so sound , aud so conformable to the public good, would have been condemned ? Could it be imagined that a man would be prosecuted, who had defined, "truc probity to be the habitude of actions useful to our " country, and regarded as vicious every action detrimental to "society ?" Isit not evident that such a writer could not advance maxims contrary to the public good, without contradicting him self. Such, however, was the power of envy and hypocrisy, that I was persecuted bythe same clergy, who, without opposition, had suffered the audacious Bellarmin to be elevated to the rank of a cardinal, for having maintained, that if the pope forbids the exercise ofvirtue, and commands that of vices, the Romish church, underpain of a sin, was obliged to abandon virtue for vice, nisi vellet TREATISE ON MAN. 245 NOTES CN SECTION II. vellet contra conscientiampeccare. The popetherefore, according to this Jesuit, had the right of destroying the natural law, and of stifling in man every idea of justice and injustice, and, in short, of replunging morality into that chaos, from which philosophy has drawn it with so much pains. Ought the church to have approved such principles ? Why did the pope suffer their publication ? Because they flattered his pride. Papal ambition, always greedy ofpower, is never scrupulous in the choice of the means. In what country has not the maxim the most abominable, the most contrary to the public good, been tolerated by the power to whom it is favourable ? In what country have they constantly punished the wretch who has incessantly repeated to the prince, " Thy power over thy subjects is without "bounds : thou mayest at thy will despoil them of their property, load them with fetters, and deliver them to the most cruel tor- "tures." It is always with impunity, that the fox repeats to the lion, You do them, Sire, a great deal of honour in making them beggars, Vous leurfites, Seigneur, En les croquant beaucoup d' honneur. The only expressions that cannot be repeated to princes without danger, are those that fix the bounds, which justice, the public good, and the law of nations, set to their authority. 25. (p. 204.) By metaphysics, I do not mean that jargon transmitted by the Egyptian priests to Pythagoras, by him to Plato, and by Plato to us, and which is still taught in some schools : but I mean, with Bacon, the knowledge of the first principles ofany art or science whatever, Poetry, music, and painting, have their first principles, founded on a constant and general observation ; they have, therefore, their metaphysics. As tothe scholastic metaphysics, is it a science ? No : but I have just said a jargon ; it is tolerable only to the false mind that can accommodate expressions void of sense : to the ignorant, who take words for things ; and to knaves who want to make dupes. By aman ofsense it is despised. R 3 All 246 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION II. All metaphysics, not founded on observation, consist solelyinthe art ofabusing words. It is this metaphysics, that in the land of chimeras, is continually running after bladders of soap ; from which t can never get any thing but air. Now, banished to the schools oftheology, it still divides them by its subtilities, and may one dạy again light up fanaticism, and again casue human blood to stream.´ I compare these two sorts of metaphysics to the two different philosophies of Democritus and Plato. The first raises itselfby degrees from earth to heaven, and the other descends by degrees from heaven to earth. The system of Plato was founded on the clouds, and the breath ofreason has already dissipated the clouds and the system. 26. (p. 205.) Men have always been governedby words. If half ofthe weight ofthe silver in a crown be diminished, and its numeral yalue still preserved, the soldier thinks he has nearly the same pay. The magistrate authorised to judge definitively to a certain amount, that is, to such a weight of silver, must not judge tothe amount of half that sum. In like manner are men duped by words, and by their uncertain significations. Writers are constantly talking about good morals, without attaching any clear ideas to those words. Can they be ignorant, that good morals is one of those vague expressions, of which every nation forms different ideas ? If there be universal good morals, there are also those that are local, and consequently, I can, without offending good morals, have aseraglio at Constantinople, and not at Vienna. 27. (p.206.) Theological disputes never are, and never can be, any thing more than disputes about words. If these disputes have frequently occasioned great commotions onthe earth, it is because princes, said M. Chalotais, seduced by some theologians *, have

Perhaps it has happened, at least as frequently, from the

knavery of princes, who by encouraging one party against the other, have weakened thein both, and consequently increased their ownstrength. T. princes, TREATISE ON MAN. 247 NOTES ON SECTION II. taken a part in these quarrels. Let governments despise their dis putes ; and the theologians, after railing, and reciprocally accusing each other of heresy, &c. will grow tried of talking, without un derstanding each other, and without being understood. The fear ofridicule will make them silent. 28. (p. 206. ) It is to the disputes about words, that we are in like manner to refer almost all the accusations of atheism. There is no man ofunderstanding who does not acknowledge an active power in nature. There is therefore, no atheist. He is not an atheist who says, that motion is God ; because, in fact, motion is incomprehensible, as we have no clear idea ofit, as it does not manifest itself but by its effects and lastly, because by it all things are performed in the universe. He is not an atheist who says, on the contrary, that motion is not God : because, motion is not a Being, but a mode of Being. They are not atheists, who maintain that motion is essential to matter, and regard it as the invisible and moving force that spreads itself through all its parts. Do we see the stars continually chan ging their places, and rolling perpetually round their center ; do we see all bodies destroyed and reproduced incessantly, under different forms ; in short, do we see nature in an eternal fermen tation and dissolution ? Whothen can deny, that motion is, like extension, inherent in bodies, and that motion is not the cause of what is? In fact, says Mr. Hume, if we always give the names of cause and effect to the concomitance of two facts, and that wherever there are bodies, there is motion ; we ought then to regard motion as the universal soul of matter, and the divinity that alone penetrates its substance. But are the philosophers of this last opinion atheists ? No : they equally acknowledge an unknown force in the universe. Are even those who have no ideas ofGod, atheists ? No; because then all men would be so : because no one has a clear idea ofthe Divinity : because in this case every obscure idea is equal to none, and lastly, to acknowledge the in-

4 comprehensibility

248 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION II. comprehensibility of Gcd, is, as M. Robinet proves, to say by a different turn of expression, that we have no idea of him. 29. (p. 209.) Man, to be happy, must have desires, such as employ him, and such whose objects his labour or his talents can procure him. Among the desires of this sort, the most proper to preservehim from disgust is that ofglory. This springs up equally in all countries. It sometimes happens, that the search after glory exposes a manto too much danger : what rational motive can excite him to the pursuit of it in a kingdom where they persecute such menas Voltaire, Montesquieu, &c. If France, say the English, be reckoned a delicious country, it is for those that are rich, and do not think. 30. (211.) Far from condemning a systematic spirit, I admire it in great men. It is to the efforts made to destroy or defend those systems that we doubtless owe an infinity of discoveries. Let men therefore continue to explain, by a single principle, if it be possible, all the physical phenomena in nature : but be continually on their guard against those principles : let them be considered merely as one ofthe different keys, which we may suc cessively try, that we may at last find that which shall open the sanctuary of nature. But above all, let us not confound tales with systems ; the latter must be supported by a great number offacts. It isthese alone that should be taught in the public schools : provided however that we do not still maintain them to be true, a hundred years after experience has proved themto be false. 31. (p. 212.) Whence comes it, it was said to a certain cardinal, that there have been in all times priests, religions, and sorcerers ? Because, he replied, there have always been bees and drones, labourers and idlers, knaves and dupes. 32. (p. 213.) Without examining if it be the interest ofthe public to admit the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, I shall observe that at least this dogma has not always been politically regarded as 'useful. It took its rise in the schools of Plato ; but Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, thought it so dangerous, that TREATISE ON MAN.' 249 NOTES ON SKOTION II. that he forbade it to be taught in his dominions on the pain of death. 33. (p. 218.) It is knownthat the ancient Druids were animated with thesamespirit as the Popish priests now are : that they had, before them, invented excommunication ; that like them they would command people and kings ; and that they pretended to have, like the inquisitors, the power of life and death, among all nations where they were established. 34. (p. 221. ) I was one day present at a representation which the clergy ofa German court made to their prince : I borethe marvellous ring, which makes men say and write, not what they would have others hearand read, but what they reallythink. Without the virtue of my ring, I should doubtless never have heard or read the following discourse. When the clergy thought they had convinced the prince that religion was lost in his dominions ; that debauchery and impiety boldly stalked abroad ; that the holy days were profaned by labour; that the liberty of the press shook the foundations of his throne and ofthe altars, and that in consequence the bishops enjoined the sovereign to arm the laws against the liberty ofthought, to protect the church and destroy its enemies : the following were the words I seemed to hear in that address, " Prince, your clergy are rich and powerful, and would be still " more so. It is notthe loss of morality and religion, but that of " their authority, they deplore. They desire to have the greatest "authority, and your people are without respect for the sacerdotal " " power. We therefore declare them to be impious ; we exhort " you to reanimate their piety, and for that purpose to give your "clergy more authority over them. The moment chosen to accuse the people, and irritate you against them, is not perhaps the " most favourable. Your soldiers have never been so brave, your "artisans more industrious, your citizens more zealous for the " public welfare, and consequently more virtuous. They will tell "you, without doubt, that the people most immediately subject " to 2.50 TREATISE ON MAN, NOTES ON SECTION 11. " tothe clergy, that the modern Romans have neither the same "valour, nor the same love for their country, nor consequently " the same virtue. They will add, perhaps, that Spain and Por " tugal, where the clergy command so imperiously, are ruined "and laid waste by ignorance, sloth, and superstition ; and, in "short, that among all nations, they who are generally honoured "and respected, are those same enlightened people to whomthe "Catholic church will always give the name of impious. "Let your ears, O prince, be for ever closed against such re- • presentations ; that, in concert with your clergy, you mayspread " darkness over your dominions, and know that a people skilful, " rich, and without superstition, are, in the eyes of the priest, a "people without morals. Is it, in fact, the rich and industrious " citizen, who has for example, all the respect for the virtue of ❝continence that it deserves ? 66 " It is, they will say, in this respect with the present age, as "with those that are past. Charlemagne, created a saint for li berality toward the priesthood, loved women as well as Francis "I. and Henry VIII. Henry III . king of France, had a taste "less decent. Henry IV. Elizabeth, Louis XIV. and queen "Anne caressed their mistresses, or their lovers, with the same “ hands with which they laid their enemies in the dust. They “ will add, that the monks themselves have almost always in- "dulged in secret forbidden pleasures ; and in short, that without "changing the natural constitutions of the inhabitants, it is very "difficult to keep them from that damnable disposition that car- "ries them toward women. There is, however, one method to prevent it, and that is to make them poor. It is not from a " sound and well fed body that the demon of the flesh can be "driven : it is to be affected only by prayer and fasting. " Let then your majesty after the example of some of your "neighbours, permit us to strip your subjects of all their super- “ fluities, to tithe their lands, to pillage their property, and to "keep them in the strictest necessity . If, touched bythese pious ↑ remonstrances TREATISE ON MAN. 251 NOTES ON SECTION 11. "remonstrances, your majesty shall regard our prayers, may be "nedictions pour down upon you ! No praise can equal so meritorious an action. But in an age when corruption infects all "minds, when impiety hardens ever heart, may we hope that " majesty and your ministers will adopt a counsel so salutary, a "method so easy to secure the continence of your subjects ? "With regard to the profanation of holidays, our remonstran- "ces may again appear absurd. The man who labours on Sun- "days and holidays does not get drunk, or run after women; he ❝injures no one, he serves his country and his family, and aug- "ments the commerce of his nation. "Of two states equally numerous and powerful, let one of " them make, as in Spain, 130 holidays in the year, and some- "times the day after ; and the other on the contrary, keep no saints days, the latter of these people will have 80 or 90 days of "labour more than the other, and can furnish the articles of its "commerce at a lower price : its lands will be better cultivated, "its harvests more abundant, and thebalance oftrade will be in its "favour. The latter, therefore, being more rich and powerful "than the former, may one day give it laws. There is norhing "in common between the national interest and that of the clergy. "The priest, being solely jealous of command, what would he "do? Contract the mind of the prince, and extinguish in him "eventhe lights of nature. Anation governed bysuch a prince, "will sooner or later, become aprey to some neighbour more rich, "more leanred, and less superstitious ; so that the grandeur ofthe "Catholic clergy is always destructive of the grandeur of a state. "Dothe priests declaim against the profanation of holidays? Be "not deceived, it is not the love of God, but that of their au- " thority, by which they are influenced. We learn from expe " rience, that the less a man frequents the temples, the less respect he has for their ministers, and the less authority those "ministers have over him. Now if power be the ruling passion "of a priest, it is of little consequence to him whether a holiday . orbe " 252 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION II. "betothe labourer a day of debauch ; whether, on goingfrom "the temple, he run after wenches and frequent public houses, "and pass the remainder of the day in inebriety. The more sins, "the more expiations and offerings ; the more riches and 66 power is acquired by the priest. What is the interest ofthe church? To "multiply vices. What does it ask of men? To be stupid and "wicked. Behold, Sire, with what we are reproached by the im- "pious. With regard to the liberty of the press, if your clergy " rise up ever so violently against it, if they tell you incessantly "that it saps the foundation of the law, and renders religion ridi "culous, believe it not. " It is not that your clergy do not perceive, with the solid and "ingenious author of the English Investigator, that truth is proof "" against ridicule, and that ridicule is the touchstone of truth. A "ridicule cast on a demonstration is like mud thrown against mar- "ble: it soils it for a moment, it dries, the rain comes, and the "spot disappears. To agree that a religion cannot stand against "ridicule, is to allow it to be false. Does not the Catholic "church repeat incessantly that the gates of hell shall never pre- “vail against it ? Yes ; but priests are not religion. Ridicule may weaken their authority, and fetter their ambition ; they "therefore constantly cry out against the liberty of the press, "and entreat your majesty to forbid your subjects the practice of "writing and thinking, that you may deprive them in this respect " of the privileges of men, and consequently shut the mouth of "every one that can instruct mankind. " "If so many demands appear indiscreet, and jealous ofthe hap- "piness of your people, you would, Sire, rule over intelligent "inhabitants only, know, that the same conduct that will render "you dear to your subjects, and respectable to strangers, will be "imputed to you as a crime by your clergy. Dread the vengeance of a powerful body, and for the future resign to them your sword ; it is then that, assured of the piety of your peo- "ple, the sacerdotal power may again assume over them its an- " " cient TREATISE ON MAN. 253 NOTES ON SECTION 11. "cient authority, see from day to day that authority increase, and "at last make use of it to bring you into subjection. " " "We desire the more earnestly that your majesty would regard "our supplication, and authorize our demand, as it will deliver "us from a secret inquietude, that is not without foundation. "Quakers may establish themselves in your dominions ; they may propose to communicate, gratis, to the cities, towns, and villages, all instruction, moral and religious, that is necessary ; "they might morcover form certain companies of finance, who "might undertake this enterprise of instruction at a discount, and "furnish it still cheaper and cheaper. Who can say whether the "magistrates might not then take it their heads to seize on our " revenues, and employ them to discharge a part of the national "debt, and by that means make your nation the most respectable "in Europe. Now it is of little consequence to us, Sire, whe- "ther your people be happy and respectable, but is of great con sequence that the sacerdotal body be rich and powerful.” "6 This is what the representations of the clergy seemed to me to contain. I shall not weary myself with considering the address, the artifice with which the priests have in all countries continually asked in the name of heaven, the power and riches of the earth. I admire the confidence they have always had in the weakness of the people, and especially men in power. But what most of all surprises me, is, (when I reflect on the ages of ignorance,) to find that in this respect most sovereigns have always beep out of the power ofthe clergy. 35. (p. 222.) There are some who say that atthe moment ofour birth God engraves on our hearts the precepts of the natural law. Experience proves the contrary. If God is to be regarded as the author of the laws of nature, it is as being the author of corporeal sensibility, which is the mother of human reason. This sort of sensibility, at the time of the union of men in society, obliged them, as I have already said, to make among themselves conventions and laws, the assemblage of which composes what is called the 254 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION II. laws of nature. But have those laws been the same among different nations ? No: their greater or less perfection was always in proportion to the progress of the human mind ; to the greater or less extent of knowledge that societies acquired, of what was useful or prejudicial ; and this knowledge has been in all nations the produce of time, experience, and reflection. To make us see in God the immediate author of the laws of nature, and consequently of all justice, ought the theologians to admit him to have passions, such as love, or vengeance ? Ought theyto represent him as a Being susceptible of predilection ; in short, as an assemblage of incoherent qualities ? Is it in such a God that we can discern the author of justice ? Can we thus endeavour to reconcile what is irreconcileable, and confound truth with falsehood, without perceiving the impossibility of such a connection ? It is time that men, deaf to theological contradictions, listen to nothing but the doctrins of wisdom : for, St. Paul says, " Itis hightime to awake out of sleep ; the night (of igno "rance) is far spent, the day (ofscience) is at hand ; let us there- "fore put on the armour of light," to destroy the phantoms of darkness, andfor that purpose let us restore to men their natural liberty, and the free exercise of reason. 36. (p. 223.) Can it be, that among almost all nations the idea of sanctity is annexed to the observance of a ritual ceremony, an ablution, &c. Canmen be still ignorant that the only citizens constantly virtuous and humane, are those that are happy in their character. In fact, who among the devout are the most estimable? Theythat, full of confidence in God, forget there is a hell. Who, on the contrary, among the same devout are the most odious and inhuman? Theythat, timid, discontented, and unhappy, see hell continually openbefore them . Why are the devout in general the torment of their dwellings, railing incessantly at their servants, and making themselves hateful ? Because, having the idea of the devil before them, and fearing perpetually to be carried away by him, their fear and their unhappiness render them malignant. If youth TREATISE ON MAN. 255 NOTES ON SECTION II. youthbe in general more virtuous and more humane than age, it is because, having more desires and more health, they are more happy. Nature did wisely, said an Englishman, to limit the life ofmanto 80 or 100 years. Ifheaven had prolonged his old age he would have become too wicked. 37. (p. 226. ) If in Tartary, under the name of Dalai Lama, the grand pontiffbe immortal ; in Italy, under the name of Pope, their pontiff is infallible. If inthe country ofthe Mongales the vicar of the grand Lama, receive the title of Kutuchta, that is vicar of the living God, in Europe the Pope bears the same title. At Bagdat, inTartary, in Japan, if with a design to debase and subdue their kings, the pontiffs, under thename of caliph, lama, and dairo, have made emperors kiss their feet; and if these pontiffs, when mounted on a mule, have obliged the emperors to take the bridle and lead themthrough the streets : has not the pope exacted the same servility from the monarchs of the West ? The pontiffs in every country have therefore made the same pretensions, and the princes the same submission. If the deputies for the office of caliph have made human blood to stream in the East, the disputes for the papacy have in like manner made it stream inthe West. Six popes have assasinated their predecessors, and set themselves in their places. The pope says, Baronius, were notthen men but monsters. Have we not every where seen the name of orthodox given to the strongest religion, and that of heresy to the weakest ? Every where has the sacerdotal power been productive of fanaticism, and fanaticisin of murder. Every where have men suffered them. selvesto be burnt for theological absurdities, and given in this manner equal proofs of obstinacy and courage. But it is not in religious affairs only that men have every where shewn themselves to be the same : the same resemblance is to be found amongthem when some change in their habits and customs has been in agitation . The Mantchoux Tartars, who conquered the Chinese, would have cut off their hair ; but the latter broke their 256 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION II. their fetters, routed the terrible Mantchoux, and triumphed over their conquerors. The czar would shave the Russians, and they revolted. The king of England would make the Highlanders wear breeches, and they rose in arms. In the East and Westthe people are therefore every where the same, and every where the same causes have raised up and pulled down empires. At the time ofthe conquest of China, what was the prince that occupied the throne ? A weak wretch, an idol whom they durst not inform ofthe bad state of his affairs, and to whom incense was continually offered by his favourites, while he was solely surrounded by intriguing courtiers, without judgment, without knowledge, and without courage. Whocommanded the empires of the East and West, when Rome and Constantinople were taken and plundered by Alaric and Mahomet the second ? Princes of the same sort. Such perhaps was the state of France in the old age of Lewis XIV. when it was beaten on every side. It appears that men are every where the same from the degeneracyandignorance into which every people successively fall, according to the interest which their government has to degrade them. Ifa minister be weak, andfear that the people will opentheir eyes, and discoverhis incapacity, he keeps them fast closed, and the stupidity ofthe people is then not the effect of a physical, but of a moral cause. Does not a cause ofthe same kind animate with the samespirit those whom chance has brought up to the same employments ? What is in Spain, Germany, and even in England the first care of the man in place ? To enrich himself. The public welfare holds the second place only. If in the inferior offices of government almost all men have the same supercilious behaviour, and the same incapacity for adminis tration ; to what is it to be attributed ? To a defect in their organisation ? No : but to that of their instruction. All men practised inthe finesse of chicanery, and accustomed to judge only by pre- cedent 1 TREATISE ON MAN. 257 NOTES ON SECTION II. cedent, ascend with difficulty to the first principles oflaws ; they extend the memory, and contract the judgment. Inthe mind, as in the body, those parts only are strong that areexercised : the legs ofchairmen and the arms of labourers make this evident. If the muscles of reason in the men ofthe law are commonly weak, it is because they have little exercise. Facts without number provethat men are every where essentially the same; that the difference of climate has no sensible influence over their minds, and even very little over their tastes. TheIlli nois and the Icelander sits by his keg of brandy till he has drunk it out. In almost every country the women have the same desire to please as in France, the same taste for dress, the same care of their beauty, the same aversion to the country, and the same love for their capital, where, constantly surrounded bya number ofadmirers, they find themselves really of more importance. When we cast our eyes over the universe, and perceive the same ambition in all hearts, the same credulity in all minds, the same duplicity in all priests, the same coquetry in all women, and the same love ofriches in all ranks of people, how can we doubt but that men all resembling each other, differ only in the diversity of their instruction : that in every country their organs are nearly the same, and that they make nearly the same use of them ; and that in short the hands of the Indians and Chinese are, for that reason, equally adroit in the manufacture of stuffs as those of the Europeanз. Nothing proves therefore what is incessantly repeated, that it is to the difference of latitudes we ought to attribute the inequality ofminds. 38. (p. 227.) The frauds of the priests are every where the same : they are every where anxious to appropriate the wealth of the laity. The Romish church for this sells a licence for relations to marry it engages for so many masses, that is, for so inany sixpenny pieces, to deliver every year so many souls out ofpurgatory, and consequently to remit them so many sins. At the Pagoda of VOL. I. Tinagogo, 258 TREATISE ON MAN, NOTES ON SECTION II. Tinagogo, as at Rome, the priests for the samesums sell nearly the same hopes. " "At Tinagogo, (says the author of l'Histoire general des Voyages, tom. ix. p. 462.) on the third day after a sacrifice that is "madeto the new moon in December, they place in six long and handsome streets an infinity ofbalances suspended by brass " rods ; there cach devotee, to obtain the remission of his sins, gets into one ofthe scales of a balance, and, according to the " different nature of his crimes, puts into the other scale different "sorts ofprovisions or monies as a counterpoise . If his conscience "reproach him with gluttony and violation of a fast, the counter- "poise consists of honey, sugar, eggs, and butter. Ifhe has been "guilty of sensual pleasures, he weighs himself against cotton, "feathers, cloth, perfumes, and wine. IIas he been uncharitable ? " Ile weighs himself against pieces of money. Is he idle ? The "counterpoise is wood, rice, coal, cattle, and fruits. Is he, lastly, "proud? Heweighs himself against dry fish, brooms, cow-dung, "&c. Now all that serves for counterpoise to the sinners belongs "to the priests. All these sorts of donations for large piles, " Even the poor, who have nothing to give, are not exempt from these alms. They offer their hair : more than a hundred priests sit withscissars in their hands to cut it off. The hair is also form. " ed into great heaps : more than a thousand priests, ranged in "order, form of it cords, braids, rings, bracelets, &c. which the "devout souls purchase, and carry away as precious pledges of "the favour of heaven. To form an idea ofthesum to whichthe "alms to the pagoda of Tinagogo alone may amount, it will suf "fice, says Pinto, the author of this relation, to mention that the " ambassador having asked the priests at what sun they estimated " those alms, they answered without hesitation, that only for the "hairof the poor they got every year more than a hundred thou " sand pardins, that is, ninety thousand ducats of Portugal. " 39. (p. 227.) Some philosophers have defined man to be a monkey that laughs ; others, a rational animal ; and others, a credu + lous TREATISE ON MAN. 259 NOTES ON SECTION II. lous animal. This animal, they add, is mounted on two legs, has flexible fingers, and dexterous hands: he has many wants, and consequently great industry. Heis moreover as vain and proud as credulous. He thinks that the whole system ofnature was made for the earth, and the earth made for him. Is not this definition or description of man extremely just ? 40. (p. 228.) Every one asks, what is truth or evidence ? The root ofthe word indicates the idea we ought to annex to it. Evidence is deprived from videre, video, I see. What is to me an evident proposition ? It is a fact, of whose existence I can convince myself by the testimony of my senses, that never deceive me when I interrogate them with the neces saryprecaution and attention. What is an evident proposition to the generality of mankind ? It is, in like manner, a fact of which all may convince themselves bythe testimony of their senses, and whose existence they may moreover verify every instant. Such are these two facts, two and two makefour ; the whole is greater than a part. If I pretend, for example, that there is inthe North Seaa polypus named kraken, and that this polypus is as large as a small i slan this fact, though evident to me, if I have seen and examined it with all the attention necessary to convince me ofits reality, is not even probable to him that has not seen it. It is more rational in him to doubt any veracity, than to believe the existence ofso extraordinary an animal. But ifafter travellers I describe the true form of the buildings in Pekin, this description, evident to those who inhabit them, is only more or less probable to others ; sothatthe true is not always evident, and the probable is often true. But in what does evidence differ from probability ? I have already said, " Evidence is a fact "that is subject to our senses, and whose existence all men may "verify every instant. As to probability it is founded on conjec "tures, onthe testimony ofmen, on a hundred proofs of the same "kind. Evidence is a single point : there are no degrees of evi $ 2 " dence. 260 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION II. " dence. On the contrary, there are various degrees ofprobability, "according to the difference, 1. ofthe people who assert ; 2. ofthe fact asserted." Five mentell me they have seen a bear in the forests of Poland : this fact not being contradicted by anything, is to mevery probable. But if not five only, but five hundred men should assure me they met in the same forests ghosts, fairies, demons, their united evidence would not be to me at all probable ; for in cases ofthis nature, it is more common to meet with five hun dred romancers, than to see such prodigies. 41. (p. 228.) Let us place before our eyes all the facts from the comparison of which a new truth is to result ; and let us annex clear ideas to the words that are used in its demonstration. No thing can conceal it from our perception ; and this truth presently reduced to a simple fact, will be conceived by every attentive man almost as soon as proposed. To what then can we attribute the small progress made in the sciences by a young man ? Totwo causes : The one is, the want ofmethod in the instructors ; The other, the want of ardour and attention in the pupil. 42. (p. 230. ) The perpetual metamorphoses of genius into sci ence has often made me suspect that all things in nature, of themselves, prepare and lead to it. Perhaps the perfection of arts and sciences is less the work of genius than oftime and necessity. The uniform progress of the sciences in all countries confirms this opi nion. In fact, if in all nations, as Mr. Hume observes, it is not till after having wrote well in verse, that they come to write well in prose, so constant a progress of human reason appears to inethe effect of a general secret cause : it at least supposes an equal aptitude to understanding in all men of all ages and countries, 43. (p. 233.) Since menconverse and dispute with each other, they must feel themselves endowed with the faculty of perceiving the same truths, and consequently an equal aptitude to understanding. Without this conviction, whatcould be more absurd thanthe disputes of politicians and philosophers ? To what end should they talk TREATISE ON MAN. 261 NOTES ON SECTION II. talk when they cannot understand each other ? But since they do it is evident that the obscurity of a proposition never lies in the things, butin the words. So that on this subject one of the most illustrious English writers says, that if men were agreed about the signification of words, they would presently perceive the same truths, and all adopt the same opinions. See Hume on Liberty, and Necessity. Sect. 8. Thisfact, proved by experience, gives the solution to aproblem proposed five or six years since bythe Academy of Berlin, which was: Are the truths of metaphysics in general, and the first principles of natural theology and morality susceptible of the same evidence as the truths of geometry. Annex a clear ideato the word probity, and regard it with me as the practice of actions useful to our country. What is then to be done to determine demonstratively what actions are virtuous, and what vicious ? Name those that are useful or prejudicial to society. Now in general nothing is more easy. It is therefore certain, if the public good be the object of morality, that its precepts being founded on principles as certain as those of geometry, are like the propositions of that science, susceptible of the most rigorous demonstration. It is the same of metaphysics ; which is a real science, when distinguished from that of the schools, it is kept within the bounds as signed it by the definition of the illustrious Bacon, $ 3 SECTION 262 TREATISE ON MAN. General causes ofthe inequality of understanding. SECTION III. OF THE GENERAL CAUSES OF THE INEQUALITY OF UNDER STANDINGS. CHAP. I. ! THEY WHAT THESE CAUSES ARE ? are reducible to two. The one is the different series of events, circumstances, and situations that attend different men; (series to which I give the name of chance.) The other is the desire more or less earnest that they have to instruct themselves. Chance is not favourable to all, in precisely the same degree ; and yet it has more share than is imagined in the discoveries with which we honour genius. To know all the influence of chance let us consult experience, which will teach us that in the arts it is to chance we owe almost all our discoveries. In TREATISE ON MAN. 263 All new ideas are the gift of chance. In chemistry it is to the process in the grand work that the adepts* owemost oftheir secrets ; thesesecrets were not the objects of their search ; they ought not therefore to be regarded as the product of genius. If what I say of chemistry be applied to the different sorts of sciences, it will be found that in each of them chance has discovered all . Our memory is the chemist's crucible. From the mixture of certain matters thrown into a crucible, without design, sometimes result the most unexpected and astonishing effects ; and in like manner from the mixture of certain facts, without design, in our memory, result ideas the most original and sublime. All the sciences are equally subject to the dominion of chance. Its influence is the same over all, but does not discover itself in a manner equally striking. CHAP. II. EVERY NEW IDEA IS THE GIFT OF CHANCE. A TRUTH that is entirely unknown cannot be the object of my meditation ; it may be considered as dis-

Some adepts have searched for the philosopher's stone in

Genesis ; the ecclesiastics alone have founded it there. 8 4 covered 264 TREATISE ON MAN. All new ideas are the gift ofchance. covered when I get aglimpse of it. The first surmise is here the stroke of genius. But to what do I owe the first surmise ? Is it to myunderstanding ? No : it cannot employ itself in the search of a truth, of whose existence it has not even a conception. This surmise is, therefore, the effect of a word, of reading, of con . versation*, of an ancident ; in short, something to which I give the name of chance. Now if we are indebted to chance for our first surmises, and consequently for our discoveries, can we be assured that we do not also owe to it the means of extending and completing them ? The syren of Comus is the most proper subject to exemplify my ideas. Ifthis syren was for a long time shewn atthe fairt, without any one's guessing at its Itis tothe heat ofconversation anddispute that we frequently owethe happiest ideas. If those ideas which have once escaped the memory, are no more presented, but lost without recovery ; it is because wecan scarcely find ourselves twice in precisely the same concurrence of circumstances that gave them birth. Such ideas therefore ought to be regarded as the gifts of chance. + The fair of St. Germain at Paris ; it was likewise exhibited by Comus in London. The construction of this machine may be be seen in the third volume of my Rational Recreations. Whatever utility might have attended this performance, it would cer tainly never have entitled Comus to the appellation of a man of genius, as it is evidently taken from the Onomatomantica Magnetica, described by Kircher in his second book De Art, Magnet. Printed at Cologn in 1643. T. mechanism, TREATISE ON MAN.' 265 All new ideas are the gift of chance. mechanism, it was because chance did not place before the eyes of any one, the objects of comparison from which the discovery must have proceeded. It was more favourable to Comus. But why is he not in France reckoned among men of great genius ? Because his mechanism is more curious than useful. If it were attended with a very extensive advantage, no doubt but public gratitude would have placed Comus in the rank of the most illustrious men. He would have owed his discovery to chance, and the title of a man of genius to the importance of that discovery. Whatfollows from this instance? 1. That every new iden is a gift of chance. 2. If there be sure methods of forming men of learning and men of understanding, there are none for forming men of genius, and inventors. But whether we regard genius as a gift of nature or chance, is it not in either case the effect of a cause independent of ourselves ? In this case, why regard as a matter of so much importance the greater or less perfection of education ? The reason is plain. If genius depend on the greater or less perfection of the senses, as instruction cannot change the natural faculties of man, give hearing to the deaf, or speech to the dumb * , education is absolutely useless. On the the contrary, if genius be in part the gift of chance, men, after assuring themselves by repeated observa-

This is not universally true ; many dumb persons have been

aught to speak very intelligibly. T. tions 266 TREATISE ON MAN. Genius is in a great measure the effect of chance. tions of the means employed by chance in forming great talents, may, by making use of nearly the same means, produce nearly the same effects, and immensely increase those great talents. Suppose, to produce a man of genius, chance should be combined in him with the love of glory : suppose. again, that a man be born under a government that, far from honouring, degrades talents ; in this case it is evident that a man of genius must be entirely the work of chance. In fact this man must have either lived in the world, and owed his love of glory to the esteem paid to talents by the particular society with which he was connected*, or he must have lived in retirement, and owed the same love ofglory to the study of history, and the remembrance of the honours anciently paid to virtue and talents ; or lastly, to an ignorance of the contempt which his fellow-citizens have for each other. Suppose, on the contrary, that this man be born in an age and under a form of government where merit is honoured on this hypothesis it is evident that his love of glory, and his genius, will not be the work of chance, but of the very constitution of the state, and consequently of his education, on which the form of government has always the greatest influence. If we consider understanding and genius as less the effects of organisation than chance ( 1 ), it is certain, as. There are such societies among all nations, even the most stupid, if they be civilized. I have TREATISE ON MAN. 267 Ofthe limits to be setto the power of chance. I have already said, that by observing the means made use of by chance in forming great men, we might, according to this observation, form a plan of education that would, by increasing their number in a nation, vastly retrench the power ofthis same chance, and diminish the immense share it now has in our instruction. Yet if it be always to unforeseen causes or incidents that we owe the first surmise, and consequently the discovery of every other new idea, chance, I agree, will still constantly preserve a certain influence over our minds but this influence has also its bounds. CHAP. III. OF THE LIMITS TO BE SET TO THE POWER OF CHANCE. Ir almost all objects, considered with attention, did not contain the seed of some discovery : if chance did not distribute its gifts in a manner nearly equal, and did not offer to all, objects of comparison, whence newand great ideas may arise, the understanding would be almost entirely the gift of chance. It would be to our education that we should owe our knowledge, and to chance that we should owe our understanding, and each individual would have moreor 268 TREATISE ON MAN.

Operation ofthe passions in regard to the understanding. or less, according as chance had been more or less favourable to him. Now what does experience teach us concerning this matter ? That the inequality of understandings is less the effect of the unequal distribution of the gifts of chance, than the indifference with which we receive them. The inequality of understandings ought therefore to be regarded principally as the effect of the different degree of attention, exerted in observing the resemblances and differences, the agreements and disagreements between different objects. Nowthis inequality of attention is the necessary consequence of the unequal force of our passions. It There is no man animated with an ardent desire of glory that does not always distinguish himself, more or less, in the art or science which he cultivates. is true, that between two men equally desirous of be coming illustrious, it is chance that, by presenting to one of them objects of comparison from which result the most fruitful ideas and the most important discoveries, determines his superiority. Chance, by the influence which it always has over the choice of objects that offer themselves to us, will therefore always preserve some influence overour understandings. When we confine its power within those narrow limits, we do all that is possible. To whatever degree of perfection the science of education may be carried, we must never expect to makemen ofgenius of all the individuals of a nation ; all it can do is to increase them, and to make TREATISE ON MAN. 269 Application necessary to the development ofgenius. make the greatest part of them men of knowledge and discernment, and this is all that is within its power. It is sufficient to rouse the attention of the people, and encourage them to cultivate a science whose perfection will procure in general so much happiness to humanity, and in particular so many advantages to the nations by whom it is cultivated. Apeople to whom public education should give genius to a certain number of citizens, and discernment to almost all, would be without doubt the first people in the universe. The only and sure method to produce this effect is early to habituate children to the fatigue of attention. The seeds of discoveries presented to us by chance will remain barren, if attention do not render them fruitful. The scarcity of attention is the cause of that of genius. But what must be done to force men to application ? Inspire them with the passions of emulation, glory, and the love of truth. It is the unequal force of those passions that we ought to regard as the cause ofthe great inequality in the understandings of men. CHAP. 270 TREATISE ON MAN. Indifference to glory stifles genius. CHAP. IV. OF THE SECOND CAUSE OF THE INEQUALITY OF UNDERSTANDINGS. ALMOST all men are without passions, without love of glory(2): and so far from exciting in themthis de sire, most governments, by a mean and false policy (3) endeavour on the contrary to extinguish it ; there fore, indifferent to glory, the people make little account of public esteem, and little efforts to deserve it. I see among the greatest part of mankind none but greedy commercial men. If they fit out a ship, it is not withthe hope to give their name to some new country. Solely sensible to the love of gain, all they fear is lest their vessel should depart from the frequented tracks ; now those tracks lead not to discoveries. If the ship by chance, or tempest, be carried to an unknown land, the master compelled to stop there, makes no inquiry either concerning the country or the inha bitants ; he takes in water, sets sail, and hurries to another coast, to exchange his merchandize. Returned at last to his own port, he unloads, fills the warehouses of his owners with commodities, but brings back no discoveries. There TREATISE ON MAN. 271 Science compared to a forest. There are but few such men as Columbus . They who now launch forth on the vast ocean are solely anxious for honours, employments, wealth, and power few embark to make new discoveries in science. How then can we wonder that such discoveries are rare ? Truths are sown by the hand of Heaven, here and there, in an obscure and pathless forest ; a road bounds that forest ; it is frequented by an infinite multitude of travellers, among whom are some curious men, whom even the thickness and obscurity of the wood inspires with a desire to penetrate it. They enter, but embarrassed by the trees, and torn by the briars, they are disgusted with the entrance, abandon the enterprise, and regain the beaten path. Others, but their number is small, animated, not by a vague curiosity, but an ardent and constant desire of glory, pierce into the thickest part of the forest, pass the dangerous bogs, nor cease their course till chance presents them with the discovery of some truth, more or less important. That discovery made, they turn their steps, and make a path from that truth to the high road, which every traveller then perceives as he passes by, because all

It wouldhave been much for the honour of Spain, and much

forthe interest of humanity, if such a man as Columbus had never existed. What did she gain by his discovery ? Wealth : and what did she lose? Every title to justice and humanity ; and entailed a horrid, detestable, indelible disgrace on the name ofSpaniard and Christian. T. that 272 TREATISE ON MAN, ! ". Thedesire ofglory synonimous with the desire of pleasure. that have eyes may see it ; and nothing is wanting to the discovery but an earnest desire to seek, and the patience necessary to find it. Does a man, anxious for a great name, set himself. in the pursuit of an important truth ? He should arm himself with the patience of a hunter. It is the same with the philosopher as with the Indian : the least movement of the latter separates him from his game, and the least inattention of the former carries him away from the truth . Now nothing is more painful than to keep the body or the mind for a long time in the same immobility or attention : it is the consequence of a strong passion. In the Indian it is the necessity of eating, in the philosopher the desire of glory, that produces this effect. But what is this desire of glory ? Even the desire of pleasure. So that in every country where glory ceases to be the representative of pleasure, the citizen is indifferent to glory, and the country is sterile in men of genius and discoveries. There is no nation, however, that does not from time to time produce illustrious men ; because there is none where some individual is not to be found, who, struck, as I have said, with the eulogies lavished in history on talents, does not desire to merit the same applause, and does not for that purpose go in quest ofsome new truth. If he obtain the object ofhis inquiry, and accomplish his discovery, he is elated with the acquisition, and carries it about his country in triumph. But what is his surprise, when, from the indifference TREATISE ON MAN. 273 Understanding the produce ofthe passions. indifference with which mankind receive it, he finds at length the little consequence with which they regard it. Then convinced, that in exchange for the labour and anxiety which the search of truth demands, he shall receive but little renown, and much persecution, his courage fails ; he becomes disgusted, no longer pursues new discoveries, but delivers himself up to indolence, and stops short in the midst of his career. Our attention is fugitive : strong passions are necessary to keep it fixed. A man for amusement will calculate a page of figures, but he will not calculate a volume, unless urged to it by the powerful incentive of glory or wealth. Those are the passions which set in action that equal aptitude which men have to understanding without them that aptitude is no more than alifeless power. What, once more, is the understanding or judg ment ? The knowledge of the true relations that a certain number of objects have to each other, and to ourselves. To what do we owe this knowledge ? To meditation and the comparison of objects. But what does this comparison suppose ? An interest, more or less urgent, to compare them. The understanding is therefore the produce of that interest, and not of the greater or less perfection ofthe senses. But, it will be said, if the strength of our constitution determines that of our desires ; if man owes his genius to his passions, and his passions to his temper YOL. I. T ament, 274 TREATISE ON MAN. New objection to be discussed. ament, onthis supposition, genius will still be the effect of organization, and consequently the gift of nature. It is to the discussion ofthis point that this important question is now reduced : it is on the examination of this fact that its complete solution depends. NOTES. NOTES. 1. (page 266. ) IHAVE known the stupidity and wickedness of theologians : every thing is to be feared from them. I am therefore forced to renew, from time to time, the same profession of faith, and to repeat that I do not consider chance as a being ; that I do not make a God of it ; and that by this word I only mean, a series of effects, of which we do not perceive the causes. It is in this sense that they say of chance, it determines the dice ; yet all the world knows, that the manner of shaking the box and throwing the dice is the cause that 3 turns up and not 6. 2. (p. 270.) Let thoughtless men declaim incessantly against the passions. We learn however from experience that there is no great artist, general, minister, poet or philosopher without them. Philosophy, as the etyinology of the word proves, consists in the love and search after wisdom. Now all love is a passion it is therefore the passions that supported in their labours, Newton, Locke, Bayle, &c. Their discoveries were the price of their meditations. These discoveries suppose a lively, constant, assiduous pursuit ofthe truth, and that pursuit a passion. He is not a philosopher who, indifferent to truth or falsehood, delivers himself up to that apathy, to that pretended philosophical repose, which keeps the mind in a state of insensibility, and retards its progress toward the truth. That this state is easy, free from envy and the fury of bigots, and consequently that the slothful may call himself prudent, I allow, but not that he call himself a philosopher. Whatcompany is most dangerous to youth ? That of those prudent and discreet men ; and who are the more sure to stifle in youth every kind of emulation, as they point out to him in ignorance a security from persecution, and consequently the happiness ofinaction. T2 Among 276 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION III. Amongthe apostles of idleness there are sometimes men ofgreat understanding ; but these are they who owetheir indolence to the disgusts and chagrin met with in their search after truth. The majority ofthe remainder are men ofmediocrity, who would have all menbethe same. It is envy that makes them preach up idleness. What is to be done to escape the seduction of their reasoning ? Suspect its sincerity. Remember that an interest, either mean or noble, always makes men argue : that all superiority of undertanding is disgusting to him who disdains glory, and wraps himself up in what is called a philosophical indolence ; and that such aman has always an interest in stifling in the hearts of others an emulation that would give himtoo manysuperiors. 3. (p. 270.) The aim of the greatest part of despotic princes is to reign over slaves, and to change each man into an automaton. These despots, seduced by the interest of the present moment, forget that the imbecillity of the subjects announces the fall of monarchs ; that it is destructive to their empire, and in short, that it is on the whole more easy to govern an enlightened people, than such as are stupid. SEC- TREATISE ON MAN. 277 Man is born without passions. SECTION IV. MEN COMMONLY WELL ORGANIZED ARE ALL SUSCEPTIBLE OF THE SAME degree of PASSION : THE INEQUALITY OF THEIR CAPACITIES IS ALWAYS THE effect of the differenCE OF SITUATION IN WHICH CHANCE HAS PLACED THEM. THE ORIGINAL CHaracter of EACH MAN, (AS PASCAL HAS ORSERVED), IS PRODUCE OF HIS FIRST HABITS. NOTHING BUT THE CHAP. I. OF THE LITTLE INFLUENCE WHICH ORGANISATION AND TEMPERAMENT HAVE ON THE PASSIONS AND CHARACTERS OF MEN. ATthe moment the child is delivered from the womb of his mother, and opens the gates of life, he enters it without ideas and without passions. The only want he feels is that of hunger. It is not therefore in the cradle that we receive the passions of pride, avarice, ambition, the desire of esteem and of glory. Those T3 factitious 278 TREATISE ON MAN. Manis consequently born without character. factitious passions*, generated in the midst of towns and cities, suppose conventions and laws already established among men, and consequently their union in society. Such passions would be therefore unknown to him that was borne by atempest at the moment ofhis birth to a desert coast, and like Romulus nourished by a wolf; and to him whom some fairy stole in the night from his cradle, and placed in one of those solitary enchanted castles where formerly dwelt so many knights and princesses. Now if we are born without passions, we are also born without character . The love of glory produced in us, is an acquisition, and consequently the effect of instruction. But does not nature endow us, in the earliest infancy, with the sort of organization proper to form in us such or such a character ? On what is this conjecture founded ? Has it been remarked that a certain disposition in the nerves, the fluids, or muscles, constantly produces the same manner ofthinking; that nature retrenches certain fibres of the brain

In Europe to the number of factitious passions we may add

Jealousy. Men are there jealous because they are vain. Vanity makes a part of almost all the principal European amours ; it is not so in Asia ; jealousy is there the mere effect of corporeal pleasures. It is known by experience, that the more the desires ofthe sultanas are restrained, the more ardent they become, and the more pleasure they give and receive. Jealousy, the offspring of the luxury of sultans and visirs, makes them build seraglios, and confine their women. from TREATISE ON MAN. 279 Self-love the only sentiment not acquired by education. from one, to give them to another ; and consequently always inspires the latter with a lively desire of glory ? On the supposition that characters are the effect of organisation, what can education do ? Can the moral change the corporeal disposition ? Can the most just maxim give hearing to the dumb ? Can the most sagacious lessons of a preceptor level the back of him that is crooked, or straighten the leg of the cripple, or encrease the stature of a pigmy ? What nature has done, she alone can undo. The only sentiment that is engraved in our hearts in infancy is the love of ourselves this love, founded on corporeal sensibility, is common to all men ; therefore however different their education may be, this sentiment is always the same in them ; so that in all countries, and at all times, men have loved, do love, and will love themselves in prefe rence to all others. If a man be variable in all other sentiments, it is because all others are the effect of moral causes. Now ifthese causes be variable, their effects must be so likewise. To establish this truth by experience at large, I shall first consult the history of nations. T4 CHAP. 280 TREATISE ON MAN. Changes in the characters of nations and their causes. CHAP. II. OF THE ALTERATIONS THAT HAVE HAPPENED IN THE CHARACTERS OF NATIONS AND OF THE CAUSES BY WHICH THEY WERE PRODUCED. EACH nation has its particular manner of seeing and feeling, whichforms its character : and in every nation its character either changes on a sudden, or alters by degrees, according to the sudden or insensible alterations inthe form of its government, and consequently of its public education*. That of the French, which has been for a long time regarded as gay, was not always so. The emperor Julian says of the Parisians, " I love them, because "their character, like mine, is austere and serious ( 1 )," The characters of nations therefore change : but at what period is the alteration most perceptible ? At the moment of revolution, when a people pass on a sudden from liberty to slavery. Then ,from bold and haughtytheybecomeweak and pusillanimous : they dare not look at the man in office : they are inthralled, and it is of little consequence by whom they are inthralled. This dejected people say, like the ass in the fable,

The form of governmentunder which we live always makes

a part ofour education. whoever TREATISE ON MAN. 281 Pernicious effects of slavery on the mind. whoever be my master, I cannot carry a heavier load. As zealous as a free citizen is for the glory of his nation, so indifferent is a slave to the public welfare. His heart, deprived of activity and energy, is without virtue, without spirit, and without talents ; the faculties of his soul are stupified ; he becomes indifferent to the arts, commerce, agriculture, &c. It is not for servile hands, say the English, to till and fertilise the land. Simonides entered the empire of a despotic sovereign, and found there no traces of men. A free people are courageous, open, humane, and loyal (2). A nation of slaves are base, perfidious, malicious, and barbarous they push their credulity to the greatest excess. If the severe officer has all to fear from the resentment of the injured soldier on the day ofbattle, that of sedition is in like manner for the slave oppressed, the long expected day of vengeance ; and he is the more enraged in proportion as fear has held his furythe longer restrained*. What a striking picture of a sudden change in the character of a nation does the Roman history present us ! What people, before the elevation of the Cæsars, displayed moreforce, more virtue, more love ofliberty, and horror of slavery ? And what people, when the throne of the Cæsars was established, shewed more

The desposition of Nabob-Jaffier-Ali-Kan, related in theLeyden Gazette of the 23d of June, 1761, is a proof of this.

weakness 282 TREATISE ON MAN. Changes in the national character ofthe Romans and English. weakness and depravity ? (3). Their baseness disgusted Tiberius himself. Indifferent to liberty, when Trajan offered they refused it : they disdained that liberty which their ancestors had purchased with so much blood. All things were then changed in Rome ; and that determined and grave character which distinguished its first inhabitants, was succeeded by that light and frivolous disposition with which Juvenal reproaches them in his tenth satire. Let us exemplify this matter by a more recent change. Compare the English of the present day with those under Henry VII . Edward VI. Mary and Elizabeth this people now so humane, indulgent, learned, free, and industrious, such lovers of the arts and of philosophy, were then nothing more than a nation of slaves, inhuman and superstitious ; without arts and without industry. - When a prince usurps over his people a boundless authority, he is sure to change their character, to enervate their souls ; to render them timid and base (4). From that moment, indifferent to glory, his subjects lose that character of boldness and constancy proper to support all labours and brave all dangers : the weight of arbitrary power destroys the spring of their emulation. Does a prince, impatient of contradiction (5), give the nameof factious to the man of veracity ? He substitutes in his nation the character offalsehood for that of TREATISE ON MAN, 283 Arbitrary power productive ofcalamities. offrankness. If in those critical moments the prince, giving himself up to flatterers , find that he is surrounded by men void of all merit, whom should he blame ? Himself: for it is he that has made them such. Who could believe, when he considers the evils of servitude, that there were still princes mean enough to wish to reign over slaves ; and stupid enough to be ignorant of the fatal changes that despotism produces in the character of their subjects ? What is arbitrary power? The seed of calamities, whichsown inthe bosom of a state springs up to produce the fruit of misery and devastation. Let us hear the king of Prusia : Nothing is better, said he in a discourse address to the academy of Berlin, than an arbitrary government, under princes just, humane, virtuous : nothing worse, under the common race of kings. Now how many kings are there ofthe latter sort ! and how many such as Titus, Trajan, and Antoninus? Theseare the thoughts of a great man. What elevation of mind, what knowledge does not such a declaration suppose in a monarch ? What in fact does a despotic power announce ? Often ruin to the despot, and always to his posterity (6). The founder of such a power, establishes his kingdom on a sandy foundation. It is only a transient, ill-judged notion of royalty, that is, of pride, idleness, or some similar passion, which prefers the exercise of an unjust and cruel despotism over wretched slaves, to that of a legitimate and friendly power (7), over a free and happy people. Arbitrary 5 power 284 TREATISE ON MAN. The characters of nations change with their governments. power is a thoughtless child, who continually sacrifices the future to the present. The most formidable enemy of the public welfare, is not riot or sedition, but despotism (8) : it changes the character of a nation, and always for the worse : it produces nothing but vices. Whatever might be the power of an Indian sultan, he could never form magnanimous subjects ; he would never find among his slaves the virtues of free men. Chemistry can extract no more gold from a mixed body than it contains ; and the most arbitrary power can draw nothing from a slave but his inherent baseness. Experience then proves that the character and spirit. ofa people change with the form of government ; and that a different government gives by-turns, to the same nation, a character noble or base, firm or fickle, courageous or cowardly. Men therefore are endowed at their birth, either with no disposition, or with dispo sitions to all vices and all virtues ; they are therefore nothingmore than the produce of their education. If the Persian have no idea ofliberty, and the savage no idea of servitude, it is the effect of their different instruction. Why, saystrangers, do we perceive at once, in all the French, the same spirit, and the same character, like the same physiognomy in all Negroes ? Because the French do not judge or think for themselves (9), but after the people in power. Their manner ofjudg ing for this reason must be perfectly uniform. It is with TREATISE ON MAN. 285 Of alterations in the characters of individuals. with Frenchmen as with their wives : when they paint themselves, and go to a public show, they all seem of the same complexion. I know that with attention we can always discover between the characters and understandings of individuals ; but to do this requires time. The ignorance of the French, the iniquity of their police, and the influence of their clergy, render them in general more like each other than men ofother countries. Now ifsuch be the influence of the form of government on the manners and character ofa people, what alteration in the ideas and characters of indivi duals must not be produced by the alterations that happen in their fortune and situation ! CHAP. III. OF THE ALTERATIONS THAT HAPPEN IN THE CHARACTERS OF INDIVIDUALS. THAT which occurs in a great and striking manner in nations, occurs on a small scale, and in a manner less sensible, in individuals. change in their situation produces 9 Almost every one in their characters* . 286 TREATISE ON MAN. Change of character effected by despotism. characters . A man is severe, peevish, imperious ; menaces and torments his slaves, his children and domestics. He loses himself by chance in a forest, and when night comes on, retires to a cavern, where he perceives a lion couching. Does this man preserve his morose and quarrelsome temper? No: he creeps with the utmost caution into a corner of the den, lest by the smallest noise he sho: ld rouse the fury of the beast. From the den ofthe natural lion let us transport him to the cavern of a moral lion : let us place him in the service of a cruel and despotic tyrant : mild and moderate in the presence of his master, perhaps this man will become the most mean and cringing of all his slaves. But it will be said, his character is constrained, not altered : it is a tree that is bent by force, and whose natural elasticity will soon restore it to its former figure. But can it be imagined, that after a tree has been for some years bent into a particular figure, it will ever return to its original form ? Whoever says that men do not easily change their characters by con .

Manners with fortunes, humours turn with climes,

Tenets with books, and principles with times. Ask men's opinions : Scoto now shall tell How trade increases, and the world goes well ; Strike off his pension, by the setting sun, And Britain, ifnot Europe, is undone. POPE. T. straint TREATISE ON MAN. 287 • The characters of individuals altert with their situation. straint, only says that habits long established are not to be destroyed in an instant. The man of ill humour preserves his character, because he has always some inferior on whomhe can exercise his ill nature. Butlet him be kept a long time in the presence of a lion or a tyrant, and there is no `doubt but a continued restraint, transformed into a habit, will soften his character. In general, as long as we are young enough to contract new habits, the only incurable faults, and vices, are those that we cannot correct without employing means of which morals, laws, or customs do not allow the practice. There is nothing impossible to education : it makes the bear dance. If we reflect on this subject, we perceive that our first nature, as Pascal and experience prove, is nothing else than our first habit*. Man is born without ideas and without passions, but he is born an imitator and docile to example ; consequently it is to instruction he owes his habits and his character. Now I ask, why habits contracted during a certain time, cannot at length be effaced by contrary habits. Howmany people do we see change their character with their rank, according to the different place they occupy at court, and in the ministry ; in short, according to the change that happens in their

Ifthe author of Emilius has denied this maxim, it is because

he did not rightly comprehend the sense of Pascal. situation 288 TREATISE ON MAN. Ofself-love. situation. Why does the robber, when transported from England to America, frequently become honest ? Because he becomes a man of property, and has land to cultivate ; in short, because his situation is changed. The officer in the camp is void of compassion ; accustomed to the sight of blood, he beholds it unmoved. But when he returns to London, Paris, or Berlin, he returns to the feelings of humanity. Why should we regard each character as the effect of a particular organization, when we cannot determine what that organization is ? Why search in occult qualities for the cause of a moral phenomenon, which the developement of the passion of self-love so clearly and readily explains ? CHAP. IV. OF SELF- LOVE. MAN is sensible of bodily pleasure and pain, conse quently he flies from the one, and pursues the other ; and it is to this constant pursuit and flight that is given the name of self-love. This sentiment, the inmediate effect of corporeal sensibility, and consequently common to all , is inseparable from man. As a proof I offer its permanence, impossibility of destruction, or even alteration. Of all

TREATISE ON MAN. 289 Self-love occasions the difference in the characters of men. all our sentiments it is the only one that has these pro™ perties ; it is to this we owe all our desires, and all our passions ; which are nothing more in us than the application of self-love to particular objects*. It is therefore to this sentiment, variously modified according to the education we receive, the government under which we live, and the different situations in which we are placed, that we are to attribute the amazing difference in the passions and characters of men. Self love makes us totally what we are. Why are we so covetous of honours and dignities ? Because we love ourselves, and desire our own happiness, and consequently the power of procuring it . The love of power, and the means of procuring it, are therefore necessarily connected in man with the love of himself (10). Every one would command, because every one would increase his felicity, and engage all his fellowcitizens to promote it. Nowamong all the methods to engage them, the most certain is power or force. The love of power, founded on that of happiness, is there-

Modes of self-lovethe passions we may call ;

'Tis real good, or seeming, moves them all ; But since not ev'ry good we can divide, And reason bids us for our own provide ; Passions, tho' selfish, if their means be fair, List under reason, and deserve her care.¸ VOL. I. POPE. fore 290 TREATISE ON MAN. Ofthe lowe of riches and glory. fore the common object of all our desires ( 11). Thus riches, honour, glory, envy, importance, justice, virtue, intolerance, in a word, all the factitious passions are nothing but the love of power, disguised under those different names.--- Power is the only object ofman's pursuit. To prove this, I shall shew that all the passions above recited are properly nothing more than, the love of power; and I conclude from this love being commonto all, that all are susceptible of the desire of esteem and glory, and consequently of the sort of passion proper to put in action the equal aptitude that men, organized in the common manner, have to understanding. CHAP. V. OF THE LOVE OF RICHES AND GLORY. AT the head of the cardinal virtues is placed force or power: it is the virtue most, and perhaps the only one really esteemed. The portion of weakness is contempt. Whence arises our disdain of the Oriental nations,

All our passions are factitious, except corporeal wants, pains,

and pleasures. some TREATISE ON MAN. 291 The love of power common to all men. some of whom are equal to us in industry, as is apparent from the fabric of their stuffs ; and several of whom surpass us perhaps in the social virtues ? Do we despise them merely for the meanness with which they bearthe cruel and shameful yoke of tyrannical power ? Such a contempt would be just : but no; we despise them as enervated and not practised in arms. It is then force that we respect ( 19), and weakness that we despise. The love of power however is common to all * ; all desire it ; but all do not, like Cæsar and Cromwell, aspire to supreme power : few men can conceive the design, and still fewer are able to execute it. The sort of power generally desired is that easily attained. Every one may become rich, and every one desires wealth for by this we can gratify all our appetites, succour the afflicted, and oblige, consequently command, a boundless number of individuals+. Glory, like riches, procures power ; and we in like

The manwithout desire, who thinks himself perfectly happy,

must, be, without doubt, insensible to the love ofpower. Are there men ofthis sort? Yes: but their number is too small to deserve regard. What nature wants, commodious goldbestows, 'Tis thus we eat the bread another sows. Useful, I grant, it serves what life requires, But dreadful too, the dark assassin hires : Trade it may help, society extend; Butlures the pirate, and corrupts the friend. U 2 manner 292 TREATISE ON MAN. Ofglory and the means of acquiring it. manner pursue it. Glory is acquired either by arms or eloquence. We know in what esteem eloquence was held at Rome and in Greece ; it there conducted men to grandeur and power. Magna vis & magnum nomen, says Cicero, sunt unum et idem. Among those people a great name gave great power. The renowned orator commanded a number of clients. Now in every republic, whoever is followed by a croud of clients is always a powerful citizen. The Hercules of the Gauls, from whose mouth issued an infinite quantity ofgold threads, was the emblem ofthe moral force of eloquence. But why is that eloquence, formerly so respected, no longer honoured and cultivated, except in England ? Because it is no where else the road to honours. The love of glory, of esteem, and importance is therefore properly nothing more than a disguised love of power. Glory is said to be the mistress of almost all great men they pursue her through all dangers to obtain her they bravethe labours of war, the fatigue of study, and the resentment of a thousand rivals ( 13). That is, in countries where glory gives power ; where it is nothing more than an empty title, where merit has no real importance, the citizen, indifferent about public fame, will make few efforts to obtain it. Why is glory It raises armies in a nation's aid ; But bribes a senate, and the land's betray'd. POPE. regarded TREATISE ON MAN. 293 OfEnvy. regarded as a plant of a republican soil, that degenerating in a despotic country, never thrives with remarkable vigour ? Because in glory we in reality seek nothing but power, and under an arbitrary government all power vanishes before that of the despot. The man who there passes the night under arms, orin his study, thinks that he is animated by a desire of public esteem ; but he deceives himself. Esteem is only the name he gives to the object of his pursuit : power is the thing itself. Hence I observe, that the splendor and power with which glory is sometimes surrounded, and which render it 30 dear to us, must also frequently render us odious to our fellow-citizens, and hence proceeds envy. CHAP. VI. OF ENVY. MERIT, says Pope, produces envy, as the body produces the shadow. Envy infers merit as smoke does fire. Envy, exasperated by merit, respects no place or dignity, not even the throne : it equally pursues a Voltaire, a Catinat, and a Frederic. If we were frequently to recollect how far its fury extends, perhaps, terrified bythe persecutions that await a man of great US talents, 294 TREATISE ON MAN. Envy invariably attends genius. talents, we should not have courage to acquire them. The man of genius who says to himself, while seated by his lamp, this night my work will be finished : tomorrow will be the day of recompence : to-morrowthe grateful public shall acknowledge the obligation it owes me: to-morrow I shall obtain the crown of immortality. This man forgets the power ofenvy. Tomorrow arrives: the work is published : it is a finished work: the public however does not acknowledge its obligation. Envy drives far from the author the sweet perfume ofeulogy *, and in its stead substitutes the stench ofamalignant criticism and injurious calumny. The sun ofglory scarcely ever shines but on the tomb of a great man. He that deserves esteem seldom enjoys it ; andhe that plants the laurel rarely reposes under its shadowt.

Of all the passions envy is the most detestable ; the portrait

drawn ofit, by I know not what poet, is horrible. Compassion, says he, is softened by the misfortunes of men; envy rejoices in their tortures. There is no passion that does not propose some pleasure for its object ; the sole object of envy is the miseries of others. Merit contemns the prosperity of the wicked and the stupid ; envy, that of the good and learned. Love and wrath, lighted in the heart, there burn for an hour, a day, a year ; envy gnaws it to the last moment of existence. Under the banner of envy march hatred, calumny, cabal, and treachery. Envy is every where attended by meagre famine ; the venom of pestilence, and the devastation of war. + Ifgreat writers become the preceptors of mankind after their 5 But TREATISE ON MAN, 295 Few minds are untained with envy. But does envy dwell in every heart ? There is none that is not at least penetrated by it. How many great menare there that cannot suffer competitors, that will not admit a partition of esteem with any of their brethren ; and forget, that at the banquet of glory, every one should have, if I may so say, his portion ! Even the noblest souls sometimes lend an ear to envy; they resist its aspersions, but not without difficulty. Nature has made man envious : to desire an alteration in this respect, is to desire he would cease to love himself, that is, to desire an impossibility. Let notthe legislature therefore attempt to silence jea. lousy, but to render its rage impotent, and establish, as in England, laws proper to protect merit against the resentinent ofa minister, and the fanaticism of a priest. This is all that sagacity can do in favour of talents. To pretend to more, and flatter ourselves with annihilating envy, is folly. All ages have declaimed against this vice what have their declamations produced ? Nothing. Envy still exists, and has lost nothing of its force, because nothing can change the nature of man. There is a time however when envy is not felt ; and that time is in early youth. Do we propose to surpass, or at least to equal the merit of men already honoured with public applause ; do we aspire to a participation of the applause that is decreed them ? Then, full of respect, their presence excites our emulation ; we extol death, it must be confessed, that while they live, the preceptors are sufficiently chastised by their pupils. U4 them 296 TREATISE ON MAN. Excessive humility required of celebrated men. them with transport ; because we have an interest in praising them, in habituating the public to respect in them ourfuture talents. Praise is therefore a tribute that youth freely pays to merit, and that is constantly refused it by maturer age. At thirty years the emulation of twenty is changed into envy. When we lose the hope of equalling those we admire, admiration gives place to hatred. The resource of pride is the contempt of talents. The desire of the man of mediocrity is to have no superiors. How many envious men repeat softly after a comic writer, Je t'aime d'autant plus que je t'estime moins. The less I esteem thee the more I love thee. If we cannot stifle the reputation of a celebrated man, we at last expect from him the most submissive modesty. The envious have reproached M. Diderot even with the first words of his Interpretation of Nature : Young man, take this and read. People were not formerly so difficult : the counsellor Dumoulin said of himself; I that have no equal, and am superior to all the world. The many humiliating circumstances now required of authors suppose a remarkable increase of pride in readers ; such a pride declares a hatred of merit ; and that hatred is natural. In fact, if anxious for happiness men court power, and consequently the glory and importance it procures, they must detest what in a man too illustrious deprives them of it. Why do they circulate so many bad reports of men of genius ? Because TREATISE ON MAN. 297 Universality of envy. Because they find themselves inwardly constrained to think well ofthem. When they draw for a twelfthcake, there is a part set aside for God ; and when they examine the merit of a man of eminence, they always find some defect : that is the portion of envy.. When a man cannot raise himself above the rank of his fellow-citizens, he endeavours to bring them downtohim. He whocannot be their superior, would at least be their equal* ( 14.) Such is man, and such he always will be.. Amongvirtuous characters, and the most abovegross envy, perhaps there is no one not stained with a slight blemish of it. Who in fact can boast ofhaving always heartily commended genius ; of having never dissembled his esteem ; of having never maintained a culpable silence, and of having never added to the praises given to talents, one of those perfidous buts, which jealousy so frequently extorts from us.+

I have no title to aspire,

Yet when yousink I seem the higher: In Pope I cannot read a line, But with a sighI wishit mine ; Whenhe can in one couplet fix More sense than I can do in six, It gives me such a jealous fit, I cry, pox take him and his wit ! T.SWIFT. + How many men extol the ancients above the moderns, merelythat they may not be forced to acknowledge theyhave among themselves such men as Locke, Seneca, Virgil, &c. Every 298 TREATISE ON MAN. Envy of literary characters. Every great talent is in general an object of hatred, and hence that eagerness with which we purchase those pamphlets that lash them so furiously. Why else do we read them? It cannot be a desire to improve our taste (15); for those writers do not pretend to the abilities ofa Longinus or Despreaux ; not even to enlighten the public. Let him who cannot compose a good work · never pretend to amuse himself with criticising those of others. The impotency of producing any thing good makes a critic ; his profession is humble. If such writers as Desfontaine please, it is as comforters of the stupid. Thebitterness of satire is the proof of genius. To blame with rancour is the praise of envy. It is the first eulogy an author receives, and the only one he can draw from his rivals. Men applaud with regret it is themselves only they would find praiseworthy. There is scarcely any man who cannot persuade himself of his own merit ; has he common sense ? he prefers it to genius : has he some petty virtues ? he gives them the preference to great talents. We despise all that is not self. There is but one man who can believe himself free from envy ; and it is he that has never examined his own heart. The protectors and panegyrists of genius are youth ( 16), and some few learned and virtuous men. But their impotent protection (17) can give a writer neither credit nor consideration. Yet, what is the common nourishment TREATISE ON MAN. 299 Genius of merit stiflèd by envy. nourishment of talents and virtue ? Consideration and praise. Deprived of this subsistence, they both languish and die : the activity and energy ofthe soul is extinguished ; as the flame expires that has nothing to nourish it. In almost all governments, talents, like the prisoners ofthe Romans, condemned and given up to wild beasts, become their prey. Is genius despised at court? Envy does the rest ( 18) it destroys the very seed of genius. When merit is continually obliged to struggle with envy, it becomes fatigued, and quits the ground, if ifthere be no prize ordained for the conqueror. We love neither study nor glory for themselves ; but for the pleasures, esteem, and power they procure. Why? Because in general, we are less desirous of being estimable than esteemed. Most writers, anxious only for the glory of the present moment ( 19), and to flatter the taste of their age and nation (20), present them with nothing but ideas adapted to the present day, and such as are agreeable to men in power, from whom they can expect money and consideration, together with an ephemeral success. There are men, however, who disdain the glory of a moment ; who, transporting their imaginations into futurity, and enjoying in advance the eulogies and respect of posterity, fear to survive their reputation (21 ). This motive alone makes them sacrifice the glory and consideration ofthe present moment, to the hope of, sometimes 300 TREATISE ON MAN. The love of glory and truth subordinate to the love of happiness. sometimes a distant, but greater glory and importance. These men are rare : they desire the applause of none butworthy citizens. What were the censures of the Sorbonne to Marmontel (22) ? He would have blushed at their applause. A garland woven by stupidity cannot sit easy on the head ofgenius. It is like the new ornament with which they have crowned the square house in Languedoc. The traveller, as he passes, says, " Behold the hat of Harlequin on the head ofCaesar." 66 Let it not be imagined, however that the man most. solicitous for a durable reputation, loves glory and truth forthemselves. If such be the nature of each individual, that he is necessitated to love himself above all things, the love of truth must be in himalways subordinate to the love of his happiness. He can only love in the truth the means of increasing his own felicity. Therefore he will pursue neither glory nor truth in a country and under a government where they are both despised. The result of this and the preceding chapter, is, that the fury of envy, the desire of riches and talents, the love of importance, glory, and truth, are never in man any thing else than the love of power (23), disguised under those different denominations. CHAP. TREATISE ON MAN. 301 Of Justice. CHAP. VII. OF JUSTICE. JUSTICE is the preserver of the life and liberty ofthe citizens. Each one desires to enjoy his respective property ; each one therefore loves justice in others, and would have them behave justly toward him. But who is solicitous to be just toward others ? Do men love justice for the sake of justice, or for the consideration it procures ? That is the object of my inquiry. Man is so often ignorant of himself : we perceive so much contradiction between his conduct and his discourse*, that to know him we must study his actions and his nature. Inmorality, as in religion, there are a few sincere, persons, and a great many hypocrites. Athousand men adorn themselves with sentiments not their own, and which they cannot have. When we compare their conduct with their discourse, we find none but knaves that would make dupes . We ought in general to mistrust the probity of those who pretend to extraordinary probity, and set themselves up for ancient Romans. There are who appear really virtuous at the moment the curtain is drawn up, and they are going to perform a great part on the theatre of the world. But behind the scenes how many are there who preserve the same character of equity, and arealways just ? CHAP. 302 TREATISE ON MAN, The savage has noidea ofjustice. CHAP. VIII. OF JUSTICE CONSIDERED IN THE MAN OF NATURE. To judge of man, let us consider him in his primitive state, in that of a ferocious savage. Does the savage love and respect equity ? No : it is force he regards. Hehas no idea of equity in his heart, nor any word to express it in his language. What idea can he form of it, and what in fact is injustice ? The violation ofa convention or law made for the advantage of the majority. Injustice, therefore, cannot precede the establishment of a convention, a law, and a common inteWhat convinces me of the love which the ancient Romans had for virtue, is the knowledge of their laws, and their manners ; without this knowledge, the virtue of the modern Romans would make me suspect that ofthe ancient, and I should say with Cardinal Bessarion, on the subject of miracles, that the new make the old doubtful. The manjust, but intelligent, will not pretend to love justice for itself. Is he without fault ? We allow without blushing, that in all our actions we never have any thing but our happiness in view ; but we always confound it with that of our fellow-citizens. Few place it so happily. rest TREATISE ON MAN. 303 • The formation of society and languages must precede that oflaws. rest. Before law, there is no injustice. Si non esset lex, non esset peccatum. Now what does the establishment of laws suppose ? 1st. The union ofmenin a society, greater or less. 2d. The formation of a language proper to communicate a certain number of ideas*. Now ifthere be savages whose language does not contain above five or six sounds or cries, the formation ofa language must be the work of several centuries. Until that work be completed, men without convention and laws, must live in a state of war. This state, they will say, is a state of misery ; and

According to Mr. Locke, " Alawis a rule prescribed to the

"people, with the sanction ofsome punishment or reward, proper to determine their wills." All law, according to him, supposes reward or punishment attached to its observation or infraction. This definition laid down, the man who violates, among a polished people, a convention not attended with this sanction, is not punishable : he is however unjust. But could he be unjust before the establishment ofall convention, and the formation of a language proper to express injustice ? No : for in that state, man can have no idea of property, nor consequently ofjustice. What does experience teach us about this matter ? Experience, to which, in morality as well as in physics, we must submit the most plausible theories, and which alone can establish their truth or falsehood ; experience tells us, that man has ideas of force before those of justice ; that, in general, he has no love of justice ; that even in polished nations, where people are continually talking of equity, no one regards it, unless he be forced by the fear ofa power equal orsuperior to his own. misery

304 TREATISE ON MAN.

Illustration ofthe rights of the stronger. misery being the creator of laws, must force men to accept them. Yes ; but till they are accepted, men are not the less unjust for being miserable. How can they be said to usurp the field or orchard ofthe present possessor, and commit a robbery, when there is no property or partition of fields or orchards ? Before the public interest has declared the law of first possession to be held sacred, what can be the plan of a savage inhabitant of a woody district, from which a stronger savage had driven him ? What right have you, he would say, to drive me. from my possession ? What right have you, says the other, to that possession ? Chance, replies the first, led my steps thither : it belongs to me because I inhabit it, and land belongs to the first occupier. What is that right of the first occupier (24) ? replies the other ; if chance first led you to this spot, the same chance has given methe force necessary to drive you from it. Which of these two rights deserves the preference ? Would you know all the superiority of mine ? Look up to heaven and see the eagle that darts upon the dove turn thine eyes to the earth, and see. the lion that preys upon the stag : look toward the sea, and behold the gold-fish devoured by the shark. All things in nature show that the weak is a prey to the powerful. Force is the gift of the gods ; so that I have a right to possess all that I can seize. Heaven, by TREATISE ON MAN. * 305 Justice pre-supposes a state of civilization. by giving me these nervous arms, has declared its will. Be gone from hence, yield to superior force, or dare the combat (25) . What answer can be given to the discourse of this savage, or with what injustice can he be accused, if the law of first occupation be not yet established ? Justice then supposes the establishment of laws. The observance of justice supposes an equilibrium in the power of the inhabitants. The maintenance of that equilibrium is the masterpiece of the science of legislation. It is by a mutual and salutary fear that men are made to be just to each other. When this fear is no longer reciprocal, then justice becomes a meritorious virtue, and then the legislation of a people is vicious. Its perfection supposes that man is compelled to justice. Justice is unknown to the solitary savage. If the polished man have some idea of it, it is because he knows the laws. But does he love justice for itself ? It is experience that must instruct us in this matter. VOL. 1. x CHAP. 306 TREATISE ON MAN. J The love ofjustice is founded either on fear or hope. CHAP. IX. OF JUSTICE CONSIDERED IN POLISHED MAN AND NATIONS. WHAT is the love which man has for justice ? To determine this question, we must place him above all hope and fear make him an oriental monarch. When seated on his throne, he can levy on his people taxes without limits. Ought he to do it ? No. The measure of all taxes is the wants of the state. Every tax, when pushed beyond those wants, is a robbery, an injustice. No truth is more evident than this. Yet, notwithstanding man's pretended love of equity, there is no Asiatic monarch who does not commit this injustice, and commit it without remorse. What can we infer from this fact ? That man's love of justice is founded either on a fear of the evils attendant on iniquity, or from the hope of the good con sequences ofesteem , consideration, and, in short, from the power attached to the practice of justice. The necessity which we are under to form virtuous men, to reward and punish, to institute wise laws, and to establish a regular form of government, is an evident proof of this truth. Let TREATISE ON MAN. 307 Ofthe love ofjustice in nations. Let what I have said of man be applied to nations. Two nations are neighbours; they are in certain respects in a reciprocal dependance : they are consequently forced to make conventions between them, and to form the law of nations. Do they regard it? Yes, so long as they reciprocally fear each other, so long as a certain balance of power subsists between them. When this balance is destroyed, the strongest nation violates their conventions without concern (26). It becomes unjust, because it can be so with impunity. The so much bonsted respect of man for justice is never any thing more than a respect for power.

Yet there are no people who do not in war say justice is on our side. But when, and in what situation ? When surrounded by powerful nations, who may take part in their quarrels. What is then the object of their pretence ? To shew their enemy to be unjust, ambitious, and dreadful : to excite the jealousy of other nations against them, and by making allies to become strong by the force of others. The object of a nation in such appeals to justice, is to encrease its power, and to secure a superiority over a rival nation.

Perhaps there are many men, there are certainly some, who

on a close examination of their own hearts, cannot assent to this strong assertion of our author. Whether the real love ofjustice in these men proceeds from principles strongly inculcated and long practised, that is , from education ; or from an innate principle, is here immaterial. T. x2 The 308 TREATISE ON MAN. Reply of Brennus to the Roman ambassadors. The pretended love of justice of nations, is therefore nothing but a real love of power. · To confirm this truth, suppose the neighbours of two rival nations to be fully employed with their own affairs, and not able to take any part in the quarrel, what then happens ? The most powerful of the two nations, without any appeal to justice, or regard to equity, carries fire and sword into the country of its enemy. Force then becomes right : and iniserable is the condition of the weak and conquered. When Brennus at the head of the Gauls attacked the Clusians, " What offence, said the Roman am- " bassadors, have the Clusians given you ?" Brennus laughed at the question. " Their offence, he replied, " is the refusal they make to divide their country with "me. It is the same offence that the people of Alba, " the Fidenians and Ardeans formerly gave you, and 66 lately the Vienians, the Falisci, and the Volsci. To " avenge yourselves, you took up arms, and washed "" awaythe injury with their blood ; you subdued the " people, pillaged their houses, and laid waste their ci- "ties and their countries : andin this you did no wrong " or injustice you obeyed the most ancient laws, which "give to the strong the possessions of the weak ; the 66 sovereign law of nature, that begins with God, " and ends with animals. Suppress, therefore, O Ro- " mans, your pity for the Clusians. Compassion is yet unknown to the Gauls : do not inspire them with 66 " that TREATISE ON MAN. 309 Conquerors despise justice. " that sentiment, lest they should have compassion on " those whom you oppress." Few chiefs have the boldness and candour of Brennus. Their language is different, but their actions are the same ; and, in fact, they have all tlie same contempt of justice ( 27) . The history of the world is a vast collection of reiterated proofs of this truth (28). The invasions ofthe Huns, the Goths, the Vandals, the Suevi, and the Romans ; the conquests of the Spaniards and Portuguese in both Indies, and lastly our croisades ; all prove that nations in their enterprizes consult force, not justice. Such is the picture which history presents us. Now the same principle that actuates nations, must necessarily, and in like manner actuate the individuals who compose them . Let the conduct of nations, therefore, elucidate that of individuals. CHAP. X. INDIVIDUALS, LIKE NATIONS, ESTEEM JUSTICE SOLELY FOR THE CONSIDERATION AND POWER IT PROCURES THEM. Is not a man, with regard to his fellow- citizens, nearly in the same state of independence, that one x3 people 310 . TREATISE ON MAN. Parallel between the conqueror and the robber. people are to another ? Man then loves justice (29) merely for the power and happiness it procures him. To what other cause, in fact, except to the extreme love ofpower, can we attribute our admiration of conquerors (30) ? " The conqueror, said the pirate De- " metrius to Alexander, is a man, who at the head of 66 a hundred thousand soldiers, takes at once a hun- " dred thousand purses, and cuts the throats of a hun- " dred thousand citizens ; who does on alarge scale, what " the robber does on a small one ; and who, by being 66 more unjust than the latter, is more destructive to "society." The robber is a terror to an individual. The conqueror, like the tyrant, is the scourge of a nation. What makes us respect Alexander and Cortez, and despise Cartouch and Rassiat. The power of the one, and the impotence of the other. In the robber it is not properly the crime, but the weakness which we despise (31). The conqueror appears as invested with great power ; we would be invested with the same power, and we cannot despise what we wish to attain. The love which man has for power is such, that in all cases the exercise of it is agreeable to him because it makes him recollect his possesssion of it. Every man would have great power, and every man knows that it is almost impossible to be at once constantly just and powerful. Man makes, without doubt, a better or worse use of his power, according to the education he has received . But be it as good as it may, there is no great man who does not commit some acts of TREATISE ON MAN. 311 The love of equity is subordinate to the love ofpower. of injustice. The abuse of power is connected with its existence, as the effect with the cause. Corneille says, Qui peut tout ce qu'il veut, veut plus que ce qu'il doit (32). He who can do whatever he will, wills more than he ought. This verse is a moral axiom confirmed by experience; and yet no one refuses a great place for fear of exposing himself to the temptation of injustice*. Ourlove of equity, therefore, is always subordinate to our love of power. Man, solely anxious for himself, seeks nothing but his own happiness. If he respects equity, it is want that compels him to it (33). If a difference arise between two men nearly equal in power, each of them, restrained by a reciprocal fear, has recourse to justice ; each of them submits to its decision ; that he may interest the public in his favour, and thus acquire a certain superiority over his adversary. But let one of these two men be greatly superior in powerto the other, so that he can rob him with impunity; and then deaf to the voice of justice, he does not litigate, but command. It is not equity, nor even the

This must be understood with limitation : many men have

refused power, from a fear of teniptation, and a consciousness of their own weakness. X 4 appearance 312 TREATISE ON MAN. The love of power the sole motive of action in all governments. appearance of equity, that determines between the weak and powerful ; but force, crime, and tyranny. It is thus that the divan gives the name of seditious to the remonstrances of the impotent, whom it oppresses. To show still more clearly the great love that men have for power, I shall add but one proof to the foregoing, which is the strongest. CHAP. XI, THE LOVE OF POWER, UNDER EVERY FORM OF GO, VERNMENT, 18 THE SOLE MOTIVE OF MAN'S AÇTIONS. "UNDER everyform of government, says M. Mon- " tesquieu, there is a different principle of action. " Fear in despotic states, honour under monarchies, "and virtue in republics, are the several moving prin- " ciples." But on what proof does M. Montesquieu found this assertion*. Is it quite evident that'fear, honour, Fear, says M. Montesquieu, is the moving principle in de spotic empires. He is mistaken. Fear does not increase, butweakens the spring of the mind. I can admit nothing for the active principle of a nation, but the constant objects of the desire of almost and TREATISE ON MAN. 313 The love of power the sole motive ofaction in all governments. and the love of virtue, are the different motives in different governments ? May we not assert on the contrary, that one cause alone, but varied in its applications, is equally the principle of activity in all empires; and that if M. Montesquieu, less affected by the show of his division, had more scrupulously discussed all the inhabitants. Now, in despotic states there are but two ; one is the desire of money, and the other the favour of the monarch. Inthe two other forms of government there are, accordingtothe same writer, two other moving principles, of a nature, says he, very different : the one is honour, under monarchical states ; the other virtue, which is applicable to republics only. " The words Honour and Virtue are not indeed perfectly synonimous. Yet if the word Honour constantly brings to the mind the idea of some virtue, these terms differ only in the extent of their signification. Honour and virtue are therefore principles of the same nature. If M. Montesquieu had not proposed to give each form ofgoyernment a different principle of action, he would have perceived the same principle in all. This principle is the love ofpower, and consequently personal interest modified according to the different constitutions ofthe states, and their several legislations. If virtue be, as he says, the active principle in republics, it is at most onlyin poor and warlike republics. Thelove of gold is that of commercial republics. It appears, therefore, that in all governments man obeys his own interest ; but that his interest is not the same in all. The more we examine in this respect the manners of a people, the more convinced we are, that it is to their legislation they owetheir vices and their virtues. The principles of M. Montesquieu on this matter appear to me to be more showy than solid. this 314 TREATISE ON MAN. Of the government of a single person. this question, he would have attained more profound, clear, and general ideas : he would have perceived in the love of power, the moving principle of every in dividual : he would have found in the various means of acquiring power, the principle to which we ought, in all ages and all countries, to refer the different conduct of men. In fact, power is in every nation either concentered in one man, as in Morocco and Turkey ; or, as in Venice and Poland, distributed among several ; or, as in Sparta, Rome, and England, divided among the whole body of the nation. According to these several partitions of authority, we are sensible that the inhabitants will contract different habits and manners, and yet all propose the same object, which is that of pleasing the supreme power, of rendering it propitious to them, and thus obtaining some portion or emanation ofits authority. OF THE GOVERNMENT OF A SINGLE PERSON. If this government be strictly arbitrary, the supreme power resides in the hands of a sultan who is in general badly educated. Does he grant his protection to certain vices ; is he without humanity, without love of glory ; and does he sacrifice to his humour the happiness of his subjects ? The courtiers, jealous of his favour only, model their conduct by his, and in proportion as the despot shews more indifference for the patriotic virtues, they affect to hold them in the greater contempt. In TREATISE ON MAN. 315 Of the government ofseveral. In this country we find no such men as Timoleon, Leonidas, Regulus, &c. Such citizens cannot flourish without that degree of consideration and respect which was shown to the virtuous man ; who in Rome and Greece, being secure ofthe national esteem, saw nothing above him . In a despotic state, what respect will be paid to the honest man ? The sultan, sole disposer of rewards and punishments, centers all consideration within himself. No one can there shine but by his reflected light, and the vilest favourite holds an equal rank with the greatest hero. In every government ofthis sort, emulation must be extinguished. The interest of the despot being frequently opposite to the interest ofthe public, must obscure every idea of virtue ; and the love of power, the moving principle of each individual, cannot there form just and virtuous men. OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SEVERAL. In governments of this sort the supreme power is in the hands of a certain number of great men. The body of the nobles is the despot (34) . Their object is to keep the people in shameful and inhuman poverty and slavery. Now what is to be done to gain their protection und favour ? Enter into their views ; favour their tyranny, and perpetually sacrifice the happiness ofa great number, to the pride of a few. In such a nation, it is also impossible that the love ofpower should produce good citizens. OF 316 TREATISE ON MAN. Ofthe government of all. OF THE GOVERNMENT OF ALL. In this state, the supreme power is equally divided among all the orders of the inhabitants. The nation is then the despot. What does it require ? The happiness of the greatest number, By what means is its favour to be attained ? By services rendered it. Therefore, every action conformable to the interest ofthe greatest number is just and virtuous : consequently, the love of power, the moving principle of the inhabitants, must compel them to the love of justice and of talents. Whatdoes this love produce ? The public happiness. The supreme power divided among all the orders of inhabitants, is the soul that is equally diffused through all the members ofthe state ; animates it, and renders it healthful and vigorous. It cannot therefore be wonderful, that this form of government is always cited as the best. Free and happy citizens will obey no legislation but what themselves have formed: they own nothing above them but equity and the laws. They live in peace ; for in morality, as in physics, it is the equilibrium of force that produces tranquillity. If an ambitious man destroy this equilibrium, and there no longer exists a mutual dependence among the several orders of citizens ; or if there be, as in Persia, one man, or, as in Poland, a body of men, who have an interest separate from that oftheir nation nothing is then to be seen but oppressors and oppressed ; the inhabitants are divided into two classes only, tyrants and slaves.

If TREATISE ON MAN. 317 The history ofCromwell proves that justice is not loved for its own sake. If M. Montesquieu had thought deeply on these matters, he would have perceived, that in every country men are united by the love of power, but that power is obtained by different means, according as the supreme authority is centered, as in the East, in the hands of a single person ; or divided, as in Poland, among the body of the nobles ; or as in Rome and Sparta, among the several orders of the state : and that it is to the different manners by which power is acquired, that men owe their vices and their virtues : and that they do not love justice merely for itself. One of the strongest proofs of this truth, is the baseness with which kings themselves honoured injustice in the person of Cromwell. This Cromwell, the blind and criminal instrument of the future liberty of his country, was nothing more than a lawless and formidable robber. Yet scarcely was he styled Protector, when all the Christian princes courted his friendship, and all of them offered, by their deputations and their embassies, to legitimate, as far as was in their power, the usurper's crimes. No one then was offended at the baseness with which his alliance was courted. Injustice, therefore, is never despised but in the weak. Now if the moving principle of monarchs and whole nations be that of the individuals who compose them, wemay rest assured that man, solely solicitous to increase his importance, loves not in justice any thing but the power and happiness it procures him. It is to the same motive he owes his love of virtue. CHAP. S18 TREATISE ON MAN. Of Virtue. CHAP. XII. OF VIRTUE. THE word Virtue, equally applicable to prudence, courage, and charity*, has, therefore only a vague signification. However it constantly recals to the mind the confused idea of some quality useful to society. When qualities of this sort are common to the greatest part of the citizens a nation is happy within itself, formidable without, and worthy ofimitation by posterity+. Virtue, always useful to man and consequently always respectable, ought, at least in certain countries, to reflect power and consideration on its possessors. Now it is the love of consideration that

Virtue, says Cicero, is derived from the word vis : its natural

signification is fortitude. It has the same root in Greek. Force and courage are the first ideas that men could form of virtue. ↑ Virtuous and vicious ev'ry man must be. Few in th' extreme, but all in the degree, The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wise ; And e'en the best, by fits what they despise. 'Tis but by parts we follow good or ill ; For, vice or virtue, self directs it still . T. POPE. man TREATISE ON MAN. 319 Virtne is not loved merely for its own sake. man takes to be in him the love of virtue. Each one pretends to love it for itself. This phrase is in every one's mouth, but in no one's heart. What motive makes the monk fast, wear a hair cloth, and flog himself ? The hope of eternal happiness : the fear of hell, and the desire of heaven. Pleasure and pain, those productive principles of monastic virtue, are the principles of the patriotic virtues also. The hope of rewards makes them flourish. Whatever disinterested love we may affect to have, without interest to love virtue there is no virtue. To know man, in this respect, we must study him ; not by his conversation, but his actions. When I speak I put on a mask : when I act I am forced to take it off. It is not, therefore, by what I say, but what I do, that men are to judge me ; and they will judge me rightly. Who preaches up the love of humility and poverty more than the clergy ? And what proves the falsity of that love more strongly than the history of the clergy itself ? The elector of Bavaria, it is said, has not, for maintaining his troops, his police, and his court, so large arevenue as the church has for maintaining its priests. Yet in Bavaria, as every where else, the clergy preach up the virtue of poverty. It is therefore the poverty of others they extol. To know the real esteem in which virtue is held, let us suppose it banished to the dominions of a monarch where it can expect no grace or favour. What re- 4 spect 320 TREATISE ON MAN. Power is always honoured, never despised. More respect then These courtiers, it spect will be paid at his court to virtue ? None. Nothing can be there respected but baseness, intrigue, and cruelty, disguised under the names of decency, wisdom, and firmness. Does the vizir there give audience. The nobles, prostrate at his feet, can scarcely vouchsafe to cast a look upon merit. But it will be said, the homage of these courtiers is forced ; it is the effect of their fear. Be it so. is paid to fear, than to virtue. will be added, despise the idol they worship. No such thing. Men hate the powerful ; they do not despise them. It is not the wrath of the giant, but of the pigmy, we despise. His impotence renders him ridiculous. Whatever may be said, we do not really despise him, whom we dare not despise to his face. Secret contempt proves weakness and what men pretend to in this case, is nothing more than the boastings of an impotent hatred (35). The man in power is the mo ral giant ; he is always honoured. The homage rendered to virtue is transient, that to force eternal. In the forest, it is the lion, and not the stag, that is respected. Force is every thing upon earth. Virtue without importance becomes insignificant. If in the ages of oppression it has sometimes shone with the greatest lustre, if when Thebes and Rome groaned under tyranny, the intrepid Pelopidas, and the virtuous Brutus, arose and armed, it was because the sceptre then shook in the hands of tyranny : because virtue could still open a passage to grandeur and power. When TREATISE ON MAN. 321 Virtue despised in the East. When it can no longer make its way, when tyranny, by the aid ofluxury and baseness, is seated firmly on its throne, and has bowed down the people to slavery, then no longer are seen those sublime virtues, that, by the influence of example, might still be so useful to mankind. The seeds of heroism are suffocated. In the East, a masculine virtue would be a folly, even in the sight of those who still pique themselves on honesty. Whoever should there plead the cause of the people, would pass for seditious. Thamas Kouli-Khan entered India with his army ; rapine and desolation followed him. A bold Indianstoppedhim : " O Thamas, said he, if thou art a god, " act like a god. If thou art a prophet, conduct us " intothe way of salvation. If thou art a king, cease " to be a barbarian ; protect the people, and do not destroy them." " I am not, replied Thamas, a god, "to act like a god ; nor a prophet, to lead you to sal- " vation ; nor a king, to make you happy : but I am a 66 man, sent by the wrath of heaven to chastise these " nations (36)." The discourse of the Indian was regarded as seditious (37), and the answer of Thamas applauded by the army. If there be on the theatre a character universally admired, it is that of Leontine. Yet in what esteem would such a character have been in the court of a Phocas ? His magnanimity would have alarmed the favourites, and the people, ever at length the echo of the great, would have condemned his noble boldness. VOL. I. Y Four 322 TREATISE ON MAN. Manner in which most Europeans consider virtue. Four and twenty hours residence in an Oriental court would prove what I here advance. Fortune and authority are there alone respected. How should virtue be there esteemed, or even known ? To form clear ideas ofit, we must live in a country where (38) public utility is the only measure of human actions. That country is yet unknown to geographers. But the Europeans, it will be said, are at least in this respect very different from the Asiatics. If they be not free, they are at least not entirely degraded to slavery. They, therefore, may know what virtue is, and esteem it. CHAP. XIII. OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE GREATEST PART OF EUROPEANS CONSIDER VIRTUE. THE greatest part of the people of Europe honour virtue in theory: this is an effect of their education. They despise it in practice : that is an effect of the form oftheir governments. If the European admire in history, and applaud on the theatre, generous actions, to which the Asiatic is frequently insensible, that is, as I have just said, the effect ofhis instruction. The study of the Greek and Roman history, forms a part TREATISE ON MAN. 323 . Education excites anadmiration of virtue. part of his instruction. In the course of this study, what mind, without interest and without prejudice, is not affected with the same patriotic sentiments that animated the ancient heroes ? Youth cannot refuse its esteem to those virtues, which consecrated by universal respect, have been celebrated by the most illustrious writers of every age. For want of the same instruction, the Asiatic feels not the same sentiments, nor conceives the same veneration for the masculine virtues of great men. If Europeans admire them without imitation, it is because there is scarcely any government where these virtues lead to great employments, and nothing is really esteemed but power., When I see a great character of Greece, Rome, Britain, or Scandinavia, represented in history, or on the theatre, I admire it. The principles of virtue imbibed in my infancy force me to it ; and I the more readily encourage this sentiment, as I do not in any manner compare myself with this hero. Ifhis virtue be strong and mine weak, I disguise its weakness : I refer to place, time, and circumstances, the difference I observe between him and myself. But if this great man be myfellow-citizen, why do I not imitate his conduct ? His presence humbles my pride. If I can avenge myself of him, I doit : I blame in him what I applaud in the ancients. I rail at his generous actions : I depreciate his merit, and at least in appearance, despise his impotence. Y 2 My 324 TREATISE ON MAN. Strength and power more highly honored than virtue. My reason, which judges the virtue of the dead, obliges me to esteem in speculation the heroes who have rendered themselves useful to their country. The picture of ancient heroism produces an involuntary respect in every mind that is not entirely debased. But in my contemporary, that heroism is odious to me. I feel in his presence two contradictory sentiments, one esteem the other envy. Subject to these two dif ferent impulsions, I hate the living hero, but erect a trophy on his tomb, and thus satisfy at once my pride and my reason. When virtue is without authority, its impotence gives me a right to despise it, and I avail myself of that right. Weakness attracts scorn and insult (39). To be honoured while we live, we must be powerful (40). Thus power is the only object of man's desire. Hewho had the choice of the strength of Enceladus, and the virtues of Aristides, would give the preference to the former. In the opinion of all the critics, the character ofÆneas is more just and virtuous that that ofAchilles. Why then does the latter excite greater admiration ? Because Achilles was strong, and we have more desire to be powerful than just, and we always admire what we would be. It is always power and importance that we seek, under the name of virtue. Why do we require onthe theatre, that virtue should always triumph over vice ? Whence arose that rule ? From an interior and confused perception, that we only love in virtue the considewwww ration TREATISE ON MAN. 325 The love of power is the most favourable disposition to virtue. ration it procures. Men are seriously anxious about nothing but authority, and it is the love of power that furnishes the legislator with the means of rendering them more virtuous and more happy. CHAP. XIV. THE LOVE OF POWER IS IN MAN THE MOST FAVOURABLE DISPOSITION TO VIRTUE. IF virtue were the effect of a particular organization, or a gift ofthe Divinity, there would be no honest men but such as were so organized by nature, or predestined by Heaven. Laws, good or bad, forms of government, more or less perfect, would have little influence on the manners of a people. Sovereigns would not have it in their power to form good citizens, and the sublime employment of a legislator would be in some measure without functions. But if, on the contrary, we regard virtue as the effect of a desire common to all (as is the desire of command) the legislator being always able to annex esteem and riches, in a word, power, under some denomination, to the practice of virtue, it can always compel men to it. Under a good legislation, the vicious alone must then be the fools. It is therefore Y S 326 TREATISE ON MAN. The love ofpower is the most favourable disposition to virtue. fore always tothe greater or less absurdity of the laws, that we must attribute the greater or less stupidity or iniquity of the citizens . Heaven, by inspiring all men with the love ofpower, has given them a most precious gift. What im. ports it whether all men be born virtuous, if all be born with a passion that will render them such. This truth being fully proved, it is forthe magistrate to discover, in the universal love that men have for power, the means of securing the virtue of the citizens, and the happiness of the nation. As to what regards myself, I have accomplished my task if I have proved, that man directs, and ever will direct, his desires, his ideas, and his actions, to his felicity that the love of virtue is always founded in him on the desire of happiness : that he only loves in virtue the riches and happiness which it produces ; and lastly, that even including the desire of glory, all is in man nothing more than a disguised love of power. It is in this last love that there is still concealed the principle of intolerance ; which is of two kinds, the one civil, the other religious. CHAP. TREATISE ON MAN. 327 Of civil intolerance. CHAP. XV. OF CIVIL INTOLERANCE. MAN is born surrounded with pains and pleasures. Ifhe desire the sword of power, it is to drive awaythe one, and to possess the other. His thirst of power is in this respect insatiable. Not content with commanding a people, he would command their opinions also : he is not less anxious to subdue the reason of his fel low-citizens, than a conqueror is to usurp the trea sures, and the provinces of his neighbours. He does not think himself truly their master if he do not bring their minds into subjection . To effect this he employs force : he at length subdues reason . Men are completely degraded by believing opinions which they are forced to profess. What reasoning begins is finished by violence. The intolerance of monarchs is always the effect of their love of power. Not to think as they do, is to assume a power equal to theirs. By this they are en• raged. What is in certain countries the crime most severely punished ? Contradiction . For what crime was the Oriental punishment of an iron cage invented in France On whom was it inflicted ? Was it some Y 4 cowardly $28 TREATISE ON MAN. What crimes are most severely punished by despots. cowardly. or ignorant general who conducted a siege, or defended a place badly ; or who by incapacity, jealousy, or treason, suffered provinces to be ravaged ? Or was it some minister who loaded the people with intolerable taxes (41 ) and whose edicts were destructive of the public felicity ? No : the wretch condemned to this punishment, was the writer of a Dutch gazette, who criticized, perhaps too severely, the projects of some French ministers (42), and made all Europe laugh at their expence (43). Who is suffered in Spain and Italy to rot in a dungeon? Is it a judge who sells justice, or a governor who abuses his power ? No: it is the hawker who sells for bread books, in which the humility and poverty of the clergy are doubted. To whom in some countries do they give the name of a bad citizen ? Is it to the thief, who purloins and dissipates the national treasure ? No : such crimes go almost every where unpunished ; for they every where find protectors. He alone is called a bad citizen, who in a song or an epigram laughs at the knavery or futility (44) of a man in power. I have seen the country where the infamous person is not he who does the evil, but he who discovers the author of it. Is a house set on fire ? The incendiary is caressed, and he who discovers him is punished. Under such governments, the greatest of crimes is frequently the love of our country, and a resistance to the unjust commands of those in power. Why TREATISE ON MAN. 329 Honest men are not fit fora court. Why is merit always suspected by a weak minister ? Whence arises his hatred to men of letters (45)? Because he regards them as so many torches that may discover the grossness of his blunders (46). There was formerly about the person of a prince, a subtle fellow, who, under the denomination of a fool, was sometimes permitted to speak the truth (47). These fools disgusted : their employment has been every where suppressed, and it is perhaps the only general alteration that sovereigns have made in their dependents. These fools were the last wise men that were suffered to attend the great. If we would be admitted to their presence, and be found agreeable, we must talk as they do, and confirm them in their errors. But this is not the part of a man, sagacious, candid, and loyal. He will think for himself, and speak what he thinks ; the great know it, and hate him . They find in him a boundary to their authority. It is men of this sort who are above all others prohibited from thinking and writing on matters of government. Hence it comes that kings, deprived of the advice of intelligent men, sacrifice their real and durable power to a momentary fear of contradiction. In fact, if a prince be only strong by the strength of his people ; his people only strong by the wisdom of the adminis tration, and that administration be necessarily taken from the body ofthe people, it is impossible under a government which persecutes the man whothinks, and where the people are all kept in darkness, that such a nation 330 TREATISE ON MAN. Situation of adespotic monarch. nation should produce great ministers. The danger of acquiring instruction there destroys instruction. The people groan under the sceptre ofa haughty ignorance, that soon precipitates the tyrant and his nation into one common ruin (48). This sort of intolerance is arock, against which, sooner or later, the greatest empires are dashed in ruins. CHAP. XVI. INTOLERANCE FREQUENTLY FATAL TO PRINCES. PRESENT power and pleasure are frequently destruc tive of future pleasure and power. A prince, to command with more sovereign authority, would have his subjects without ideas, without spirit, without charac ter (42) ; in a word, automata, always obedient to the impression he gives them. If they become such, he will be powerful at home, and impotent abroad : he will bethe tyrant of his subjects, and the contempt of his neighbours. Such is the situation of a despotic monarch, produ ced by a momentary pride. He says to himself, it is over my people that I habitually exercise my power : it is therefore their opposition, that frequently recalling to my mind the idea of a want of sufficient power, makes TREATISE ON MAN. 331 Ofthe liberty of thinking and writing. makes it the more insupportable. If in consequence of this, he prohibited the liberty of thought to his subjects, he by that act declares, that, indifferent to the greatness and happiness of his people, it is of ittle importance to him, whether he govern badly or not, but of great importance that he govern without control. Now, from the moment the strop speaks, the weak becomes silent, he bows the herd, and no longer thinks ; for why should he think, when he cannot communicate his thoughts ? But, it will be said, if the stupor in which fear holds the minds of men be hurtful to a state, are we to conclude that the liberty of thinking and writing is withoutinconvenience ? . In Persia, says Chardin, they may, even in coffeehouses censure aloud, and with impunity, the conduct of the vizir ; for the minister, desirous of knowing the evil he does, is sensible that he cannot know it but from the voice of the public. Perhaps there are countries in Europe more barbarous than Persia. But still, if every one might think and write, what books would they make on subjects they do not understand ! What absurdities would be published ! So much the better : they would leave fewer absurdities to be committed by the vizirs. The critic would expose the errors of the author ; the public would laugh at him ; and that is all the punishment he would deserve. If legislation be a science, its perfection must be the work of time and experience. On any subject, one • 332 TREATISE ON MAN. Advantages of the liberty ofthe press. one excellent book supposes an infinity of bad. The tragedies ofthe passion must have preceded Heraclius, Phedra, Mahomet, &c. Ifthe press cease to be free (50), the man in place, ignorant of his failings, will incessantly commit new blunders, and commit almost as many absurdities as the author penned (51). Now, it is of little importance to a nation, that an author pub. lishes absurdities ; so much the worse for him : but it is ofgreat importance that the minister do not commit them ; for if he do, so much the worse for them . The liberty ofthe press is in no wise contrary to the general interest (52) ; that liberty is to a people the support of emulation . Who are they that should maintain this emulation ? The people in power. Let them watch carefully over its preservation, for when once extinguished, it is almost impossible to kindle it again. If a people once polished fall into a state of barbarism, what can relieve them ? Nothing but a conquest. That alone can give new manners to a people, and render them again powerful and renowned. If a people be degraded, let them be conquered. It is the desire of an honest citizen, a man that interests him. self in the glory of his nation, who thinks himself great in its grandeur, and happy in its prosperity. The view ofthe despot is not the same, because he does not confound himself with his slaves : so that, indifferent to their glory and their happiness, nothing affects him (53) but their servile obedience. The tyrant when blindly obeyed is content. Ifhis subjects TREATISE ON MAN. 333 Arbitrary governments are concerned only about the present. subjects be without virtue, if his empire be enfeebled, if it perish by a consumption, it is of little moment to him it is enough ifthe duration of the disease conceal the true cause, and the physician cannot be accused ofignorance. The only fear of sultans and vizirs is, that a sudden convulsion should seize the empire. There are vizirs like surgeons, whose sole care is, that the state or the patient do not expire under their hands. Ifone or other ofthem die under a regimen prescribed, the reputation of the minister or the surgeon is safe, and they give themselves no concern about it. In arbitrary governments all concern is confined to the present moment. They ask not of the people industry and virtue, but money and submission . The despot, the more silently to devour his people, like the spider that incessantly twines new threads round the insect which it has made its prey, loads them daily with new chains (54). When he has at last by fear suspended in them all activity, where is his resource against the attack of a neighbouring power ? He does not foresee that he and his subjects must consequently soon submit to the yoke of the conqueror. But des potism foresees nothing. Every remonstrance disgusts and irritates a despot. He resembles the ill-taught child that eats the poisonous fruit, and beats his mother who would take it from him. What account is made of a faithful and coura… geous citizen under such a reign ? He is regarded and punished as a fool (55). What regard under such a reign 334 TREATISE ON MAN. Ruinous consequences of the love offlattery in kings, reign is had to a mean and bad citizen (56) ? He is regarded and recompensed as a wise man. Sultans will be flattered (57), and they are. Who can constantly refuse their demands ? Who, under such a government, can earnestly interest himself in the public welfare ? If there be a wise man here and there in the empire, every one is deaf to his counsel. They are like lamps that burn in a sepulchre, their lights shine on no man. The tyrant confides in men grown old in attendance, and that have the spirit and manners of the court. They were flatterers of this sort, that hurried on the Stuarts to their ruin. " Certain prelates, 66 says an illustrious English writer, perceiving the bi- " goted weakness of James I. made use of it to per- “ suade him that the public tranquillity depended on the "uniformity of public worship, that is, on certain reli "gious ceremonies. James embraced this opinion, " and transmitted it to his descendants. What was "the consequence ? The exile and ruin of his house." "When heaven, says Velleius Paterculus, would " chastise a sovereign, it inspires him with a love of "flattery (58), and a hatred of contradiction. At that " instant the understanding of the sovereign is obscu- " red. He shuns the company of wise men, walks in " darkness, falls into a fathomless pit, and, as the Latin " proverb says, passes out of the smoke into the fire." Ifsuchbethe signs of the wrath of heaven, against what sultan is it not irritated ? Which among them chooses his favourites from the most faithful and intelligent of 1 his TREATISE ON MAN. 335 Ruinous consequences ofthe love of flattery in kings, his subjects ? The philosopher Anacharsis, they say, basely flattered aking of Scythia, and was by his order pounded in a mortar ; but that mortar is lost. " What do they report of me and my government? "said an emperor of China to Confucius. Every one, " replied the philosopher, keeps a mournful silence. "That is what I would have them do, said the empe- " ror. And it is what you ought to fear, replied the 66 philosopher. The sick man when flattered is aban- " doned ; his end is near. A monarch ought to be in- "formed of the disorder of his mind, as a sick man of " that of his body : without this liberty the state " and the prince are lost." This answer displeased the emperor ; he wanted to be praised. The present interest almost always weighs more with pride than the interest that is to come, and in this respect the people are princes. CHAP. XVII. FLATTERY IS NO LESS PLEASING TO THE PEOPLE THAN TO SOVEREIGNS. THE people, like kings, would be courted and flattered. The greatest part of the Athenian orators were nothing better than vile adulators of the populace. Prince, 336 TREATISE ON MAN. Flattery is as pleasing to the people as to monarchs. Prince, people, individual, (59), all are greedy of praise. To what can we refer this universal passion ? To the love of power. Whoever praises a man awakens-in him the idea of power, with which the idea of happiness is always connected. Whoever contradicts him, on the contrary, awakens in him the idea of weakness, to which is always joined the idea of misfortune. The love of praise is common to all ; but the people, too sensible of praise, have sometimes given the name of good patriots to their meanest flatterers. Let every man extol with transport the virtues ofhis country, but let him not be blind to its vices. The pupil most sincerely beloved is not the must praised. A true friend is never a flatterer. Private persons are too much disposed to extol the virtues of their fellow- citizens ; they regard it as a common cause. Adulation of our countrymen is not the measure ofour love for our country ; in general, every man loves those of his own country : the love of Frenchmen is natural to the French. To render me a bad citizen, the law must make me such by detach. ingmy interest from that ofthe public. The virtuous man is known by the desire he has to render his countrymen, if it be possible, more illustrious and more happy. In England the true patriots are those that exert their utmost force against the abuse of government ; but to whom do they give that title in Portugal? TREATISE ON MAN. 337 Cause ofthe unfavourable reception of new truths. Portugal? To him who is the most servile flatterer of the man in power ; yet what a citizen ! what a patriot ! It is to a thorough knowledge of the motives of our love of flattery, and our hatred of contradiction, that we owe the solution of an infinity of moral problems, otherwise inexplicable. Why is every new truth at first so badly received ? Because every truth of that sort always contradicts some opinion generally receivéd, shews the weakness or falsehood of an infinity of judgments, and consequently an infinity of people have an interest in hating and persecuting the author. M. Come improved the instrument used in lithotomy; it operates in a manner less dangerous and painful than the other. What of that ? The pride ofthe celebrated surgeons was shocked ; they persecuted and would have banished him from France : they solicited a lettre de cachet, but by chance they were refused. If the man of genius be almost every where more rigo rously punished than the assassin, it is because the one has for enemies only the relations of the murdered, the other all his fellow-citizens. I have known a devout woman ask of a minister, at the same time, the pardon of a robber, and the imprisonment of a Jansenist and Deist ; what was her motive ? Pride. What is it to me, she would have freely said, that they rob and murder, provided it be not me, nor my confessor ; what I want is, that men be religious, VOL. J. Z 338 TREATISE ON MAN. Genius is almost universally persecuted. religious, and that the Deist do not by his arguments shock my vanity. By endeavouring to instruct we humiliate. Let in the light upon a nest of young owls, and they cry out against the injury you have done them. Men of mediocrity are young owls : when you present them with strong and brilliant ideas, they exclaim against them as false, dangerous, and deserving of punishment (60). Under what prince, and in what country, can a man' be great with impunity ? In England, and under the reign of a Trajan or a Frederic ; under every other form of government, and every other sovereign, the reward of talents is persecution. Strong and great ideas are almost every where proscribed. The authors most generally read, are those that render common ideas in a new and striking manner ; they are praised because they are not worthy of praise ; because they do not contradict any one. Contradiction is intolerable to all, but especially to the great. To what degree did it not excite the wrath of Charles V. against the Lutherans ? That prince, they say, repented of having persecuted them ; it may be so : but at what time was it ? When after having abdicated the empire he lived in retreat. He then said to himself, I have thirty watches on my table, and no two of them mark precisely the same time *: how could I imagine then,

A servant carelessly entered his cell and threw down the ta

that TREATISE on man. 339 Intolerance of mankind in general. that in matters of religion I could make all men think alike ? What was my folly and my pride ! Would to heaven that Charles had made this reflection sooner ; he would have been more just, more tolerant, and more virtuous. What seeds of war he would have destroyed! how much human blood would he have spared ! No prince, not even any private man, assigns bounds to his power. It is not enough to reign over our fellow-citizens, and command their ideas, we would even command their tastes. M.Rousseau loves not French music ; in this he agrees with all the other nations of Europe. When he published this opinion, a thousand voices were raised against him : he deserved to rot in a dungeon. They solicited a lettre de cachet, but the minister was luckily too prudent to grant it, and expose the French nation to ridicule. There are no crimes to which human intolerance does not lead. To pretend in this matter to correct man, is to desire that he should prefer others to himself; that is, to desire him to change his nature. A wise man never desires impossibilities ; his aim is to disarm and not destroy intolerance. But what shall restrain it ? A reciprocal fear. When two men of ble with the thirty watches ; Charles laughed, and said to the servant, you are inore lucky than I, for you have found the way to make them all go together. z 2 equal 340 TREATISE ON MAN. Means ofsuppressing intolerance. equal force differ in opinion, neither of them insults the other? for men rarely attack those whom they think they cannot injure with impunity. Why do military men dispute with so much politeness ? for fear of a duel. Whence arises the same politeness among men of letters ? From the fear of ridicule no man likes to be confounded with the pedants of a college. Now from those two instances we may judge what the still more efficacious fear of the law would produce among citizens.

Severe laws would suppress intolerance as well as robbery. If while I have the free use of my tastes and opinions, the law forbids me to insult those of others my intolerance then checked by the edicts of the magistrate, will not extend to acts of violence but if through imprudence the government free me from the fear of a duel, ridicule, and the law, my intolerance unrestrained will again render me savage and inhuman. The atrocious ferocity with which different religious sects persecute each other, is a proof of what is here asserted. CHAP. TREATISE ON MAN. 341 • Of religious intolerance. CHAP. XVIII. OF RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE. THIS is the most dangerous of all intolerance ; its motive is thelove ofpower, religion its pretence. What is it they would punish in a heretic or unbeliever ? The audacity of the man who would think for himself; who would believe his own reason before that of the priests, and thereby declare himself their equal. The pretence of avenging Heaven is nothing but that of his offended pride . Priests of almost all religions are the same. In the sight of the mufti, as in that of a bonze, an infidel is an impious wretch that ought to be destroyed by fire from heaven ; a man so destructive to society as to deserve to be burnt alive. In the eyes of a wise man however, this same infidel is a man who does not believe the tale of mother Goose for what is there wanting to make that tale a religion ? A number of people to maintain its veracity. Whence comes it that men covered withthe rags of penitence and the mask of charity have been at all times the most atrocious ? How can it be possible that Z 3 the 342 TREATISE ON MAN. Ingenious parable of a celebrated painter. light of toleration has not yet broken forth ? What! must honest men hate and persecute each other without remorse for disputes about a word, frequently about the choice oferrors, and because they are distinguished bythe different name of Lutherans, Calvinists, Catholics, Mahometans, &c. When in a convocation the monk anathematises the dervise, can he be ignorant that in the sight of the dervise the truly impious, the real infidel, is the Christian, pope, or monk who does not believe in Mahomet ? Can each sect, eternally condemned to stupidity, approve in itselfwhat it detests in others ? · Let them sometimes recollect the ingenious parable of a celebrated painter. Transported in a dream to the gates of heaven, says he, the first object that struck me was a venerable old man ; by his keys, his bald head, and his long beard, I knew him to be St. Peter. The apostle sat on the threshold of the celestial gates ; a crowd of people advanced towards him ; the first who presented himself was a papist ; I have, said he, all my life been a religious man, and yet honest enough. Go in, replies the saint, and place yourself upon the bench for catholics. The next was a protestant, who gave a like account ofhimself ; the saint said in the like manner, place yourself among the reformed. Then came merchants of Bagdat, Bassora, &c. these were all musulmans who had been constantly virtuous ; St. Peter made them sit down among the musulmans. At last came an infidel ; What is thy sect ? TREATISE ON MAN. 343 Intolerance of the Catholics. sect ? said the apostle. I am of no sect, he replied, but I have always been honest. Then you may go in. But where shall I seat myself? Next to those who appear to you most rational. Would to heaven that, enlightened by this fable, men would no longer pretend to command the opini ons ofothers ! God has decreed that truth should bethe recompence of inquiry. The most efficacious prayers for obtaining it are, it is said, study and application. O stupid monks ! have you ever offered up those prayers ? What is truth ? You do not know : yet you persecute him who, you say, knows it not, and have canon, ised the dragoons of Cevennes, and elevated to the dignityofa saint one Dominic, a barbarian, who founded the tribunal of the inquisition, and massacred the Albigenses (61 ). Under Charles IX. you made it the duty of the catholics to murder the protestants ; and even in this age, so enlightened and philosophic, when the toleration recommended in the gospel ought to be the virtue of all men, there are Caveiracs who treat toleration as a crime and an indifference to religion, and who would again fain behold that day of blood and massacre, that horrid day of St. Bartholomew, when sacerdotal pride stalked through the streets commanding the death of Frenchmen ; like the sultan who passed through the streets of Constantinople, followed by an executioner, demanding the blood of the Christian, who wore red breeches. More barbarous than 2 the 344 TREATISE ON MAN. The Catholic and the Jewish religions the most intolerant. the sultan, you put swords into the hands of Christians to cut the throats of each other. O religions, ( I speak here of the false), you have ever been palpably ridiculous ! and even if you were merely ridiculous, the man of understanding would not expose your absurdities. If he thinks himself obliged to do it, it is because those absurdities in men armed with the sword of intolerance (63) are one of the .nost cruel scourges of humanity. Among the diversity of religions, which are those that bear the greatest hatred to others ? The Catholic and the Jewish. Is this hatred the effect of ambition in their ministers, or that of a stupid and ill- advised zeal ? The difference between true and false zeal is remarkable ; they cannot be mistaken (64). The first is all gentleness, humanity, and charity ; it pardons all, and offends none. Such at least is the idea we must form of it from the words and actions of the Son of God (65). CHAP. TREATISE ON MAN. 345 Ofthe right by which heretics are persecuted. CHAP. XIX. INTOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION ARE NOT Of di-' VINE COMMANDMENT. To whom gave Jesus the appellation of a race of vipers? Was itto the Pagans, the Essenes, or Sadducees (66), who denied the immortality of the soul, and even the existence of the Divinity ? No: it was to the Pharisees and Jewish priests. Will the Catholic priests by the fury of their intolerance continue to merit the same appellation ? By what right do they persecute a heretic ? He does not think as we do, they will say : but to desire to unite all men precisely in the same belief, is to require them all to have the saine eyes and the same complexion ; a desire contrary to nature. Heresy is a name which those in power give to opinions commonly various, but contradictory to their own. Heresy, like orthodoxy, is local. The heretic belongs to a sect not predominant in the country where he lives : this man having less protection, and being consequently weaker than others, may be insulted with impunity. But why is he insulted? Because the strong persecute the weak even in their opinions. If the ministers of Neufchatel, the accusers of M. Rousseau 346 TREATISE ON MAN. Intolerance and persecution not of divine commandment. Rousseau (67), had been born Athenians or Jews, they would, by virtue of being the strongest, in like manner have persecuted Socrates or Jesus. Oh, eloquent Rousseau ! regard the favour of the great prince who protects you against such fanatics as a full recompence for their insults ! you must have blushed at the approbation of those wretches ; it would have inferred some analogy between your ideas and theirs, and have stained your talents. You were persecuted in the name ofthe Divinity, but not by him. Who more forcibly opposed intolerance than the Son of God ? His apostles would have had him call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans ; he reproved them sharply. The apostles, still animated with the spirit of the world, had not then received that of God ; scarcely were they enlightened when they became proscribed, not proscribers. Heaven has given to no one the power to massacre a heretic. John does not command the Christians to arm themselves against the Pagans : (68) Love one another, he repeats incessantly, for such is the will ofGod ; by observing this precept youfulfil the law. Nero, I know, persecuted among the first Christians men of a different opinion from his own ; but Nero was a tyrant, horrible to humanity. They who commit the same barbarities, who violate without remorse the natural and divine laws, which command us to do unto others as we would they should do unto us, ought equally to be accursed of God and man. They TREATISE ON MAN. 347 In religion every man has a right to think for himself. They who tolerate intolerants render themselves guilty of their crimes. Ifa church complain of being persecuted, when its right to persecute is opposed, the prince should be deaf to its complaints. The church ought to regulate its conduct by that of the Son of God. ButJesus and his apostles left to men thefree exercise of reason. Why then does the church for bid them the use of it ? No man has authority over the noble function of my mind, that of judging for myself, any more than over the air I breathe. Shall I abandon to others the care of thinking for me ? I have my own conscience, reason, and religion, and do not desire to have the conscience, reason, or religion ofthe pope. I will not model my belief after that of another, said an archbishop of Canterbury. Each one is to answer for his own soul ; it therefore belongs to each one to examine, What he believes; On what motive he believes : • What is the beliefthat appears to him the most rational. What ! said John Gerson, chancellor of the university of Paris, has heaven given me a soul, a faculty of judging, and shall I submit it to that of others ; and shall they guide me in my manner of living and dying ? But ought a man to prefer his own reason to that of a nation ? Is such a presumption lawful ? Why not ? If Jupiter should again take in hand the balance with which he formerly weighed the destiny of heroes ; if in 348 TREATISE ON MAN. In religion every man has a right to think for himself. in one scale he should put the opinion of Locke, Fontenelle, Bayle, &c. and in the other that of the Italian, French, and Spanish nations, the last scale would rise up, as if loaded with no weight. The diversity and absurdity of different forms of worship shew in how little esteem we ought to hold the opinion of the people. The divine wisdom itself appeared, says the scripture, a stumbling-block to the Jews, and to the Gentiles foolishness ; Judæis scandalum, gentibus stultitiam. In matters of religion I owe no respect to the opinion of a people ; it is to myself alone that I owe an account of my belief ; all that immediately relates to God, should have no judge but he. The magistrate himself, solely charged with the temporal happiness of men, has no right to punish any crimes not committed against society : no prince or priest has a right to persecute in methe pretended crime ofnot thinking as he does. From what principle does the law forbid my neighbour to dispose of my property, and permit him to dispose of my reason and my soul ? My soul is my property. It is from nature that I hold the right of thinking, and of speaking what I think. When the first Christians laid before the nations of the earth their belief, and the motives for that belief ; when they permitted the Gentiles to judge between the Christian religion and their owi., and to make use of the reason given to man to distinguish between vice and virtue, truth and falsehood ; the exposition of their sentiments had certainly nothing criminal in it. At what period did the Christians deserve the hatred and contempt TREATISE ON MAN. 349 Force can never produce belief. contempt of the world ? When by burning the temples of the idols, they would have forced the pagans to relinquish the religion they thought the best (69). What was the design of that violence ? Force imposes silence on reason ; it can proscribe any worship rendered to the Divinity. But what power has it over belief? To believe supposes a motive to belief? Force is no motive. Now without motive we cannot really believe ; the most we can do is to think we believe (70). There can be no pretence for admitting an intolerance condemned by reason and the law of nature : that law is holy ; it is from God ; it cannot be disannulled ; on the contrary, God has confirmed it by his gospel. Every priest, who under the name of an angel of ,` peace excites men to persecution, is not, as is imagined, the dupe of a stupid and ill-informed zeal (71) ; it is not by his zeal but by his ambition that he is directed. CHAP. XX. INTOLERANCE IS THE FOUNDATION OF THE GRANDEUR OF THE CLERGY. THE doctrine and practice of the priest both prove his love ofpower. What does he protect ? Ignorance. Why? $50 TREATISE ON MAN. • Enmity ofthe priests to talents and genius. Why? Because the ignorant and credulous, make little use of their reason, think after others, are easy to be deceived, and are the dupes of the grossest sophistry (72). What does the priest persecute ? Learning. Why? Because a man of learning will not believe without examination ; he will see with his own eyes, and is hard to be deceived. The enemies of learning are the bonze, the dervise, the bramin, in short, every priest of every religion. In Europe the priests rose up against Galileo ; excommunicated Polydore Virgil and Scheiner for the discovery which the one made of the antipodes, and the other of the spots in the sun. They have proscribed sound logic in Bayle, and in Descartes the only method of acquiring knowledge ; they forced that philosopher to leave his country (73) ; they formerly accused all great men of magic (74) ; and now magic is no longer in fashion, they accuse those of atheism and materialism, whom they formerly burned as sorcerers. The care of the priest has ever been to keep men at a distance from the truth all instructive study is forbidden. The priest shuts himself up with them in a dark chamber, and carefully stops up every crevice by which the light might enter. He hates, and ever will hate, the philosopher : he is in continual fear lest men of science should overthrow an empire founded on error and intellectual darkness. Without love for talents, the priest is a secret enemy 10 TREATISE ON MAN. 351 Difference between virtue and sanctity. to the virtues of humanity ; he frequently denies their very existence. There are, in his opinion, no virtuous actions but what are conformable to his doctrines, that is, to his interest. The first of virtues with him are faith, and a submission to sacerdotal power : it is to slaves only that he givesthe name of saints and virtuous men. What, however, are more distinct than the ideas of virtue and sanctity ? He is virtuous who promotes the prosperity of his fellow-citizens : the word virtue always includes the idea of some public utility. It is not the same with sanctity. A hermit or monk imposes on himself the law of silence, flogs himself every night, lives on pulse and water, sleeps on straw, offers to God his nastiness and his ignorance, and thinks by virtue of maceration to make a fortune in heaven. He may be decorated with a glory ; but if he do no good on earth, he is not honest. A villain is converted at the hour of death ; he is saved, and is happy : but he is not virtuous. That title is not to be obtained but by a conduct habitually just and noble. It is from the cloister that saints are commonly taken but what are monks in general ? Idle and liti gious men, dangerous to society, and whose vicinity is to be dreaded. Their conduct proves that there is nothing in common between religion and virtue. Tu obtain a just idea of it, we must substitute a new mo rality in the place of that theological morality, which, always indulgentto the perfidious arts practised bythe 9 different 352 TREATISE ON MAN. Means employed by the priests to increase their power. different sects (76) , sanctifies to this day the atrocious crimes with which the Jansenists and Molinists reciprocally charge each other (77), and which, in short, commands them to plunder their fellow-citizens of their property and their liberty. An Asiatic tyrant would have his subjects promote his pleasures with all their power, and pay down at his feet their homage and their riches : the popish priests exact in like manner the homage and the riches of the catholics. Are there any means of increasing their power and wealth that they have not employed ? When it was necessary for that purpose to have recourse to barbarity and cruelty, they became cruel and barbarous. From the moment the priests, instructed by experience, found that men paid more regard to fear than to love, that more offerings were presented to Ariman than Oromaza, to the cruel Molva than the gentle Jesus, it was on terror that they founded their empire. They sought to have it in their power to burn the Jew, imprison the Jansenist and Deist ; and notwithstanding the horror with which the tribunal of the inquisition fills every sensible and humane soul, they then conceived the project of its establishment. It was by dint of intrigues that they accomplished this design in Spain, Italy, Portugal, &c. The more arbitrary the proceedings of this tribunal became, the more it was dreaded. The priests, perceiving TREATISE ON MAN. 353 The inquisition established by Catholics. ceiving that the sacerdotal power increased by the ter rors with which it struck the imagination of mankind, soon became obdurate. The monks, deafwith impunity to the cry of compassion, to the tears of misery, and the groans of tortures, spared neither virtue nor talents ; it was by confiscation of property, by the aid oftortures and butcheries that they at last usurped over the people an authority superior to that of the magistrates, and frequently even to that of kings. The bold hand of sacerdotal ambition dared in a Christian country to lay the foundation of such a tribunal ; and the stupidity of the people, and of princes, suffered it to be completed, Are there no longer in the Catholic church a Fenelon or a Fitzjames, who, touched with the misfortunes of their brethren, behold this tribunal with horror ? There are still Jansenists virtuous enough to detest the inquisition, even though it should burn a Jesuit ; but in general men are not at once religious and tolerant : humanity supposes intelligence. A man of an enlightened mind knows that force makes hypocrites, and persuasion Christians ; that a heretic is a brother, who does not think as he does on certain metaphysical dogmas : that this brother, de prived of the gift of faith, is to be pitied, not persecuted (78) ; and that ifno one can believe that to be truc, which appears to him to be false, no human power can command belief. The consequence of religious intolerance is the misery VOL. I. 2 A of 354 TREATISE ON MAN. Inconsistency of the consult and professions of Catholic priests, of nations. What sanctifies intolerance ? Sacerdotal ambition. The excessive love of the monk for power produces his excessive barbarity. The monk, cruel by system, is still more so by education. Weak, hypocritical, cowardly by situation, every Catholic priest in general must be atrocious (79) ; so that in countries subject to his power he exercises perpetually all that the most refined cruelty and injustice can imagine. If, while professing a religion instituted to inspire gentleness and charity, he became the instrument of persecutions and massacres ; if, recking with the blood spilt at an autodafe, he ventures at the altar to raise his murderous hands to Heaven, let no one wonder : the monk is as he ought to be. Covered with the blood of a heretic, he regards himself as the avenger of the divine wrath . But can he at such a time implore the clemency of Heaven ? Can his hands be pure because the church has declared them so ? What community has not legitimated the most abominable crimes, when they served to increase its power ? The approbation of the church is sufficient to sanctify any crime. I have regarded the different religions, and have seen their several followers snatch the torch from each other's hands to burn their brethren ; I have seen the several superstitions serve as footstools to ecclesiastical pride. Who is then, I have said to myself, the truly impious ? Is it the infidel ? No : the ambitious fanatic ( 80). It is he who persecutes and murders his brethren ; it is he who, wishing to exe. cute TREATISE ON MAN. 355 Impossibility of suppressing intolerance. cute the vengeance of Heaven on the infernal regions, anticipates that horrid function on earth ; who, regarding an infidel as a damned soul, is desirous by aviolent death to hasten his perdition, and by an unheard-of progression of cruelty, to cause his brother to be at the same instant arrested, imprisoned, judged, condemned, burned and damned. CHAP. XXI. THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF SUPPRESSING IN MAN THE SENTIMENT OF INTOLERANCE. MEANS OF COUNTERACTING ITS EFFECTS. THE leaven ofintolerance is indestructible. It is only practicable to suppress its increase and action. Severe laws oughttherefore to be employed in restraining it, as they do robbery. Does it regard personal interest ? The magistrate, by preventing its action, will bind the hands of intolerance ; and why should they be unbound, when, under the mask of religion, intolerance will exercise the greatest cruelties ? Man is by nature intolerant. If the sun of reason enlighten him for a moment, he should seize the opportunity to bind himselfdown by wise laws, and put himself in a happy state of impotency, that he may 2A2 not $56 TREATISE ON MAN. Means of counteracting intolerance. not injure others if he should be again seized with the rage ofintolerance. Good laws can equally restrain the furious devotee, and the perfidious priest. England, Holland, and a part of Germany are proofs of this truth . Multiplied crimes and miseries have opened the eyes of the people on this subject : they have perceived that liberty of thought is a natural right ; that thinking produces a desire of communicating our thoughts, and that in a people, as an individual, indifference in this matter is a sign of stupidity, He who does not feel the want of thought never thinks. It is with the body as with the mind ; if the faculties of the one or the other are not exerted they become impotent. When intolerance has weighed down the minds of men, and has broken their spring. they then become stupid, and darkness is spread over a nation. The touch of Midas, the poets say, turned every thing into gold ; the head of Medusa transformed every thing into stone intolerance, in like manner, transforms into hypocrites, fools, and ideots (81 ) , all that it finds within the sphere of its attraction. It was intolerance that scattered in the East the first seeds of stupidity, which since the institution of despotism have there sprung up. It is intolerance that has condemned to the contempt of the present and future ages all those superstitious countries whose inhabitants in fact TREATISE ON MAN. 357 Dangersto be apprehended from Catholic intolerance. fact appearto belong rather to the class of brutes than ofmen. There is only one case in which toleration can be detrimental to a people, and that is when it tolerates a religion that is intolerant, such as the Catholic (82). This religion, becoming the most powerful in a state, will always shed the blood of its stupid protectors ; it is the serpent that stings the bosom which has warmed it. Let Germany beware ! its princes have an interest in embracing popery ; it affords them respectable establishments for their brothers, children, &c. These princes becoming Catholics would force the belief of their subjects, and if they found it necessary, would again make human blood to stream ; the torch of superstition and intolerance would again blaze. Alight breath would kindle it, and set all Europe in flames. Where would the conflagration stop ? I know not, Would Holland escape ? Would the Briton himself, from the height of his rocks, for any long time brave the Catholic fury ? The straits of the sea would prove an impotent barrier against the rage of fanaticism . What could hinder the preaching up of a new croisade, and the arming of all Europe against Eng、 land, the invasion of that country, by the Catholics and their treating the Britons as they formerly treated the Albigenses ! . Let not the insinuating manner of the Catholics impose on the Protestants. The same priest who in 2 A 3 Prussia 358 TREATISE ON MAN. · Necessity of restraining fanaticism, Prussia regards intolerance as an abomiuation, and an infraction of the natural and divine law, looks on toleration in France as a crime and a heresy (83). What renders the same man so different in different countries ? His weakness in Prussia, and his powerin France. When we consider the conduct of Catholic Christians, they at first, when feeble, appear to be lambs but when strong, they are tygers. Will the nations, instructed by past misfortunes, never see the necessity of restraining fanaticism , and of banishing from every religion the monstrous doctrine of intolerance ? What is it at this hour that shakes the throne ofTurkey, and ravages Poland ? Fanaticism. It is this that prevents the Catholic Poles from admitting the Dissenters to a participation of their privileges, and makes them prefer war to toleration. In vain do they impute the present miseries of those countries merely to the pride of the nobility ; without religion the great could never have armed the nation, and the impotence of their pride would have preserved peace in their country. Popery has been the secret cause of the miseries of Poland. At Constantinople it is the fanaticism of the Mussulmans, that by loading the Greek Christians with ignominy, has armed them in secret against the empire which they ought to have defended. Would to heaven that these two examples now be fore us, and glaring with the evils produced by religi ous TREATISE ON MAN. 359 Men should be judged by their actions and not by their opinions. ous intolerance, may be the last of the kind ; and that hereafter, indifferent to all modes of worship, governments may judge men by their actions, and not by their opinions; that they may regard virtue and genius as the only recommendations to public favour ; and be convinced that it is not of a Romish, Turkish, or Lutheran mechanic, but of the most skilful workman that we should purchase a watch : in short, that it is not to extensive faith, but to superior talents, that offices ought to be intrusted. As long as the doctrine of intolerance subsists, the moral world will contain within its bosom the seeds of new calamities. It is a volcano half extinguished, that may one day blaze forth with greater violence, and produce fresh conflagrations and destruction. Such are the fears of a citizen, who, the sincere friend of mankind, earnestly wishes their happiness. I think I have sufficiently proved in this section, that in general all the factitious passions, and civil and religious intolerance in particular, are nothing more in man than a disguised love of power. The long detail into which the proofs of this truth have led me, has doubtless made the reader forget the motives that forced me into this discussion. My object was to shew, that if in man all the passions above cited be factitious, all men are in consequence susceptible of them. To make this truth still more evident, I shall here present him with the genealogy of the passions. · 2A4 CHAP. 360 TREATISE ON MAN.

The genealogy of the passions. CHAP. XXII. THE GENEALOGY OF THE PASSIONS. MAN is animated by a principle of life, which is corporeal sensibility : this sensibility is produced by a love of pleasure and a hatred for pain : it is from those two sentiments united in man, and always present to his mind, that is formed what we call the passion of self-love (84). The love of self produces the desire of happiness, the desire of happiness that of power, and the love of power gives birth to envy, avarice, ambi tion, and in general all those factitious passions*(85), that under various denominations are nothing more than a love of power disguised, and are applied to the several means of attaining it.

་

Passions, like elements, tho' born to fight,

Yet, mixed, and softened, in his work unite Love, hope, and joy, fair pleasure's smiling train, Hate, fear, and grief, the family of pain ; These mixed with art, and to due bounds confined, Make and maintain the balance of the mind: The lights and shades, whose well accorded strife Gives all the strength and colour of our life. POPE T. These TREATISE ON MAN. 361 Conclusions from the positions already laid down, These means being different, we see man, according to his situation or the form ofgovernment under which he is placed, advance to power by the path of riches, intrigue, ambition, glory, talents, &c. but invariably directing his steps toward that point. If we here recollect what is said in the second, third, and fourth sections of this work, which is, 1. That all men have an equal aptitude to understanding. 2. That this equal aptitude is a dead power in them, when not vivified bythe passions. 3. That the passion of glory is that which most com. monly sets them in action . 4. That all men are susceptible of it in countries where glory conducts to power. The general conclusion I thence deduce is, that all men organised in the common manner may be animated by the sort of passion proper to elevate them to the highest truths. The only objection that retains for me to answer is the following. All men, it will be said, may love glory (86), but can this passion be carried by each of themto a degree of force sufficient to put in action the equal aptitude they have to understanding? • To resolve this question, I will suppose that I have concentered all my happiness in the possession of glory ; this passion being then as lively in me as the' love of myself, will necessarily be confounded in me with that sentiment. It is required therefore to prove; · that 362 TREATISE ON MAN. Ofthe force ofself-love. that the passion of self-love, common to all men, is the same in all ; and that it may at least endow them all with that energy and force of attention that is requisite to the acquiring ofthe greatest ideas. CHAP. XXIII. OF THE FORCE OF THE SENTIMENT OF SELF-LOVE. THEHE sentiment of self-love, differently modified in different men, is essentially the same in all. This sentiment is independent of the greater or less perfection of the organs. A man may be deaf, blind, lame, and infirm, and yet have the same solicitude for his preservation, the same aversion to pain, and the same love of pleasure. Neither the force nor weakness of temperament, nor the perfection of the organs, augments or diminishes in us the force of the sentiment of self-love. Women have no less love for themselves than men, and yet have not the same organization. Ifthere were a way to measure the force of this sentiment, it would be by its constancy, its unity, and if I may so say, its habitual presence ; now in all these respects the sentiment of self-love is the same in all men. It TREATISE ON MAN. 363 Self-love is equally strong in all men. It is this sentiment that sometimes arms men with an obstinate courage, as with a sword, to triumphover the greatest obstacles, and at others gives them a prudent fear, as a shield, to skreen them from danger ; in a word, it is this sentiment that, always occupied in promoting the happiness of each individual, watches incessantly over his preservation. Now if the love of self be in this respect the same in all, all are therefore susceptible of the same degree of passion, and consequently of the degree proper to put in action the equal aptitude they have to understanding. But admitting, for a moment, that the sentiment of self-love acts not so strongly in one as in another : it is certain that this difference, not yet perceived by experience, must be consequently very small, and that it can have no influence on the mind. A mechanician turns aside no more of a river than is necessary to move the wheels and the machinery placed on its banks ; he lets the rest of the water run into the sea. In like manner it is not necessary to turn aside any more of the whole sentiment of selflove than the part necessary to put in action the equal aptitude all men have to understanding. Now this portion is considerably less than is imagined. If we consult experience in this matter, it will teach us that the fear of the rod, or a punishment still more slight, is sufficient to excite in a child the attention necessary for the attainment of languages (87). Now this sort of 364 TREATISE ON MAN. Ifself-love were stronger in some persons than in others, of attention is either the most, or at least one of the most laborious and fatiguing of all others *. Experience teaches us also that all our discoveries are the gifts of chance ; that we owe to chance the first hint of every new truth ; that all truths of this sort are, if I may so express myself, caught involuntarily ; that their discovery, for this reason, has always been regarded as an inspiration, and consequently that there is no poet or philosopher whom the harmony, brilliancy, perspicuity, and precision of expression, have not cost more time and pains than his most happy ideas. Hence it results, that all men organized in the common manner are susceptible of the degree of attention requisite for raising themselves to the highest truths, and that on the hypothesis that the sentiment of selflove is not the same in all men, (an hypothesis doubtless impossible,) the small difference that is found in this respect among them, cannot have any influence on their understandings. In fact, if we suppose self-loye to be stronger in some than in others, yet this passion, as experience proyes, will not be less equally habitual in them. Now

If the study of their native tongue appear in general less laborious to children than the study of geometry, it is because chil

dren find more habitually the necessity oftalking, than of comparing get. rical figures ; and the perception ofthe necessity of attention renders it continually less disagreeable and laborious. TREATISE ON MAN. 365 ་ It is nevertheless equally habitual in all. if all superiority of understanding * depends less on a lively than an habitual attention, it is evident on this supposition, that all men must be still endowed with the degreeofpassion proper to put in action the equal aptitude they have to understanding.

When I mention the understanding or judgment, the reader,

clearly to conceive my ideas, should recollect that the understanding is the produce of the attention, and the attention that of any passion whatever, but especially of glory. In vain does chance or education offer us, in reading, conversation, &c. objects ofcomparison from which new ideas might result ; those objects will be to us barren seeds, if attention do not render them fertile, that is, if we have not an interest, a lively desire, to compare them, and observe the resemblances and differences, the agreements and disagreements which those objects have with each other and with us. If it is frequently said of a great man that he is the child of misfortune, it is because in general being continually forced to struggle with adversity, a man becomes more thoughtful and acute ; he is therefore always what his situation makes him. But is adversity so salutary as is supposed ? Yes : in the prime of life, when a habit of thinking and reflecting maybe yet acquired. That age passed, misfortune afflicts a man but affords him little information. Adversity, saysthe Scotch proverb, is wholesome at breakfast, indifferent at dinner, and mortal at supper. Besides adversity frequently excites in us only a lively effervescence, that is often transient. A passion for glory is inore durable, and for that reason more properto produce great men and form great talents. CHAP. 366 TREATISE ON MAN. Success attends constant rather than vehement desires. CHAP. XXIV. THE DISCOVERY OF GREAT IDEAS IS THE EFFECT OF CONSTANT ATTENTION. AVEHEMENT desire frequently occasions an effort ofthe mind more lively than lasting. Now the acqui- .sition of great talents supposes an obstinate applica tion, and a desire of instruction more habitual than vehement. However engaged people of the world may be with their fortune and their pleasure, they feel by intervals the desire of glory. But why does this desire prove fruitless to hem ? Because it is not sufficiently du rable. It is to the constancy of desires that great success is annexed. If an Agnes always deceives an Arnolph, it is because the desire of a woman to meet alover is always more habitual than the desire of pre venting it is in those that watch over her. The inhabitants of Kamschatka are in some things of an unequalled stupidity ; in others they have a marvellous industry. In the making of clothes, says their historian, they surpass the Europeans*. Why? Because,

Ifthe inhabitants of Kamschatka surpass us in certain acts

4 inhabiting TREATISE ON MAN. 367 All aresusceptible of the passions that inspire great ideas. inhabiting one of the most inclement climates of the earth, they are most habitually sensible of the want of covering. Now an habitual want always produces industry. A man who is sensible of the value of consideration, that it procures power, (the common object of the desire of men), will do his utmost to attain it. It is in the possession of this esteem that he centres all his happiness, and it is then that the desire of glory is identified with the love of ourselves. Nowthis last sentiment, as is proved by experience, being habitually present to all men, must endow them with that sort of attention to which the superiority of the understanding is annexed. All men organized in the common manner are therefore susceptible not only of passions, but of the habitual degree of passions, sufficient to elevate them to the highest ideas. Whence then proceeds the extreme inequality of understandings ? Because nobody sees precisely (88) the same objects ; nor is precisely in the same situation (89) ; nor has received the same education ; and be they may equal us in all. Talents are nothing more than different applications ofthe same understanding to different subjects. He that can lift a pound of feathers or wool, can lift a pound of iron or lead. The difference therefore perceived between the industry ofthe inhabitants of Kamschatka, and ours, arises from the different wants that a savage or polished nation must feel in dif- ferent climates. cause, 368 TREATISE ON MAN. The inequality ofunderstandings proceed from education. cause, finally, chance, that presides over our instruction, does not conduct all men to mines equally rich and fruitful. It is therefore to education, taken in the fullest extent that we can understand the term, and in which the idea of chance is also included * , that we are to refer the inequality of understandings. To complete the proofs of this truth, it only remains for me to shew, in the following section, the errors and contradictions inte which they fall, who on this subject adopt principles different from mine. I shall take M. Rousseau for an example. He is of

Because chance has always a part in our instruction, are we

thence to infer the inutility of education ? No : education will never make all the inhabitants of a nation men of superior understanding; but by improving it, by inventing new means of exciting in us the desire of glory, and putting men frequently in situations where chance places them rarely, there is no doubt that its empire may be greatly contracted. There are in Rome conservatories or schools of music, whence constantly issued good musicians, and in which are every year formed some men of genius. At Paris there is also a schoolfor bridges and public roads that produces intelligent artists, among whom are found some men of superior talents. An excellent education may therefore increase the talents of a nation, and may make ofthe meanest of the people men ofsense and intelligence. Now those advantages of an improved educa tion are sufficient to encourage men to the study of a science, the perfection ofwhich is in part connected with the happiness of humanity. all TREATISE ON MAN. 369 Intention of the anthor to examine Rousseau's opinions. all others the writer who in his works has treated this question with the most acuteness and eloquence. I shall therefore discuss his principal opinions ; and if I demonstrate their fallacy and contradiction, I imagine that the public then less attached to its ancient prejudices, will judge of my principles without partiality, and will find itself in that calm and happy disposition which leads men to adopt everyjust idea, however pa radoxical it may at first appear. VOL. I. 2 B NOTES. 370 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION IV. NOTES. 1. (page 280.) SOME have regarded the impetuosity of attack in a battle, as one of the characteristics of the French: but this impetuosity they possess in common with the Turks, and in general with all nations not accustomed to a severer discipline. The French, however, are susceptible of it . The king of Prussia has some ofthem in his army, and all are there exercised in the Prussian manner. 2. (p. 281. ) The words loyal and polished are not the same. Apeople of slaves may be polished. The habit of fear will make them reverential. Such a people are often more civil, and always less loyal, than one that is free. The merchants of all nations attest the loyalty of the English traders. The man that is free, is in general a man of probity. 3. (p. 282.) In a degraded nation, we do not find, even among the first ofthe citizens, characters of a certain elevation. Free and bold spirits would be there too discordant from the others. 4. (ibid.) Who is the man the most extolled in the East ? The greatest tyrant : he is the man most feared and most detested. This tyrant, so much praised while living, may, therefore, always think himself the idol and delight of his people. If history draw his portrait truly, it must be along time after his death. What me thod then has an Eastern monarch to know, if he really carries with him to the tombthe esteem and regret of his subjects ? He has but one whichis to reflect within himself, and examine, if he be always employed in promoting the happiness of his people, and if in all his actions he have never consulted any thing but the national interest. TREATISE ON MAN. 371 NOTES ON SECTION IV. interest. Has he been always indifferent about it ? He may rest assured, whatever eulogy they give him, that his name will be despised byposterity. Death is the spear of Ithuriel ; it destroys the charm of falsehood and flattery. Disgrace operates in the same manner on a vizir, as death does on a sultan. While the former is in place, there are no eulogies with which he is not loaded, no talents that are not ascribed to him ; but when discharged, he is, as he was before his elevation, frequently one of the meanest of the people. 5. (p. 282, ) Can an arbitrary monarch, always regardless of his foreign enemies, flatter himself that a people habituated to tremble at the scourge of his power, and base enough tamely to suffer themselves to be plundered of their property, their lives, and their liberty, will defend him against the attack of a powerful ene my? A monarch ought to know, that in dividing the chain which unites the interest of each individual with the general interest, he destroys all virtue, and that when the virtue of an empire is once destroyed, it is soon precipitated into ruin ; that the props of a despotic throne must sink under its weight ; that merely strong in the strength ofhis army, that army once defeated, his subjects, freed from their fears, will no longer fight for him ; that two or three battles have in the East decided the fate of the greatest empires. Witness Darius, Tigranes, and Antiochus. The Romans fought four hundred years to subjugate Italy, when free, but to conquer servile Asia they only presented themselves before it. 6. (p. 283.) The despot, for his glory and his security, ought to regard as his friends, those very philosophers whom he hates ; and as his enemies, those courtiers whom he cherishes, and whose vile flatteries of his vices excite him to crimes that lead on to his perdition. 7. (ibid. ) By what sign do we distinguish an arbitrary from a legitimate power ? Both make laws ; both inflict capital or infe rior punishments on the violators ofthose laws. Both employ the power of the community, that is, the power ofthe nation, to maintain their edicts, or repel the attack ofan enemy. True : but 2 B 2 they $72 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION IV. they differ, say's Locke, in this ; the first employs the public authority to gratify his caprice or enslave the inhabitants, and the otheremploys it to render himself respected by his neighbours, to secure to the inhabitants their property, their laws, and their liberty. In short, the employment of the national force to any other purpose than the general welfare is a crime. It is therefore the diffe rent manner of employing the national force that distinguishes the arbitrary from the legitimate power. 8. (p. 284. ) Despotisin appeared in such a light to the virtuous Tullius, the seventh king of Rome, that he had the courage to fix himselfthe bounds of the royal authority. 9. (ibid.) Among the various causes of the little success of France, in the last war, when we reckon the jealousy and inexperience of the generals, and their indifference for the public welfare, perhaps we should not forget the gangrene of religious slavery, which began at that time to spread itself over all minds. The Frenchman now no longer dares to think for himself. From day to day, he thinks less, and will, from day to day, become less respectable. 10. (p. 289. ) The love of power is such, that in England itself there is scarcely a minister who would not invest his prince with arbitrary power. The intoxication of a great place, makes the minister forget, that weighed down by the power he erects, he and his posterity will perhaps be its first victims. Why do men seek great employments ? Is it from a desire of doing good ? He that is not animated by this motive, must regard them as burdens. When men desire them, it is less for public utilitythan their own. Men are not, therefore, born so good as some pretend. Goodness supposes a love of others, and it is in ourselves onlywe center all our love. 11. (p. 290.) The desire of power is general, and if to obtain it all men do not expose themselves to the same dangers, it is because the love of self-preservation is in the greatest part of them an equipoise to their love of power. 12. p. 291.) In almost every country, force is preferred to justice. TREATISE ON MAN. 373 NOTES ON SECTION IV. justice. In France, they make the advocate pay taxes, but not the lieutenant. Why? Because one is to a certain degree the representative ofjustice, and the other ofpower. 13. (p. 292.) Who are the enemies of an illustrious man? His rivals, and almost all his contemporaries, His presence humbles them. By whom is he praised ? By the stranger ; he is without envy : he makes a part of living posterity : the distance ofplace equals that of time. The approbation of strangers is to a man of letters almost the only recompence that he can now expect. 14. (p. 297.) When we are inwardly constrained to acknowledge another to have a superior understanding, we hate him ; his presence is disgusting : we would be revenged and get rid of him : for that purpose we force him to leave his country, like Descartes, Bayle, Maupertuis, &c. or we persecute him like Montesquieu, Diderot, &c. There is no great man, they say, in the eyes of his wife, or his valet de chambre. I really believe it. How can we continually live with a man whom we are too often forced to admire? In this case, we must either leave him, or cease to esteem him. Riches and dignities may for a time impose silence on envy ; but then it is secretly irritated. We are unwilling that a man already our superior by birth and dignity, should also excel us in talents. Does a man write like Frederic ? We ridicule in him the talents for writing which we admire in Cæsar, Cicero, &c. we see him with regret establish his merit by a good work. But is not his conversation alone sufficient to prove his genius ? No: in "conversation the ideas succeed so rapidly, that we have not time to consider them in everylight, nor to see their propriety ; besides the tone and gesture of the speaker, and the disposition of the hearer, may all help to impose on us. We may therefore always dispute a merit of this sort ; we do, and console ourselves byit. Perhaps in orderto be loved we ought to deserve but little esteem ; all superiority attracts awe and aversion. Why does affa2 B3 bility 374 TREATISE ON MAN.. NOTES ON SECTION IV. bility render merit supportable ? Because it makes a man in some degree despicable. Areserved merit gives at once a disposition to respect and hatred, and an affable merit a disposition to love and contempt. He who would be caressed by those that surround him should be content with little esteem. We pardon merit by forgetting it. Great talents have some admirers and few friends. The secret and ge neral desire of the majority is not that genius exalt itself, but that folly be extended. 15. (p. 298.) From what motive do men purchase satirical pamphlets ? From the scandal they cast on great men, and the praises they give to those of little ability. Human nature is not changed in this respect. If the Athenians, says Plutarch, so hastily advanced youngCymon to the highest offices, it was to mortifyThemistocles ; they were tired of esteemning the same man so long together. Whydo we extol to excess rising talents Frequently to depress those already in esteem. When we penetrate, says Plutarch, pro- ' foundly into the human heart, and see its principal motives, we find that the desire of obliging one man arises less from the pleasure of serving him , than the gratification of envy in depreciating another. 16. (ibid.) Fathers in general, though honest, 'yet ignorant, see with impatience their sons frequent the company of men of letters, and give their society the preference to all others : their paternal pride is thereby mortified. 17. (ibid.) If, as they say, letters and philosophy be in France. without protectors, we may, without the spirit of prophecy, affirm that the succeeding generation will be without learning or genius ; and that of all the arts, those of luxury will alone be cultivated. 18. (p. 299.) Violence and persecution are in general proportioned to the merit of the persecuted. In every country illustri ous men have undergone disgrace. It is scarcely one hundred and fifty years since a man in England could not have been with impunity a great man. 19. (ibid. ) Few authors think for themselves. The greatest part TREATISE ON MANA $75 NOTES ON SECTION IV. part of books are made after other books ; yet he that has not a manner of his own, ought not to expect esteem from posterity. 20. (p. 299.) Formerly all menbowed down before the ancients, and whoever in secret preferred Tasso to Virgil or Homer never owned it. What reason however have we for concealing our opinion, when we do not give it as a law? What better than the diversity of opinions, can improve the taste of the public ? 21. (ibid) When princes or magistrates regard the opinion of posterity, they commonly merit its esteem ; they will be just in their edicts and their sentences. It is the same with authors. When a writer has posterity present to his mind, his manner of comparing objects becomes great ; he discovers important truths, and he secures to himself the general esteem, because he writes for men of all ages and all countries. 22. (p. 300.) The theological libel intitled the Censure of Belisarius, excites horror bythe barbarity and cruelty of its assertions ; it always recals to my mind that fine verse of Racine. Eh quoi, Mathan ! d'un prêtre est cela le langage? What, Mathan ! is this the language of a priest ? 23. (ibid.) The citizens to whom we owe the greatest respect are, first, those generals and ministers whose valour or sagacity have secured the grandeur or felicity of empires. The next most useful citizens are such as improve the arts and sciences, supplythe wants of men, or preserve them from discontent. Whythen do we shew more respect to a man of wealth or power than to a great mathematician, poet, or philosopher ? Because our first respect is for a power or possession to which we constantly join the idea of happiness and pleasure. Poweris the idol of youth, and even of those of maturer age ; so long as they can twine the myrtles with their laurels. If power be sometimes disdained by age, it is because it no longer affords its former advantage. 24. (p. 304.) It is at the period that men, by increasing, are forced 2 B 4 376 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION IV. forced to manure the earth, that they perceive the necessity of securing to thelabourer his harvest, and the property of the land he cultivates. Before cultivation it is nowonder that the strongest should think he has as much right over a piece of harren ground as the first occupier. 25. (p. 305.) A resistance to him who is possessed ofpower is reputed sedition and a crime even in polished nations. No proof of this can be more clear than the complaint an English merchant made tothe house of commons : " Gentlemen, said he, you can "6 never imagine how perfidiously the negroes treat us ; their "wickednessis sogreat, that on some ofthe coasts of Africa they "prefer death to slavery. When we have bought them, they " tab themselves, or plunge into thesea ; which is so much loss "to the purchasers. Judge by this action of the perversity of " that abominable race." 26. (p. 307. ) At what time do a people violate the law of nations Whenthey can do it with impunity. Rome while weak was equitable and virtuous when it had conquered Macedonia no nation could resist it : then become more strong it ceased to be just. Its inhabitants were from that time without honour, and without faith. The powerful are alway's unjust. Justice between nations is constantly founded on a reciprocal fear, and hence that political axiom : If you desire peace, prepare for war. Si vispacem, para bellum. 27. (p. 309.) Aristotle places robbery among the different kinds of hunting ; and Solon, among the several professions, reckons that of theft : he observes only that we should not rob either our fellow- citizens, or the allies of our republic. Rome, under the first of her kings, was a den of robbers. The Germans, says Cesar, regard devastation and pillage as the only exercise proper for youth ; and the only one that can keep them from idleness, and make them finished men. 28. (ibid. ) There is, they say, a law of nations between the English, French, Germans, Italians, &c. I believe it. The fear of reprisals will establish it among nations of a force nearly equal ; but

TREATISE ON MAN. 377 NOTES ON SECTION IV. but when they are freed from that fear, and have to do with a savage people, from that moment the law of nations appears to them nothing more than a chimera. Is it for the Christians to talk of the law of nations, the law of nature and of virtue ? They, who without any injury received from the Indians of the East, invade their coasts, lay waste their cities, and driveout the inhabitants, who with their European merchandize carry to the African towns a spirit of discord, and availing themselves of the wars they have kindled, purchase the vanquished for slaves, who without offence, or even the appearance of offence on the part of the western Indians, landed in America, destroyed the palaces of Montezuma and the Incas, massacred their subjects, and seized on their dominions, without regard to the law, primo occupanti. The church boasts of causing treasures that have been stolen to be restored ; but has it caused the empires of Mexico and Peru to be restored to their legal proprietors ? Has it not on the contrary, in concert with princes, pillaged the new world ? Has it not enriched itself with the spoils, and by its conduct brought into contempt those precepts ofthe natural law, which it says are engraved on every heart by the hand of God ? What can be more absurd and pitiful than the morality of the church ? If a prince take a mistress, it is in their opinion a matter of indifference, if she do not oppose the projects of the church, : for then the priests cry aloud against the impiety. But if the same prince carry war and devastation among a people that have not offended him, if he cause 400,000 men to perish in an expedition, and bow down his people with taxes, the priests are silent. Curious morality this of the catholic church ! 29. (p, 310.) Men lovejustice, they say ; but the magistrates are the instruments of justice, and charged by the state to administerit ; they therefore ought, above all, to protect innocence. But do they in reality protect it ? A criminal cause is conducted in two different manners in Spain and in England : that in which · an advocate is given to the accused, and where his trial is conducted 378. TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION IV. ducted in a public manner, is without doubt that where innocence is most protected against the corruption and partiality of the judges, and consequently the best. Whythen is it not adopted ?. Whydo not the magistrates solicit its admission ? Because they imagine that the more arbitrary their sentences are, the more fear they will inspire, and the more authority they will have over the people The so much boasted love of equity is not therefore either natural or common to men. Now, how can we call them the friends of humanity, when they are not even friends tojustice ? 30. ( p. 310.) The idea of happiness is so closely connected in the mind with that of power, that they are not without difficulty separated. Werespect even the appearance ofpower : it is to this sentiment that we owe perhaps a certain admiration of suicide. Weimagine him to be possessed of great power who can so des◄ pise life as to put himself to death. To what cause butthe love of power can we attribute the excessive hatred of women for men of acertain inclination ? Alexander, Socrates, Solon, and Catinat were heroes, faithful friends, and worthy citizens a man may therefore have this inclination, and be useful to his family and his country. Whence then proceeds the horror of women for men suspected ofit? Because they have less power over them. Now this defect of power is to them insupportable ; they are so many slaves to it, at least in their empire, men of this sort are therefore guilty of a crime that death alone can expiate. 31. (ibid.) It is power that makes one monarch respected by · another. While Philip II, was busied in his closet, he called for : aservant, and nobody came ; his fool laughed. What do you laugh at ? said the king. To think ofthe awe and fear in which youhold

That those men were really addicted to this perverse inclination seems to be mere conjecture ; it was doubtless very common.

in Greece, and therefore every ancient Greek is supposed to have been infected with it : just as we suppose every Dutchinan to be a lover of money, and every Frenchman fond of gallantry. T. • all TREATISE ON MAN. 379 NOTES ON SECTION IV. all Europe, and of the contempt in which they would hold you if you were not powerful, and the rest of your subjects did not serve. youbetter than your domestics. 32. (p. 311.) Princes rarely feel the enthusiasm of equity : few among them are animated with a noble love of humanity. In all antiquity Gelo alone affords an example of it. He held human sacrifices in horror ; he carried the war into Africa, and obliged the vanquished Carthaginians to abolish that detestable custom. Catherine, in like manner, armed to force the Poles to toleration. Of all wars those two perhaps have been alone undertaken for the happiness of nations. Gelo and Catherine II . will therefore, in. this respect, divide the esteem of posterity. If we would judge of the merit of sovereigns, we should do it, not bythe little broils that may arise in their families, but by the they have done, or would have done to mankind. doing good is rare among them. The only time at which the. public good commonly operates is that when the interest of the prince coincides with that of the people. At what periods have the kings of France promoted the liberty of their subjects, and weakened the feudal power? Whenthe haughty vassals of the crown equalled themselves with their sovereigns ; then the ambition of the monarchs gave freedom tothe people. great benefits The desire of Let not the princes ofthe East boast oftheir love of equity. He that would make brutes of his subjects cannot love them. It is a folly to imagine the people would be then more docile and easy to› govern. The more enlightened a nation is, the more readily it submits tothe just demands of an equitable administration. He that would blind his subjects, would be unjust with impunity. Such in general are men, and yet they dare to call themselves the friends ofjustice. O self-ignorance and hypocrisy ? 33. (ibid.) Are there, as it is asserted, men who sacrifice their dearest interest to justice ? No : but there are those who hold nothing dearer than justice. This generous sentiment is in them the effect of an excellent education. By what method can this principle 380 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION IV. • principle be engraved on every heart ? By representing on one hand, the unjust man as base, despised, and consequently impotent ; . and on the other hand, the just man as esteemed, honoured, and . consequently powerful. When the idea of justice is by these means connected inthe mind with those of power and happiness, they will be confounded, and form but one ; and when we have a habit of recalling them together, it will soon become impossible to divide them. This habit once contracted, we shall be proud of appearing just and virtuous ; and then there is nothing that we shall not sacrifice to that noble pride. It is thus the love of power and importance begets the love of justice. This last love, it is true, is a stranger to man ; that of · power, onthe contrary, is natural to him ; it is commonto all ; tothe honest man and the knave, the savage and the polished citizen. The love ofpower is the immediate effect of corporeal sensibi-. lity, and the desire of justice is the effect of instruction : consequently, it is onthe sagacity ofthe laws that the virtue of a people· depends. How many virtuous men are there among a people wherejustice is respected, that would be unjust among a ferocious nation, where equity is regarded as weakness and cowardice ? Men therefore do not love equity for itself. This question has been at all times decided by the conduct and manners ofall nations,. and all despots. 34. (p. 315.) Under a feudal government who are the tyrants ?. The lords. Tyrants therefore, they will say, are more numerous here than under a despotic government. I doubt it. The sultan has under him vizirs, pachas, beys, receivers and directors of taxes, with an infinity ofunderlings and sub-tyrants, who are still more. indifferentto the happiness ofthe vassals than the proprietors. 35. p. 320.) In England, if iniquity in a great man be despised bylow people, it is because those people, being protected by the law, have nothing to fear from the great. If in every other . + country i TREATISE ON MAN. 381 NOTES ON SECTION IV. country the vices of the great be on the contrary respected, it is because vice is there armed with power, and power we can abhor and not despise. 36. (p. 321.) Attila, as well as Thamas, gloried in being the scourge of the Almighty. w 37. (ibid. ) Seditious and rebellious are the injurious titles which the powerful oppressor gives to the impotent oppressed. 38. (p. 322.) In every empire where the momentary desire ofa prince is a law, all the laws are contradictory, and there are no appearances of moral principles, either in the governors or those that are governed. 39. (p. 324.) Contempt is the portion of weakness. This is perhaps the only truth of which princes are not ignorant. Ifa monarch lose a province or a town, he appears despicable even in his own eyes ; but if he unjustly take atown or province from his neighbour, he thinks himself respectable. He has always seen injustice honoured in the potent, and the world remain silent be fore power. 1 40. (ibid .) The strong and wicked, says an English poet, fear those only that are stronger and worse than themselves ; but the just and virtuous ought to fear all men ; he has all his fellowcitizens, even his very friends, for persecutors ; all attack him. His virtue freesthem from the fear of revenge. Humanity in him is equal to weakness in others ; and under a vicious government, the good and weak are born victims to the wicked and strong. 41. (p. 328.) An English nobleman landed in Italy, travelled through the country about Rome, and embarked hastily for England. Why, he was asked, do you quit this fine country ? “ I " can no longer bear, said he to see the wretched looks of the "Romanpeasants ; their misery torments me ; they have not even " a human aspect.” This nobleman perhaps exaggerated ; but he did not falsify. 42. (ibid. ) The murder of Clytus was the disgrace of Alexan der, and the punishment of the Dutch gazetteer that ofthe French minister. $82 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION IV. minister. The crine ofthose two unfortunate menwas the same ; they were both imprudent enough to speak the truth. In the last century mankind were enraged at the treatment ofthe gazetteer. There are ages still more base, when the punishment of a man of veracity is applauded. 43. (p. 3.8.) When we are concerned for this gazetteer, and compare his crime with his punishment, we seemto be transported tothe dominions ofthe sultan ofthe Indies, who hanged his visir for having put three grains of pepper into a cream tart. The illustri ous, but unfortunate, M. Chalotois was very near suffering the same fate, it is said, for having, in like manner, put three grains of salt into aletter, written to a comptroller- general. 44. (ibid. ) In France, why do they not dare to exhibit the futility of the great on the stage ? Because, they say, comedies of that sort would produce little reformation ; it is true. The poet who flatters himself with correctingthe frivolity ofthe French by a ridiculous portrait is deceived. There is no filling the vessels of the Danaides. Men of sound sense are not to be formed under a government where priests and women have a powerful influence. Alight and trifling spirit can alone be there cultivated ; for it is that only whichleads to fortune. 45. (p. 329.) It is not to his genius, but constantly to some particular event, that a man of talents owes the protection of the ignorant. Ifthe ugly seek the company ofthe blind, ignorance flies that of the sharp-sighted. 46. (ibid.) An ignorant visir always views with an evil eye the man who travels into the countries of learned people and wise princes. Thevisir fears that the traveller on his return should des. pise him an enemy to men of ability, he boasts of his contempt for them, and it is by this contempt that the stranger judges him. Great ministers and great princes have always been protectors of letters ; witness the prince of Brunswick, Catherine II. Prince Henry of Prussia, &c. 47. (ibid.) It was formerly the privilege of fools sometimes to speak 7 TREATISE ON MAN. 383 NOTES ON SECTION IV. speak the truth to princes ; but still with what caution and at what moments ! Let us imitate, says one of them , the prudence of the cats ; they do not think themselves secure in an apartment till they have smelled to every corner of it... 48. (p. 330.) It is to the liberty the English and Dutch, still enjoythat Europe owes the little of it that still remains. Except them there is scarcely any nation that does not groan under the yoke of ignorance and despotism. Every virtuous man, every good citizen, should therefore interest himself in the liberty of those two people. 49. (ibid. ) It is only automata that despotism commands. There are no characters but a free nation. The English have one ; the Eastern nations have not fear and servility stifles it among them. ་ 50. (p. 332.) When a government prohibits writing on matters. of administration, it makes a vow of blindness, and that vow is common enough. " As long as my finances are well regulated, " and my army well disciplined, said a great prince, let who will "write against my discipline and my administration ; but if I neg- " lect either of these, who knows whether I should not have the "weakness to compel such writers to silence." 51. (ibid.) When a man becomes a minister, it is no longer his time to form principles, but to apply them ; carried away by the -current of business, what he then learns is nothing more than details, always unknown to those that are not in place. 52. (ibid.) To limit the press is to insult the nation : toprohibit the reading of certain bocks is to declare the inhabitants to be either fools or slaves : such a prohibition ought to fill them with disdain. But it will be said, it is almost always after the opinion ofthepowerful that a book is approved or condemned ; yes, at the beginning but this first judgment is nothing ; it is the voice of prejudice for or against. Thejudgment truly interesting to an author is thejudgment of the people, after reflection, which is almost always just. 53. (ibid.) 384 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION IV. 53. (p. 332.) The age at which men attain great places is frequently that when attention becomes the most irksome. At that age he who compels me to study is my enemy ; I seek his punishment, and wish his death. I can very well pardon a poet for his fine verses ; I can read them without attention but I cannot pardon a moralist for his acute reasonings ; for the importance of the subject obliges me to reflect, and if he combats my prejudices, hewounds mypride, he robs me of my indolence, and forces me tothink ; now every constraint produces hatred. ' 54. (p. 333.) The land of despotism is fruitful in miseries as well as monsters. Despotism is the luxury of power, of no signi ficance to the happiness of a sovereign. The very idea´ of this power would have made a Roman tremble. It is the terror ofan Englishman. Judge Pratt says on this subject, " Let us be cau- ' tious that the study of the Italian and the French does not de- "base a free people. " What are in the eyes of the English the nobility of Europe ? Menwhojoin tothe quality of slaves that ofoppressors of the people ; of citizens whomthelawitself cannot protect against the man in place. A nobleman in Portugal is neither proprietor of his life, his estate, norhis liberty : he is a domestic negro, who, flogged by the immediate order of his master, despises the negro floggedby order of the overseer of a plantation. This, in almost all the courts of Europe, is the only difference between the humble citizen and the haughty nobleman. 55. (ibid. ) We must either creep, or keep at a distance from the court. He who cannot live but by its favours, must degrade his nature, or die of hunger. Few men prefer the latter. 56. (p. 334.) The late king of Prussia being at supper with the English ambassador, asked him what he thought ofmonarchs. " In 86 general, he replied, I think them a worthless race : they are ig- "norant, and debauched by flattery. The only thing in which "theysuccced, is riding a horse ; and at the same time, of all'those "that approach them, the horse is the only one that does not flatter them ; TREATISE ON MAN. 385 NOTES ON SECTION Y. " them ; for he breaks their neck if they do not manage " well." him 57. (p. 334.) Themore despotic a government is, and the more degraded the minds of the people are, the more they boast of a love of theirtyrant. The slaves in Morocco bless their fate and their prince, at the very time he condescends to cut theirthroats with his own hands. 58. (ibid.) Sovereigns corrupted by flattery are spoiled chil dren. Habituated to command slaves, they frequently attempt to behave in the same manner to their equals, and are sometimes punished by the loss of a part of their dominions. It was this chastisement which the Romans inflicted on Tigranes, Antiochus, &c. when those tyrants dared to equal themselves to a free people. 59. (p. 336.) When a man is rich he would be admired for his wealth ; when he is of quality, he would be admired for his rank ; whenhe is well made, for his figure. It is not difficult to praise all have something which theythink commendable. 60. (p. 338.) The man of genius thinks for himself; his opi nions are sometimes contrary to those commonly received ; he therefore shocks the vanity of the greater number. To offend nobody we should have no ideas but those ofthe world : a man is then without genius and without enemies. 61. (p. 343.) The Albigenses were treated in the same manner as the Vaudois. The excess to whichthe rage of intolerance was carried against them is notto be conceived. The frightful picture of the barbarities exercised on the Vaudois is leftus by Samuel Morland the English ambassador at Savoy, then resident on the spot. " Never, says he, did Christians commit such cruel- "ties on Christians : they cut offthe heads of the barbes, (the "teachers of the people), boiled and eat them : they cut "open the bellies of the women, to the navel, with flints ; "from others they cut off their breasts, broiled and eat them. " They applied fire to the private parts of some ; they brokethe "limbs of others, and exposed them to scorching fires ; from "others they plucked off their nails with pincers ; they tied men, VOL. I. 2 c half $86 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION V. " half dead, to the tails of horses, and drew them in that manner "overrocks. The least oftheir punishments wasto be thrown from " a steep rock, from whence they frequently fell among trees, to "which they hung till they perished by hunger, cold, and their "wounds. They cut some of them into a thousand pieces, and "strewed their limbs and flesh about the country. They impaled "the virgins by their private parts, and carried them about like "standards. Among others they drew a young man, named " Pelanchion, about the streets of Lucerne, which are every where "strewed with pointed flint stones ; and if the pain made him lift up " his head or his hands, they were presently beat down : they at " last cut off his secret parts, and by stuffing them into his mouth, " stifled him ; then cut off his head, and threw the trunk into "the river. The Catholics tore to pieces with their hands the in- " fants they snatched from the cradle. They roasted young girls " alive, cut off their breasts, and ate them. From others they cut " off the nose, the ears, and other parts of their bodies. They "filled the mouth ofsomewith gun-powder, to which they set fire. " They flead others alive, and hung the skin before the windows of " Lucerne. They beat out the brains of others, which they roasted " or boiled, and then ate. The least punishments were to cut out "their hearts, to burn them alive, to disfigure their faces, cutthem "into a thousand pieces, and then drown them. But they shewed "themselves true Catholics, and worthy Romans, when at Garig- "liano they heated an oven, and forced eleven Vaudois to throw "each other into it, till the last, whom the murderers threw in "themselves. Nothing was to be seen in all the vallies but bo- "dies dead or dying. The snow of the Alps was stained with "their blood. Here was seen a head, there a trunk, legs, arms, "bowels torn out, and a heart yet beating." Forwhatpretended crime did they punish the Vaudois with so muchbarbarity? For that of rebellion, they said. They were reproached with not having abandoned their dwellings andthe place of their birth at the first order of Gastall and the pope ; of not 7 •· having 1 TREATISE ON MAN. 387 NOTES ON SECTION V. having exiled themselves. from a country they had possessed for 1500 years, and where they had always enjoyed the free exercise of their religious worship. It is thus that the gentle Catholic religion, its gentle ministers and saints have at all times treated mankind. What could the apostles of the devil do worse ? 62. (p. 344.) No man can cast a penetrative look on the various false religions, without conceiving the greatest contempt for the human race in general, and for himself in particular. What ! he willsay, were thousands ofyears necessary to convince men equally intelligentwith myself of the folly of paganism ? Dothe Jews and the Guebres still persist in their errors ! Do the Mussulmans still believe inMahomet ; and may it be thousands of years before they are convinced ofthe fallacy of the Koran ! Man must certainly be a very weak and credulous animal, and in sl:ort, this planet of ours must be, as a wise man said, the mad-house of the universe. 63. (ibid. ) Why is the clergyman generally esteemed in Eng-- land ? Because he is tolerant ; the laws tying his hands, and giving him no share in administration : because he does not, and cannot injure any one because the maintenance ofthe English clergy is not soburthensome to the state as Catholic clergy ; and lastly, because in that country religion is properly nothing more than a phi losophical opinion. 64. (ibid.) What I say of zeal I say also of humility. Of whatever sect we suppose a cardinal to be, he can never really think himself humble when he sets himself up at Rome for the protector ofsuch a kingdom as France. True humility would refuse so ostentatious a title. I do not mean however to deny the stupidity of some prelates ; but their ambitious pretensions prove less the abi lity of the clergy than the folly of the people. During my stay atJapan, said a traveller to me, whenever I heard the words DonooSury-Sama, that is to say, My Lord Crane, they forced meto think on the name of some bishop. 65. (ibid. ) Jesus exercised no authority upon earth. Ifhe had desired that the sacerdotal power should command, he would have 2 c2 at 838 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION Y. at first left that command with his apostles. Now their successors have not yet shewn us their commission, or title to such a legacy. 66. (p. 345.) The Saducees were regarded as the most virtuous amongthe Jews. The word Saduc in Hebrew is synonimous to just. The Saducees therefore were, and ought to have been less hateful to God. than the Pharasees : the latter demanded the death and the blood of Jesus Christ. Now incredulity is, and ever will , be, less contrary to the spirit ofthe Gospel than inhumanity and deicide. 67. (p. 346.) To the disgrace of France, M. Rousseau has not been less persecuted at Paris than at Neufchatel. The Sorbonnists could not forgive him his dialogue of the Reasoner and Inspired. That dialogue, they say, is too bold. What answer is there to this ? But the reasonings of M. Rousseau are either true or false. Torefutejust reasons by violence is injustice ; to refute bad reasons bythe same method is folly: it is to confess stupidity ; to injure our owncause. Sophismsrefute themselves : thetruthis easily defended. Besides what are the objections of M. Rousseau ? Those that every bonze, dervis, and mandarin makes to the monk he would convert. Are those objections insoluble ? Whatthen do the monks in China? Why do they ask assistance, alms, and gratuities of princes, to defray the expence of a mission wherethey can make no converts ? But the monks who travel over the East have no other object than to enrich themselves by commerce ; they employ the treasures that have been lavished on them by the people to no other purpose than to deprive those very people of the profit of legitimate con.merce. In this case what just reproaches have not the nations to make them ? And what accusations can they bring against M. Rousseau ? He has preached, they say, the religion of nature : but it is not contrary to that of revelation. M. Rousseau has been honest in his criticisms : he was not the author of those infamous libels intitled, Gazette Ecclesiastique, yet he is banished, and the novelist is tolerated. Whothenwere thy judges, Q illustrious Rousseau ? Fanatics, who would, if it were TREATISE ON MAN. 389 NOTES ON SECTION V. were in their power, blast the memory of Marcus Aurelius, Antoninus, and Trajan, and would accuse the greatest prince in Europe of his superior talents as a crime. What regard is to be paid to such judgments ? None. Let us appeal to posterity, and despise all those judgments that are not pronounced by reason and equity. Posterity will judge the judges, and if the most intolerant have not been the greatest knaves, they have at least been the greatest fools. Abutt for the cabals of priests, M. Rousseau is treated in this century as Abelard was in the twelfth by the monks of St. Denis. He denied that their founder was Dionysius the Areopagite mentioned in the NewTestament. From that moment they declared him an enemy to the glory and crown of France : he was consequently defamed, persecuted, and proscribed by the saints of his age. Whoever opposes the pretensions ofa monk is an impious wretch. Hence the accusations of blasphemy and atheism are now become so puerile and ridiculous. I hope, for the honour of the human understanding, that the great men of the earth, the princes, ministers, and magistrates will one day blush at having b en the vile instruments of monastic rage and vengeance ; that they will fear to` make exiſe and punishment honourable by the merit of those on whom those punishments are inflicted. The Athenians, to secure their liberty, sometimes banished a too popular citizen : the fear of a master made them proscribe a great man. The nations of Europe, secure from that danger, have not the same pretence for committing the same injustice. 68. (p. 346.) Cassiodorus thought like St. John. Religion, he said, cannot be commanded. Force makes hypocrites, and not believers. Religio imperari non potest, quia nemo cogitur ut credat. Faith, says St. Bernard, ought to be persuaded, not commanded ; fides suadenda, non imperanda. Nothing is morevoluntary, says Lactantius, than religion ; it is nothing in him to whom it is repugnant. Nihil est tam voluntarium quam religio in qua, si animus uversus est, jam sublata, jam nuila est. Nothing 390 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION V. thingis more contrary to religion, says Tertullian, than to endea vour to force belief ; it is not by violence, but freely we must believe. Nonest religionis religionem cogere velle, cum sponte suscipi debeat, non vi. 69. (p. 349.) The Pagans, it will he said, believed in priests that were impostors. Be it so : but did that belief give them a right to persecute ? There are thousands who believe in a mountebank, or an old woman, rather than a physician. Has the latter a right to demand the death ofthe unbelievers in medicine ? In corporeal as well as spiritual maladies, every one ought to choose his own physician. 70. (ibid. ) Frequently, says M. Lambert of Prussia in his Novum Organum, we think, believe we think, and believe more than we really think and believe. This is the source of athousand errors. Ifa man forbear, for example, to read prohibited books, he thinks he believes, and suspects in secret the fallacy of his belief: he is like a false pleader, who fears to read the defence of the adverse party. 71. (ibid. ) The pilots of the vessels of superstition are skilful ; as for the sailors, the greatest part of them are ignorant. The govern ing clergy require but little understanding in the clergy governed; andon this account we have nothing with whichto reproach the latter. Somebody once asked Fontenelle : Howdoes yourbrother the priest employ himself? Inthe morning, replied the philosopher, he say's mass, and in the evening he does not know what he says. 72. (p. 350.) Nothing can be more absurdly subtle, say the English, than the arguments of the theologians, to prove to the ignorant Catholics the veracity of popery. These arguments would do equally well to prove the truth ofthe Koran, that of the Thousand and One Nights, or the tale of Mother Goose. To be convinced of this, let them apply to those stories the sophisms and distinctions of the schools, andthey will find nothing in them theologically incredible. 73. (ibid. ) Descartes, when persecuted, quitted France, taking, TREATISE ON MAN. 391 NOTES ON SECTION V. taking, like Æneas, his penates with him, that is, the esteem and regret of men of sagacity. The parliament, then Aristotelian, published anarret against the Cartesians : their doctrine was therein condemned ; as has since been that of the Encyclopedia, l'Esprit, and Emilius. There is nothing different in these arrets buttheir dates. Nowthe present parliaments laugh at the former; future parliaments will laugh at the present. 74. (p. 350.) See the apology by Naudé, for great men accused of magic. The author there thinks himself obliged to prove that Homer, Virgil, Zoroaster, Orpheus, Democritus, Solomon, pope Sylvester, Empedocles, Apollonius, Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, Paracelsus, &c. never were sorcerers. 75. (ibid. ) The Theoiogians have so much abused the word materialists, of which they have never been able to give a clear idea, that the term at last became synonimous with a clear understanding. They now mean by that word those celebrated writers whoseworks are read with avidity. 76. (p. 352.) With what odious imputations have not the Catholics loaded the Protestants? What tricks have not the monks employed to irritate princes against their faithful subjects ! What art to make them appear no other than rebels, who with rage in their hearts, and arms in their hands, are ever ready to scale the throne ! Such, O monks, is your justice and your charity ! On what do you found your calumnies? Which of the churches, the Roman orthe Protestant, has the most frequently arrogated the right of dethroning kings, and depriving them at once of sceptre and life? and which has most frequently put it in practice ? If we examine history, and calculate the number and kind of attempts made by one and .the other, the question will soon be decided. The protestants, they will say, have made war on princes. No : but princes have made war onthem. When I am unjustly attacked, defence is a law of nature, and numerous persecuted always avail themselves of this law. It is by irritating the sovereign against his faithful subjects, that the monks put arms into the hands of 392 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION Y. ofthe protestants. Allthe different sects of Christians are at this day tolerated in Holland, England, and Germany ; and what troubles do they there excite ? Peace is established in that empire on the plan of toleration, and doubtless will remain there as long as the government shall restrain the ambition of the ecclesiastics. To conclude ; if, as I have already said, governments take no part in theological quarrels, the people will regard them as matters of no more importance than the disputes about the ancient and modern writers. 77. (p. 352.) Who has not laughed to see the Jesuits so often accuse the parliaments of revolt, and cite them before the king, as a scholar before his preceptor ? France, they then said, is a nation of slaves, where each one accuses the other of sedition. 78. (p. 353.) The monks are employed incessantly in searching the scriptures for passages whose interpretation may be favourable to intolerance ; but whodoes not know that though the scriptures are of God, the interpretations are ofmen. 79. (p. 354.) The warrior, frank and brave, is commonly hu mane ; his freedom and courage get him above all fear. The priest, on the contrary, is cruel. Why ? Because he is weak, false, and cowardly. Now of all creatures, says Montaigne, if women be the most cruel, it is because in general they are weak and destitute of courage. Cruelty is always the effect offear, weakness and cowardice. 80. (ibid. ) Nothing is more indeterminate than the signification of the word impious, to which is annexed a vague, confused idea of villainy. Do they by this word mean an atheist, and apply it to one who has only obscure ideas of the Deity ? In this sense all men are atheists ; for no one can comprehend incomprehensi bility. Dothey apply it to those who call themselves materialists ? But if we have not yet any clear, adequate ideas of matter, we can have no clear idea of the impiety of materialism. Are we to regard as atheists those who have not the same idea of God as the Catholics ? We must then call by this name the pagans, he retics, TREATISE ON MAN. 393 NOTES ON SECTION IV. retics, and infidels. Now in the last sense atheist is not a synonimous term with villain : it signifies a man who on certain metaphysical or theological points does not think with the monk and the Sorbonne. That the word atheism or impiety may recal to the mind some idea of villainy, to whom should it be applied ? To persecutors. 81. (p. 356.) It is not to be imagined to what a degree intolerance has of late years carried idiotism in France. A man of sense informed me that during the last war a hundred idiots, when with their confessors, accused the Encyclopedists ofthe derange ment in the finances ; and God knows if any one ofthem ever had the least band in their administration. Others reproached the philosophers with the little love for glory in our generals ; and at that time these same philosophers were exposed to a persecution, that nothing but the love of glory and the public welfare could support. Others again attributed to the publication of the Encyclopedia, and the progress ofthe hilosophic spirit, the defeats ofthe French armies ; yet it was then that the very philosophic king of Prussia, and the very philosophic people of England, every where defeated those armies. Philosophy was the sprite in the story that did all the mischief. Yet, said a great prince on this subject, every people who banish philosophy and good sense from among them, cannot promise themselves either great success in war, or aspeedy re-establishment in peace. In Portugal there are few philosophers to be found ; and per haps the weakness of the state is there in proportion to the folly and superstition of the people. 82. (p. 357.) Without the aid ofthe Catholic princes the Papists, as stupid, and perhaps more intolerant than the Jews, would fall into the same contempt. 83. (p. 358.) Intolerance was never greater in France : perhaps they would not now print, without castrations, M. Fleury's Ecclesiastical History, nor permit the impression of Fontaine's Fables. VOL. I. 2 D What 394 TREATISE ON MAN. NOTES ON SECTION IV. What impiety might they not find in his lines on the sculptor and the statue of Jupiter* ? 84 (p. 360.) Every thing in us, even to self-love, is acquisi tion ; we learn to love ourselves, to be humane or inhuman, vir tuous or vicious. The moral man is all education and imitation . 83. (ibid. ) Our various characters are the produce of our factitious passions ; that they are not the effect of organisation or particular temperament is evident by their being attached to certain professions : such, according to Mr. Hume, is that of a soldier, and that of a minister of the altar, which are nearly the same in all ages, countries, and religions. 86. (p. 361. ) The love of glory elevates a man above himself; it extends the faculties of the mind and soul : but he who regards that passion as the effect of a particular organisation deceives himself. The desire of glory is a passion so truly factitious and dependent on the form ofgovernment, that the legislature canalways at its pleasure kindle or extinguish it in a nation. 87. (p. 363.) There is no art or science that has not its particular language and it is the study of this language that at an adyanced : Ye renders us incapable of the study of new sciences. 88. (p. 367.) There are in every country a certain number of objects, that education offers equally to all ; and it is the uniform impression ofthose objects that produces in the inhabitants that resemblance ofideas and sentiments to which we give the name of the spirit and character of the nation. There is besides, a certain number of different objects that chance and education present to each individual, and it is the different impressions of these objects which produce in the same indi-

The poet formerly owed but little to the weakness of the

sculptor, who dreaded the wrath and hatred of the gods ofhis own making for in this he was a child, and children are solely concerned that their dolls be not offended. T. viduals TREATISE ON MAN, 395 NOTES ON SECTION VIII. viduals that diversity of ideas and sentiments to which we give the name of particular spirit and character. 89. (p. 367.) I suppose that a man cannot make himselfillustrious in letters without dividing his time between the world and retirement ; that it is in solitude he must collect diamonds, and in the world cut, polish, and set them. It is evident " chance and fortune, which have permitted me to live by turns in the city andin the country, have done more for me than some others. END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 960 3373

Front matter

A TREATISE ON MAN; HIS INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES AND HIS EDUCATION. Claudas Adrien By M. HELVETIUS. A Honteux de m'ignorer, Dans mon être, dans moi, je cherche à pénétrer. Voltaire, Dis. VI. de la Nat. del'Homme, TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCHI, WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES, By W. HOOPER, M. D. ANEW AND IMPROVED EDITION. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. ALBIONPRESS: PRINTED FOR JAMES CUNDEE, IVY-LANE, AND VERNOR, HOOD AND SHARPE, 31, POULTRY. 1810. 80599 016930. VI 138 X80599 076930

TREATISE ON MAN; A HIS INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES AND HIS EDUCATION. By M. HELVETIUS. Honteux de m'ignorer, Dans mon être, dans moi, je cherche à pénétrer. Voltaire, Dis. VI. de la Nat, de l'Homme. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH!, WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES, By W. HOOPER, M. D. ANEW AND IMPROVED EDITION. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. ALBION PRESS: PRINTED FOR JAMES CUNDEE, IVY- LANE, PATERNOSTER- ROW, LONDON. 1810.

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 ''[[A Treatise on Man: His Intellectual Faculties and His Education]]'' (1777) by [[Helvetius]]
+==Full text of volume 1==
+PREFACE.
+MY inducement to engage in the following work,
+was merely the love of mankind and of truth ;
+from a persuasion, that to become virtuous and
+happy, we want only to know ourselves, and entertain just ideas ofmorals.
+Mydesign can scarcely be mistaken. Had I
+published this book in my life- time, I should, in
+all probability, have exposed myself to persecution, without the prospect of any personal advantage.
+That I have continued to maintain the same
+sentiments which I advanced in my Treatise onthe
+Understanding, is the consequence of their appearing to me the only rational principles on the
+subject, and of their being generally adopted,
+since that time, by men of the greatest learning
+and abilities.
+Those principles are farther extended, and
+more accurately examined, in the present work
+than in the former ; my reflection having suggested a number of new ideas, while I, was emA ployed 2
+iv PREFACE.
+ployed in the composition. Such thoughts asare
+less intimately connected with the subject, are
+thrown into notes, at the end of each section ;
+those only being retained in the text, which were
+of an explanatory nature, or served to remove
+objections, which could not be directly answered,
+without greatly encreasing the limits, and retarding the progress of the work.
+The second is the most encumbered with
+notes, because the principles which it contains,
+being more particularly controvertible, require
+the support of a greater accumulation of proof.
+It is not improper on this occasion to cbserve,
+that there are several reasons which may render
+a work contemptible in the opinion of the public ; such as, that the author has not taken sufficient pains to merit approbation ; that he is defective in abilities, or chargeable with disingenuousness. I can safely affirm , that I have nothing
+with which to reproach myself on the latter of
+those heads. It is only in prohibited publications
+that truth is now to be found ; for in others, falsehood is discernible. The greater number of authors are in their writings, what men ofthe world
+are in their conversation : solicitous only to
+please, they are wholly indifferent, provided they
+attain their purpose, whether it be by means of
+falschood or truth.
+A writer
+PREFACE.
+A writer who is desirous of the favour of the
+great, and the transitory applause of the present
+hour, must adopt implicitly the current principles
+of the time, without ever attempting to examine
+or question their authority ; and from this source
+arises the want of originality, so general among
+literary productions. Books of intrinsic merit,
+and which discover real genius, are the phænomena but ofvery few periods in the space ofmany
+ages ; and their appearance, like that ofthe sun
+in the forest, serves only to render the intervening darkness more conspicuous. They constitute
+an epoch in the history ofthe human understanding, and it is from the principles they contain,
+that future improvements in science derive their
+origin.
+It would ill becoine me to say any thingin praise
+of this work ; I shall, therefore, only observe, in
+respect to its principles, that I have advanced no
+sentiment which was not suggested by my own reflection, nor affirmed any proposition which I
+do not believe to be true.
+In exposing some prejudices, I may be thought
+perhaps, to have conducted myselfwith too little
+reserve. I have treated them with the same ingenuous freedom, which a young man, is apt to
+use towards an old woman, whom he is under
+A 3
+no
+vi PREFACE.
+no inducement either to flatter or depreciate.
+Through the whole inquiry, truth has been my
+principal object ; and this consideration, it is to
+be hoped, will stamp some value on the work. A
+sincere love of truth is the disposition most favourable for discovering her.
+I have all along endeavoured to express my
+ideas with perspicuity ; and have never sacrificed
+any sentiment to popular prepossession. If, therefore, the book be void ofmerit, it ought to be imputed to the fault of my judgment, and not to a
+depravity of heart. Few, I believe, can with
+justice say so much in their own favour.
+To some readers this work will appear to be
+written with great boldness. There are periods
+in every country when the word prudent bears
+the same signification with vile ; and when those.
+productions only are esteemed for their sentiments, which are written in a style of servility.
+It was once my intention to have published
+this book under a fictitious name, as the only
+means of reconciling with my own safety the desire I entertained of rendering service to my
+country. But, during the time I have been employed in the work, a change has happened in the
+circumstances and government of my fellow- citizens. The disorder, which I hoped in some
+measure
+PREFACE. vii
+measure to remedy, is become incurable : the
+prospect ofpublic utility is vanished, and I defer
+the publication ofthe work, till its author be no
+more.
+My country has at length submitted to the
+yoke ofdespotism. She will never again produce
+any writer of extraordinary eminence. It is the
+characteristic of despotic power to extinguish
+both genius and virtue.
+The people of this country will never more
+signalize themselves under the appellation of
+French the nation is now so much debased as
+to become the contempt of Europe. No fortunate crisis can henceforth ever restore her liberty.
+She will expire of a consumption. Conquest
+alone can afford a remedy proportioned to the
+virulence of her disease ; and the efficacy even of
+this, chance and circumstances must determine.
+In all nations there are certain periods when
+the citizens, undetermined what measures they
+ought to take, and remaining in a state of suspense
+between a good and bad government, are extremely desirous of instruction , and disposed to
+receive it. At such a time, if a work of great
+merit makes its appearance, the happiest effects
+may be produced : but the moment once past,
+the people, insensible to glory, are, by the form of
+A+ their
+viii PREFACE. ·
+their government, irresistibly inclined towards
+ignorance and baseness. Their minds are then
+like parched earth : the water of truth may rain
+upon them, but without producing fertility. Such
+is the state of France.
+Henceforth, among the French, the estimation
+of learning will daily decline, with its utility ; as
+it can only serve to shew in a stronger light the
+misery of despotism, without supplying the means
+of evading it.
+Happiness, like the sciences, is said to advance
+progressively over the world. Its course is now
+directed towards the North. There great princes
+cherish the seeds of genius, and genius is ever
+accompanied with a high degree of public felicity.
+Nothing can be more opposite than the state
+ofthe south and north parts of Europe at present.
+Clouds of thicker darkness are perpetually overspreading the South, produced by the mists of superstition and of Asiatic despotism. The horizon
+of the North becomes every day more bright and
+effulgent. A Catherine II . and a Frederick, render themselves dear to humanity. Convinced in
+their own minds of the value of truth, they encourage the cultivation of it in others, and afford
+their patronage to every effort by which it may
+be farther investigated. It is to such sovereigns
+that
+PREFACE. ix
+that I dedicate this work : it is by the auspicious
+influence of those that the world can be enlightened.
+The former brightness of the South becomes
+more dim, while the dawn of the North shines
+forth with increasing radiance. It is the North
+that now emits the rays which penetrate even to
+Austria. Every thing there hastens towards an
+extraordinary change. The assiduous attention
+bestowed by the emperor to alleviate the weight
+of the imposts, and improve the discipline of his
+army, shews plainly that he entertains a desire of
+becoining the darling of his subjects ; that he
+wishes to render them happy at home, and respectable to foreign nations. The esteem for the
+king of Prussia, professed from his earliest years,
+afford a presage of his future virtues ! Esteem
+always indicates a similarity of disposition to
+the object of it.
+CON-
+CONTENTS.
+VOLUME I.
+CHAP. 1. Of the different points of view from which we may consider man of the influence of education, ... page 1
+CHAP. II. Ofthe importance of this question, ....……………………………………
+The advantage that may result from the investigation of it.
+CHAP. III. Of false science, or acquired ignorance,
+The means bywhich it obstructs the progress ofeducation.
+CHAP. IV. Ofthe dryness of the subject, and the difficulty of treating it,
+SECTION I.
+THE EDUCATION NECESSARILY DIFFERENT IN DIFFERENTt men,
+IS PERHAPS THE CAUSE OF THAT INEQUALITY OF UNDERSTANDINGS HITHERTO attribuTED TO THE UNEQUAL PER- FECTION OF THEIR ORGANS.
+CHAP. I. Notwo persons receive the same education, ...... ibid.
+CHAP. II. Ofthe moment at which education begins,
+CHAP. III. Of the instructors of childhood,
+...... 13
+That the same means are not universally adapted to every- person ; on which account individuals must differ in point of understanding. Of
+the different sensations by which the same objects may sometimes be excited.
+CHAP. IV. Of the different impressions which objects make on
+CHAP. V. Ofa collegiate education, .....
+That an uniformity of it is not adapted to all capacities.
+CHAP. VI. Of domestic education, .......
+That in every individual it must be different.
+......... 21
+CHAP.
+xii CONTENTS.
+CHAP. VII. Ofthe education ofyouth, ……………………………………………………. page 24
+That the education of those depending more upon chance than that of
+infants, its dissimilarity must of consequence be yet greater in every person.
+CHAP. VIII. Of the chances to which we often owe illustrious characters,
+....
+Accidents circumscribed within certain limits. Inconsistency observa- ble in the precepts of education.
+CHAP. IX. Of the principal causes of the contradictions in the precepts of education, 36
+CHAP. X. Examples of contradictory precepts inculcated in early youth,
+That this inconsistency is caused by the opposition which subsists be- tween the interests of the clergy and those ofthe laity.
+That every false religion is detrimental to the public.
+CHAP. XI. Of false religions,
+That popery ought to be reckoned among the false religions.
+CHAP. XII. Popery is of human institution, ..................... 52
+That popery is a local religion : the idea of an universal religion not inconceivable.
+CHAP. XIII. Ofan universal religion, ................ 55
+That such a religion is simple, and nothing else than the best possible legislation.
+That the case is not the same with those religions which are mysterious.
+What those are, the establishment of which would be productive of the least disadvantage.
+CHAP. XIV. Of the conditions, without which a religion is de- structive to national felicity, ................................. 59
+CHAP. XV. Among the false religions, which have been least de- trimental to the happiness of society ?
+It follows from the different questions examined in this and the pre- ceding chapters, that supposing all men to be naturally endowed with equal capacities, the difference of their education alone would necessarily occasion a great diversity in their ideas and talents :
+Whence I conclude, that the actual inequality observed in the under- standing ofdifferent persons, ought not to be considered, in the case ofmen organized in the ordinary manner, as an undeniable proof of their capacities being likewise unequal.
+SEC
+CONTENTS. xiii
+SECTION II.
+ALL MEN, COMMONLY WELL ORGANIZED, HAVE AN EQUAL AP TITUDE TO UNDERSTANDING, ............................. page 92
+CHAP. I. As all our ideas proceed from the senses ; the under- standing has been consequently regarded as the effect of more or less sensibility in the organization,
+ibid.
+In order to prove the falsehood of this opinion, it is necessary that we form a clear idea of the word Understanding, and consider it sepa- rately from the unind.
+...
+CHAP. II . Ofthe difference between the mind and the soul, 97
+CHAP. III. Ofthe objects on which the mind acts,
+CHAP. IV. Howthe mind acts, ..... 111
+That all its operations may be reduced to the remarking of the resem- blances and differences between objects, and their fituess or unfituess with respect to us.
+That the judgment formed after a comparison of physical objects, is a pure sensation and that the case is the same in every judgment relating to abstract ideas, &c.
+CHAP. V. Ofsuch judgments as result from the comparison of ideas that are abstract, collective, &c. .................... 114
+That this comparison supposes the exercises of attention and labour,
+and consequently an interest in the object.
+CHAP. VI. Where there is no interest, there is no comparison of
+objects with eachother,
+•
+...... 119
+That, as interest derives its origin entirely from physical sensibility,
+all human motives may be reduced to the principle of sensation.
+CHAP. VII. Corporeal sensibility is the sole cause of our actions,
+ourthoughts, our passions, and our sociability,
+CHAP. VIII. Of sociability, .......
+...... 134
+CHAP. IX. A justification of the principles admitted in the Treatise on the Mind,
+............. 141
+CHAP. X. The pleasures of the senses are, in a manner even un- known to nations themselves, their most powerful mo- tives, ...... ..... 145
+That a superiority of understanding is independent, not only of the acuteness of sensation, but likewise of the strength of memory.
+CHAP. XI. Of the unequal extent of the memory, ............ ………….. 150
+That a great memory by no means constitutes a great genius.
+CHAP
+xiv.
+CONTENTS.
+.
+CHAP. XII. Of the unequal perfection of the organs of the senses,
+page 155
+That a difference in the degrees of understanding is not the result ofan extreme delicacy of mind.
+That the difference between men, in respect of sensation, is entirely relative.
+CHAP. XIII. Of the different manner of receiving sensations,
+CHAP. XIV. The small difference perceived between our sen- sations, has no influence on the understanding,
+CHAP. XV. Of the understanding or judgment,
+Of the ideas annexed to this term.
+.......
+CHAP. XVI. The cause ofthe difference of opinions, in morality,
+politics, and metaphysics,
+That this difference proceeds from the vague and uncertain significa
+tion ofwords ; for example, of Good, of Interest, of Virtue.
+CHAP. XVII. The word Virtue, excites in the catholic clergy no
+other idea than that of their own advantage, 194
+CHAP. XVIII. Of the different ideas that different nations form
+of virtue, ..... .... 200
+CHAP. XIX. There is but one method of fixing the uncertain signification of words ; and but one nation that can make
+use ofit, .... 205
+That there is only one nation that can make use ofthis means.
+That it consists in fixing with precision the idea of every word in the dictionary.
+That ifwords were properly defined, moral, political, and metaphysical propositions would be as demonstrable to the judgment as any geome trical truth.
+That, if men universally adopted the same principles, they would with greater certainty arrive at the same conclusions ; since the combi- nation of the same objects, whether in the physical world, as is proved by geometry, or in the intellectual world, as is evident from metaphysics, is uniformly productive of the same result.
+CHAP. XX. The excursions of men, and their discoveries in the
+intellectual kingdoms, have been always nearly the same
+Fairy tales, the first proof of this truth.
+Moral tales, the second proof.
+Religious tales, the third proof.
+That there is a great resemblance between all those different kinds of
+tales.
+CHAP. XXI. The impostures of the ministers of false religions,
+That they have every where beenthe same ; and that the priesthood
+bas universally acquired its authority by the saine means.
+CHAP.
+CONTENTS. XV.
+CHAP. XXII. Ofthe uniformity in the means bywhich the ministers of false religions preserve their authority, page 223
+From a comparison of the facts, stated in this section, it follows, that,
+as an acuteness of sensatio. occasions no diversity in the impression of objects, all men of common organization have equal promptitude of mind : a truth easy to be proved by a series of other propositions.
+CHAP. XXIII. There is no truth not reducible to a fact, 228
+That all simple facts are within the reach of persons of the most ordi.
+nary understanding ; consequently, that there is no truth, whether
+already discovered, or afterwards to be discovered, to which all men organized in the common manner, may not attain.
+...
+CHAP. XXIV. The understanding necessary to comprehend the truths already known, is sufficient to discover those that are
+unknown,
+That, if all men organized in the ordinary manner may investigate the most obscure truths, they are of consequence endowed with equal promptitude of mind.
+SECTION III.
+OF THE GENERAL CAUSES OF THE INEQUALITY OF UNDERSTANDINGS,
+CHAP. I. What these causes are, ………….…………..
+That they may be reduced to two.
+ibid.
+One is an inequality between the degrees of desire with which men seek for instruction.
+That other is the difference of their situation ; whence that of their
+knowledge results.
+CHAP. II. Every new idea is the gift of chance, .............. 263
+That chance has greater influence on our education than is commouly imagined ; but that this influence may be diminished.
+CHAP. III. Ofthe limits to be set to the power ofchance, ... 267
+That chance presents us with an infinite number of ideas that those.
+ideas prove useless unless matured by attention.
+That attention is always the effect of some passion, such as that for glory, truth, &c.
+CHAP. IV. Of the second .cause of the inequality of under- standings, ..........................................………………….. 270
+That men are induced by their passions to bestow the attention neces- sary for maturing those ideas which chance throws in their way ;
+that inequality in respect of understanding depends partly upon a
+difference in the force of their passions.
+That an inequality in the strength of the passions is by some cousi dered as the effect of a particular organization, and therefore as purely the gift of nature.
+SEC-
+xvi CONTENTS.
+SECTION IV.
+MEN COMMONLY WELL ORGANized are ALL SUSCEPTIBLE OF
+THE SAME DEGREE OF PASSION : THE INEQUALITY OF THEIR CAPACITIES IS ALWAYS THE EFFECT OF THE DIFFERENCE OF SITUATION IN WHICH CHANCE HAS PLACED THEM. THE
+ORIGINAL CHARACTER OF EACH MAN, (AS PASCAL HAS OB- SERVED), IS NOTHING BUT THE PRODUCE OF HIS FIRST
+HABITS, ………………………………. page 277
+CHAP. I. Of the little influence which organization and tempera- ment have on the passions and characters of men, ... ibid.
+CHAP. II. Ofthe alterations that have happened in the characters of nations, and of the causes by which they were produced,
+CHAP. III. Of the alterations that happen in the characters of individuals, 285
+That they are the effect of a change in their situation, interests , and those ideas which are suggested by self- love.
+CHAP. IV. Of self-love, ................ ............. 283
+That this sentiment, which is the necessary effect of physical sensibility, is common to all men : that it excites in every person a desire of power.
+That this desire, as is shewn in subsequent chapters, produces envy,
+avarice, ambition, the thirst of glory, of esteem, of justice, of virtue,
+ofintolerance, and, in a word, of every passion that exists in a state of society.
+That those different passions, necessary for exciting into action the ca- pacities which all men enjoy in an equal degree, are in reality no- thing else than the desire of power, disguised under different names.
+CHAP. V. Ofthe love of riches and glory,
+The immediate effect of power.
+CHAP. VI. Of envy, .........
+The immediate effect ofthe love of power.
+CHAP. VII. Of justice, .......
+....................
+……………………………………............................
+...
+CHAP. VIII. Of justice considered in the man of nature, 302
+CHAP. XI. Of justice considered in polished man and nations,
+CHAP. X. Individuals, like nations, esteem justice solely forthe
+consideration and power it procures them,
+CHAP. XI. The love of power under every form of government,
+is the sole motive of man's actions,
+CHAP.
+CONTENTS. xvii
+CHAP. XII. Of virtue,
+The immediate effect of the love of power.
+CHAP. XIII. Of the manner in which the greatest part of Europeans consider virtue, ……………………………...……………………………… ...... 322
+That, if they honour it in speculation, it is an effect of the education they have received .
+That if they pay no regard to it in practice, it is a consequence of the
+form of their government.
+That their love of virtue is always p.oportioned to the interest they have in practising it. Whence it follows, that the love of virtue
+ought to be referred entirely to the desire of power and of esteem.
+CHAP. XIV. The love of power is in manthe most favourable
+disposition to virtue, 325
+CHAP. XV. Of civil intolerance, ................…………………………………………... 327
+The immediate effect of the love of power.
+That this intolerance prognosticates the ruin of empires.
+CHAP. XVI. Intolerance frequently fatal to princes, ......... 330
+CHAP. XVII. Flattery is no less pleasing to the people than to sovereigns,
+CHAP. XVIII. Of religious intolerance, 341
+The immediate effect ofthe love ofpower,
+CHAP. XIX. Intolerance and persecution are not of divine com- mandment, ........ 345
+CHAP. XX. Intolerance is the foundation ofthe grandeur of the clergy,
+CHAP. XXI. The impossibility of suppressing in man the senti- ment of intolerance ; means of counteracting its effects,
+After what has been said, this conclusion may be inferred ; that ail our factitious passions are properly nothing else than the love of power, disguised under different names ; and that this love of power is itself entirely the effect of physical sensibility.
+CHAP. XXII. The genealogy ofthe passions, ................. 360
+It follows from this genealogy, that all men organized in the common manner, are susceptible of the kind of passion necessary to excite into action the capacity of mind which they enjoy in an equal de- gree. But can those passions operate in all with equal force ? To this objection I reply, that such a passion, for example, as the love
+of glory, may operate as strongly upon the mind as that of self-love.
+CHAP. XXIII. Ofthe force ofthe sentiment of self-love, ... 362
+That this passion is sufficiently strong in all men, to excite in them such a degree of attention as is requisite for investigating the most obscure truths.
+VOL. I. CHAP.
+xviii CONTENTS
+CHAP. XXIV. The discovery of great ideas is the effect of con- stant attention. 366
+From this section it results, that in men organized in the common man
+ner, the inequality of understanding is merely an effect of the dif ference of education ; including in this difference that of the situa tion in which chance has placed them.
+ON
+ON MAN;
+HIS
+INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES
+AND HIS
+EDUCATION.
+CHAP. I.
+OF THE DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW FROM WHICH
+WE MAY CONSIDER MAN ; OF THE INFLUENCE
+OF EDUCATION.
+THE science of man, taken in its utmost extent, is
+immense ; the study of it is long and painful. Man iз
+a model exposed to the view of different artists ; every
+one surveys it from some point of view, no one from
+every point.
+The painter and the musician consider inan ; but
+merely with regard to the effect that colours and
+sounds have on his eyes and his ears.
+Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire have studied him,
+but only in relation to the impressions that are excited in him by actions of greatness, tenderness, pity,
+rage, &c.
+Moliere and Fontaine have considered mankind from
+other points of view.
+VOL. I. B In
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Influence of education on Man.
+In the study that the philosopher makes of men, his
+object is their happiness. This happiness is dependent
+on the laws under which they live, and the instructions
+they receive.
+The perfection of these laws and instructions supposes a preliminary knowledge of the human heart and
+mind, with their various operations ; in a word, of
+the obstacles to the progress of the sciences of morality, politics, and education.
+Without this knowledge, what means are there to
+render men better and happier ? The philosopher
+should, therefore, trace out the simple and productive principle of their intellectual faculties and their
+passions, the only principle that can inform him of
+the degree of perfection to which laws and instructions
+can carry them, and shew him what is the power of
+education over them.
+I regard the understanding, the virtue, and genius
+of man, as the product of instruction . This idea presented inthe Treatise on the Understanding appears to
+me invariably true ; but perhaps it is not sufficiently
+proved. It is admitted that education has more influence
+over the genius and character of men, and of nations,
+than was imagined ; and this is all that has been
+granted me.
+The examination of this opinion will make the first
+part ofthis work. To educate mankind, furnish their
+minds, and render them happy, we must know of
+what instructions and what happiness they are susceptible.
+Previous
+TREATISE ON MAN. 3
+Importance of the question proposed for examination.
+Previous to the entering on this inquiry, I shall
+say a few words.
+. On the importance of this question.
+. On false science, to which is also given the
+name of education.
+. On the dryness ofthe subject, and the difficulty
+oftreating it.
+CHAP. II.
+OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS QUESTION.
+Ir it be true that the talents and the virtues of a
+people determine their power and their happiness,
+no question can be more important than this are
+the talents and virtues of each individual, the effect
+of his organisation, or ofthe education he receives ?
+I am of the latter opinion, and propose to prove
+here what perhaps is only advanced in the Treatise on
+the Understanding. IfI can demonstrate that man is, in
+fact, nothing more than the product ofhis education, I
+shall doubtless reveal an important truth to mankind.
+They will learn, that they have in their own hands the
+instrument of their greatness and their felicity, and
+that to be happy and powerful nothing more is requisite than to perfect the science of education.
+B 2 But
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Connection between the science of Man and the science of Government.
+But by what means shall we discover whether man
+be in fact the produce of his education ? By a
+thorough discussion of the question. If this examination should not give the solution, we ought still
+to make it ; for it will be useful, as it will compel us
+to the study ofourselves.
+Mankind are, but too often, unknown to him that
+governs them ; yet to guide the motions ofthe human
+puppet, it is necessary to know the wires by which he
+is moved. Without this knowledge, what wonder is
+it that his motions are frequently so contrary to those
+which the legislature requires.
+Ifsome errors should creep into a work that treats
+on man, it may still be a valuable work.
+What a mass of light does the knowledge of mankind throw upon the several parts ofgovernment ! The
+ability of the groom consists in knowing all that is
+to be done to the animal he is to manage ; and the
+ability ofa minister, in knowing all that is to be done
+in the management of the people he is to govern.
+The science of man makes a part of the science of
+government. (1 ) The minister should connect it
+with that of public affairs. (2) It is then that he
+will establish just laws.
+Let philosophers therefore penetrate continually
+more and more into the abyss of the human heart,
+let them there search out all the principles of his actions, and let the minister, profiting by their discoveries, make of them, according to time, place and cir-/
+cumstances, a happy application.
+If
+TREATISE ON MAN. · 5
+Talents and virtues the effect of education.
+Ifthe knowledge of mankind be regarded as absolutely necessary to the legislature, nothing can be more
+important than the examination of a problem which
+implies that knowledge.
+Ifthey who are personally indifferent to this question,
+shall judge of it only as relative to public interest,
+they will perceive that of all the obstacles to the perfection of education, the greatest is to regard our
+talents and virtues as the effect of organisation. No
+opinion is more favourable to the idleness and negligence of instructors. If organisation make us almost
+entirely what we are, why do we reproach the master
+with the ignorance and stupidity of his pupils ? Why,
+he will say, do you impute to education the faults of
+nature ? What answer will you make him ? When
+you admit a principle, how can you deny its immediate
+consequence ?
+Onthe contrary, ifwe prove that talents and virtues
+are acquisitions, we shall rouse the industry ofthe master, and prevent his negligence ; we shall render him
+more assiduous in stifling the vices, and cultivating the
+virtues of his pupils.
+The genius most ardent in carrying the instruments
+of education to perfection, will perceive perhaps in an
+infinity ofthose minute articles, now regarded as insignificant, the hidden seeds of our vices, our virtues,
+our talents, and imbecilities ; and who can say to what
+point genius may then carry its discoveries ? (3) Of
+this we are certain, that we are as yet ignorant of the
+true principles of education, and that it is at the preB 3
+sent
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+The intellectual inferiority of polished nations accounted for.
+sent day reduced almost entirely to certait false sciences, to which even ignorance is preferable.
+CHAP. III.
+OF FALSE SCIENCE, OR ACQUIRED IGNORANCE.
+MAN is born ignorant ; he is not born a fool ; and
+it is not even without labour that he is made one.
+To be such, and to be able to extinguish in himself
+his natural lights, art and method must be used ; instruction must heap on him error upon error ; more he
+reads, the more numerous must be the prejudices he
+contracts.
+If silliness be the common condition of mankind
+among polished nations, it is the effect of a contagious instruction ; it is because they are educated by
+men of false science, and read silly books ; for it is
+with books as with men, there is good and bad company. The work of merit is almost every where prohi
+bited (4). Good Sense urges its publication ; bigotry forbids it, for bigotry would command the world ;
+she is, therefore, interested in the propagation of folly.
+Her aim is to blind mankind, and bewilder them in a
+labyrinth offalse science. It is not enough that men
+be ignorant ; ignorance is the middle point between
+true and false learning. The ignorant man is as much
+above the falsely learned, as he is below him of real
+science.
+.
+TREATISE ON MAN. 7
+It is to be attributed to bad instructors,
+science. The desire of superstition is to render man stupid ; her fear is that he may become enlightened. Now
+to whom will she commit the care of making him a
+brute? To the scholastics, for of all the sons of Adam
+they are the most stupid and conceited (5). "The
+"6 mere school divine, according to Rabelais, holds the
+" same rank among men as that animal does among
+" beasts, who neither labours like the ox, nor bears a
+"burden like the mule, nor barks at a thief like a dog,
+"but like the ape, soils all, breaks all, bites the passen-
+"ger, and is noxious to every one."
+The scholastic is powerful in words, and weak in
+argument, therefore, what sort of men does he form ?
+Such as are learnedly absurd and stupidly proud (6) .
+With regard to stupidity, I have already said it is of
+two sorts, one natural, the other acquired ; the one the
+effect of ignorance, the other of instruction. Now of
+these two sorts of ignorance or stupidity, which is the
+most incurable ? The latter. The man who knows
+nothing may learn ; it is only requisite to excite in
+him the desire of knowledge. But he who is falsely
+learned, and has by degrees lost his reason when he
+thought to improve it, has purchased his stupidity at
+too dear a rate ever to renounce it*. His mind overloaded with the weight of a learned ignorance, can
+never mount up to the truth ; it has lost the spring
+*
+A young painter having drawn a picture in the bad manner of
+his master, shewed it to Raphael, and asked what he thought ofit ?
+I think, says Raphael, if you knew nothing, you would scon know
+something.
+B 4
+that
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Early moral maturity of the Greeks and Romans.
+that should raise it up. The knowledge he must acquire is connected with that he must forget. To place
+a certain number of truths in his memory, itis frequently necessary to displace the same number of
+errors. Now this displacement requires time, and ifit
+be at last effected, the man is formed too late.
+We are astonished at the age the Greeks and Romans acquired maturity. What various talents did
+they display in their adolescence? At twenty, Alexander, already a man of letters and a great general, undertook the conquest of the East. At the same age
+Scipio and Hannibal formed the greatest projects, and
+executed the most difficult enterprises. Before the
+age of maturity Pompey, the conqueror of Europe,
+Asia, and Africa, had filled the earth with his glory.
+Now how did these Greeks and Romans become at
+once men of letters, orators, generals, and ministers of
+state ? Howdid they qualify themselves for all sorts of
+employments in their republics, exercise them, and
+even frequently abdicate them, at an age when no one
+in our days is capable of assuming them ? Were the
+men of antiquity different from the moderns ? Was
+their organisation more perfect ? No doubtless. For
+in the sciences, and the arts of navigation, physics,
+mechanics, the mathematics, &c. we know that the moderns excel the ancients.
+The superiority the latter have for so long a time
+preserved in morality, politics, and legislation, is thercfore to be regarded as the effect of their education .
+The instruction of youth was not then confided to
+scholastics, but philosophers. The object of these
+philosophers
+TREATISE ON MAN. 9
+Bad system of modern education.
+philosophers was to form heroes and great politicians.
+The story of the pupil was reflected on the master ;
+that was his reward.
+The object of an instructor is no longer the same.
+What interest has he in exalting the mind and soul
+of his pupils ? None. What is his aim? To weaken
+their natural abilities, to make them superstitious ; to
+disjoint, if I may be allowed the expression, the wings
+of their genius ; to stifle in their minds all true science,
+and in their hearts every patriotic virtue (7).
+The golden ages of these school divines were the ages
+ofignorance, whose darkness, before the time Lutherand
+Calvin, covered the earth. Then, says an English
+philosopher, superstition reigned over all nations,
+" Men were changed, like Nebuchadnezzar, into
+" brutes, and being like mules, bridled, saddled, and
+" and loaded with heavy burdens, they groaned under
+"the weight of superstition ; but at last some of these
+" mules began to kick, and throw off at once their
+" loads and their riders."
+No reformation can be hoped in the plan of instruction so long as it is confided to the scholastics. Under
+such tutors the science taught will never be any thing
+more than the science of errors ; and the ancients will
+preserve that superiority over the moderns in morality,
+politics, and legislation, which they cwe not to the superiority of their organisation, but, as I have already
+said, to that of their instruction.
+I have now shewn the futility of false learning, and
+have evinced the importance of this work. It remains
+to speak of the dryness of the subject.
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Difficulty oftreating the subject.
+CHAP. IV .
+OF THE DRYNESS OF THE SUBJECT, AND THE
+DIFFICULTY OF TREATING IT.
+THE examination of the question 1 have proposed
+requires a refined and deep discussion . Every discussion ofthis sort is tiresome.
+That a man who is a real friend to humanity, and
+already habituated to the fatigue of attention , should
+read this book without disgust, I should not be surprised, and his approbation would doubtless content me,
+if from the beginning, to render this work useful, I had
+not proposed to make it entertaining. Nowwhat flowers
+can be thrown on a question so serious and important.
+I would instruct the man of common capacity, and in
+almost every nation men of this sort are incapable of
+attention : hence proceeds disgust and it is in
+France especially that this sort of men are the most
+common.
+If I
+I passed ten years at Paris ; the spirit of bigotry
+and fanaticism was not then predominant there.
+may believe the public report, it is now the fashion
+with the higher classes to be more and more indifferent to works of reflection . Nothing affects
+them but a ridiculous description (8), which satisfies their malignity without disturbing their indolence.
+I renounce, therefore, the hope of pleasing them.
+Whatever
+TREATISE ON MAN. 11
+Its nature and tendency.
+Whateverpains I might take, I should never diffuse
+sufficient entertainment over a subject so dry and
+serious.
+have observed, however, that if we judge of the
+French nation by their works, either the people are
+less light and frivolous (9) than they are thought to
+be, or the spirit of the men of letters is very different
+from that of the nation. The ideas of the latter appear to me grand and elevated ; let them, therefore,
+write on, and rest assured, notwithstanding national
+partialities, that they will every where find just judges
+of their merit. I have only one thing to advise them,
+and that is, sometimes to dare to despise the opinion
+of a single nation, and to remember, that a mind truly
+great will attach itself to such subjects only as are interesting to the whole race of mankind.
+This of which I here treat is of that nature. I shall
+only repeat the principles advanced in the Treatise on
+the Understanding, to examine them morethoroughly,
+to present them in a new point of view, and to draw
+new consequences from them.
+In geometry every problem not fully resolved, may
+become the object of a new demonstration . It is the
+same in morality and politics.
+Let no one therefore decline the examination of a
+question so important, and whose solution moreover
+requires the exposition of truths hitherto but little
+known.
+Is the difference in the minds ofmen the effect of their
+different organisations or education ? That is the object
+of my inquiry.
+SECTION
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+No two persons reccive the same education.
+SECTION I.
+THE EDUCATION NECESSARILY DIFFERENT IN DIFFERENT MEN,
+IS PERHAPS THE CAUSE OF THAT INEQUALITY IN UNDERSTANDINGS HITHERTO ATTRIBUTED TO THE UNEQUAL PERFECTION OF THEIR ORGANS.
+CHAP. I.
+NO TWO PERSONS RECEIVE THE SAME EDU
+CATION.
+I STILL learn ; my instruction is not yet finished :
+when will it be ? When I shall be no longer sensible ;
+at my death. The course of my life is properly nothing
+more than a long course of education .
+What is necessary in order that two individuals
+should receive precisely the same education ? That
+they should be in precisely the same positions and the
+same circumstances. Nowsuch an hypothesis is impossible it is therefore evident, that no two persons can
+receive the same instructions.
+But why put off the term of our education to the utmost
+TREATISE ON MAN. 13
+Commencement of education.
+most period of life ? Why not confine it to the time
+expressly set apart for instruction, that is, to the period
+of infancy and adolescence ?
+Iam content to confine it to that period ; and I will
+prove in like manner, that it is impossible for two men
+to acquire precisely the same ideas.
+CHAP. II.
+OF THE MOMENT AT WHICH EDUCATION
+BEGINS.
+Ir is at the very instant a child receives motion and
+life that it receives its first instruction : it is sometimes even in the womb where it is conceived, that it
+learns to distinguish between sickness and health. The
+mother however delivered, the child struggles and
+cries ; hunger gripes it, it feels a want, and that want
+opens its lips, makes it seize, and greedily suck the
+nourishing breast. When some months have passed,
+its sight is distinct, its organs are fortified, it becomes
+by degrees susceptible of all impressions ; then the
+senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, '
+in a word, all the inlets to the mind are set open ;
+then all the objects of nature rush thither in crowds,
+and
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Of the instruction of childhood.
+and engrave an infinity of ideas in the memory*. In
+these first moments what can be true instructors of infancy ? The various sensations it feels : these are so
+manyinstructions it receives.
+If two children have the same preceptor, ifthey are
+taught to distinguish their letters, to read and repeat
+their catechism, &c. they are supposed to receive the
+same education. The philosopher judges otherwise :
+according to him, the true preceptors of a child are the
+objects that surround him ; these are the instructors
+to whom he owes almost all his ideas.
+CHAP. III.
+A
+OF THE INSTRUCTORS OF CHILDHOOD.
+SHORT history of the infancy of man will bring us
+acquainted with them. He no sooner sees the light
+than a thousand sounds strike his ears ; he hears nothing but a confused noise ; a thousand bodies offer
+themselves to his sight, but present nothing but objects imperfectly defined. It is by insensible degrees
+that an infant learns to hear and see, to perceive and
+rectify the errors of one sense by another.†
+* See Mr. Buffon's eloquent and admirable discourses on inan.
+The senses never deceive us ; objects constantly make the
+Being
+TREATISE ON MAN. 15
+External objects the best preceptors of infancy.
+Being constantly struck by the same sensations in
+the presence of the same objects, he thereby acquires
+a more complete remembrance ofthem, in proportion
+as the same action of the objects is repeated on
+him ; and this action of them we should regard as
+the most considerable part of his education .
+The child in the mean time grows ; he walks and
+walks alone; numberless falls then teach him to preserve
+the equilibrium of his body, and to stand firmly on his
+legs ; the more painful the falls, the more instructive
+they prove, and the more adroitly, attentively, and
+cautiously he walks.
+The child grows strong ; he runs, he is already
+able to leap the little canals that traverse and water
+the garden. It is then that by repeated trials and falls
+he learns to proportion his leaps to the width of the
+canals.
+He sees a stone fall into the water and sink to
+the bottom, while a piece of wood floats on the surface : from this instance he acquires the first idea of
+gravity.
+If he take the stone and the wood out of the water,
+and by chance they both fall on his feet, the unequal
+degree of pain occasioned by their fall, engraves more
+impressions on us they ought to make. If a square tower appears
+round at a certain distance, it is because at that distance the rays
+reflected from the tower must be confounded, and make it
+appear as it does ; it is because there are certain cases in which the
+real forms of bodies cannot be ascertained without the united testimony of several senses.
+strongly
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Difference of experience produces a difference of education.
+strongly on his memory the idea of their unequal
+weight and hardness.
+If he chance to throw the same stone against one
+of the flower-pots placed on the borders of a canal, he
+will then learn that some bodies are broken by a blow
+that others resist.
+There is therefore no man of discernment who must
+not see in all objects, so many tutors charged with the
+education ofour infancy*.
+But are not these instructors the same for all ? No
+The chance is not precisely the same for any two persons ; but suppose it were, and that two children owed
+their dexterity in walking, running, and leaping to
+their falls ; I say, that as it is impossible they should
+bothhave precisely the same number of falls, and equally painful, chance cannot furnish them both with the
+same instructions.
+Place two children on a plain, in a wood, a theatre,
+an assembly, or a shop. They will not, bytheir natural
+position, be struck precisely in the same manner, nor
+consequently affected with the same sensations. What
+different subjects morcover are by daily occurrences
+incessantly offered to the view of these two children.
+* If I have here described the several states of infancy in a
+cursory manner, it is because I am fearful of tiring the reader.
+What imports him to know the time the child is in passing
+through the several periods ? It is sufficient that they are passing
+through. It is by no means necessary that my narration should be
+as long as the infancy of man.
+Two
+TREATISE ON MAN. 17
+Difference of the impressions produced by different objects.
+Two brothers travel with their parents, and to arrive
+at their native place they must traverse long chains
+of mountains. The eldest follows his father by the
+short and rugged road. What does he see ? Nature
+in all the forms of horror ; mountains of ice that hide
+their heads among the clouds, massy rocks that hang
+over the traveller's head, fathomless caverns, and
+ridges of arid hills, from which torrents rush with
+a tremendous roar. The younger follows his mother
+through the most frequented roads, where nature
+appears in all her pleasing forms. What objects
+does he behold ? Every where hills planted with vines
+and fruitful trees, and vallies where the wandering
+streams divide the meadows, peopled by the browzing
+herds.
+These two brothers have, in the same journey, seen
+very different prospects, and received very different
+impressions. Now a thousand incidents of the same
+nature may produce. the same effects. Our life is
+nothing more, so to say, than a long chain of similar
+incidents ; let men never flatter themselves, there
+fore, with being able to give two children precisely
+the same education.
+What influence moreover may a difference of instruction, occasioned by a trifling difference in surrounding objects, have on the mind ? Who does not
+know that a small number of dissimilar ideas, combined
+with those which two men already have in common,
+can produce a total difference in their manner ofseeing
+and judging? •
+VOL. 1.
+Supposing
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Different impressions produced by the same objects.
+Supposing, however, that chance should constantly
+offer the same objects to two persons, does it present
+them whentheir minds are precisely in the same situation, and when consequently those objects will make
+the same impressions on them ?
+:
+CHAP. IV.
+OF THE DIFFERENT IMPRESSIONS WHICH
+OBJECTS MAKE ON US.
+THAT different objects produce different sensations
+is self-evident. Experience, moreover, teaches us that
+the same objects excite different impressions, according to the moment at which they present themselves ; and it is, perhaps, to these different impressions,
+that we are principally to attribute the diversity and
+great inequality that is to be found in men educated
+in the same country, in the same habits and manners,
+and who have moreover the same objects before their
+eyes.
+There are in the mind certain moments of perfect
+repose, when its surface is not agitated by the least
+breath of passion. The objects that then present themselves sometimes engage our whole attention ; we examine more at leisure their different appearances, and
+the
+TREATISE ON MAN. 19
+The impressions of objects depend on accidental circumstances.
+the impressions they make on our memory are much
+more complete and durable.
+Occurrences of this sort are very common, especially in early youth. A child commits a fault, and
+for punishment is shut up by himself in a chamber.
+What does he do ? He sees in the window some pots
+with flowers, he plucks some of them, he considers
+their colours, and remarks their shades ; his idle , situation seems to give an additional discernment to
+his sight. It is then with the child as with the blind ;
+if the latter have commonly the senses of hearing and
+feeling more keen than other men, it is because he
+is not like them disturbed by the action of the light
+upon his eyes, because he is the more attentive, and
+more concentered within himself ; and, lastly, to supply the sense he wants, he is, as M. Diderot remarks,
+more interested to improve those senses that remain.
+The impressions that objects make on us depend
+principally on the moment at which those objects
+strike us. In the example just mentioned, it is the attention that the child is , as it were, forced to give to
+the only objects that are exposed to his sight, which
+makes him discover in the colours and form of the
+flowers, those nice differences that a distracted view,
+or a superficial glance would not have permitted him
+to observe. It is thus that a punishment, or some similar incident, frequently determines the taste of a
+young man, and makes him a painter of flowers ; by
+first giving him some knowledge of their beauty, and
+then a love for those pictures that represent them.
+C ? Now
+·
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Of a College education.
+Now to how many similar incidents is the education of
+youth liable ? and how can we imagine them to be the
+same in any two individuals ? How many other causes,
+moreover, prevent two children, whether at home or at
+college, from receiving the saine education ?
+CHAP. V.
+OF A COLLEGIATE EDUCATION.
+CHILDREN that have been brought up in the same
+college, are supposed to have received the same educa.
+tion. But at what age do they enter the college ? At
+seven or eight years. Now at that age they have a!-
+ready charged their memories with ideas, which
+being partly owing to chance, and partly acquired
+in the parental abode, arise from the state, the
+character, the fortune, and wealth of their parents. Can we then be surprised that children entering a college with ideas frequently so different,
+should discover more or less ardour for study, more or
+less taste for certain branches of science ; and that
+the ideas they have already acquired being united with
+those they receive in common in the schools, should
+produce in them a considerable alteration ? From
+ideas thus altered, and combining again among themselves, must frequently arise unexpected productions.
+Hence
+TREATISE OF MAN. 21
+Of domestic education.
+Hence that inequality in minds, and that diversity
+oftastes observed in the pupils of the same college*.
+Is it thesame with domestic education ?
+CHAP. VI.
+OF DOMESTIC EDUCATION.
+THIS sort of education is doubtless more uniform ;
+it is more the same. Two children are brought up
+under their parents, have the same preceptor, nearly
+the same objects before their eyes ; and read the
+same books. The inequality of age is the only difference that appears to have any influence on their instruction ; would you render that ineffectual ? Suppose thenthese two brothers to be twins? But have
+they had the same nurse ? What does that signify ?
+It signifies a great deal. How can we doubt the influence of the disposition of the nurse on the child ?
+At least they made no doubt of it in Greece, as is evi-
+* I have elsewhere observed, that it is to chance, that is to say,
+to what is not taught by a master, we owe the greatest part of our
+instruction. He whose knowledge should be confined to the
+truths he learns from his preceptor, or his tutor, and to the facts
+contained in the small number of books that are read in the classes,
+would doubtless be the most ignorant child inthe world.
+с 3 dent
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Different effect of domestic education on two individuals.
+dent by the consequence in which the Lacedæmonian
+nurses were held.
+In fact, says Plutarch, ifthe Spartan does not cry
+even at the breast ; if he be insensible to fear, and already patient under sufferings, he owes it to his nurse,
+In France, where I live, as in Greece, the choice of a
+nurse therefore cannot be matter ofindifference.
+But suppose the same nurse to have suckled these
+twins, and to have brought them up with the same
+care. Is itto be imagined, when returned to their parents, the father and mother will have precisely the
+same degree of affection for these two children ? and
+that the preference imperceptibly given to one of the
+two, will have no influence on his education ?
+Suppose, moreover, that thefather and mother should
+regard them equally, will it be the same with the domestics ? Will not the tutor have a favourite ? and
+will the fondness that he shews for one ofthe two chil
+dren be long unnoticed by the other ? The different
+passions, or patience of the master, and the softness or
+severity of his lectures, will they have no effect on the
+children ? In the last place, will these two twins enjoy
+the same state ofhealth ?
+In the career of the arts and the sciences, suppose
+them both to set off with an equal pace, if the first
+be stopped by some disorder, and suffer the other to
+advance too far before him , his studies will become
+disgusting to him. If a child lose the hope of preeminence, if he be obliged in a certain sense, to acknowledge a number of superiors, he becomes thereby
+incapable
+TREATISE ON MAN. 23
+To excite emulation the principal point in education.
+incapable of a vigorous application : even the fear of
+punishment is then ineffectual. This fear causes a
+child to contract a habit of attention, makes him
+learn to read, and perform all that he is enjoined ; but
+it will not inspire him with that ardour for study which
+is the only pledge of great acquirements. It is emulation that produces genius, and a desire of becoming
+illustrious that creates talents. It is from the moment
+when the love of glory fires the breast, and takes possession ofthe man, that we are to date the progress of
+his intellectual faculties. I have always thought that
+the science of education is, perhaps, nothing more
+than a knowledge ofthe means ofexciting emulation,
+which may be lighted up or extinguishied by a single
+word. Acommendation bestowed on the care with
+which a child examines an object, and the exact description he gives of it, has sometimes been sufficient
+to excite in him that sort of attention to which he has
+afterwards owed the superiority of his understanding.
+A collegiate, or domestic education is therefore never
+the same for any two individuals.
+From the education of childhood we will proceed to
+that of youth. Let not this examination be regarded
+as superfluous. This second education is the most
+important : mankind have then other instructors, with
+whom it is proper to be acquainted.
+It is in youth, moreover, that our tastes and our talents are formed. This second education, the least
+uniform, and the most abandoned to chance, is, at
++ the
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Of the education of youth. .
+the same time, the most proper to confirm the truth of
+my opinion.
+CHAP. VII.
+OF THE EDUCATION OF YOUTH.
+Ir is at leaving the college and entering the world
+that the education of youth begins. It is less uniform
+than that ofchildhood, but more dependent on chance,
+and doubtless more important. The youth is then attacked by a greater number of sensations : all that
+surrounds him strikes him, and strikes him forcibly.
+It is at the age when certain passions spring up,
+that all the objects of nature agitate and impel him the
+most strongly. It is then that he receives the most
+efficacious instruction ; it is then that his tastes and his
+character are determined ; and, lastly, that being
+more free, and more himself, the passions excited in
+his heart determine his habits, and frequently all the
+future conduct of his life.
+In children the difference of understanding and
+character is not always very obvious. Engaged in the
+same sort of studies, subject to the same discipline, and
+moreoverwithout passions, their exterior is sufliciently
+similar.
+The
+TREATISE ON MAN. 25
+Objects which instruct youth on entering the world.
+The seed, that by springing up, shall one day make
+so much difference in their tastes, is either not yet
+formed, or at least is yet imperceptible. I compare two
+children to two men sitting on a bank, but with their
+backs to each other. If they rise up and walk in the
+direction they sat, they will insensibly become further
+distant, and soon lose sight of each other, unless by
+again changing their direction, some accident make
+them again approach.
+The resemblance ofchildren in schools or colleges
+is the effect of constraint. When they leave the college the constraint ceases. Then begins, as I have
+already said, the second education of man ; an educacation the more directed by chance, as youth on entering the world find themselves in the midst of a
+greater number of objects. Now the more the surrounding objects are multiplied and diversified, the
+less can the father or the master depend on the
+result of their impression, and the less part the
+one and the other have in the education of a young
+man.
+The new and principal instructors of youth are the
+form of government under which they live, and the
+manuers that form of government gives to a nation.
+Masters and pupils are all subject to these instructors ; these are the principal, but, however, not the
+only instructors of youth ; among these I also reckon
+the rank a young man holds in the world, his wealth
+or indigence, the societies with which he is connectQ ed;
+:
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Influence of chance upon the human character.
+ted ; and, lastly, his friends, his books, and his mistresses. Now it is on chance that depend his opulence,
+or poverty, and the choice of his society ( 10), his
+friends, his books,land his mistresses . It is on chance,
+therefore, that depends the choice of the principal part
+of his instructors. It is chance, moreover, that place
+him in this or that position, excites, extinguishes oOP
+modifies his tastes and passions ; and that has, consequently, the greatest part in forming his character.
+The character of a man is the immediate effect of his
+passions, and his passions are often the immediate effects of his situations.
+The most striking characters are sometimes the produce of an infinity of little accidents . It is from an
+infinity of threads of hempthat the largest cables are
+formed ( 11 ) . There is no change that chance cannot
+produce in the character of a man. But whydo these
+changes almost always operate in a mannerunperceived
+by himself? Because to perceive them, he must have
+a most severe and penetrating eye on himself. Now
+pleasure, idleness, ambition, poverty, &c. equally divert him from this observation. Every thing turns
+him away from himself. A man has, moreover, so
+much respect for himself, so much veneration for his
+* Does a man seek the company of the learned ? Does he
+live habitually with those of superior abilities ? He becomes enlightened. It is to a desire I always had to converse with such
+men, said a celebrated author to me one day, that I owe my ·
+feeble talents.
+Own
+-TREATISE • ON MAN. -27
+Influence of chance upon the human character.
+own conduct, as being the consequence of such sagacious and profound reflection, that he can rarely permit himselfto examine it : pride forbids, and pride is
+readily obeyed.
+Chance has, therefore, a necessary and considerable
+Influence on our education. The events of life are
+frequently the produce of the most trifling incidents.
+I know this assertion disgusts our vanity, which constantly assigns great enuses to effects that appear to it
+of great consequence. To destroy the illusions of
+pride, I shall prove, by the aid of facts, that it is to the
+most trifling incidents the most illustrious citizens
+have sometimes owed their talents. 1lence I conclude, that chance acts in a like manner on all mankind, and if its effects on ordinary minds are less remarked, it is merely because minds of this sort are
+themselves less remarkable.
+CHAP. VIII.
+OF THE CHANCES TO WHICH WE OFTEN OWE
+ILLUSTRIOUS CHARACTERS.
+For my first example, I shall cite M. Vancanson :
+his pious mother had a spiritual director, who lived in
+a cell, to which the hall where the clock was placed
+served as an antichamber. The mother paid frequent
+visits
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Vaucanson- Milton.
+visits to this director. Her son waited for her in the
+antichamber: there alone, and having nothing to do,
+he wept with weariness, while his mother wept with repentance. However, as we commonly weep and weary
+ourselves as little as possible, and as in a state of vacation there are no sensations indifferent, young Vaucanson was soon struck with the uniform motion of the
+pendulum, and desirous of discovering its cause. His
+curiosity was roused ; he approached the clock case,
+and saw, through the crevices, the wheels that turn
+each other ; discovered a part of the mechanism, and
+guessed at the rest. He projected a similar machine,
+which he executed in wood with a knife, and at last
+was able to make a clock more or less perfect. Encouraged bythis first success his taste for mechanics
+was determined. His talents displayed themselves,
+and the same genius that enabled him to make a clock
+in wood, showed him the possibility of forming a fluting automaton.
+Achance of the same sort kindled the genius of
+Milton. Cromwell died, his son succeeded him, and was
+driven out of England . Milton participated his illfortune ; he lost the place ofsecretary to the protector,
+was imprisoned, released, and driven into exile. At
+last he returned, retired to the country, and there, in
+the leisure of retreat and disgrace, he executed the
+poem which he had projected in his youth, and which
+has placed him in the rank of the greatest of men.
+If Shakspeare had been, like his father, always a
+dealer in wool ; if his imprudence had not obliged him
+to
+TREATISE REATISE ON MAN. 29
+Shakspeare--Moliere--Corneille.
+toquit his commerce, and his native place ; if he had not
+associated with libertines, and stolen deer from the park
+of a nobleman ; had not been pursued for the theft,
+and obliged to take refuge in London ; engage in a
+company ofactors ; and, at last, disgusted with being.
+an indifferent performer ( 12), he had not turned author ; the prudent Shakspeare had never been the
+celebrated Shakespeare ; and whatever ability he
+night have acquired in the wool trade, his name
+would never have reflected lustre on England.
+It was a chance nearly similar that determined the
+taste of Moliere for the stage. His grandfather loved
+the theatre, and frequently carried him thither. The
+young man lived in dissipation ; the father observing
+it, asked in anger, if his son was to be made an actor.
+Would to God, replied the grandfather, he was as
+good an actor as Montrose. Those words struck
+young Moliere ; he took a disgust to his trade, and
+France owes its greatest comic writer to that accidental reply. Moliere, a skilful tapestry maker, had
+never else been cited among the great men of his
+nation.
+Corneille loved ; he made verses for his mistress,
+became a poet, composed Melite ( 18) . then Cinna,
+Rodogune, &c. is the honour of his country, and an
+object of emulation for posterity. The discreet Corneille had remained a lawyer, and composed briefs
+that would have been forgotten with the causes he defended. Thus it is, that the devotion of a mother, the
+death of Cromwell, deer-stealing, the exclamation of
+an
+. TREATISE ON MAN
+Genius the effect of chance.
+an old man, and the beauty of a woman, have given
+five illustrious characters to Europe* .
+I should never have done if I would enumerate all
+the writers celebrated for their talents, and who owed
+those talents to similar incidents+. Many philosophers adopt my opinion on this particular. M. Bonnet compares with me, genius to a lens, that burns in
+one point only. Genius, according to us, is but the
+produce of a strong and concentered attention to any
+art or science ; but whence does this attention proceed ? From a lively taste we feel for that art or
+science. Now this taste is not the mere gift of nature §. Is a man born without ideas ? He is born also
+* It will doubtless be said, that similar incidents would not
+produce similar effects, except on men organised in a certain manner ; I shall answer this objection in the next section.
+It will not be improper, however, to add here one more instance ; Newton, in his younger days, was a student at Cambridge, but during the time ofthe plague retired into the country.
+As he was reading under an apple-tree, one of the fruit fell and
+struck him a sinart blow on the head. When he observed the
+smallness of the apple he was surprised at the force of the stroke.
+This led him to consider the accelerating motion of falling bodies,
+whence he duduced the principles of gravity, and laid the foundation of that philosophy which will reflect honour on the English
+nation, when, perhaps, the names of Cressy, Agincourt, and
+Blenheim will be utterly forgotten. T.
+See his Analytical Essay on the Faculties ofthe Mind.
+§ If children have seldom the taste we would give them, it is
+the fault of their instructors, and not that of their organisation.
+without :
+TREATISE ON MAN. 31
+The power ofchance exemplified in Rousseau.
+without tastes. We may, therefore regard them as
+acquisitions arising from the situations in which we
+are placed . Genius then, is the remote produce of
+incidents or chances nearly similar to those I have
+cited (14).
+M. Rousseau is not of this opinion : he is, however,
+himselfan instance of the power of chance.
+On entering the world fortune placed him in the
+train of an ambassador. A bickering with that minister
+made him quit the political career ( 15), and follow
+that of the arts and sciences. His choice lay between
+eloquence and music ; equally adapted to succeed in
+both those arts, his taste remained for some time undetermined ; a particular series of circumstances made
+him at last prefer eloquence ; a series of another kind
+would have made him a musician. Who knows ifthe
+favours of a fair singer would not have produced
+that effect ( 16). No one at least can affirm , that love
+could not have made an Orpheus of the French Plato.
+But what particular incident made M. Rousseau enter
+the career of eloquence ? I do not know ; that is his
+secret ; all that I can say is, that in this pursuit his first.
+success was sufficient to determine his choice.
+* The only disposition to science a man has at his birth, is the
+faculty ofcomparing and combining. In fact, all the operations
+ofhis mind are necessarily reduced to the observing of the relations which objects have to him, and among themselves. In the
+next section I shall examine what this faculty is in man.
+The
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Thepower of chance exemplified in Rousseau.
+The academy of Dijon proposed a prize for eloquence. It was a whimsical subject* ; the question
+was, Whether the sciences be more hurtful than useful to
+society? The only striking manner of treating this question was to take part against the sciences. M. Rousseau was sensible of this ; and composed on this subject an eloquent discourse, that deserved and obtained
+great encomiumst. This success formed the remarkable epoch of his life. Hence arose his glory, his
+misfortunes, and his paradoxes.
+Charmed with the beauty of his own discourse, the
+maxims ofthe orator ( 17) soon became those of the
+philosopher ; and from that moment, devoted to the
+love of paradoxes, nothing was difficult to him. Was
+it necessary to maintain, in orderto defend his opinion,
+* He that proposed this prize probably thought, that the only
+wayto become equally estimable with any other, was to prove,
+that any other is as ignorant as himself.
+† A man who is master of a fine style, and is well versed in
+sophistry, will always shine by taking the paradoxical side of a
+question. He that should attempt to prove that we see the light
+ofthe sun at mid- day, howjustly soever his arguments were ranged
+and how beautiful soever his language, would have but few readers. Whereas, he that should assert we see the sun's light at
+midnight, and support his assertion in pleasing language, by
+something like argument, would have many admirers. For the
+human mind, though not convinced, is always pleased to findthe
+appearance of argument where it has no right to expect any argu.
+ment at all. T.
+that
+TREATISE ON MAN. 33
+The power of chance exemplified in Rousseau.
+that the man absolutely brutal, without art, without
+industry, and inferior to every known savage, is
+notwithstanding more virtuous and happy than the
+polished citizen of London or Amsterdam ? he was
+ready to maintain it.
+Thedupe ofhis own eloquence, and content with the
+title ofanorator, he renouncedthat of a philosopher, and
+his errors became the consequence of his first success.
+The least causes have often produced the greatest effects. Chagrined at last by contradictions, or perhaps
+too fond of singularity, M. Rousseau quitted Paris
+and his friends : he retired to Montmorenci ( 18).
+He there composed and published his Emilius ; and
+was pursued by envy, ignorance and hypocrisy.
+Esteemed by all Europe for his eloquence, he was persecuted in France. They applied to him this passage, cruciature ubiest, laudature ubi non est*. Obliged
+at last to retire to Swisserland, and continually more
+irritated against persecution, he there wrote his famous
+letter addressed to the archbishop of Paris. Thus it
+is that all the ideas of a man, all his glory, and all his
+misfortunes, are frequently formed into a series by the
+invisible power of a first event. M. Rousseau, therefore, as well as an infinity ofillustrious men, may be
+. considered as one ofthe chefs d'œuvres of chance.
+* This sentence is applicable to almost every philosopher whose
+writings have obtained the public esteem .
+VOL. I. D Let
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Great effects produced by trifling causes.
+Let me not be reproached with having stopped to
+consider the causes to which great men have so frequently owed their talents ; my subject obliged me to
+it. I shall not grow tedious by details. I know that
+the public is fond of great talents, and that the trifling
+causes by which they are produced appears of little
+consequence. I see with pleasure a river roll its waves
+majestically through the plain, but it is with labour
+my imagination mounts to its source, to see it assemble
+the volume of waters necessary to its course . Objects
+present themselves to us in masses ; it is with weariness
+we attend to their decomposition. I cannot persuade
+myselfwithout difficulty, that the comet which traverses with such rapidity our mundane system, and menaces its ruin, is nothing more than a certain composition of invisible atoms.
+In morals, as in physics, we are struck by the great
+alone we constantly assign great causes to great effects ; we would make the signs in the zodiac announce
+the fall or revolution of empires. Yet how many crusades have been undertaken or suspended ; how many
+revolutions accomplished or prevented ; how many
+wars kindled or extinguished, by the intrigues of a
+priest, a woman, or a minister. It is for want of secret
+anecdotes, that we do not every where find the glove
+ofthe duchess of Marlborough*.
+* The physicians say, that a great acrimony in the seminal
+Let
+TREATISE ON MAN, 35
+•
+Method ofprofiting by the operation of chance.
+Let what I here say of empires be applied to individuals it will appear in like manner, that theirexaltation
+or disgrace, their happiness or misery, are the produce
+of a certain series of circumstances, of an infinity of
+chances unforeseen, and apparently insignificant. I
+compare the little incidents that produce the great
+events of our lives, to the hairy fibres of a root that
+insinuate themselves insensibly into the clefts of a rock,
+and there increase that they may one day spring up.
+Chance , therefore has, and always will have a part
+in our education, and especially in that of men of
+genius ; therefore, would you increase their number in
+a nation, observe the means that are used by chance
+to inspire mankind with adesire of becomingillustrious.
+This observation mude, place them expressly and frequently in the same positions that chance places them
+but seldom this is the only way to make them numerous.
+The moral education of mankind is now almost en.
+matter was the cause of the violent passion of Henry VIII. fór
+women. It is therefore to this acrimony England owes the destruction ofpopery. History would perhaps degrade its dignity, if
+it were always to search out in this manner the secret causes of
+great events but it would be far more instructive.
+* I must inform the reader, that by the word Chance, I mean
+the unknown concatenation of causes proper to produce such or
+such an effect, and that I never use the word in any other sense.
+tirely
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Contradictions in education.
+tirely abandoned to chance. To render it perfect, the
+plan must be directed by public utility, and founded on
+simple and invariable principles ; this is the only method to diminish the influence it receives from chance,
+and to obviate the contradictions that are found, and
+must necessarily be found, among all the various precepts of modern education.
+CHAP. IX.
+OF THE PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF THE CONTRADICTIONS IN THE PRECEPTS OF EDUCATION.
+IN Europe, and especially in the catholic countries,
+if all the precepts of education are contradictory, it is
+because public instruction is there confided to two
+powers, whose interests are opposite, and whose precepts therefore must be different and contradictory
+The one is the spiritual power,
+The other is the temporal power.
+The strength and grandeur of the latter depends on
+the strength and grandeur of the empire it commands.
+The real strength of a prince consists in the strength
+of
+TREATISE ON MAN. 37
+Pernicious influence of the clergy in Catholic countries.
+of the nation ; when that ceases to be respected the
+prince ceases to be powerful. He desires, and ought
+to desire, that his subjects be brave, industrious, learned, and virtuous. Is itthe samewith the spiritual power ?
+No; its interest is not the same. The power ofthe priest
+depends on the superstition and stupid credulity ofthe
+people. It is of little significance to him that they be
+learned ; the less they know the more docile they will be
+to his dictates. The interest ofthe spiritual power is not
+connected with that ofa nation, but with that of asect.
+Two nations are at war ; what is it to the pope
+which is the master and which the slave, if the conqueror and conquered are both to be subject to him ?
+If the French sink underthe power ofthe Portuguese ;
+if the house of Braganza mounts the throne of the
+Bourbons, the pope sees nothing in it but an increase
+ofhis authority. What does the sacerdotal power require of a nation ? A blind submission, a credulity
+without bounds, a puerile and contagious fear. Whether the nation renders itself renowned for its talents
+and patriotic virtues, is what the clergy concern themselves little about. Great talents and great virtues
+are almost unknown in Spain, Portugal, and in all parts
+where the spiritual power is most formidable.
+Ambition, it is true, is common to both powers, but
+the means by which it is gratified are very different.
+To raise itself to the highest point of grandeur, the
+one must exalt the passions of men, and the other debase them.
+DS If
+$8 TREATISE ON MAN.
+Ambition and artifices ofecclesiastics.
+If it be to a love of the public good, to justice, to
+riches, and glory, that the temporal power owes its
+warriors, its magistrates, its merchants, and men of
+letters ; ifit be by the commerce ofits towns, the valour ofits troops, the equity of its senate, and the genius
+of its literati, that the prince renders his nation respectable among others, the strong passions directed to
+the general good then serve as the basis of his
+grandeur.
+The ecclesiastical body, on the contrary, found their
+grandeur on the destruction of those very passions.
+Thepriest is ambitious, but ambition is odious to him
+in the laity ; it thwarts his designs. The project of the
+priest is to extinguish every desire in man, to make him
+disgusted with wealth and power, and by that disgust to
+appropriate both of them to himself ( 19). Of this we
+are certain, that the system of religion has been constantly directed by this plan.
+At the time that christianity was established, what
+did they preach? The community of property. Who
+offered himself as the depository of the goods that were
+to be in common ? The priest. Who violated the deposit, and made himself the proprietor ? The priest.
+When the rumour ofthe end of the world was spread
+abroad, by whom was it authenticated ? The priest.
+The report was favourable to his designs, he hoped,
+that struck with a panic, mankind would be anxious
+about one matter only (a matter in reality of importance) that of their salvation. Life, they said, is but
+a pas-
+TREATISE ON MAN. 39
+Ambition and artifices of ecclesiastics.
+•
+a passage heaven is our inheritance ; why then
+should we give ourselves up to earthly pleasures ? If
+discourses of this kind did not entirely detach the
+laity from earthly enjoyments, it at least weaned them
+from the love oftheir relations, of glory, of the public
+good, and of their country. Heroes then became
+rare ; and sovereigns, struck with the hope of mighty
+possessions in Heaven, consented sometimes to commit to a priest a part of their terrestrial authority. The
+priest seized it, and to preserve it depreciated true glory
+and true virtue. It was no longer permitted to honour
+such characters as Minos, Lycurgus, Codrus, Aristides,
+Timoleon; in a word, the defenders and benefactors
+of their country. Other models were proposed, other
+names were inscribed in the calendar ; and instead of
+the ancient heroes, were seen the names of St. Anthony,
+St. Crispin, St. Claire, St. Fiacre, St. Francis (20) ;
+in short, the names of all those solitary wretches, who
+dangerous to society by the example of their stupid
+religion, retired to cloisters and deserts, there to vege
+tate and end their useless days.
+By such models the priests hoped to accustom
+mankindto regard this life as a shortjourney. They then
+hoped that being without desires for terrestrial goods,
+and without friendship for those they should meet on
+their journey, they would become equally indifferent
+to their own happiness and that of their posterity. In
+fact, if life be nothing more than a baiting-place,
+whyshould we be so interested in the affairs that conD 4 cern
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Contradictory action of the spiritual and temporal power.
+cern it? A traveller does not repair the walls of an inn
+wherehe is to pass one night only.
+in
+To secure their grandeur, and satisfy their ambition,
+the spiritual and temporal powers must, therefore, in
+every country, employ very different means. Charged
+common with the instruction of the public, they
+must engrave on the hearts and minds of men precepts
+that are contradictory, and relative to the interest that
+one has in kindling, and the otherin extinguishing the
+passions*.
+That these two powers, however, equally preach probity, I allow. But they do not attach the same meaning to the word; and modern Rome, under the government of the pope, has not certainly the same idea
+of virtue that the ancient Romans had under the consulate of the elder Brutus. The dawn of reason
+begins to appear ; men now know that the same words
+do not every where convey the same ideas. What
+therefore is now required of an author ? That he annex clear ideas to the terms he uses. The reign of the
+dark scholastics may disappear ; the theologians will
+not perhaps always impose on the people and govern.
+ments. Ofthis we may rest assured, that they will not
+at least preserve their power by the means they have
+acquired it. Circumstances have changed with the
+* To attempt to destroy the passions of men, is to attempt to
+destroy their action. Does the theologian rail at the passions ?,
+he is the pendulum that mocks its spring, and the effect that mis- takes its cause.
+times :
+TREATISE ON MAN. 41
+Address to the Catholic clergy.
+times the necessity ofthe passions is now confessed ;
+it is found, that by their preservation, that of empires
+is secured. Passions are, in effect, strong desires, and
+these desires may be either conformable or contrary
+to the public welfare. If avarice and intolerance be
+hurtful and criminal passions, it is not so with the
+desire to render ourselves illustrious by talents and patriotic virtues (28). By annihilating the desires, you
+annihilate the mind ; every man without passions has
+within him no principle of action, no motive to act.
+You are, O catholic clergy ! rich and powerful
+upon the earth, but your power may be destroyed with
+that ofthe nations you command. By degrading them
+still more, they may be conquered by others, and will
+cease to be under your subjection. Even your own
+interest requires that men should continue to beexcited
+by passions and wants ; to stifle them in man you
+must change his nature.
+O venerable theologians ! O brutes ! O my brethren ! abandon the ridiculous project : study the human
+heart, examine the springs by which it is moved, and
+if you have not yet any clear idea of morality and politics (22), forbear to teach them. Pride has led you
+too long astray: remember the ingenious fable of the
+birth of Momus. The moment he saw the day, says a
+great poet, the infant god filled Olympus with his
+cries ; the celestial court was stunned to quiet him,
+each one gave the child a play-thing. Jupiter, who
+had just then created man, gave him to Momus, and
+:
+ever
+. TREATISE ON MAN.
+Contradictory precepts inculcated in youth.
+ever since man has been the puppet of folly. Now
+among the puppets of this sort, the most rueful, proud,
+and ridiculous, is a doctor ofdivinity (23). theolo
+gical puppet ! donot persist in destroying the passions,
+theyare the vital principles of a state (24). Employ
+yourself in promoting the general good ; endeavour to
+trace out a plan of instruction , whose clear and simple
+principles shall all center in the happiness of the public.
+How far distant are we from such a plan of instruction ? Parents and masters, with little harmony among
+themselves, are equally ignorant of what children
+ought to be taught. Their ideas or education are yet
+confused, and thence arises that glaring contradiction
+in all their precepts.
+CHAP. X.
+ว
+EXAMPLES OF CONTRADICTORY PRECEPTS INCULCATED IN EARLY YOUTH.
+If, in order to show more sensibly the contradiction
+in all the precepts of our education, I am obliged to
+descend to a more familiar style, the subject will plead
+my excuse. It is in the religious seminaries destined
+for
+TREATISE ON MAN. 43
+T
+Contradictory precepts inculcated in youth.
+for the instruction of young ladies, that these contradictions are most glaring. Suppose therefore I enter
+a convent: it is eight in the morning, the hour ofconference ; there is held a discourse on modesty; the
+superior of the convent proves, that aboarder should
+never look at a man. The clock strikes nine ; the
+dancing-master is in the parlour. Mind your steps, he
+says to his scholar, hold up your head, and always
+look at yourpartner. Now which of these is she to
+believe ? the dancing-master or the mistress of the
+convent? The scholar does not know ; and therefore
+acquires neither the grace the first would give her,
+nor the reserve that is preached to her by the other.
+Now whence do ' these contraditions arise, but from
+the contradictory desires of the parents, who would
+have their daughter at once agreeable and reserved,
+join the prudery of the cloister to the graces of the
+theatre ? That is, they would conciliate irreconcilables*.*
+The Turkish education is, perhaps, the only one that
+is consistent with what is required of women in their
+own country (25).
+The principles of education will be variable and inAgirl is required to be sincere and ingenuous. Ahusband
+is provided for her; shedoes not like him ; she declares it freely;
+it is taken amiss. The parents, therefore, would have her true or
+false, according as it is their interest that she should be the one or
+the other,
+determinate
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Cotradictory precepts inculcated in youth.
+determinate so long as they do not regard one certain
+point. What point is that ? The greatest public
+utility ; that is, the greatest pleasure, and the greatest
+happiness, of the largest number of citizens.
+Do parents lose this point of view ? They wander
+here and there in the paths of instruction. Fashion is
+their only guide. They know that to make their
+daughter a musician they must pay a music-master,
+but they do not know that to give her just ideas
+of virtue they must in like manner pay a master of
+morality.
+When a mother undertakes the education of her
+daughter, she tells her in the morning, while putting
+on the rouge, that beauty is nothing; that virtue and
+talents are all *. At that moment company enters to
+the mother's toilet ; every one praises the young lady's
+beauty, but not once a twelvemonth a word is said
+about her talents and virtue +. The only recompence
+moreover that is promised to her application and her
+virtue, is the ornaments of dress, and yet they would
+* Dothey persuade a girl that without talents she will never
+get a husband? To-morrow she hears that the most stupid ofher
+companions has made an excellent match, because she had a large
+fortune, and that without a fortune no one can be married.
++ If they commonly praise nothing but beauty in a daughter,
+it is because beauty is really the most interesting and desirable
+quality in her we visit, and to whom we are neither husband nor
+friend ; and with women the men are always on a visit.
+have
+TREATISE ON MAN: '45
+Contradictory precepts inculcated in youth.
+have the young girl be indifferent to her beauty. Into
+what confusion must her ideas be thrown by such
+conduct !
+The education of ayouth is not more consistent ;
+the first duty prescribed him is the observance
+of the laws ; the second, their violation, when he is
+offended in case of an insult, he is to fight, under
+pain of being dishonoured. Do they prove to him,
+that it is by services rendered his country, he will obtain the consideration of this world, and the felicity
+of the next ; what models do they propose for his
+imitation ? A monk, a fanatical and slothful dervise,
+whose intolerance has filled empires with trouble and
+desolation.
+A father recommends to his son fidelity to his promise. Atheologian then comes and tells the young
+man, that we are not bound to keep our promise to
+the enemies of God ; for which reason Louis XIV.
+revoked the edict of Nantz given by his ancestors ;
+that the pope has decided this question, by declaring
+every treaty made between Catholic princes and heretics to be void, and by giving the former the power
+of violating those treaties whenever they have sufficient strength.
+A preacher proves in the pulpit, that the God of
+the Christians is the God of truth ; that it is by their
+hatred to falsehood his worshippers are known (26).
+He descends from the pulpit, and then owns, that it is
+quite prudent to observe certain precautions (27) ; that
+he
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Contradictory precepts inculcated in youth.
+he himself in praising the truth, takes great care how he
+speaks it (28). In fact, the man who should write
+the true history of his times, in a Catholic country,
+would set all these worshippers of the God of truth
+against him (29) . In such a country, a man to guard
+himself from persecution, must either be dumb, a
+fool, or a liar.
+Suppose a preceptor, by force of application, should
+inspire his pupil with candour and humanity ; his spiritual director enters, and tells him that we may pardon mankind their vices, but not their errors ; that
+in the latter case indulgence is a crime, and that every
+one who does not think as he does should be burned.
+Such is the ignorance and contradiction of a theologian, that he declaims against the passions at the
+very moment he would excite emulation in his pupil.
+He then forgets that emulation is a passion, and a very
+strong passion too if wejudge by its effects.
+In every part of education, therefore, there is contradiction. What is the cause ? An ignorance of the
+true principles of this science ; they have nothing but
+confused ideas about it. Mankind should be enlightened ; the priest opposes it. Does the truth dawn a
+moment upon them ? Its rays are absorbed in the
+darkness of scholastics. Error and crime both search
+for obscurity, the one in words (30), the other in the
+night. Let not, however, all the contradictions of
+our education be charged to theology ; there are some
+also that arise from the vices of government. How
+will
+TREATISE ON MAN. 47
+Contradictory precepts inculcated in youth.
+will you persuade a youth to be faithful to society, and
+to keep the secret of another, when even in England, the government, under a most frivolous pretext,
+opens the letters of private persons and betrays the
+public confidence ? How can you flatter yourself with
+an expectation of inspiring him with a horror of
+spies and informers, whenhe sees them honoured, rewarded, and pensioned.
+When a young man comes from the college, and
+mixes with the world, he is expected to render himself
+agreeable and constantly preserve his chastity! At the
+period that the passion of love is most sensibly felt,
+must a young man be indifferent to women, and live
+in the midst of them without desire ? Can parental
+stupidity imagine that when government builds a
+theatre for operas, and custom sets it open to young
+men, that, fond of their virginity, they will always
+behold with an eye of indifference, a spectacle in which,
+the endearments, the transports, and magical power of
+* If they would really damp the desires of love in a young
+man, what should they do ? Institute violent exercises, and inspire youth with a taste for them. Exercise is in this case the
+most efficacious lecture. The more we perspire, the more ofthe
+animal spirits we exhaust, the less vigour remains for love. The
+coldness and indifference of the savages of Canada, proceeds from
+the fatigue and inanition produced by their long and wearisome
+huntings,
+love,
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Method of rendering education less dependent on chance.
+love, are painted in the most brilliant colours, and enter their minds by all the organs of the senses •
+I should never have done if 1 would make a catalogue of all the contradictions in the European education, and especially in that of the Papists. In the
+thick fog of errors, how shall we discover the path of
+virtue ? The Catholic, therefore, frequently wanders
+from it. So that without fixed principles in this matter, it is to his situation, to books, to friends, and to
+the mistresses that chance has given him, that he
+owes his virtues or vices. But is there any method of
+rendering the education of men more independent of
+chance? and if there be, how is it to be attained ?
+Teach nothing but the truth. Error is continually at
+variance with itself: the truth never.
+Do not abandon the education of the people to two
+powers,
+who having two opposite interests, constantly
+teach two contradictory moralities (31).
+By what fatality, it will be said, have almost all
+nations confided to the priesthood the moral instrucLet it not be imagined, from what is here said, that I am
+for destroying the opera, or the drama. I only mean to condemn the contradiction in our customs and precepts. I am nei
+ther an enemy to the theatre, nor in this matter of the opinion of
+M. Rousseau. The theatres are incontestibly pleasing. Now
+there is no pleasure that in the hands of a wise government may
+not, by being made the recompence of virtue, become its productive principle.
+tion
+TREATISE ON MAN. 49
+Necessity for a reform of thePopish religion.
+tion of their youth ! What is the moral of Papists ?
+Amedly of superstitions. However there is nothing
+which thesacerdotal power cannot execute by the aid of
+superstition. For by that it robs the magistrates oftheir
+authority, and kings of their legitimate power : it is
+by that it subdues the people, and acquires a power
+over them which is frequently superior to the laws ;
+and finally, by that it corrupts the very principles of
+morality. What remedy is there for this evil ? There
+is but one. This science must be entirely reformed.
+A new spirit must preside over the formation of its
+new principles, and every part of it must be directed
+to the public welfare.
+It is time that under the title of the holy ministers
+of morality, the magistrates should found it on principles that are simple, clear, and consistent with the
+general prosperity, and of which all the inhabitants.
+may form ideas equally just and precise. But will the
+simplicity and uniformity of these principles agree
+with the different passions of men ?
+Their desires may be different, but their manner of
+regarding objects is essentially the same. They see
+well and do ill. Every one being born with a just
+discernment discovers the truth, when it is presented
+to him in a clear light. With regard to youth, they
+have more avidity for it, as they are less accustomed
+to break it, and have less interest to see objects different from what they really are. The minds of young
+people cannot be drawn from the truth without force.
+VOL. I. E To
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Reasons against a reform in religion.
+To produce this effect, all the patience and all the
+art of modern education are required ; and even then
+they see by fits the light of natural reason, and the
+falsity of those opinions with which their memories
+are charged. Why then do they not efface those,
+and substitute in their place new ideas ? Such a
+change of ideas requires time and pains, and is too
+difficult a task for the greatest part of mankind, who
+frequently descend to the grave before they have acquired clear and precise ideus of virtue.
+When will they have just ideas ? When the religi
+ous system shall coincide with the national prosperity :
+when religions, the habitual instruments of sacerdotal
+ambition, shall become the felicity of the public. Is
+it possible to conceive such a religion ? The examination of this question deserves the attention of the
+sagacious part of mankind. I shall therefore, by the
+way, take a view of the false religions.
+CHAP. XI.
+OF FALSE RELIGIONS.
+EVERY religion," says Hobbes, " founded on the
+" fear of an invisible power, is a tale, that, avowed
+"by a nation, bears the name of religion, and disa
+" Yowed
+TREATISE ON MAN 51 •All religions may be considered political institutions.
+"vowed by the same nation, bears the name of super-
+" stition." The nine incarnations of Vistnou are
+religion in the Indies, and tales at Nuremberg.
+I shall not make use of the authority of this definition to deny the truth of religion . If I believe my
+nurse and any tutor, every other religion is false, mine
+alone is the true . But is it acknowledged for such
+bythe universe ? No: the earth still groans with the
+multitude of temples consecrated to error. There is
+no one that is not the religion of some country.
+The histories of Numa, Zoroaster, Mahomet, and
+so many other founders of modern worship, teach us
+that all religions may be considered as political institutions, which have a great influence on the happiness
+of nations. I therefore suppose, as the human mind
+still produces, from time to time, new religions, that
+it is a matter of importance, in order to render them
+the least detrimental possible, to point out the plan
+that should be followed in their formation.
+All religions are false, except the Christian : but I
+do not confound that with Popery.
+* Perhaps this assertion will appear absurd. This absurdity,
+however, is common to all men. The ridicule in me, as in them,
+is the effect of pride. If each one thinks his religion the best, it is
+because each one says to himself: They who do not think as I do,
+are wrong. I therefore express myself in the same manner as others.
+E2 CHAP.
+•
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Popery is of human institution.
+CHAP. XII.
+POPERY IS OF HUMAN INSTITUTION.
+POPERY in the eyes of a man of sense is nothing
+more than mere idolatry (32). The Romish church
+without doubt regarded it as no other than a human
+institution, when, it made of that religion a scandalous use, an instrument of its avarice and ambition,
+that served to promote the criminal projects of the
+popes, and sanction their avidity and pride. But
+these imputations, say the papists, are calumnies.
+To prove them to be true, I ask if it be probable
+that the heads of the monastic orders regarded their
+religion as divine, when to enrich themselves and
+their convents, they forbade the monks to inter any
+one in holy ground who died without making them
+a bequest. If they were themselves the dupes of a
+doctrine publicly professed, when they made themselves
+proprietors (33) of goods, that in quality of stewards
+for the poor, they ought to have divided among them ?
+If the popes thought they really practised justice and
+humility, when they declared themselves the distributors of the kingdoms of America, over which they
+had no sort of right ? When by a line of demarkation
+TREATISE ON MAN. 53
+•
+Selfishness of Popery.
+tion, they divided that part of the world (34) between the Spaniards and Portuguese ? Lastly, when
+they pretended to reign over princes, direct them in
+temporal matters, and be the arbitrary disposers of
+their crowns? O papists ! examine what has been the
+conduct of your church in all ages. Has it sought to
+entertain a Roman garrison in every kingdom, and to
+attach a great number of men to its interest ? (it is the
+practice of every ambitious sect. ) It has instituted a
+great number of religious orders ; erected and peopled
+a great number of monasteries ; and lastly has had the
+artifice to quarter this ecclesiastical militia in the countries where it was established.
+:
+The same motive that made it desire the multiplication of the secular clergy, has multiplied the sacraments and the people, in order to receive them, were
+obliged to augment the number of their priests. They
+soon equalled that of the grass-hoppers of Egypt.
+Like them they devoured the harvests ; these priests,
+secular and regular, being maintained at the expence
+of the catholic nations. To bind these priests more
+closely to its interest, and to enjoy their affection without a rival, the church obliged them to live a life of
+celibacy, without wives and without children ; but
+otherwise in a state of ease and luxury, that made
+their condition continually more pleasing to them.
+This was not all ; the Romish church, still farther to
+increase its riches and power, endeavoured, in the
+E3 name
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Ambition of the heads of the Catholic religion.
+name of St. Peter, or some other, to raise contributions in every kingdom. By this method, it in effect
+opened a bank between earth and heaven, and under
+the name of indulgences, received ready money for
+bills drawn on heaven and payable to order.
+Now, as we have seen in every age the sacerdotal character sacrifice virtue to the lust of wealth and power:
+when we read the history of the popes, and see their
+policy, their ambition, their manners, in a word their
+whole conduct, and find it so different from that
+prescribed by the gospel, how can we imagine that
+the chiefs of this religion have had any other design
+than to get possession of all the power and wealth
+of the earth (55) ?
+After examining the manners and conduct of the
+monks, the clergy, and pontiffs, a protestant may, I
+think, show, for the justification of his belief, and the
+advantage of nations, that Popery was never any thing
+more than a human institution . But why have religions
+been hitherto merely local ? Is it not possible to conceive one that may become universal ?
+f
+CHAP.
+t
+TREATISE ON MAN. 55
+Principles of anuniversal religion..
+CHAP. XIII.
+OF AN UNIVERSAL RELIGION.
+AN universal religion cannot be founded except on
+principles that are eternal and invariable, that are
+drawn from the nature of men and things, and that,
+like the propositions of geometry, are capable of the
+most rigorous demonstration . Are there such principles,
+and can they be equally adapted to all nations ? Yes,
+doubtless or if they vary, it will be only in some of
+their applications to those different countries where
+chance has placed the different nations,
+But among the principles or laws proper for all societies, which is the first and most sacred ? That
+which secures to every one his property, his life, and
+his liberty.
+When a man is an uncertain proprietor of his land,
+he will not till his field, he will not cultivate his orchard : the nation soon becomes ravaged and desolated by famine. Is a man the uncertain proprietor
+of his life and liberty ? He that is in continual fear,
+is without spirit and without industry : solely concerned
+for his personal preservation, and wrapt up in himself,
+he does not regard what passes without him he does
+B 4 not
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Principles of an universal religion.
+not study the science of man, nor remark his desires
+and his passions. It is, however, from this preliminary knowledge that the laws most conformable to the
+public prosperity are to be deduced.
+By what fatality have laws so necessary to society,
+remained unknown, even to the present day ? Why
+has not heaven hitherto revealed them ? Heaven, I
+answer, requires that man by his reason should co-operate in his own happiness, and that of the numerous
+societies of the earth (36) ; and that the master-piece
+of an excellent legislation should be, like that of other
+sciences, the product of genius and experience.
+God has said to man, I have created thee, I have
+given thee sensations, memory, and consequently reason. It is my will that thy reason, sharpened at first
+by want, and afterwards enlightened by experience,
+shall provide thee sustenance, teach thee to cultivate
+the land, to improve the instruments of labour, of
+agriculture, in a word, of all the sciences of the first
+necessity. It is also my will, that by cultivating this,
+same reason, thou mayst come to a knowledge of my
+moral will, that is, of thy duties toward society, of
+the means of maintaining order, and lastly of the
+knowledge of the best legislation possible.
+This is the only natural religion to which I would
+have mankind elevate their minds, that only which
+can become universal, that which is alone worthy of
+God, which is marked with his seal, and that of the
+truth. All others must bear the impression of man,
+•
+of
+TREATISE ON MAN. 57
+The priests necessarily hostile to such a religion.
+of fraud and falsehood . The will of God, just and
+good, is that the children of the earth should be
+happy, and enjoy every pleasure compatible with the
+public welfare.
+Such is the true worship, that which philosophy
+should reveal to the world. No other saints would
+belong to such a religion than the benefactors of humanity ; such as Lycurgus, Solon, Sidney, the inventors
+of some useful art, some pleasure that is new, but
+conformable to the general interest : none would be
+rejected as reprobate, but the enemies of society, and
+the gloomy adversaries of pleasure.
+Will the priests † one day become the apostles of
+such a religion ? Their interest forbids it. The clouds
+that hover over the principles of morality and legislation (which essentially are the same science) have been
+brought thither by their policy. It is on the ruins of
+the greatest part of religions that sound morality must
+be founded. Would to God that the priests, susceptible of a noble ambition, had sought in the consti-
+* This is evidently to be understood of mere natural religion,
+and has nothing to do with that which is revealed ; for the question here is not, whether the revealed religion be true or false ;
+but how a natural religion, that would be universally useful,
+might be established . T.
+Theauthor means the Romish priests, to whom it is plain he every where refers. T.
+tuent
+•
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Glorious distinction which priests might attain.
+tuent principles of man, the invariable laws by which
+nature and heaven directs that the happiness of societies be established ! Would to God that the religious
+system may become the palladium of public felicity !
+It is to the priests that these cares should be confided. They would then enjoy a grandeur and glory
+founded on public gratitude. They might then say
+to themselves each day of their lives, it is by us that
+mankind are happy. Such a grandeur, such a lasting
+happiness appeared to them mean and despicable.
+You might, O ministers of the altar ! become the
+idols of intelligent and virtuous men ! you have chosen
+⚫ rather to command bigots and slaves ; you have
+rendered yourselves odious to good citizens, by becoming the plague of nations, the instruments of their unhappiness, and the destroyers of true morality.
+(Morality founded on true principles is the only true
+natural religion. ) However, if there should be men
+whose insatiate credulity (37) cannot be satisfied without a mysterious religion ; let the friends of the mar
+vellous search out among the religions of that sort, one
+whose establishment will be least detrimental to society,
+CHAP.
+?
+TREATISE ON MAN. 59
+Expensiveness of the Catholic religion..
+CHAP. XIV.
+OF THE CONDITIONS, WITHOUT WHICH A RELIGION
+DESTRUCTIVE TO NATIONAL FELICITY.
+AN intolerant religion, and one whose worship requires & great expence, is undoubtedly a prejudicial
+religion. Its intolerance must, in process of time,
+depopulate the nation, and the sumptuous worship exhaust its wealth (38) . There are Roman Catholic
+countries were they reckon near fifteen thousand convents, twelve thousand priories, fifteen thousand chapels, thirteen hundred abbeys, ninety thousand priests
+employed in serving forty-five thousand parishes, and
+besides all these an infinite number of abbés, teachers,
+and ecclesiastics of every kind, amounting in the
+whole, to at least three hundred thousand men, whose
+cost would maintain a formidable army and marine.
+* In every country containing 300,000 monks, curates, priests,
+canons, bishops, &c. they must cost the state, in lodging, cloathing, feeding, &c. one with another, half-a-crown per day. Now,
+to support this, what prodigious sums must the priesthood raise
+on the nation, in rents, tenths, pensions, imposts for masses, repairs of churches and chapels, parochial and conventual treasu
+Are-
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+•
+Expensiveness ofthe Catholic religion.
+A religion thus expensive to a state (39) cannot long
+be the religion of an enlightened and well governed
+ries, seats in churches, offerings, marriages, baptisms, burials,
+charities, dispensations, missions, &c.
+The tenths alone that the clergy drawfrom the cultivated lands
+of a country, are nearly equal to what is received by all its proprietors. In France the arpent * of cultivated land, let at five
+shillings and six-pence, or six shillings, yields about twenty or
+twenty-two minots of corn ofthree bushels each. The priest for his
+tenth takes two ; the price ofthese two minots, or six bushels, may
+be, one year with another, eight or nine shillings. The priest
+moreover takes as much straw as may amount to five shillings ;
+besides histenth of oats and their straw amountingto twenty pence
+ortwo shillings : total fifteen shillings that the priest takes in the
+three years for the same land, that yields the proprietor inthe same
+time sixteen or eighteen shillings, out of which he is to pay the
+tenth, support his farm, make good the deficiencies of unlet land,
+and loss byfarmers, &c.
+From this calculation it is easy to judge of the immense riches
+ofthe clergy ; suppose wereduce the number to 200,000 ? Their
+maintenance will then amount to 25,000l. sterling per day, and
+consequently to nine millions one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds per annum. Now what a fleet and army might be
+maintained withthis sum ? Awise government, therefore, cannot
+be desirous of supporting a religion that is so expensive and burthensome tothe subject. In Austria, Spain, and Bavaria, and
+perhaps, even in France, the priests, (deduction being made for
+interest paid to annuitants) are richer than the sovereign.
+Thearpent contains one hundred perches square, of eighteen
+feet each. T.
+nation
+TREATISE ON MAN. 61
+•
+Expensiveness of the Catholic religion.
+nation (40). The people that submit to it will labour
+only to maintain the.ease and luxury of the priesthood ;
+each of its inhabitants will be nothing more than a
+slave to the sacerdotal power.
+In order to be good, therefore, a religion should be
+What remedy is there for this abuse ? There is but one ; and
+that is to diminish the number of the priests. But there are religions (and the Roman Catholic is of this sort) whose worship requires a great number. Inthis case the worship should be changed,
+or at least the number of the sacraments diminished . The fewer
+priests there are, the fewer funds will be necessary for their maintenance. But these funds are sacred. Why? Is it because they
+are in part usurped from the poor ? The clergy are only the depositaries. Therefore no taxes should be levied on these funds,
+but such as are absolutely necessary for government. I would ob
+serve further, that the temporal power being expressly appointed to
+watch over the temporal happiness ofthe people, it has aright tothe
+administration of such legacies as are left to the poor, and to take
+into its own hands the management of all the funds of which the
+monks have defrauded them. But what use shall be made of
+them? Apply them to the actual support of the wretched ;
+either by charities or diminution of taxes, or by the purchase of
+small possessions, which distributed among those whom poverty
+has deprived of their property, will, by makingthem proprietors,
+render them citizens *.
+* These long notes will not perhaps, afford much entertainment to
+an Englishman. They should howeverafford him a sensible pleasure, when he reflects how much happier the inhabitants of this
+country now are, than their ancestors were a very few centuries
+past. T.
+tolerant
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Evils of intolerance.
+tolerant and little expensive (41). Its clergy should
+have no authority over the people. A dread of the
+priest debases the mind and the soul : makes the one
+brutish and the other servile. Must the ministers of
+the altar be always armed with the sword ? Can the
+barbarities committed by their intolerance ever be
+forgotten ? The earth is yet drenched with the blood
+it has spilt ! Civil toleration alone is not sufficient to
+secure the peace ofnations : the ecclesiastic must concar in the same intention. Every dogma is the seed
+of discord and injustice that is sown among men.
+Which is the truly tolerant religion ? That which like
+the pagan has no dogma, or which may be reduced,
+like that of the philosophers, to a sound, and elevated
+morality ; which will, doubtless be one day the religion of the universe.
+It is requisite, moreover, that a religion be gentle
+and humane :
+That its ceremonies contain nothing gloomy or
+severe :
+That it constantly present spectacles that are pompous, and festivals that are pleasing (42) :
+That its worship excite the passions, but such pas
+sions only as tend to the public utility ; the religion
+that stifles them produces Talapoins, Bonzes, and
+Bramins ; but never heroes, illustrious men, and noble
+citizens.
+The religion that is joyful, supposes a noble confidence
+TREATISE ON MAN. 63
+Wrong ideas inculcated by ecclesiastics.
+fidence in the goodness of the Supreme Being. Why
+would you have him resemble an Eastern tyrant? Why
+make him punish slight faults with eternal torment?
+Whythus put the name of the Divinity at the bottom
+of the portrait of the devil ? Why oppress the soul
+with a load of fear, break its springs, and transform
+the worshipper of Jesus, into a vile pusillanimous
+slave ? It is the malignant who paint a milignant God.
+Whatis their devotion ? A veil for their crimes.
+A religion departs from its political purpose, when
+the man who is just, humane toward his brethren, and
+distinguished for his talents and his virtues, is not assured ofthefavour of heaven : when a momentary desire, a burst of passion, or omission of a mass, can deprive him of it for ever.
+Let not the rewards of heaven be made the price of
+trifling religious operations, which convey a diminutive
+idea of the Eternal, and false conceptions of virtue ;
+its rewards should never be assigned to fasting, haircloth, a blind submission , and self-castigation.
+The man who places these operations amongthe
+virtues, might as well include in the number leaping,
+dancing, and tumbling on the rope. What is it to
+the public whether a young fellow flog himself or take
+a perilous leap ?
+As the fever was formerly deified, why not deify the
+public good ? Why has not this divinity his worship,
+his temple, and his priests ; (43) and lastly, why make
+a virL
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Humility not to be considered a national virtue.
+a virtue of self-denial ? Humanity is in man the only
+virtue truly sublime : it is the principal, and perhaps
+the only one with which religion ought to inspire mankind, as it includes almost all others.
+Let humility be held in veneration by a convent : it
+favours the meanness and idleness of a monastic life
+(44). But ought this humility to be the virtue of a
+people ? No : A noble pride has ever been that of a renowned nation . It was the spirit of contempt, with
+which the Greeks and Romans regarded the slavish
+nations ; it was a just and lofty opinion of their own
+courage and force, that, concurring with their laws,
+enabled them to subdue the universe*. Pride, it will be
+said, attaches a man to the earth : so much the better ;
+pride is therefore useful. Let religion, far from oppo-
+* That theRomans owed much oftheir exaltation to this spirit
+is very certain, but it is not so certain that they made a right use of
+it, or at least did not carry it to an excess ; for as Lord Bolingbroke
+observes, in his Letters on the Study of History, when speaking of
+the Roman nation, during the career of their conquests, when
+theyhad not yet learned the lesson of moderation : " An insatia-
+"ble thirst of military fame, an unconfined ambition of extending
+"their empire, an extravagant confidence in their own knowledge
+“and force, an insolent contempt of their enemies, and an impetuous, overbearing spirit, with which they pursued all their enter-
+"prizes, composed at that time the distinguishing character of a
+" Roman ; and their sages had not then learned, that virtues in
+excess degenerate into vices." T.
+sing
+TREATISE ON MAN. 65
+Principles of the Pagan religion.
+sing, encrease in man an attachment to things terrestrial ; let every citizen be employed in promoting the
+prosperity, the glory and power of his country ; and
+let religion be the panegyrist of every action that promotes the welfare of the majority, sanctify all useful establishments, and never destroy them. May
+the interest of the spiritual and temporal powers be
+for ever one and the same ; may these two powers be
+reunited, as at Rome, in the hands of the magistrates (45) may the voice of heaven be henceforth
+that of the public good : and may the oracles of God
+confirm every law that is advantageous to the people !
+CHAP. XV.
+AMONG THE FALSE RELIGIONS, WHICH HAVE BEEN
+LEAST DETRIMENTAL TO THE HAPPINESS OF SOCIETY ?
+THE first I shall mention is that of the Pagans : but
+at the time of its institution, this pretended religion
+was nothing more than the allegorical system ofnature.
+Saturn was Time, Ceres, Matter ; and Jupiter the generating Spirit (46). All the fables of mythology were
+mere emblems of certain principles of nature. When
+we consider it as a religious system, was it so absurd to
+VOL. I. F adore
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Principles of the Pagan religion.
+adore, under various names, the different attributes of
+the Divinity * ?
+In the temples of Minerva, of Venus, Mars, Apollo,
+and Fortune, whom did they adore ? Jupiter, by
+turns considered as wise, beautiful, powerful, enlightening and fertilising the universe. Is it more rational
+to erect, under the names of St. Eustache, St. Martin, or St. Roch, temples to the Supreme Being ? But
+the Pagans knelt before statues of wood or stone.
+The Catholics do the same ; and if we mayjudge by
+external appearances, they frequently express more
+veneration for their saints than forthe Eternal.
+I am willing to allow moreover that the Pagan religion was the most absurd. It is wrong for a religion
+to be absurd : its absurdity may have mischievous consequences. This fault, however, is not of the first
+magnitude ; and if its principles be not entirely opposite to the public good, if its maxims may be made
+agreeable to the laws, and the general utility, it is even
+the least detrimental of all others. Such was the Pagan religion. It never opposed the projects of a patriotie legislature. It was without dogmas, and consequently humane and tolerant. There could be no
+dispute, no war among its sectaries that the slightest
+attention of the magistrates would not prevent. Its
+* We are astonished at the absurdity of the Pagan religion :
+posterity will one day be far more astonished at the religion of
+the Papists.
+worship
+TREATISE ON MAN. 67
+Principles of the Pagan religion.
+worship moreover did not require a great number of
+priests, and therefore was not necessarily a charge to
+the state.
+Their Lares or domestic gods, sufficed for the daily
+worship of individuals. Some temples erected in large
+cities, some colleges of priests, some pompous festivals, were sufficient for their rational devotion. These
+festivals, inthe vacation from rural labours, gave the
+inhabitants an opportunity to visit the cities, and became thereby a season of pleasure. Though these
+feasts were magnificent, they were rare, and conscquently but little expensive. The Pagan religion had
+not therefore any of the inconveniencies of Popery.
+This religion of the senses was moreover the most
+proper for mankind, the best adapted to produce those
+strong impressions that it is necessary for the legisla
+ture sometimes to excite in the people. The imagina .
+tion being thereby continually kept in action, nature
+was held in entire subjection to the empire of Poesy,
+which enlivened and invigorated every part of the
+universe. The summits ofthe mountains, the wide extended plains, the impenetrable forests, the sources,
+of the rivers, and the depths of the scas, were peopled
+by the Oreades, the Fauns, the Napæ, the Hamadryades, the Tritons, and Nereides. The gods, and goddesses lived in society with mortals, took a part in their
+feasts, their wars, and their amours ; Neptune supped
+with the king of Ethiopia. The Nymphs and Heroes
+sat down among the Gods. Latona had her altars.
+F2 The
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Passions encouraged by the Pagan religion. '
+The deified Hercules espoused Hebe. These celebrated
+heroes inhabited the fields and the groves of Elysium.
+Those fields, since adorned by the ardent imagination
+of the prophet, who transported thither the Houris,
+were the abode of various and illustrious men of every
+sort. It was there that Achilles, Patroclus, Ajax,
+Agamemnon, and all those heroes that fought under
+the walls of Troy, were still employed in military exercises ; it was there that Pindar and Homer still celebrated the Olympic games, and the exploits of the
+Greeks.
+The sort of exercise and song that had been the occupation of the heroes and poets on the earth ; in a
+word, all the tastes they had contracted, accompanied
+them in the infernal regions. Their death was properly
+no other than a prolongation of their life.
+According to this religion, what must have been the
+most earnest desire, the most cogent interest of the
+Pagans ? That of serving their country by their talents,
+their courage, their integrity, their generosity, by all
+their virtues. It became a matter of importance to
+render themselves dear to those, with whom they were
+to continue their existence after death . Far from extinguishing that enthusiasm which a wise legislation
+inspires for virtue and talents, it was by this religion
+more strongly excited. The ancient legislators convinced of the utility of the passions, had no desire
+to stifle them. What sort of men would you look for
+among a people without desires ? Merchants, captains,
+soldiers,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 69
+Passions excited bythe Scandinavian religion.
+soldiers, men of letters, able ministers ? No : none but
+monks.
+A people without industry, courage, riches, and
+science, are born the slaves of any neighbour that has
+boldness enough to put on their fetters. Men must
+have passions, and the Pagan religion did not extinguish in them the sacred and animating fire. Perhaps
+the Scandinavian, a little different from the Greek and
+Roman, led mankind to virtue by a more efficacious
+method. Reputation was the god of this people. It was
+the only divinity from whom the inhabitants expected
+their reward. Every one aspired to be the child of
+Reputation. Every one honoured the bards, as the
+distributors of glory, and the priests of the temple of
+renown *. The silence of the bards was dreadful to
+warriors, and even to princes. Contempt was the lot
+of every one that was not the child of Reputation.
+Flattery was then unknown to the poets. The severe
+and incorruptible inhabitants of a free country, they
+had not then debased themselves by servile eulogies.
+No one among them even dared to celebrate a name
+that the public esteem had not already consecrated.
+To obtain this esteem, a man must have rendered some
+* The advantage ofthis religion over some others is inestimable ;
+as it rewards those talents and actions only that are useful to our
+country ; andthe heaven of other religions, is the reward offasting,
+solitude, castigation, and other stupid virtues that are useless to
+society.
+F3 service
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Method ofchanging received religious opinions.
+service to his country. The religious and powerful desire ofimmortal fame, therefore, excited men to render
+themselves illustrious bytheir talents, and their virtues.
+What advantage must not such a religion, that was at
+the same time more pure than the Pagan, procure to
+a nation !
+But is a religion of this sort to be established in a
+society already formed ? The attachment of a people
+to the prevailing worship is well known, and their horror against a new religion . What method can be taken
+to change the received opinions ?
+The method is perhaps more easy than may be
+imagined. If in a nation reason be tolerated, it will
+substitute the religion of Renown in preference to all
+others. But if it should substitute mere Deism, what
+advantage will it not give to humanity * ! But will the
+worship rendered to the Divinity, remain a long time
+pure ? The people are groveling ; superstition is their
+religion. The temples elevated at first to the Eternal,
+will soon be consecrated to his several perfections ; ignorance will make of them as many gods. Be it so :
+and so far let the magistrate permit them to go : but
+arrived there, let the same magistrate, attentive to direct the progress of ignorance, and more especially of
+superstition, keep it always in view ; let him observe
+That is, how much better is it that man should be mere
+Deists than Papists : not know Christianity, than make it subservient to wicked and contemptible purposes ! T.
+what
+TREATISE ON MAN. 71
+Thecharacters ofpriest and magistrate ought to be united.
+what form it assumes, and oppose the establishment of
+every dogma, every principle inconsistent with sound
+morality, that is to say, with the public utility.
+Every man is jealous of his fame. If the magis
+trate, as at Rome, unites in his person the double office
+of senator and minister of the altar (47) ; the priest in
+him should be constantly subordinate to the senator,
+and religion constantly subordinate to the public happiness.
+The abbé de St. Pierre has said, the priest cannot
+be really useful but in quality of an officer of morality.
+Now, who can better fill that noble function than the
+magistrate? Who better than he can show the motives of general interest, on which are founded partiticular laws, and the indissolubility of the bond that
+unites the happiness of individuals with that of the
+public.
+What influence would not moral instruction, given
+by a senate, have on the minds of the people ? With
+what respect would not the latter receive the decisions
+of theformer? It is from thelegislative body alone
+that we can expect a beneficent religion, one moreover that is tolerant and not expensive, and that offers
+no ideas of the Divinity but what are grand and solemu : that excites the soul to a love of talents and
+virtue ; and lastly, that has not, like the legislature,
+any other object than the felicity of the people. Let
+sagacious magistrates be clothed with temporal and
+spiritual power, and all contradiction between religious
+F 4
+and
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Causes ofthe confused ideas which men have of mortality.
+and patriotic precepts will disappear : all the people
+will adopt the same principles of morality, and will
+form the same idea of a science in which it is so important for all of them to be equally instructed.
+Perhaps many ages will elapse before the alterations
+that are requisite for human happiness can be made in
+the false religions. What has happened to the present hour ? That men have nothing but confused ideas
+of morality ideas that they owe to their different situtions, and to chance, which never gives to two
+men precisely the same series of circumstances, nor
+ever permits them to receive the same instructions,
+and acquire the same ideas. Hence 1 conclude, that
+the inequality actually perceived in the understandings
+of different men, cannot be considered as a proof of
+their unequal aptitude to acquire it.
+NOTES
+NOTES.
+. (page 4.)THE science of man is the science of philosophers ;
+to whomthe politicians think themselves, in this respect, far su
+perior. They in fact know more of the cabals of a cabinet, and
+in consequence conceive the highest opinion of their own abilities.
+If they are curious to know their merit, let them write on man,
+and publish their thoughts : the esteem they will be held in by
+the public will teach them what esteem they ought to have for
+themselves.
+. (ibid . ) The minister knows the details of business better than
+the philosopher. His information in this line is more extensive :
+but the latter has more leisure to study the heart of man, and
+knows it better than the minister. They are both, by their diffe
+rent species of study, destined to elucidate each other. The minister who would promote the public good, should be the friend
+and protector of letters. Before it was forbidden at Paris to print
+any thing but Catechisms and Almanacs, it was to the numerous
+pamphlets ofintelligent men, that France, they say, owed the advantage of exporting corn, which was demonstrated by men of
+science. The minister, who was then at the head ofthe finances,
+availed himself of their information.
+. (p. 3. ) To whatever degree of perfection education may be
+carried, let it not be imagined, however, that all who are able to
+receive it may be made men of genius. Bythe aid of instruction
+an emulation may be excited among the people, they may be habituated to attention, have their hearts opened to humanity, and
+their minds to truth ; in a word, all the people may be made, if
+not men ofgenius, at least men ofunderstanding and sensibility.
+But, as I shall prove in the course of this work, this is all the im
+proved
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION I.
+proved science of education can perform, and it is enough. A
+nation composed in general of such sort of men would be, without
+dispute, the first in the universe.
+. (p. 6.) At Vienna, Paris, Lisbon, and in all the catholic
+countries, the sale of operas, dramas, romances, and even some
+good books of geometry and medicine is permitted ; but ofevery
+other sort, the works of superior merit, and that is regarded as
+such by the rest of Europe, is prohibited . Such are those of Vol.
+taire, Marmontel, Rousseau, Montesquieu, &c. In France, the
+approbation ofthe censor, is almost always a certificate ofthe stu
+pidity ofan author. It announces a book without enemies, which
+at first will be received with approbation, because no one troubles
+himself about it, because it does not excite envy, nor wound any
+one's pride ; and contains nothing but what all the world knows.
+The general eulogy of the moment of publication, almost always excludes that offuturity.
+. (p. 7.) The scholastic, says the English proverb, is a mere
+ass, that having neither the meekness of a Christian, nor the reasou
+ofa philosopher, nor the affability of a courtier, is nothing more
+than an object ofridicule.
+. (ibid.) What is the science of scholastics ? it is to abuse
+words, and render their signification uncertain. It was byvirtue
+ofcertain barbarous terms that the magicians formerly destroyed
+enchanted castles, or. at leasttheir appearance. The scholastics,
+heirs of the power of the ancient magicians, have, by virtue of
+certain unintelligible words, in like manner given the appearance
+of ascienceto the most absurd reveries. If there be a way to destroy their enchantments, it must be by obliging them to give a
+precise definition ofthe terms they use. Were they forced to annex clear ideas to their terms, the magic of their science would
+vanish. We should, therefore, mistrust every work where frequent use is made of the language of the schools ; that in common
+use is almost always sufficient for those that have clear ideas. He
+that would trust, and not deceive mankind, should speak their
+Janguage.
+. (p. 9.)
+TREATISE ON MAN. 75
+NOTES ON SECTION I.
+. (p. 9.) There are but few countries where the sciences of
+morality and politics are studied. Young people are seldom permitted to exercise their minds on subjects ofthis sort. The
+priests are unwilling they should contract a habit of reasoning.
+The word rational is now synonymous with incredulous. The
+clergy probably suspect that the arguments for faith, like the
+little wings of Mercury, are too weak to support it. To be a phi
+losopher, says Mallebranche, we must see clearly ; and to be true
+believers, we must believe blindly. Mallebranche did not perceive
+that he made a fool of his firm believer. In fact, wherein does a
+silly credulity consist ? in believing without sufficient evidence.
+I shall here be told of the faith of Charbonnier. He was in a
+particularsituation. He conversed with God, who gave him an
+inward light. Every man except this Charbonnier, who boasts of
+blind faith, and a belief on hearsay, is therefore a man puffed up
+with infatuation.
+. (p. 10. ) Let us sometimes amuse ourselves with the paintings of ridicule. There is nothing better. Every excellent piece
+of this sort supposes a large share of discernment in him that drew
+it. What does society owe him ? a tribute of gratitude and ap
+plause proportionate to the evils his ridicule has banished, by exposing this or that defect. Anation that should regard this matter
+as important, would be itself ridiculous. " Ofwhat consequence
+"is it, says an English author, that a certain citizen is singular in his
+"humour: that apetit maitre is curious in his dress, or a coquet
+" affected in her behaviour ? she may white-wash, paint, and patch
+"her face and lie with her gallant, without affecting my property :
+"the incessant flutter of a fan does not injure my constitution."
+A nation too much busied with the coquetry of a woman, or the
+foppery of a petit maitre, is evidently a frivolous nation.
+. (p. 11.) All nations have reproached the French with their
+frivolity. "If the French, said Mr. Saville formerly, are frivolous, the Spaniards grave and superstitious, the English serious
+"and profound ; these properties are the effects oftheir forms of ་ ་ government. It is at Paris that the man curious in trinkets and
+" dress
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION 1.
+"dress ought to fix his abode : it is at Madrid and Lisbon they
+"ought to reside who love to give themselves discipline, and see
+"their brethren burnt alive ; and lastly it is at London they
+" shouldlive, who would think, and exert that faculty which princi-
+"pally distinguishes the man from the brute. According tothis
+"author, there are but three subjects worthy of consideration :
+" nature, religion, and government. Now, as the French, says he,
+" dare notthink on these subjects, their books, insipid to men, can
+"afford entertainment only to women. Liberty alone enobles the
+" spirit of a nation, and the spirit of a nation is that of its writers.
+" The minds ofthe French are without energy. The only estima-
+"ble author among them that I have a regard for is Montaigne.
+"Few of his fellow-subjects are worthy to admire him to feel
+"him we must think, and to think we must be free * ."
+. (p. 26.) The Jesuits afford a striking example ofthe power
+of education. If their order has produced few men of genius
+in the arts or sciences ; if they have had no Newton in physics, no
+Racine in Tragedy, no Huygens in astronomy, or Pot in chy
+mistry ; no Bacon, Locke, Voltaire, Fontaine, &c. it is not that
+the religious of this order never find among their scholars those
+who discover the greatest genius. The Jesuits moreover, from
+the tranquillity of their colleges, have not their studies molested
+by any avocations, and their manner of living is the most favoura
+ble to the acquisition oftalents. Why then have they given so
+few illustrious men to Europe ? It is because surrounded by fanatics and bigots, a Jesuit dares not think but after his superiors : it
+* A great part of that universal respect which is paid to the
+writings ofMontaigne arises, I imagine, from his unparalleled frankness. Wesee his inmost thoughts ; and there is in the human mind
+such a strong relish for the truth, when it does not oppose our interest, that wherever we are sure we see it, we are sure to be
+pleased. Montaigne wrote whatever he thought ; most authors
+write whatever they think will please their readers. T.
+is,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 77
+NOTES ON SECTION 1.
+is, moreover, because forced to apply themselves for years toge
+ther tothe study of the casuists and theology, that study, so repug
+mant to sound reason, destroys its efficacy on them. How can
+they preserve on the benches ajust judgment the habit ofsophis
+try must corrupt it.
+. (ibid. ) If all the Savoyards have in a manner the same character, it is because chance has placed them in situations nearly
+similar, and that they almost all receive nearly the same education. Whyarethey all travellers ? because there is no living with
+out money, and they have none at home. Why are they laborious ? because they are without assistance, and without protec
+tion in the countries to which they transplant themselves ; and
+bread is notto be had without labour. Why are theyfaithful and
+'diligent ? because to be employed in preference to the natives, they
+must surpass them in diligence and fidelity. Why, in the last
+place , are they all frugal ? because having, like other men, an attachment to their native country, they go out beggars to return rich,
+and live on what they have accumulated. Suppose, therefore, we
+had the greatest desire to inspire a youngman with the virtues of a
+Savoyard, which is tobe done? place him in a similar situation ; and
+let a part ofhis education be confided to misfortune and indigence.
+Want and poverty are the only instructors whose lessons are always
+heard, and whose counsels are always efficacious. But if the national manners will not permit him to receive such an education,
+what other must be substituted for it ? I do not know : no other
+can be so certain. Weshould not be surprised, therefore, if he do
+not acquire any of the virtues we desire him to have. Who
+can wonder at the want of success in an education that is insufficient.
+. (p. 29.) Shakspeare never played but one part well, which
+was the ghost in Hamlet.
+. (ibid . ) See the extract in the Dictionary of Moreri, and
+the extract from the Republic of Letters : Jan. 1685, " It was to
+"alady to whom was given at Rouen the name ofMelita, that
+" France
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION 1.
+"France owes the great Corneille." It is in like manner to love
+that England owes the celebrated Hogarth.
+. (p. 31.) The greater part of men of genius would have it
+believed that their early youth announced what they should one
+day be this is their foible. Would they pretend to be of asuperior race tothe rest of mankind? be it so. Let us not dispute
+this point with their vanity : we shall affront them ; but let us not
+believe it on their mere assertion ; we should deceive ourselves.
+Nothingis more illusory and uncertain than these first prognostics.
+Newton and Fontenelle were but indifferent scholars. The classes
+are filled with clever children, and the world with foolish men.
+. (ibid. ) The life or death, the favour or disgrace of a patron, frequently determine our future state and profession. How
+many men of genius do we owe to accidents of this sort. Falsehood, meanness and frivolity reign in acourt ? do men live there
+without regard to truth, humanity, and posterity ? Who can doubt
+but disgrace or oppression may be sometimes salutary to a courtier ; he may recollect in exile what man owes to himself; and
+removed from the dissipations of a court, a habit of study and
+meditation may chance to produce inhim the developement ofthe
+mostexalted talents. (See on this head Ld. Bolingbroke's Reflections on Exile.)
+. (ibid. ) M. Rousseau is not insensible ; his very railing
+against women is a proof of it. Every one ofthem may apply to
+him this verse.
+"Tout jusqu'à tes mepris, m'a prouvé ton amour. "
+All, even thy disdain, declares thy love. *
+. (p. 32.) M. Rousseau in his works has always appearedto me
+less solicitous to instruct than to seduce his readers. Every where
+the orator, and seldom the reasoner, he forgets that though it is
+*It is proper to add here, that M. Rousseau has since made the
+greatest atonement a man can make for railing at women ; that of
+marrying. T,
+sometimes
+TREATISE ON MAN. 79
+NOTES ON SECTION 1.
+sometimes permitted to make use of eloquence in philosophic discussions, it is only when the importance of an opinion already received is tobe strongly impressed onthe mind. Was it necessary,
+for example, to rouse the Athenians from their stupor, and arm
+them against Philip ? It was then incumbent on Demosthenes to
+exert allthepowers of his eloquence, but when a new opinion is tobe
+examined, reason alone should be employed ; he that is then eloquent is wrong. Does the English house ofcommons always pay a
+due attention to the different use that should be made ofeloquence,
+and the spirit of discussion ?
+. (p. 33.) M. Rousseau became acquainted at Montmorency
+with Marshal Luxembourg ; that nobleman had an affection for
+him, and honoured his talents, protected him, and by that protec
+tion acquired a right to the acknowledgment of all men of letters. Let not learned men blush to extol the truly great, why
+should they refuse praise where it is deserved ? if the people have
+need of instruction, the literati have need of protectors. The
+friendship of Marshal Luxembourg could not, it is true, protect
+M. Rousseau from persecution. Perhaps the influence of that
+nobleman was not sufficiently strong ; or perhaps the protector of
+the good and great is not so powerful as the hypocrisy of the bad.
+It may be added to the praise of M. Luxembourg, that he never
+lavished his favours on those insects of literature who reflect disgrace on their protector.
+" If great men chuse indifferently, says Lord Shaftesbury, any
+"subject for their bounty, and are pleased to confertheir favour ""
+on some one pretender to art, or promiscuously on such of the
+"tribe ofwriters, whose chief ability has lain in making their court
+"well, and obtaining to be introduced to their acquaintance. This
+they think sufficient to instal them patrons of wit, and masters
+" of the literate order. But this method will, of any other the
+"least serve their interest or design. The ill placing of rewards
+"is a double injury to merit ; and in every cause or interest,
+"passes for worse than mere indifference or neutrality. There
+can
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION 1.
+"canbe no excuse for making an ill choice. Merit in every kind
+"is easily discovered when sought. The public itself fails not to
+"give sufficient indications, and points out those genuisses which
+"want only countenance and encouragement to become conside-
+"rable. An ingenious man never starves unknown ; and great
+'men must wink hard, or it would be impossible for them to miss
+"such advantageous opportunities, of shewing their generosity, and
+"acquiring the universal esteem, acknowledgements, and good
+"wishes ofthe ingenious and learned part ofmankind. "
+"Advice to an Author, Sect. I. p. 229.
+. (p. 38.) More than half a million sterling seized in Spain
+on two procurators of the Jesuits at Paraguay, shows that in preaching a contempt for riches, the Jesuits have not been thedupes of
+their own sermons.
+. (p. 39.) Of all legends the most ridiculous are those which
+the monks write concerning the founders of their orders. They
+say, for example : " That at the sight of a fawn pursued by the
+"wolves, St. Omer commanded them to stop, and they immediately obeyed. "
+"That St. Florent having no shepherd, ordered a bear he met
+" bythe way to feed his sheep, and the bear led them to the pas
+" ture every day.
+" That St. Francis greeted the birds, talked to them, and com-
+"manded them to hear the word of God, and the birds hearingthe
+"discourse of St. Francis, were exceedingly glad, stretching out
+"their necks, and opening their beaks.
+"That the same St. Francis passed eight days with a grass-
+"hopper ; sung a whole day together with a nightingale ; cured
+a mad wolf, and said to him, Brother wolf, you ought to
+promise me that you will not hereafter be so ravenous as you
+" have been ; which the wolf promised by bowing his head. St.
+"Francis thensaid to him , Give me your pledge, and at the same
+"time held out his hand to receive it, and the wolf gentlylifting
+"up
+TREATISE ON MAN. 81.
+NOTES ON SECTION 1.
+"
+up his right paw, put it on the hand of the saint." Theywrite
+also that many other saints took delight in talking with brutes.
+. (p. 41.) They certainly do not attach a clear idea to the
+wordpassions, when they regard them as detrimental . This is a
+mere dispute about words. The theologians themselves have
+never said that the lively passion of the love of God is a crime.
+Theyhave not condemned Decius for devoting himself in the field
+of battle to the infernal gods. They have never reproached
+Pelopidas with that animated love ofhis country which armed him
+against the tyrants, and engaged him in a most perilous enterprize.
+Our desires are our motives, and it is the force of our desires
+which deterinines that ofour virtuesand vices. A man without desire, and without want, is without invention and without reason. No
+motive can engage him to combine or compare his ideas with each
+other. The more a man approaches that state of apathy, the
+more stupid he becomes. If the sovereigns of the East are in
+general so ignorant, it is because discernment is the child of desire
+and want. Now the Sultans feel neither the one nor the other.
+There is no pleasure which a simple act of their will does not procure invention therefore is almost always useless. The only instancein which it becomes necessary, is, when desirous of the title of
+a conqueror, they would ravish the scepter from some neighbouring
+potentate. In every other circumstance to require sagacity in a
+despotic prince, is to require an effect without a cause. Toreckon
+in an arbitary government on the capacity of a monarch born to
+the throne, is absurd. So that without the chance of a very extraordinary education, there are few sovereigns at once absolute
+and intelligent. Therefore history commonly in the number of
+greatmonarchs, reckons only such as Henry IV. Frederic, Catherine
+II. &c. and those princes, whose education has been severe, and
+who have had a fortune to make, and a thousand obstacles to
+surmount.
+•
+. (ibid.) A bigot may excel in geometry, and a certain sort
+of painting ; but when we consider the present contradiction beVOL. I. tween
+; TREATISE ON MAN..
+NOTES ON SECTION I.
+tween the interest of the public, and the interest of the priest,
+a man cannot, without inconsistency, be at once religious and a
+statesman, a saint and a good citizen, that is to say, an honest man.
+This is a truth that will be demonstrated in the course of this
+work.
+. (p. 42.) It was formerly the petit maitre who knew a
+things without learning any thing ; now it is the theologian. Ask
+him about the nature of animals : they are, he will say, mere
+machines. But by what argument does he support this assertion ?
+has he, in quality either of sportsman or philosopher, studied the
+the constitution and manners of animals ? No. He has brought
+up neither dog nor cat, not so much as a sparrow : but he is a
+doctor, and, from the moment he took his degree, he has thought
+himself, like the emperor of China, obliged by the etiquet ofhis
+rank, to answer to all that is asked him, I know it. The stoical sage was supposed to be versed in all arts and sciences ;
+he was the universal scholar. The theologian is the same; he
+is poet, mathematician, philosopher, watch-maker, &c. That he
+may have all these talents I agree : but I shall not read his verses
+or buy his watches. Will he permit me to give him a word of
+advice ; it is, before he talks of animals, to consult the works of
+M. Buffon, and three or four letters in the Journal Etranger, by
+an accurate observer and a good writer : and to forbear to attack
+my sentiments on this point. I have given, they say, a mind and
+reason to brutes. That is a favour I did the doctors. What was
+your acknowledgment, Oungrateful mortals !
+. (ibid.) The property of despotic government is to weaken the movements of the passions in man. A consumption is
+therefore the mortal malady of these empires and governments,
+and the people subject to them have not, in general, either the
+confidence or courage of republicans. Even the latter have not
+excited our admiration, but in those critical moments when their
+passions were in the highest effervescence. In what times did the
+Hollanders and the Swiss perform actions more than human ?
+When
+TREATISE ON MAN. 83
+NOTES ON SECTION I.
+When animated by the two violent passions of vengeance, and a
+hatred oftyrants. Passions are necessary to a people ; this is a
+truth ofwhich every body is now convinced, except the Guardian
+ofthe Capuchins.
+. (p. 43.) The Turk supposes woman to be formed for the
+pleasure ofman, and created to irritate his desires. Such, he says,
+is the evident design of nature. Therefore that in Turkey they
+should permit art to add to the beauty of their women, that
+they should even enjoin them to improve the methods of pleasing,
+is quite natural. What abuse can be made of beauty that is confined in aseraglio? Suppose, if you please, a country where the
+women are in common. In such a country, the more methods they
+should invent to seduce, the more they would multiply the pleasures ofman. Whatever degree ofperfection of this kind they
+might attain, we may be sure that their coquetry would have nothing contrary to the public good. All that could be then required ofthem, would be that they should preserve so much veneration for their beauty and their favours, as to bestowthem only
+on men distinguished by their genius, their courage, or their probity. By this method their favours would become an encouragement to talents and virtue. But in Turkey if the women may,
+without inconvenience, instruct themselves in all the arts ofdelight, is it the same in such a country as Europe, (where they are
+not shut up, nor common, ) where, as in France, every house is
+open ; is it to be imagined, that by the women's multiplying the
+arts to please, they would much augment the happiness of their
+husbands ? I doubt it : and till some reformation is made in the
+laws ofmatrimony, what art might add to the natural beauties of
+the sex, would perhaps be inconsistent with the use that the European laws permit them to make ofit.
+. (p. 45.) There are men who pretend to veracity, by virtue
+of their calumnies ; whereas nothing is more opposite to truth than
+slander : the one, always indulgent, is inspired by humanity ; the
+other, always severe, is the daughter of pride, of hatred, malevoG 2 lence,
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION I.
+lence, and envy. The tone and gesture of detraction always discover its parent.
+. (p. 45.) We cannot without a crime, conceal the truth from
+the people and the sovereign ; what man has ever been without
+reproach in this respect.
+. (p. 46.) If on reading the ecclesiastical history, a youngItalian, shocked atthe follies and villainies ofthe popes, should doubt
+their infallibility : What an impious doubt ! his preceptor 'would
+exclaim. But, replies the pupil, I speak what I think; and have
+you not always forbidden me to lie ? Yes, in ordinary cases ; but
+in favour of the church falsehood is a duty. And what interest
+have you in the pope ? A very great one, replies the preceptor.
+If the pope's infallibility be acknowledged no one can resist his
+will. The people must obey him implicitly. Now what consi
+deration does not this respect for the pope reflect on all the eccle
+siastical body, and consequently on me?
+. (ibid.) Whoever in writing history alters the facts, is a
+bad citizen. He deceives the public, and deprives it of the inestimable advantage it might receive from that history. But in what
+nation can we find a just historian, and a real adorer of the God
+of truth ? is it in France, in Portugal, or in Spain ? No; it is only
+in a free and reformed country.
+. (ibid. ) Why are the theological disputes about grace interminable? Because, luckily for the disputants, neither one side
+nor the other have any clear ideas of what they talk about. Do
+they present such as are more clear in their definitions of the Divinity? Cardinal Perron, after having in a set discourse proved
+the existence of a God, to Henry III. said to him, " Ifyour majesty please, I will now prove his non-existence just as clearly* ."
+* There is scarcely any proposition that may not be proved
+either true or false, in words ; but this sort of proof is very different from that which enforces conviction on the mind. All the
+arguments which the most subtle wit can imagine, will never con- vince
+TREATISE ON MAN. 85
+NOTES ON SECTION 1.
+vince a thinking man, that there is not one eternal, infinite, omnipotent, creating Power ; though they may so confound his ideas
+that he may not be able to unravel the sophistry.
+Quibbles ofthis kind, especially when applied to subjects of importance, are a scandalous abuse of the rational faculty, and
+discover an insolent contempt of the party to whom they are
+offered. T.
+. (p. 48.) Why do the most part of sensible people regard all
+religions as incompatible with sound morality ? Because the
+priests of every religion set themselves up as the only judges of
+the goodness or badness of human actions ; it is because they
+would have the decisions of theology regarded as the real code
+of morality. Now the priest is a man, and in that qualityjudges
+in conformity to his interest ; and his interest is almost always op
+posite that of the public ; therefore the greatest part of his judg
+ments are unjust. Such, however, is the power of the priest over
+the minds ofthe people, that they have frequently more veneration for the sophistries of the schools, than for the sound maxims
+of morality. What clear ideas can the people form about them.
+The decisions of the church, as variable as its interests, involve
+them continually in confusion, obscurity, and contradiction. What
+does the church substitute for the true principles ofjustice ? Ridiculous ceremonies and observances. So that Machiavel in his
+Discourses on Livy, attributesthe excessive iniquity of the Italians
+to the falsehood and contradictions in the moral precepts ofthe
+Catholic religion.
+. (p. 52.) Man, says Fontenelle, has made God after his own
+image, and could not make him otherwise. The monks in like
+manner have fashioned the celestial court after those of oriental mɔnarchs : theprince is there invisible to the greatest part of his subjects, and accessible only to his courtiers. The complaints ofthe
+people do notreach him butthrough the ears ofhis favourites. The
+G 3 monks
+(
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION 1.
+monks have, in like manner, environed the throne of the Monarch
+ofthe universe, by those whom they call saints, and would not have
+the celestial favours obtained but by the intercession of these
+saints. But what must be done to render them propitious ? The
+priests assembled for this purpose decide, that the images of the
+saints in wood, sculptured or unsculptured, should be placed in
+the churches, and that the people should kneel before them, as before the Almighty; that the external signs of adoration should be
+the same for the Eternal and for his favourites ; in short, that honoured by the Christians, as the Penates and the Fetiches by the
+Pagans and Savages, St. Nicholas in Russia, for example, and
+St. Januarius at Naples, should be treated with greater respect than
+God himself. It is on these facts that are founded the accusations
+brought against the Greek and Latin churches. It is tothe last
+epsecially, that we owe the re-establishment of Fetichism. Thus
+France has a national Fetiche in St. Denis, and a Fetiche of its
+capital in St. Genevieve ; and there is no community, nor even inhabitant, that has not his particular Fetiche under the name of
+Peter, Claud, Martin, &c.
+"6
+. (p. 52.) There are no frauds, falsehoods, tricks, breaches of
+confidence, in short, no methods more base and villainous than
+those whichthe priests have employed to encrease their wealth.
+The Capitularies collected by Baluze, vol. ii. inform us bywhat
+means the clergy of France formerly acquired their tenth.
+They produced a letter, which they said came down from heaven,
+"and was written byJesus Christ ; in which our Saviourthreatened
+"the Pagans, the Sorcerers, and those who did not pay the tenth.
+"to blast their fields with sterility, and to send flying serpentsinto
+" their houses, to devour the breasts oftheir women." This first
+letter not succeeding, the priests had recourse tothe devil. They
+produced him (see the same Capitularies, vol. i.) in an assembly
+ofthe nation, and the devil becoming at once apostle and missionary, and zealously concerned for the welfare of France, endeavoured to recall them to their duty by salutary castigations.
+"Open
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION I.
+"Open your eyes at last, said the clergy, the devil himself was
+"the author ofthe last famine ; it was he that devoured the corn
+" in the ear : dread his fury. He has declared, in the midst of
+"the fields, with dreadful howlings, that he will inflict the most
+"cruel punishment on those hardened Christians who refuse the
+"tenth." So many impostors onthe part ofthe clergy prove that,
+in the time ofCharlemagne, none but the pious souls paid the
+tenth. If the clergy were supposed to have had a right to
+levy it, they would not have had recourse to God and the
+devil. This fact brings to my recollection another ofthe same
+sort; it is the sermon of a vicar on the same subject. " O, my
+dear parishioners, said he, do not follow the example of the
+"wretched Cain, but much rather that of the good Abel. Cain
+"wouldneverpay the tenth, nor go to mass. Abel, on the con-
+"trary, always paid it with the fairest and best, and never once
+"missed a mass." Grotius, on the subject of tenths and donations, says, "that the scruple of Tiberius in accepting such gifts,
+should make the monks ashamed of their rapacity."
+"
+. (p. 53.) The popes by their ridiculous pretensions on America, have given the example of iniquity, and authorised all the
+acts of injustice which the Christians have there exercised.
+When there was one day, an examination inthe House ofCommons, whether a district situated on the confines of Canada, belonged to France, one of the members rose and said, " This
+"question, gentlemen, is the more delicate, as the French, as well
+as we, are fully persuaded that the land in question does not belong to the natives of the country."
+""
+"
+. (p. 54. ) After these facts, though the papists may still boast
+ofthe great perfection to which their religion exalts the morals of
+mankind, theywill make no proselytes. To showthe pretensions of
+the papists, let them be asked what is the object ofthe science ofmorality? It will appear that it cannot be any thing else than the public
+good; forifwerequire virtues in individuals, it is becausethe virtues
+G4
+of
+TREATISE ON MAN,
+NOTES ON SECTION I.
+ofthe members constitute the felicity of thewhole body. Now it is
+evident that the only method to render the people at once learned,.
+virtuous, and happy, is to secure the property ofindividuals by.
+soundlaws, to excite their industry, to permit themto thinkandcom•¸
+municate their thoughts. But is the popish religion the most favourable to such laws ? are the inhabitants of Italy and Portugal more,
+secure in their lives and properties than those of England ? Dothey
+enjoy a greater liberty ofthought? Are their governments founded.
+onbetter principles of morality, and are they less severe, and consequently morerespectable ? Does not experience prove on the contrary, that the Lutherans and Calvinists in Germany are better governed and more happy than the Catholics ; and the protestant.
+Cantons of Switzerland are more rich and powerful than the Catholic. The reformed religion therefore tends more directly.
+to the happiness of the public, than the Romish, and is more.
+favourable to morality. It therefore inspires better morals, and
+such as have no other tendency than to promote the felicity of
+the people.
+. (p. 56.) There are great, and there are small societies. The
+laws of the latter are simple, because their interests are clear.
+They are conformable to the interest of the majority, because they
+are made by the consent of all ; they are, lastly, very exactly observed, because the happiness of each individual is connected with
+their observance. It is good sense that dictates the laws of small
+societies ; it is genius that plans those of large communities.
+But what can determine men to form such large communities ?
+Chance; an ignorance of the inconveniences attending such socie-.
+ties, a desire to conquer, a fear of being subdued, &c.
+. (p. 58.) Shaftsbury in his Treatise on Enthusiasm, mentions
+a bishop, who not finding, in the Catholic catechism, enough to
+satiate his enormous credulity, was forced to have recourse to the
+tales of the fairies,
+. (p. 59.) It is with poetry as with despotism, they each
+of them devour the country where they are established. The most
+certain
+TREATISE ON MAN. ' 89
+NOTES ON SECTION 1.
+certain method of debilitating the power of England or Holland,
+would be to establish there the Catholic religion.
+. (p. 60.) If our religion, say the papists, be very expensive,
+it is because its instructions are greatly multiplied. Be it so: but
+what is the produce of these instructions ? Are mankind the better for them ? No. What is to be done to make them so? Divide the tenths of each parish among those who cultivate their
+lands best, and perform the most virtuous actions. This division
+of the tenths will produce more labourers, and more honest men,
+than all the sermons of the curates.
+. (p. 61. ) The History of Ireland informs us, vol. i. p. 303.
+that it was, at a distant period, constantly exposed to the voracity
+ofa most numerous clergy. The poets, the priests ofthe country,
+enjoyed all the advantages, immunities, and privileges ofCatholic
+priests ; and like them, were maintained at the public expence.
+These poets in consequence, multiplied to such a degree, that '
+Hugh, then king of Ireland, found it necessary to discharge his
+subjects from such a heavy burthen. That prince loved his people, and was aman ofcourage ; he determined, therefore, to annihilate the priests, or at least greatly diminish their number, and
+succeeded in the enterprize.
+In Pensylvania there is no religion established by government :
+each one adopts that which he likes best. The priests are no
+charge to the state. The individuals provide them as they find it
+convenient, and tax themselves accordingly. The priest is there,
+like the merchant, maintained at the expence of the consumer.
+He who has nopriest, and consumes no part ofthe commodity he
+deals in, pays no part of his expence. Pensylvania, therefore, is a
+model from which it would be proper to copy.
+. (p. 62.) Numa himself instituted but four vestals, and a
+very small number ofpriests.
+. (ibid.) There is the same difference between paganism and
+popery, said an Englishman, as between Albani and Calcot : the
+name ofthe former makes me recollect a pleasing picture ofthe
+birth
+% TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION I.
+birth ofVenus; that of the other, a grotesque painting ofthe temptation of St. Anthony.
+. (p. 63.) Under the reign of Numa, the Romans consecrated
+atempleto Fidelity ; the dedication of this temple kept them for
+some time faithful to their treaties.
+. (p. 64.) Whoever affects such great humility, and accustoms
+himself early to regard life as a pilgrimage, will never be any
+thing better than a monk, nor ever promote the happiness of the
+human race.
+. (p. 65.) The union of the spiritual and temporal powers in
+the hands of the same arbitrary sovereign may be dangerous, it
+will be said; I believe it. Every arbitrary prince, in general,
+solely solicitous to gratify his caprice, is but little concerned for
+the felicity of his subjects. He will frequently make use ofthe
+spiritual power to legitimate his pleasurers and his cruelties : but
+it will not be the same if this power be confided to the body of
+magistrates.
+. (ibid.) Why was Jupiter supposed to be the last ofthe
+children of Saturn ? because order and generation, the successors
+of chaos and sterility, were, according to the Pagan philosophers,
+the last product of time. Why was Jupiter, in quality of generator, called the god ofthe air ? because, said the philosophers, vege
+tables, fossils, minerals, animals, in a word all that exists, transpire, exhale, corrupt, and fill the air with volatile principles.
+These principles being heated and put in action by the solar fire,
+the air must then produce a new generation by the salts and spirits
+received from the putrefaction. The air, therefore, the only
+principle of generation and corruption, appeared to them as an
+immense ocean agitated by numerous different principles. It is
+in the air, according to them, that the seeds of all beings float,
+which, constantly ready to re-produce, wait for that purposethe
+moment when chance shall deposit them in a convenient matrix.
+The atmosphere appeared to them, to use the expression, always
+alive; being charged with an acid to corrupt, and with seeds to
+engender.
+TREATISE ON MAN, 91
+NOTES ON SECTION 1.
+engender. It was the vast recipient of all the principles of ani
+mation. The Titans and Janus, according to the ancients, were
+in like manner the emblem of chaos, Venus or love, that of
+attraction, the productive principle of order and harmony in the
+universe.
+. (p. 71.) The union of the temporal and spiritual powers in
+the same hands, is indispensible. Nothing is done against the sacerdotal body by merely making it more humble. Who does not
+entirely annihilate it, suspends, not destroys its influence. A body
+is immortal ; a favourable circumstance, such as the confidence
+of a prince, or a revolution in the state, is sufficient to restore its
+primitive power. It will then revive with a vigour the more formidable, as by being instructed in the causes of its abasement, it
+will be more attentive to overthrow them. The ecclesiastical
+body in England is at present without power, but it is not annihiJated. Whothen can affirm, said a certain nobleman, that itwill
+not one day resume its original ferocity, and again cause as much
+blood to flow as it did formerly*. One of the greatest services
+that could be rendered to France, would be to apply a part ofthe
+extravagant revenues ofthe clergy to the liquidation ofthe national debt. What could the clergy object, if careful of their
+welfare, they were to preserve their benefices during life, and if
+after that they were to be alienated ? Where would be the evil of
+bringing so large a quantity of riches again into circulation.
+* Our author will be excused this wild supposition, as being a
+foreigner, and not sufficiently acquainted with our excellent constitution.. Such an alteration in the power of the clergy, would
+totally destroy that equilibrium in which the essence of our liberty
+consists. T.
+SEC.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+The understanding regarded as the effect of organization.
+SECTION II.
+ALL MEN, COMMONLY WELL ORGANISED, HAVE AN EQUAL
+APTITUDE TO UNDERSTANDING.
+CHAP. I.
+AS ALL OUR IDEAS PROCEED FROM THE SENSES ;
+THE UNDERSTANDING HAS BEEN CONSEQUENTLY
+REGARDED AS THE EFFECT OF MORE OR LESS
+SENSIBILITY IN THE ORGANISATION.
+WHENwe learn from Locke, that it is to the organs of the senses we owe our ideas, and consequently
+our understanding ; and when we remark the difference
+in the organs and in the understandings of different
+men, we may conclude, in general, that the inequality of
+their understandings is the effect of the unequal sensibility of their organs. An opinion so probable, and
+so analogous to facts must be the more generally
+It is by the aid of analogics that we sometimes make the
+greatest discoveries : but in what cases should we be content with
+adopted
+TREATISE ON MAN. 93
+Different opinions respecting the understanding.
+adopted, as it favours human indolence, and prevents
+the pain of a fruitless search.
+If contrary experiments, however, prove that the
+superiority ofunderstanding is not in proportion tothe.
+greater and less perfection ofthe senses , we must seek
+the explanation of this phenomenon in some other
+cause.
+Two opinions concerning this subject divide the
+learned of the present age. Some maintain that,
+The understanding is the effect ofa certain sort of interior
+temperament and organisation. But no one has, by
+a series of observations, yet deterinined the sort of
+organs, temperament, or nourishment that produces
+the understanding . This assertion being vague and
+a proof by analogy ? When it is impossible to procure any other.
+This sort of proof is frequently fallacious. Have we constantly
+seen animals generate by the coupling of the males with the fe
+males? We conclude from thence, that it is the only method by
+which animals can propagate. To undeceive ourselves, we should
+with the most accurate and scrupulous attention enclose a vinefretter in a phial : we should divide the polypus, and prove by
+reiterated experiments, that there is another method by which ani
+mals can generate.
+* Somephysiologists, and among them M. Lausel de Magny,
+have said that the strongest and most courageous temperaments
+were the most acute. Yet no one has ever mentioned Racine,
+Boileau, Paschal, Hobbes, Toland, Fontenelle, &c. as strong and
+courageous men. Others pretended that the bilious and sanguine
+are at oncethe most ingenious, and least capable of a constant atdestitute
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Different opinions respecting the understanding.
+destitute of proof, is then reduced to this, The under.
+standing is the effect of an unknown cause, or occult quality, to which is given the name of temperament or organisation.
+Quintilian, Locke, and I, say :
+The inequality in minds or understandings, is the effect
+of a known cause, and this cause is the difference of
+education.
+Toprove the •
+first of these opinions, we must show,
+by repeated experiments, that the superiority of the
+understanding does really belong to such a sort of
+organ or temperament. Now these proofs remain yet
+to be produced. Hence it follows, that if from the
+principles I lay down, the cause of the inequality in
+tention. But can we say, at the same time, incapable of attention,
+and endowed with great talents ? can it be imagined, that without
+application, Locke and Newton had ever made their sublime discoveries ?
+Some again have remarked, that the cogitative and ingenious are
+ordinarily melancholic ; but have not perceived that they took
+in them the effect for the cause, that the ingenious is not so, be
+cause he is melancholic, but melancholic because the habit ofmeditation made him so.
+In the last place, many have made the understanding depend on
+the sensibility ofthe nerves : but women have very lively sensa
+tions. The sensibility of their nerves should therefore give thema
+great superiority over men. Are their understandings really su
+perior? No. Besides, what clear idea canwe form after all, ofthe
+greaterorless sensibility ofthe nerves ?
+minds
+TREATISE ON MAN. 95
+Theunderstanding dependent on the organization.
+minds or understandings can be clearly deduced, we
+ought to give the preference to the latter opinion.
+Now when a known cause can explain a fact, why
+should we have recourse to one that is unknown, to an
+occult quality, whose existence, always uncertain, explains nothing that we cannot account for with
+out it?
+To prove that all men equally well organised, have an
+equal disposition for understanding ; we must ascertain
+the principle by which it is produced : what is it ?
+* Mr. Locke was doubtless partly convinced of this truth, when
+he said, speaking of the unequal capacity of understandings, he,
+thought he saw less difference between them, than is commonly imagined. " I think, says he, in thesecond page of his Education, we
+may assert, that in anhundred men, thereare not more than ninety,
+"whoarewhatthey are, good or bad, usefulor pernicious tosociety,
+“but from the instruction they have received. It is on education
+"that depends the great difference observable among them. The
+"least and most imperceptible impressions received in our in-
+"fancy, have consequences very important, and of a long dura-
+"tion. It is with these first impressions, as with a river, whose
+“water we can easily turn, by different canals, in quite opposite
+courses, so that from the insensible direction the stream receives
+"at its source, it takes different directions, and at last arrives at
+" places far distant from each other : and with the same facility, I
+"think, we may turn the minds of children to what direction we
+"please," Inthis passage Locke does notindeed expressly affirm ,
+that all men equally well organised, have equal aptitude to mental
+capacity but here he says, what he had been, as it were, awitness
+of, and what daily experience had taught him. This philosopher
+All
+TREATISE ON MAN:
+Of the principle which produces the understanding.
+All the sensations of man are material. Perhaps I
+have not sufficiently explained this truth in myTreatise
+on the Mind. What then should I here propose ? To
+demonstrate rigorously, what, perhaps, I have there
+only asserted, and prove that all the operations ofthe
+mind are reducible to sensation. It is this principle,
+had not reduced all the faculties of the mind to the capacity of
+sensation, which is the only principle that can resolvethis question.
+Quintilian, who had been for so long a time charged with the instruction ofyouth, had still more practical knowledge than Locke,
+and is more bold in his assertions. He says, Inst. Orat. lib. i. " It
+"is an error to think that there are few men born with the faculty
+" of discerning the ideas offered them, and thatthe greatest part
+"lose their time, and pains in endeavouring to conquer the innate
+"idleness oftheir minds. The greatest number, on the contrary,
+appear equally well organised, to think and retain with prompti-
+"tude and facility. It is atalent as natural to man, as flying is to
+"birds, runningto horses, and ferocity to savage beasts. Thelife
+"ofthe soul is in its activity and industry, whence it has received
+"the attribute ofa celestial origin. Minds that are stupid and
+"incapable of science, are in the order of nature to be regarded 66 as monsters and other extraordinary phenomena ; minds of.
+" thissort are rare. Hence I conclude, that there are great resources to be found in children, which are suffered to vanishe
+"with their years It is evident therefore that it is not of nature,
+but of our negligence we ought to complain. "
+The opinions of Quintilian and Locke, both founded on experience, and the proofs I have urged to demonstrate this truth,
+ought, I think, to suspend on this subject the too precipitate judgment of the reader.
+tha
+TREATISE ON MAN. 97
+Of the principle which produces the understanding.
+that can alone explain to us how we owe our ideas to
+oursenses ; and at the same time that is not, however,
+as is proved by experience, to the extreme perfection
+of those senses, that we owe the greater or less extent
+of our understanding.
+If this principle will reconcile two facts, in appearance so contradictory, I shall conclude, that the superiority ofthe understanding is not the produce of temperament, nor ofthe greater or less perfection of the
+senses, nor of an occult quality, but that of the well
+known cause, education, and in short, that instead of
+vague assertions so frequently repeated, we may substitute very determinate ideas.
+Previous to the particular examination of this question, I think, in order to make it more clear, and to
+avoid all contest with the theologians, I should first distinguish between the mind, and what they call the soul.
+CHAP. II.
+OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MIND
+THERE
+AND THE SOUL.
+HERE are no two words perfectly synonimous.
+This truth being unknown to some, and forgotten by
+others, has caused the words Mind and Soul to be freVOL. I. H quently
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Notions of the Parsis respecting the soul.
+quently confounded. But what is the difference between them ? and what is the soul ? Are we to regard
+it after the ancients, and the first fathers of the church,
+as a matter extremely refined, and as the electric fire
+by which we are animated? Were I here to recount
+all the opinions of different nations, and different sects
+of philosophers, concerning it, they would altogether
+form nothing but vague, obscure, and trifling ideas.
+The only people that expressed themselves with sublimity on this subject, werethe Parsis. When they
+pronounce a funeral oration over the tomb of some
+great man, they cried " Oearth ! O, common mother
+"ofhuman beings, take back what to thee uppertains
+"ofthe body ofthis hero : let the aqueous particles
+" that flowed in his veins exhale into the air, and
+" falling in rain on the mountains, replenish the
+"streams, fertilise the plains, and roll back to the abyss
+"ofthe ocean whence they proceeded ! Let the fire
+"concentered in this body rejoin the heavenly orb, the
+" source oflight and heat ! Let the air confined in his
+" members, burst its prison, and be dispersed by the
+"winds in the mundane space ! And lastly thou, O
+"breath of life, if perchance thou art of a nature se- "6
+parate from all others, return to the unknown being
+" that produced thee ! or, if thou art only amixture of
+"material elements, mayst thou, after being dispersed
+* A people of Cambaya, in the empire of the Mogul.
++
+" in
+TREATISE ON MAN. 99
+Inability of philosophy to describe the nature of the soul.
+" in the universe, again assemble thy scattered pur-
+" ticles, to form another citizen as virtuous as this
+" hath been !"
+Such were the noble images, and sublime expressions
+employed bythe enthusiasm of the Parsis, to express
+the ideas they had of the soul. Philosophy, less bold
+in its conjectures, dares not describe its nature, and
+resolve the question. Philosophy cannot advance
+without the staff of experience : it does indeed advance but constantly from observation to observation,
+and where observation is wanting it stops. All that philosophy knows, is, that man feels, that he has within him
+a principle oflife, and that without the wings oftheology, he cannot mount to the knowledge of this principle.
+Whatever depends on observation appertains to metaphysical philosophy ; all beyond belongs to theology*
+or scholastic metaphysics.
+* Some have doubted whether the science ofGod or theology,
+be in fact a science. All science, they say, supposes a series of
+observations. Now what observation can be niade on a Being
+that is invisible and incomprehensible ? Theology is therefore no
+science. In fact, what do we understand by the word of God?
+The unknown cause of order and motion. Now, what can we
+say of an unknown cause ? If we attach other ideas to the word
+of God, we shall fall, as Mr. Robinet has shown, into a thousand contradictions. Does the theologian contemplate the curves
+described by the heavenly bodies, and thence conclude, that
+there is a power who moves them ? Cæli enarrant gloriam Dei!
+HE But
+bah
+!
+Dor
+M
+· 100 TREATISE ON MAN.
+The nature of the soul not yet ascertained .
+But why has not human reason, enlightened by observation, yet given a clear definition, or to speak more
+The theologian is then nothing more than an astronomer, or natural philosopher * .
+No one doubts, say the Chinese Letters, that there is in nature,
+a ruling Power, though he is ignorant what it is: but when we
+conjecture the nature of this unknown power, the creation of a
+God is then nothing more than the deification of human ignorance.
+I do not entirely agree with these Letters, though I am forced to
+own with them, that theology, that is to say, the science ofGod,
+or the incomprehensible, is not a separate science. What is then
+theology? I do not know."
+* It is surely much better to be a rational astronomer, or phi
+losopher, than a metaphysical quibbler, or atheist, for an atheist,
+is nothing else : one of those sublime investigators, who, as Pope
+says,
+Nobly take the high priori road,
+And reason downward till they doubt of God.
+If any one should ask what was the cause of thought, I might
+reply the action of the soul upon the nerves of the brain. But is
+the soul material or immaterial ? If the latter, how can immateriality act on matter ; and if the former, in what manner does it
+act? I cannot answer these questions. I do not know in what
+manner gravity acts. But what of that, will any one tell me there
+is no gravity in nature, because I do not know howit is produced?
+or, because I cannot give a clear explanation of the manner in
+which thought is produced, that therefore I do not think at all?
+and with just as much reason do some men doubt, or affect to
+doubt, the existence of a first creating cause, because they cannot comprehend its manner of existence, that is, because they
+cannot comprehend what is by its nature incomprehensble. T.
+:: properly
+TREATISE ON MAN. 101.
+Differences between the mind andthe soul.
+properly, an adequate and minute description of the
+principle of life ? Because that principle has still es-.
+caped themost accurate observation . Withthe mindit'
+is better acquainted. We can moreover examine this
+principle, and think on this subject without dread of
+the ignorance and fanaticism, of bigots. I shall therefore here consider some of the remarkable differences
+between the mind and the soul.
+FIRST DIFFERENCE.
+In
+The soul exists intire in the infant as well as in the
+adult. The infant, as well as the man, is sensible of
+pleasure and pain, but he has not so many ideas, nor
+consequently so much mind or understanding as the
+adult. Now if the infant have as much soul without
+havingas much mind, the soul is not the mind* .
+fact, if the soul and the mind were one and the same
+thing, to explain the superiority ofthe adult over the
+infant, we must admit more soul in the former, and
+agree that his soul has encreased with his body : a
+supposition absolutely gratuitous, and insignificant,
+* They deny a child the power of sinning before it is seven
+years old. Why? because before that age it is supposed to have
+no just idea of good or evil. That age passed, it is reputed a sinner, because it is then supposed to have acquired adequate ideas
+of just and unjust. The mind or understanding is therefore regarded by the church itself as an acquisition, and consequentiy as
+quite different from the soul.
+H 3
+when
+Dor
+M
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Differences between the mind and the soul.
+when we distinguish the mind from the soul or principle oflife.
+SECOND DIFFERENCE.
+The soul does not leave us till death. As long as I
+live I have a soul. Is it the same ofthe mind ? no. I
+can lose it during my life : because, while I yet live I
+can lose my memory ; and the mind is almost entirely
+the effect of that faculty. The Greeks gave the name
+of Mnemosyne to the Mother of the Muses, because,
+beingattentive observers of man, they perceived that
+his judgment, wit, &c. were in great part the produce
+of his memory. *
+Ifa man be deprived of this faculty, of what can
+he judge ? ofsensations past ? No : he has forgotten
+them ; and of sensations present, it is necessary to
+have at least as much memory as will give him an opportunity of comparing them together, that is , of ob
+* Understanding, or intelligence is also in brutes the effect of
+memory. Ifa dog comes at any call, it is because heremembers his name. Ifhe obey me when I pronounce these words, Softly ;
+take care ; dont touch that ; it is because he remembers that I am
+strong, and that I have beaten him.
+What makes animals perform so many tricks in the public spectacles ? The fear of the whip ; of which the look, the speech, and
+gesture of the master put them continually in mind. If my dog
+stop and lock at me, it is because he would read in my eyes, whe
+ther I am pleased or angry, and consequently know if he shall approach oravoid me. My dog, therefore, owes his intelligence to his memory.
+serving
+TREATISE ON MAN. 103 .
+Differences between the mind and the soul.
+serving alternately the different impressions he feels at
+the presence of two objects. Now, without a memoryto
+retain impressions, how can he perceive the difference
+between those ofthis instant and those that the instant
+before were perceived and forgotten ? There is then
+no comparison of ideas, no judgment, no mind, without
+memory. An ideot, who sits on the bench at his door,
+is only a man who has little or no memory. If he
+answer not to questions that are asked him, it is because he does not remember the ideas affixed to the
+words, or he forgets the first words of a sentence before he hears the last. If we consult experience, we
+shall find that it is tothe memory (whose existence supposes the faculty of perception) that man owes his
+ideas and his understanding. There can be no
+sensations without a soul ; but without a memory
+there can be no experience, no comparison of objects, no ideas ; a man would be the same in his old
+age that he was in his infancy . A man is reputed
+an ideot when he is ignorant ; but he is only really
+so when his memory no longer exerts its functionst.
+* Ifthe theologians agree that the infant and the ideot cannot
+sin, and that they have each ofthem a soul, it follows that in man
+sin does not essentially belong to thesoul.
+་
+The famous M. Ernaud, the instructor of the deaf and
+dumb, says in a memoir presented to the Academy of Sciences.
+at Paris, that if the deaf and dumb have only short intervals of
+judgment, and reflect but little ; if their minds be weak, and
+their reasoning instantaneous ; it is because their memories are
+4
+Now,
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+bie
+boy
+au Zensible-Why to
+Wuthals
+Differences between the windand the soul.
+Now, without losing our soul, we can lose our memory ;
+as by afall, an apoplexy, or other accident of the like
+nature. The mind, therefore, differs essentially from
+the soul, as we can lose the one and still live, and the
+other is not lost but with life itself.
+THIRD DIFFERENCE.
+I have said , that the mind of man is composed ofan
+assemblage ofideas. There is no mind without ideas.
+Is it the same with the soul ? No : neither thought
+nor understanding is necessary to its existence. As
+long as man is sensible, he has a soul. It is therefore
+the faculty of perception that forms its essence. Deprive the soul ofwhat does not properly belong to it,
+that is of the faculty of remembrance, and what faculty
+is left it ? That of perception. It then does not even
+preserve a consciousness of its own existence, because
+that consciousness supposes a concatenation of ideas,
+and consequently a memory. Such is the state of the
+soul, when it has yet no use of the faculty of remembrance.
+We may lose our memory by a blow, a fall, or a discase. Is the soul deprived of this faculty ? It must
+then, without a miracle, or the express will of God,
+find itself in the same state of imbecility as it was in
+the human embryo. Thought, therefore, is not absolutely necessary to the existence of the soul. The
+almost always stupified, and consequently their ideas and their ac
+tions are, and must be, without consistency.
+soul
+TREATISE ON MAN. 105
+Differences between the mind and thesoul.
+soul then, is in us nothing but the faculty of perceiv
+ing, and this is the reason why, as Locke and experi
+ence prove, all our ideas come to us by the senses.
+It is to my memory I owe the comparison of my
+ideas and my judgments, and to my soul I owe my
+sensations. It is therefore properly* my sensations,
+and not my thoughts, as Descartes asserts, that prove
+to me the existence ofmy soul. But what is the faculty of perception in man ? is it immortal and immaterial? Ofthis human reason is ignorant, and revelation
+instructs us. Perhaps it will be objected, that if thesoul be nothing more than the faculty of perception ,
+its action, like that of one body striking another, is
+constantly necessary, and that the soul in this case
+must be regarded as merely passive. So Mallebranche
+believed†, and his system has been publicly taught.
+* M. Marion, regent of philosophy in the college of Navarre,
+and several professors, after his example, have maintained that all
+the operations of the mind maybe explained solely by the motion
+of the animal spirits, and the traces impressed on the memory.
+Hence it follows, that the animal spirits put in motion by exterior
+objects, can produce in us ideas independent of what we call the
+soul. The mind, therefore, according to these professors, is quite
+distinct from the soul.
+† According to Mallebranche, it is God that manifests himself
+to our understanding : it is to him we owe all our ideas. Mallebranche, therefore, did not believe that the soul could produce
+them ofitself : he consequently thought it merely passive. The
+Catholic church hath not condemned this doctrine.
+lf
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Differences between the mind andthe soul.
+Ifthe theologians of the present day condemn it, they
+will fall into a contradiction with themselves that will
+certainly somewhat embarrass them. For the rest, as
+menare born without ideas of virtue, vice, &c. whatever system the theologians adopt, they will never
+prove that thought is the essence of the soul ; and that
+the soul, or the faculty of sensation, cannot exist in us,
+without its being put in action, that is to say, without
+our having either ideas or sensations.
+The organ exists, when it does not sound. Man is
+in the same state with the organ, when in his mother's
+womb ; or when overcome with labour, and not troubled by dreams, he is buried in a profound sleep. If
+all our ideas moreover, can be ranged under some
+of the classes of our knowledge, and we can live without havingany ideas of mathematics, physics, morality,
+mechanics, &c. it is then not metaphysically impossible
+to have a soul without having any ideas.
+The savages have little knowledge, they have nevertheless souls. There are some of them who have no
+ideas of justice, nor even words to express that idea.
+They say, that a man deafand dumb, having suddenly
+acquired his hearing and speech, confessed, that before
+his cure, he had no idea of God or of death.
+The king of Prussia, prince Henry, Hume, Voltaire,
+&c. have no more soul than Bertier, Lignac, Seguy,
+Gauchat, &c. The former, however, have minds as
+superior to the latter, as they have to monkeys, and
+other animals that are exhibited in public shews.
+Pompignan,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 107
+Differences between the mind and the soul.
+Pompignan, Chaumeix, Caveirac *, &c. have certainly very little understanding, however, we always
+say of them, he speaks, he writes, and even he has a
+soul. Now, if having very little understanding, a man
+has not the less soul, ideas cannot inake any part of it ;
+they are not essential to its being. The soul, therefore, may exist independently of all ideas, and of all
+understanding.
+Let us here recapitulate the most remarkable differences between the soul and the mind.
+The first is, that we are born with a perfect soul, but
+not with a perfect mind.
+The second, that we can lose our mind, or understanding, while we yet live, but that we cannot lose
+the soul but with life itself.
+The third, that thought is not necessary to the existence ofthe soul.
+Such was doubtless the opinion of the theologians,
+when they maintained, after Aristotle, that it was to
+the senses the soul owed its ideas. Let it not be imagined, however, that the mind can be considered as
+entirely independent ofthe soul. Without the faculty
+of sensation, memory, the productive power of the
+*The names ofthese despicable mortals are not known in Ger
+many, or in any part of Europe, except by some of M. Voltaire's
+minor pieces, But for him their existence would never have
+been known.
+mind
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+The mind the effect of the soul.
+mind, would be without the functions, it would be of
+no effect *. The existence ofour ideas and our mind,
+supposes that of the faculty of sensation. This faculty.
+is the soul itself : whence I conclude, that if the soul
+be not the mind, the mind is the effect of the soul, or
+the faculty of sensation †.
+* The Treatise on the Mind, says, that memory is nothing
+more than a continued, but weakened sensation. In fact, the mcmory is nothingmore than the effect of the faculty of sensation.
++ I shall be asked, perhaps, what is the faculty of sensation,
+and what produces this phenomenon in us ? The following is the
+opinion of a celebrated English chymist, on the soul of animals :
+"We find, says he, in bodies, two sorts of properties, the exis-
+"tence ofone of which is permanent and unalterable ; such are im-
+"penetrability, gravity, mobility, &c. These qualities appertain
+"to physics in general."
+There arein the same bodies other properties, whose transient
+and fugitive existence is by turns produced and destroyed by certain combinations, analyses, or motions in their interior parts.
+These sorts of properties form the different branches of natural
+history, chymistry, &c. and belong to particular parts of physics.
+Iron, for example, is a composition of phlogiston and a particular carth. In this compound state it is subject to the attractive
+power ofthe magnet. When this iron is decomposed, that property vanishes : the magnet has no influence over a ferruginous
+earth deprived ofits phlogiston.
+When a metal is combined with another substance, as a vitriolic
+acid, this union destroys in like manner in iron the property ofbeing
+attracted bythe magnet.
+Fixed alkali, and a nitrous acid have each ofthem separately an
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN. 109
+Objects on which the mind acts.
+CHAP. III.
+OF THE OBJECTS ON WHICH THE MIND ACTS.
+WHAT is nature? The assemblage of all beings.
+What can be the employment of the mind in the
+infmite number ofdifferent qualities ; but when they are united,
+no vestige of those qualities remains ; each of them then ferments
+with nitre.
+In the common heat of the atmosphere, a nitrous acid will disengage itselffrom all other bodies, to combine with afixed alkali.
+Ifthis combination be exposed to a degree of heat, proper to put
+the nitre into a red fusion, and any inflammable matter be added
+to it, the nitrous acid will abandon the fixed alkali, to unite with
+the inflammable substance, and in the act of this union arises the
+elastic force whose effects are so surprising in gunpowder.
+All the properties of fixed alkali are destroyed, when it is combined with sand, and formed into glass, whose transparency, indissolubility, electric power, &c. are, if I may be allowed the expression, so many new creations, that are produced by this mixture,
+anddestroyed by the decomposition ofglass.
+Nowin the animal kingdom , why may not organisation' produce
+in like manner that singular quality we call the faculty of sensa
+tion ? All the phenomena that relate to medicine and natural history, evidently prove that this power is in animals nothing more
+than the result of the structure of their bodies ; that this power begins with the formation of their organs, lasts as long as they subsist,
+and is at last destroyed by the dissolution of the same organs.
+universe?
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Objects on which the mind acts.
+universe? That of an observer of the relations which
+objects have to each other, and to us : the relations
+that objects have to me are small in number. I am
+presented with a rose : its colour, its form, and smell
+please, or displease me. These are the relations it has
+to me. Every relation of this kind is reducible to
+the agreeable or disagreeable manner in which an object affects me. It is the conclusive observation of
+such relations that constitutes taste, and its rules.
+With regard to the relations which objects have to
+each other, they are as numerous as are, for example,
+the different objects which I can compare to the form,
+the colour, and smell of my rose. The relations of this
+sort are immense, and their observation belongs more
+directly to the sciences.
+Ifthe metaphysicians ask me, what then becomes of the faculty
+ofsensation in an animal ? That which becomes, I should answerthem, of the quality of attracting the magnet in iron that is
+decomposed.
+See Treatise on the Principles of Chymistry.
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN. 111
+The mind acts by observation and comparison.
+CHAP. IV .
+HOW THE MIND ACTS.
+ALL the operations of the mind are reducible to the
+observing of the resemblances and differences, the
+agreements and disagreements that objects have among
+themselves and with respect to us. The justness of
+the mind or judgment depends on the greater or less
+attention with which its observations are made.
+.
+·
+Would I know the relations certain objects have to
+each other? What must I do ? I place before my
+eyes, or present to my memory two or more of these
+objects ; and then I compare them. But what is this
+comparison ? It is an alternate and attentive observation of the different impressions which these objects, present, or absent, make on me *. This observation made,
+judge, that is, I make an exact report of the impressions I have received.
+* Ifthe memory, the preserver of impressions received, makes
+me perceive, in the absence of the objects, nearly the same sensations that they excite in me when present, it is indifferent, with regard tothe question here discussed, whether the objects ofwhich I
+form a judginent, be presented to my eyes, or my memory.
+Am
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+The mind acts by observation and comparison.
+Am I, for example, anxious to distinguish between
+twoshades of the same colour, that are almost indistinguishable ; I examine a long time and successively
+two pieces of cloth tinged with those two shades. I
+compare them, that is, I regard them alternately. I am
+very attentive to the different impressions the reflected
+rays of these two patterns make on my eyes, and I at
+Just determine, that one of them is of a deeper colour
+than the other ; that is to say, I make an exact report
+of the impressions I have received . Every other
+judgment would be false. All judgment therefore is
+nothing more than a recital of the two sensations,
+either actually proved, or preserved in mymemory*.
+When I observe the relation objects have to me, I
+am in like manner attentive to the impressions I rcceive. These impressions are either agreeable or disagreeable. Now in either case what is judging ? To tell
+what Ifeel. Am I struck on the head ? Is the pain
+violent? The simple recital of what I feel forms my
+judgment.
+I shall only add one word to what I have here said,
+which is, that with regard to the judgments formed of
+the relations which objects have to each other, or to
+us, there is a difference, which though of little importance in appearance, deserves however to be remarked.
+When we are to judge of the relation which objects
+* There can be nojudgment without memory: as I have proved
+inthe preceding chapter.
+bear
+TREATISE ON MAN. 113
+Judgment the result ofsensation.
+bear to each other, we must have at least two of them
+before our eyes. But when we judge of the relation
+an object has to ourselves, it is evident, as every object
+can excite a sensation, that one alone is sufficient to
+produce a judgment.
+From this observation I conclude, that every assertion concerning the relation of objects to each other,
+supposes a comparison of those objects ; every comparison a trouble ; every trouble an efficacious motive
+to take it. But on the contrary, when we are to observe the relation of an object to ourselves, that is to
+say, a sensation, that sensation , if it be lively, becomes
+itself the efficacious motive to excite our attention.
+Every sensation of this kind, therefore, invariably
+produces a judgment. I shall not stop longer at this
+observation, but repeat, agreeably to what I have said
+above, that in every case tojudge, is to feel.
+This being settled, all the operations of the mind are
+reduced to mere sensations. Why then adinit in man
+a faculty of judging distinct from the faculty ofsensation. But this is the general opinion : I own it ; andit
+even ought to be so. We say, I perceive, and I compare ; there is therefore in man a faculty of judging
+and comparing, distinct from the faculty of sensation .
+This method of reasoning is sufficient to impose on
+the greatest part of mankind. However, to shew its
+fallacy, it is only necessary to fix a clear idea to the
+word compare. When this word is properly elucidated,
+it will be found to express no one real operation of the
+VOL. I. I mind ;
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Of judgments resulting from abstract ideas.
+mind ; that the business of comparing, as I have before said, is nothing else than rendering ourselves attentive to the different impressions excited in us by objects
+actually before our eyes, or present to our memory; and
+consequently, that all judgment is nothing more than
+the pronouncing upon sensations experienced.
+But ifthe judgment formed from the comparison of
+material objects be nothing morethan mere sensations,
+is it the same with every other sort of judgment ?
+CHAP. V.
+OF SUCH JUDGMENTS AS RESULT FROM THE COMPARISON OF IDEAS THAT ARE ABSTRACTED, COLLECTIVE, &c.
+THE words weakness, strength, smallness, greatness,
+crime, &c. do not represent any substance, that is,
+any body ; how then can the judgments resulting from
+the comparison of such words, or ideas, be reduced
+to mere sensations ? I answer, that as these words do
+not represent any ideas, it is impossible, so long as we
+do not apply them to any sensible and particular object, to form any judgment about them. But when
+they are applied by design, or imperceptibly, to some
+determinate object, then the word great will express a
+relation,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 115
+Reason for inventing words expressing abstract ideas.
+relation, that is, a certain difference or resemblance
+observed between objects present to our sight, or to
+our memory. Now the judgment formed of ideas,
+that by this application beco ne material, will be, as I
+have repentedly said, nothing more than the pronouncing of sensations felt.
+I shall be asked perhaps, from what motives men
+have invented and introduced these algebraical expressions, if I may be allowed the term, which till they
+are applied to sensible objects, have no real signification, and represent no determinate idea ? I answer,
+that men thought they should by this method be able
+to communicate their ideas more easily, readily, and
+even more clearly. It is for this reason that they have
+in all languages created so many adjectives and substantives that are at once so vague * and so useful.
+The language of a polished people invariably comprehends a
+multitude of pronouns, conjunctions, in short, ofwords that being
+void ofmeaning themselves, borrow their different significations
+from the expressions with which they are connected , or the
+phrases in which they are used. The invention of most of these
+words is owing to the fear that men had of too much increa
+sing the signs of their languages, and a desire of communica
+ting their ideas more easily. If they had in fact been obliged to
+create as many words as there are things to which they might be
+applied ; for example, the adjectives white, strong, great, as a
+great cable, a great ox, a great tree, &c. it is evident that the
+multiplicity of words necessary to express their ideas would have
+been too weighty for their memory. It appeared necessary thereforeto invent such words, as representing no real idea themselves,
+2 Let
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Vague ideas excited by certain words.
+Letus take for example, among these insignificant expressions, that of the word line, considered in geometry
+as having length without breadth or thickness ; in this
+sense it recals no iden to the mind. No such line exists in nature, nor can any idea be formed of it. What
+does the master design therefore by using it ? Merely
+to induce his pupil to give all his attention to the
+length of a body, without considering its other dimensions.
+When, for the facility of algebraical calculation,
+we substitute the letters A and B for fixed quantities,
+do these letters present any ideas ? Do they express
+any real dimension ? No. Now what is denoted in
+algebraical language by A and B, is expressed in common language by the words weakness, strength, smallness, greatness, &c. Those words express only a vague
+relation of things to each other, and do not convey
+any real and clear idea till the moment they are applied to a determinate object, and that object be compared with another. It is then that these words being
+put, if I may so say, in equation or comparison, express very precisely the relation of objects to each
+other. Till that moment the word greatness, for example, recals to the mind very different ideas, accordhaving only a local signification, and expressing merely the relations which objects have to each other, should however recal to
+the mind distinct ideas, the moment these words were connected
+with the objects whose relation they expressed.
+ing
+TREATISE ON MAN. 117
+Vague ideas excited by certain words.
+ing as it is applied to a fly or an elephant. It is the
+same with regard to what is called in man idea or
+thought. These expressions are in themselves insignificant ; yet to how many errors have they given
+birth : how often has it been maintained in the schools,
+that as thought does not belong to extension and matter,
+it is evident, that the soul is spiritual. I confess I
+could never make any thing of this learned jargon.
+What in fact is the meaning of the word thought ?
+Either it is void of meaning, or like the word motion
+it merely expresses a mode ofa man's existence. Now
+nothing can be more clear, than that a mode or mannerof being is not a body or has no extension. But to .
+make ofthis mode a being, and even a spiritual being,
+nothing, in my mind, is more absurd. What again can
+be more vague than the word crime? That this collec
+tive term may convey to my mind a clear and determinate idea, I must apply it to a theft, a murder, or some
+suchaction. Menhaveinvented words ofthis sort merely
+to communicate their ideas more easily, or at least
+more readily. Suppose a society was instituted into
+which none but honest men were to be admitted ; in
+order to avoid the trouble of transcribing a long catalogue ofthe actions for which any one was to be excluded, they would say in one word, that no man guilty of
+a crime was to be admitted. But of what precise idea
+wouldthe word crime be here the representative ? Of
+none. This word could be solely intended to call to
+the mind of the society those pernicious actions of
+which
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+All ideas maybe reduced to sensations.
+which its members might become culpable, and to caution them to take heed to their conduct. In short,
+this word would be properly nothing more than a
+sound, and a more concise method of exciting the attention ofthe society.
+In like manner, if we are forced to determine the punishment due to a crime, we must first form clear and
+precise ideas ofit, and thenrecal to ourmemory, successively, the representation of the different crimes a man
+may commit : then examine which of those offences
+is most detrimental to society, and lastly, form a judgment which would be, as I have so often said, nothing
+morethan expressing the sensations felt at the presence of
+several representations ofthose crimes.
+Every idea whatever may therefore, in its ultimate
+analysis, be always reduced to material facts or sensations. Some obscurity is thrown on discussions of
+this kind by the vague significations of a certain number of words, and the trouble that is sometimes necessary to deduce clear ideas from them. Perhaps it is as
+difficult to analyze some ofthese expressions, and to
+reduce them, if I may so say, to their constituent ideas,
+as it is in chymistry to decompose certain bodies.
+However, let us but apply the method and attention
+necessary in this decomposition, and we shall not fail
+of success.
+What is here said will be sufficient to convince the
+discerning reader, that every idea and every judgment
+may bereduced to a sensation. It would be therefore
+unne-
+TREATISE ON MAN. 119
+Interest the motive for comparing objects.
+unnecessary, in order to explain the different operations
+of the mind, to admit a faculty ofjudging and comparing distinct from the faculty of sensation. But what
+it may be asked, is the principle or motive that makes
+us compare objects with each other, and gives us the
+necessary attention to observe their relations ? Interest,
+which is in like manner, as 1 am going to shew, an effect of corporeal sensibility.
+CHAP. VI.
+WHERE THERE IS NO INTEREST THERE IS NO
+COMPARISON OF OBJECTS WITH EACH OTHER.
+ALL comparison of objects with each other supposes
+attention, all attention a trouble, and all trouble a motivefor exerting it. Ifthere could exist a man without desire, he would not compare any objects, or pronounce any judgment ; but he might still judge ofthe
+immediate impressions of objects on himself, supposing their impressions to be strong. Their strength
+becoming a motive to attention, would carry with it a
+judgment. It would not be the same if the sensation
+were weak ; he would then have no knowledge or remembrance of the judgment it had occasioned. A
+mansurrounded by an infinity of objects, must neces14 sarily
+"
+TREATISE ON MAN,
+Instinct rather enten reason
+Men reason without being conscious ofit.
+sarily be affected by an infinity ofsensations, and consequently form an infinity ofjudgments ; but he forms
+them unknown to himself. Why ? Because these judgments are ofthe same nature with the sensations. If
+they make an impression that is effaced as soon as
+made, the judgments formed on these impressions are
+of the same sort ; they leave no remembrance. There
+is in fact no man who does not, without perceiving it,
+make every day an infinity of reasonings, of which he
+is not conscious. I will take, for example, those that
+attend almost all the rapid motions of our bodies.
+When in the dance, Vestris, makes a cabriole rather
+than an entrechat, when Moté in the fencing-school
+thrusts tierce rather than quart, if there be no effect
+without a cause, Vestris and Moté must be determined
+byreasons too rapid, if I may so say, to be perceived.
+So the motion I make with my hand when a body is
+going to strike my eye, may be reduced to nearly the
+same ; experience tells me, that my hand can resist
+without pain the blow of a body that would deprive me
+ofsight my eyes moreover are dearer to me than my
+hand : I ought therefore to expose my hand to save my
+eyes. There is no person that would not use the same
+reasoning in the same situation ; but this habitual reasoning is not so rapid, but that weperceive the moment
+we have put the hand before the eye, the action and
+the cause of the action. Now how many sensations
+are there of the nature of these habitual reasonings ?
+Howmany weak sensations that do not fix our atten5 tion,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 121
+The strength or weakness ofimpressions depend on our situation.
+tion, or produce in us either consciousness or remembrance ?
+There are moments when the strongest sensations
+are, in some measure, imperceptible. I fight, and am
+wounded, I continue the combat, and perceive not my
+wound. Why ? Because the love of preservation,
+rage, and the motion given to my blood, render me insensible to the stroke that at another time would have
+fixed all my attention.
+There are moments on the contrary, when we are
+sensible ofthe slightest impressions ; that is, when the
+passions of fear, ambition, avarice, envy, &c. concentrate all our attention on an object. Am I concerned
+in a conspiracy ? There is not a gesture, not a look
+that can escape the restless and suspicions eyes of my
+accomplices. Am I a painter ? Every remarkable effect of the light strikes me. Am I a jeweller ? There
+is not a flaw in a diamond that I do not perceive. Am
+I envious ? There is no defect in a great character that
+my piercing eye does not discern. In like manner
+those passions that by fixing all my attention on certain
+objects, render me susceptible of the keenest sensations, with regard to them, make me at the same time
+insensible to every other sort of sensation.
+If I be in love, jealous, ambitious, or discontented,
+and in this situation of mind traverse the magnificent
+palace ofa monarch, in vain are the rays reflected from
+marbles, statues, and paintings ; to awakenmy attention,
+some new, unknown object must suddenly and forcibly
+strike
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+,2
+The strength or weakness of impressions depend on our situation.
+strike my sight. Unless such an impression occur, I
+walk on withoutperceiving the sensations that strike me.
+If, on the contrary, in the calm of my desires, I
+range through the same place, then, sensible to all the
+beauties ofnature and art by which it is embellished,
+my soul being open to every impression will participate
+of all it receives. I shall not indeed be endowed with
+that keen and piercing look with which the lover, and
+the ambitious man behold every object that affects
+them. I shall not like them see what is only visible to
+the eyes of the passions. I shall be less acutely, but
+more generally sensible. Let a man of pleasure and a
+botanist walk by the side of a river, shaded by stately
+oaks, and bordered by shrubs and odoriferous flowers.
+Thefirst ofthem affected merely by the limpidity ofthe
+stream, the beauty of the oaks, the variety of the
+shrubs, and the fragrancy of the flowers, will not see
+them with the eyes ofthe botanist : he will not observe
+the uniformity and variety among these shrubs and
+flowers. Having no interest to remark them, he will
+want the attention to perceive them ; he will receive
+the sensations from his judgment, but have no remembrance ofthem. It is the botanist, anxious for his reputation, the scrupulous observer, of these various
+flowers and shrubs, that can alone make himself attentive to the different sensations he feels, and the different judgments he forms. *
+There is in fact no remembrance without attention, nor any
+attention without interest.
+For
+SNEAKE
+TREATISE ON MAN.'
+Corporeal pains and pleasures are the principles ofhuman actions.
+For the rest, the consciousness or unconsciousness
+of such impressions, change not their nature ; it is
+therefore true, as I have already said, that all our sensations carry with them a judgment, whose existence,
+though unnoticed when they fix not our attention, is
+however not the less real.
+It results from the contents of this chapter, that all
+judgments formed by comparing objects with each
+other, suppose an interest in us to compare them. Now
+that interest, necessarily founded on our love of hap
+piness, cannot be any thing else than the effect of
+bodily sensibility ; because there all our pleasures, and
+all our pains have their source. This question being
+discussed, I conclude that corporeal pains and plea
+sures are the unknown principles of all human actions*.
+་
+* M. Rousseau, in several parts of his Emilius, denies that bodily sensibility is the principle of all human actions, but the
+reasons on which he founds his denial, shew that he has not seriously reflected on the question.
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Corporeal sensibility the sole cause of human action.
+CHAP. VII.
+CORPOREAL SENSIBILITY 1S THE SOLE CAUSE OF
+OUR ACTIONS, OUR THOUGHTS, OUR PASSIONS,
+AND OUR SOCIABILITY.
+ACTION.
+Ir is to clothe himself, and adorn his mistress, or his
+wife, to procure them amusements, to support himself
+and his family, in a wordto enjoy the pleasures attached
+to the gratification of bodily desires that the artizan
+and the peasant thinks, contrives, and labours. Corporeal sensibility is therefore the sole mover of man*,
+What is called intellectual pain, or pleasure, may be always
+referred to some bodily pain or pleasure. Two examples will
+makethis evident.
+What makes us fond of gaming, even for trifles ? ! Is it the
+agreeable sensations we then feel ? No : we love it because it relieves us from the disgustful state of being weary of ourselves, and
+delivers us from that absence of impressions which always produces discontent, and bodily uneasiness. What makes us love
+high play? The love of money. Why do we love money ? From
+a taste for conveniences, the want of amusements, the desire of
+avoiding bodily pains and procuring bodily pleasures. Do we not
+besides love the emotion that high gaming produces in us? Without doubt. But the emotion felt at the moment I lose or gain a
+thousand, two, or if you will, ten thousand guineas, takes its source,
+he
+TREATISE ON MAN 125
+Corporeal sensibility the sole cause of human action.
+he is consequently susceptible, as I am going to prove,
+but of two sorts of pleasures and pains, the one are
+either from the fear of being deprived of the pleasures I possess, or
+the hope ofenjoyingthose that the increase of my fortune will procure me. Is not this motion in some menthe effect ofpride also ?
+There aremen sufficiently proud to be mortified when fortune forsakes them, though they play but for pins: but this sort of pride is
+rare. Besides, this same pride, as is proved intheTreatise onthe Mind
+ch. 13. disc. 3. is no other than one of the effects of bodily sensibility. The principle ofthe love ofplay is therefore either the fear
+ofdisgust, and consequently pain, or the hope of bodily pleasure.
+Is it the same with regard to the internal pleasure we feel in
+succouring the distressed, by performing an act ofliberality?
+This is certainly a very lively pleasure. Every action ofthis kind
+should be praised by ' l, because it is useful to all. But what is a
+benevolent man? One in whom a spectacle of misery produces a
+painful sensation.
+Born without ideas, without vice, and without virtue, every
+thing in man, even his humanity, is an acquisition it is to his
+education he owes this sentiment. Among all the various ways of
+inspiring him with it, the most efficacious is to accustom himfrom
+childhood, in a manner from the cradle, to ask himself when he
+beholds a miserable object, by what chance he is not exposed in
+like manner to the inclemency of the seasons, to hunger, cold, po-.
+verty, &c. When the child has been usedto put himself in the
+place ofthe wretched, that habit gained, he becomes the more
+touched with their misery, as in deploring their fate it is for hu
+man nature in general, and for himself in particular, that he is .
+concerned. An infinity of different sentiments then mix with the
+first sentiment, and their assemblage composes the total sentiment of pleasure felt by a noble soul in succouring the distressed :
+asentiment that he is not always in a situation to analyze.
+present
+•
+TREATISE OF MAN.
+•
+Ofthe different kinds of pain.
+present bodily pains and pleasures, the other are the
+pains and pleasures of foresight or memory.
+PAIN.
+Iknowbut two sorts of pain, that which we feel, and
+that which weforesee. I die ofhunger ; I feel a present
+pain. I foresee that I shall soon die of hunger. I feel
+a pain by foresight, the strength of whose impression is in proportion to the proximity and severity of
+the pain. The criminal who is going to the scaffold,
+feels yet no torment, but the foresight that constitutes
+his present punishment, is begun*.
+Werelievethe unfortunate,
+. To avoid the bodily pain of seeing them suffer.
+. To enjoy an example of gratitude, which produces in us at
+least a confused hope ofdistant utility.
+. To exhibit an act ofpower, whose exercise is always agreeable to us, because it always recals to the mind the images of pleasures attached to that power,
+. Becausethe idea of happiness is constantly connected, in a
+goodeducation, with the idea ofbeneficence, and this beneficence in
+us conciliating the esteem and affection of men, may like riches
+beregarded as a power, or means of avoiding pains and procuring
+pleasures.
+In this manner, as fron an affinity of different sentiments, is
+made up the total sentiment ofthe pleasure we feel in the exercise
+· ofbeneficence.
+I have here said enough, to furnish a man of discernment with
+the means of decomposing, in like manner, every other kind of
+pleasure, called intellectual, and reducing it to mere sensation.
+* There is no doubt but the foresight in those dreadful moREMORSE.
+TREATISE ON MAN. 127
+Remorse owes its existence to bodily sensation.
+REMORSE.
+Remorse is nothing more than a foresight of bodily
+pain, to which some crime has exposed us : and is consequently the effect of bodily sensibility. We tremble
+at the description of the flames, the wheels, the fiery
+scourges, which the heated imagination of the painter
+or the poet represents. Is a man without fear, and
+above the law ? he feels no remorse from the commission of a wicked action ; provided, however, that he
+have not previously contracted a virtuous habit ; for
+then he will not pursue a contrary conduct, without
+feeling an uneasiness, a secret inquietude, to which is
+also giventhename of remorse. Experience tells us, that
+every action which does not expose us to legal punishmnet, or to dishonour, is an action performed in general
+without remorse*. Solon and Plato loved women and
+that arise from the union of merrin society for contemptimplies
+ments, makes men feel a painful bodily sensation. What is this
+foresight ? Aneffect ofthe memory. Now it is the property of
+the memory to throw the organs, to a certain degree, into those
+contractions into which they would be more forcibly thrown, by
+the punishment itself. It is evident, therefore, that all pains and
+pleasures esteemed interior, are so many bodily sensations, and that
+wecannot understand by the words interior and exterior, any thing
+but impressions excited bythe memory, or by the actual presence
+ofobjects.
+* If dishonour, or the contempt ofmankindbe insupportable, it
+is because it presages evils, as it in part deprives us ofthe advantages
+even
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Friendship the result of bodily sensibility.
+even boys, and avowed it*. Theft was not punished in
+Sparta: and the Lacedæmonians robbed without remorse. The princes of the East can, with impunity,
+load their subjects with taxes, and they do it effectually. The inquisitor can with impunity burn
+any person who does not think as he does, on certain metaphysical points, and it is without remorse
+that he gluts his vengeance by hideous torments, for
+the slight offence that is given to his vanity by the
+contradiction ofa Jew or an Infidel. Remorse, therefore owes its existence to the fear of punishment or of
+shame, which is always reducible, as I have already
+said to a bodily sensation.
+FRIENDSHIP.
+From bodily sensibility flow in like manner, the
+tears that bathe the urn of my friend. I lament the
+loss ofthe man whose conversation relieved me from
+disquietude, from that disagreeable sensation of the
+soul, which actually produces bodily pain : I deplore
+a want ofattention in mankind to serve us, and presents the time to
+come as void of pleasures, and full of pains ; which are all reducible to bodily sensation.
+* The Gauls were anciently divided into a great number of
+clubs, or particular societies, that were composed of about a dozen
+families, the women of which were in common. They lived
+among themselves without remorse, but no one durst tohave a passion fora woman belonging to another club : the law forbade it,
+and remorse begins where impunity ends.
+him
+TREATISE ON MAN, 129
+All pleasures referable to bodily sensation.
+him who exposed his life and fortune to save me from
+sorrow and destruction ; who was incessantly employed in promoting my felicity, and increasing it by
+every sort ofpleasure. When a man enters into himself, whenhe examines the bottom of his soul, he perceives nothing in all these sentiments butthe developement of bodily pain and pleasure. What cannot this
+pain produce ? It is by this medium that the magis
+trate enchains vice, and disarms the assassin.
+PLEASURE.
+There are two sorts of pleasures, as there are two
+sorts ofpains the one is the present bodily pleasure,
+the other is that offoresight. Does a man love fine
+slaves and beautiful paintings ? If he discovers a treasure he is transported. He does not, however, yet
+feel any bodily pleasure, you will say. It is true ; but
+he gains atthat moment, the means of procuring the
+objects of his desires. Now this foresight of an approaching pleasure, is in fact an actual pleasure : for
+without thelove of fine slaves and paintings, he would
+have been entirely unconcerned at the discovery of
+the treasure.
+pose
+The pleasures offoresight, therefore, constantly supthe existence of the pleasures of the senses. It
+is the hopes of enjoying my mistress to-morrow that
+makes me happy to-day. Foresight or memory converts into an actual enjoyment the acquisition of every
+means proper to procure pleasure. From what motive in fact do I feel an agreeable sensation every time
+VOL. I. K I ob-
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Power is coveted as the medium ofobtaining pleasure.
+I obtaina new degree of esteem, of importance, riches,
+and above all, ofpower? Itis because I esteem power
+as the most sure means of increasing my happiness.
+POWER.
+Men love themselves : they all desire to be happy,
+and think their happiness would be complete, if they
+were invested with a degree ofpower sufficient to procure them every sort of pleasure. The love of power
+therefore takes its source from the love of pleasure.
+Suppose a man absolutely insensible. But, it will be
+said, he must then be without ideas, and consequently
+a mere statue. Be it so : but allow that he may exist,
+and even think. Ofwhat consequence would the sceptre of a monarch be to him ? None. In fact, what
+could the most immense power add tothe felicity of a
+man without feeling.
+If power be so coveted by the ambitious, it is as the
+mean of acquiring pleasure. Power is like gold; a
+money. The effect ofpower, and of a bill of exchange
+is the same. If I be in possession of such a bill, I re-t
+ceive at London or Paris a hundred thousand crowns,
+and consequently all the pleasures that sum can procure.
+Am I in possession of a letter of authority or command ? I draw in like manner from my fellow-citizens,
+a like quantity of provisions or pleasures. The effects
+of riches and power are in a manner the same for
+riches are power.
+In acountry wheremoney is unknown, in whatmanner
+TREATISE ON MAN. 131
+Of wealth and honors. **
+"
+ner can taxes be paid ? In kind, that is, in corn,
+wine, cattle, fowls, &c.-How can commerce be car
+ried on ? By exchange. Money therefore is to be regarded as a portable merchandise, which it is agreed,
+for the facility of commerce, to take in exchange for
+all other sorts of merchandise. Can it be the same
+with the dignities and honours with which polished na-.
+tions recompense the services rendered their country ?
+Why not ? What are honours ? A money that is in
+like manner the representative of every kind of provision and pleasure. Suppose a country where the honorary money is not current ; suppose the people to be
+too free, and too haughty, to suffer a very great inequality in the ranks and authority of the people : in
+what manner must the nation recompense great actions,
+and such as are useful to the nation ? By natural
+riches and pleasures, that is, by transferring a certain
+quantity of corn, beer, hay, wine, &c. to the granary
+and cellar of the hero : by giving him so many acres
+of land to till, or so many handsome slaves. It was
+by the possession of Briseis*, that the Greeks recom-
+* In the island of Rimini, no man can marry that has not killed an
+enemy, and borne away his head. The conqueror oftwo enemies
+has a right to marry two wives, and so on to fifty. What could
+be the cause of such an establishment ? The situation of these.
+islanders, who being surrounded by nations that were their enemies,
+would not have been able to resist them, if they had not perpetu
+ally excited the courage oftheir people bythe highest rewards.
+K2
+penced
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Reasons for coveting wealth and honors.
+i
+penced the valour ofAchilles.. What amongthe Scandinavians, the Saxons, the Scythians, the Celts, the
+Samnites, and the Arabs , was the recompence of
+courage, of talents and virtues ? Sometimes a fine woman, and sometimes a banquet, where feasting on delicate viands, and quaffing delicious liquors, the warriors with transport listened to the songs of the bards.
+It is therefore evident, that if money and honours be,
+among most polished nations, the rewards of virtuous
+actions, they are in that case the representative of the
+same possessions, and the same pleasures that poor and
+free nations grant to their heroes, and for the acquisi
+tion of which those heroes expose themselves to the
+greatest dangers. Therefore, on the supposition, that.
+these dignities and honours were not the representa
+tives of wealth or pleasures, that they were nothing
+more than empty titlest, those titles being estimated
+* Amongthe presents which the caravans at this day make to
+the Arabs ofthe Desert, the most agrecable are marriageable virgins. This was the tribute the victorious Saracens formerly de
+manded of the conquered. Abderahman, after the conquest of
+the Spaniards, exacted of the petty prince of the Asturias, the
+annual tribute ofa hundred beautiful virgins.
++ Ifin despotic nations the spring of glory be commonly very
+weak, it is, because glory there confers no sort of power, because
+all power is absorbed in despotism ; because in those countries a
+hero, covered with glory, is not secure from the intrigues of a vilfainous courtier ; because he has no certain property in his effects,
+or his liberty ; because, in short, he is liable, at the pleasure of
+according
+TREATISE ON MAN. 183
+Motives which influence the actions and passions ofmen.
+according to their real value, would presently cease to
+be the objects of desire. To enter a breach, a crown
+piece, the representative of a pint of brandy, and the
+enjoyment ofa trull must be given to the soldier. The
+warriors ofantiquity, and those of the present day are
+the same . Men have not changed their nature, and
+they will always perform nearly the same actions for
+the same rewards. Ifa man be supposed indifferent
+to pleasure and pain, he will be without action : unsusceptible of remorse, or friendship, or, in short, of the
+love of riches or of power : for when we are insensible
+his sovereign, to be thrown into a prison, to be deprived of his
+wealth and honours, and even of life itself.
+Why does the Englishman behold, in the greatest part of foreign noblemen, nothing more than gaudy valets and victims.
+adorned with garlands ? Because a peasant in England, is in fact
+greater than an officer of state in another country : the peasant is
+free ; he can be virtuous with impunity ; and sees nothing above
+him but the law.
+It is the desire ofglory that must be the most powerful principle
+of action in poor republics ; and it is the love of money, founded
+on the love ofluxury, that in despotic countries is the principle of
+action, and the moving powerin nations subject to that sort of government.
+* The irruption of Brennus into Italy,it is well known, was not
+the first, but the fifth made by the Gauls. Bellovesus had invaded it before him ; and how did this chief persuade his countrymen to follow him over the Alps ? By showing them the
+wine ofItaly. "Taste this wine, he cried, and see if you like it ?
+#ifyou do, follow me, andconquer the country that produced it."
+K3 to
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Origin of human societies.
+to pleasure itself, we must be insensible to the means
+of acquiring it. Whatwe seek in riches and power, is
+the means of avoiding bodily pains, and procuring bodily pleasures. Ifthe acquisition of gold and powerbe
+always a pleasure, it is because foresight and memory
+convert into an actual pleasure all the means of obtaining it.
+The general conclusion ofthis chapter, is, that in
+man all is sensation : a truth of which I shall give a
+fresh proof, by showing that his sociability is nothing
+more than a consequence ofthe same sensations.
+CHAP. VIII.
+OF SOCIABILITY.
+MAN is by nature a devourer of fruits and of flesh ;
+but he is weak, unarmed, and consequently exposed to
+the voracity of animals stronger than himself. Man,
+therefore, to avoid the fury of the tyger and the lion,
+was forced to unite with man. The object of this
+union wasto attack and kill other animals , either to
+feed on them, or to prevent their consuming the fruits
+There is, they say, in Africa, a sort of wild dogs, that' go
+troops to makewaron animals that are stronger than themselves.
+in
+and
+TREATISE ON MAN. 135
+Origin ofhuman societies.
+and herbs that served him for nourishment. In the
+mean time mankind multiplied, and to support themselves, they were obliged to cultivate the earth ; but
+to induce them to this, it became necessary to stipulate, that the harvest should belong to the husbandman.
+For this purpose the inhabitants made agreements or
+laws among themselves. These laws strengthened the
+bonds ofa union, that, founded on their wants, was the
+immediate effect of corporeal sensibility . But cannot this sociability be regarded as an innate quality+,
+*Becausemanis sociable, peoplehave concluded thathe is good.
+But they have deceived themselves. Wolves form societies, but
+they are not good. We may add, that if man, as M. Fontenelle
+says, has made God after his own image, the horrible portrait, he has
+drawn ofthe Divinity ought to make the goodness of man very
+equivocal. Hobbes has been reproached with this maxim : The
+strong childis a bad child, he has however only repeated in other
+terms, this admired verse of Corneille,
+Qui peut toutce qu'il veut, veut plus que ce qu'il doit.
+He that can do whatever he will, wills more than he ought.
+And this other verse of La Fontaine,
+Laraison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure.
+The strongest always reason best.
+They who write the romance of man, condemn this maxim of
+Hobbes ; they that write his history, admire it ; and the necessity
+of laws proves it to be true.
++ That curiosity, which certain writers regard as an innate
+principle, isthe desire in us ofbeing happy, and of improving our
+condition : it is no other than the developement of corporeal sensibility.
+K4
+a spe-
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Interest and want the principles of sociability.
+a species ofamiable morality ? All that we learn from
+experience on this head, is, that in man, as in other
+animals, sociability is the effect of want. If the desire of defending themselves makes the grazing animals, as horses, bulls, &c. assemble in herds ; that of
+chasing, attacking, and conquering their prey, forms in
+like manner a society of carnivorous animals, such as
+foxes and wolves,
+Interest and want are the principles of all sociability.
+It is, therefore, these principles alone (of which few
+writers have given clear ideas) that unite men among
+themselves and the force of their union is always in
+proportion to that of habit and want. From the monent the young savage*, or the young bear, is able to
+provide for his nourishment and his defence, the one
+* The greatest part of travellers, say that the attachment of the
+Negroes to their children, resembles that of brute animals to
+their offspring : this attachment ceases when they are able to provide for themselves. See Melanges interessans des Voyages
+d'Asie, d'Amérique, &c,
+The Anxicos, says Draper on this head, in his voyage to
+Africa, eat their slaves : human flesh is as common in their mar
+kets, as that of beef in ours. The father feasts on the flesh of his
+son, and the son on the flesh of his father ; brothers and sisters
+eat each other, and the inother without remorse, feeds on the
+child she has just brought into the world. In short, the Negroes, says F. Labat, have neither gratitude nor affection for their
+relations, nor compassion for the sick. Among these people, he
+adds, mothers are seen inhuman enough to abandon their children
+to the voracity of the tygers of the woods.
+quits
+TREATISE ON MAN. 137
+.
+Filial attachment should be but a secondary affection.
+quits the hut, and the other the den of his parents*:
+The eagle, in like manner, drives away her young
+ones from the nest, the moment they have sufficient
+strength to dart upon their prey, and live without her
+aid.
+The bond that attaches children to their parents, and
+parents to their children, is less strong than is comnonly imagined. A too great strength in this bond
+would be even fatal to societies. The first regard of a
+citizen should be for the laws, and the public prosperity ; I speak it with regret, filial affection should be in
+inan subordinate to the love of patriotism . Ifthis last
+affection do not take place of all others, where shall
+we find a measure ofvirtue and vice ? It would then be
+no more, and all morality would be abolished.
+For what reason, in fact, has justice and the love of
+God been recommended to men, above all things ? On
+account ofthe danger to which a too great love of
+their parents would expose them. Ifthe excess ofthis
+passion were sanctioned ; if it were declared the principal attachment, a son would then have a right to rob
+* Nothing is more common in Europe, than to see children
+desert their parents, when they become old, infirm, incapable of
+labour, and forced to subsist by beggary. We see, in the coun
+try, one father nourish seven or eight children, but seven or eight
+children are not sufficient to nourish one father. If all children
+be not so unnatural, if some ofthem have affection and humanity,
+it is to education and example they owe that humanity. Nature .
+has made them diminutive bears,
+his
+TREATISE ON MAN..
+Causes which diminish the strength of Alial affection.
+his neighbour, or plunder the public treasury, to supply the wants, and promote the comforts of his father. Every family would form a little nation, and
+these nations having opposite interests, would be continually at war with each other.
+Every writer, who to give us a good opinion of his
+own heart, founds the sociability of man on any other
+principle than that of bodily and habitual wants, deceives weak minds, and gives them a false idea of morality.
+Nature, no doubt, designed that gratitude and habit
+should form in man a sort of gravitation, by which
+they should be impelled to a love of their parents :
+but it has also designed that man should have,
+in the natural desire of independence, a repulsive
+power, which should diminish the too great force of
+that gravitation *. Thus the daughter joyfully leaves
+the house of her mother to go to that of her husband ;
+and the son quits with pleasure his native spot, for an
+´employment in India, an office in a distant country, or
+merely for the pleasure of travelling.
+Notwithstanding the pretended force of sentiment,
+friendship, and habit, mankind change at Paris, every
+day, the part of the town, their acquaintance and
+* Man hates dependence : whence, perhaps, comes the hatred
+of his father and mother ; and the proverb, founded on com
+mon and constant observation, that the love of relations descends, and does not ascend.
+their
+TREATISE ON MAN. 139
+Sociability not an innate principle in man,
+their friends. Do men seek to make dupes ? They
+exaggerate the force of sentiment and friendship, they
+represent sociability as an innate affection or principle.
+Can they, in reality, forget that there is but one principle of this kind, which is corporeal sensibility ? It
+is to this principle alone, that we owe our self-love, and
+the powerful love of independence : if men were, as
+it is said, drawn toward each other by a strong and
+mutual attraction, would the heavenly Legislator have
+commanded them to love each other, and to honour
+their parents ? Would he not have left this point to
+nature, which, without the aid of any law, obliges men
+to eat and drink when they are hungry and thirsty, to
+open their eyes to the light, and keep their hands out
+of the fire ?
+Travellers do not inform us that the love which mankind bear to their fellows, is so common as pretended.
+The sailor, escaped from a wreck, and cast on an unknown coast, does not run with open arms to embrace
+the first man he meets. On the contrary, he hides
+himselfin a thicket, where he observes the manners of
+the inhabitants, and then presents himself trembling
+before them.
+But if an European vessel chance to approach an
+unknown island, do not the savages, it is said, run in
+The command to love our fathers and mothers, proves that
+the love ofour parents is more the effect ofhabit and education,
+than of nature,
+crowds
+TREATISE ON MAN:
+Sociability the effect of the necessity of mutual assistance.
+crowds towards the ship ? They are, without doubt,
+amazed at the sight, they are struck with the novelty
+of our dress, our arms and implements. The appearance excites their curiosity. But what desire succeeds
+to this first sensation ? That of possessing the objects
+of their admiration. They become less gay and more
+thoughtful ; are busied in contriving means to obtain,
+byforce or fraud, the objects of their desires : for that
+purpose they watch the favourable opportunity to rob,
+plunder, and massacre the Europeans, who, in their
+conquests of Mexico and Peru, gave them early examples of similar injustice and cruelty.
+The conclusion of this chapter is, that the principles of morality and politics, like those of all other
+sciences, ought to be established on a great number
+of facts and observations. Now, what is the result of
+the observations hitherto made on morality ? That
+the love of men for their brethren, is the effect of the
+necessity of mutual assistance, and of an affinity of
+wants, dependent on that corporeal sensibility, which
+Iregard as the principle of our actions, our virtues,
+and our vices.
+In persevering in my opinion on this point, I think
+I ought to defend the Treatise on the Mind against the
+odious imputations of hypocrisy and ignorance.
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN. 141
+The love ofwomen sometimes excites virtue in men.
+CHAP. IX.
+A JUSTICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES ADMITTED IN THE TREATISE ON THE MIND.
+WHENthe Treatise on the Mind appeared, the theologians regarded me as a corruptor of morals. They
+reproached me with having maintained, after Plato,
+Plutarch, and experience, that the love of women had
+sometimes excited virtue in men.
+The fact, however, is notorious : their reproach,
+therefore, is ridiculous. If bread, it has been said to
+them, be a recompence for labour´and industry, why
+not women ? Every object of desire may become un
+Ifhunger bethe principle of so many actions, and has so much
+power over men, how can we imagine that the desire for women
+can have no effect on them ? At the moment a youth is heated
+with the first fires oflove, let its enjoyments be proposed to him as
+the recompence of his application : let him bereminded, even in
+the arms of his mistress, that it is to his talents and his virtues that
+heowes her favours. The young man, docile, assiduous, virtuous,
+will then enjoy in a manner agrecable to his health, to his soul,
+and to the public good, the same delight that he would not enjoy,
+in another situation, without exhausting his strength, debasing his
+mind, and dissipating his fortune, by living in a state of stupid
+ebriety.
+encouragement
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Valour inspired by women in the barbarous ages.
+encouragement to virtue, when it is not to be obtained
+but by services rendered to our country.
+In those ages, when the invasions of the Northern
+nations, and the incursions of swarms of plunderers,
+kept the inhabitants continually in arms, when the women being frequently exposed to the insults of ravagers,
+were in continual want of protectors, the virtue then
+in highest esteem was valour. The favours ofthe women, therefore, were the recompence of the most valiant, and consequently every man ambitious of those
+favours, endeavoured to elevate himself to that enthusiastic courage, which about four centuries since animated the renowned knight-errants.
+The love of pleasure was therefore in those ages the
+productive principle of the only virtue then known ;
+that is, valour. When the manners changed, and a
+more improved policy relieved the timid virgin from
+insult, then beauty (for in government all things depend on each other) less exposed to outrages of the
+ravagers, held its defenders in less esteem. If the enthusiasm of women for valour then decreased in preportion to their fear ; if the esteem preserved to this
+day, for that sort of courage be only the esteem of
+tradition; if in this age the youngest, most assiduous,
+obsequious, and above all, the most opulent lover is
+commonly preferred, it is not surprising ; all is as it
+ought to be.
+The favours of women, therefore, according to the
+changes that happen in manners and governments, either
+TREATISE ON MAN. 143
+The love ofwomen not incompatible with virtue.
+ther are, or cease to be, the encouragements to certain
+virtues. Love in itself is no evil. Why should we
+regard pleasures as the cause of the political corruption ofmanners ? Men have had in all ages nearly the
+same wants, and in all ages have satisfied those wants.
+The ages, or the nations most addicted to love, have
+been those in which men were the strongest and most
+robust. Edda, the Erse poets, in short, all history informs us, thatthe ages esteemed heroic and virtuous,
+have not been the most temperate.
+Youth are strongly attracted by women : they are
+more eager after pleasure than persons of riper years ;
+they are, however, commonly more humane and virtuous, at least more active, and activity is a virtue.
+It was neither love nor pleasures that corrupted Asia,
+enervated the manners of the Medes, the Assyrians,
+Indians, &c. The Greeks, the Saracens, and Scandinavians, were neither more reserved nor more chaste
+than the Persians and Medes, and yet the former have
+never been cited among effeminate nations.
+If there be a time when the favours of women can
+become a principle of corruption, it is when they are
+venal * ; when money, far from being the recompence
+of merit and talents, becomes that of intrigue and
+flattery ; in short, when a satrap or a nabob can, by
+* Itmay be asked by some, perhaps, when the time was that
+the favours of women were notvenal?
+means
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Power of women to incite to virtue or vice.
+means of injustice and crimes, obtain from the sovereign the right of pillaging the people, and applying
+the spoil to his own emolument.
+It is with women as with honours, they are the
+common objects of the desire of men. Ifhonours be
+the price of iniquity ; if to attain them the great must
+be flattered ; if the weak must be sacrificed to the
+powerful, and the interest of a nation to that of a sultan ; then honours, so justly invented as a recompence
+and decoration of merit and talents, become the
+source of corruption. Women, like honours, may,
+therefore, according to times and manners, become
+the alternate incitements to vice or virtue.
+The political corruption of manners therefore consists only in the depravation of the means employed
+to procure pleasures. The rigid moralist who preaches
+incessantly against pleasures, is nothing more than the
+echo of his ghostly father. How can we extinguish
+every desire in man without destroying every principle of action ? He who is affected by no interest,
+can have no motive to produce any action worthy of
+a man.
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN.` 145
+Hunger the most habitual principle of activity in man.
+CHAP. X.
+THE PLEASURES OF THE SENSES ARE, IN A MANNER EVEN UNKNOWN TO NATIONS THEMSELVES,
+THEIR MOST POWERFUL MOTIVES.
+THE springs of action in man are corporeal pains
+and pleasures. Why is hunger the most habitual principle of his activity ? Because among all his wants it
+is that which returns the most frequently and commands the most imperiously. It is hunger and the
+difficulty of appeasing it, that gives the carnivorous
+animals of the forest so much superiority of intellect
+over the grazing herds. It is hunger that furnishes
+the former with a hundred ingenious methods of attacking and surprising their game. It is hunger that
+keeps the savages for six months together on the lakes,
+and in the woods : teaches them to bend the bow, to
+weave their nets, and set the snares for their prey. It.
+is hunger also that among polished nations puts the
+people in action, teaches them to cultivate the land,
+learn a mechanical trade, and fill a difficult employ.
+But in the exercise of these employs, each individual
+forgets the motive that led him to undertake it ; for
+the mind is occupied, not with the want, but with the
+VOL. I. L means
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Pleasure and pain the only springs of government.
+No passion produces greater changes in man ; its
+empire extends even to brutes. The timid animal that
+trembles at the approach of another which is even
+weaker than itself, becomes animated by love. At the
+command of love he stops, shakes off every fear, attacks and defeats his equals, or even his superiors in
+strength. There are no dangers, no labours by which
+love can be dismayed. It is the spring of life. In
+proportion as its desires die away, man loses his activity ; and by degrees, death deprives him of every
+other sensation.
+Corporeal pleasure and pain are the real and only
+springs of all government. We do not properly desire glory, riches and honours, but the pleasures only
+of which glory, riches, and honours are the representatives ; and whatever men may say, while we give the
+workman money that he may drink, to excite him to
+labour, we must acknowledge the power that the pleasures of the senses have over us.
+When I said, in the Treatise of the Mind, that it is
+from the stalk of corporeal pleasure and pain, that we
+gather all our joys and our pains, I published an important truth.-What follows ? That it is not in the
+enjoyment of these same pleasures, that the politicalcorporeal pleasures. The body soon becomes exhausted : the
+imagination never. So that of all our pleasures, it is the latter, that in
+general, give us, in the total of life, the greatest sum of happiness.
+depravation
+TREATISE ON MAN. 145
+Hungerthe most habitual principle of activity in man..
+CHAP. X.
+THE PLEASURES OF THE SENSES ARE, IN A MANNER EVEN UNKNOWN TO NATIONS THEMSELVES,
+THEIR MOST POWERFUL MOTIVES.
+THE springs of action in man are corporeal pains.
+and pleasures. Why is hunger the most habitual principle of his activity ? Because among all his wants it
+is that which returns the most frequently and commands the most imperiously. It is hunger and the
+difficulty of appeasing it, that gives the carnivorous
+animals of the forest so much superiority of intellect
+over the grazing herds. It is hunger that furnishes
+the former with a hundred ingenious methods of attacking and surprising their game. It is hungerthat
+keeps the savages for six months together on the lakes,
+and in the woods : teaches them to bend the bow, to
+weave their nets, and set the snares for their prey. It
+is hunger also that among polished nations puts the
+people in action, teaches them to cultivate the land,
+learn a mechanical trade, and fill a difficult employ.
+But in the exercise of these employs, each individual
+forgets the motive that led him to undertake it ; for
+the mind is occupied, not with the want, but with the
+VOL. I. L means
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Pleasure and pain the only springs of government.
+No passion produces greater changes in man ; its
+empire extends even to brutes. The timid animal that
+trembles at the approach of another which is even
+weakerthan itself, becomes animated by love. At the
+command of love he stops, shakes off every fear, attacks and defeats his equals, or even his superiors in
+strength. There are no dangers, no labours by which
+love can be dismayed. It is the spring of life. In
+proportion as its desires die away, man loses his activity ; and by degrees, death deprives him of every
+other sensation.
+Corporeal pleasure and pain are the real and only
+springs of all government. We do not properly desire glory, riches and honours, but the pleasures only
+of which glory, riches, and honours are the representatives ; and whatever men may say, while we give the
+workman money that he may drink, to excite him to
+labour, we must acknowledge the power that the pleasures of the senses have over us.
+When I said, in the Treatise of the Mind, that it is
+from the stalk of corporeal pleasure and pain, that we
+gather all our joys and our pains, I published an important truth.-What follows ? That it is not in the
+enjoyment of these same pleasures, that the politicalcorporeal pleasures. The body soon becomes exhausted : the
+imagination never. So that ofall our pleasures, it is the latter, that in
+general, give us, in the total of life, the greatest sum of happiness.
+depravation
+TREATISE ON MAN. 149
+Object proposed by the author.
+depravation of manners can consist. Who in fact are
+a corrupted and effeminate people ? They who acquire
+by vicious means the same pleasures that illustrious nations acquire by virtuous means.
+The declamations of certain moralists will never
+prove any thing against an author, whose principles
+are justified and confirmed by experience.
+Let not this discussion of corporeal sensibility be regarded as foreign to my subject. What have I proposed? To shew that all men equally well organised,
+have an equal disposition for understanding. What
+have I done toward it ? I have distinguished between
+the mind or understanding, and the soul : I have
+proved, that the soul is in us nothing but the faculty
+of sensation ; that the mindis the effect of it : thatin
+man all is sensation ; that, consequently, corporeal
+sensibility is the principle of his wants, his passions, his
+sociability, his ideas, his judgments, his desires, and
+his actions ; and that, in short, if all things can be explained by corporeal sensibility, it is useless to admit
+of any other faculty in us *.
+Man is a machine, which being put in motion by
+* Besides the faculty of sensation, man is said to be endowed
+with that of remembrance. I know it : but as the organ ofthe memory is corporeal, as its office consists in recalling impressions that
+are past, and as it must excite in us actual sensations in order to
+produce that effect, I am not the less authorised to assert, that in
+manall is sensation,
+L3
+corporeal
+·
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Ofthe unequal extent ofthe memory.
+corporeal sensibility, ought to perform all that it executes. It is the wheel, which moved by a torrent,
+raises the pistons, and with them the water designed
+to be thrown into the bason prepared to receive it.
+After having thus shown that every thing in us is reducible to sensation and remembrance, and that our
+sensations are produced by the five senses only ; to
+discover next if a greater or less understanding be the
+effect of a greater or less perfection of the organs, we
+must examine, if in fact, the superiority of the mind
+or understanding be always in proportion to the acuteness of the senses, and the extent of the memory. If
+experience prove the contrary, there is no doubt that
+the usual inequality of minds must proceed from ano- ther cause.
+It is, therefore, to the sole examination of this fact,
+the question proposed is now reduced, and it is to this
+examination we shall owe its solution.
+CHAP. XI.
+OF THE UNEQUAL EXTENT OF THE MEMORY.
+I SHALL here only repeat what I have said in the
+book onthe Mind, and shall observe :
+. That
+TREATISE ON MAN. 151
+Memory may exist without genius or great understanding.
+. That the Hardouins, the Longuerues, the Scaligers, in short all the prodigies of memory, have commonly had but little genius, and that they are never
+placed in the same rank with Machiavel, Newton, and
+Tacitus .
+. Thatto make discoveries of any kind, and deserve the title of inventor, or a man of genius ; if we
+must, as Descartes has proved, meditate more than
+learn, a man may have a great memory, without a
+a great understandingt.
+* So Pope in his Essay on Criticism,
+As onthe land while here the ocean gains,
+In other partsit leaves wide sandy plains ;
+Thus inthe soul while memory prevails,
+The solid pow'r of understanding fails ;
+Where beams of warm imagination play,
+The memory's soft figures melt away.
+This seems to be a vulgar error ; a strong memory and a feṛtile inventiou frequently go together, the former being ofthe utmost utility to the latter. If a man shall sit down to invent, he
+will find that a complete retrospect of all he has seen, heard or
+read, relative to any science, will afford him the greatest assistance
+in his further inventions or improvements in that science. T.
++ A great memory makes a great scholar ; meditation makes
+the man of genius. The original mind, the mind of a peculiar
+turn, supposes a comparison of objects with each other, and a discernment of relations unknown to ordinary men. It is not so
+with the man ofthe world : his mind is composed oftaste and
+memory. He who knows the most remarkable passages in history,
+L4
+He
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Means of acquiring a strong memory.
+He whowould acquire a great memory, should improve
+it by daily practice. He that would acquire a certain
+habit of meditation, should in like manner improveit
+by daily exercise. Nowthe time spent in meditation,
+is not employed in storing up facts in the memory,
+The man who compares and meditates much, has
+therefore cominonly the less memory, as he makes
+the less use of it. Of what use, moreover, is a great
+memory ? The most common will answer the purpose
+of a great man. He who understands his own language, has already a great number of ideas. To merit.
+the title of a man of understanding, what is he to do?
+Compare his ideas with each other, and bythat mean obtain some conclusion new and interesting, either by being useful or agreeable. The memory charged with all
+the words of a language, and consequently with all the
+ideas of a people, is like a pallet covered with a certain
+number of colours : the painter has on that pallet the
+matter for an excellent picture ; it is for him so to
+.
+the most bon mots, and curious anecdotes, is the most agreeable
+companion. Newton, Locke, and Corneille, were undestood by
+few. The man of profound penetration is not adapted to the
+multitude. Ifthe man of the world be not a sublime poet, a fine
+painter, a profound philosopher, or great general, he is at least
+quite amiable. If his reputation do not extend beyond the circle
+of his acquaintance, it is because he does not write, does not improve any science, and render himself useful to mankind, and
+therefore ought not to expect much esteem.
+use
+TREATISE ON MAN. 153
+Memory more extensive than is commonly imagined.
+use and dispose them, that they may produce a great
+truth in the shades, and a great force of colouring, in
+aword, a beautiful painting.
+A common memory has even more extent than is
+imagined. In Germany and England there is scarcely
+a man of education, who does not understand three or
+four languages . Now if the study of those languages
+be comprised in the common plan of education, it cannot suppose any thing more than a common organisation : all men are therefore endowed by nature with
+more memory than is requisite to investigate the
+greatest truthst. Hence I infer, that if the superiority
+of the mind consists principally, as Mr. Hobbes re.
+marked, in the knowledge of the true signification of
+words, and if there be no man who in reflecting on
+* Ifthe French understand no language but their own, it is the
+effect oftheir education, and not their organisation ; let them pass
+some years at London or Florence, and they will easily understand English or Italian.
++ Nature, we are told has given to every nation some peculiar
+quality or genius. There is no nation in Europe that has not
+made some successful alterations in their military exercises and
+evolutions, afterthe Prussians. But too much struck with the
+brilliancy of these evolutions, have these nations cultivated the
+means of exciting courage in their soldiers ? I doubt it. The Europeans have not the same motives to expose their lives in battle,
+as the Greeks and Romans had : and consequently, the courage
+of armies is not manifested in enterprizes equally hazardous ; and
+may be reduced, perhaps, in every warrior, to the sole principle of
+not being thefirst to runaway.
+those
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Imperfection ofthe mind not owing to defect ofmemory.
+those of his own language only, would not find more
+questions to discuss than he could resolve in the course
+of a long life, no man can complain of his memory.
+There are, it is said, quick and slow memories : we
+have in fact, a quick remembrance of the words of
+our own language, and a more slow remembrance of
+those of a foreign tongue ; especially, if we speak it
+but seldom. But what can we hence conclude ? Only
+that we have a remembrance of objects more or less
+prompt, according as they are more or less familiar to
+us. There is but one real and remarkable difference
+in meinories, which is the inequality of their extent.
+Now, if all men equally well organised, are, as I have
+proved, endowed with a memory sufficient to exalt
+them to the highest ideas, genius is then not the product of a great memory. Consult on this subject,
+chap. iii. disc. iii. of the Treatise on the Mind. 1
+have there considered this question in every light.
+My opinion appears to have been generally adopted,
+because experience has confirmed its truth, and proved,
+that in general, it is not to the defect of the memory
+we oughtto refer the imperfection of the mind or understanding.
+Does it proceed from the unequal perfection of the
+other organs ? I shall now examine that question.
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN. 155
+Unequal perfection of the organs ofthe senses,
+CHAP. XII.
+OF THE UNEQUAL PERFECTION OF THE
+ORGANS OF THE SENSES.
+Ir in men all be corporeal sensation, they do not
+then differ among themselves, but in the degrees of
+their sensations. The five senses are the organs of
+those sensations ; they are the passages by which
+ideas penetrate even to the soul. But are these passages
+equally open in all ; and according to the different
+structure of the organs of sight, hearing, touch, taste,
+and smell , ought not each man to smell, taste,
+touch, see, and hear indifferently ? Lastly, should not
+those menwhohave the finest organs have the greatest
+discernment , and be perhaps, the only men that can
+possess it in any remarkable degree ?
+* Let it not be supposed, however, that there is an extreme
+difference inthe common organisation ofmen. All have not the
+same ear, yet in a concert, at certain tunes, all the musicians, all the
+dancers in an opera, and all the soldiers of a battalion move equally
+in measure.
+† Among men the most perfectly organised, ifthere be few of
+remarkable acuteness, it is, we are told, because the understanding
+isthejoint effect ofthe acuteness ofthe senses, and of a good eduExperience,
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Understanding not dependent on the perfection ofthe senses.
+with rea-1 Experience, I answer, does not here agree
+son it demonstrates clearly that it is to the senses we
+owe our ideas, but it does not demonstrate that our discernment is always in proportion to the greater or less
+perfection of the senses. Women, for example, who
+are of a more delicate texture than men, have more
+sensibility in the touch, but have no more understanding than Voltaire, the man, perhaps, the most surcation. Be is so : but on this supposition it would be at least impossible that a good education, without a peculiar and remarkable
+perfection of the senses, could form a great man. Now this fact is
+disproved by experience.
+* The organisation of the two sexes, is without doubt, in some
+respects very different but is this difference to be regarded as
+the cause ofthe inferiority of the minds of women ? No : on the
+contrary, is is evident, that no woman being organised as a inan*,
+none ofthem consequently should have as much understanding.
+Now, can the genius of Sappho, Hyppatia, Elizabeth, Catherine
+II. &c. be esteemed inferior to that of men ? If women be in
+general inferior, it is because in general they receive a still worse
+education. Compare together women of very different condi
+tions, such as princesses and chambermaids ; I say, that these two
+ranks of women have commonly as much undestanding as their
+husbands. Why? Because the two sexes have here received an
+education equally bad.
+* Will this be allowed, as to what regards the sensibility of the
+organs ? Are there not many women of more robust organisation
+than the generality of men ? T.
+prising
+TREATISE ON MAN. 157
+Understanding not dependent on the perfection ofthe senses.
+prising ofall others, for the fecundity, extent, and di- .
+versity ofhis talents.
+Homer and Milton were early blind. A blindness
+so premature should imply some imperfection in the
+organ of sight yet how strong and brilliant were
+their imaginations ? A similar observation may be
+made on M. Buffon ; he is short-sighted yet what
+mind more comprehensive, and what style more
+beautiful . Among those who have the sense ofhearing in the greatest perfection, are there any superior
+to the St. Lamberts, the Saurins, the Nivernois, &c.
+Ofthose who have the senses of tasting and smelling
+in the greatest perfection, are there any who have
+more genius than Diderot, Rousseau, Marmontel,
+Duclos, &c. ? In whatever manner we interrogate experience, it will constantly answer, that the greater or
+less superiority of mind is independent of the greater or
+less perfection of the organs of the senses, and that all
+men equally well organised, are endowed by nature
+with acuteness of the senses sufficient to lead them to
+the greatest discoveries in mathematics, chymistry,
+politics, physics, &c.t
+It has not been remarked, that in the greatest painters, the
+sense of seeing is much more acute than that of other men.
++ If a greater or less understanding depends on the greater or
+less acuteness ofthe senses, it is probable that the different temperatures of the air, the difference of latitudes and aliments, must
+have some influence on minds, and consequently that the country
+most favoured by heaven should produce the most ingenious inIf
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Understanding not dependent on the perfection of the senses.
+Ifthe sublimity of the mind supposed so great a
+perfection in the organs, before a man is engaged in
+difficult studies, before he enters for example, into the
+career of letters or of politics, we should examine if
+he have the eye of an eagle, the feeling of the sensitive plant, the nose of the fox, and the ear of the mole.
+Dogs and horses, they say, are esteemed more or
+less, according as they spring from this or that race.
+Therefore, before we employ a man, we should ask if
+he sprang from an ingenious or stupid father. Now
+habitants. Now, how can we imagine, that from the beginning
+of time to the present day, the inhabitants of such country
+must not have acquired a remarkable superiority over other na
+tions ? That they must not have invented the best laws, and consequently have been the best governed ? Thatthey must not inthe
+course of time have subdued the other nations, and in short, have
+produced, in every class, the greatest number of renowned men ?
+The generating climate of such a people is hitherto unknown.
+History does not point out any one among the nations endowed
+with a constant superiority of understanding above all others : it
+shows, on the contrary, that from Delhi to Petersburg, all nations
+have been successively ignorant and enlightened that in the
+same situations every people, as Dr. Robertson remarks, have the
+same laws, and the same sagacity, and that we find, for this reason,
+the manners ofthe ancient Germans amongthe modern Americans.
+:
+The difference of latitude and food has therefore no influence
+on the minds of men, and perhaps it has less than is imagined on
+their bodies. In fact, the greatest part of politicians in calculating
+the population of cities and empires from the number of deaths,
+have thence observed, that, at least in the greatestpart of Europe,
+the duration oflife is nearly the same.
+these
+TREATISE ON MAN. 159
+Understanding not dependent on the perfection of the senses.
+these questions are never asked ; Why? Because
+the most ingenious fathers frequently beget foolish
+children ; because men the best organised, have frequently but little understanding, and in short, because
+experience proves the inutility of such questions. All
+that it teaches us, is, that there are men of genius of
+every make, and every temperament, that neither the
+sanguine, the bilious nor phlegmatic, the great or little,
+the fat, the lean, the robust, the tender, the melancholic
+(2.) nor the strong and vigorous, are always the most
+ingenious*.
+But suppose a man to have extreme sensibility, what
+follows ? That he will sometimes have sensations unknown to the common rank of men : that he will feel
+what a less delicate organisation will not permit another man to feel. But will he have more discernment ?
+No : because those sensations, always fruitless till the
+moment they are compared with each other, will constantly preserve the same relation to each othert. But,
+"
+* M. Rousseau, p. 300 and 323 of his Emilius, says, "The
+"more hearty and robust a child grows the more judicious and
+respectable he becomes. To enjoy the instruments of our intelligence, the body must be healthful and robust. " A good
+constitution of body renders the operations of the mind easy and
+efficacious. But if M. Rousseau consults experience, he will find,
+that the sickly, the delicate, and the deformed, have as much understanding as the most vigorous, and well made. Witness Pascal, Pope, Boileau, and Scarron.
+† A sensation ofthe memory is nothing but an
+be replaced by another. Nowafact adds that inay
+additional fact,
+nothing to the
+suppose
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Understanding not dependent on the perfection of the senses.
+suppose the understanding to be proportionate to the
+acuteness of the senses ; and that there are truths
+which cannot be comprehended but by ten or twelve
+men ofthe first organisation. In this case the human
+mind would not be capable of perfectibility. I may
+also add, that these men so finely organised, would necessarily attain a degree of knowledge in the sciences,
+that would be incommunicable to the common rank of
+men. Now, such degree of knowledge has never been
+perceived.
+There are no truths contained in the works of Locke
+and Newton, that are not now comprehensible by all
+inen of a common organisation, and that have not any
+extraordinary excellence of tasting, smelling, seeing,
+hearing, and feeling.
+I may also add, that as there are no two things
+alike in nature*, each of those persons who have the
+aptitude men have to understanding, because that aptitude is nothing else than the power of observing the relations that different
+objects have to each other.
+* Does the dissimilitude of beings exist in their principles, or in
+their developments ? I know not : Of this we are certain, that
+the race of cattle become stronger or weaker, improve or degene
+rate, according to the goodness and abundance of their pasture,
+and the same we observe in oaks : when we see some short, some
+tall, some strait, and others crooked ; in short, if no two trees are
+absolutely alike, it is, perhaps, because no two of them have received precisely the sanie culture, or are placed in a similar situation, are exposed to the same wind, or planted in the same soil.
+finest
+TREATISE ON MAN. 161
+Climateand food have no effect onthe intellectual faculties,
+finest organisation, must be, in some respects, superior
+to the rest. Every man therefore, must feel sensations,
+and acquire ideas that are incommunicable to his fellows. Now there are no ideas of this kind : whoever
+has such as are clear, can easily communicate them to
+others. There are, therefore, no ideas that men, of ordinary organisation cannot attain.
+The causes that would operate most efficaciously on
+minds, would be, without doubt, the differences of climate and food. Now, as I have already said, the gross
+Englishman who feeds on butter and flesh, and breathes .
+a foggy air, has not certainly less understanding than
+the lean Spaniard, who lives on garlic and onions, in
+a very dry atmosphere. Shaw, an English physician,
+who from the fidelity and accuracy of his observations,
+as well as from the late date of his travels in Barbary,
+deserves our confidence, says, when speaking of the
+Moors. " The small progress this people have made
+" in the arts and sciences, is not the effect of incapacity or natural stupidity. The Moors have an acute
+"understanding, and even genius. If they do not
+"apply themselves to the study ofthe sciences, it is be-
+"cause being without motives to emulation, their government does not leave them either liberty or leisure "
+Now, the time ofthe developement of inanimate beings, answers
+tothat ofthe education of man, which is, perhaps, neverthe same,
+because, no two of them, as I have proved in the first section,
+can receive precisely the same instructions.
+VOL. I. M " sufficient
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Powerful patronage will always produce great talents..
+"sufficient to cultivate and improve them. The Moors,
+"like the greatest part of the Orientals, being born
+" slaves, are naturally enemies to all labour that does
+" not directly promote their present and personal in-
+" terest."
+It is liberty alone that can kindle among a people
+the sacred fire of glory and emulation. If there be
+periods when, like those rare birds brought into a
+country by a storm of wind, great men appear on a
+sudden in an empire, this is not to be regarded as the
+effect ofa physical, but of a moral cause. In every government, where talents are rewarded, those rewards,
+like the teeth ofthe serpent, planted by Cadmus, will
+produce men. If Descartes, Corneille, &c. rendered
+the reign of Lewis XIII. illustrious ; Racine, Bayle,
+&c. that of Lewis XIV. Voltaire, Montesquieu, Fontenelle, &c. that of Lewis XV. it is, because the arts
+and sciences were under these different reigns, successively protected by Richelieu, Colbert, and the late
+duke of Orleans the regent. Great men, whatever
+has been said, belong not to the reign of Augustus or
+Lewis XIV. but to the reign that protects them.
+If any imagine that it is to the first fire of youth,
+to the freshness of the organs, if I may so say, that we
+owe the fine compositions of great men ; they deceive
+themselves. Racine was but thirty, when he produced
+his Alexander, and his Andromache ; but he was fifty,
+when hewrote Athalia, and the latter piece is certainly
+not
+TREATISE ON MAN. 163
+Genius not affected by our state of health.
+not inferior to the former . It is not, moreover, a
+slight indisposition, which may occasion a state of
+health more or less delicate, that can extinguish
+genius.
+We do not enjoy every year the same health ; yet
+the lawyer gains or loses every year nearly the same
+number of causes ; the physician kills or cures nearly
+the same number of patients ; and the man of genius,
+distracted neither by business nor pleasure, by violent
+passions nor grievous maladies, produces every year
+nearly the same number of compositions.
+Whatever difference there may be in the diet of
+nations, or the climate they inhabit ; in a word,
+whatever difference there may be in their temperament , it will not augment or diminish the aptitude
+* Atthe end of a certain number of years, a man is, they say,
+no longer the same composer. Voltaire at sixty was no longer
+the Voltaire of thirty. Be it so : yet he was equally sagacious.
+If two men, without being exactly similar, can run as fast, leap as
+high, shoot as true, and strike a ball as far, the one as the other,
+they may, without being precisely the same, have an equal understanding.
+†The aptitude ordisposition for understanding or discernment,
+as I shall show hereafter, is only an aptitude to discern the resemblance or difference, the agreement or disagreement between different objects. That the diversity of temperaments and climates
+may occasion a difference in the manners and inclinations of a
+people ; that the savage hunters in woody countries, would be
+herdsmen in a grazing country, may very well be : but it is not
+M 2 that
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+The understanding is not dependent on the bodily faculties.
+that men haveto understanding. It is not, therefore,
+onthe strength of the body , or the juvenility of the
+organs, or the greater or less perfection of the senses,
+that the greater or less superiority of the understanding depends. To conclude, that experience demonstrates the truth of this fact, is no great matter ; I can
+less true, that in every country the inhabitants constantly perceive
+the same relations between the same objects. So, from the moment that these wandering natives unite into nations, when the
+marshes are drained, and forests cut down, the diversity of climates has had no sensible influence on their minds ; and we there
+fore find in Sweden and Denmark, as accomplished geometricians,
+chymists, natural philosophers, moralists, &c. as in Greece or
+Italy. The climate of Persia, says Chardin, is the most proper
+"to promote the vigour both of body and mind." Their cli
+mate, however, gives the Persians no more genius than the French.
+Ifthe superiority ofthe mind be independent of the greater
+or less vigour of temperaments, and the greater or less acuteness .
+ofthe senses, where shall we seek the cause ofthis superiority ? In
+the perfection ofthe interior organisation I shall be told : but, I
+answer, ifthe interior perfection of a clock be shown bythe precision with which it marks the hour, in man the perfection of his interior organisation shows itself, in like manner, (at least, so far as
+regards the understanding) by that of the five senses, to which it
+owes all its ideas. The perfection of the exterior organisation,
+supposes, therefore, that of the interior. But to prove that this
+last sort ofperfection can have no influence on the understanding,
+it will suffice to show, (in conformity to experience) that its superiority is intirely independent of the greater or less perfection of
+the five senses.
+also
+TREATISE ON MAN. 165
+Ofthe different manner of receiving sensations.
+also prove, that if this fact exists, it is because it cannot exist otherwise, and also, that it is to a cause hitherto unknown, that we must look for the explanation
+ofthe phenomenon of the inequality of understandings.
+To confirm the truth of this opinion, I think, that
+after having demonstrated that in men every thing is
+sensation, we must conclude, that ifthey differ among
+themselves, it constantly proceeds from the different.
+degrees of their sensations only.
+CHAP. XIII.
+ON THE DIFFERENT MANNER OF RECEIVING
+SENSATIONS.
+MEN have different tastes : but this difference may
+be either the effect of habit and education, or of the
+unequal sensibility of their organisation. " If the Negro,
+for example, feels more pleasure in beholdingthe sooty
+complexion of an African beauty, than in the roses
+and lilies of an European, it is in him the effect of
+habit. If men, according tothe country they inhabit,
+are more affected with this or that sort of music , and
+* M. Rousseau in his Musical Dictionary, relates a remarkable
+instance ofthis kind. There is, says he, among the Swiss a tune
+M 3 become
+TREATISE ON-MAN.
+Of the different manner of receiving sensations.
+become in consequence susceptible of particular impressions, this is also the effect of habit. All tastes
+that are factitious, and produced by the difference of
+education, are not here the objects of my inquiry ; I
+here treat only of the different tastes produced by the
+mere different sensations felt at the presence of the
+same object.
+To know exactly what this difference is, we must
+have been successively ourselves and others. Now as
+this can never be, it is only by considering, with very
+great attention, the different impressions which the
+same objects appear to make on different men, that we
+can arrive at some discovery relative to this matter. If
+we examine this point closely we shall find, that if one
+saw square what another saw round ; if milk appeared
+white to one and red to another ; if to some men a
+rose seemed a thistle, and a well-proportioned man appeared a monster, it would be impossible for men to
+they call Rans-des-Vaches, which was held so dear by them, that
+it was forbidden, under pain of death, to play it among the Swiss
+troops for it made those that heard it burst into tears, desert, or
+die, byexciting in them an ardent desire again to see their native
+country. It is in vain to seek in this tune for such energetic accents
+as are capable ofproducing such wonderful effects. These effects
+are never produced on strangers, but proceed from habit, and by
+recalling to the minds of those who hear this tune, their country, their youth, their former pleasures, and manner of living,
+whence arises a piercing grief on reflecting that all these are no
+more.
+com-
+TREATISE ON MAN. 167
+Ofthe different manner of receiving sensations.
+communicate their ideas, and understand each other :
+but they do understand each other ; the same objects
+therefore excite in them nearly the same impressions.
+To make this matter more clear, let us see in one
+and the same instance, in what men differ and resemble each other.
+They all resemble each other in one point ; and that
+is, they would all free themselves from disquietude :
+consequently they would all be employed, and the
+more lively that employment, the more agreeable it is
+to them ; provided, however, the impression be not so
+pungent as to excite pain.
+Men differ in this, that the degree of emotion
+which one regards as an excess of pleasure, is sometimes in another the beginning of pain. The eye of
+my friend may be pained by a degree of light that
+gives me pleasure ; and yet we both agree that light is
+the most pleasing object in nature. Now whence
+proceeds this uniformity of judgment, with this difference of sensation ? From the insignificancy in the
+degree of difference, and because a tender sight finds
+the same pleasure in a small degree of light, that a
+strong sight does in the blaze of a mid-day sun. Let
+us pass from physics to morality, and we shall see still
+less difference in the manner in which men are affected by the same objects, and shall find, in consequence, among the Chinese all our European pro-
+* Except in what has an immediate and peculiar relation tothe
+M 4 verbs :
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Resemblance in the laws and manners of different nations.
+verbs : whence I conclude, that the trivial differences
+in the organisation of different people, oughtnot to be
+regarded ; for in comparing the same objects every
+nation forms the same conclusions.
+The invention of the same arts wherever there are
+the same wants, and where the arts have been equally
+encouraged by government, is another proof of the
+essential equality of minds. To confirm this truth, I
+may also cite the resemblance observed in the laws
+and governments of different people. Asia, says M.
+Poivre, peopled in a great part by the Malaccans, is
+governed by our ancient feudal laws. The inhabitants
+of Malacca, like our ancestors, are not agriculturists,
+but have like them a courage the most rash and determined*. Courage, therefore, is not, as some still
+oriental customs and government, there are no proverbs more similar than those of the Germans and the Chinese.
+* If the Malaccans, says M. Poivre, had been nearer neighbours to China, that empire would have been soon conquered, and
+the form ofits government changed. Nothing, says that author,
+equals the passions ofthe Malaccans for theft and plunder : but are
+they the only nation ofthieves ? Whoever reads history, finds, that
+this love ofrapine is unhappily common to all men, and is founded
+on their idleness. They are better pleased, in general, to live by
+plunder and incursions, and by exposing themselves three or four
+months in the year to the greatest dangers, than be subject tothe
+daily labour of agriculture. But why then are not all nations
+thieves ? Because to plunder it is necessary to be situate near
+nations that have something to lose, that is, such as are agricultu
+rists and rich ifnot, they have no choice but to labour or starve,
+assert,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 169
+Universally pleasing impression made by poetry.
+assert, the effect of a particular organisation inthe Europeans. Men resemble each other more than is commonly imagined. Where they differ it is in the degrees of their sensations. Poetry, for example, makes
+an agreeable impression on almost every one. Every
+one repeats with almost equal enthusiasm the hymn
+to light, that begins the third book of Paradise
+Lost ; but, it will be said that, if this passage admired
+by all is equally pleasing to all, it is because in painting the magnificent effects of light, the poet makes
+use ofa word, that by not expressing any particular
+degree oflight, leaves every one at liberty to colour the
+objects with that tint of light which is most agreeable
+to his sight. Be it so : but if light did not make a
+strong and lively impression on all, would it be universally regarded as the most admirable object in nature ?
+Does not that vortex offire in which almost all nations
+have placed the throne of the Divinity, prove the
+uniformity of impressions received at the presence
+of the same objects*. Without this uniformity (which
+Every country has it Malaccans. In the Roman catholic countries the clergy pillage, like them, the tenth of the harvest : and
+what the Malaccans take by violence, the priests get by cunning,
+and by apanic terror.
+* Toprovethe difference of sensations produced by the sight
+of the same objects, people cite the example of painters, who
+give a tinge of yellow or grey to all their figures ; but if this
+defect in their colouring were an imperfection in the organ of sight,
+and all objects really appeared to them tinged with yellow and
+some
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Different impressions produced by the pictures of nature.
+some philosophers, not very accurate, have taken from
+the notion of the absolutely good and beautiful) on
+what foundation could the rules of taste have been
+established ?
+The simple and magnificent pictures of nature strike
+all men. But do those pictures make precisely the
+same impression on each ofthem ? No : we learn, however, from experience, that the impressions are nearly
+similar ; so that objects extremely pleasing to some
+are always more or less pleasing to others. It is in
+vain to repeat here that the uniformity of impresssions
+produced by the beautiful descriptions of poetry, is
+merely apparent ; that it is in part the effect of the uncertain significations of words, and of latitude in the
+expressions that corresponds exactly with the various
+sensations felt by the aspect of the same objects. Adgrey, the white on their pallet would appear so also, and they
+would paint white though they saw grey.
+* If I should be asked again why there are in every language
+so many words of indeterminate signification, I should add to
+what I have said on this subject in the 5th chapter of this section,
+that want presided at the formation of languages ; and that in the
+invention ofwords, men in endeavouring to communicate their
+ideas in the easiest manner, perceived, that if they made as many
+words as there are, for example, different degrees of magnitude,
+light, gravity, &c. their multiplicity would surcharge the memory :
+and that therefore it was necessary to suffer certain words to retain
+that vague signification, which renders their application more ge
+neral, and the study of languages more concise.
+mitting
+TREATISE ON MAN. 171
+General result of this chapter.
+mitting the fact, it is still true, that there are works
+generally esteemed, and consequently rules of taste,
+the observation of which produces in all the sensation
+ofbeauty. If this question be thoroughly examined,
+it will appear from the different manner in which men
+are affected by the same objects, that the difference of
+impression arises more from their moral than their corporeal properties.
+The result of this chapter is, that the diversity of
+tastes in men, supposes a small difference only in the
+degrees of their sensations : that the uniformity of
+their judgments, proved by the uniformity of the preverbs of different nations; by the resemblance of their
+laws and governments ; by the taste that all have for
+poetry, and the simple and magnificent pictures of nature, demonstrate that the same objects make nearly the
+same impressions on all men ; and that if they differ,
+it is only in the degrees of their sensations*.
+* If nature, as has been supposed, gives men such unequal disposition to understanding or discernment, why in the arts of dancing, music, painting, do the scholars scarcely ever equal their
+masters , and why does not the unequal disposition in nature
+overbalance in the pupils the small superior degree of attention
+that the masters perhaps exercise in the study oftheir art.
+This will scarcely be allowed. Raphael was the disciple of
+Perugino, a name that would have been long since forgotten, but
+for the transcendent accomplishments of the scholar. Many simiJar instances might be produced. T.
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+The difference of sensations has no influence on the understanding.
+CHAP. XIV.
+•
+THE SMALL DIFFERENCE PERCEIVED BETWEEN
+OUR SENSATIONS, HAS NO INFLUENCE ON THE
+UNDERSTANDING.
+MENat the presence of the same objects can doubt.
+less feel different sensations ; but can they in conse .
+quence perceive different relations between these
+same objects ? No : and supposing, as I have elsewhere said, that snow should appear to some a degree
+whiter than to others, they would still all agree that
+snow is the whitest of all bodies.
+In order that men should perceive different relations
+between the same objects, those objects must excite
+in them impressions of a nature altogether peculiar.
+Wood on fire should freeze some, and water condensed
+by cold should burn others ; all the objects of nature
+should offer to each individual a chain of relations
+altogether different ; and in short, men should be with.
+regard to each other what they are with regard to those
+insects whose eyes being constructed in a different
+manner, doubtless see objects under very different
+forms,
+On
+TREATISE ON MAN. 173
+The difference ofsensations has no influence on the understanding.
+On this supposition individuals would have no ana
+logy in their ideas and sentiments. Men could neither
+communicate their knowledge, nor improve their reason, nor labour in common on the immense edifice of
+arts and sciences. Now experience proves, that men
+every day make discoveries, and improve the arts and
+sciences ; therefore they perceive the same relations
+between objects.
+The enjoyment of a fine woman may excite in the
+soul of my friend an intoxication of delight that it does
+not produce in mine ; but that enjoyment is in both
+him and me, the most poignant of all pleasures. When
+two men receive a stroke ofthe same power, they feel
+perhaps two distinct impressions : but ifthe violence
+of the blow be doubled, tripled, quadrupled, the pain
+that each ofthem feels will in like manner be doubled,
+tripled, quadrupled.
+Suppose the difference of our sensations at the sight
+of the same object to be more considerable than it
+really is, it is evident, that the objects preserving the
+same relation to each other, would strike us with a
+constant and uniform proportion. But, it will be said,
+cannot this difference in our sensations change our
+moral affections, and cannot this change produce the
+difference and inequality in minds ? I answer, that all
+diversity of affection* caused by any difference in the
+* The only affections that have any sensible effect on the mind,
+are those that depend on education and-prejudice.
+bodily
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+The difference of sensations has no infinence on the understanding.
+bodily organisation, has not, as experience proves, any
+influence on the mind. We may therefore prefer
+either red or yellow, and still be, like d'Alembert and
+Clairaut, an equally great geometrician : our palates
+may be unequally delicate, and we may be equally'
+good poets, painters, or philosophers. In short a person may, with a taste for sour or sweet, milk or anchovies, be an equally great orator, physician, &c. All
+these tastes in us are nothing more than unconnected
+and sterile facts. It is the same with regard to our
+ideas, till the moment they are compared with each
+other. Now to give ourselves the trouble of comparing them, we must be excited by some interest. But
+when men have this interest, and compare these ideas,
+why do they draw the same conclusions ? Because,
+notwithstanding the difference of their affections, and
+the unequal perfection of their organs, they can all
+attain the same ideas. In fact, while the scale of proportions in which objects strike us, is not broken, our
+sensations constantly preserve the same relation to
+each other. Arose of a very dark colour, when compared with another rose, still appears dark to every
+eye. We make the same judgments of the same objects. We can therefore always acquire the same nuinber of ideas, and consequently the same extent of
+understanding.
+Menthat are commonly well organized, ure like certain sonorous bodies, that without being exactly the
+same
+TREATISE ON MAN. 175
+• The difference of sensations has no influence on the understanding.
+same, still yield the same number of sounds . It results from what has been here said, that men always
+perceiving the same relations between the same objects, the unequal perfection of their senses has no influence on their understanding. Let us make this
+truth more striking by annexing a precise idea to the
+word Understanding.
+Certain bodies yield the same number of sounds, but not of
+the same kind. It is the same with the mind. It presents ideas
+or images equally fair, but different, according to the various objects with which chance has filled the memory.
+Does my memory represent nothing but snow and ice, the tempests ofthe north, and the flames of Vesuvius or Hecla? With
+these materials what picture can I compose ? That of the mountains that defend the entrance ofthe garden of Armida. But if my
+memory, on the contrary, presents none but smiling images, the
+flowers of spring, the silver waves, the mossy ground, and fra
+grant orange groves, what shall I compose with these delightful
+objects ? The bower to which love carried off Renaud. The
+species therefore of our ideas, and our imaginations, does not depend on the nature of our mind, which is the same in all men, but
+onthe sort ofobjects that chance has engraved on our memories,
+and the interest we have to combine them.
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Ofthe understanding orjudgment.
+.CHAP. XV.
+OF THE UNDERSTANDING OR JUDGMENT.
+W
+HAT is the understanding in itself ? An ability to
+discern the resemblances and differences, the agree
+ments and disagreements which different objects have
+with each other. But what is in man the productive
+principle of his understanding ? His corporeal sensibility, his memory, and especially the interest he has to
+combine his sensations with each other. The under- 7
+standing or judgment is therefore in him nothing more
+than the result of the comparison ofhis sensations ; and
+a good judgment or understanding consists in the justness ofcomparing them.
+* Suppose that in each science and art, men had compared
+with each other all objects and all facts hitherto known, and that
+they had at last arrived at the discovery of all their several relations men having then no new combinations to form, what we
+call judgment would no longer exist. Then all would be science,
+and the human judgment being obliged to remain inactive, till the
+discovery ofnewfacts gave it opportunity of comparing and combining them with each other, would be like an exhausted mine
+that is suffered to repose till new veins are formed.
+All
+TREATISE ON MAN. 177
+All men have an equal aptitude to understanding.
+All men, it is true, do not feel precisely the same
+sensations, but all perceive objects in a proportion constantly the same : all therefore have an equal aptitude
+to understanding or judgment*.
+In fact, if, as experience proves, every man perceives
+the same relations between the same objects ; if all of
+them agree in the truths of geometry ; if, moreover,
+no difference in the degrees of their sensations change
+their manner of beholding objects ; if (to give a corporeal example) the moment the sun rises out of the
+bosom of the sea, all the inhabitants of the same
+* It follows from this definition of the understanding, that if all
+its operations may be reduced to the observing the resemblances
+and differences, the agreements and disagreements which dif
+ferent objects have to each other, men are not, as has been often
+repeated, bornwith this or that particular genius.
+The acquisition of various talents is in men the effect ofthe same
+cause ; that is to say, the desire ofglory, and the attention with
+which this desire endows them. Now attention can be equally
+applied to all matters, to poetry, geometry, physics, painting, &c.
+asthe hand of the organist can be indifferently applied to each
+stop ofthe organ. If it be asked, why men have seldom different
+sorts of genius? I answer, it is because science is in each kind, the
+first matter of the judgment ; as ignorance is, if I may so say, the
+first matter of folly ; and that men have rarely two sorts of learning. There are few who join, like Buffon and d'Alembert, with
+the science of a Newton or an Euler, the difficult art of a good
+writer. I shall not therefore say, with the old proverb, man is
+born a poet, and becomes an orator ; but I assert, on the contrary,
+since all our ideas come bythe senses, that man is not born, but becomes what he is.
+VOL. I. N coast,
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+All men have an equal aptitude to understanding.
+coast, struck at the same instant by the brilliancy
+ofhis rays, acknowledge him to be the most resplen
+dent object in nature ; it must be confessed, that all
+men form, or may form, the same judgments on the
+same objects ; that they may acquire the same truths",
+and, in short, that if all have not in fact equal judgmentt, all have at least an equal capacity for it, that
+is, an aptitude to acquire it‡.
+To acquire certain ideas, we must meditate. Is every one
+capable of it ? Yes : when animated by a powerful interest. That
+interest then endows him with a force of attention, without which
+he may, as I have already said, be a learned man, but never a man
+ofjudgment. It is meditation alone that can reveal to us those
+first and general truths ; the keys and principles ofscience. It is
+to the discovery of these truths that we always give the title of
+great philosopher ; because, in every sort of science, it i always
+the universality of principles, the extent of their application, in a
+word, the greatness of the whole, that constitutes a philosophic
+genius.
+There are some, as I have before said, who attribute to the
+physical cause of the differences of latitudes, the difference in
+judgments. But to prove this fact, they must, after the definition
+here given ofthe judgment, be able to name a country, where the
+inhabitants do not perceive either the difference, the resemblance,
+the agreement, or disagreement of objects with each other, and
+with themselves. Now, such a country is hitherto unknown.
+It is because discernment is rare, that it is taken for a particular gift of nature. Alchymists, or jugglers, were extraordinary .
+men, in the ages of ignorance : they were, therefore, taken for
+sorcerers, and supernatural beings. It was not, however, from the
+I shall
+TREATISE ON MAN. " 179
+All men have an equal aptitude tojudgment.
+I shall not insist any longer on this question, but
+content myself with repeating, on this head, an observation I have already made in the Treatise on the Mind.
+Ifyou present, I say, to several men a question that
+is simple and clear, and concerning the truth of which
+they are indifferent ; they will all form the same judgment*, because, they all perceive the same relations
+great difficulty of surprising and duping fools by illusion and dexterity. The astonishment in this matter, is, that men can make a
+serious occupation of such futile arts and illusions. Now, it isthe
+same with the judgment ; if the aptitude to have it be common,
+nothing is so rare as a strong and constant desire to attain it.
+There are, it is said, few men ofgenius : why? because there are
+few governments that proportion the reward to the labour that the
+acquisition of great talents is supposed to require.
+In comparing alchymists and jugglers to men ofdiscernment, my
+intention is not to degrade the latter by a humiliating comparison :
+I mean only to show the cause that has for such a long time past,
+caused discernment to be regarded as a gift of nature. Iwould
+destroy the marvellous, and not the merit of sagacity ; to it we
+owe the improvements in medicine, surgery, and in every art and
+science that is useful. Nothing, therefore, on earth is more respectable than a sound judgment ; and, consequently there is no
+nation rightly informed of its interest, that has not an esteem for
+judgment, in proportion to the utility of the art or science which it
+improves.
+* Ifmen differ in opinion concerning the same question, that
+difference is always the effect, either of their not understanding
+each other, or oftheir not having the same object present to their
+eyes, or their remembrance, or because being indifferent to the
+N 2 between •
+•
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+All men have an equal aptitude to judgment.
+between the same objects. All are, therefore, born with
+a justjudgment. Now, it is with the term Just Judg
+ment, as with that of Enlightened Humanity. Does
+this sort ofhumanity condemn an assassin to punishment ? It is only occupied at that instant, with the
+preservation of an infinity of honest citizens. The idea
+of justice, and, consequently, of almost all the virtues,
+is, therefore, comprised in the extended signification
+of the word Humanity. It is the same with the words
+Just Judgment. This expression, taken in its extended
+signification, includes, in like manner, all the different
+sorts ofjudgments. Ofthis, at least, we may be assured,
+that if all in us be sensation and comparison of our
+sensations, there is no other sort of judgment than
+that which compares, and compares justly.
+•
+The general conclusion of what I have said of the
+equal aptitude, that men, commonly well organised,
+have to judgment, is that being once agreed,
+That in men all is sensation ;
+That they do not think, or acquire ideas, but by the
+five senses ;
+question itself, they employ but little attention in its investigation,
+and havebut little regard to theirjudgment.
+Now, supposing them compelled to attention, by a powerful and
+common motive, and that they understand each other, and have,
+moreover, the same object present to their eyes, or their memories :
+that I say, perceiving the same relations between the objects, they
+will form the same judgment : whence I conclude, that all have
+the same capacity of judgment, that is, an equal aptitude to it.
+That
+TREATISE ON MAN. 181
+Thejudgment is not dependent on the organisation.
+That the greater or less perfection in the five senses, in changing the degrees of their sensations, does
+not change the relations which objects have to each
+other.
+It is evident, since the judgment consists in the
+knowledge of these same relations, that the greater or ·
+less superiority of the judgment is independent ofthe
+greater or less perfection in the organisation. For
+which reason, women, whose sense of feeling is more
+delicate than that of men, are not of superior intelligence. It is, I think, difficult to deny this conclusion.
+But, they will say, if we regard the universal suffrage
+rendered to geometrical propositions, as a demonstrative proof, that all men, commonly well organised,
+perceive the same relations between the same objects ;
+why not in like manner regard the difference of opinion in matters of morality, politics, and metaphysics,
+as a proof, that at least, in the latter sciences, men
+do not perceive the same relations between the same
+objects ?
+NS CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Causeof the difference of opinions in metaphysica.
+CHAP. XVI.
+THE CAUSE OF THE DIFFERENCE OF OPINIONS, IN
+MORALITY, POLITICS, AND METAPHYSICS.
+THE progression of the human judgment is always
+the same. The application of the judgment, to this
+or that particular study, does not change that progres
+sion. If men perceive in certain sciences, the same
+relations between the same objects which they compare with each other, they ought necessarily to perceive the same relations in all. Observation, however,
+does not agree with this reasoning. But this contradiction is only apparent. Its true cause is easily discovered. In inquiring after it, we see for example,
+that if all men agree in the truth of geometrical demonstrations ; it is, because they are indifferent to the
+truth or falsehood of those demonstrations ;
+Or because they not only annex clear ideas, but also
+the same ideas to the words employed in that science.
+Or, lastly, because they have the same conception
+of a circle, a square, a triangle, &c.
+On the contrary, in morality, politics, and metaphysics, if the opinions of men be very different,
+It is, because, in these matters, they have not always
+an interest to see objects as they really are.
+Or,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 183
+Ideas conveyed by the word good.
+Or, because they have frequently only obscure and
+confused ideas of the questions on which they treat ;
+Or, because they more frequently follow the opinions of others, than their own ;
+Or, lastly, because they do not annex the same ideas
+to the same terms. I shall choose, for example, those
+of good, interest, and virtue.
+OF THE TERM GOOD.
+Let us take this term in its utmost extent. To be
+satisfied if men can form the same idea of it, let us see
+howthe child acquires it.
+To fix his attention on this word, something sweet
+is given him. The word taken in this most simple
+signification, is applied only to what pleases the child's'
+taste, by exciting an agreeable sensation in his palate.
+When a more extensive sense is given to the term,
+it is applied indifferently, to all that pleases the child,
+that is to an animal, a man, or his play-fellows. In
+general, so long as the expression is confined to corporeal objects, as, for example, a stuff, a tool, or an
+eatable, men form nearly the same idea of it ; and the
+term recals to the memory, at least in a confined manner, the idea of what can be immediately good for
+them +.
+* Sweetmeats are called in French, bons bons that is, good
+good.
+It is from the adjective good, that is formed the substantive
+N 4 When,
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Different ideas of moral goodness.
+When, in the last place, this term is taken in a
+still more extensive sense, and applied to morality, and
+the actions of men ; we find, that it then necessarily
+includes the idea of some public utility, and to agree
+here about what is good, we must previously agree
+about what is useful. Now, the greatest part of mankind, do not even know that the general utility is the
+measure ofthe goodness of human actions.
+For want of a sound education, men have nothing
+but confused ideas of moral goodness. The word
+goodness, employed by them in an arbitrary manner,.
+recals to their remembrance only the various applications they have heard made of it (3) ; applications always different and contradictory, according to the
+diversity of interests and positions of those with whom
+they live. To come to an universal agreement respecting the signification of the word good, when applied
+to morals, it would be necessary to have a very judicious dictionary to fix the precise sense of it. Till
+goodness, which is taken by so many people for a real being, or,
+at least, for an inherent quality in certain objects. Can men be
+still so ignorant, as not to know that there is no being in nature
+named Goodness : that it is nothing more than a name given by
+man to what each one regards as good for himself, and, in short,
+that the word Goodness, like Greatness, is a vague expression,
+void of meaning, and that it presents no distinct idea, till the
+moment we necessarily, and without perceiving it, apply it to
+some particular object.
+such
+TREATISE ON MAN. 185
+Ideas excited by the word interest.
+such a work be digested, all disputes on this subject
+will be undeterminable. It is the same with the word
+Interest.
+INTEREST.
+Among mankind few are honest ; the word Interest,
+must in consequence excite in most of them the
+idea ofa pecuniary interest, or of some object equally
+mean and contemptible. Has a noble and elevated
+soul the same idea ? No : this term recalls to his mind
+nothing but the sentiment of self-love. Virtue perceives nothing in interest , but the powerful and general
+spring, that source ofaction in all men, which carries
+them sometimes to vice, and sometimes to virtue. But
+did the jesuits annex to this word an idea equally extensive, when they opposed my opinion ? I know not ;
+but this I know, that being then bankers, merchants,
+and bankrupts, they ought to have lost sight of every
+idea of a noble interest ; that this word could not excite
+in them any other idea, than that of intrigue and pecuniary interest.
+Now so vile an interest compelled them to pursue
+a persecuted man. Perhaps they in secret adopted his
+opinions. As a proof of which they gave at Rouen, in
+, an entertainment, whose design was to show,
+"that pleasure forms youth to true virtue." The first
+act displayed the civil virtues ; the second, the warlike
+virtues ; and the third, the virtues proper to religion.
+In this entertainment they proved this truth by dances.
+Religion
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Strictures on the conduct of the Jesuits.
+Religionthere personified, dancedwith Pleasure, for her
+partner; andto render Pleasure more endearing, said the
+Jansenist, the jesuits have put her on breeches*. Now,
+if pleasure, according to them, can operate all things
+in man, what cannot interest do with him ! Is not all
+interest reducible in us to the search of pleasure+ ?
+* We must do justice to the jesuits : this accusation is false.
+They are rarely libertines. Thejesuit, restrained by his rules, and
+indifferent to pleasures, is totally devoted to ambition. His desire
+is to subdue the rich and powerful of the earth, either by force or
+fraud. Born to command, the great men ofthe earth are in his
+eyes but puppets, whom he moves at his pleasure, by the strings of
+direction and confession. He conceals his interior contempt of
+them by an outward respect. The great are contented with this,
+and are, without perceiving it, reduced to mere machines. What
+the jesuits cannot obtain by seduction, they accomplish by force.
+Look into the annals of history, and there you will see these same
+jesuits lighting up the torch of sedition in China, in Japan, in Ethiopia, and in every country where they have preached the gospel
+of peace. In England, we find, that they charged the mine which
+was to have blown upthe parliament : that in Holland they assassinated the prince of Orange, and in France, Henry IV. that at
+Geneva they gave the signal for storming the city that their
+hands are frequently armed with daggers, and but rarely employed
+in selecting pleasures, and, in a word, that their faults are not those
+ofweakness but of villainy.
+:
++ Why did the jesuits then rise up with such fury against me ?
+Why do they go into all the great houses, exclaiming against the
+Treatise on the Mind, and forbid any one to read it, repeating
+incessantly, like father Canaye to marshal Hocquincourt, No
+Mind, Gentlemen, no Mind ? It is because, being solely eager
+Pleasures
+TREATISE ON MAN. 187
+All mankind are actuated by interest.
+Pleasures and pains are the moving powers of the
+universe. God has declared them to be so to the earth,
+by creating heaven for the virtuous, and hell for the
+wicked. The Catholic church itself has agreed in
+this opinion, when, in the dispute between Mess. Bossuet and Fenelon, it decided, that we do not love God'
+(4) for himself, that is, independent of those rewards
+and punishments, of which he is the disposer. They
+have, therefore, been always convinced, that man, actuated by the sentiment of self-love, constantly obeys
+the law ofhis interest*.
+after command, the jesuits always desire to blind the people ! In
+fact, were men rightly informed of the principle that keeps them
+silent, did they know that constantly directed in their conduct by
+an interest, either mean or noble, they always obey that interest?
+that it is to their laws, and not to their opinions, they owe their
+genius and their virtue : that with the forms of government of
+Rome and Sparta, Romans and Spartans might still be produced ;
+and, in short, by a sagacious distribution of rewards and punishments, of glory and infamy, the interest ofindivduals may bealways
+united with that of the public, and the people compelled to be
+virtuous ; what method could then be taken to hide from the
+peoplethe inutility, and even the danger of a sacerdotal power ?
+Couldthey be long ignorant that the object, really important to
+the happiness of a nation, is not the creation of priests, but saga
+cious laws and judicious magistrates ? The more clearly the
+jesuits have seen this principle, the more they have feared for their
+authority, and the more solicitous they have been to obscure the
+evidence of such a principle.
+* Does the commander desire to advance himself ? He wishes
+What
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Vague ideas of virtue.
+What do the diversity of opinions on this subject
+prove ? Nothing except that men do not understand
+each other. They understand each other very little
+better when they talk about virtue.
+VIRTUE.
+This word frequently excites in the mind very different ideas, according to our state and situation, the
+society in which we live, and the age or the
+country in which we were born . If a younger brother, according to the custom of Normandy, should
+avail himself, like Jacob, of the hunger and thirst of
+the elder, to divest him of his right of primogeniture,
+he would be declared a cheat by all the tribunals. If
+a man, after the example of David, should cause the
+husband of his mistress to be sacrificed, he would be
+reckoned, not among the number of the virtuous, but
+of villains. It would be to little purpose, to say he
+made a good end ; assassins sometimes do the same,
+but are never proposed as models of virtue.
+Till precise ideas are fixed to this word, we may
+always say of virtue, as the Pyrrhonians said of the
+truth , " it is like the East, different, according to the
+." situation from which we behold it."
+In the first ages of the church, the Christians were
+for a war. But what in awar are the objects ofthe subaltern officer ?
+An augmentation of 301. or 401. per annum, to his pay, the desire
+of laying empires waste, and of the death of those friends with
+whom helives in intimacy, but who are superior in rank.
+in
+TREATISE ON MAN. 189
+Notions ofvirtue entertained by the founders of christianity.
+in dread of other sects; they were afraid of not being
+tolerated ; what did they then preach ? Indulgence
+and love of our neighbour. The word Virtue, then
+recalled to their minds the idea of humanity and gentleness. The conduct of their master confirmed them
+in this idea. Jesus was gentle with the Essenes, the
+Jews, and the Pagans ; he bore no hatred to the Romans. He pardoned the Jews their injuries, and Pilate
+his injustice he recommended charity to all. Is it so
+at this day? No : the hatred of our neighbours, and
+barbarity under the name of zeal and policy, are in
+France, Spain, and Portugal, now comprised in the
+idea ofvirtue.
+The church in its infancy, whatever a man's religion
+might be, honoured his probity, and was little concerned about his belief. "He that is virtuous, is a
+christian, said St. Justin, though he be otherwise an
+Atheist." Et quicumque secundum rationem et verbum
+vixere Christiani sunt, quamvis athei.
+Jesus, in his parables, preferred* the incredulous Samaritan to the devout Pharisee. St. Paul was scarcely
+more difficult than Jesus, and St. Justin. Cornelius is
+cited as a religious man, because he was honest (5).
+* Jesus declares himself every where an enemy to the priests .
+He reproaches them every where with avarice and cruelty. Jesus
+was punished for his veracity. Catholic priests, have you shewn
+yourselves less barbarous than the priests ofthe Jews, and can the
+sincere adorer of Jesus have less hatred for you ?
+Ch. x.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Notions of virtue entertained by the founders of christianity.
+Ch. x. ver. 2. of the Acts of the Apostles, though he
+was not yet a Christian. It is said in like manner of
+one named Lydia. Ch. xvi. ver. 14. of the same
+Acts, that she served God ; though she had not then
+Leard St. Paul, and was not converted.
+In the days of Jesus, ambition and vanity were not
+reckoned among the virtues. The kingdom of God
+was not of this world. Jesus desired neither riches,
+nor titles, nor authority , in Judea. He commanded
+his disciples to forsake their goods, and follow him.
+What ideas have they now of virtue ? There is no
+Catholic Prelate that does not cabal for titles and honours ; no religious order that has not intrigues at
+court, that does not carry on commerce, and grow rich
+by its bank. Jesus and his apostles had no such ideas
+ofhonesty.
+In the time of the latter, persecution did not bear
+the name of charity. The apostles did not instigate
+Tiberius to imprison the Gentiles or unbelievers. He
+who in that age would have compelled others to embrace his opinions, would have reigned by terror, erected a tribunal of inquisition, burned his brethren,
+and seized on their property, would have been held
+infamous. The sentences dictated by sacerdotal pride,
+avarice, and cruelty, would have been read with horror.
+In these days, pride, avarice, and cruelty, in the countries of the inquisition, are placed in the rank of
+virtue.3.
+Jesus hated falsehood. He would not, therefore,
+·
+like
+TREATISE ON MAN. 191
+Different ideas ofvirtue entertained by the Monks.
+like the church, have obliged Galileo, with atorch
+in his hand, to have retracted before the altar of the
+God of truth, those truths which he had discovered.
+The church is no longer an enemy to falsehood :
+pious frauds are canonised by it (6).
+Jesus, the son of God, was humble (7), and his
+haughty vicar pretends to command sovereigns, to legitimate vice at his pleasure, and render assassins
+meritorious. He has beatified Clement. His virtue,
+therefore, is not that ofJesus.
+Friendship, honoured as a virtue among the Scythians, is not regarded as such in a monastery. The
+rules of the latter even render it criminal (8). The old
+man sick and languishing in his cell, is deserted by
+friendship and humanity. If monks were enjoined a
+mutual hatred, they could not more faithfully observe
+it than in a cloister.
+Jesus enjoined his disciples to render to Cæsar
+what was Cæsar's ; he forbade to seize, by force or
+fraud, the property of another. But the word Virtue,
+which then implied justice, had no longer that signification, in the time of St. Bernard, when he ordained,
+at the head of the Croisades, that nations should forsake Europe to ravage Asia, to dethrone the Sultans,
+and breakin pieces crowns, over which those nations
+had no sort ofright.
+Whento enrich his order, that Saint promised a hundred acres in heaven, to those who would give ten
+upon earth : when, by that ridiculous and fraudulent
+promise
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Ideas ofvirtue entertained by the Monks.
+promise he obtained the lawful patrimony of a great
+number of heirs ; the idea of robbery and injustice,
+must have been then included in the notion of vir
+tue (9).
+What other idea could the Spaniards form of virtue,
+whenthe church permitted themto attack Montezuma,
+and the Incas, to despoil them of their riches, and seat
+themselves on the thrones of Mexico and Peru ? The
+monks, then masters of Spain, could have forced them
+to restoreto the Mexicans and Peruvians ( 10) their gold,
+their liberty, their country, and their prince : they
+might at least have loudly condemned the conduct of
+the Spaniards. What did the theologians ? remain
+silent. Have they at other times shown more justice ?
+No father Hennepin, the Franciscan, reports incessantly, that the only way to convert the savages is to
+reduce them to slavery*. Could a method so unjust
+and barbarous have been imagined by the Franciscan
+Hennepin, ifthetheologians of the present day had the
+same idea of virtue as Jesus ? St. Paul expressly says,
+that persuasion is the only method to be used in converting the Gentiles. Who has recourse to violence
+to provethe truths ofgeometry ? Who does not know
+that virtue recommends itself? In what case, therefore,
+ought prisons, tortures, and butcheries to be used ?
+When they preach crimes, errors, and absurdities.
+* See Description ofthe Manners of the Savages of Louisiana,
+page 105.
+It
+TREATISE ON MAN. 193.
+Intolerance ofsome ofthe professors of Christianity.
+It was sword in hand, that Mahomet proved the
+truth of his dogmas. A religion, said the Christians,
+on this occasion, that permits man to compel the beJiefof man, is a false religion. They condemned Mahomet in their discourses, and justified him by their
+conduct. What they call vice in him, they call virtue
+in themselves. Could they believe that the Mussulman, so severe in his principles, was more gentle in his
+manners than the Catholics. Must the Turk be tolerant toward the Christian ( 11 ), the infidel, the Jew,
+and Gentile ; and the monk, whose religion makes a
+duty of humanity, burn in Spain his brethren, and in
+France throw into prisons the Jansenist and the Deist ?
+Could the Christian commit so many abominations,
+if he had the same idea of virtue, as the son of God;
+and ifthe priest, obedient to the advice of his ambition only, were not deaf to that of the gospel? If to
+the word Virtue there had been annexed a clear, precise, and invariable idea ( 12), men could not have
+always had such different and extravagant ideas concerning it.
+VOL. I. CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Interested spirit of religious bodies.
+CHAP. XVII.
+THE WORD VIRTUE, EXCITES IN THE CATHOLIC
+CLERGY NO OTHER IDEA THAN THAT OF THEIR
+OWN ADVANTAGE.
+Ir almost all religious bodies, said the illustrious and
+unfortunate attorney- general of the parliament of
+Brittany, are by their institution animated with an interest, contrary to that ofthe public welfare, how can
+they form sound ideas of virtue ? Among the prelates,
+there are few Fenelons ( 19), few that have his virtues,
+his humanity, and his disinterested spirit. Among the
+monks, may be counted, perhaps, a great many saints,
+but few honest men. Every religious body is greedy
+of riches and power : no bounds are set to their ambition *. A hundred ridiculous bulls, issued by the
+:
+The humble clergy declare themselves to be the first body
+in the state however, (as is observed by a man of much discernment) there are but three bodies absolutely essential to the administration the first, is the body ofmagistrates, who areto defend my
+property against the usurpation of my neighbour.. Thesecond,
+is the body of the ariny, charged in like manner to defend my property against the invasion of foreigners. The third, is the body of
+the citizens, who, appointedto receive the revenues, furnish a main
+popes,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 195
+Ambition of the Romish church.
+popes, in favour of the Jesuits, prove this fact. But
+if the Jesuits are ambitious, is the church less so ? Let
+any one open its history : that is, the history of the
+errors and disputes of the fathers, the enterprises of
+the clergy, and the crimes ofthe popes : he will every
+where find the spiritual power an enemy to the temporal* , forgetting that its kingdom is not of this world, and
+tenance for the two others. Now, to what purpose is the order of
+the clergy, more expensive to the state, than the three others put
+together ? To maintain the morals of the people. But there are
+morals in Pennsylvania, and no clergy.
+The church by declaring itselfthe sole judge of what is, and
+what is not sin, has thought under that title to be able to assume the
+supreme jurisdiction. In fact, if no one has a right to punish a
+good action, and recompense one that is bad ; a judge of their
+goodness or badness is the sole lawful judge ofa nation : princes
+and magistrates are nothing more than the executioners ofthe sentences of others ; theirfunction is reduced to that ofthe hangman's.
+The project was great ; it was covered with the veil of religion ;
+it did not at first alarm the magistracy. The church was, in appearance, subject to their authority, and waited to deprive them of
+it, till it should be acknowledged the sole judge of the merit of
+human actions ; that acknowledgment would universally legitimate
+its pretensions. What power could sovereigns have opposed to
+that ofthe church ? No other than the force of arms. The people,
+then slaves to two powers, whose will and laws would have been
+frequently contradictory, must have waited till force had decided
+between them, which should be obeyed.
+This project, I confess, has not been fully executed. But it is
+however true, notwithstanding the insignificant distinction oftem0 2
+endeavouring
+. TREATISE ON MAN.
+Injustice ofthe Romish church.
+endeavouring continually, by fresh efforts, to possess
+himself of the riches and power of the earth, and not
+only to take from Cæsar that which is Cæsar's, but
+to attack him with impunity. If it were possible,
+that the superstitious Catholics could preserve any
+idea of just and unjust, they would be shocked, on
+reading such a history, and hold the sacerdotal power
+in horror.
+Does a prince promise, in such a year, to suppress
+such a tax ? Does the year pass over, and he boldly
+break his word? Why does not the church reproach
+him publicly, with the violation of his promise ? Because, indifferent to the public welfare, to justice, and
+humanity, it is solely employed in promoting its own
+interest. If the prince be a tyraut, it absolves him.
+But if he be what they call a heretic, it anathematises, deposes, assassinates him. What, however, is
+this crime of heresy : the word, when pronounced by
+judicious and dispassionate men, signifies nothing
+more than a particular opinion. It is not from such a
+church that we must expect clear ideas of equity. The
+clergy will never give the title of virtuous, but to such
+actions as tend to the increase of its power and revenues. To what cause, but the interest of the priesthood, can we attribute the contradictory decisions of
+poral and spiritual, that in every Catholic State there are really
+two kingdoms, and two absolute masters over every inhabitant.
+the
+TREATISE ON' MAN. 197
+Animadversions on the Sorbonne.
+the Sorbonne * ? Without this interest, would they
+have maintained at one time, and tolerated at all times,
+the regicide doctrine of the Jesuits ? Would they have
+concealed its odious nature ? Would they have waited
+for the magistrate to point it out ?
+But in receiving that doctrine, they have shown
+more folly than villainy. That they are dolts, I agree :
+but can we suppose them to be honest, when we consider the fury with which they attack philosophical
+writings, and the silence they observe on those of the
+jesuits ? By approving in their assembly, the morality
+of those religious †, either the doctors of the Sorbonne
+judge them to be sound ( 14), without examining them,
+(and, in that case, what opinion ' can we have of
+such stupid judges ?) or, they judge them sound,
+after having examined them, and acknowledge them
+for such, (and, in that case, what opinion can we have
+of such ignorant judges ? or, lastly, these doctors,
+after having examined them, and found them bad, approve them through fear ( 15), interest, or ambition,
+(and, in this last case, what opinion can we have of
+such knavish judges ?)
+* Astriking collection, might be formed of the contradictory
+sentences issued by the Sorbonne, before and since Descartes,
+against almost every work of genius.
++ There are among these doctors men of learning and probity :
+butthey are rarely made part oftheir assemblies ; which are, as M.
+Voltaire observes, commonly composed ofthe dregs ofthe college.
+In
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+.
+Animadversions on the Sorbonne.
+In a journal, entitled " Christianity, or, Religion
+avenged," if the theologian Gauchat, a hired declaimer against the most esteemed philosophers and
+writers of Europe, is always silent about what regards
+the Jesuits, it is, because he expects protection and
+preferment from them.
+That interest constantly dictates the judgment of
+the theologians, is wellknown. The Sorbonnists have
+therefore no longer any pretensions to the title of moralists ; they are even ignorant of its principles. The
+inscription on some dials, Quod ignoro, doceo, I teach
+what I don't know, should be the motto of the Sorbonne. Would they otherwise take for their guides
+to heaven, and to virtue, the favourers of Jesuitical
+morality? Let these doctors still exalt the excellence
+of the theological virtues. Those virtues are local ;
+true virtue is reputed such in all ages, and all countries ( 16). The name of virtue should be given to
+such actions only, as are useful to the public, and conformable with the general interest. Has theology
+constantly kept the people from the knowledge of this
+sort of virtue and has it always obscured in them
+the ideas of it? It is the effect of the interest of thcology ; and it is in conformity to this interest, that the
+priest has every where solicited the exclusive privilege
+of public instruction. The French comedians built a
+theatre at Seville ; the chapter and vicar made them
+demolish it : Ilere, said one of the canons, our company will suffer no actors, but their own.
+O man!
+TREATISE ON MAN. 199
+Different notions attached to virtue at different times.
+O man! cried an ancient sage, who can ever say
+how far thy folly and stupidity will carry thee ? The
+theologian knows, laughs at it, and profits by it.
+It was ever the increase of their wealth and power
+that the theologians pursued under the name of religion . We cannot be astonished therefore that their
+maxims change with their situation, that they have
+not now the same ideas of virtue as they formerly had,
+and that the morality of Jesus is not that of his ministers. It is not the Catholics only, but every sect and
+every people, that, for want ofdeterminate ideas of
+probity, have had very different notions concerning it,
+according to the diversity of ages and countries ( 17) .
+* Why does every monk, who defends with a ridiculous zeal
+the false miracles of his founder, laugh at the attested existence
+of spectres ? Because he has no interest to believe them. Take
+away interest, and there remains nothing but reason, and reason is
+Not credulous,
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN..
+Different ideas formed ofvirtue by different nations."
+CHAP. XVIII.
+OF THE DIFFERENT IDEAS THAT DIFFERENT
+NATIONS FORM OF VIRTUE.
+In the East, and especially in Persin, celibacy is a
+crime. Nothing, say the Persians, is more oppositeto
+the design of nature, and of the Creator, than celibacy . Love is a corporeal want, a necessary secretion. Should any one by a vow of continence oppose
+the vow of nature ? God, whogave us organs, does nothing in vain: it is his pleasure that we should use them.
+Solon, the sagacious legislator of Athens, made little
+account of this monkish chastity ( 18) . Ifin his laws,
+says Plutarch, he expressly forbids slaves to perfume
+themselves, and the love of young people, it is, adds
+the historian, that even in the Greek amours Solon did
+not see any thing dishonest. But those haughty republicans, who pursued without shaine all sorts of amours,
+would not debase themselves by the vile profession of
+a spy or informer : they did not betray the interest of
+their country, or violate the property or liberty of their
+* In Persia a lad no sooner attains the age of puberty than they
+give him a concubine,
+fellow-
+TREATISE ON MAN.. 201
+Different ideas formed of virtue by different nations.
+fellow-citizens. A,Greek or a Roman would not, without confusion, have received. the fetters of slavery.
+The true Roman could not bear, without horror, even
+the sight of an Asiatic tyrant.
+In the time of Cato the Censor, Eumenes came to
+Rome. At his arrival all the young people crowded
+round him; Cato alone shunned him ( 19). Why
+Cato, said they, do you avoid a sovereign so courted,
+so good a king, such a friend to the Romans ? Let
+him be as good as he will, replied Cato, every despotic prince is a devourer of human flesh (20) whom all
+virtuous men should avoid.
+It is in vain to attempt the enumeration of all the
+different ideas that different nations (21 ) and private
+persons (22) have had of virtue. We can only say,
+that a Catholic who has more veneration for the founder
+of an order of droues, than for a Minos, a Mercury,
+a Lycurgus, &c. has certainly no just idea of virtue.
+Now till precise ideas be annexed to this word, every
+man must form a different one according to the education which chance has given him.
+Ayoung girl is brought up by a stupid and bigoted
+mother. The girl understands by the word Virtuc
+nothing but the exactitude with which the nuns fast,
+and recite their prayers. The word, therefore, excites
+no idens in her but those of discipline, hair- cloth, and
+puter-nosters.
+Another girl is brought up, on tlie contrary, byju
+dicious and patriotic parents, who never give her any
+examples
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Causes ofthe different ideas respecting virtue.
+examples as virtuous but such as are useful to our
+country; nor ever extol any character but such as Arria, Porcia, &c. This girl will necessarily have ideas
+of virtue very different from the former. The one
+will admire in Arria the force of virtue, and the example of conjugal love ; the other will regard the saine
+Arria as a Pagan, a woman of the world, a suicide,
+and devoted to damnation ; one who ought to be shunned and detested.
+Make the same experiment on two young men as on
+the two girls let one of them be an assiduous reader
+of the lives of saints, and a witness, as it were, ofthe
+torments which the demon of the flesh makes them
+suffer ; see them continually flogging themselves, rolling among thorns, feeding on women of snow, &c. .
+He will have very different ideas of virtue from him
+who devoting himself to more noble and instructive
+studies, takes for his models such men as Socrates,
+Scipio, Aristides, Timoleon ; and that I may come
+home to the age in which I live, Miron, Harley, Pibrac, and Barillon (23) , " those respectable magis-
+" strates, those illustrious victims of a love of their
+country, who by their wise and just maxims, dissi-
+" pated, says Cardinal de Retz, more factions than all
+" the gold of Spain and England could kindle." It is
+therefore impossible that the word virtue should not
+excite in us different ideas (24), according as we read
+Plutarch, or the Golden Legend. Thus, says Mr.
+Hume,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 203
+Causes of the different ideas réspecting virtue.
+Hume, they have in every age and every country,
+erected altars to men of characters totally different.
+Among the Pagans it was to Hercules, Castor, Ceres, Bacchus, and Romulus, that they rendered divine
+honours ; but among the Mussulmans, as among the
+Catholics, it is to an obscure dervise, or a vile monk, in
+aword to a Dominic or an Antony, they decree the
+same honours,
+It was after having destroyed monsters and punished
+tyrants ; it was by their courage, their talents, their
+beneficence, and humanity, that the ancient heroes
+opened the gates of Olympus. But at this day it is by
+fasting, castigation, and poltroonery, by a blind submission and a vile obedience, that the monk opens the
+gate of Heaven.
+""
+This revolution in human minds, no doubt, struck
+Machiavel, so that he says in his fourth Discourse,
+" Every religion that makes a duty of sufferings and
+humility, that inspires a people with a mere passive
+" courage ; enervates their minds, debases their spirit,
+" and prepares them for slavery." The effect would
+doubtless have nearly followed the prediction, if, as
+Mr. Hume observes, the customs and laws of society
+had not modified the character and genius of religions.
+Wehave seen in these two chapters, what indeter
+minate ideas are annexed to the words good, interest, and
+virtue. I have shown that these words, constantly employed in an arbitrary manner, excite, and ought to
+excite, different ideas according to the society in which
+we
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Necessity of fixing the signification of words.
+we live, and the application we propose to make of
+them. Whoever would discuss a question of this kind,
+should therefore first settle the signification of the
+words. Without this preliminary, every dispute of
+this nature will be indeterminable. Thus men on almost
+all questions of morality, politics, and metaphysics, understanding each other the less, the more they reason.
+about them .
+Thewords once defined, a question is resolved almost
+as soon as proposed : which proves, that all minds are
+just, and all perceive the same relations between the
+same relations between the same objects ; a proof that
+in morality, politics, and metaphysics (25), the diversity of opinions is the mere effect of the uncertain
+signification ofwords, ofthe abuse that is made of them,
+and perhaps of the imperfection of languages. But
+what remedyis there for this evil?
+.
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN. 205
+Method of determining the signification of words.
+CHAP. XIX.
+THERE IS BUT ONE METHOD OF FIXING THE UNCERTAIN SIGNIFICATION OF WORDS ; AND BUT
+ONE NATION THAT CAN MAKE USE OF IT.
+•
+To determine the uncertain signification of words, a
+dictionary should be composed, in which determinate
+ideas must be annexed to different expressions (26).
+This difficult work can be performed only amonga
+free people. England is perhaps the only country in
+Europe from which the universe can expect and obtain
+this benefaction. But is ignorance there without a
+protector ? There is no nation where some individuals
+have not an interest in mixing the darkness of falsehood with the light of the truth. The desire of the
+blind is that blindness should be universal ; the desire
+ofknaves, that stupidity should be extended, and dupes
+be multiplied. In England, as in Portugal, there are
+men great and unjust ; but what can they do at London against a writer ? There is no Englishman who,
+behind the rampart of his laws, cannot brave the power
+of the great, and laugh at their ignorance, superstition,
+and stupidity. The Englishman is born free ; let him
+therefore
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Method ofdetermining the signification of words.
+therefore profit by that liberty to enlighten the world ;
+let him contemplate in the homage that is at this day
+rendered to the men ofgenius among the Greeks, what
+posterity will render to him ; and let the prospect
+animate his endeavours.
+This age, they say, is the age of philosophy : all the
+nations of Europe have produced men of genius in this
+science ; all now seem occupied in the search after
+truth. But in what country can it be published with
+impunity ? There is but one which is England.
+Englishmen*, make use of your liberty ; ofthat gift
+which distingushes the man from the vile slave and domestic animal, to dispense light to the nations of the
+carth ! Such a benefaction will insure you their eternal acknowledgment. Whatapplause can be refused
+to people virtuous enough to permit their writers to fix
+in a dictionary the precise signification of each word,
+and by that mean to dissipate the mysterious obscurity
+which still envelopes morality, politics, metaphysics,
+theology, &c, (27). It is reserved for the authors of
+such a dictionary to terminate so many disputes, eternised bythe abuse of words (28) ; they alone can reduce
+the science of men to what they really know.
+This dictionary, translated into all languages, would
+be the general collection of almost all the ideas of man-
+* Every government, say the English, that forbids to think and
+to write on subjects of administration, is without dispute, a govern
+ment ofwhich no good can be said ,
+kind.
+TREATISE ON MAN. 207
+Method ofdetermining the signification of words.
+kind. Let precise ideas be annexed to each expression, and the school divine, who by the magic of words,
+has often thrown the world into confusion, will be a
+magician without power. The talisman, in the possession of which his ability consisted, will be broken.
+Then all those fools, who under the name of metaphysicians, have for so long a time wandered in the land
+ofchimeras, and who, on bladders blown up by wind,
+traverse, in every direction, all the depths of infinity,
+will no longer say they see what they see not, and
+know what they know not ; they will no longer impose
+on mankind. Then the propositions in morality, politics, and metaphysics, becoming as susceptible of demonstration as the propositions of geometry, men will
+all have the same ideas of those sciences, because all
+of them (as I have shewn) will necessarily perceive the
+same relations between the same objects.
+A new proof of this truth is, that in combining
+nearly the same facts, either in the material world as is
+demonstrated by geometry, or in the intellectual
+world, as is proved by metaphysics, all men have, in
+all times, come to nearly the same conclusion.
+CHAP,
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Desire constitutes a great portion of happiness.
+CHAP. XX.
+THE EXCURSIONS OF MEN, AND THEIR DISCOVE
+RIES IN THE INTELLECTUAL KINGDOMS, HAVE
+BEEN ALWAYS NEARLY THE SAME.
+AMONG the imaginary countries that the human
+mind runs over, that of the fairies, the genii, and enchanters, is the first where I shall stop. Mankind love
+fables : every one reads them, hears them, and makes
+them. A confused desire of happiness attends us with
+pleasure through the land ofprodigies and chimeras.
+With regard to chimeras, they are always of the same
+kind. All men desire riches without number, power
+without bounds, and pleasure without end ; and this
+desire always flies before the possession.
+How happy should we be, say the greatest part of
+mankind, if our wishes were fulfilled as soon as formed?
+O thoughtless man ! can you be always ignorant, that
+a part of your felicity consists in the desire itself? It'
+is with happiness, as with the golden bird sent by the
+fairies to a young princess : the bird settles at thirty
+paces from her ; she goes to catch it, advances softly,
+is ready to seize it ; the bird flies thirty paces fur,
+ther ; she passes several months in the pursuit, and is
+happy
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Reflections on fairy-tales.
+happy. If the bird had suffered itself to be taken at
+first, the princess would have put it in a cage, and in
+one week would have been tired of it. This is the bird
+of happiness, which the miser and coquette are incessantly pursuing. They catch it not, and are happy
+in their pursuit, because they are secure from disgust.
+If our desires were to be every instant gratified, the
+mind would languish in inaction, and sink under disquietude. Man must have desires ; a desire new and
+easy to be gratified must constantly succeed to a desire
+fulfilled (29). Few men acknowledge that they have
+this want ; it is, however, to a succession of their
+desires that they owe their felicity.
+Continually impatient to gratify their wishes, men
+were incessantly building castles in the air ; they would
+interest all nature in their happiness ; but not being
+able to effect it, they addressed themselves to imaginary beings, to fairies and genii. If they suppose the
+existence of those beings, it is from a confused hope
+that by the favour of an enchanter they maybecome,
+as in the Thousand and One Nights, possessed of the
+marvellous lamp, and nothing will then be wanting to
+'their felicity.
+It is therefore a desire of happiness that produces a
+greedy curiosity, and the love of the marvellous, that
+amongst different people has created supernatural beings, which under the names of fairies, genii, sylphis,
+enchanters, &c. have always been the same beings,
+and by whom prodigies nearly the same have been
+every VOL. I.. P
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Of philosophical tales.
+every where performed ; which proves that in this
+kind the discoveries have been nearly similar.
+PHILOSOPHICAL TALES.
+The tales of this sort, more grave and important,
+though sometimes equally frivolous and less entertaining than the foregoing, have preserved among themselves the same resemblance. In the number ofthese
+tales, that are at once so ingenious and disgusting, I
+place the beauty of morality *, the natural goodness
+of men, and the several systems of the material world ;
+of which experience alone ought to be the architect :
+if the philosopher consults it not, or has not the courage to stop where observation fails, when he thinksto
+make a system he makes nothing but a romance.
+This philosopher, for the want of experiments, is
+forced to substitute hypotheses, and to fill up with
+conjectures the immense interval, which the present,
+and what is still more, past ignorance, have left in all
+parts of his system. With regard to hypotheses, they
+are almost all of the same kind. Whoever reads ancient philosophers will see that they almost all adopt nearly
+the same plan, and that where they differ, it is in the
+choice of the materials employed in the construction.
+of the universe.
+Thales saw but one element in all nature, which was
+* The beauty of morality is only to be found in the paradise
+of fools, where Milton makes agni, scapularies, chaplets, and in
+dulgences, incessantly whirl about.
+the
+TREATISE ON MAN. 211
+Ofphilosophical tales.
+the aqueous fluid . Proteus, the marine god, who me.
+tamorphosed himself into fire, a tree, water, and an
+animal, was the emblem of his system. Heraclitus
+discovered the same Proteus in the element of light ;
+the earth appeared to him to be a globe of fire reduced
+to a state of fixity. Anaximenes made of the air an
+indefinite agent ; it was the common parent of all the
+elements. The air condensed, formed water ; still more
+dense, it formed earth. It was to the different degrees
+of the air's density that all beings owed their existence.
+They, whoafterthe first philosophers assumed like them
+the office of architects of the palace of the universe,
+and laboured at its construction, fell into the same errors : Descartes is a proof.
+It is by proceeding from fact to fact that we attain.
+to great discoveries. We must advance in the train
+of experience, and never go before it. The impatience natural to the human mind, and especially to
+men of genius, cannot accommodate itself to a progress so slow (30), but always so sure ; they would
+guess at what experience alone can reveal. They forget that it is on the knowledge of a first fact, from
+which all those of nature may be deduced, that the
+discovery of the system of the world depends ; and
+that it is only by chance, analysis, and observation, that
+the first fact can lead to the general principle .
+* Our author writes here as if he were ignorant of the Newtonian system of the universe, founded on clear, undeniable experi
+ments. But can that be possible? T.
+P 2
+Before
+TREATISE ON MAN."
+Of religious tales.
+Before men undertake to construct the palace ofthe
+universe, what materials should they draw from the
+mines ofexperience ? It is at length time that all should
+labour in the structure of this fabric ; and happywill
+they be to construct some detached parts of the projected edifice the most assiduous disciples of experi
+ments are sensible that without it they wander in the
+land of chimeras, where men in all ages have seen
+nearly the same phantoms, and have always embraced
+those errors, whose resemblance proves at once the
+uniform manner in which men of all countries combine the same objects, and the equal aptitude they have
+to discernment.
+RELIGIOUS TALES.
+These sort oftales, less amusing than the first, less
+ingenious than the second, and yet more respected,
+have armed nations against each other, have caused
+rivers ofhuman blood to flow, and have filled the world
+with desolation. Under the title of Religious Tales,
+I comprehend in general all the false religions ; these
+have always preserved among themselves the strongest
+resemblance.
+Among the many various causes to which we may
+ascribe the invention ofthese tales ( 31 ), I cite the desire
+of immortality for the first. The proof, if we believe
+Warburton and some other learned men, that God
+was the author of the Jewish law, is, say they, that
+in the law of Moses there is no mention of rewards or
+punishments,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 213
+་
+Ofreligious tales.
+punishments, or the life to come, or consequently of
+the immortality of the soul. Now, they add, if the
+religion of the Jews had been of human institution,
+men would have made the soul immortal ; a lively and
+powerful interest would have induced them to believe
+it such (32) : this interest is their horror of death and
+annihilation. This horror would have been sufficient,
+without the aid of revelation, to have made them in.
+vent that dogma. Man would be immortal in his present state, and would believe himself so, if all the bodies that surround him did not every instant prove the
+contrary. Forced to yield to this truth, he has still
+the same desire of immortality. Eson's cauldron of
+rejuveniscence proves the antiquity of this desire. To
+make it perpetual, it was necessary to found it on some
+probability at least ; to effect this, they made the soul
+of a matter extremely subtle ; they supposed it an indestructible atom, that survived the dissolution of all
+the other parts, in a word, a principle of life*,
+* The opinions ofmen, uninfluenced by revelation, concerning
+afuture state, will ever be different, according to theirdifferent cir
+cumstances. The good man will readily believe it, for it is his interest that there should be a future state. The bad man will strive
+hard to disbelieve it, for he will think it his interest that there
+should not be afuture state ; but after many unsuccessful struggles
+his mind must remain in doubt and confusion ; for it is impossible
+he should ever be certain that there is no future existence.
+As a frequent reflection on futurity, attended with a firm be
+PS This
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Of religious tales.
+This being under the name of soul*, was to preserve
+after death all the affections of which it was susceptible
+during its union with the body. This system supposed,
+men doubted the less ofthe immortality of the soul,
+as neither experience nor observation could contradict
+such belief, for neither ofthem can form any judgment
+of an imperceptible atom. Its existence indeed was not
+demonstrated ; but what proofdo we want of what we
+wish to believe, and what demonstration is strong
+enough to prove the falsehood of a favourite opinion ?
+It is true we never meet with any souls in our walks, and
+it is to shew the reason ofthis, that men, after having
+created souls, thought themselves obliged to create a
+country for their habitation. Each nation, and even
+each individual, according to his inclinations, and the
+particular nature of his wants, has formed a particular
+plant. Sometimes the savage nations placed this halief of it, makes one of the most valuable enjoyments ofthe present
+life-ought not a man to rank those who would deprive him of
+that enjoyment, amongthe most pernicious of his enemies? T.
+* The savages do not refuse a soul to any thing ; their guns,
+their caldrons, or the materials of their buildings. See P. Hennepin, Voyage de la Louisiane, p. 94.
+The cursory reader will do well to remember, that all here
+said about a future state, relates merely to the different conjectures
+of different nations, and has nothing to do with what we are taught
+by revelation ; but is brought to show, that in a work of imagi
+nation the human mind operates nearly in the same manner in all
+ages and all nations. T:
+bitation
+TREATISE ON MAN. 215
+Ofreligious tales.
+bitation in a vast forest, full of wild fowl, and watered
+with rivers stocked with fish : sometimes they placed it
+in an open level country, abounding in pasture ; in the
+middle of which rose a bed of strawberries as large as
+a mountain, different parts of which they portioned off,
+for the nourishment of themselves and their families.
+People less exposed to hunger, and besides more numerous and better instructed, placed on this spot all.
+that is delightful in nature, and gave it the name of
+Elysium. Covetous mortals formed it after the plan of
+the garden of Hesperides, and stocked it with trees,
+whose golden branches were loaded with fruits of diamonds. The more voluptuous nations placed in it trees
+of sugar and rivers of milk, and furnished it with delicious animals. Each people in this manner furnished
+the country of souls with what was on earth the object
+of their desires. Imagination, directed by different
+wants and inclinations, operated every where in the
+same manner, and consequently made but little variation in the invention of false religions.
+Ifwe believe the president de Brosse, in his excellent
+history of Fetichism, or the worship rendered to terrestrial objects, it was not only the first of religions, but
+its worship preserved to the present day in almost all
+Africa, and especially in Nigritia, was formerly the
+universal religion*. It is known, he adds, that in the
+* Ifby catholic is to be understood universal, Popery does
+P4 Pierres
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Ofreligious tales,.
+Pierres Batites, it was Venus Urania they worshipped ;
+that in the forest of Dodona the Greeks adored the
+oaks. It is also known that dogs, cats, crocodiles ;
+serpents, elephants, lions, eagles, flies, monkies, &c.-
+have had altars erected to them as gods, not only in
+Egypt, but in Syria, Phoenicia, and almost all Asia.
+We know also, that lakes, trees, the sea, and shapeless rocks, have, in like manner, been the objects
+of adoration of European and American nations.
+Now such an uniformity in the first religions, proves
+one still greater in the minds of men, as we still find
+the same uniformity in religions more modern or less
+gross. Such was the Celtic religion : the Mitras of
+the Parsees we find in the god Thor ; Ariman in the
+Wolf; Feuris, the Apollo of the Greeks, in Baldar ;
+Venus in Freia ; and the Destinies in the three sisters
+Urda, Verandi, and Skulda. These three sisters are
+seated by the source of a fountain, whose waters lave
+the roots of a famous ash, named Yarasel ; its branches
+shadow the earth, and its summit, that reached above
+the clouds, formed its canopy.
+The false religions have therefore been almost every
+where the same. Whence arises this uniformity?
+From men's being animated by nearly the same interest, having nearly the same objects to compare towrong to pretend to the title. The religion of Fetichism , and
+that of the Pagans, are those only that have been truly catholic.
+gether
+TREATISE ON MAN. 217
+Ofreligious tales.
+gether, and the samne instrument, that is, the same
+judgment to combine them; they have therefore necessarily formed the same conclusions : it is, because,
+in general, all are proud ; that, without any particular
+revelation, and consequently without proof, all regard
+man as the only favourite of heaven, and the principal
+object ofits cares . May we not, after a certain monk,
+sometimes repeat, " What is a capuchin compared to
+"a planet." 1
+Must we, to found the haughty pretensions of man
+on facts, suppose, as in certain religions, that the Diyinity, forsaking heaven for earth, formerly came down
+to converse with mortals in the form of a fish , a serpent, or a man ? Must we, to prove the interest which
+heaven takes in the inhabitants of the earth, publish
+books, in which, according to some impostures, are
+included all the precepts and duties that God requires
+of man ?
+Such a book, if we believe the Mussulmans, composed
+inheaven, was brought down to the earth by the angel
+Gabriel, and given by that angel to Mahomet. It is
+called the Koran. When we open this book, we find it
+capable ofa thousand interpretations : it is obscure and
+unintelligible ; yet such is human blindness, that they
+still regard as divine, a work in which God is painted
+under the form of a tyrant ; where this same God is incessantly employed in punishing his slaves for not coinprehending what is incomprehensible ; in short, where
+this
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Impostures ofthe ministers offalse religions.
+this God, the author of phrases that are unintelligible
+withoutthe commentary of an Iman, is properly nothing more than a stupid legislator, whose laws have
+constantly need of interpretation. How long will the
+Mussulmans preserve so much veneration for a work
+sofilled with absurdities and blasphemies ?
+Toconclude ; if the metaphysics of false religions,
+if the excursions of human minds in the countries of
+souls, and the discoveries in the intellectual regions .
+have been every where the same, let us further see if
+the impostures (33) of the sacerdotal bodies for supporting these false religions, have not in all countries
+preserved amongst themselves the same resemblances.
+CHAP. XXI.
+THE IMPOSTURES OF THE MINISTERS OF
+FALSE RELIGIONS.
+In every country, the same motives of interest, and
+the same facts have combined to furnish sacerdotal
+bodies with the same means to impose on the people ;
+and in every country the priests have made use of
+them*. A private person may be moderate in his
+* IntheIndies the priests annex certain virtues, and indulgences
+desires,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 219
+Methods by which the priests attain power and wealth.
+desires, and content with what he possesses ; a body
+is always ambitious : it constantly endeavours, with
+greater or less rapidity, to increase its power and wealth.
+The desire of the clergy has been in all times to be
+powerful and opulent* . By what method can it satisfy
+this desire ? By the vending of hope and fear. The
+priests, wholesale dealers in these commodities, were
+sensible that the sale would be certain and lucrative ;
+and that if hope supported the hawker who sold in the
+streets the chance of a great prize, and the quack who
+sold on a scaffold the chance of a cure, it would in like
+manner maintain the bonze, and talapoin, who sold in
+their temples the fear of hell and the hope of heaven :
+and if the quack made a fortune by vending one of
+these commodities only, that is hope, the priest must
+make a greater by selling both hope and fear. Man,
+said they, is timid ; there will consequently be most got
+bythe sale of the last article. But to whom shall we
+sell it ? To the sinners. And to whom sell hope ? To
+to extinguished fire brands, and sell them verydear. At Rome father Peepe, a jesuit, sold in like manner little prayers to the Vir
+gin : he made hens swallow them, affirming, that they would make
+them lay their eggs better.
+* What makes all doctrines plain and clear?
+Abouttwo hundred pounds a year :
+And that which was prov'd true before
+Proved false again Two hundred more. T.
+HUDIERAS.
+the
+TREATISE ON, MAN.
+Methods by which the priests attain power and wealth.
+thepenitents. Convinced of this truth, the priesthood
+considered that a great number of buyers supposed a
+great number of sinners ; and that as the presents of
+the sick enriched the physician, offerings and expiations of sinners would enrich the priest ; and therefore as sick people were necessary to one, sinners were to the other. The sinner would be constantly a slave to the priest ; and by the multiplication
+of sins, which would promote the sale of indulgences,
+masses, &c. the power and riches of the clergy would increase. But if among the sins the priests counted those
+actions only that were really prejudicial to society,
+the sacerdotal power would be of little consequence ;
+it would only extend to cheats and villains : now the
+clergy would have it extend to honest men also. To
+effect this it was necessary to create such crimes as
+honest men might commit. The priest therefore ordained that the least liberties between the two sexes, that
+themeredesire of pleasure, should be a sin. They moreover instituted a great number of superstitious ceremonies, and ordered every individual to obey them;
+declaring that the neglect of the observation of those
+ceremonies was the greatest of all crimes, and that the
+violation ofthe ritual law should be, as among the Jews,
+if possible, more severely punished than the most abominablevillainy.
+These rites and ceremonies, more or less numerous among the different nations, were every where
+nearly the same : they every where held sacred and
+secured
+TREATISE ON MAN. 221
+Methods by which the priests attain power and wealth.
+secured to the priesthood the greatest authority over
+the several orders of the state (34).
+There were however among the priests of different
+nations, some, who, more dexterous than others, exacted
+from the people not only the observance of certain
+ceremonies, but the belief of certain dogmas also. The
+number of these dogmas increased insensibly, and with
+them increased infidels and heretics*. What did the
+clergy then ? They ordained that heresy should be
+punished with the confiscation of property ; and this
+law augmented the riches of the church : they decreed
+morcover, that infidelity should be punished with
+death ; and this law augmented their power. From
+the moment the priests condemned Socrates, genius,
+virtue, and even kings themselves trembled before the
+sacerdotal power ; its throne was supported by consternation and panic terror : which spreading over
+the minds ofthe people the darkness of ignorance, became the unshaken props of pontifical power. When
+man is forced to extinguish the light of reason within
+him, and has no knowledge of what is just or unjust, it
+is then he consults the priest, and implicitly follows his
+counsels.
+But why has not man recourse rather to the natural law ? The false religions themselves are founded on
+We say in Europe, God is in heaven : to say so in Bulgaria is
+heresy and impiety.
+that
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Virtue diminished by superstition.
+that common basis. That I allow : but natural religion is nothing more than reason itself (35). Now how
+can a man believe in his reason when he is forbidden
+the use ofit ? Besides, who can perceive the natural
+law through the mysterious cloud with which the sacerdotal power surrounds it ? This law, they say, is the
+canvas ofall religions. Be it so ; but the priests have
+embroidered so many mysteries on this canvas, that the
+embroidery entirely covers the ground. Whoever
+reads history will find that the virtue of the people diminishes in proportion as their superstition increases*.
+By what means can a superstitious man be instructed
+in his duty ? How in the night of error and ignorance
+can he perceive the path ofjustice ? In a country where
+all learning is confined to the priesthood, clear and
+just ideas ofvirtue can never be formed.
+The interest of the priests is not that a man uct virtuously, but that he do not think. It is necessary, say
+they, that the son of man know little, and believe a great
+dealt.
+Superstition is still the religion of the wisest people. The
+English neither confess nor pray to saints ; their devotion consists
+in not working or singing on a Sunday. A man who should play
+on a fiddle on that day would be reckoned impious : but he is a
+good Christian if he pass the day in a public house with wenches.
++ The priests will not allow that God renders to every one ac
+cordingto his works, but according to his faith.
+I have
+TREATISE ON MAN. 223
+Uniform means by which priests preserve their authority.
+I have just shewn the uniform means by which the
+priests acquire their power ; let us now see ifthe means
+bywhich they preserve it are not also uniform.
+CHAP. XXII.
+OF THE UNIFORMITY OF THE MEANS BY WHICH
+THE MINISTERS OF FALSE RELIGIONS PRESERVE
+THEIR AUTHORITY.
+In every religion the first object proposed by the
+priests is to stifle the curiosity of mankind, and to prevent the examination of every dogina whose absurdity
+is too palpable to be concealed.
+To attain this end, the human passions must be flattered to perpetuate the blindness of men, they must
+be made to believe it is their interest, and consequently desire it. Nothing is more easy to n bonze.
+The practice of virtue is more troublesome than the
+observance of ceremonies. It is less difficult to kneel
+before an altar, to offer a sacrifice, to bathe in the
+Ganges (36), and eat fish on Fridays, than to pardon,
+like Camillus, the ingratitude of our fellow- citizens ;
+to spurn at riches like Papirius ; or to instruct mankind like Socrates : let us therefore flatter, says the
+bonze,
+TREATISE ON MAŃ.
+Uniform means by which priests preserve their authority.
+bonze, the human vices, that those vices may be our
+protectors ; let us substitute in the place of virtue,
+offerings and expiations, that we may, by certain su
+perstitious ceremonies, cleanse the foul soul from the
+blackest crimes. Such a doctrine could not fail to increase the riches and authority of the bonzes. They
+saw all the importance of this doctrine ; they made it
+public, and the people received it with joy for the
+priests were constantly more loose in their morals, and
+more indulgent to crimes, in proportion as they were
+more severe in their discipline, and more rigid in pu
+nishing the violation of ceremonies*.
+Every temple then became an asylum for villains ;
+incredulity alone found there no refuge. Now as there.
+are in all countries but few unbelievers, and many villains, the interest of the greatest number was to agree
+with the priests.
+Between the tropics, says a navigator, there arc
+two islands opposite each other : in the one, no man
+is reckoned honest who does not believe in a certain
+number of absurdities, and unless he be able to endure
+the greatest itching without scratching : it is tothe patience with which they support their prurience that
+virtue is principally ascribed. In the other isle, no
+belief is imposed on the inhabitants, and they may
+* Ifthe catholics be in general without morals, it is because.
+the priests of the popish religion have constantly substituted superstitious ceremonies, for the practice of real virtues.
+scratch
+TREATISE ON MAN. 225
+Artifices by which the priests concealed their ambition.
+scratch where they itch, or even tickle themselves till
+they laugh; but no one is reckoned virtuous who does
+not perform actions useful to society. Must not the
+people discern the absurdity of this religious morality ?
+I answer, a priest, wrapt up in a solemn vestment,
+affecting an austere manner, and obscure language, and
+speaking only in the name of God and religion, deJudes the people by the eyes and ears ; and though the
+words morality and virtue are in his mouth void of
+meaning, it imports little those words pronounced in
+a mortified tone, and by a man in the habit of penitence, always impose on human imbecility.
+Such were the tricks, and if I may so say,the splendid mummery, under which the priests concealed their
+ambition and personal interest. Their doctrine was
+moreover severe in certain respects, and that severity
+served still more to deceive the vulgar. It was the
+box of Pandora that glittered without, but within
+were fanaticism, ignorance, superstition, and all those
+evils that have successively ravaged the earth. Now I
+ask, when we see the ministers of false religions in all
+ages employ the same means to increase their wealth
+and power*, to preserve their authority, and multiply
+* Ifthe priests make themselves every where the depositaries
+and the distributors of charities, it is that they may appropriate a
+part ofthem, and by the distribution of the rest keep the poor in
+their pay. Every method of acquiring money and authority appears lawful to the priesthood. It is without blushing that the caVOL. 1.
+the
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+The belief of men of genius in the fables of Paganism accounted for.
+the number of their slaves ; when we find in every country the same absurdities in false religions, the same
+impostors in their ministers, and the same credulity
+in the people (37) , if it be possible to imagine that
+there is essentially between men that inequality of
+understanding which some suppose ?
+But supposing understanding and talents to be the
+effects of a particular cause, how can we persuade ourselves that men ofgreat abilities, and consequently endowed with that particular organization, could have
+believed the fables of Paganism, have adopted the
+opinions ofthe vulgar, and sometimes become martyrs
+to the most palpable errors ? Such facts, which are
+inexplicable if we suppose the understanding to bethe
+product of organization, become simple and clear when
+it is regarded as an acquisition. We do not then wonder that men of genius, in certain matters, should have
+no superiority in those sciences or questions they have
+never studied. On this supposition, all the advantage a man of discernment can have over others, (and
+a considerable advantage it certainly is ), results from a
+habit of attention, and a knowledge of the best methods
+to be takenin the examination of a question ; an adtholic clergy charge the repairs of the churches to those very
+people whose wealth they have exhausted. The churches are the
+farms of the clergy ; but, contrary to opulent landlords, they find
+the means of making others support them.
+vantage
+TREATISE ON MAN. 227
+Conclusions deduced from this chapter.
+vantage that is useless when not employed inthe search
+of that particular truth.
+The uniformity of frauds (38) employed by the
+ministers ofthe false religions, the resemblance ofthe
+phantoms seen by them in the intellectual regions (39),
+and the equal credulity ofthe people, prove therefore
+that nature has not given to men that unequal portion
+ofjudgment which has been supposed ; and that in
+morality, politics, and metaphysics, if they form very
+differentjudgments of the same objects, it arises from
+theirprejudices and the indeterminate significations that
+are annexed to the same expressions.
+I shall only add, that if judgment be reduced to the
+science or knowledge of the true relations which objects have to each other, and that ifwhatever be the
+organization of individuals, that organization as is
+demonstrated by geometry, makes no change in the
+constant proportions with which objects strike them,
+it necessarily follows that the greater or less perfection
+of the organs of the senses, can have no influence
+over our ideas, and that all men organized in the common manner will consequently have an equal aptitude
+to judgment or understanding. The only method
+remaining to render this truth more evident, ifthat be
+possible, is to fortify the proofs by augmenting them.
+Let us attempt this by another series of propositions.
+Q 2
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Every truth is reducible to a fact.
+CHAP. XXIII.
+THERE IS NO TRUTH NOT REDUCIBLE TO A
+FACT.
+ALMOSTall philosophers agree, that the most sublime
+truths once simplified and reduced to their plainest
+terms, may be converted into facts, and in that case
+present nothing more to the mind than thisproposition,
+white is white, and black is black (40). The apparent obscurity ofcertain truths lies not therefore in the truths
+themselves, but in the confused manner of representing
+them, and the impropriety of the words used in expressing them. Can they be reduced to simple facts ?
+Ifevery fact can be equally well perceived by every
+man organized (41) in the common manner, there is no
+truth which he cannot comprehend. Now if all men can
+conceive the same truths, they must all have essentially
+the same aptitude to understanding.
+But is it quite certain that every truth may be redu
+ced to those clear propositions above-mentioned ? I
+shall add only one proof to what the philosophers have
+already given I deduce it from the perfectibility of
+the human mind or understanding ; experience demon- strates
+TREATISE ONʼMAN. 229
+All men have equal capacity for perceiving truths.
+strates that the understanding is capable of it. Now
+what does this perfectibility suppose ? Twothings :
+The one, that every truth is essentially comprehensible by every mind.
+The other, that every truth may be clearly repre
+sented.
+The capacity that all men have to learn a trade
+proves this. If the most sublime discoveries of the
+ancient mathematicians are at this day comprised in
+the elements ofgeometry, and are understood by every
+student in that science, it is because those discoveries
+are reduced to facts.
+Truths being once brought tothis point of simplicity, if there be some among them that men of ordinary capacity cannot comprehend, it is then, they may
+say, that borne up by experience, like the eagle, who
+alone among the feathered race can soar above the
+clouds and gaze upon the sun, the man of genius
+alone can raise himself to the intellectual regions, and
+there sustain the resplendence ofa new truth. Nownothing is more contrary to experience. Does a man of
+genius discover a truth, and represent it clearly ? Atthe
+instant all men of ordinary capacity seize it, and make it
+their own. The genius is an adventurous chief, who
+penetrates the region of discoveries : he lays open the
+road, and men of common capacity rush in crouds
+after him. They have therefore the force necessary
+to follow him, otherwise genius would there penetrate
+Q 3
+alone.
+TREATISE ON MAN,
+Period when the highest truths are attainable by common minds.
+alone. Now to the present day its only privilege is to
+make the first track* .
+But if there be a period when the highest truths are
+attainable by common minds, when is that period ?
+When freed from the obscurity of words, and reduced
+to propositions more or less simple, they pass from the
+empire of genius to that of the sciences. Till then, like
+thosesouls whoare said to wander in the celestial abodes,
+waiting till they can animate a body, and appear be
+fore the light, the truths yet unknown wander in the
+regions of discoveries, waiting for some genius to seize,
+and transport them to this terrestrial sphere. Once
+descended to the earth, and perceived by superior
+minds, they become common property..
+If in this age, says M. Voltaire, men commonly
+write better in prose than in the last age, to what do
+the moderns owe this advantage ? To the models they
+have before them. The moderns could not boast of
+this superiority, if the genius of the last age, already
+converted into science (42), had not, if I may so say,
+entered into circulation. When the discoveries ofgenius are metamorphosed into sciences, each discovery
+deposited in their temple becomes a public property;
+the temple is open to all. Whoever desires to learn,
+* It seems to follow from this paragraph, that every man who
+will, may understand all the truths in the sublime science of geometry and the depths of fluxions, provided they be properly explained.
+learns,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 231
+The highest discoveries in art and science comprehensible to all.
+learns, and is sure to make nearly so many feet of
+science per day. The time fixed for apprenticeship is
+a proof of this. If the greatest part of arts, at the
+degree of perfection to which they are now carried,
+may be regarded as the produce of the discoveries of
+a hundred men of genius placed end to end ; to exercise those arts it is necessary therefore that the
+workman unite them in himself, and know how properly to apply the ideas of those hundred men of genius : what can be a stronger proof of the perfectibility of the human mind, and of its aptitude to comprehend every sort of truth ?
+If from the arts I pass to the sciences, it will be
+equally apparent that the truths, whose discoveries
+formerly deified their inventor, are now quite common.
+The system of Newton is taught every where.
+It is with the author of a new truth as with an astronomer, whom curiosity or the desire of glory calls
+up to his observatory. He points his glass to the heavens, and in the immensity of space beholds a new
+star or satellite. He calls his friends ; they go up,
+and looking through the telescope, behold the same
+star : for with organs nearly the same, men mnst discover the same objects.
+If there were ideas that ordinary men could not attain, there would be truths discovered in the process
+of ages, that could not be comprehended but by two
+or three men equally organized. The rest of the hu
+man race would be subject in this respect to an in2 4 vincible
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+.
+The highest discoveries in art and solence comprehensibleto all,
+vincible ignorance. The discovery of the square of
+the hypothenuse being equal to the square ofthe other
+two sides of a triangle, could not be known but to
+another Pythagoras : the human mind could not be
+susceptible of perfectibility ; in a word, there would
+be truths reserved for certain men only. Experience,
+on the contrary, shews us, that the most sublime discoveries, clearly represented, are conceivable by all.
+Hence arise that astonishment and shame we perceive when we say, there is nothing more plain than
+that truth ; how was it possible I did not perceive it before? This is doubtless sometimes the language of
+envy, as in the case ofChristopher Columbus. When
+he departed for America, the courtiers said, nothingis
+more ridiculous than such an enterprise : and at his return, nothing was more easy than such a discovery.
+Though this be frequently the language of envy, is it
+never that of the heart? Is it not with the utmost
+sincerity, when suddenly struck by the evidence of a
+new idea, and presently accustomed to regard it as trivial, that we think we always knew it ?
+If we have a clear idea of the expression of a truth,
+and not only have it in our memory, but have also ha
+bitually present to our remembrance all the ideas ofthe
+comparison from which it results, and if we be not
+blinded by any interest or superstition, that truth be
+ing presen ly reduced to the plainest terms, that is, to
+this simple proposition, that white is white, and black is
+black, is conceived almost as soon as proposed.
+In
+TREATISE ON MAN. 233
+An ordinary understanding sufficient to discover unknown truths.
+In fact, if the systems of Locke and Newton, without being yet carried to the last degree of perspicuity,
+are nevertheless generally taught and understood, men
+of a common organization can therefore comprehend
+the ideas of those of the greatest genius. Now to
+conceive their ideas (43), is to have the same aptitude
+to understanding. But if men can attain those truths,
+and iftheir knowledge in general be constantly in proportion to the desire they have to learn, does it follow that all can equally attain to truths hitherto unknown ? This objection deserves to be considered.
+CHAP. XXIV.
+THE UNDERSTANDING NECESSARY TO COMPRE
+HEND THE TRUTHS ALREADY KNOWN, IS SUFFICIENT TO DISCOVER THOSE THAT ARE UNKNOWN,
+ATRUTH is always the result of just comparisons of
+the resemblances or differences, the agreements or
+disagreements, between different objects. When a
+master would explain to his scholars the principles of
+a science, and demonstrate the truths already known,
+he places before their eyes the objects of the comparison from which those truths are to be deduced.
+But
+• TREATISE ON MAN.
+Reason why few persons discover unknown truths.
+But when a new truth is to be sought, the inventor
+must in like manner have before his eyes the objects
+of comparison from which that truth is to be deduced :
+But what shall present them to him ? Chance ; the
+common mother of all inventions. It appears therefore, that the mind of man, whether it follow the demonstration ofa truth, or whether it discover it, has in
+both cases the same objects to compare, and the same
+relations to observe ; in short, the same operations to
+perform* . The understanding necessary to comprehend truths already known, is therefore sufficient to
+discover those that are unknown. Few men indeed
+attain the latter ; but this is the effect of the different
+situations in which they are placed, and that series of
+circumstances to which is given the name of chance ;
+or of the desire, more or less cogent, that men have
+to distinguish themselves, and consequently their
+greater or less passion for glory.
+* I might even add, that it requires more attention to follow the
+demonstration of a truth already known, than to discover one.
+Suppose for example, it be a mathematical proposition ; the inventor in this case is already acquainted with geometry : he has
+its figures habitually present to his memory ; he recollects them, as
+it were, involuntarily ; and his attention is solely employed in observing their relations. With regard to the scholar, those same
+figures notbeing habitually present to his memory, his attention is
+necessarily divided betweenthe trouble ofrecollecting the figures,
+and ofobserving their relations.
+The
+TREATISE ON MAN. 235
+Influence ofthe passions in sharpening the understanding.
+The passions can do all things. There is no girl so
+stupid that love will not make witty. What means
+does it not furnish her with, to deceive the vigilance
+of her parents, to see and converse with her lover ?
+The most stupid frequently becomethe most inventive.
+A man without passions is incapable of that degree of
+attention to which a superior judgment is annexed : a
+superiority that is, perhaps, less the effect of an extraordinary effort than of habitual attention.
+But if all men have an equal aptitude to understanding, what can produce that difference we find between
+them ?
+NOTES.
+NOTES.
+. (page 132.) IF men, and especially the Europeans, say the
+Banians, always in fear and mistrust of each other, are ever ready
+to goto war with one another ; it is because they are still animated
+with the spirit of their first parents, Cutteri and Toddicastrée.
+This Cutteri, who was the second son of Pourons, and destined
+by God to people one of the four quarters of the earth, turned
+his steps toward the west. The first object he met was a woman
+named Toddicastrée. She was armed with a chuchery, and he
+with a sword. As soon as they perceived each other, they at
+tacked and fought together for two days and a half: the third day,
+tired with the combat, they parlied, they loved, married, and
+lay together: they had children, that, like their progenitors, are
+always ready to attack when they meet.
+. (p. 159.) That the most witty and the most thoughtful are
+sometimes melancholy, I allow ; but they are not witty and
+thoughtful because they are melancholy, but melancholy because
+they are thoughtful. In fact, it is not to his melancholy but to his
+wants that a man owes his discernment : want alone draws him
+from his natural indolence. If I think, it is not because I am
+strong or weak, but because I have more or less interest to think.
+Whenthey say of misfortune that it is the great teacher of man,
+they say nothing more than that misfortune, and the desire to be
+freed from it, oblige us to think. Why does the desire of glory
+frequently produce the same effect ? Because glory is to some a
+want. Moreover, neither Rabelais, nor Fontenelle, nor Fontaine, nor Scarron were esteemed melancholic, yet nobody denies their superiority of wit, greater or less.
+. (p. 184. ) What I here say of goodness may be equally ap
+plied to beauty. The different ideas we form of it arise, almost
+always,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 237
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+always, from the explanations we have heard given ofthe word in
+our infancy. When we have heard a woman of a particular figure
+constantly extolled, that figure is fixed in our mind as a model of
+beauty and we always judge of other women according to the
+greater or less resemblance they have to that model. Hence the
+diversity of our tastes, and the reason why we prefer a woman
+of an elegant shape, to one that is gross, and who is preferred by
+another.
+. (p. 187.) This decision of the church shows the absurdity
+of a judgment that has been passed on me. How, it has been
+said, can I maintain that friendship is founded on want and a reciprocal interest ? But if the church, and the Jesuits themselves
+agree, that God, though all good and powerful, is not beloved.
+for himself; is it then without some private reason that I love
+my friend ? Now of what nature can this reason be ? It is not of
+the sort that produces hatred ; that is a sentiment of trouble and
+grief; on the contrary, it is of the nature of those that produce
+love, that is, a sentiment of pleasure. The judgments that have
+been passed on me relative to this matter are so absurd, that it is
+not without shame I here reply to them.
+. (p. 189.) The primitive church did not cavil with mankind
+about their belief : Synesius is a proof of this. He lived in the
+fifth century ; and was a Platonic philosopher. Theophilus, then
+bishop of Alexandria, desirous of doing himself honour by a conversion, entreated Synesius to be baptized by him. The philo
+sopher consented on condition that he should preserve his opinions.
+A short time after, the inhabitants of Ptolemais asked Synesius
+for their bishop. Synesius refused the episcopacy, and his reasons
+for it he gives in his hundred and fifth letter to his brother. " The
+" more I examine myself, he says, the less I find that I am pro-
+"perto be a bishop. I have hitherto divided my life between
+"the study of philosophy and amusement. When I go out of
+"my closet, I give myself up to pleasure. Nowitts not right, they
+"say, that a bishop be joyous : he is a divine man. I am be-
+" sides
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+"sides incapable of all application to civil and domestic affairs.
+"I have a wife that I love, and it is equally impossible for me,
+either to quit her, or only see her in secret. This Theo-
+"philus knows ; but this is not all. The mind cannot quit the
+"truths that have been demonstrated to it. Now the dogmas of
+"philosophy are contrary to those which a bishop ought to
+"teach. How can I preach the creation of the soul after the
+body, the end of the world, the resurrection, and in short
+"things that I do not believe ? I cannot bring myself to be a
+" hypocrite.
+"A philosopher, they say, can accommodate himself to the
+"weakness of the vulgar, and conceal those truths he cannot
+" believe. Yes; but in that case dissimulation must be abso-
+“ lutely necessary. I would be a bishop if I could preserve my
+" opinions and talk of them with my friends ; and if, to keepthe
+"people in their errors, they would not force me to entertain
+"them with fables. But if a bishop must preach the contrary to
+" what he thinks, and think with the people, I shall refuse the
+" episcopacy. I do not know if there be truths that ought to be
+"kept from the vulgar ; but I know, that a bishop ought not to
+"preach the contrary of what he believes. The truth ought to
+"be respected as the Divinity, and I protest before God that I
+"will never falsify my sentiments in my preachings." Synesius,
+notwithstanding his repugnance, was ordained a bishop, and kept
+his word. The hymns he composed are nothing more than the
+expositions of the systems of Pythagoras, Plato, and the Stoics,
+adjusted to the dogmas and worship of the Christians.
+. (p. 191.) Pious calumny is also a virtue of new creation.
+Rousseau and I have been its victims. How many passages of our
+works have been falsely cited in the mandates of the holy bishops ?
+There are therefore now holy calumniators...
+. (ibid ) The clergy who call themselves humble, resemble
+Diogenes, whose pride was seen through the holes in his cloak.
+. (ibid.) Read on this subject the last chapters of the rules
+of
+TREATISE ON MAN. 239
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+of St. Benedict; you will there see that ifthe monks be obdurate
+and wicked, it is what they cannot helpbeing
+The generality ofmen, assured of their subsistence, and without
+concern on that account, become insensible : they do not deplore
+in others the evils they cannot suffer. Besides, the happiness or
+misery of a monk, confined in a cloister, is entirely independent ofthat of his relations and fellow-citizens. The monks therefore
+must regard menof the world with the same indifference as a traveller regards the beasts he meets in a forest. It is the monastic laws
+that condemn the religious orders to inhumanity. In fact, what
+is it that produces in men the sentiment of benevolence ? The assistance, either remote or near, that they may afford each other.
+This is the principle that unites men in society. Do the laws estrange my interest from that of the public ? From that moment I
+become wicked. Hence the severity of arbitrary governments,
+and the reason why monks and despots are in general the most in- human of men.
+. (p. 192.) It was formerly believed that God, according to
+the difference of times, could have different ideas of virtue ; the
+church has clearly explained this doctrine in the council of Ball,
+held on account ofthe Ilussites ; who having protested against
+admitting any doctrine that was not contained in the scriptures ;
+the fathers ofthe council informed them, by the mouth ofcardinal
+Casan. " That the scriptures were not absolutely necessary to the
+"preservation ofthe church, but only to its better regulation : that
+"they should be always interpreted according to the present state
+" ofthe church, which by changing its sentiments obliges us to be-
+"lieve that God changes his also."
+. (ibid. ) They boast much of the restitutions that religion
+causes to be made. I have sometimes seen the restitution of copper, but never of gold. The monks have not yet restored the
+heritage, nor the catholic princes the kingdoms that have been
+ravished from the Americans.
+. (p. 193.) It is but justice to arm intolerance against intole
+rance,
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION 11.
+rance, as a prince ought to oppose an army against the army of his enemy.
+. (p. 193) On opening the Encyclopedia at the article Virtue
+how was I surprised to find, not a definition of virtue, but a declamation onthe subject. O man ! cries the composer ofthat article,
+wouldst thou know what is virtue ? Enter into thyself. Its defi
+nition is at the bottom of thy heart. But why was it not in like
+manner at the bottom of the composer's heart, and if it were there,
+why did he not give it us? Few authors, I confess, think so highly
+oftheir readers, and so meanly of themselves. If that writer had
+reflected more on the word Virtue, he would have perceived, that
+it consisted in the knowledge of what men owe to each other, and
+that it consequently supposes the formation of societies. Before
+this formation, what good or evil could be done to a society not
+yet existing? "A man of the woods, a man naked and without
+language, might easily acquirea clear idea of strength or weakness,
+but not of justice and equity.
+Aman born in a desert island, and abandoned to himself, would
+live there without vice or virtue. He could not exercise either of
+them. Whatthen are we to understand by the wordsVirtuous and
+Vicious ? Actions useful or detrimental to society. This idea,
+clear and simple, is, in my opinion, preferable to all obscure and
+inflated declamations on virtue.
+Apreacher, who in his sermons gives no clear definition of vir
+tue ; a moralist, who maintains that all men are good, and does
+not believe any of them unjust, is sometimes afool, but more fre
+quently a knave, that would be thought honest merely because he
+is a man.
+To pretend to draw a faithful portrait of humanity, perhaps a
+man should be virtuous, and, to a certain point, irreproachable.
+What I know of the matter, is, that the most honest are not they
+whosuppose men to have the most virtue. If I would be well
+assured ofmine, I would suppose myself to be a citizen of Rome,
+or ofGreece ; and I would ask myself, whether in the situation of Codrus
+TREATISE ON MAN. 241
+NOTES ON SECTION 11.
+Codrus or Regulus, Brutus or Leonidas, I should have done the
+same actions. The least hesitation in this case would teach me
+that I was but weak in virtue. Of every sort the strong are rare,
+and thelukewarın common.
+. (p. 194.) The humanity of M. Fenelon, is renowned. One
+day, a vicar boasted, in his presence, of having abolished dancing
+on a Sunday, in his village. Mr. Vicar, said the archbishop, let
+us be less severe towards others ; let ns abstain from dancing ourselves, but let the peasants dance if they like it. Why should we
+not let them for a short time forget their misery? Fenelon, just,
+and always virtuous, lived a part ofhis days in disgrace. Bossuet,
+his rival in genius, was less honest, and always in favour.
+(p. 197.) The morality ofJesus, and that ofthe Jesuits, have
+nothing in common ; the one is destructive of the other. This is
+evident, by the extracts that the parliaments have given. But why
+do the clergy incessantly repeat, that the same stroke has destroyed
+the Jesuits and religion ? It is, because, in the ecclesiastical language, religion and superstition are synonimous. Now superstition, or the papal power, has, perhaps, really suffered by the ba
+nishment ofthat order.
+For the rest, let not the Jesuits flatter themselves, that they will
+everbe recalled into France and Spain. It is known by what proscriptions their recal would be followed, and to what excess the
+cruelty of an enraged Jesuit is carried.
+. (ibid. ) The fear with which the Jesuits were regarded,
+seemed to have set them above all attack. To brave their hatred
+and their intrigues, such men as Chauvelin were necessary, noble
+souls, generous citizens, and friends to the public. To destroy
+such an order, courage alone was not sufficient ; genius was also
+requisite. It was necessary to show the people the poignard ofthe
+regicide, wrapped up in the veil of respect and devotion : to discover the hypocrisy ofthe Jesuits through the cloud of incense
+which they spread around the throne and the altars ; to embolden
+the timid prudence of the parliaments, and make them clearly
+distinguish between the extraordinary and the impossible.
+VOL. I. 16. (p.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+. (p. 198.) It is with the judgment aswith virtue. Thejudg
+mentapplied to the various sciences of geometry, physics, &c. is
+judgment in all countries. The judgment, when applied to the
+false sciences of magic, theology, &c. is local. The first of these,
+is to the other what the money of Africa, the shells called cowries,
+is to the gold and silver money, the one has circulation among
+someNegro nations, the other over the whole earth.
+. (p. 199. ) Onwhat should we establish the principles of a good
+morality ? On a great number of facts and observations. It is,
+therefore, tothe premature formation of certain principles, that we
+ought, perhaps, to attribute their obscurity and falsity. In morality, as in all other sciences, what should be done before we form
+a system ? Collect the materials necessary for the construction.
+Wecannot now be ignorant, that an experimental morality, founded on the study of inen, and ofthings, as far surpasses a speculative and theological morality, as experimental philosophy exceeds
+a vague and uncertain theory. It is because religious morality
+never had experiment for its basis, that the theological empire
+was ever regarded as the region of darkness.
+. (p. 200.) The monks, themselves, have not always held
+chastity in equal esteem. Some of them, called Mamillares,
+have held, that a man might, without sin, feel the bosom of a nun..
+There is no act of lasciviousness, that superstition has not in some
+part made an act of virtue. In Japan, the Bonzes may love men,
+but not women. In certain cantons of Peru, the acts of the Greek
+loves were acts of piety ; it was an homage to the gods, and rendered publicly in their temples.
+. (p. 120.) Mrs. Macaulay, the illustrious author of a History
+of England, is the Cato of London, " Never, says she, has the
+"view of a despotic monarch, or prince, soiled the purity of my
+"looks."
+. (ibid. ) Is is an absurdity common to all nations, to expect
+humanity and science in their tyrant. To attempt to make good
+scholars, without punishing the idle, and rewarding the diligent,
+is
+TREATISE ON MAN. 243
+NOTES ON SECTION 11.
+is afolly. To abolish the law that punishes theft and murder, and
+require that men should not steal or murder, is a voluntary contradiction. To desire that a prince should apply himself to the
+affairs of the state, and that he should have no interest to apply himselftothem, that is, that he should not be punished, if he neglect
+them to desire, in short, that a man above the law, that is without law, should be always humane and virtuous, is to desire an effect without a cause. Cast men bound into the den of a tyger,
+and he will devour them. The despot is the tyger.
+. (p.201 . ) The Calinucks marry as many wives as they please ;
+they have besides, as many concubines as they can maintain. Incest is no crime among them. They see nothing more in a man
+and a woman, than a male and a female . A father without scruple
+marries his daughter : no law forbids it.
+. (ibid.) Every one says, I have the most just ideas of virtue :
+whoever does not think as I do, is wrong. Every one laughs at
+his neighbour. Every one points with his finger, and never laughs
+at himself but under the name of another. The same inquisitor
+who condeinned Galileo, doubtless, condemned the wickedness
+and stupidity ofthe judges of Socrates : he did not think that he
+should one day be like them, the scorn of his own age, and of
+posterity. Does the Sorbonne think itself despicable for having
+condemned Rousseau, Marinontel, myself, &c. No; it is the
+stranger who thinks so, in its stead.
+. (p. 202. ) Barillon was exiled to Amboise, and Richelieu,
+who sent him thither, was the first minister; says cardinal de Retz,
+who ventured to punish in the magistrates, that noble firmness
+with whichtheyrepresented to the king those truths, for the defence of which their oaths obliged them to expose their lives.
+. (ibid.) If it be true, that virtue is useful to a state, it must
+be also useful to give clear ideas ofit, and to engrave them , in the
+most tender infancy, on the memories of men. The definition I
+have given ofvirtue in the Treatise on the Mind, Disc. iil. chap.
+. appears to inc to be the only one that is just. " Virtue, I have
+" there said, is nothing more than the desire of public happiness.
+R 2
+The
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION 11.
+"The general welfare is the object of virtue ; and the actions it
+"enjoins, are the means which it employs to accomplish that ob-
+"ject. The idea of virtue, I have added, must therefore be
+" every where the same."
+If in various ages and countries men appear to have formed
+different ideas of virtue, if philosophers have, in consequence,
+"treated the idea of virtue as arbitrary, it is because they have ta
+"ken for virtue itself, the several means it makes use of to accom-
+"plish its object, that is to say, the several actions which it enjoins.
+" These actions have certainly been sometimes very different,
+" because the interests of nations change, according to the age
+"their situation ; and lastly, because the public good may, to
+"certain degree, be promoted by different incans. ”
+and
+The entrance offoreign merchandize permitted to-day in Ger
+many, as advantageous to its commerce, and conformable to the
+good ofthe state, may be to-morrow forbidden. To-morrow the
+purchaser may be declared criminal, ifby some circumstances that
+purchase become prejudicial to the national interest. " The same
+"actions may therefore become successively useful and prejudicial
+“ to a nation, and merit by turns the name ofvirtuous and vicious,
+"without the idea of virtue's suffering any change, or ceasing to
+"be the same." Nothing is more agreeable to the natural law,
+than this idea. Could it be imagined that principles so sound , aud
+so conformable to the public good, would have been condemned ?
+Could it be imagined that a man would be prosecuted, who had
+defined, "truc probity to be the habitude of actions useful to our
+" country, and regarded as vicious every action detrimental to
+"society ?" Isit not evident that such a writer could not advance
+maxims contrary to the public good, without contradicting him
+self. Such, however, was the power of envy and hypocrisy, that
+I was persecuted bythe same clergy, who, without opposition, had
+suffered the audacious Bellarmin to be elevated to the rank of a
+cardinal, for having maintained, that if the pope forbids the exercise ofvirtue, and commands that of vices, the Romish church,
+underpain of a sin, was obliged to abandon virtue for vice, nisi vellet
+TREATISE ON MAN. 245
+NOTES CN SECTION II.
+vellet contra conscientiampeccare. The popetherefore, according
+to this Jesuit, had the right of destroying the natural law, and of
+stifling in man every idea of justice and injustice, and, in short, of
+replunging morality into that chaos, from which philosophy has
+drawn it with so much pains. Ought the church to have approved
+such principles ? Why did the pope suffer their publication ? Because they flattered his pride.
+Papal ambition, always greedy ofpower, is never scrupulous in
+the choice of the means. In what country has not the maxim the
+most abominable, the most contrary to the public good, been tolerated by the power to whom it is favourable ? In what country
+have they constantly punished the wretch who has incessantly repeated to the prince, " Thy power over thy subjects is without
+"bounds : thou mayest at thy will despoil them of their property,
+load them with fetters, and deliver them to the most cruel tor-
+"tures." It is always with impunity, that the fox repeats to the
+lion, You do them, Sire, a great deal of honour in making them
+beggars,
+Vous leurfites, Seigneur,
+En les croquant beaucoup d' honneur.
+The only expressions that cannot be repeated to princes without
+danger, are those that fix the bounds, which justice, the public
+good, and the law of nations, set to their authority.
+. (p. 204.) By metaphysics, I do not mean that jargon transmitted by the Egyptian priests to Pythagoras, by him to Plato,
+and by Plato to us, and which is still taught in some schools : but
+I mean, with Bacon, the knowledge of the first principles ofany
+art or science whatever, Poetry, music, and painting, have their
+first principles, founded on a constant and general observation ;
+they have, therefore, their metaphysics.
+As tothe scholastic metaphysics, is it a science ? No : but I have
+just said a jargon ; it is tolerable only to the false mind that can
+accommodate expressions void of sense : to the ignorant, who
+take words for things ; and to knaves who want to make dupes.
+By aman ofsense it is despised.
+R 3
+All
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+All metaphysics, not founded on observation, consist solelyinthe
+art ofabusing words. It is this metaphysics, that in the land of
+chimeras, is continually running after bladders of soap ; from which
+t can never get any thing but air.
+Now, banished to the schools oftheology, it still divides them
+by its subtilities, and may one dạy again light up fanaticism, and
+again casue human blood to stream.´
+I compare these two sorts of metaphysics to the two different
+philosophies of Democritus and Plato. The first raises itselfby
+degrees from earth to heaven, and the other descends by degrees
+from heaven to earth. The system of Plato was founded on the
+clouds, and the breath ofreason has already dissipated the clouds
+and the system.
+. (p. 205.) Men have always been governedby words. If half
+ofthe weight ofthe silver in a crown be diminished, and its numeral
+yalue still preserved, the soldier thinks he has nearly the same pay.
+The magistrate authorised to judge definitively to a certain
+amount, that is, to such a weight of silver, must not judge tothe
+amount of half that sum. In like manner are men duped by
+words, and by their uncertain significations. Writers are constantly
+talking about good morals, without attaching any clear ideas to
+those words. Can they be ignorant, that good morals is one of
+those vague expressions, of which every nation forms different
+ideas ? If there be universal good morals, there are also those that
+are local, and consequently, I can, without offending good morals,
+have aseraglio at Constantinople, and not at Vienna.
+. (p.206.) Theological disputes never are, and never can be,
+any thing more than disputes about words. If these disputes have
+frequently occasioned great commotions onthe earth, it is because
+princes, said M. Chalotais, seduced by some theologians *, have
+* Perhaps it has happened, at least as frequently, from the
+knavery of princes, who by encouraging one party against the
+other, have weakened thein both, and consequently increased
+their ownstrength. T. princes,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 247
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+taken a part in these quarrels. Let governments despise their dis
+putes ; and the theologians, after railing, and reciprocally accusing
+each other of heresy, &c. will grow tried of talking, without un
+derstanding each other, and without being understood. The fear
+ofridicule will make them silent.
+. (p. 206. ) It is to the disputes about words, that we are in like
+manner to refer almost all the accusations of atheism. There is no
+man ofunderstanding who does not acknowledge an active power
+in nature. There is therefore, no atheist.
+He is not an atheist who says, that motion is God ; because, in
+fact, motion is incomprehensible, as we have no clear idea ofit, as
+it does not manifest itself but by its effects and lastly, because by
+it all things are performed in the universe.
+He is not an atheist who says, on the contrary, that motion is not
+God : because, motion is not a Being, but a mode of Being.
+They are not atheists, who maintain that motion is essential to
+matter, and regard it as the invisible and moving force that spreads
+itself through all its parts. Do we see the stars continually chan
+ging their places, and rolling perpetually round their center ; do
+we see all bodies destroyed and reproduced incessantly, under
+different forms ; in short, do we see nature in an eternal fermen
+tation and dissolution ? Whothen can deny, that motion is, like
+extension, inherent in bodies, and that motion is not the cause of
+what is? In fact, says Mr. Hume, if we always give the names of cause and effect to the concomitance of two facts, and that
+wherever there are bodies, there is motion ; we ought then to regard motion as the universal soul of matter, and the divinity that
+alone penetrates its substance. But are the philosophers of this
+last opinion atheists ? No : they equally acknowledge an unknown force in the universe. Are even those who have no ideas ofGod,
+atheists ? No; because then all men would be so : because no
+one has a clear idea ofthe Divinity : because in this case every
+obscure idea is equal to none, and lastly, to acknowledge the in-
+# 4 comprehensibility
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+comprehensibility of Gcd, is, as M. Robinet proves, to say by a
+different turn of expression, that we have no idea of him.
+. (p. 209.) Man, to be happy, must have desires, such as employ him, and such whose objects his labour or his talents can procure him. Among the desires of this sort, the most proper to
+preservehim from disgust is that ofglory. This springs up equally
+in all countries. It sometimes happens, that the search after glory
+exposes a manto too much danger : what rational motive can excite
+him to the pursuit of it in a kingdom where they persecute such
+menas Voltaire, Montesquieu, &c. If France, say the English,
+be reckoned a delicious country, it is for those that are rich, and
+do not think.
+. (211.) Far from condemning a systematic spirit, I admire
+it in great men. It is to the efforts made to destroy or defend
+those systems that we doubtless owe an infinity of discoveries.
+Let men therefore continue to explain, by a single principle, if
+it be possible, all the physical phenomena in nature : but be continually on their guard against those principles : let them be considered merely as one ofthe different keys, which we may suc
+cessively try, that we may at last find that which shall open the
+sanctuary of nature. But above all, let us not confound tales with
+systems ; the latter must be supported by a great number offacts.
+It isthese alone that should be taught in the public schools : provided however that we do not still maintain them to be true, a
+hundred years after experience has proved themto be false.
+. (p. 212.) Whence comes it, it was said to a certain cardinal,
+that there have been in all times priests, religions, and sorcerers ?
+Because, he replied, there have always been bees and drones, labourers and idlers, knaves and dupes.
+. (p. 213.) Without examining if it be the interest ofthe public to admit the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, I shall
+observe that at least this dogma has not always been politically
+regarded as 'useful. It took its rise in the schools of Plato ; but
+Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, thought it so dangerous,
+that
+TREATISE ON MAN.' 249
+NOTES ON SKOTION II.
+that he forbade it to be taught in his dominions on the pain of
+death.
+. (p. 218.) It is knownthat the ancient Druids were animated
+with thesamespirit as the Popish priests now are : that they had,
+before them, invented excommunication ; that like them they
+would command people and kings ; and that they pretended to
+have, like the inquisitors, the power of life and death, among all
+nations where they were established.
+. (p. 221. ) I was one day present at a representation which the
+clergy ofa German court made to their prince : I borethe marvellous ring, which makes men say and write, not what they would
+have others hearand read, but what they reallythink. Without the
+virtue of my ring, I should doubtless never have heard or read the
+following discourse.
+When the clergy thought they had convinced the prince that
+religion was lost in his dominions ; that debauchery and impiety
+boldly stalked abroad ; that the holy days were profaned by labour; that the liberty of the press shook the foundations of his
+throne and ofthe altars, and that in consequence the bishops enjoined the sovereign to arm the laws against the liberty ofthought,
+to protect the church and destroy its enemies : the following were
+the words I seemed to hear in that address,
+" Prince, your clergy are rich and powerful, and would be still
+" more so. It is notthe loss of morality and religion, but that of
+" their authority, they deplore. They desire to have the greatest
+"authority, and your people are without respect for the sacerdotal "
+"
+power. We therefore declare them to be impious ; we exhort
+" you to reanimate their piety, and for that purpose to give your
+"clergy more authority over them. The moment chosen to accuse the people, and irritate you against them, is not perhaps the
+" most favourable. Your soldiers have never been so brave, your
+"artisans more industrious, your citizens more zealous for the
+" public welfare, and consequently more virtuous. They will tell
+"you, without doubt, that the people most immediately subject
+" to
+.50 TREATISE ON MAN,
+NOTES ON SECTION 11.
+" tothe clergy, that the modern Romans have neither the same
+"valour, nor the same love for their country, nor consequently
+" the same virtue. They will add, perhaps, that Spain and Por
+" tugal, where the clergy command so imperiously, are ruined
+"and laid waste by ignorance, sloth, and superstition ; and, in
+"short, that among all nations, they who are generally honoured
+"and respected, are those same enlightened people to whomthe
+"Catholic church will always give the name of impious.
+"Let your ears, O prince, be for ever closed against such re-
+• presentations ; that, in concert with your clergy, you mayspread
+" darkness over your dominions, and know that a people skilful,
+" rich, and without superstition, are, in the eyes of the priest, a
+"people without morals. Is it, in fact, the rich and industrious
+" citizen, who has for example, all the respect for the virtue of
+❝continence that it deserves ?
+" It is, they will say, in this respect with the present age, as
+"with those that are past. Charlemagne, created a saint for li
+berality toward the priesthood, loved women as well as Francis
+"I. and Henry VIII. Henry III . king of France, had a taste
+"less decent. Henry IV. Elizabeth, Louis XIV. and queen
+"Anne caressed their mistresses, or their lovers, with the same
+“ hands with which they laid their enemies in the dust. They
+“ will add, that the monks themselves have almost always in-
+"dulged in secret forbidden pleasures ; and in short, that without
+"changing the natural constitutions of the inhabitants, it is very
+"difficult to keep them from that damnable disposition that car-
+"ries them toward women. There is, however, one method to
+prevent it, and that is to make them poor. It is not from a
+" sound and well fed body that the demon of the flesh can be
+"driven : it is to be affected only by prayer and fasting.
+" Let then your majesty after the example of some of your
+"neighbours, permit us to strip your subjects of all their super-
+“ fluities, to tithe their lands, to pillage their property, and to
+"keep them in the strictest necessity . If, touched bythese pious
+↑
+remonstrances
+TREATISE ON MAN. 251
+NOTES ON SECTION 11.
+"remonstrances, your majesty shall regard our prayers, may be
+"nedictions pour down upon you ! No praise can equal so meritorious an action. But in an age when corruption infects all
+"minds, when impiety hardens ever heart, may we hope that
+" majesty and your ministers will adopt a counsel so salutary, a
+"method so easy to secure the continence of your subjects ?
+"With regard to the profanation of holidays, our remonstran-
+"ces may again appear absurd. The man who labours on Sun-
+"days and holidays does not get drunk, or run after women; he
+❝injures no one, he serves his country and his family, and aug- "ments the commerce of his nation.
+"Of two states equally numerous and powerful, let one of
+" them make, as in Spain, 130 holidays in the year, and some-
+"times the day after ; and the other on the contrary, keep no
+saints days, the latter of these people will have 80 or 90 days of
+"labour more than the other, and can furnish the articles of its
+"commerce at a lower price : its lands will be better cultivated,
+"its harvests more abundant, and thebalance oftrade will be in its
+"favour. The latter, therefore, being more rich and powerful
+"than the former, may one day give it laws. There is norhing
+"in common between the national interest and that of the clergy.
+"The priest, being solely jealous of command, what would he
+"do? Contract the mind of the prince, and extinguish in him
+"eventhe lights of nature. Anation governed bysuch a prince,
+"will sooner or later, become aprey to some neighbour more rich,
+"more leanred, and less superstitious ; so that the grandeur ofthe
+"Catholic clergy is always destructive of the grandeur of a state.
+"Dothe priests declaim against the profanation of holidays? Be
+"not deceived, it is not the love of God, but that of their au-
+" thority, by which they are influenced. We learn from expe
+" rience, that the less a man frequents the temples, the less respect he has for their ministers, and the less authority those
+"ministers have over him. Now if power be the ruling passion
+"of a priest, it is of little consequence to him whether a holiday .
+orbe
+"
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+"betothe labourer a day of debauch ; whether, on goingfrom
+"the temple, he run after wenches and frequent public houses,
+"and pass the remainder of the day in inebriety. The more sins,
+"the more expiations and offerings ; the more riches and 66 power is
+acquired by the priest. What is the interest ofthe church? To
+"multiply vices. What does it ask of men? To be stupid and
+"wicked. Behold, Sire, with what we are reproached by the im-
+"pious. With regard to the liberty of the press, if your clergy
+" rise up ever so violently against it, if they tell you incessantly
+"that it saps the foundation of the law, and renders religion ridi
+"culous, believe it not.
+" It is not that your clergy do not perceive, with the solid and
+"ingenious author of the English Investigator, that truth is proof
+"" against ridicule, and that ridicule is the touchstone of truth. A
+"ridicule cast on a demonstration is like mud thrown against mar-
+"ble: it soils it for a moment, it dries, the rain comes, and the
+"spot disappears. To agree that a religion cannot stand against
+"ridicule, is to allow it to be false. Does not the Catholic
+"church repeat incessantly that the gates of hell shall never pre-
+“vail against it ? Yes ; but priests are not religion. Ridicule
+may weaken their authority, and fetter their ambition ; they
+"therefore constantly cry out against the liberty of the press,
+"and entreat your majesty to forbid your subjects the practice of
+"writing and thinking, that you may deprive them in this respect
+" of the privileges of men, and consequently shut the mouth of
+"every one that can instruct mankind.
+"
+"If so many demands appear indiscreet, and jealous ofthe hap-
+"piness of your people, you would, Sire, rule over intelligent
+"inhabitants only, know, that the same conduct that will render
+"you dear to your subjects, and respectable to strangers, will be
+"imputed to you as a crime by your clergy. Dread the vengeance of a powerful body, and for the future resign to them
+your sword ; it is then that, assured of the piety of your peo-
+"ple, the sacerdotal power may again assume over them its an-
+"
+" cient
+TREATISE ON MAN. 253
+NOTES ON SECTION 11.
+"cient authority, see from day to day that authority increase, and
+"at last make use of it to bring you into subjection.
+"
+"
+"We desire the more earnestly that your majesty would regard
+"our supplication, and authorize our demand, as it will deliver
+"us from a secret inquietude, that is not without foundation.
+"Quakers may establish themselves in your dominions ; they may
+propose to communicate, gratis, to the cities, towns, and villages, all instruction, moral and religious, that is necessary ;
+"they might morcover form certain companies of finance, who
+"might undertake this enterprise of instruction at a discount, and
+"furnish it still cheaper and cheaper. Who can say whether the
+"magistrates might not then take it their heads to seize on our
+" revenues, and employ them to discharge a part of the national
+"debt, and by that means make your nation the most respectable
+"in Europe. Now it is of little consequence to us, Sire, whe-
+"ther your people be happy and respectable, but is of great con
+sequence that the sacerdotal body be rich and powerful.”
+"6
+This is what the representations of the clergy seemed to me to
+contain. I shall not weary myself with considering the address,
+the artifice with which the priests have in all countries continually
+asked in the name of heaven, the power and riches of the earth.
+I admire the confidence they have always had in the weakness of
+the people, and especially men in power. But what most of all
+surprises me, is, (when I reflect on the ages of ignorance,) to find
+that in this respect most sovereigns have always beep out of the
+power ofthe clergy.
+. (p. 222.) There are some who say that atthe moment ofour
+birth God engraves on our hearts the precepts of the natural law.
+Experience proves the contrary. If God is to be regarded as the
+author of the laws of nature, it is as being the author of corporeal
+sensibility, which is the mother of human reason. This sort of
+sensibility, at the time of the union of men in society, obliged
+them, as I have already said, to make among themselves conventions and laws, the assemblage of which composes what is called
+the
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+laws of nature. But have those laws been the same among different nations ? No: their greater or less perfection was always in
+proportion to the progress of the human mind ; to the greater or
+less extent of knowledge that societies acquired, of what was
+useful or prejudicial ; and this knowledge has been in all nations
+the produce of time, experience, and reflection.
+To make us see in God the immediate author of the laws of
+nature, and consequently of all justice, ought the theologians to
+admit him to have passions, such as love, or vengeance ? Ought
+theyto represent him as a Being susceptible of predilection ; in
+short, as an assemblage of incoherent qualities ? Is it in such a
+God that we can discern the author of justice ? Can we thus endeavour to reconcile what is irreconcileable, and confound truth
+with falsehood, without perceiving the impossibility of such a connection ? It is time that men, deaf to theological contradictions,
+listen to nothing but the doctrins of wisdom : for, St. Paul
+says, " Itis hightime to awake out of sleep ; the night (of igno
+"rance) is far spent, the day (ofscience) is at hand ; let us there-
+"fore put on the armour of light," to destroy the phantoms of
+darkness, andfor that purpose let us restore to men their natural
+liberty, and the free exercise of reason.
+. (p. 223.) Can it be, that among almost all nations the idea
+of sanctity is annexed to the observance of a ritual ceremony, an
+ablution, &c. Canmen be still ignorant that the only citizens constantly virtuous and humane, are those that are happy in their character. In fact, who among the devout are the most estimable?
+Theythat, full of confidence in God, forget there is a hell. Who,
+on the contrary, among the same devout are the most odious and
+inhuman? Theythat, timid, discontented, and unhappy, see hell
+continually openbefore them . Why are the devout in general the
+torment of their dwellings, railing incessantly at their servants,
+and making themselves hateful ? Because, having the idea of the
+devil before them, and fearing perpetually to be carried away by
+him, their fear and their unhappiness render them malignant. If youth
+TREATISE ON MAN. 255
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+youthbe in general more virtuous and more humane than age, it
+is because, having more desires and more health, they are more
+happy. Nature did wisely, said an Englishman, to limit the life
+ofmanto 80 or 100 years. Ifheaven had prolonged his old age
+he would have become too wicked.
+. (p. 226. ) If in Tartary, under the name of Dalai Lama,
+the grand pontiffbe immortal ; in Italy, under the name of Pope,
+their pontiff is infallible. If inthe country ofthe Mongales the vicar
+of the grand Lama, receive the title of Kutuchta, that is vicar of
+the living God, in Europe the Pope bears the same title. At
+Bagdat, inTartary, in Japan, if with a design to debase and subdue
+their kings, the pontiffs, under thename of caliph, lama, and dairo,
+have made emperors kiss their feet; and if these pontiffs, when
+mounted on a mule, have obliged the emperors to take the bridle
+and lead themthrough the streets : has not the pope exacted the
+same servility from the monarchs of the West ? The pontiffs in
+every country have therefore made the same pretensions, and the
+princes the same submission.
+If the deputies for the office of caliph have made human blood
+to stream in the East, the disputes for the papacy have in like
+manner made it stream inthe West. Six popes have assasinated
+their predecessors, and set themselves in their places. The pope
+says, Baronius, were notthen men but monsters.
+Have we not every where seen the name of orthodox given to
+the strongest religion, and that of heresy to the weakest ? Every
+where has the sacerdotal power been productive of fanaticism, and
+fanaticisin of murder. Every where have men suffered them.
+selvesto be burnt for theological absurdities, and given in this manner equal proofs of obstinacy and courage.
+But it is not in religious affairs only that men have every where
+shewn themselves to be the same : the same resemblance is to be
+found amongthem when some change in their habits and customs
+has been in agitation . The Mantchoux Tartars, who conquered
+the Chinese, would have cut off their hair ; but the latter broke
+their
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+their fetters, routed the terrible Mantchoux, and triumphed over
+their conquerors. The czar would shave the Russians, and they
+revolted. The king of England would make the Highlanders
+wear breeches, and they rose in arms. In the East and Westthe
+people are therefore every where the same, and every where the
+same causes have raised up and pulled down empires.
+At the time ofthe conquest of China, what was the prince that
+occupied the throne ? A weak wretch, an idol whom they durst
+not inform ofthe bad state of his affairs, and to whom incense was
+continually offered by his favourites, while he was solely surrounded
+by intriguing courtiers, without judgment, without knowledge,
+and without courage. Whocommanded the empires of the East
+and West, when Rome and Constantinople were taken and
+plundered by Alaric and Mahomet the second ? Princes of the
+same sort. Such perhaps was the state of France in the old age of Lewis XIV. when it was beaten on every side.
+It appears that men are every where the same from the degeneracyandignorance into which every people successively fall, according to the interest which their government has to degrade them.
+Ifa minister be weak, andfear that the people will opentheir eyes,
+and discoverhis incapacity, he keeps them fast closed, and the stupidity ofthe people is then not the effect of a physical, but of a
+moral cause.
+Does not a cause ofthe same kind animate with the samespirit
+those whom chance has brought up to the same employments ?
+What is in Spain, Germany, and even in England the first care of
+the man in place ? To enrich himself. The public welfare holds
+the second place only.
+If in the inferior offices of government almost all men have the
+same supercilious behaviour, and the same incapacity for adminis
+tration ; to what is it to be attributed ? To a defect in their organisation ? No : but to that of their instruction. All men practised
+inthe finesse of chicanery, and accustomed to judge only by pre- cedent
+TREATISE ON MAN. 257
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+cedent, ascend with difficulty to the first principles oflaws ; they
+extend the memory, and contract the judgment.
+Inthe mind, as in the body, those parts only are strong that
+areexercised : the legs ofchairmen and the arms of labourers make
+this evident. If the muscles of reason in the men ofthe law are
+commonly weak, it is because they have little exercise.
+Facts without number provethat men are every where essentially
+the same; that the difference of climate has no sensible influence
+over their minds, and even very little over their tastes. TheIlli
+nois and the Icelander sits by his keg of brandy till he has drunk
+it out. In almost every country the women have the same desire
+to please as in France, the same taste for dress, the same care of
+their beauty, the same aversion to the country, and the same love
+for their capital, where, constantly surrounded bya number ofadmirers, they find themselves really of more importance.
+When we cast our eyes over the universe, and perceive the same
+ambition in all hearts, the same credulity in all minds, the same
+duplicity in all priests, the same coquetry in all women, and the
+same love ofriches in all ranks of people, how can we doubt but
+that men all resembling each other, differ only in the diversity of
+their instruction : that in every country their organs are nearly the
+same, and that they make nearly the same use of them ; and that
+in short the hands of the Indians and Chinese are, for that reason,
+equally adroit in the manufacture of stuffs as those of the Europeanз. Nothing proves therefore what is incessantly repeated, that
+it is to the difference of latitudes we ought to attribute the inequality
+ofminds.
+. (p. 227.) The frauds of the priests are every where the
+same : they are every where anxious to appropriate the wealth of
+the laity. The Romish church for this sells a licence for relations
+to marry it engages for so many masses, that is, for so inany sixpenny pieces, to deliver every year so many souls out ofpurgatory,
+and consequently to remit them so many sins. At the Pagoda of
+VOL. I. Tinagogo,
+TREATISE ON MAN,
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+Tinagogo, as at Rome, the priests for the samesums sell nearly the
+same hopes.
+"
+"At Tinagogo, (says the author of l'Histoire general des Voyages, tom. ix. p. 462.) on the third day after a sacrifice that is
+"madeto the new moon in December, they place in six long
+and handsome streets an infinity ofbalances suspended by brass
+" rods ; there cach devotee, to obtain the remission of his sins,
+gets into one ofthe scales of a balance, and, according to the
+" different nature of his crimes, puts into the other scale different
+"sorts ofprovisions or monies as a counterpoise . If his conscience
+"reproach him with gluttony and violation of a fast, the counter-
+"poise consists of honey, sugar, eggs, and butter. Ifhe has been
+"guilty of sensual pleasures, he weighs himself against cotton,
+"feathers, cloth, perfumes, and wine. IIas he been uncharitable ?
+" Ile weighs himself against pieces of money. Is he idle ? The
+"counterpoise is wood, rice, coal, cattle, and fruits. Is he, lastly,
+"proud? Heweighs himself against dry fish, brooms, cow-dung,
+"&c. Now all that serves for counterpoise to the sinners belongs
+"to the priests. All these sorts of donations for large piles,
+" Even the poor, who have nothing to give, are not exempt from
+these alms. They offer their hair : more than a hundred priests
+sit withscissars in their hands to cut it off. The hair is also form.
+" ed into great heaps : more than a thousand priests, ranged in
+"order, form of it cords, braids, rings, bracelets, &c. which the
+"devout souls purchase, and carry away as precious pledges of
+"the favour of heaven. To form an idea ofthesum to whichthe
+"alms to the pagoda of Tinagogo alone may amount, it will suf
+"fice, says Pinto, the author of this relation, to mention that the
+" ambassador having asked the priests at what sun they estimated
+" those alms, they answered without hesitation, that only for the
+"hairof the poor they got every year more than a hundred thou
+" sand pardins, that is, ninety thousand ducats of Portugal. "
+. (p. 227.) Some philosophers have defined man to be a monkey that laughs ; others, a rational animal ; and others, a credu
++
+lous
+TREATISE ON MAN. 259
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+lous animal. This animal, they add, is mounted on two legs, has
+flexible fingers, and dexterous hands: he has many wants, and
+consequently great industry. Heis moreover as vain and proud
+as credulous. He thinks that the whole system ofnature was made
+for the earth, and the earth made for him. Is not this definition or
+description of man extremely just ?
+. (p. 228.) Every one asks, what is truth or evidence ? The
+root ofthe word indicates the idea we ought to annex to it. Evidence is deprived from videre, video, I see.
+What is to me an evident proposition ? It is a fact, of whose
+existence I can convince myself by the testimony of my senses,
+that never deceive me when I interrogate them with the neces
+saryprecaution and attention.
+What is an evident proposition to the generality of mankind ?
+It is, in like manner, a fact of which all may convince themselves
+bythe testimony of their senses, and whose existence they may
+moreover verify every instant. Such are these two facts, two and
+two makefour ; the whole is greater than a part.
+If I pretend, for example, that there is inthe North Seaa polypus
+named kraken, and that this polypus is as large as a small i slan
+this fact, though evident to me, if I have seen and examined it
+with all the attention necessary to convince me ofits reality, is not
+even probable to him that has not seen it. It is more rational in
+him to doubt any veracity, than to believe the existence ofso extraordinary an animal.
+But ifafter travellers I describe the true form of the buildings
+in Pekin, this description, evident to those who inhabit them, is
+only more or less probable to others ; sothatthe true is not always
+evident, and the probable is often true. But in what does evidence
+differ from probability ? I have already said, " Evidence is a fact
+"that is subject to our senses, and whose existence all men may
+"verify every instant. As to probability it is founded on conjec
+"tures, onthe testimony ofmen, on a hundred proofs of the same
+"kind. Evidence is a single point : there are no degrees of evi
+$ 2
+" dence.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+" dence. On the contrary, there are various degrees ofprobability,
+"according to the difference, 1. ofthe people who assert ; 2. ofthe
+fact asserted." Five mentell me they have seen a bear in the
+forests of Poland : this fact not being contradicted by anything,
+is to mevery probable. But if not five only, but five hundred
+men should assure me they met in the same forests ghosts, fairies,
+demons, their united evidence would not be to me at all probable ;
+for in cases ofthis nature, it is more common to meet with five hun
+dred romancers, than to see such prodigies.
+. (p. 228.) Let us place before our eyes all the facts from
+the comparison of which a new truth is to result ; and let us annex
+clear ideas to the words that are used in its demonstration. No
+thing can conceal it from our perception ; and this truth presently
+reduced to a simple fact, will be conceived by every attentive
+man almost as soon as proposed. To what then can we attribute
+the small progress made in the sciences by a young man ? Totwo
+causes :
+The one is, the want ofmethod in the instructors ;
+The other, the want of ardour and attention in the pupil.
+. (p. 230. ) The perpetual metamorphoses of genius into sci
+ence has often made me suspect that all things in nature, of themselves, prepare and lead to it. Perhaps the perfection of arts and
+sciences is less the work of genius than oftime and necessity. The
+uniform progress of the sciences in all countries confirms this opi
+nion. In fact, if in all nations, as Mr. Hume observes, it is not
+till after having wrote well in verse, that they come to write well
+in prose, so constant a progress of human reason appears to inethe
+effect of a general secret cause : it at least supposes an equal aptitude to understanding in all men of all ages and countries,
+. (p. 233.) Since menconverse and dispute with each other,
+they must feel themselves endowed with the faculty of perceiving
+the same truths, and consequently an equal aptitude to understanding. Without this conviction, whatcould be more absurd thanthe
+disputes of politicians and philosophers ? To what end should they
+talk
+TREATISE ON MAN. 261
+NOTES ON SECTION II.
+talk when they cannot understand each other ? But since they do
+it is evident that the obscurity of a proposition never lies in the
+things, butin the words. So that on this subject one of the most
+illustrious English writers says, that if men were agreed about the
+signification of words, they would presently perceive the same
+truths, and all adopt the same opinions. See Hume on Liberty,
+and Necessity. Sect. 8.
+Thisfact, proved by experience, gives the solution to aproblem
+proposed five or six years since bythe Academy of Berlin, which
+was: Are the truths of metaphysics in general, and the first
+principles of natural theology and morality susceptible of the
+same evidence as the truths of geometry. Annex a clear ideato
+the word probity, and regard it with me as the practice of actions
+useful to our country. What is then to be done to determine demonstratively what actions are virtuous, and what vicious ? Name
+those that are useful or prejudicial to society. Now in general
+nothing is more easy. It is therefore certain, if the public good
+be the object of morality, that its precepts being founded on principles as certain as those of geometry, are like the propositions of
+that science, susceptible of the most rigorous demonstration. It is
+the same of metaphysics ; which is a real science, when distinguished from that of the schools, it is kept within the bounds as
+signed it by the definition of the illustrious Bacon,
+$ 3
+SECTION
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+General causes ofthe inequality of understanding.
+SECTION III.
+OF THE GENERAL CAUSES OF THE INEQUALITY OF UNDER
+STANDINGS.
+CHAP. I. !
+THEY
+WHAT THESE CAUSES ARE ?
+are reducible to two.
+The one is the different series of events, circumstances, and situations that attend different men;
+(series to which I give the name of chance.)
+The other is the desire more or less earnest that
+they have to instruct themselves.
+Chance is not favourable to all, in precisely the same
+degree ; and yet it has more share than is imagined in
+the discoveries with which we honour genius. To
+know all the influence of chance let us consult experience, which will teach us that in the arts it is to chance
+we owe almost all our discoveries.
+In
+TREATISE ON MAN. 263
+All new ideas are the gift of chance.
+In chemistry it is to the process in the grand work
+that the adepts* owemost oftheir secrets ; thesesecrets
+were not the objects of their search ; they ought not
+therefore to be regarded as the product of genius. If
+what I say of chemistry be applied to the different
+sorts of sciences, it will be found that in each of them
+chance has discovered all . Our memory is the chemist's crucible. From the mixture of certain matters thrown into a crucible, without design, sometimes result the most unexpected and astonishing
+effects ; and in like manner from the mixture of certain
+facts, without design, in our memory, result ideas the
+most original and sublime. All the sciences are equally
+subject to the dominion of chance. Its influence is
+the same over all, but does not discover itself in a manner equally striking.
+CHAP. II.
+EVERY NEW IDEA IS THE GIFT OF CHANCE.
+A TRUTH that is entirely unknown cannot be the
+object of my meditation ; it may be considered as dis-
+* Some adepts have searched for the philosopher's stone in
+Genesis ; the ecclesiastics alone have founded it there.
+4 covered
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+All new ideas are the gift ofchance.
+covered when I get aglimpse of it. The first surmise
+is here the stroke of genius. But to what do I owe
+the first surmise ? Is it to myunderstanding ? No : it
+cannot employ itself in the search of a truth, of whose
+existence it has not even a conception. This surmise
+is, therefore, the effect of a word, of reading, of con .
+versation*, of an ancident ; in short, something to
+which I give the name of chance. Now if we are indebted to chance for our first surmises, and consequently for our discoveries, can we be assured that we
+do not also owe to it the means of extending and completing them ?
+The syren of Comus is the most proper subject to
+exemplify my ideas. Ifthis syren was for a long time
+shewn atthe fairt, without any one's guessing at its
+Itis tothe heat ofconversation anddispute that we frequently
+owethe happiest ideas. If those ideas which have once escaped
+the memory, are no more presented, but lost without recovery ;
+it is because wecan scarcely find ourselves twice in precisely the
+same concurrence of circumstances that gave them birth. Such
+ideas therefore ought to be regarded as the gifts of chance.
++ The fair of St. Germain at Paris ; it was likewise exhibited by
+Comus in London. The construction of this machine may be
+be seen in the third volume of my Rational Recreations. Whatever utility might have attended this performance, it would cer
+tainly never have entitled Comus to the appellation of a man of
+genius, as it is evidently taken from the Onomatomantica Magnetica, described by Kircher in his second book De Art, Magnet. Printed at Cologn in 1643. T.
+mechanism,
+TREATISE ON MAN.' 265
+All new ideas are the gift of chance.
+mechanism, it was because chance did not place before the eyes of any one, the objects of comparison
+from which the discovery must have proceeded. It
+was more favourable to Comus. But why is he not in
+France reckoned among men of great genius ? Because his mechanism is more curious than useful. If
+it were attended with a very extensive advantage, no
+doubt but public gratitude would have placed Comus
+in the rank of the most illustrious men. He would
+have owed his discovery to chance, and the title of a
+man of genius to the importance of that discovery.
+Whatfollows from this instance?
+. That every new iden is a gift of chance.
+. If there be sure methods of forming men of
+learning and men of understanding, there are none
+for forming men of genius, and inventors. But whether we regard genius as a gift of nature or chance, is
+it not in either case the effect of a cause independent
+of ourselves ? In this case, why regard as a matter of
+so much importance the greater or less perfection of
+education ? The reason is plain. If genius depend
+on the greater or less perfection of the senses,
+as instruction cannot change the natural faculties
+of man, give hearing to the deaf, or speech to the
+dumb * , education is absolutely useless. On the
+the contrary, if genius be in part the gift of chance,
+men, after assuring themselves by repeated observa-
+* This is not universally true ; many dumb persons have been
+aught to speak very intelligibly. T.
+tions
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Genius is in a great measure the effect of chance.
+tions of the means employed by chance in forming
+great talents, may, by making use of nearly the same
+means, produce nearly the same effects, and immensely
+increase those great talents.
+Suppose, to produce a man of genius, chance should
+be combined in him with the love of glory : suppose.
+again, that a man be born under a government that,
+far from honouring, degrades talents ; in this case it
+is evident that a man of genius must be entirely the
+work of chance.
+In fact this man must have either lived in the world,
+and owed his love of glory to the esteem paid to talents
+by the particular society with which he was connected*, or he must have lived in retirement, and owed
+the same love ofglory to the study of history, and the
+remembrance of the honours anciently paid to virtue
+and talents ; or lastly, to an ignorance of the contempt
+which his fellow-citizens have for each other.
+Suppose, on the contrary, that this man be born in
+an age and under a form of government where merit
+is honoured on this hypothesis it is evident that his
+love of glory, and his genius, will not be the work of
+chance, but of the very constitution of the state, and
+consequently of his education, on which the form of
+government has always the greatest influence.
+If we consider understanding and genius as less the
+effects of organisation than chance ( 1 ), it is certain, as.
+There are such societies among all nations, even the most
+stupid, if they be civilized.
+I have
+TREATISE ON MAN. 267
+Ofthe limits to be setto the power of chance.
+I have already said, that by observing the means made
+use of by chance in forming great men, we might, according to this observation, form a plan of education
+that would, by increasing their number in a nation,
+vastly retrench the power ofthis same chance, and diminish the immense share it now has in our instruction.
+Yet if it be always to unforeseen causes or incidents
+that we owe the first surmise, and consequently the
+discovery of every other new idea, chance, I agree,
+will still constantly preserve a certain influence over
+our minds but this influence has also its bounds.
+CHAP. III.
+OF THE LIMITS TO BE SET TO THE POWER OF
+CHANCE.
+Ir almost all objects, considered with attention, did
+not contain the seed of some discovery : if chance did
+not distribute its gifts in a manner nearly equal, and
+did not offer to all, objects of comparison, whence
+newand great ideas may arise, the understanding would
+be almost entirely the gift of chance.
+It would be to our education that we should owe
+our knowledge, and to chance that we should owe our
+understanding, and each individual would have moreor
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+:
+Operation ofthe passions in regard to the understanding.
+or less, according as chance had been more or less favourable to him. Now what does experience teach
+us concerning this matter ? That the inequality of understandings is less the effect of the unequal distribution of the gifts of chance, than the indifference with
+which we receive them.
+The inequality of understandings ought therefore to
+be regarded principally as the effect of the different
+degree of attention, exerted in observing the resemblances and differences, the agreements and disagreements between different objects. Nowthis inequality
+of attention is the necessary consequence of the unequal force of our passions.
+It
+There is no man animated with an ardent desire of
+glory that does not always distinguish himself, more
+or less, in the art or science which he cultivates.
+is true, that between two men equally desirous of be
+coming illustrious, it is chance that, by presenting to
+one of them objects of comparison from which result
+the most fruitful ideas and the most important discoveries, determines his superiority. Chance, by the
+influence which it always has over the choice of objects that offer themselves to us, will therefore always
+preserve some influence overour understandings. When
+we confine its power within those narrow limits, we do
+all that is possible. To whatever degree of perfection
+the science of education may be carried, we must never expect to makemen ofgenius of all the individuals
+of a nation ; all it can do is to increase them, and to
+make
+TREATISE ON MAN. 269
+Application necessary to the development ofgenius.
+make the greatest part of them men of knowledge and
+discernment, and this is all that is within its power. It
+is sufficient to rouse the attention of the people, and
+encourage them to cultivate a science whose perfection will procure in general so much happiness to humanity, and in particular so many advantages to the
+nations by whom it is cultivated.
+Apeople to whom public education should give genius to a certain number of citizens, and discernment
+to almost all, would be without doubt the first people
+in the universe. The only and sure method to produce this effect is early to habituate children to the
+fatigue of attention.
+The seeds of discoveries presented to us by chance
+will remain barren, if attention do not render them
+fruitful. The scarcity of attention is the cause of that
+of genius. But what must be done to force men to
+application ? Inspire them with the passions of emulation, glory, and the love of truth. It is the unequal
+force of those passions that we ought to regard as
+the cause ofthe great inequality in the understandings
+of men.
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Indifference to glory stifles genius.
+CHAP. IV.
+OF THE SECOND CAUSE OF THE INEQUALITY
+OF UNDERSTANDINGS.
+ALMOST all men are without passions, without love
+of glory(2): and so far from exciting in themthis de
+sire, most governments, by a mean and false policy
+(3) endeavour on the contrary to extinguish it ; there
+fore, indifferent to glory, the people make little account of public esteem, and little efforts to deserve it.
+I see among the greatest part of mankind none but
+greedy commercial men. If they fit out a ship, it is
+not withthe hope to give their name to some new country. Solely sensible to the love of gain, all they fear
+is lest their vessel should depart from the frequented
+tracks ; now those tracks lead not to discoveries. If
+the ship by chance, or tempest, be carried to an unknown land, the master compelled to stop there, makes
+no inquiry either concerning the country or the inha
+bitants ; he takes in water, sets sail, and hurries to
+another coast, to exchange his merchandize. Returned
+at last to his own port, he unloads, fills the warehouses of his owners with commodities, but brings
+back no discoveries.
+There
+TREATISE ON MAN. 271
+Science compared to a forest.
+There are but few such men as Columbus . They
+who now launch forth on the vast ocean are solely
+anxious for honours, employments, wealth, and power
+few embark to make new discoveries in science. How
+then can we wonder that such discoveries are rare ?
+Truths are sown by the hand of Heaven, here and
+there, in an obscure and pathless forest ; a road bounds
+that forest ; it is frequented by an infinite multitude of
+travellers, among whom are some curious men, whom
+even the thickness and obscurity of the wood inspires
+with a desire to penetrate it. They enter, but embarrassed by the trees, and torn by the briars, they are
+disgusted with the entrance, abandon the enterprise,
+and regain the beaten path. Others, but their number is small, animated, not by a vague curiosity, but
+an ardent and constant desire of glory, pierce into the
+thickest part of the forest, pass the dangerous bogs,
+nor cease their course till chance presents them with
+the discovery of some truth, more or less important.
+That discovery made, they turn their steps, and make
+a path from that truth to the high road, which every
+traveller then perceives as he passes by, because all
+* It wouldhave been much for the honour of Spain, and much
+forthe interest of humanity, if such a man as Columbus had never
+existed. What did she gain by his discovery ? Wealth : and what
+did she lose? Every title to justice and humanity ; and entailed
+a horrid, detestable, indelible disgrace on the name ofSpaniard and
+Christian. T.
+that
+TREATISE
+ON MAN,
+!
+".
+Thedesire ofglory synonimous with the desire of pleasure.
+that have eyes may see it ; and nothing is wanting to
+the discovery but an earnest desire to seek, and the patience necessary to find it.
+Does a man, anxious for a great name, set himself.
+in the pursuit of an important truth ? He should arm
+himself with the patience of a hunter. It is the same
+with the philosopher as with the Indian : the least
+movement of the latter separates him from his game,
+and the least inattention of the former carries him
+away from the truth . Now nothing is more painful
+than to keep the body or the mind for a long time in
+the same immobility or attention : it is the consequence of a strong passion. In the Indian it is the
+necessity of eating, in the philosopher the desire of
+glory, that produces this effect.
+But what is this desire of glory ? Even the desire of
+pleasure. So that in every country where glory ceases
+to be the representative of pleasure, the citizen is indifferent to glory, and the country is sterile in men of
+genius and discoveries. There is no nation, however,
+that does not from time to time produce illustrious men ;
+because there is none where some individual is not to be
+found, who, struck, as I have said, with the eulogies lavished in history on talents, does not desire to merit the
+same applause, and does not for that purpose go in
+quest ofsome new truth. If he obtain the object ofhis
+inquiry, and accomplish his discovery, he is elated with
+the acquisition, and carries it about his country in
+triumph. But what is his surprise, when, from the
+indifference
+TREATISE ON MAN. 273
+Understanding the produce ofthe passions.
+indifference with which mankind receive it, he finds
+at length the little consequence with which they regard it.
+Then convinced, that in exchange for the labour
+and anxiety which the search of truth demands, he
+shall receive but little renown, and much persecution,
+his courage fails ; he becomes disgusted, no longer
+pursues new discoveries, but delivers himself up to indolence, and stops short in the midst of his career.
+Our attention is fugitive : strong passions are necessary to keep it fixed. A man for amusement will
+calculate a page of figures, but he will not calculate
+a volume, unless urged to it by the powerful incentive
+of glory or wealth. Those are the passions which set
+in action that equal aptitude which men have to understanding without them that aptitude is no more than
+alifeless power.
+What, once more, is the understanding or judg
+ment ? The knowledge of the true relations that a
+certain number of objects have to each other, and to
+ourselves. To what do we owe this knowledge ? To
+meditation and the comparison of objects. But what
+does this comparison suppose ? An interest, more or
+less urgent, to compare them. The understanding is
+therefore the produce of that interest, and not of the
+greater or less perfection ofthe senses.
+But, it will be said, if the strength of our constitution determines that of our desires ; if man owes his
+genius to his passions, and his passions to his temper
+YOL. I. T ament,
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+New objection to be discussed.
+ament, onthis supposition, genius will still be the effect
+of organization, and consequently the gift of nature.
+It is to the discussion ofthis point that this important
+question is now reduced : it is on the examination of
+this fact that its complete solution depends.
+NOTES.
+NOTES.
+. (page 266. ) IHAVE known the stupidity and wickedness of
+theologians : every thing is to be feared from them. I am therefore forced to renew, from time to time, the same profession of
+faith, and to repeat that I do not consider chance as a being ; that
+I do not make a God of it ; and that by this word I only mean,
+a series of effects, of which we do not perceive the causes.
+It is
+in this sense that they say of chance, it determines the dice ; yet
+all the world knows, that the manner of shaking the box and
+throwing the dice is the cause that 3 turns up and not 6.
+. (p. 270.) Let thoughtless men declaim incessantly against
+the passions. We learn however from experience that there is no
+great artist, general, minister, poet or philosopher without them.
+Philosophy, as the etyinology of the word proves, consists in the
+love and search after wisdom. Now all love is a passion it is
+therefore the passions that supported in their labours, Newton,
+Locke, Bayle, &c. Their discoveries were the price of their meditations. These discoveries suppose a lively, constant, assiduous
+pursuit ofthe truth, and that pursuit a passion.
+He is not a philosopher who, indifferent to truth or falsehood,
+delivers himself up to that apathy, to that pretended philosophical
+repose, which keeps the mind in a state of insensibility, and retards its progress toward the truth. That this state is easy, free
+from envy and the fury of bigots, and consequently that the slothful may call himself prudent, I allow, but not that he call himself
+a philosopher. Whatcompany is most dangerous to youth ? That
+of those prudent and discreet men ; and who are the more sure to
+stifle in youth every kind of emulation, as they point out to him in
+ignorance a security from persecution, and consequently the happiness ofinaction.
+T2 Among
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION III.
+Amongthe apostles of idleness there are sometimes men ofgreat
+understanding ; but these are they who owetheir indolence to the
+disgusts and chagrin met with in their search after truth. The majority ofthe remainder are men ofmediocrity, who would have
+all menbethe same. It is envy that makes them preach up idleness.
+What is to be done to escape the seduction of their reasoning ?
+Suspect its sincerity. Remember that an interest, either mean or
+noble, always makes men argue : that all superiority of undertanding is disgusting to him who disdains glory, and wraps himself up in what is called a philosophical indolence ; and that such
+aman has always an interest in stifling in the hearts of others an
+emulation that would give himtoo manysuperiors.
+. (p. 270.) The aim of the greatest part of despotic princes is
+to reign over slaves, and to change each man into an automaton. These despots, seduced by the interest of the present
+moment, forget that the imbecillity of the subjects announces the
+fall of monarchs ; that it is destructive to their empire, and in
+short, that it is on the whole more easy to govern an enlightened
+people, than such as are stupid.
+SEC-
+TREATISE ON MAN. 277
+Man is born without passions.
+SECTION IV.
+MEN COMMONLY WELL ORGANIZED ARE ALL SUSCEPTIBLE OF
+THE SAME degree of PASSION : THE INEQUALITY OF THEIR
+CAPACITIES IS ALWAYS THE effect of the differenCE OF
+SITUATION IN WHICH CHANCE HAS PLACED THEM. THE
+ORIGINAL CHaracter of EACH MAN, (AS PASCAL HAS ORSERVED), IS PRODUCE OF HIS FIRST
+HABITS.
+NOTHING BUT THE
+CHAP. I.
+OF THE LITTLE INFLUENCE WHICH ORGANISATION AND TEMPERAMENT HAVE ON THE PASSIONS AND CHARACTERS OF MEN.
+ATthe moment the child is delivered from the womb
+of his mother, and opens the gates of life, he enters it
+without ideas and without passions. The only want
+he feels is that of hunger. It is not therefore in the
+cradle that we receive the passions of pride, avarice,
+ambition, the desire of esteem and of glory. Those
+T3 factitious
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Manis consequently born without character.
+factitious passions*, generated in the midst of towns
+and cities, suppose conventions and laws already established among men, and consequently their union in society. Such passions would be therefore unknown to
+him that was borne by atempest at the moment ofhis
+birth to a desert coast, and like Romulus nourished by
+a wolf; and to him whom some fairy stole in the night
+from his cradle, and placed in one of those solitary enchanted castles where formerly dwelt so many knights
+and princesses. Now if we are born without passions,
+we are also born without character . The love of glory
+produced in us, is an acquisition, and consequently the
+effect of instruction. But does not nature endow us,
+in the earliest infancy, with the sort of organization
+proper to form in us such or such a character ? On
+what is this conjecture founded ? Has it been remarked
+that a certain disposition in the nerves, the fluids, or
+muscles, constantly produces the same manner ofthinking; that nature retrenches certain fibres of the brain
+*In Europe to the number of factitious passions we may add
+Jealousy. Men are there jealous because they are vain. Vanity
+makes a part of almost all the principal European amours ; it is
+not so in Asia ; jealousy is there the mere effect of corporeal
+pleasures. It is known by experience, that the more the desires
+ofthe sultanas are restrained, the more ardent they become, and the
+more pleasure they give and receive. Jealousy, the offspring of
+the luxury of sultans and visirs, makes them build seraglios, and confine their women.
+from
+TREATISE ON MAN. 279
+Self-love the only sentiment not acquired by education.
+from one, to give them to another ; and consequently
+always inspires the latter with a lively desire of glory ?
+On the supposition that characters are the effect of
+organisation, what can education do ? Can the moral
+change the corporeal disposition ? Can the most just
+maxim give hearing to the dumb ? Can the most sagacious lessons of a preceptor level the back of him
+that is crooked, or straighten the leg of the cripple,
+or encrease the stature of a pigmy ? What nature has
+done, she alone can undo. The only sentiment that is
+engraved in our hearts in infancy is the love of ourselves this love, founded on corporeal sensibility, is
+common to all men ; therefore however different their
+education may be, this sentiment is always the same
+in them ; so that in all countries, and at all times, men
+have loved, do love, and will love themselves in prefe
+rence to all others. If a man be variable in all other
+sentiments, it is because all others are the effect of moral causes. Now ifthese causes be variable, their effects must be so likewise. To establish this truth by
+experience at large, I shall first consult the history of
+nations.
+T4
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Changes in the characters of nations and their causes.
+CHAP. II.
+OF THE ALTERATIONS THAT HAVE HAPPENED IN
+THE CHARACTERS OF NATIONS AND OF THE
+CAUSES BY WHICH THEY WERE PRODUCED.
+EACH nation has its particular manner of seeing and
+feeling, whichforms its character : and in every nation
+its character either changes on a sudden, or alters by
+degrees, according to the sudden or insensible alterations inthe form of its government, and consequently
+of its public education*.
+That of the French, which has been for a long time
+regarded as gay, was not always so. The emperor
+Julian says of the Parisians, " I love them, because
+"their character, like mine, is austere and serious ( 1 ),"
+The characters of nations therefore change : but at
+what period is the alteration most perceptible ? At the
+moment of revolution, when a people pass on a sudden from liberty to slavery. Then ,from bold and
+haughtytheybecomeweak and pusillanimous : they dare
+not look at the man in office : they are inthralled, and
+it is of little consequence by whom they are inthralled.
+This dejected people say, like the ass in the fable,
+* The form of governmentunder which we live always makes
+a part ofour education.
+whoever
+TREATISE ON MAN. 281
+Pernicious effects of slavery on the mind.
+whoever be my master, I cannot carry a heavier load. As
+zealous as a free citizen is for the glory of his nation, so indifferent is a slave to the public welfare.
+His heart, deprived of activity and energy, is without virtue, without spirit, and without talents ; the
+faculties of his soul are stupified ; he becomes indifferent to the arts, commerce, agriculture, &c. It is
+not for servile hands, say the English, to till and fertilise the land. Simonides entered the empire of a despotic sovereign, and found there no traces of men. A
+free people are courageous, open, humane, and loyal
+(2). A nation of slaves are base, perfidious, malicious, and barbarous they push their credulity to the
+greatest excess. If the severe officer has all to fear
+from the resentment of the injured soldier on the day
+ofbattle, that of sedition is in like manner for the slave
+oppressed, the long expected day of vengeance ; and
+he is the more enraged in proportion as fear has held
+his furythe longer restrained*.
+What a striking picture of a sudden change in the
+character of a nation does the Roman history present
+us ! What people, before the elevation of the Cæsars,
+displayed moreforce, more virtue, more love ofliberty,
+and horror of slavery ? And what people, when the
+throne of the Cæsars was established, shewed more
+* The desposition of Nabob-Jaffier-Ali-Kan, related in theLeyden Gazette of the 23d of June, 1761, is a proof of this.
+weakness
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Changes in the national character ofthe Romans and English.
+weakness and depravity ? (3). Their baseness disgusted Tiberius himself.
+Indifferent to liberty, when Trajan offered they refused it : they disdained that liberty which their ancestors had purchased with so much blood. All things
+were then changed in Rome ; and that determined
+and grave character which distinguished its first inhabitants, was succeeded by that light and frivolous disposition with which Juvenal reproaches them in his
+tenth satire.
+Let us exemplify this matter by a more recent
+change. Compare the English of the present day with
+those under Henry VII . Edward VI. Mary and Elizabeth this people now so humane, indulgent, learned,
+free, and industrious, such lovers of the arts and of
+philosophy, were then nothing more than a nation of
+slaves, inhuman and superstitious ; without arts and
+without industry.
+-
+When a prince usurps over his people a boundless
+authority, he is sure to change their character, to enervate their souls ; to render them timid and base (4).
+From that moment, indifferent to glory, his subjects
+lose that character of boldness and constancy proper to
+support all labours and brave all dangers : the weight
+of arbitrary power destroys the spring of their emulation.
+Does a prince, impatient of contradiction (5), give
+the nameof factious to the man of veracity ? He substitutes in his nation the character offalsehood for that
+of
+TREATISE ON MAN, 283
+Arbitrary power productive ofcalamities.
+offrankness. If in those critical moments the prince,
+giving himself up to flatterers , find that he is surrounded
+by men void of all merit, whom should he blame ? Himself: for it is he that has made them such.
+Who could believe, when he considers the evils of
+servitude, that there were still princes mean enough
+to wish to reign over slaves ; and stupid enough
+to be ignorant of the fatal changes that despotism
+produces in the character of their subjects ?
+What is arbitrary power? The seed of calamities,
+whichsown inthe bosom of a state springs up to produce the fruit of misery and devastation. Let us hear
+the king of Prusia : Nothing is better, said he in a discourse address to the academy of Berlin, than an
+arbitrary government, under princes just, humane, virtuous : nothing worse, under the common race of kings.
+Now how many kings are there ofthe latter sort ! and
+how many such as Titus, Trajan, and Antoninus?
+Theseare the thoughts of a great man. What elevation
+of mind, what knowledge does not such a declaration
+suppose in a monarch ? What in fact does a despotic
+power announce ? Often ruin to the despot, and always
+to his posterity (6). The founder of such a power,
+establishes his kingdom on a sandy foundation. It is
+only a transient, ill-judged notion of royalty, that is, of
+pride, idleness, or some similar passion, which prefers
+the exercise of an unjust and cruel despotism over
+wretched slaves, to that of a legitimate and friendly
+power (7), over a free and happy people. Arbitrary
+power
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+The characters of nations change with their governments.
+power is a thoughtless child, who continually sacrifices
+the future to the present.
+The most formidable enemy of the public welfare,
+is not riot or sedition, but despotism (8) : it changes
+the character of a nation, and always for the worse : it
+produces nothing but vices. Whatever might be the
+power of an Indian sultan, he could never form magnanimous subjects ; he would never find among his
+slaves the virtues of free men. Chemistry can extract
+no more gold from a mixed body than it contains ;
+and the most arbitrary power can draw nothing from
+a slave but his inherent baseness.
+Experience then proves that the character and spirit.
+ofa people change with the form of government ; and
+that a different government gives by-turns, to the same
+nation, a character noble or base, firm or fickle, courageous or cowardly. Men therefore are endowed at
+their birth, either with no disposition, or with dispo
+sitions to all vices and all virtues ; they are therefore
+nothingmore than the produce of their education. If
+the Persian have no idea ofliberty, and the savage no
+idea of servitude, it is the effect of their different instruction.
+Why, saystrangers, do we perceive at once, in all
+the French, the same spirit, and the same character,
+like the same physiognomy in all Negroes ? Because
+the French do not judge or think for themselves (9),
+but after the people in power. Their manner ofjudg
+ing for this reason must be perfectly uniform. It is with
+TREATISE ON MAN. 285
+Of alterations in the characters of individuals.
+with Frenchmen as with their wives : when they paint
+themselves, and go to a public show, they all seem of
+the same complexion. I know that with attention we
+can always discover between the characters and understandings of individuals ; but to do this requires
+time.
+The ignorance of the French, the iniquity of their
+police, and the influence of their clergy, render them
+in general more like each other than men ofother countries. Now ifsuch be the influence of the form of
+government on the manners and character ofa people,
+what alteration in the ideas and characters of indivi
+duals must not be produced by the alterations that
+happen in their fortune and situation !
+CHAP. III.
+OF THE ALTERATIONS THAT HAPPEN IN THE
+CHARACTERS OF INDIVIDUALS.
+THAT which occurs in a great and striking manner
+in nations, occurs on a small scale, and in a manner less sensible, in individuals.
+change in their situation produces
+Almost every
+one in their
+characters* .
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Change of character effected by despotism.
+characters . A man is severe, peevish, imperious ;
+menaces and torments his slaves, his children and
+domestics. He loses himself by chance in a forest, and when night comes on, retires to a cavern,
+where he perceives a lion couching. Does this
+man preserve his morose and quarrelsome temper?
+No: he creeps with the utmost caution into a corner
+of the den, lest by the smallest noise he sho: ld rouse
+the fury of the beast.
+From the den ofthe natural lion let us transport him
+to the cavern of a moral lion : let us place him in the
+service of a cruel and despotic tyrant : mild and moderate in the presence of his master, perhaps this man
+will become the most mean and cringing of all his
+slaves. But it will be said, his character is constrained,
+not altered : it is a tree that is bent by force, and
+whose natural elasticity will soon restore it to its former figure. But can it be imagined, that after a tree
+has been for some years bent into a particular figure,
+it will ever return to its original form ? Whoever says
+that men do not easily change their characters by con .
+* Manners with fortunes, humours turn with climes,
+Tenets with books, and principles with times.
+Ask men's opinions : Scoto now shall tell
+How trade increases, and the world goes well ;
+Strike off his pension, by the setting sun,
+And Britain, ifnot Europe, is undone.
+POPE. T.
+straint
+TREATISE ON MAN. 287
+•
+The characters of individuals altert with their situation.
+straint, only says that habits long established are not
+to be destroyed in an instant.
+The man of ill humour preserves his character, because he has always some inferior on whomhe can exercise his ill nature. Butlet him be kept a long time
+in the presence of a lion or a tyrant, and there is no
+`doubt but a continued restraint, transformed into a
+habit, will soften his character. In general, as long as
+we are young enough to contract new habits, the only
+incurable faults, and vices, are those that we cannot
+correct without employing means of which morals,
+laws, or customs do not allow the practice. There is
+nothing impossible to education : it makes the bear
+dance.
+If we reflect on this subject, we perceive that our
+first nature, as Pascal and experience prove, is nothing
+else than our first habit*.
+Man is born without ideas and without passions,
+but he is born an imitator and docile to example ; consequently it is to instruction he owes his habits and
+his character. Now I ask, why habits contracted
+during a certain time, cannot at length be effaced by
+contrary habits. Howmany people do we see change
+their character with their rank, according to the different place they occupy at court, and in the ministry ;
+in short, according to the change that happens in their
+* Ifthe author of Emilius has denied this maxim, it is because
+he did not rightly comprehend the sense of Pascal.
+situation
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Ofself-love.
+situation. Why does the robber, when transported
+from England to America, frequently become honest ?
+Because he becomes a man of property, and has land
+to cultivate ; in short, because his situation is changed.
+The officer in the camp is void of compassion ; accustomed to the sight of blood, he beholds it unmoved. But when he returns to London, Paris, or
+Berlin, he returns to the feelings of humanity. Why
+should we regard each character as the effect of a particular organization, when we cannot determine what
+that organization is ? Why search in occult qualities
+for the cause of a moral phenomenon, which the developement of the passion of self-love so clearly and
+readily explains ?
+CHAP. IV.
+OF SELF- LOVE.
+MAN is sensible of bodily pleasure and pain, conse
+quently he flies from the one, and pursues the other ;
+and it is to this constant pursuit and flight that is given
+the name of self-love.
+This sentiment, the inmediate effect of corporeal
+sensibility, and consequently common to all , is inseparable from man. As a proof I offer its permanence,
+impossibility of destruction, or even alteration. Of
+all
+#
+TREATISE ON MAN. 289
+Self-love occasions the difference in the characters of men.
+all our sentiments it is the only one that has these pro™
+perties ; it is to this we owe all our desires, and all our
+passions ; which are nothing more in us than the application of self-love to particular objects*.
+It is therefore to this sentiment, variously modified
+according to the education we receive, the government under which we live, and the different situations
+in which we are placed, that we are to attribute the
+amazing difference in the passions and characters of
+men.
+Self love makes us totally what we are. Why are
+we so covetous of honours and dignities ? Because we
+love ourselves, and desire our own happiness, and consequently the power of procuring it . The love of
+power, and the means of procuring it, are therefore necessarily connected in man with the love of himself
+(10). Every one would command, because every one
+would increase his felicity, and engage all his fellowcitizens to promote it. Nowamong all the methods to
+engage them, the most certain is power or force. The
+love of power, founded on that of happiness, is there-
+* Modes of self-lovethe passions we may call ;
+'Tis real good, or seeming, moves them all ;
+But since not ev'ry good we can divide,
+And reason bids us for our own provide ;
+Passions, tho' selfish, if their means be fair,
+List under reason, and deserve her care.¸
+VOL. I.
+POPE.
+fore
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Ofthe lowe of riches and glory.
+fore the common object of all our desires ( 11). Thus
+riches, honour, glory, envy, importance, justice, virtue,
+intolerance, in a word, all the factitious passions are
+nothing but the love of power, disguised under those
+different names.---
+Power is the only object ofman's pursuit. To prove
+this, I shall shew that all the passions above recited
+are properly nothing more than, the love of power;
+and I conclude from this love being commonto all, that
+all are susceptible of the desire of esteem and glory,
+and consequently of the sort of passion proper to put
+in action the equal aptitude that men, organized in the
+common manner, have to understanding.
+CHAP. V.
+OF THE LOVE OF RICHES AND GLORY.
+AT the head of the cardinal virtues is placed force
+or power: it is the virtue most, and perhaps the only
+one really esteemed. The portion of weakness is contempt.
+Whence arises our disdain of the Oriental nations,
+* All our passions are factitious, except corporeal wants, pains,
+and pleasures.
+some
+TREATISE ON MAN. 291
+The love of power common to all men.
+some of whom are equal to us in industry, as is apparent from the fabric of their stuffs ; and several
+of whom surpass us perhaps in the social virtues ?
+Do we despise them merely for the meanness with
+which they bearthe cruel and shameful yoke of tyrannical power ? Such a contempt would be just : but
+no; we despise them as enervated and not practised
+in arms. It is then force that we respect ( 19), and
+weakness that we despise. The love of power however is common to all * ; all desire it ; but all do not,
+like Cæsar and Cromwell, aspire to supreme power :
+few men can conceive the design, and still fewer
+are able to execute it.
+The sort of power generally desired is that easily
+attained. Every one may become rich, and every one
+desires wealth for by this we can gratify all our appetites, succour the afflicted, and oblige, consequently
+command, a boundless number of individuals+.
+Glory, like riches, procures power ; and we in like
+* The manwithout desire, who thinks himself perfectly happy,
+must, be, without doubt, insensible to the love ofpower. Are
+there men ofthis sort? Yes: but their number is too small to deserve regard.
+What nature wants, commodious goldbestows,
+'Tis thus we eat the bread another sows.
+Useful, I grant, it serves what life requires,
+But dreadful too, the dark assassin hires :
+Trade it may help, society extend;
+Butlures the pirate, and corrupts the friend.
+U 2 manner
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Ofglory and the means of acquiring it.
+manner pursue it. Glory is acquired either by arms
+or eloquence. We know in what esteem eloquence
+was held at Rome and in Greece ; it there conducted men to grandeur and power. Magna vis &
+magnum nomen, says Cicero, sunt unum et idem. Among
+those people a great name gave great power. The
+renowned orator commanded a number of clients.
+Now in every republic, whoever is followed by a croud
+of clients is always a powerful citizen. The Hercules
+of the Gauls, from whose mouth issued an infinite
+quantity ofgold threads, was the emblem ofthe moral
+force of eloquence. But why is that eloquence, formerly so respected, no longer honoured and cultivated, except in England ? Because it is no where else
+the road to honours.
+The love of glory, of esteem, and importance is
+therefore properly nothing more than a disguised love
+of power.
+Glory is said to be the mistress of almost all great
+men they pursue her through all dangers to obtain
+her they bravethe labours of war, the fatigue of study,
+and the resentment of a thousand rivals ( 13). That is,
+in countries where glory gives power ; where it is nothing more than an empty title, where merit has no
+real importance, the citizen, indifferent about public
+fame, will make few efforts to obtain it. Why is glory
+It raises armies in a nation's aid ;
+But bribes a senate, and the land's betray'd.
+POPE.
+regarded
+TREATISE ON MAN. 293
+OfEnvy.
+regarded as a plant of a republican soil, that degenerating in a despotic country, never thrives with remarkable vigour ? Because in glory we in reality
+seek nothing but power, and under an arbitrary government all power vanishes before that of the despot. The man who there passes the night under arms,
+orin his study, thinks that he is animated by a desire
+of public esteem ; but he deceives himself. Esteem
+is only the name he gives to the object of his pursuit :
+power is the thing itself.
+Hence I observe, that the splendor and power with
+which glory is sometimes surrounded, and which render it 30 dear to us, must also frequently render us odious to our fellow-citizens, and hence proceeds envy.
+CHAP. VI.
+OF ENVY.
+MERIT, says Pope, produces envy, as the body produces the shadow. Envy infers merit as smoke does
+fire. Envy, exasperated by merit, respects no place
+or dignity, not even the throne : it equally pursues a
+Voltaire, a Catinat, and a Frederic. If we were frequently to recollect how far its fury extends, perhaps,
+terrified bythe persecutions that await a man of great
+US talents,
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Envy invariably attends genius.
+talents, we should not have courage to acquire them.
+The man of genius who says to himself, while seated
+by his lamp, this night my work will be finished : tomorrow will be the day of recompence : to-morrowthe
+grateful public shall acknowledge the obligation it
+owes me: to-morrow I shall obtain the crown of immortality. This man forgets the power ofenvy. Tomorrow arrives: the work is published : it is a finished
+work: the public however does not acknowledge its obligation. Envy drives far from the author the sweet perfume ofeulogy *, and in its stead substitutes the stench
+ofamalignant criticism and injurious calumny. The sun
+ofglory scarcely ever shines but on the tomb of a great
+man. He that deserves esteem seldom enjoys it ; andhe
+that plants the laurel rarely reposes under its shadowt.
+* Of all the passions envy is the most detestable ; the portrait
+drawn ofit, by I know not what poet, is horrible.
+Compassion, says he, is softened by the misfortunes of men;
+envy rejoices in their tortures.
+There is no passion that does not propose some pleasure for its
+object ; the sole object of envy is the miseries of others.
+Merit contemns the prosperity of the wicked and the stupid ;
+envy, that of the good and learned.
+Love and wrath, lighted in the heart, there burn for an hour, a
+day, a year ; envy gnaws it to the last moment of existence.
+Under the banner of envy march hatred, calumny, cabal, and
+treachery.
+Envy is every where attended by meagre famine ; the venom of
+pestilence, and the devastation of war.
++ Ifgreat writers become the preceptors of mankind after their
+But
+TREATISE ON MAN, 295
+Few minds are untained with envy.
+But does envy dwell in every heart ? There is none
+that is not at least penetrated by it. How many great
+menare there that cannot suffer competitors, that will
+not admit a partition of esteem with any of their brethren ; and forget, that at the banquet of glory,
+every one should have, if I may so say, his portion !
+Even the noblest souls sometimes lend an ear to
+envy; they resist its aspersions, but not without difficulty. Nature has made man envious : to desire an
+alteration in this respect, is to desire he would cease
+to love himself, that is, to desire an impossibility.
+Let notthe legislature therefore attempt to silence jea.
+lousy, but to render its rage impotent, and establish,
+as in England, laws proper to protect merit against the
+resentinent ofa minister, and the fanaticism of a priest.
+This is all that sagacity can do in favour of talents. To
+pretend to more, and flatter ourselves with annihilating
+envy, is folly. All ages have declaimed against this
+vice what have their declamations produced ? Nothing. Envy still exists, and has lost nothing of its
+force, because nothing can change the nature of man.
+There is a time however when envy is not felt ; and
+that time is in early youth. Do we propose to surpass,
+or at least to equal the merit of men already honoured
+with public applause ; do we aspire to a participation
+of the applause that is decreed them ? Then, full of respect, their presence excites our emulation ; we extol
+death, it must be confessed, that while they live, the preceptors
+are sufficiently chastised by their pupils.
+U4 them
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Excessive humility required of celebrated men.
+them with transport ; because we have an interest in
+praising them, in habituating the public to respect in
+them ourfuture talents. Praise is therefore a tribute
+that youth freely pays to merit, and that is constantly
+refused it by maturer age.
+At thirty years the emulation of twenty is changed
+into envy. When we lose the hope of equalling those
+we admire, admiration gives place to hatred. The
+resource of pride is the contempt of talents. The desire of the man of mediocrity is to have no superiors.
+How many envious men repeat softly after a comic
+writer,
+Je t'aime d'autant plus que je t'estime moins.
+The less I esteem thee the more I love thee.
+If we cannot stifle the reputation of a celebrated
+man, we at last expect from him the most submissive
+modesty. The envious have reproached M. Diderot
+even with the first words of his Interpretation of Nature : Young man, take this and read. People were not
+formerly so difficult : the counsellor Dumoulin said of
+himself; I that have no equal, and am superior to all
+the world. The many humiliating circumstances now
+required of authors suppose a remarkable increase of
+pride in readers ; such a pride declares a hatred of
+merit ; and that hatred is natural. In fact, if anxious
+for happiness men court power, and consequently the
+glory and importance it procures, they must detest what
+in a man too illustrious deprives them of it. Why do
+they circulate so many bad reports of men of genius ?
+Because
+TREATISE ON MAN. 297
+Universality of envy.
+Because they find themselves inwardly constrained to
+think well ofthem. When they draw for a twelfthcake, there is a part set aside for God ; and when they
+examine the merit of a man of eminence, they always
+find some defect : that is the portion of envy..
+When a man cannot raise himself above the rank
+of his fellow-citizens, he endeavours to bring them
+downtohim. He whocannot be their superior, would
+at least be their equal* ( 14.) Such is man, and such
+he always will be..
+Amongvirtuous characters, and the most abovegross
+envy, perhaps there is no one not stained with a slight
+blemish of it. Who in fact can boast ofhaving always
+heartily commended genius ; of having never dissembled his esteem ; of having never maintained a culpable silence, and of having never added to the praises
+given to talents, one of those perfidous buts, which
+jealousy so frequently extorts from us.+
+* I have no title to aspire,
+Yet when yousink I seem the higher:
+In Pope I cannot read a line,
+But with a sighI wishit mine ;
+Whenhe can in one couplet fix
+More sense than I can do in six,
+It gives me such a jealous fit,
+I cry, pox take him and his wit ! T.SWIFT.
++ How many men extol the ancients above the moderns, merelythat they may not be forced to acknowledge theyhave among
+themselves such men as Locke, Seneca, Virgil, &c.
+Every
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Envy of literary characters.
+Every great talent is in general an object of hatred,
+and hence that eagerness with which we purchase those
+pamphlets that lash them so furiously. Why else do we
+read them? It cannot be a desire to improve our taste
+(15); for those writers do not pretend to the abilities ofa
+Longinus or Despreaux ; not even to enlighten the
+public. Let him who cannot compose a good work ·
+never pretend to amuse himself with criticising those
+of others.
+The impotency of producing any thing good makes
+a critic ; his profession is humble. If such writers as
+Desfontaine please, it is as comforters of the stupid.
+Thebitterness of satire is the proof of genius.
+To blame with rancour is the praise of envy. It is
+the first eulogy an author receives, and the only one
+he can draw from his rivals. Men applaud with regret it is themselves only they would find praiseworthy. There is scarcely any man who cannot persuade himself of his own merit ; has he common sense ?
+he prefers it to genius : has he some petty virtues ? he
+gives them the preference to great talents. We despise
+all that is not self. There is but one man who can believe
+himself free from envy ; and it is he that has never
+examined his own heart.
+The protectors and panegyrists of genius are youth
+( 16), and some few learned and virtuous men. But
+their impotent protection (17) can give a writer neither
+credit nor consideration. Yet, what is the common
+nourishment
+TREATISE ON MAN. 299
+Genius of merit stiflèd by envy.
+nourishment of talents and virtue ? Consideration and
+praise. Deprived of this subsistence, they both languish and die : the activity and energy ofthe soul is
+extinguished ; as the flame expires that has nothing
+to nourish it.
+In almost all governments, talents, like the prisoners
+ofthe Romans, condemned and given up to wild beasts,
+become their prey. Is genius despised at court? Envy
+does the rest ( 18) it destroys the very seed of genius.
+When merit is continually obliged to struggle with
+envy, it becomes fatigued, and quits the ground, if
+ifthere be no prize ordained for the conqueror. We
+love neither study nor glory for themselves ; but for
+the pleasures, esteem, and power they procure. Why?
+Because in general, we are less desirous of being estimable than esteemed. Most writers, anxious only for
+the glory of the present moment ( 19), and to flatter
+the taste of their age and nation (20), present them
+with nothing but ideas adapted to the present day, and
+such as are agreeable to men in power, from whom
+they can expect money and consideration, together
+with an ephemeral success.
+There are men, however, who disdain the glory of a
+moment ; who, transporting their imaginations into futurity, and enjoying in advance the eulogies and respect of posterity, fear to survive their reputation (21 ).
+This motive alone makes them sacrifice the glory and
+consideration ofthe present moment, to the hope of,
+sometimes
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+The love of glory and truth subordinate to the love of happiness.
+sometimes a distant, but greater glory and importance.
+These men are rare : they desire the applause of none
+butworthy citizens.
+What were the censures of the Sorbonne to Marmontel (22) ? He would have blushed at their applause.
+A garland woven by stupidity cannot sit easy on the
+head ofgenius. It is like the new ornament with which
+they have crowned the square house in Languedoc.
+The traveller, as he passes, says, " Behold the hat of
+Harlequin on the head ofCaesar."
+Let it not be imagined, however that the man most.
+solicitous for a durable reputation, loves glory and
+truth forthemselves. If such be the nature of each individual, that he is necessitated to love himself above
+all things, the love of truth must be in himalways subordinate to the love of his happiness. He can only
+love in the truth the means of increasing his own felicity. Therefore he will pursue neither glory nor truth
+in a country and under a government where they are
+both despised.
+The result of this and the preceding chapter, is, that
+the fury of envy, the desire of riches and talents, the
+love of importance, glory, and truth, are never in man
+any thing else than the love of power (23), disguised
+under those different denominations.
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN. 301
+Of Justice.
+CHAP. VII.
+OF JUSTICE.
+JUSTICE is the preserver of the life and liberty ofthe
+citizens. Each one desires to enjoy his respective property ; each one therefore loves justice in others, and
+would have them behave justly toward him. But who
+is solicitous to be just toward others ? Do men love
+justice for the sake of justice, or for the consideration
+it procures ? That is the object of my inquiry.
+Man is so often ignorant of himself : we perceive
+so much contradiction between his conduct and his
+discourse*, that to know him we must study his actions
+and his nature.
+Inmorality, as in religion, there are a few sincere, persons, and a
+great many hypocrites. Athousand men adorn themselves with
+sentiments not their own, and which they cannot have. When we
+compare their conduct with their discourse, we find none but
+knaves that would make dupes . We ought in general to mistrust
+the probity of those who pretend to extraordinary probity,
+and set themselves up for ancient Romans. There are who
+appear really virtuous at the moment the curtain is drawn up,
+and they are going to perform a great part on the theatre of
+the world. But behind the scenes how many are there who preserve the same character of equity, and arealways just ?
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN,
+The savage has noidea ofjustice.
+CHAP. VIII.
+OF JUSTICE CONSIDERED IN THE MAN OF
+NATURE.
+To judge of man, let us consider him in his primitive
+state, in that of a ferocious savage. Does the savage
+love and respect equity ? No : it is force he regards.
+Hehas no idea of equity in his heart, nor any word to
+express it in his language. What idea can he form of
+it, and what in fact is injustice ? The violation ofa
+convention or law made for the advantage of the majority. Injustice, therefore, cannot precede the establishment of a convention, a law, and a common inteWhat convinces me of the love which the ancient Romans had
+for virtue, is the knowledge of their laws, and their manners ;
+without this knowledge, the virtue of the modern Romans would
+make me suspect that ofthe ancient, and I should say with Cardinal Bessarion, on the subject of miracles, that the new make the
+old doubtful.
+The manjust, but intelligent, will not pretend to love justice
+for itself. Is he without fault ? We allow without blushing, that
+in all our actions we never have any thing but our happiness in
+view ; but we always confound it with that of our fellow-citizens.
+Few place it so happily.
+rest
+TREATISE ON MAN. 303
+•
+The formation of society and languages must precede that oflaws.
+rest. Before law, there is no injustice. Si non esset
+lex, non esset peccatum. Now what does the establishment of laws suppose ?
+st. The union ofmenin a society, greater or less.
+d. The formation of a language proper to communicate a certain number of ideas*.
+Now ifthere be savages whose language does not
+contain above five or six sounds or cries, the formation
+ofa language must be the work of several centuries.
+Until that work be completed, men without convention
+and laws, must live in a state of war.
+This state, they will say, is a state of misery ; and
+* According to Mr. Locke, " Alawis a rule prescribed to the
+"people, with the sanction ofsome punishment or reward, proper
+to determine their wills." All law, according to him, supposes
+reward or punishment attached to its observation or infraction.
+This definition laid down, the man who violates, among a polished people, a convention not attended with this sanction, is not
+punishable : he is however unjust. But could he be unjust before the establishment ofall convention, and the formation of a language proper to express injustice ? No : for in that state, man can
+have no idea of property, nor consequently ofjustice.
+What does experience teach us about this matter ? Experience,
+to which, in morality as well as in physics, we must submit the
+most plausible theories, and which alone can establish their truth
+or falsehood ; experience tells us, that man has ideas of force before those of justice ; that, in general, he has no love of justice ;
+that even in polished nations, where people are continually talking
+of equity, no one regards it, unless he be forced by the fear ofa
+power equal orsuperior to his own.
+misery
+*304 TREATISE ON MAN.
+Illustration ofthe rights of the stronger.
+misery being the creator of laws, must force men to
+accept them. Yes ; but till they are accepted, men
+are not the less unjust for being miserable. How can
+they be said to usurp the field or orchard ofthe present
+possessor, and commit a robbery, when there is no
+property or partition of fields or orchards ? Before the
+public interest has declared the law of first possession
+to be held sacred, what can be the plan of a savage inhabitant of a woody district, from which a stronger
+savage had driven him ?
+What right have you, he would say, to drive me.
+from my possession ?
+What right have you, says the other, to that possession ?
+Chance, replies the first, led my steps thither : it belongs to me because I inhabit it, and land belongs to
+the first occupier.
+What is that right of the first occupier (24) ? replies
+the other ; if chance first led you to this spot, the
+same chance has given methe force necessary to drive
+you from it. Which of these two rights deserves the
+preference ? Would you know all the superiority of
+mine ? Look up to heaven and see the eagle that darts
+upon the dove turn thine eyes to the earth, and see.
+the lion that preys upon the stag : look toward the sea,
+and behold the gold-fish devoured by the shark. All
+things in nature show that the weak is a prey to the
+powerful. Force is the gift of the gods ; so that I
+have a right to possess all that I can seize. Heaven,
+by
+TREATISE ON MAN. * 305
+Justice pre-supposes a state of civilization.
+by giving me these nervous arms, has declared its will.
+Be gone from hence, yield to superior force, or dare
+the combat (25) .
+What answer can be given to the discourse of this
+savage, or with what injustice can he be accused, if
+the law of first occupation be not yet established ?
+Justice then supposes the establishment of laws.
+The observance of justice supposes an equilibrium in
+the power of the inhabitants. The maintenance of
+that equilibrium is the masterpiece of the science of
+legislation. It is by a mutual and salutary fear that
+men are made to be just to each other. When this
+fear is no longer reciprocal, then justice becomes a
+meritorious virtue, and then the legislation of a people
+is vicious. Its perfection supposes that man is compelled to justice.
+Justice is unknown to the solitary savage. If the
+polished man have some idea of it, it is because he
+knows the laws. But does he love justice for itself ?
+It is experience that must instruct us in this matter.
+VOL. 1. x CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+J
+The love ofjustice is founded either on fear or hope.
+CHAP. IX.
+OF JUSTICE CONSIDERED IN POLISHED MAN AND
+NATIONS.
+WHAT is the love which man has for justice ? To
+determine this question, we must place him above all
+hope and fear make him an oriental monarch.
+When seated on his throne, he can levy on his
+people taxes without limits. Ought he to do it ? No.
+The measure of all taxes is the wants of the state.
+Every tax, when pushed beyond those wants, is a robbery, an injustice. No truth is more evident than
+this. Yet, notwithstanding man's pretended love of
+equity, there is no Asiatic monarch who does not
+commit this injustice, and commit it without remorse.
+What can we infer from this fact ? That man's love of
+justice is founded either on a fear of the evils attendant on iniquity, or from the hope of the good con
+sequences ofesteem , consideration, and, in short, from
+the power attached to the practice of justice.
+The necessity which we are under to form virtuous
+men, to reward and punish, to institute wise laws, and
+to establish a regular form of government, is an evident proof of this truth.
+Let
+TREATISE ON MAN. 307
+Ofthe love ofjustice in nations.
+Let what I have said of man be applied to nations.
+Two nations are neighbours; they are in certain respects in a reciprocal dependance : they are consequently forced to make conventions between them,
+and to form the law of nations. Do they regard it?
+Yes, so long as they reciprocally fear each other, so
+long as a certain balance of power subsists between
+them. When this balance is destroyed, the strongest
+nation violates their conventions without concern (26).
+It becomes unjust, because it can be so with impunity.
+The so much bonsted respect of man for justice is
+never any thing more than a respect for power.
+*
+Yet there are no people who do not in war say justice is on our side. But when, and in what situation ?
+When surrounded by powerful nations, who may take
+part in their quarrels. What is then the object of
+their pretence ? To shew their enemy to be unjust,
+ambitious, and dreadful : to excite the jealousy of
+other nations against them, and by making allies to
+become strong by the force of others. The object of
+a nation in such appeals to justice, is to encrease its
+power, and to secure a superiority over a rival nation.
+* Perhaps there are many men, there are certainly some, who
+on a close examination of their own hearts, cannot assent to this
+strong assertion of our author. Whether the real love ofjustice in
+these men proceeds from principles strongly inculcated and long
+practised, that is , from education ; or from an innate principle, is
+here immaterial. T.
+x2
+The
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Reply of Brennus to the Roman ambassadors.
+The pretended love of justice of nations, is therefore nothing but a real love of power. ·
+To confirm this truth, suppose the neighbours of
+two rival nations to be fully employed with their own
+affairs, and not able to take any part in the quarrel,
+what then happens ? The most powerful of the two
+nations, without any appeal to justice, or regard to
+equity, carries fire and sword into the country of its
+enemy. Force then becomes right : and iniserable is
+the condition of the weak and conquered.
+When Brennus at the head of the Gauls attacked
+the Clusians, " What offence, said the Roman am-
+" bassadors, have the Clusians given you ?" Brennus
+laughed at the question. " Their offence, he replied,
+" is the refusal they make to divide their country with
+"me. It is the same offence that the people of Alba,
+" the Fidenians and Ardeans formerly gave you, and
+lately the Vienians, the Falisci, and the Volsci. To
+" avenge yourselves, you took up arms, and washed
+""
+awaythe injury with their blood ; you subdued the
+" people, pillaged their houses, and laid waste their ci-
+"ties and their countries : andin this you did no wrong
+" or injustice you obeyed the most ancient laws, which
+"give to the strong the possessions of the weak ; the 66 sovereign law of nature, that begins with God,
+" and ends with animals. Suppress, therefore, O Ro-
+" mans, your pity for the Clusians. Compassion is
+yet unknown to the Gauls : do not inspire them with 66
+" that
+TREATISE ON MAN. 309
+Conquerors despise justice.
+" that sentiment, lest they should have compassion on
+" those whom you oppress."
+Few chiefs have the boldness and candour of Brennus. Their language is different, but their actions are
+the same ; and, in fact, they have all tlie same contempt of justice ( 27) .
+The history of the world is a vast collection of reiterated proofs of this truth (28). The invasions ofthe
+Huns, the Goths, the Vandals, the Suevi, and the
+Romans ; the conquests of the Spaniards and Portuguese in both Indies, and lastly our croisades ; all
+prove that nations in their enterprizes consult force,
+not justice. Such is the picture which history presents
+us. Now the same principle that actuates nations,
+must necessarily, and in like manner actuate the individuals who compose them . Let the conduct of nations, therefore, elucidate that of individuals.
+CHAP. X.
+INDIVIDUALS, LIKE NATIONS, ESTEEM JUSTICE
+SOLELY FOR THE CONSIDERATION AND POWER
+IT PROCURES THEM.
+Is not a man, with regard to his fellow- citizens,
+nearly in the same state of independence, that one
+x3 people
+. TREATISE ON MAN.
+Parallel between the conqueror and the robber.
+people are to another ? Man then loves justice (29)
+merely for the power and happiness it procures him.
+To what other cause, in fact, except to the extreme
+love ofpower, can we attribute our admiration of conquerors (30) ? " The conqueror, said the pirate De-
+" metrius to Alexander, is a man, who at the head of
+a hundred thousand soldiers, takes at once a hun-
+" dred thousand purses, and cuts the throats of a hun-
+" dred thousand citizens ; who does on alarge scale, what
+" the robber does on a small one ; and who, by being
+more unjust than the latter, is more destructive to
+"society." The robber is a terror to an individual.
+The conqueror, like the tyrant, is the scourge of a nation. What makes us respect Alexander and Cortez,
+and despise Cartouch and Rassiat. The power of the
+one, and the impotence of the other. In the robber
+it is not properly the crime, but the weakness which
+we despise (31). The conqueror appears as invested
+with great power ; we would be invested with the same
+power, and we cannot despise what we wish to attain.
+The love which man has for power is such, that in
+all cases the exercise of it is agreeable to him because
+it makes him recollect his possesssion of it. Every
+man would have great power, and every man knows
+that it is almost impossible to be at once constantly
+just and powerful. Man makes, without doubt, a better or worse use of his power, according to the education he has received . But be it as good as it may,
+there is no great man who does not commit some acts
+of
+TREATISE ON MAN. 311
+The love of equity is subordinate to the love ofpower.
+of injustice. The abuse of power is connected with
+its existence, as the effect with the cause. Corneille
+says,
+Qui peut tout ce qu'il veut, veut plus que ce qu'il
+doit (32).
+He who can do whatever he will, wills more than
+he ought.
+This verse is a moral axiom confirmed by experience; and yet no one refuses a great place for fear of
+exposing himself to the temptation of injustice*.
+Ourlove of equity, therefore, is always subordinate
+to our love of power. Man, solely anxious for himself, seeks nothing but his own happiness. If he respects equity, it is want that compels him to it (33).
+If a difference arise between two men nearly equal
+in power, each of them, restrained by a reciprocal
+fear, has recourse to justice ; each of them submits to
+its decision ; that he may interest the public in his favour, and thus acquire a certain superiority over his
+adversary.
+But let one of these two men be greatly superior in
+powerto the other, so that he can rob him with impunity; and then deaf to the voice of justice, he does not
+litigate, but command. It is not equity, nor even the
+* This must be understood with limitation : many men have
+refused power, from a fear of teniptation, and a consciousness of their own weakness.
+X 4 appearance
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+The love of power the sole motive of action in all governments.
+appearance of equity, that determines between the
+weak and powerful ; but force, crime, and tyranny.
+It is thus that the divan gives the name of seditious to
+the remonstrances of the impotent, whom it oppresses.
+To show still more clearly the great love that men
+have for power, I shall add but one proof to the
+foregoing, which is the strongest.
+CHAP. XI,
+THE LOVE OF POWER, UNDER EVERY FORM OF GO,
+VERNMENT, 18 THE SOLE MOTIVE OF MAN'S AÇTIONS.
+"UNDER everyform of government, says M. Mon-
+" tesquieu, there is a different principle of action.
+" Fear in despotic states, honour under monarchies,
+"and virtue in republics, are the several moving prin-
+" ciples."
+But on what proof does M. Montesquieu found
+this assertion*. Is it quite evident that'fear, honour,
+Fear, says M. Montesquieu, is the moving principle in de
+spotic empires. He is mistaken. Fear does not increase, butweakens
+the spring of the mind. I can admit nothing for the active principle of a nation, but the constant objects of the desire of almost
+and
+TREATISE ON MAN. 313
+The love of power the sole motive ofaction in all governments.
+and the love of virtue, are the different motives in different governments ? May we not assert on the contrary, that one cause alone, but varied in its applications, is equally the principle of activity in all empires; and that if M. Montesquieu, less affected by the
+show of his division, had more scrupulously discussed
+all the inhabitants. Now, in despotic states there are but two ;
+one is the desire of money, and the other the favour of the monarch.
+Inthe two other forms of government there are, accordingtothe
+same writer, two other moving principles, of a nature, says he,
+very different : the one is honour, under monarchical states ; the
+other virtue, which is applicable to republics only.
+"
+The words Honour and Virtue are not indeed perfectly synonimous. Yet if the word Honour constantly brings to the mind
+the idea of some virtue, these terms differ only in the extent of
+their signification. Honour and virtue are therefore principles of the same nature.
+If M. Montesquieu had not proposed to give each form ofgoyernment a different principle of action, he would have perceived
+the same principle in all. This principle is the love ofpower, and
+consequently personal interest modified according to the different
+constitutions ofthe states, and their several legislations. If virtue
+be, as he says, the active principle in republics, it is at most onlyin
+poor and warlike republics. Thelove of gold is that of commercial
+republics.
+It appears, therefore, that in all governments man obeys his own
+interest ; but that his interest is not the same in all. The more
+we examine in this respect the manners of a people, the more convinced we are, that it is to their legislation they owetheir vices and
+their virtues. The principles of M. Montesquieu on this matter
+appear to me to be more showy than solid.
+this
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Of the government of a single person.
+this question, he would have attained more profound,
+clear, and general ideas : he would have perceived in
+the love of power, the moving principle of every in
+dividual : he would have found in the various means
+of acquiring power, the principle to which we ought,
+in all ages and all countries, to refer the different conduct of men. In fact, power is in every nation either
+concentered in one man, as in Morocco and Turkey ;
+or, as in Venice and Poland, distributed among several ; or, as in Sparta, Rome, and England, divided
+among the whole body of the nation. According to
+these several partitions of authority, we are sensible
+that the inhabitants will contract different habits and
+manners, and yet all propose the same object, which
+is that of pleasing the supreme power, of rendering it
+propitious to them, and thus obtaining some portion
+or emanation ofits authority.
+OF THE GOVERNMENT OF A SINGLE PERSON.
+If this government be strictly arbitrary, the supreme
+power resides in the hands of a sultan who is in general badly educated. Does he grant his protection
+to certain vices ; is he without humanity, without love
+of glory ; and does he sacrifice to his humour the
+happiness of his subjects ? The courtiers, jealous of
+his favour only, model their conduct by his, and in
+proportion as the despot shews more indifference for
+the patriotic virtues, they affect to hold them in the
+greater contempt.
+In
+TREATISE ON MAN. 315
+Of the government ofseveral.
+In this country we find no such men as Timoleon,
+Leonidas, Regulus, &c. Such citizens cannot flourish
+without that degree of consideration and respect
+which was shown to the virtuous man ; who in Rome
+and Greece, being secure ofthe national esteem, saw
+nothing above him .
+In a despotic state, what respect will be paid to the
+honest man ? The sultan, sole disposer of rewards and
+punishments, centers all consideration within himself.
+No one can there shine but by his reflected light, and
+the vilest favourite holds an equal rank with the greatest
+hero. In every government ofthis sort, emulation
+must be extinguished. The interest of the despot
+being frequently opposite to the interest ofthe public,
+must obscure every idea of virtue ; and the love of
+power, the moving principle of each individual, cannot
+there form just and virtuous men.
+OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SEVERAL.
+In governments of this sort the supreme power is
+in the hands of a certain number of great men. The
+body of the nobles is the despot (34) . Their object is to
+keep the people in shameful and inhuman poverty and
+slavery. Now what is to be done to gain their protection und favour ? Enter into their views ; favour their
+tyranny, and perpetually sacrifice the happiness ofa
+great number, to the pride of a few. In such a nation,
+it is also impossible that the love ofpower should produce good citizens.
+OF
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Ofthe government of all.
+OF THE GOVERNMENT OF ALL.
+In this state, the supreme power is equally divided
+among all the orders of the inhabitants. The nation is
+then the despot. What does it require ? The happiness
+of the greatest number, By what means is its favour
+to be attained ? By services rendered it. Therefore,
+every action conformable to the interest ofthe greatest
+number is just and virtuous : consequently, the love of
+power, the moving principle of the inhabitants, must
+compel them to the love of justice and of talents.
+Whatdoes this love produce ? The public happiness.
+The supreme power divided among all the orders of
+inhabitants, is the soul that is equally diffused through
+all the members ofthe state ; animates it, and renders
+it healthful and vigorous.
+It cannot therefore be wonderful, that this form of
+government is always cited as the best. Free and
+happy citizens will obey no legislation but what themselves have formed: they own nothing above them but
+equity and the laws. They live in peace ; for in morality, as in physics, it is the equilibrium of force that
+produces tranquillity. If an ambitious man destroy
+this equilibrium, and there no longer exists a mutual
+dependence among the several orders of citizens ; or
+if there be, as in Persia, one man, or, as in Poland, a
+body of men, who have an interest separate from that
+oftheir nation nothing is then to be seen but oppressors and oppressed ; the inhabitants are divided into
+two classes only, tyrants and slaves.
+:
+If
+TREATISE ON MAN. 317
+The history ofCromwell proves that justice is not loved for its own sake.
+If M. Montesquieu had thought deeply on these
+matters, he would have perceived, that in every country
+men are united by the love of power, but that power
+is obtained by different means, according as the supreme authority is centered, as in the East, in the
+hands of a single person ; or divided, as in Poland,
+among the body of the nobles ; or as in Rome and
+Sparta, among the several orders of the state : and
+that it is to the different manners by which power is
+acquired, that men owe their vices and their virtues :
+and that they do not love justice merely for itself.
+One of the strongest proofs of this truth, is the baseness with which kings themselves honoured injustice
+in the person of Cromwell. This Cromwell, the blind
+and criminal instrument of the future liberty of his
+country, was nothing more than a lawless and formidable robber. Yet scarcely was he styled Protector,
+when all the Christian princes courted his friendship,
+and all of them offered, by their deputations and their
+embassies, to legitimate, as far as was in their power,
+the usurper's crimes. No one then was offended at
+the baseness with which his alliance was courted. Injustice, therefore, is never despised but in the weak.
+Now if the moving principle of monarchs and whole
+nations be that of the individuals who compose them,
+wemay rest assured that man, solely solicitous to increase his importance, loves not in justice any thing
+but the power and happiness it procures him.
+It is to the same motive he owes his love of virtue.
+CHAP.
+S18 TREATISE ON MAN.
+Of Virtue.
+CHAP. XII.
+OF VIRTUE.
+THE word Virtue, equally applicable to prudence,
+courage, and charity*, has, therefore only a vague signification. However it constantly recals to the mind
+the confused idea of some quality useful to society.
+When qualities of this sort are common to the
+greatest part of the citizens a nation is happy within
+itself, formidable without, and worthy ofimitation by
+posterity+. Virtue, always useful to man and consequently always respectable, ought, at least in certain
+countries, to reflect power and consideration on its
+possessors. Now it is the love of consideration that
+* Virtue, says Cicero, is derived from the word vis : its natural
+signification is fortitude. It has the same root in Greek. Force
+and courage are the first ideas that men could form of virtue.
+↑ Virtuous and vicious ev'ry man must be.
+Few in th' extreme, but all in the degree,
+The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wise ;
+And e'en the best, by fits what they despise.
+'Tis but by parts we follow good or ill ;
+For, vice or virtue, self directs it still . T.
+POPE.
+man
+TREATISE ON MAN. 319
+Virtne is not loved merely for its own sake.
+man takes to be in him the love of virtue. Each one
+pretends to love it for itself. This phrase is in every
+one's mouth, but in no one's heart. What motive
+makes the monk fast, wear a hair cloth, and flog himself ? The hope of eternal happiness : the fear of hell,
+and the desire of heaven.
+Pleasure and pain, those productive principles of
+monastic virtue, are the principles of the patriotic
+virtues also. The hope of rewards makes them flourish. Whatever disinterested love we may affect to
+have, without interest to love virtue there is no virtue.
+To know man, in this respect, we must study him ;
+not by his conversation, but his actions. When I
+speak I put on a mask : when I act I am forced to
+take it off. It is not, therefore, by what I say, but
+what I do, that men are to judge me ; and they will
+judge me rightly.
+Who preaches up the love of humility and poverty
+more than the clergy ? And what proves the falsity
+of that love more strongly than the history of the
+clergy itself ?
+The elector of Bavaria, it is said, has not, for maintaining his troops, his police, and his court, so large
+arevenue as the church has for maintaining its priests.
+Yet in Bavaria, as every where else, the clergy preach
+up the virtue of poverty. It is therefore the poverty
+of others they extol.
+To know the real esteem in which virtue is held, let
+us suppose it banished to the dominions of a monarch
+where it can expect no grace or favour. What re- 4 spect
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Power is always honoured, never despised.
+More respect then
+These courtiers, it
+spect will be paid at his court to virtue ? None. Nothing can be there respected but baseness, intrigue,
+and cruelty, disguised under the names of decency,
+wisdom, and firmness. Does the vizir there give audience. The nobles, prostrate at his feet, can scarcely
+vouchsafe to cast a look upon merit. But it will be
+said, the homage of these courtiers is forced ; it is
+the effect of their fear. Be it so.
+is paid to fear, than to virtue.
+will be added, despise the idol they worship. No
+such thing. Men hate the powerful ; they do not despise them. It is not the wrath of the giant, but of
+the pigmy, we despise. His impotence renders him
+ridiculous. Whatever may be said, we do not really
+despise him, whom we dare not despise to his face. Secret contempt proves weakness and what men pretend
+to in this case, is nothing more than the boastings of
+an impotent hatred (35). The man in power is the mo
+ral giant ; he is always honoured. The homage rendered to virtue is transient, that to force eternal. In
+the forest, it is the lion, and not the stag, that is respected. Force is every thing upon earth. Virtue
+without importance becomes insignificant. If in the
+ages of oppression it has sometimes shone with the
+greatest lustre, if when Thebes and Rome groaned under tyranny, the intrepid Pelopidas, and the virtuous
+Brutus, arose and armed, it was because the sceptre
+then shook in the hands of tyranny : because virtue
+could still open a passage to grandeur and power.
+When
+TREATISE ON MAN. 321
+Virtue despised in the East.
+When it can no longer make its way, when tyranny,
+by the aid ofluxury and baseness, is seated firmly on
+its throne, and has bowed down the people to slavery,
+then no longer are seen those sublime virtues, that, by
+the influence of example, might still be so useful to
+mankind. The seeds of heroism are suffocated.
+In the East, a masculine virtue would be a folly,
+even in the sight of those who still pique themselves on
+honesty. Whoever should there plead the cause of
+the people, would pass for seditious.
+Thamas Kouli-Khan entered India with his army ;
+rapine and desolation followed him. A bold Indianstoppedhim : " O Thamas, said he, if thou art a god,
+" act like a god. If thou art a prophet, conduct us
+" intothe way of salvation. If thou art a king, cease
+" to be a barbarian ; protect the people, and do not
+destroy them." " I am not, replied Thamas, a god,
+"to act like a god ; nor a prophet, to lead you to sal-
+" vation ; nor a king, to make you happy : but I am a
+man, sent by the wrath of heaven to chastise these
+" nations (36)." The discourse of the Indian was regarded as seditious (37), and the answer of Thamas applauded by the army.
+If there be on the theatre a character universally
+admired, it is that of Leontine. Yet in what esteem
+would such a character have been in the court of a
+Phocas ? His magnanimity would have alarmed the
+favourites, and the people, ever at length the echo of
+the great, would have condemned his noble boldness.
+VOL. I. Y Four
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Manner in which most Europeans consider virtue.
+Four and twenty hours residence in an Oriental
+court would prove what I here advance. Fortune and
+authority are there alone respected. How should virtue be there esteemed, or even known ? To form clear
+ideas ofit, we must live in a country where (38) public
+utility is the only measure of human actions. That
+country is yet unknown to geographers. But the Europeans, it will be said, are at least in this respect very
+different from the Asiatics. If they be not free, they
+are at least not entirely degraded to slavery. They,
+therefore, may know what virtue is, and esteem it.
+CHAP. XIII.
+OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE GREATEST
+PART OF EUROPEANS CONSIDER VIRTUE.
+THE greatest part of the people of Europe honour
+virtue in theory: this is an effect of their education.
+They despise it in practice : that is an effect of the
+form oftheir governments.
+If the European admire in history, and applaud on
+the theatre, generous actions, to which the Asiatic is
+frequently insensible, that is, as I have just said, the
+effect ofhis instruction.
+The study of the Greek and Roman history, forms a
+part
+TREATISE ON MAN. 323 .
+Education excites anadmiration of virtue.
+part of his instruction. In the course of this study,
+what mind, without interest and without prejudice, is
+not affected with the same patriotic sentiments that
+animated the ancient heroes ? Youth cannot refuse its
+esteem to those virtues, which consecrated by universal respect, have been celebrated by the most illustrious
+writers of every age.
+For want of the same instruction, the Asiatic feels
+not the same sentiments, nor conceives the same veneration for the masculine virtues of great men. If Europeans admire them without imitation, it is because
+there is scarcely any government where these virtues
+lead to great employments, and nothing is really esteemed but power.,
+When I see a great character of Greece, Rome,
+Britain, or Scandinavia, represented in history, or on the
+theatre, I admire it. The principles of virtue imbibed
+in my infancy force me to it ; and I the more readily
+encourage this sentiment, as I do not in any manner
+compare myself with this hero. Ifhis virtue be strong
+and mine weak, I disguise its weakness : I refer to
+place, time, and circumstances, the difference I observe
+between him and myself. But if this great man be
+myfellow-citizen, why do I not imitate his conduct ?
+His presence humbles my pride. If I can avenge myself of him, I doit : I blame in him what I applaud in
+the ancients. I rail at his generous actions : I depreciate his merit, and at least in appearance, despise his
+impotence.
+Y 2 My
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Strength and power more highly honored than virtue.
+My reason, which judges the virtue of the dead,
+obliges me to esteem in speculation the heroes who
+have rendered themselves useful to their country. The
+picture of ancient heroism produces an involuntary
+respect in every mind that is not entirely debased.
+But in my contemporary, that heroism is odious to me.
+I feel in his presence two contradictory sentiments,
+one esteem the other envy. Subject to these two dif
+ferent impulsions, I hate the living hero, but erect a
+trophy on his tomb, and thus satisfy at once my pride
+and my reason. When virtue is without authority,
+its impotence gives me a right to despise it, and I avail
+myself of that right. Weakness attracts scorn and
+insult (39).
+To be honoured while we live, we must be powerful
+(40). Thus power is the only object of man's desire.
+Hewho had the choice of the strength of Enceladus,
+and the virtues of Aristides, would give the preference
+to the former. In the opinion of all the critics, the
+character ofÆneas is more just and virtuous that that
+ofAchilles. Why then does the latter excite greater
+admiration ? Because Achilles was strong, and we have
+more desire to be powerful than just, and we always
+admire what we would be.
+It is always power and importance that we seek,
+under the name of virtue. Why do we require onthe
+theatre, that virtue should always triumph over vice ?
+Whence arose that rule ? From an interior and confused perception, that we only love in virtue the considewwww
+ration
+TREATISE ON MAN. 325
+The love of power is the most favourable disposition to virtue.
+ration it procures. Men are seriously anxious about
+nothing but authority, and it is the love of power that
+furnishes the legislator with the means of rendering
+them more virtuous and more happy.
+CHAP. XIV.
+THE LOVE OF POWER IS IN MAN THE MOST
+FAVOURABLE DISPOSITION TO VIRTUE.
+IF virtue were the effect of a particular organization,
+or a gift ofthe Divinity, there would be no honest men
+but such as were so organized by nature, or predestined
+by Heaven. Laws, good or bad, forms of government,
+more or less perfect, would have little influence on the
+manners of a people. Sovereigns would not have it
+in their power to form good citizens, and the sublime
+employment of a legislator would be in some measure
+without functions. But if, on the contrary, we regard
+virtue as the effect of a desire common to all (as is the
+desire of command) the legislator being always able
+to annex esteem and riches, in a word, power, under
+some denomination, to the practice of virtue, it can
+always compel men to it. Under a good legislation,
+the vicious alone must then be the fools. It is therefore
+Y S
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+The love ofpower is the most favourable disposition to virtue.
+fore always tothe greater or less absurdity of the laws,
+that we must attribute the greater or less stupidity or
+iniquity of the citizens .
+Heaven, by inspiring all men with the love ofpower,
+has given them a most precious gift. What im.
+ports it whether all men be born virtuous, if all be
+born with a passion that will render them such.
+This truth being fully proved, it is forthe magistrate
+to discover, in the universal love that men have for
+power, the means of securing the virtue of the citizens,
+and the happiness of the nation.
+As to what regards myself, I have accomplished my
+task if I have proved, that man directs, and ever will
+direct, his desires, his ideas, and his actions, to his
+felicity that the love of virtue is always founded in
+him on the desire of happiness : that he only loves in
+virtue the riches and happiness which it produces ;
+and lastly, that even including the desire of glory, all
+is in man nothing more than a disguised love of power.
+It is in this last love that there is still concealed the
+principle of intolerance ; which is of two kinds, the
+one civil, the other religious.
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN. 327
+Of civil intolerance.
+CHAP. XV.
+OF CIVIL INTOLERANCE.
+MAN is born surrounded with pains and pleasures.
+Ifhe desire the sword of power, it is to drive awaythe
+one, and to possess the other. His thirst of power is
+in this respect insatiable. Not content with commanding a people, he would command their opinions also :
+he is not less anxious to subdue the reason of his fel
+low-citizens, than a conqueror is to usurp the trea
+sures, and the provinces of his neighbours.
+He does not think himself truly their master if he
+do not bring their minds into subjection . To effect
+this he employs force : he at length subdues reason .
+Men are completely degraded by believing opinions
+which they are forced to profess. What reasoning
+begins is finished by violence.
+The intolerance of monarchs is always the effect of
+their love of power. Not to think as they do, is to
+assume a power equal to theirs. By this they are en•
+raged.
+What is in certain countries the crime most severely
+punished ? Contradiction . For what crime was the
+Oriental punishment of an iron cage invented in
+France On whom was it inflicted ? Was it some
+Y 4 cowardly
+$28 TREATISE ON MAN.
+What crimes are most severely punished by despots.
+cowardly. or ignorant general who conducted a siege,
+or defended a place badly ; or who by incapacity, jealousy, or treason, suffered provinces to be ravaged ?
+Or was it some minister who loaded the people with intolerable taxes (41 ) and whose edicts were destructive
+of the public felicity ? No : the wretch condemned to
+this punishment, was the writer of a Dutch gazette,
+who criticized, perhaps too severely, the projects of
+some French ministers (42), and made all Europe
+laugh at their expence (43).
+Who is suffered in Spain and Italy to rot in a
+dungeon? Is it a judge who sells justice, or a governor who abuses his power ? No: it is the hawker who sells for bread books, in which the humility
+and poverty of the clergy are doubted. To whom
+in some countries do they give the name of a bad
+citizen ? Is it to the thief, who purloins and dissipates
+the national treasure ? No : such crimes go almost
+every where unpunished ; for they every where find
+protectors. He alone is called a bad citizen, who in
+a song or an epigram laughs at the knavery or futility
+(44) of a man in power.
+I have seen the country where the infamous person
+is not he who does the evil, but he who discovers the
+author of it. Is a house set on fire ? The incendiary
+is caressed, and he who discovers him is punished.
+Under such governments, the greatest of crimes is
+frequently the love of our country, and a resistance
+to the unjust commands of those in power.
+Why
+TREATISE ON MAN. 329
+Honest men are not fit fora court.
+Why is merit always suspected by a weak minister ?
+Whence arises his hatred to men of letters (45)? Because he regards them as so many torches that may
+discover the grossness of his blunders (46).
+There was formerly about the person of a prince, a
+subtle fellow, who, under the denomination of a
+fool, was sometimes permitted to speak the truth
+(47). These fools disgusted : their employment has
+been every where suppressed, and it is perhaps the only
+general alteration that sovereigns have made in their
+dependents. These fools were the last wise men that
+were suffered to attend the great. If we would be
+admitted to their presence, and be found agreeable,
+we must talk as they do, and confirm them in their
+errors. But this is not the part of a man, sagacious,
+candid, and loyal. He will think for himself, and
+speak what he thinks ; the great know it, and hate him .
+They find in him a boundary to their authority. It is
+men of this sort who are above all others prohibited
+from thinking and writing on matters of government.
+Hence it comes that kings, deprived of the advice of
+intelligent men, sacrifice their real and durable power
+to a momentary fear of contradiction. In fact, if a
+prince be only strong by the strength of his people ;
+his people only strong by the wisdom of the adminis
+tration, and that administration be necessarily taken
+from the body ofthe people, it is impossible under a
+government which persecutes the man whothinks, and
+where the people are all kept in darkness, that such a
+nation
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Situation of adespotic monarch.
+nation should produce great ministers. The danger
+of acquiring instruction there destroys instruction.
+The people groan under the sceptre ofa haughty ignorance, that soon precipitates the tyrant and his nation into one common ruin (48). This sort of intolerance is arock, against which, sooner or later, the
+greatest empires are dashed in ruins.
+CHAP. XVI.
+INTOLERANCE FREQUENTLY FATAL TO
+PRINCES.
+PRESENT power and pleasure are frequently destruc
+tive of future pleasure and power. A prince, to command with more sovereign authority, would have his
+subjects without ideas, without spirit, without charac
+ter (42) ; in a word, automata, always obedient to the
+impression he gives them. If they become such, he
+will be powerful at home, and impotent abroad : he
+will bethe tyrant of his subjects, and the contempt of
+his neighbours.
+Such is the situation of a despotic monarch, produ
+ced by a momentary pride. He says to himself, it is
+over my people that I habitually exercise my power :
+it is therefore their opposition, that frequently recalling
+to my mind the idea of a want of sufficient power,
+makes
+TREATISE ON MAN. 331
+Ofthe liberty of thinking and writing.
+makes it the more insupportable. If in consequence
+of this, he prohibited the liberty of thought to his
+subjects, he by that act declares, that, indifferent to
+the greatness and happiness of his people, it is of ittle
+importance to him, whether he govern badly or not,
+but of great importance that he govern without control. Now, from the moment the strop speaks, the
+weak becomes silent, he bows the herd, and no longer
+thinks ; for why should he think, when he cannot communicate his thoughts ?
+But, it will be said, if the stupor in which fear holds
+the minds of men be hurtful to a state, are we to conclude that the liberty of thinking and writing is withoutinconvenience ?
+.
+In Persia, says Chardin, they may, even in coffeehouses censure aloud, and with impunity, the conduct
+of the vizir ; for the minister, desirous of knowing
+the evil he does, is sensible that he cannot know it but
+from the voice of the public. Perhaps there are countries in Europe more barbarous than Persia.
+But still, if every one might think and write, what
+books would they make on subjects they do not understand ! What absurdities would be published ! So
+much the better : they would leave fewer absurdities
+to be committed by the vizirs. The critic would expose the errors of the author ; the public would laugh
+at him ; and that is all the punishment he would deserve. If legislation be a science, its perfection must
+be the work of time and experience. On any subject,
+one
+•
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Advantages of the liberty ofthe press.
+one excellent book supposes an infinity of bad. The
+tragedies ofthe passion must have preceded Heraclius,
+Phedra, Mahomet, &c. Ifthe press cease to be free
+(50), the man in place, ignorant of his failings, will incessantly commit new blunders, and commit almost as
+many absurdities as the author penned (51). Now, it
+is of little importance to a nation, that an author pub.
+lishes absurdities ; so much the worse for him : but it
+is ofgreat importance that the minister do not commit
+them ; for if he do, so much the worse for them .
+The liberty ofthe press is in no wise contrary to the
+general interest (52) ; that liberty is to a people the
+support of emulation . Who are they that should
+maintain this emulation ? The people in power. Let
+them watch carefully over its preservation, for when
+once extinguished, it is almost impossible to kindle it
+again. If a people once polished fall into a state of
+barbarism, what can relieve them ? Nothing but a conquest. That alone can give new manners to a people,
+and render them again powerful and renowned. If a
+people be degraded, let them be conquered. It is the
+desire of an honest citizen, a man that interests him.
+self in the glory of his nation, who thinks himself
+great in its grandeur, and happy in its prosperity. The
+view ofthe despot is not the same, because he does not
+confound himself with his slaves : so that, indifferent
+to their glory and their happiness, nothing affects him
+(53) but their servile obedience.
+The tyrant when blindly obeyed is content. Ifhis
+subjects
+TREATISE ON MAN. 333
+Arbitrary governments are concerned only about the present.
+subjects be without virtue, if his empire be enfeebled,
+if it perish by a consumption, it is of little moment to
+him it is enough ifthe duration of the disease conceal the true cause, and the physician cannot be accused ofignorance. The only fear of sultans and vizirs
+is, that a sudden convulsion should seize the empire.
+There are vizirs like surgeons, whose sole care is, that
+the state or the patient do not expire under their hands.
+Ifone or other ofthem die under a regimen prescribed,
+the reputation of the minister or the surgeon is safe,
+and they give themselves no concern about it.
+In arbitrary governments all concern is confined to
+the present moment. They ask not of the people industry and virtue, but money and submission . The
+despot, the more silently to devour his people, like the
+spider that incessantly twines new threads round the
+insect which it has made its prey, loads them daily
+with new chains (54). When he has at last by fear
+suspended in them all activity, where is his resource
+against the attack of a neighbouring power ? He does
+not foresee that he and his subjects must consequently
+soon submit to the yoke of the conqueror. But des
+potism foresees nothing.
+Every remonstrance disgusts and irritates a despot.
+He resembles the ill-taught child that eats the poisonous fruit, and beats his mother who would take it from
+him. What account is made of a faithful and coura…
+geous citizen under such a reign ? He is regarded and
+punished as a fool (55). What regard under such a
+reign
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Ruinous consequences of the love offlattery in kings,
+reign is had to a mean and bad citizen (56) ? He is regarded and recompensed as a wise man. Sultans will
+be flattered (57), and they are. Who can constantly
+refuse their demands ? Who, under such a government, can earnestly interest himself in the public welfare ? If there be a wise man here and there in the
+empire, every one is deaf to his counsel. They are
+like lamps that burn in a sepulchre, their lights shine
+on no man. The tyrant confides in men grown old in
+attendance, and that have the spirit and manners of
+the court. They were flatterers of this sort, that hurried on the Stuarts to their ruin. " Certain prelates,
+says an illustrious English writer, perceiving the bi-
+" goted weakness of James I. made use of it to per-
+“ suade him that the public tranquillity depended on the
+"uniformity of public worship, that is, on certain reli
+"gious ceremonies. James embraced this opinion,
+" and transmitted it to his descendants. What was
+"the consequence ? The exile and ruin of his house."
+"When heaven, says Velleius Paterculus, would
+" chastise a sovereign, it inspires him with a love of
+"flattery (58), and a hatred of contradiction. At that
+" instant the understanding of the sovereign is obscu-
+" red. He shuns the company of wise men, walks in
+" darkness, falls into a fathomless pit, and, as the Latin
+" proverb says, passes out of the smoke into the fire."
+Ifsuchbethe signs of the wrath of heaven, against what
+sultan is it not irritated ? Which among them chooses
+his favourites from the most faithful and intelligent of
+his
+TREATISE ON MAN. 335
+Ruinous consequences ofthe love of flattery in kings,
+his subjects ? The philosopher Anacharsis, they say,
+basely flattered aking of Scythia, and was by his order
+pounded in a mortar ; but that mortar is lost.
+" What do they report of me and my government?
+"said an emperor of China to Confucius. Every one,
+" replied the philosopher, keeps a mournful silence.
+"That is what I would have them do, said the empe-
+" ror. And it is what you ought to fear, replied the
+philosopher. The sick man when flattered is aban-
+" doned ; his end is near. A monarch ought to be in-
+"formed of the disorder of his mind, as a sick man of
+" that of his body : without this liberty the state
+" and the prince are lost."
+This answer displeased the emperor ; he wanted to
+be praised. The present interest almost always weighs
+more with pride than the interest that is to come, and
+in this respect the people are princes.
+CHAP. XVII.
+FLATTERY IS NO LESS PLEASING TO THE
+PEOPLE THAN TO SOVEREIGNS.
+THE people, like kings, would be courted and flattered. The greatest part of the Athenian orators were
+nothing better than vile adulators of the populace.
+Prince,
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Flattery is as pleasing to the people as to monarchs.
+Prince, people, individual, (59), all are greedy of praise.
+To what can we refer this universal passion ? To the
+love of power.
+Whoever praises a man awakens-in him the idea of
+power, with which the idea of happiness is always connected.
+Whoever contradicts him, on the contrary, awakens
+in him the idea of weakness, to which is always joined
+the idea of misfortune. The love of praise is common
+to all ; but the people, too sensible of praise, have
+sometimes given the name of good patriots to their
+meanest flatterers. Let every man extol with transport the virtues ofhis country, but let him not be blind
+to its vices. The pupil most sincerely beloved is not
+the must praised. A true friend is never a flatterer.
+Private persons are too much disposed to extol the
+virtues of their fellow- citizens ; they regard it as a common cause. Adulation of our countrymen is not the
+measure ofour love for our country ; in general, every
+man loves those of his own country : the love of
+Frenchmen is natural to the French. To render me
+a bad citizen, the law must make me such by detach.
+ingmy interest from that ofthe public.
+The virtuous man is known by the desire he has to
+render his countrymen, if it be possible, more illustrious and more happy. In England the true patriots are
+those that exert their utmost force against the abuse of
+government ; but to whom do they give that title in
+Portugal?
+TREATISE ON MAN. 337
+Cause ofthe unfavourable reception of new truths.
+Portugal? To him who is the most servile flatterer
+of the man in power ; yet what a citizen ! what a patriot !
+It is to a thorough knowledge of the motives of our
+love of flattery, and our hatred of contradiction, that
+we owe the solution of an infinity of moral problems,
+otherwise inexplicable. Why is every new truth at
+first so badly received ? Because every truth of that
+sort always contradicts some opinion generally receivéd, shews the weakness or falsehood of an infinity of
+judgments, and consequently an infinity of people have
+an interest in hating and persecuting the author.
+M. Come improved the instrument used in lithotomy; it operates in a manner less dangerous and painful than the other. What of that ? The pride ofthe
+celebrated surgeons was shocked ; they persecuted and
+would have banished him from France : they solicited
+a lettre de cachet, but by chance they were refused. If
+the man of genius be almost every where more rigo
+rously punished than the assassin, it is because the one
+has for enemies only the relations of the murdered, the
+other all his fellow-citizens.
+I have known a devout woman ask of a minister, at
+the same time, the pardon of a robber, and the imprisonment of a Jansenist and Deist ; what was her
+motive ? Pride. What is it to me, she would have
+freely said, that they rob and murder, provided it be
+not me, nor my confessor ; what I want is, that men be
+religious,
+VOL. J. Z
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Genius is almost universally persecuted.
+religious, and that the Deist do not by his arguments
+shock my vanity.
+By endeavouring to instruct we humiliate. Let in
+the light upon a nest of young owls, and they cry out
+against the injury you have done them. Men of mediocrity are young owls : when you present them with
+strong and brilliant ideas, they exclaim against them as
+false, dangerous, and deserving of punishment (60).
+Under what prince, and in what country, can a man'
+be great with impunity ? In England, and under the
+reign of a Trajan or a Frederic ; under every other
+form of government, and every other sovereign, the
+reward of talents is persecution. Strong and great
+ideas are almost every where proscribed. The authors
+most generally read, are those that render common
+ideas in a new and striking manner ; they are praised
+because they are not worthy of praise ; because they
+do not contradict any one. Contradiction is intolerable to all, but especially to the great. To what degree did it not excite the wrath of Charles V. against
+the Lutherans ? That prince, they say, repented of
+having persecuted them ; it may be so : but at what
+time was it ? When after having abdicated the empire
+he lived in retreat. He then said to himself, I have
+thirty watches on my table, and no two of them mark
+precisely the same time *: how could I imagine then,
+* A servant carelessly entered his cell and threw down the ta
+that
+TREATISE on man. 339
+Intolerance of mankind in general.
+that in matters of religion I could make all men think
+alike ? What was my folly and my pride ! Would to
+heaven that Charles had made this reflection sooner ;
+he would have been more just, more tolerant, and
+more virtuous. What seeds of war he would have destroyed! how much human blood would he have
+spared !
+No prince, not even any private man, assigns bounds
+to his power. It is not enough to reign over our fellow-citizens, and command their ideas, we would even
+command their tastes. M.Rousseau loves not French
+music ; in this he agrees with all the other nations of
+Europe. When he published this opinion, a thousand
+voices were raised against him : he deserved to rot in a
+dungeon. They solicited a lettre de cachet, but the
+minister was luckily too prudent to grant it, and expose the French nation to ridicule.
+There are no crimes to which human intolerance
+does not lead. To pretend in this matter to correct
+man, is to desire that he should prefer others to himself; that is, to desire him to change his nature. A
+wise man never desires impossibilities ; his aim is to
+disarm and not destroy intolerance. But what shall
+restrain it ? A reciprocal fear. When two men of
+ble with the thirty watches ; Charles laughed, and said to the servant, you are inore lucky than I, for you have found the way to
+make them all go together.
+z 2 equal
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Means ofsuppressing intolerance.
+equal force differ in opinion, neither of them insults
+the other? for men rarely attack those whom they
+think they cannot injure with impunity.
+Why do military men dispute with so much politeness ? for fear of a duel. Whence arises the same politeness among men of letters ? From the fear of ridicule no man likes to be confounded with the pedants
+of a college. Now from those two instances we may
+judge what the still more efficacious fear of the law
+would produce among citizens.
+:
+Severe laws would suppress intolerance as well as
+robbery. If while I have the free use of my tastes
+and opinions, the law forbids me to insult those of
+others my intolerance then checked by the edicts of
+the magistrate, will not extend to acts of violence
+but if through imprudence the government free me
+from the fear of a duel, ridicule, and the law, my intolerance unrestrained will again render me savage and
+inhuman. The atrocious ferocity with which different
+religious sects persecute each other, is a proof of what
+is here asserted.
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN. 341
+• Of religious intolerance.
+CHAP. XVIII.
+OF RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE.
+THIS is the most dangerous of all intolerance ; its
+motive is thelove ofpower, religion its pretence. What
+is it they would punish in a heretic or unbeliever ?
+The audacity of the man who would think for himself; who would believe his own reason before that of
+the priests, and thereby declare himself their equal.
+The pretence of avenging Heaven is nothing but that
+of his offended pride . Priests of almost all religions
+are the same.
+In the sight of the mufti, as in that of a bonze, an
+infidel is an impious wretch that ought to be destroyed
+by fire from heaven ; a man so destructive to society
+as to deserve to be burnt alive.
+In the eyes of a wise man however, this same infidel
+is a man who does not believe the tale of mother
+Goose for what is there wanting to make that tale
+a religion ? A number of people to maintain its veracity.
+Whence comes it that men covered withthe rags of
+penitence and the mask of charity have been at all
+times the most atrocious ? How can it be possible that
+Z 3 the
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Ingenious parable of a celebrated painter.
+light of toleration has not yet broken forth ? What!
+must honest men hate and persecute each other without remorse for disputes about a word, frequently about
+the choice oferrors, and because they are distinguished
+bythe different name of Lutherans, Calvinists, Catholics, Mahometans, &c.
+When in a convocation the monk anathematises
+the dervise, can he be ignorant that in the sight of the
+dervise the truly impious, the real infidel, is the
+Christian, pope, or monk who does not believe in Mahomet ? Can each sect, eternally condemned to stupidity, approve in itselfwhat it detests in others ?
+·
+Let them sometimes recollect the ingenious parable
+of a celebrated painter. Transported in a dream to
+the gates of heaven, says he, the first object that
+struck me was a venerable old man ; by his keys, his
+bald head, and his long beard, I knew him to be St.
+Peter. The apostle sat on the threshold of the celestial
+gates ; a crowd of people advanced towards him ; the
+first who presented himself was a papist ; I have, said
+he, all my life been a religious man, and yet honest
+enough. Go in, replies the saint, and place yourself
+upon the bench for catholics. The next was a protestant, who gave a like account ofhimself ; the saint
+said in the like manner, place yourself among the reformed. Then came merchants of Bagdat, Bassora,
+&c. these were all musulmans who had been constantly
+virtuous ; St. Peter made them sit down among the
+musulmans. At last came an infidel ; What is thy
+sect ?
+TREATISE ON MAN. 343
+Intolerance of the Catholics.
+sect ? said the apostle. I am of no sect, he replied,
+but I have always been honest. Then you may go in.
+But where shall I seat myself? Next to those who appear to you most rational.
+Would to heaven that, enlightened by this fable,
+men would no longer pretend to command the opini
+ons ofothers ! God has decreed that truth should bethe
+recompence of inquiry. The most efficacious prayers
+for obtaining it are, it is said, study and application. O
+stupid monks ! have you ever offered up those prayers ?
+What is truth ? You do not know : yet you persecute him who, you say, knows it not, and have canon,
+ised the dragoons of Cevennes, and elevated to the
+dignityofa saint one Dominic, a barbarian, who founded the tribunal of the inquisition, and massacred the
+Albigenses (61 ). Under Charles IX. you made it the
+duty of the catholics to murder the protestants ; and
+even in this age, so enlightened and philosophic, when
+the toleration recommended in the gospel ought to be
+the virtue of all men, there are Caveiracs who treat
+toleration as a crime and an indifference to religion,
+and who would again fain behold that day of blood
+and massacre, that horrid day of St. Bartholomew,
+when sacerdotal pride stalked through the streets commanding the death of Frenchmen ; like the sultan who
+passed through the streets of Constantinople, followed
+by an executioner, demanding the blood of the Christian, who wore red breeches. More barbarous than
+the
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+The Catholic and the Jewish religions the most intolerant.
+the sultan, you put swords into the hands of Christians
+to cut the throats of each other.
+O religions, ( I speak here of the false), you have
+ever been palpably ridiculous ! and even if you were
+merely ridiculous, the man of understanding would
+not expose your absurdities. If he thinks himself
+obliged to do it, it is because those absurdities in men
+armed with the sword of intolerance (63) are one of the
+.nost cruel scourges of humanity.
+Among the diversity of religions, which are those
+that bear the greatest hatred to others ? The Catholic
+and the Jewish. Is this hatred the effect of ambition
+in their ministers, or that of a stupid and ill- advised
+zeal ? The difference between true and false zeal is
+remarkable ; they cannot be mistaken (64). The first
+is all gentleness, humanity, and charity ; it pardons
+all, and offends none. Such at least is the idea we
+must form of it from the words and actions of the Son
+of God (65).
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN. 345
+Ofthe right by which heretics are persecuted.
+CHAP. XIX.
+INTOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION ARE NOT Of di-'
+VINE COMMANDMENT.
+To whom gave Jesus the appellation of a race of vipers? Was itto the Pagans, the Essenes, or Sadducees
+(66), who denied the immortality of the soul, and
+even the existence of the Divinity ? No: it was to
+the Pharisees and Jewish priests.
+Will the Catholic priests by the fury of their intolerance continue to merit the same appellation ? By
+what right do they persecute a heretic ? He does not
+think as we do, they will say : but to desire to unite
+all men precisely in the same belief, is to require them
+all to have the saine eyes and the same complexion ; a
+desire contrary to nature. Heresy is a name which
+those in power give to opinions commonly various,
+but contradictory to their own. Heresy, like orthodoxy, is local. The heretic belongs to a sect not predominant in the country where he lives : this man having less protection, and being consequently weaker
+than others, may be insulted with impunity. But
+why is he insulted? Because the strong persecute the
+weak even in their opinions.
+If the ministers of Neufchatel, the accusers of M.
+Rousseau
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Intolerance and persecution not of divine commandment.
+Rousseau (67), had been born Athenians or Jews,
+they would, by virtue of being the strongest, in like
+manner have persecuted Socrates or Jesus. Oh, eloquent Rousseau ! regard the favour of the great prince
+who protects you against such fanatics as a full recompence for their insults ! you must have blushed at the
+approbation of those wretches ; it would have inferred some analogy between your ideas and theirs,
+and have stained your talents. You were persecuted
+in the name ofthe Divinity, but not by him.
+Who more forcibly opposed intolerance than the
+Son of God ? His apostles would have had him call
+down fire from heaven on the Samaritans ; he reproved them sharply. The apostles, still animated with
+the spirit of the world, had not then received that of
+God ; scarcely were they enlightened when they became proscribed, not proscribers.
+Heaven has given to no one the power to massacre
+a heretic. John does not command the Christians to
+arm themselves against the Pagans : (68) Love one another, he repeats incessantly, for such is the will ofGod ;
+by observing this precept youfulfil the law.
+Nero, I know, persecuted among the first Christians
+men of a different opinion from his own ; but Nero
+was a tyrant, horrible to humanity. They who commit the same barbarities, who violate without remorse
+the natural and divine laws, which command us to do
+unto others as we would they should do unto us, ought
+equally to be accursed of God and man.
+They
+TREATISE ON MAN. 347
+In religion every man has a right to think for himself.
+They who tolerate intolerants render themselves
+guilty of their crimes. Ifa church complain of being
+persecuted, when its right to persecute is opposed, the
+prince should be deaf to its complaints. The church
+ought to regulate its conduct by that of the Son of
+God. ButJesus and his apostles left to men thefree
+exercise of reason. Why then does the church for
+bid them the use of it ? No man has authority over
+the noble function of my mind, that of judging for
+myself, any more than over the air I breathe. Shall I
+abandon to others the care of thinking for me ? I have
+my own conscience, reason, and religion, and do not
+desire to have the conscience, reason, or religion ofthe
+pope. I will not model my belief after that of another,
+said an archbishop of Canterbury. Each one is to answer for his own soul ; it therefore belongs to each
+one to examine,
+What he believes;
+On what motive he believes : •
+What is the beliefthat appears to him the most rational.
+What ! said John Gerson, chancellor of the university of Paris, has heaven given me a soul, a faculty of
+judging, and shall I submit it to that of others ; and
+shall they guide me in my manner of living and dying ?
+But ought a man to prefer his own reason to that of
+a nation ? Is such a presumption lawful ? Why not ?
+If Jupiter should again take in hand the balance with
+which he formerly weighed the destiny of heroes ; if
+in
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+In religion every man has a right to think for himself.
+in one scale he should put the opinion of Locke, Fontenelle, Bayle, &c. and in the other that of the Italian, French, and Spanish nations, the last scale would
+rise up, as if loaded with no weight. The diversity
+and absurdity of different forms of worship shew in
+how little esteem we ought to hold the opinion of the
+people. The divine wisdom itself appeared, says the
+scripture, a stumbling-block to the Jews, and to the
+Gentiles foolishness ; Judæis scandalum, gentibus stultitiam. In matters of religion I owe no respect to the
+opinion of a people ; it is to myself alone that I owe
+an account of my belief ; all that immediately relates
+to God, should have no judge but he. The magistrate
+himself, solely charged with the temporal happiness of
+men, has no right to punish any crimes not committed
+against society : no prince or priest has a right to persecute in methe pretended crime ofnot thinking as he does.
+From what principle does the law forbid my neighbour to dispose of my property, and permit him to
+dispose of my reason and my soul ? My soul is my
+property. It is from nature that I hold the right of
+thinking, and of speaking what I think. When the
+first Christians laid before the nations of the earth
+their belief, and the motives for that belief ; when
+they permitted the Gentiles to judge between the Christian religion and their owi., and to make use of the
+reason given to man to distinguish between vice and
+virtue, truth and falsehood ; the exposition of their
+sentiments had certainly nothing criminal in it. At
+what period did the Christians deserve the hatred and
+contempt
+TREATISE ON MAN. 349
+Force can never produce belief.
+contempt of the world ? When by burning the temples
+of the idols, they would have forced the pagans to relinquish the religion they thought the best (69). What
+was the design of that violence ? Force imposes silence on reason ; it can proscribe any worship rendered
+to the Divinity. But what power has it over belief?
+To believe supposes a motive to belief? Force is no
+motive. Now without motive we cannot really believe ;
+the most we can do is to think we believe (70).
+There can be no pretence for admitting an intolerance condemned by reason and the law of nature :
+that law is holy ; it is from God ; it cannot be disannulled ; on the contrary, God has confirmed it by his
+gospel.
+Every priest, who under the name of an angel of ,`
+peace excites men to persecution, is not, as is imagined,
+the dupe of a stupid and ill-informed zeal (71) ; it is
+not by his zeal but by his ambition that he is directed.
+CHAP. XX.
+INTOLERANCE IS THE FOUNDATION OF THE
+GRANDEUR OF THE CLERGY.
+THE doctrine and practice of the priest both prove
+his love ofpower. What does he protect ? Ignorance.
+Why?
+$50 TREATISE ON MAN.
+•
+Enmity ofthe priests to talents and genius.
+Why? Because the ignorant and credulous, make
+little use of their reason, think after others, are easy
+to be deceived, and are the dupes of the grossest sophistry (72).
+What does the priest persecute ? Learning. Why?
+Because a man of learning will not believe without
+examination ; he will see with his own eyes, and is
+hard to be deceived. The enemies of learning are
+the bonze, the dervise, the bramin, in short, every
+priest of every religion. In Europe the priests rose up
+against Galileo ; excommunicated Polydore Virgil and
+Scheiner for the discovery which the one made of the
+antipodes, and the other of the spots in the sun. They
+have proscribed sound logic in Bayle, and in Descartes
+the only method of acquiring knowledge ; they forced
+that philosopher to leave his country (73) ; they formerly accused all great men of magic (74) ; and now
+magic is no longer in fashion, they accuse those of
+atheism and materialism, whom they formerly burned
+as sorcerers.
+The care of the priest has ever been to keep men
+at a distance from the truth all instructive study is
+forbidden. The priest shuts himself up with them in
+a dark chamber, and carefully stops up every crevice
+by which the light might enter. He hates, and ever
+will hate, the philosopher : he is in continual fear lest
+men of science should overthrow an empire founded
+on error and intellectual darkness.
+Without love for talents, the priest is a secret enemy
+TREATISE ON MAN. 351
+Difference between virtue and sanctity.
+to the virtues of humanity ; he frequently denies their
+very existence. There are, in his opinion, no virtuous
+actions but what are conformable to his doctrines, that
+is, to his interest. The first of virtues with him are
+faith, and a submission to sacerdotal power : it is to
+slaves only that he givesthe name of saints and virtuous
+men.
+What, however, are more distinct than the ideas of
+virtue and sanctity ? He is virtuous who promotes the
+prosperity of his fellow-citizens : the word virtue
+always includes the idea of some public utility. It is
+not the same with sanctity. A hermit or monk imposes on himself the law of silence, flogs himself every
+night, lives on pulse and water, sleeps on straw, offers
+to God his nastiness and his ignorance, and thinks by
+virtue of maceration to make a fortune in heaven.
+He may be decorated with a glory ; but if he do no
+good on earth, he is not honest. A villain is converted
+at the hour of death ; he is saved, and is happy : but
+he is not virtuous. That title is not to be obtained but
+by a conduct habitually just and noble.
+It is from the cloister that saints are commonly
+taken but what are monks in general ? Idle and liti
+gious men, dangerous to society, and whose vicinity
+is to be dreaded. Their conduct proves that there is
+nothing in common between religion and virtue. Tu
+obtain a just idea of it, we must substitute a new mo
+rality in the place of that theological morality, which,
+always indulgentto the perfidious arts practised bythe
+different
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Means employed by the priests to increase their power.
+different sects (76) , sanctifies to this day the atrocious
+crimes with which the Jansenists and Molinists reciprocally charge each other (77), and which, in short,
+commands them to plunder their fellow-citizens of their
+property and their liberty.
+An Asiatic tyrant would have his subjects promote
+his pleasures with all their power, and pay down at his
+feet their homage and their riches : the popish priests
+exact in like manner the homage and the riches of
+the catholics.
+Are there any means of increasing their power and
+wealth that they have not employed ? When it was
+necessary for that purpose to have recourse to barbarity and cruelty, they became cruel and barbarous.
+From the moment the priests, instructed by experience, found that men paid more regard to fear than
+to love, that more offerings were presented to Ariman
+than Oromaza, to the cruel Molva than the gentle Jesus, it was on terror that they founded their empire.
+They sought to have it in their power to burn the Jew,
+imprison the Jansenist and Deist ; and notwithstanding the horror with which the tribunal of the inquisition fills every sensible and humane soul, they then
+conceived the project of its establishment. It was by
+dint of intrigues that they accomplished this design in
+Spain, Italy, Portugal, &c.
+The more arbitrary the proceedings of this tribunal
+became, the more it was dreaded. The priests, perceiving
+TREATISE ON MAN. 353
+The inquisition established by Catholics.
+ceiving that the sacerdotal power increased by the ter
+rors with which it struck the imagination of mankind,
+soon became obdurate. The monks, deafwith impunity to the cry of compassion, to the tears of misery,
+and the groans of tortures, spared neither virtue nor
+talents ; it was by confiscation of property, by the aid
+oftortures and butcheries that they at last usurped over
+the people an authority superior to that of the magistrates, and frequently even to that of kings. The
+bold hand of sacerdotal ambition dared in a Christian
+country to lay the foundation of such a tribunal ; and
+the stupidity of the people, and of princes, suffered it
+to be completed,
+Are there no longer in the Catholic church a Fenelon or a Fitzjames, who, touched with the misfortunes
+of their brethren, behold this tribunal with horror ?
+There are still Jansenists virtuous enough to detest the
+inquisition, even though it should burn a Jesuit ; but
+in general men are not at once religious and tolerant :
+humanity supposes intelligence.
+A man of an enlightened mind knows that force
+makes hypocrites, and persuasion Christians ; that a
+heretic is a brother, who does not think as he does on
+certain metaphysical dogmas : that this brother, de
+prived of the gift of faith, is to be pitied, not persecuted (78) ; and that ifno one can believe that to be
+truc, which appears to him to be false, no human power
+can command belief.
+The consequence of religious intolerance is the misery
+VOL. I. 2 A
+of
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Inconsistency of the consult and professions of Catholic priests,
+of nations. What sanctifies intolerance ? Sacerdotal
+ambition. The excessive love of the monk for power
+produces his excessive barbarity. The monk, cruel
+by system, is still more so by education. Weak, hypocritical, cowardly by situation, every Catholic priest
+in general must be atrocious (79) ; so that in countries
+subject to his power he exercises perpetually all that
+the most refined cruelty and injustice can imagine. If,
+while professing a religion instituted to inspire gentleness and charity, he became the instrument of persecutions and massacres ; if, recking with the blood
+spilt at an autodafe, he ventures at the altar to raise his
+murderous hands to Heaven, let no one wonder : the
+monk is as he ought to be. Covered with the blood
+of a heretic, he regards himself as the avenger of the
+divine wrath . But can he at such a time implore the
+clemency of Heaven ? Can his hands be pure because
+the church has declared them so ? What community
+has not legitimated the most abominable crimes, when
+they served to increase its power ?
+The approbation of the church is sufficient to sanctify any crime. I have regarded the different religions,
+and have seen their several followers snatch the torch
+from each other's hands to burn their brethren ; I
+have seen the several superstitions serve as footstools
+to ecclesiastical pride. Who is then, I have said to
+myself, the truly impious ? Is it the infidel ? No : the
+ambitious fanatic ( 80). It is he who persecutes and
+murders his brethren ; it is he who, wishing to exe.
+cute
+TREATISE ON MAN. 355
+Impossibility of suppressing intolerance.
+cute the vengeance of Heaven on the infernal regions,
+anticipates that horrid function on earth ; who, regarding an infidel as a damned soul, is desirous by aviolent
+death to hasten his perdition, and by an unheard-of
+progression of cruelty, to cause his brother to be at
+the same instant arrested, imprisoned, judged, condemned, burned and damned.
+CHAP. XXI.
+THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF SUPPRESSING IN MAN THE
+SENTIMENT OF INTOLERANCE. MEANS OF COUNTERACTING ITS EFFECTS.
+THE leaven ofintolerance is indestructible. It is only
+practicable to suppress its increase and action. Severe
+laws oughttherefore to be employed in restraining it,
+as they do robbery.
+Does it regard personal interest ? The magistrate,
+by preventing its action, will bind the hands of intolerance ; and why should they be unbound, when,
+under the mask of religion, intolerance will exercise
+the greatest cruelties ?
+Man is by nature intolerant. If the sun of reason
+enlighten him for a moment, he should seize the opportunity to bind himselfdown by wise laws, and put
+himself in a happy state of impotency, that he may
+A2 not
+$56 TREATISE ON MAN.
+Means of counteracting intolerance.
+not injure others if he should be again seized with the
+rage ofintolerance.
+Good laws can equally restrain the furious devotee,
+and the perfidious priest. England, Holland, and a
+part of Germany are proofs of this truth . Multiplied
+crimes and miseries have opened the eyes of the people on this subject : they have perceived that liberty
+of thought is a natural right ; that thinking produces
+a desire of communicating our thoughts, and that in
+a people, as an individual, indifference in this matter
+is a sign of stupidity,
+He who does not feel the want of thought never
+thinks. It is with the body as with the mind ; if the
+faculties of the one or the other are not exerted they
+become impotent. When intolerance has weighed
+down the minds of men, and has broken their spring.
+they then become stupid, and darkness is spread over
+a nation.
+The touch of Midas, the poets say, turned every
+thing into gold ; the head of Medusa transformed
+every thing into stone intolerance, in like manner,
+transforms into hypocrites, fools, and ideots (81 ) , all
+that it finds within the sphere of its attraction. It was
+intolerance that scattered in the East the first seeds of
+stupidity, which since the institution of despotism
+have there sprung up. It is intolerance that has condemned to the contempt of the present and future ages
+all those superstitious countries whose inhabitants in
+fact
+TREATISE ON MAN. 357
+Dangersto be apprehended from Catholic intolerance.
+fact appearto belong rather to the class of brutes than
+ofmen.
+There is only one case in which toleration can be
+detrimental to a people, and that is when it tolerates
+a religion that is intolerant, such as the Catholic (82).
+This religion, becoming the most powerful in a state,
+will always shed the blood of its stupid protectors ; it
+is the serpent that stings the bosom which has warmed
+it. Let Germany beware ! its princes have an interest
+in embracing popery ; it affords them respectable establishments for their brothers, children, &c. These
+princes becoming Catholics would force the belief of
+their subjects, and if they found it necessary, would
+again make human blood to stream ; the torch of superstition and intolerance would again blaze. Alight
+breath would kindle it, and set all Europe in flames.
+Where would the conflagration stop ? I know not,
+Would Holland escape ? Would the Briton himself,
+from the height of his rocks, for any long time brave
+the Catholic fury ? The straits of the sea would
+prove an impotent barrier against the rage of fanaticism . What could hinder the preaching up of a new
+croisade, and the arming of all Europe against Eng、
+land, the invasion of that country, by the Catholics
+and their treating the Britons as they formerly treated
+the Albigenses !
+.
+Let not the insinuating manner of the Catholics impose on the Protestants. The same priest who in
+A 3
+Prussia
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+·
+Necessity of restraining fanaticism,
+Prussia regards intolerance as an abomiuation, and
+an infraction of the natural and divine law, looks on
+toleration in France as a crime and a heresy (83).
+What renders the same man so different in different
+countries ? His weakness in Prussia, and his powerin
+France.
+When we consider the conduct of Catholic Christians, they at first, when feeble, appear to be lambs
+but when strong, they are tygers.
+Will the nations, instructed by past misfortunes,
+never see the necessity of restraining fanaticism , and of
+banishing from every religion the monstrous doctrine
+of intolerance ? What is it at this hour that shakes
+the throne ofTurkey, and ravages Poland ? Fanaticism.
+It is this that prevents the Catholic Poles from admitting the Dissenters to a participation of their privileges, and makes them prefer war to toleration. In
+vain do they impute the present miseries of those
+countries merely to the pride of the nobility ; without
+religion the great could never have armed the nation,
+and the impotence of their pride would have preserved
+peace in their country. Popery has been the secret
+cause of the miseries of Poland.
+At Constantinople it is the fanaticism of the Mussulmans, that by loading the Greek Christians with ignominy, has armed them in secret against the empire
+which they ought to have defended.
+Would to heaven that these two examples now be
+fore us, and glaring with the evils produced by religi ous
+TREATISE ON MAN. 359
+Men should be judged by their actions and not by their opinions.
+ous intolerance, may be the last of the kind ; and that
+hereafter, indifferent to all modes of worship, governments may judge men by their actions, and not by
+their opinions; that they may regard virtue and genius
+as the only recommendations to public favour ; and
+be convinced that it is not of a Romish, Turkish, or
+Lutheran mechanic, but of the most skilful workman
+that we should purchase a watch : in short, that it is
+not to extensive faith, but to superior talents, that
+offices ought to be intrusted.
+As long as the doctrine of intolerance subsists, the
+moral world will contain within its bosom the seeds of
+new calamities. It is a volcano half extinguished, that
+may one day blaze forth with greater violence, and
+produce fresh conflagrations and destruction.
+Such are the fears of a citizen, who, the sincere
+friend of mankind, earnestly wishes their happiness.
+I think I have sufficiently proved in this section,
+that in general all the factitious passions, and civil and
+religious intolerance in particular, are nothing more
+in man than a disguised love of power. The long detail into which the proofs of this truth have led me,
+has doubtless made the reader forget the motives that
+forced me into this discussion.
+My object was to shew, that if in man all the passions above cited be factitious, all men are in consequence susceptible of them. To make this truth still
+more evident, I shall here present him with the genealogy of the passions.
+·
+A4 CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+:
+The genealogy of the passions.
+CHAP. XXII.
+THE GENEALOGY OF THE PASSIONS.
+MAN is animated by a principle of life, which is
+corporeal sensibility : this sensibility is produced by a
+love of pleasure and a hatred for pain : it is from those
+two sentiments united in man, and always present to
+his mind, that is formed what we call the passion of
+self-love (84). The love of self produces the desire of
+happiness, the desire of happiness that of power, and
+the love of power gives birth to envy, avarice, ambi
+tion, and in general all those factitious passions*(85),
+that under various denominations are nothing more
+than a love of power disguised, and are applied to the
+several means of attaining it.
+:
+་
+* Passions, like elements, tho' born to fight,
+Yet, mixed, and softened, in his work unite
+Love, hope, and joy, fair pleasure's smiling train,
+Hate, fear, and grief, the family of pain ;
+These mixed with art, and to due bounds confined,
+Make and maintain the balance of the mind:
+The lights and shades, whose well accorded strife
+Gives all the strength and colour of our life.
+POPE
+T.
+These
+TREATISE ON MAN. 361
+Conclusions from the positions already laid down,
+These means being different, we see man, according
+to his situation or the form ofgovernment under which
+he is placed, advance to power by the path of riches,
+intrigue, ambition, glory, talents, &c. but invariably
+directing his steps toward that point.
+If we here recollect what is said in the second, third,
+and fourth sections of this work, which is,
+. That all men have an equal aptitude to understanding.
+. That this equal aptitude is a dead power in them,
+when not vivified bythe passions.
+. That the passion of glory is that which most com.
+monly sets them in action .
+. That all men are susceptible of it in countries
+where glory conducts to power.
+The general conclusion I thence deduce is, that all
+men organised in the common manner may be animated by the sort of passion proper to elevate them to the
+highest truths.
+The only objection that retains for me to answer is
+the following. All men, it will be said, may love
+glory (86), but can this passion be carried by each of
+themto a degree of force sufficient to put in action
+the equal aptitude they have to understanding?
+•
+To resolve this question, I will suppose that I have
+concentered all my happiness in the possession of
+glory ; this passion being then as lively in me as the'
+love of myself, will necessarily be confounded in me
+with that sentiment. It is required therefore to prove;
+·
+that
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Ofthe force ofself-love.
+that the passion of self-love, common to all men, is
+the same in all ; and that it may at least endow them
+all with that energy and force of attention that is requisite to the acquiring ofthe greatest ideas.
+CHAP. XXIII.
+OF THE FORCE OF THE SENTIMENT OF SELF-LOVE.
+THEHE sentiment of self-love, differently modified in
+different men, is essentially the same in all. This sentiment is independent of the greater or less perfection
+of the organs. A man may be deaf, blind, lame, and
+infirm, and yet have the same solicitude for his preservation, the same aversion to pain, and the same love
+of pleasure.
+Neither the force nor weakness of temperament,
+nor the perfection of the organs, augments or diminishes in us the force of the sentiment of self-love.
+Women have no less love for themselves than men,
+and yet have not the same organization. Ifthere were
+a way to measure the force of this sentiment, it would
+be by its constancy, its unity, and if I may so say, its habitual presence ; now in all these respects the sentiment
+of self-love is the same in all men.
+It
+TREATISE ON MAN. 363
+Self-love is equally strong in all men.
+It is this sentiment that sometimes arms men with
+an obstinate courage, as with a sword, to triumphover
+the greatest obstacles, and at others gives them a prudent fear, as a shield, to skreen them from danger ; in
+a word, it is this sentiment that, always occupied in
+promoting the happiness of each individual, watches
+incessantly over his preservation. Now if the love of
+self be in this respect the same in all, all are therefore
+susceptible of the same degree of passion, and consequently of the degree proper to put in action the
+equal aptitude they have to understanding. But admitting, for a moment, that the sentiment of self-love
+acts not so strongly in one as in another : it is certain
+that this difference, not yet perceived by experience,
+must be consequently very small, and that it can have
+no influence on the mind.
+A mechanician turns aside no more of a river than
+is necessary to move the wheels and the machinery
+placed on its banks ; he lets the rest of the water run
+into the sea. In like manner it is not necessary to
+turn aside any more of the whole sentiment of selflove than the part necessary to put in action the equal
+aptitude all men have to understanding. Now this
+portion is considerably less than is imagined. If we
+consult experience in this matter, it will teach us that
+the fear of the rod, or a punishment still more slight,
+is sufficient to excite in a child the attention necessary
+for the attainment of languages (87). Now this sort
+of
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Ifself-love were stronger in some persons than in others,
+of attention is either the most, or at least one of the
+most laborious and fatiguing of all others *.
+Experience teaches us also that all our discoveries
+are the gifts of chance ; that we owe to chance the
+first hint of every new truth ; that all truths of this
+sort are, if I may so express myself, caught involuntarily ; that their discovery, for this reason, has always
+been regarded as an inspiration, and consequently that
+there is no poet or philosopher whom the harmony,
+brilliancy, perspicuity, and precision of expression,
+have not cost more time and pains than his most
+happy ideas.
+Hence it results, that all men organized in the common manner are susceptible of the degree of attention
+requisite for raising themselves to the highest truths,
+and that on the hypothesis that the sentiment of selflove is not the same in all men, (an hypothesis doubtless impossible,) the small difference that is found in
+this respect among them, cannot have any influence
+on their understandings.
+In fact, if we suppose self-loye to be stronger in
+some than in others, yet this passion, as experience
+proyes, will not be less equally habitual in them. Now
+* If the study of their native tongue appear in general less laborious to children than the study of geometry, it is because chil
+dren find more habitually the necessity oftalking, than of comparing get. rical figures ; and the perception ofthe necessity of
+attention renders it continually less disagreeable and laborious.
+TREATISE ON MAN. 365
+་
+It is nevertheless equally habitual in all.
+if all superiority of understanding * depends less on a
+lively than an habitual attention, it is evident on this
+supposition, that all men must be still endowed with
+the degreeofpassion proper to put in action the equal
+aptitude they have to understanding.
+* When I mention the understanding or judgment, the reader,
+clearly to conceive my ideas, should recollect that the understanding is the produce of the attention, and the attention that of any
+passion whatever, but especially of glory. In vain does chance
+or education offer us, in reading, conversation, &c. objects ofcomparison from which new ideas might result ; those objects will be
+to us barren seeds, if attention do not render them fertile, that is,
+if we have not an interest, a lively desire, to compare them, and
+observe the resemblances and differences, the agreements and disagreements which those objects have with each other and with us.
+If it is frequently said of a great man that he is the child of misfortune, it is because in general being continually forced to struggle with adversity, a man becomes more thoughtful and acute ;
+he is therefore always what his situation makes him. But is adversity so salutary as is supposed ? Yes : in the prime of life, when
+a habit of thinking and reflecting maybe yet acquired. That age
+passed, misfortune afflicts a man but affords him little information.
+Adversity, saysthe Scotch proverb, is wholesome at breakfast, indifferent at dinner, and mortal at supper. Besides adversity frequently excites in us only a lively effervescence, that is often transient. A passion for glory is inore durable, and for that reason
+more properto produce great men and form great talents.
+CHAP.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+Success attends constant rather than vehement desires.
+CHAP. XXIV.
+THE DISCOVERY OF GREAT IDEAS IS THE EFFECT
+OF CONSTANT ATTENTION.
+AVEHEMENT desire frequently occasions an effort
+ofthe mind more lively than lasting. Now the acqui-
+.sition of great talents supposes an obstinate applica
+tion, and a desire of instruction more habitual than
+vehement.
+However engaged people of the world may be with
+their fortune and their pleasure, they feel by intervals
+the desire of glory. But why does this desire prove
+fruitless to hem ? Because it is not sufficiently du
+rable. It is to the constancy of desires that great
+success is annexed. If an Agnes always deceives an
+Arnolph, it is because the desire of a woman to meet
+alover is always more habitual than the desire of pre
+venting it is in those that watch over her.
+The inhabitants of Kamschatka are in some things
+of an unequalled stupidity ; in others they have a marvellous industry. In the making of clothes, says their
+historian, they surpass the Europeans*. Why? Because,
+* Ifthe inhabitants of Kamschatka surpass us in certain acts
+inhabiting
+TREATISE ON MAN. 367
+All aresusceptible of the passions that inspire great ideas.
+inhabiting one of the most inclement climates of the
+earth, they are most habitually sensible of the want of
+covering. Now an habitual want always produces industry. A man who is sensible of the value of consideration, that it procures power, (the common object of the desire of men), will do his utmost to attain
+it. It is in the possession of this esteem that he centres
+all his happiness, and it is then that the desire of glory
+is identified with the love of ourselves. Nowthis last
+sentiment, as is proved by experience, being habitually present to all men, must endow them with that
+sort of attention to which the superiority of the understanding is annexed.
+All men organized in the common manner are therefore susceptible not only of passions, but of the habitual degree of passions, sufficient to elevate them to
+the highest ideas.
+Whence then proceeds the extreme inequality of
+understandings ? Because nobody sees precisely (88)
+the same objects ; nor is precisely in the same situation
+(89) ; nor has received the same education ; and be
+they may equal us in all. Talents are nothing more than different
+applications ofthe same understanding to different subjects.
+He that can lift a pound of feathers or wool, can lift a pound
+of iron or lead. The difference therefore perceived between the
+industry ofthe inhabitants of Kamschatka, and ours, arises from
+the different wants that a savage or polished nation must feel in dif- ferent climates.
+cause,
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+The inequality ofunderstandings proceed from education.
+cause, finally, chance, that presides over our instruction, does not conduct all men to mines equally rich
+and fruitful.
+It is therefore to education, taken in the fullest
+extent that we can understand the term, and in which
+the idea of chance is also included * , that we are to
+refer the inequality of understandings.
+To complete the proofs of this truth, it only remains for me to shew, in the following section, the
+errors and contradictions inte which they fall, who on
+this subject adopt principles different from mine.
+I shall take M. Rousseau for an example. He is of
+* Because chance has always a part in our instruction, are we
+thence to infer the inutility of education ? No : education will
+never make all the inhabitants of a nation men of superior understanding; but by improving it, by inventing new means of
+exciting in us the desire of glory, and putting men frequently in
+situations where chance places them rarely, there is no doubt that
+its empire may be greatly contracted.
+There are in Rome conservatories or schools of music, whence
+constantly issued good musicians, and in which are every year
+formed some men of genius. At Paris there is also a schoolfor
+bridges and public roads that produces intelligent artists, among
+whom are found some men of superior talents.
+An excellent education may therefore increase the talents of a
+nation, and may make ofthe meanest of the people men ofsense
+and intelligence. Now those advantages of an improved educa
+tion are sufficient to encourage men to the study of a science, the
+perfection ofwhich is in part connected with the happiness of humanity.
+all
+TREATISE ON MAN. 369
+Intention of the anthor to examine Rousseau's opinions.
+all others the writer who in his works has treated this
+question with the most acuteness and eloquence. I
+shall therefore discuss his principal opinions ; and if I
+demonstrate their fallacy and contradiction, I imagine
+that the public then less attached to its ancient prejudices, will judge of my principles without partiality,
+and will find itself in that calm and happy disposition
+which leads men to adopt everyjust idea, however pa
+radoxical it may at first appear.
+VOL. I. 2 B NOTES.
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+NOTES.
+. (page 280.) SOME have regarded the impetuosity of attack in
+a battle, as one of the characteristics of the French: but this impetuosity they possess in common with the Turks, and in general
+with all nations not accustomed to a severer discipline. The
+French, however, are susceptible of it . The king of Prussia has
+some ofthem in his army, and all are there exercised in the Prussian manner.
+. (p. 281. ) The words loyal and polished are not the same.
+Apeople of slaves may be polished. The habit of fear will make
+them reverential. Such a people are often more civil, and always
+less loyal, than one that is free. The merchants of all nations
+attest the loyalty of the English traders. The man that is free, is
+in general a man of probity.
+. (p. 282.) In a degraded nation, we do not find, even among
+the first ofthe citizens, characters of a certain elevation. Free and
+bold spirits would be there too discordant from the others.
+. (ibid.) Who is the man the most extolled in the East ?
+The greatest tyrant : he is the man most feared and most detested.
+This tyrant, so much praised while living, may, therefore, always
+think himself the idol and delight of his people. If history draw
+his portrait truly, it must be along time after his death. What me
+thod then has an Eastern monarch to know, if he really carries with
+him to the tombthe esteem and regret of his subjects ? He has
+but one whichis to reflect within himself, and examine, if he be
+always employed in promoting the happiness of his people, and if
+in all his actions he have never consulted any thing but the national
+interest.
+TREATISE ON MAN. 371
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+interest. Has he been always indifferent about it ? He may rest
+assured, whatever eulogy they give him, that his name will be despised byposterity. Death is the spear of Ithuriel ; it destroys the
+charm of falsehood and flattery.
+Disgrace operates in the same manner on a vizir, as death does
+on a sultan. While the former is in place, there are no eulogies
+with which he is not loaded, no talents that are not ascribed to
+him ; but when discharged, he is, as he was before his elevation,
+frequently one of the meanest of the people.
+. (p. 282, ) Can an arbitrary monarch, always regardless of his
+foreign enemies, flatter himself that a people habituated to tremble
+at the scourge of his power, and base enough tamely to suffer
+themselves to be plundered of their property, their lives, and
+their liberty, will defend him against the attack of a powerful ene
+my? A monarch ought to know, that in dividing the chain which
+unites the interest of each individual with the general interest, he
+destroys all virtue, and that when the virtue of an empire is once
+destroyed, it is soon precipitated into ruin ; that the props of a
+despotic throne must sink under its weight ; that merely strong in
+the strength ofhis army, that army once defeated, his subjects,
+freed from their fears, will no longer fight for him ; that two or
+three battles have in the East decided the fate of the greatest empires. Witness Darius, Tigranes, and Antiochus. The Romans
+fought four hundred years to subjugate Italy, when free, but to
+conquer servile Asia they only presented themselves before it.
+. (p. 283.) The despot, for his glory and his security, ought
+to regard as his friends, those very philosophers whom he hates ;
+and as his enemies, those courtiers whom he cherishes, and whose
+vile flatteries of his vices excite him to crimes that lead on to his
+perdition.
+. (ibid. ) By what sign do we distinguish an arbitrary from a
+legitimate power ? Both make laws ; both inflict capital or infe
+rior punishments on the violators ofthose laws. Both employ the
+power of the community, that is, the power ofthe nation, to maintain their edicts, or repel the attack ofan enemy. True : but
+B 2 they
+$72 TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+they differ, say's Locke, in this ; the first employs the public authority to gratify his caprice or enslave the inhabitants, and the
+otheremploys it to render himself respected by his neighbours, to
+secure to the inhabitants their property, their laws, and their liberty.
+In short, the employment of the national force to any other purpose than the general welfare is a crime. It is therefore the diffe
+rent manner of employing the national force that distinguishes the
+arbitrary from the legitimate power.
+. (p. 284. ) Despotisin appeared in such a light to the virtuous
+Tullius, the seventh king of Rome, that he had the courage to fix
+himselfthe bounds of the royal authority.
+. (ibid.) Among the various causes of the little success of
+France, in the last war, when we reckon the jealousy and inexperience of the generals, and their indifference for the public welfare,
+perhaps we should not forget the gangrene of religious slavery,
+which began at that time to spread itself over all minds. The
+Frenchman now no longer dares to think for himself. From day
+to day, he thinks less, and will, from day to day, become less
+respectable.
+. (p. 289. ) The love of power is such, that in England itself
+there is scarcely a minister who would not invest his prince with
+arbitrary power. The intoxication of a great place, makes the
+minister forget, that weighed down by the power he erects, he and
+his posterity will perhaps be its first victims.
+Why do men seek great employments ? Is it from a desire of
+doing good ? He that is not animated by this motive, must regard
+them as burdens. When men desire them, it is less for public utilitythan their own. Men are not, therefore, born so good as some
+pretend. Goodness supposes a love of others, and it is in ourselves onlywe center all our love.
+. (p. 290.) The desire of power is general, and if to obtain it all
+men do not expose themselves to the same dangers, it is because
+the love of self-preservation is in the greatest part of them an
+equipoise to their love of power.
+. p. 291.) In almost every country, force is preferred to
+justice.
+TREATISE ON MAN. 373
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+justice. In France, they make the advocate pay taxes, but not
+the lieutenant. Why? Because one is to a certain degree the
+representative ofjustice, and the other ofpower.
+. (p. 292.) Who are the enemies of an illustrious man? His
+rivals, and almost all his contemporaries, His presence humbles
+them. By whom is he praised ? By the stranger ; he is without
+envy : he makes a part of living posterity : the distance ofplace
+equals that of time. The approbation of strangers is to a man of
+letters almost the only recompence that he can now expect.
+. (p. 297.) When we are inwardly constrained to acknowledge
+another to have a superior understanding, we hate him ; his presence is disgusting : we would be revenged and get rid of him :
+for that purpose we force him to leave his country, like Descartes,
+Bayle, Maupertuis, &c. or we persecute him like Montesquieu,
+Diderot, &c.
+There is no great man, they say, in the eyes of his wife, or
+his valet de chambre. I really believe it. How can we continually live with a man whom we are too often forced to admire? In this case, we must either leave him, or cease to esteem
+him. Riches and dignities may for a time impose silence on envy ;
+but then it is secretly irritated. We are unwilling that a man
+already our superior by birth and dignity, should also excel us in
+talents. Does a man write like Frederic ? We ridicule in him
+the talents for writing which we admire in Cæsar, Cicero, &c. we
+see him with regret establish his merit by a good work. But is not
+his conversation alone sufficient to prove his genius ? No: in
+"conversation the ideas succeed so rapidly, that we have not
+time to consider them in everylight, nor to see their propriety ;
+besides the tone and gesture of the speaker, and the disposition of
+the hearer, may all help to impose on us. We may therefore
+always dispute a merit of this sort ; we do, and console ourselves
+byit.
+Perhaps in orderto be loved we ought to deserve but little esteem ; all superiority attracts awe and aversion. Why does affa2 B3 bility
+TREATISE ON MAN..
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+bility render merit supportable ? Because it makes a man in some
+degree despicable.
+Areserved merit gives at once a disposition to respect and hatred, and an affable merit a disposition to love and contempt. He
+who would be caressed by those that surround him should be content with little esteem. We pardon merit by forgetting it. Great
+talents have some admirers and few friends. The secret and ge
+neral desire of the majority is not that genius exalt itself, but that
+folly be extended.
+. (p. 298.) From what motive do men purchase satirical pamphlets ? From the scandal they cast on great men, and the praises
+they give to those of little ability. Human nature is not changed
+in this respect. If the Athenians, says Plutarch, so hastily advanced youngCymon to the highest offices, it was to mortifyThemistocles ; they were tired of esteemning the same man so long together.
+Whydo we extol to excess rising talents Frequently to depress
+those already in esteem. When we penetrate, says Plutarch, pro-
+' foundly into the human heart, and see its principal motives, we find
+that the desire of obliging one man arises less from the pleasure of
+serving him , than the gratification of envy in depreciating another.
+. (ibid.) Fathers in general, though honest, 'yet ignorant,
+see with impatience their sons frequent the company of men of letters, and give their society the preference to all others : their
+paternal pride is thereby mortified.
+. (ibid.) If, as they say, letters and philosophy be in France.
+without protectors, we may, without the spirit of prophecy, affirm
+that the succeeding generation will be without learning or genius ;
+and that of all the arts, those of luxury will alone be cultivated.
+. (p. 299.) Violence and persecution are in general proportioned to the merit of the persecuted. In every country illustri
+ous men have undergone disgrace. It is scarcely one hundred and
+fifty years since a man in England could not have been with impunity a great man.
+. (ibid. ) Few authors think for themselves. The greatest
+part
+TREATISE ON MANA $75
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+part of books are made after other books ; yet he that has not
+a manner of his own, ought not to expect esteem from posterity.
+. (p. 299.) Formerly all menbowed down before the ancients,
+and whoever in secret preferred Tasso to Virgil or Homer never
+owned it. What reason however have we for concealing our opinion, when we do not give it as a law? What better than the diversity of opinions, can improve the taste of the public ?
+. (ibid) When princes or magistrates regard the opinion of
+posterity, they commonly merit its esteem ; they will be just in
+their edicts and their sentences. It is the same with authors.
+When a writer has posterity present to his mind, his manner of
+comparing objects becomes great ; he discovers important truths,
+and he secures to himself the general esteem, because he writes
+for men of all ages and all countries.
+. (p. 300.) The theological libel intitled the Censure of Belisarius, excites horror bythe barbarity and cruelty of its assertions ;
+it always recals to my mind that fine verse of Racine.
+Eh quoi, Mathan ! d'un prêtre est cela le langage?
+What, Mathan ! is this the language of a priest ?
+. (ibid.) The citizens to whom we owe the greatest respect
+are, first, those generals and ministers whose valour or sagacity
+have secured the grandeur or felicity of empires. The next most
+useful citizens are such as improve the arts and sciences, supplythe
+wants of men, or preserve them from discontent. Whythen do
+we shew more respect to a man of wealth or power than to a great
+mathematician, poet, or philosopher ? Because our first respect is
+for a power or possession to which we constantly join the idea of
+happiness and pleasure.
+Poweris the idol of youth, and even of those of maturer age ;
+so long as they can twine the myrtles with their laurels.
+If power be sometimes disdained by age, it is because it no longer affords its former advantage.
+. (p. 304.) It is at the period that men, by increasing, are
+forced 2 B 4
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+forced to manure the earth, that they perceive the necessity of
+securing to thelabourer his harvest, and the property of the land he cultivates. Before cultivation it is nowonder that the strongest
+should think he has as much right over a piece of harren ground
+as the first occupier.
+. (p. 305.) A resistance to him who is possessed ofpower is
+reputed sedition and a crime even in polished nations. No proof
+of this can be more clear than the complaint an English merchant
+made tothe house of commons : " Gentlemen, said he, you can
+"6 never imagine how perfidiously the negroes treat us ; their
+"wickednessis sogreat, that on some ofthe coasts of Africa they
+"prefer death to slavery. When we have bought them, they
+" tab themselves, or plunge into thesea ; which is so much loss
+"to the purchasers. Judge by this action of the perversity of " that abominable race."
+. (p. 307. ) At what time do a people violate the law of nations Whenthey can do it with impunity. Rome while weak was
+equitable and virtuous when it had conquered Macedonia no
+nation could resist it : then become more strong it ceased to be
+just. Its inhabitants were from that time without honour, and
+without faith. The powerful are alway's unjust. Justice between
+nations is constantly founded on a reciprocal fear, and hence
+that political axiom : If you desire peace, prepare for war. Si
+vispacem, para bellum.
+. (p. 309.) Aristotle places robbery among the different
+kinds of hunting ; and Solon, among the several professions,
+reckons that of theft : he observes only that we should not rob
+either our fellow- citizens, or the allies of our republic. Rome,
+under the first of her kings, was a den of robbers. The Germans,
+says Cesar, regard devastation and pillage as the only exercise
+proper for youth ; and the only one that can keep them from idleness, and make them finished men.
+. (ibid. ) There is, they say, a law of nations between the
+English, French, Germans, Italians, &c. I believe it. The fear
+of reprisals will establish it among nations of a force nearly equal ;
+but
+:
+TREATISE ON MAN. 377
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+but when they are freed from that fear, and have to do with a
+savage people, from that moment the law of nations appears to
+them nothing more than a chimera.
+Is it for the Christians to talk of the law of nations, the law of
+nature and of virtue ? They, who without any injury received
+from the Indians of the East, invade their coasts, lay waste their
+cities, and driveout the inhabitants, who with their European merchandize carry to the African towns a spirit of discord, and availing themselves of the wars they have kindled, purchase the vanquished for slaves, who without offence, or even the appearance
+of offence on the part of the western Indians, landed in America,
+destroyed the palaces of Montezuma and the Incas, massacred
+their subjects, and seized on their dominions, without regard to
+the law, primo occupanti.
+The church boasts of causing treasures that have been stolen to
+be restored ; but has it caused the empires of Mexico and Peru to
+be restored to their legal proprietors ? Has it not on the contrary,
+in concert with princes, pillaged the new world ? Has it not enriched itself with the spoils, and by its conduct brought into contempt those precepts ofthe natural law, which it says are engraved
+on every heart by the hand of God ?
+What can be more absurd and pitiful than the morality of the
+church ? If a prince take a mistress, it is in their opinion a matter
+of indifference, if she do not oppose the projects of the church, :
+for then the priests cry aloud against the impiety. But if the
+same prince carry war and devastation among a people that have
+not offended him, if he cause 400,000 men to perish in an expedition, and bow down his people with taxes, the priests are silent.
+Curious morality this of the catholic church !
+. (p, 310.) Men lovejustice, they say ; but the magistrates
+are the instruments of justice, and charged by the state to administerit ; they therefore ought, above all, to protect innocence.
+But do they in reality protect it ? A criminal cause is conducted
+in two different manners in Spain and in England : that in which ·
+an advocate is given to the accused, and where his trial is conducted
+. TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+ducted in a public manner, is without doubt that where innocence
+is most protected against the corruption and partiality of the
+judges, and consequently the best. Whythen is it not adopted ?.
+Whydo not the magistrates solicit its admission ? Because they
+imagine that the more arbitrary their sentences are, the more fear
+they will inspire, and the more authority they will have over the
+people The so much boasted love of equity is not therefore
+either natural or common to men. Now, how can we call them the
+friends of humanity, when they are not even friends tojustice ?
+. ( p. 310.) The idea of happiness is so closely connected in
+the mind with that of power, that they are not without difficulty
+separated. Werespect even the appearance ofpower : it is to this
+sentiment that we owe perhaps a certain admiration of suicide.
+Weimagine him to be possessed of great power who can so des◄
+pise life as to put himself to death. To what cause butthe love of
+power can we attribute the excessive hatred of women for men of
+acertain inclination ? Alexander, Socrates, Solon, and Catinat
+were heroes, faithful friends, and worthy citizens a man may
+therefore have this inclination, and be useful to his family and his
+country. Whence then proceeds the horror of women for men
+suspected ofit? Because they have less power over them. Now
+this defect of power is to them insupportable ; they are so many
+slaves to it, at least in their empire, men of this sort are therefore guilty of a crime that death alone can expiate.
+. (ibid.) It is power that makes one monarch respected by ·
+another. While Philip II, was busied in his closet, he called for :
+aservant, and nobody came ; his fool laughed. What do you laugh
+at ? said the king. To think ofthe awe and fear in which youhold
+* That those men were really addicted to this perverse inclination seems to be mere conjecture ; it was doubtless very common.
+in Greece, and therefore every ancient Greek is supposed to have
+been infected with it : just as we suppose every Dutchinan to be
+a lover of money, and every Frenchman fond of gallantry. T.
+•
+all
+TREATISE ON MAN. 379
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+all Europe, and of the contempt in which they would hold you if
+you were not powerful, and the rest of your subjects did not serve.
+youbetter than your domestics.
+. (p. 311.) Princes rarely feel the enthusiasm of equity : few
+among them are animated with a noble love of humanity. In all
+antiquity Gelo alone affords an example of it. He held human
+sacrifices in horror ; he carried the war into Africa, and obliged
+the vanquished Carthaginians to abolish that detestable custom.
+Catherine, in like manner, armed to force the Poles to toleration.
+Of all wars those two perhaps have been alone undertaken for the
+happiness of nations. Gelo and Catherine II . will therefore, in.
+this respect, divide the esteem of posterity. If we would judge
+of the merit of sovereigns, we should do it, not bythe little
+broils that may arise in their families, but by the
+they have done, or would have done to mankind.
+doing good is rare among them. The only time at which the.
+public good commonly operates is that when the interest of the
+prince coincides with that of the people. At what periods have
+the kings of France promoted the liberty of their subjects, and
+weakened the feudal power? Whenthe haughty vassals of the
+crown equalled themselves with their sovereigns ; then the ambition of the monarchs gave freedom tothe people.
+great benefits
+The desire of
+Let not the princes ofthe East boast oftheir love of equity. He
+that would make brutes of his subjects cannot love them. It is a
+folly to imagine the people would be then more docile and easy to›
+govern. The more enlightened a nation is, the more readily it submits tothe just demands of an equitable administration. He that
+would blind his subjects, would be unjust with impunity. Such
+in general are men, and yet they dare to call themselves the
+friends ofjustice. O self-ignorance and hypocrisy ?
+. (ibid.) Are there, as it is asserted, men who sacrifice their
+dearest interest to justice ? No : but there are those who hold
+nothing dearer than justice. This generous sentiment is in them
+the effect of an excellent education. By what method can this
+principle
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+•
+principle be engraved on every heart ? By representing on one
+hand, the unjust man as base, despised, and consequently impotent ; .
+and on the other hand, the just man as esteemed, honoured, and .
+consequently powerful.
+When the idea of justice is by these means connected inthe
+mind with those of power and happiness, they will be confounded,
+and form but one ; and when we have a habit of recalling them
+together, it will soon become impossible to divide them. This
+habit once contracted, we shall be proud of appearing just and
+virtuous ; and then there is nothing that we shall not sacrifice to
+that noble pride.
+It is thus the love of power and importance begets the love of
+justice. This last love, it is true, is a stranger to man ; that of ·
+power, onthe contrary, is natural to him ; it is commonto all ;
+tothe honest man and the knave, the savage and the polished citizen.
+The love ofpower is the immediate effect of corporeal sensibi-.
+lity, and the desire of justice is the effect of instruction : consequently, it is onthe sagacity ofthe laws that the virtue of a people·
+depends. How many virtuous men are there among a people
+wherejustice is respected, that would be unjust among a ferocious
+nation, where equity is regarded as weakness and cowardice ?
+Men therefore do not love equity for itself. This question has
+been at all times decided by the conduct and manners ofall nations,.
+and all despots.
+. (p. 315.) Under a feudal government who are the tyrants ?.
+The lords. Tyrants therefore, they will say, are more numerous
+here than under a despotic government. I doubt it. The sultan
+has under him vizirs, pachas, beys, receivers and directors of taxes,
+with an infinity ofunderlings and sub-tyrants, who are still more.
+indifferentto the happiness ofthe vassals than the proprietors.
+. p. 320.) In England, if iniquity in a great man be despised
+bylow people, it is because those people, being protected by the
+law, have nothing to fear from the great. If in every other .
++
+country
+i
+TREATISE ON MAN. 381
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+country the vices of the great be on the contrary respected, it is
+because vice is there armed with power, and power we can abhor
+and not despise.
+. (p. 321.) Attila, as well as Thamas, gloried in being the
+scourge of the Almighty.
+w
+. (ibid. ) Seditious and rebellious are the injurious titles which
+the powerful oppressor gives to the impotent oppressed.
+. (p. 322.) In every empire where the momentary desire ofa
+prince is a law, all the laws are contradictory, and there are no
+appearances of moral principles, either in the governors or those
+that are governed.
+. (p. 324.) Contempt is the portion of weakness. This is
+perhaps the only truth of which princes are not ignorant. Ifa
+monarch lose a province or a town, he appears despicable even in
+his own eyes ; but if he unjustly take atown or province from his
+neighbour, he thinks himself respectable. He has always seen
+injustice honoured in the potent, and the world remain silent be
+fore power.
+. (ibid .) The strong and wicked, says an English poet,
+fear those only that are stronger and worse than themselves ; but
+the just and virtuous ought to fear all men ; he has all his fellowcitizens, even his very friends, for persecutors ; all attack him.
+His virtue freesthem from the fear of revenge. Humanity in him
+is equal to weakness in others ; and under a vicious government,
+the good and weak are born victims to the wicked and strong.
+. (p. 328.) An English nobleman landed in Italy, travelled
+through the country about Rome, and embarked hastily for England. Why, he was asked, do you quit this fine country ? “ I
+" can no longer bear, said he to see the wretched looks of the
+"Romanpeasants ; their misery torments me ; they have not even
+" a human aspect.” This nobleman perhaps exaggerated ; but
+he did not falsify.
+. (ibid. ) The murder of Clytus was the disgrace of Alexan
+der, and the punishment of the Dutch gazetteer that ofthe French
+minister.
+$82 TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+minister. The crine ofthose two unfortunate menwas the same ;
+they were both imprudent enough to speak the truth. In the last
+century mankind were enraged at the treatment ofthe gazetteer.
+There are ages still more base, when the punishment of a man of
+veracity is applauded.
+. (p. 3.8.) When we are concerned for this gazetteer, and
+compare his crime with his punishment, we seemto be transported
+tothe dominions ofthe sultan ofthe Indies, who hanged his visir for
+having put three grains of pepper into a cream tart. The illustri
+ous, but unfortunate, M. Chalotois was very near suffering the
+same fate, it is said, for having, in like manner, put three grains of
+salt into aletter, written to a comptroller- general.
+. (ibid. ) In France, why do they not dare to exhibit the
+futility of the great on the stage ? Because, they say, comedies of
+that sort would produce little reformation ; it is true. The poet
+who flatters himself with correctingthe frivolity ofthe French by a
+ridiculous portrait is deceived. There is no filling the vessels of
+the Danaides. Men of sound sense are not to be formed under a
+government where priests and women have a powerful influence.
+Alight and trifling spirit can alone be there cultivated ; for it is
+that only whichleads to fortune.
+. (p. 329.) It is not to his genius, but constantly to some particular event, that a man of talents owes the protection of the ignorant. Ifthe ugly seek the company ofthe blind, ignorance flies
+that of the sharp-sighted.
+. (ibid.) An ignorant visir always views with an evil eye
+the man who travels into the countries of learned people and wise
+princes. Thevisir fears that the traveller on his return should des.
+pise him an enemy to men of ability, he boasts of his contempt
+for them, and it is by this contempt that the stranger judges him.
+Great ministers and great princes have always been protectors of
+letters ; witness the prince of Brunswick, Catherine II. Prince
+Henry of Prussia, &c.
+. (ibid.) It was formerly the privilege of fools sometimes to
+speak
+TREATISE ON MAN. 383
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+speak the truth to princes ; but still with what caution and at
+what moments ! Let us imitate, says one of them , the prudence of
+the cats ; they do not think themselves secure in an apartment
+till they have smelled to every corner of it...
+. (p. 330.) It is to the liberty the English and Dutch, still enjoythat Europe owes the little of it that still remains. Except
+them there is scarcely any nation that does not groan under the
+yoke of ignorance and despotism. Every virtuous man, every
+good citizen, should therefore interest himself in the liberty of
+those two people.
+. (ibid. ) It is only automata that despotism commands.
+There are no characters but a free nation. The English have one ;
+the Eastern nations have not fear and servility stifles it among
+them.
+་
+. (p. 332.) When a government prohibits writing on matters.
+of administration, it makes a vow of blindness, and that vow is
+common enough. " As long as my finances are well regulated,
+" and my army well disciplined, said a great prince, let who will
+"write against my discipline and my administration ; but if I neg-
+" lect either of these, who knows whether I should not have the
+"weakness to compel such writers to silence."
+. (ibid.) When a man becomes a minister, it is no longer his
+time to form principles, but to apply them ; carried away by the
+-current of business, what he then learns is nothing more than details, always unknown to those that are not in place.
+. (ibid.) To limit the press is to insult the nation : toprohibit the reading of certain bocks is to declare the inhabitants to be
+either fools or slaves : such a prohibition ought to fill them with
+disdain. But it will be said, it is almost always after the opinion
+ofthepowerful that a book is approved or condemned ; yes, at the
+beginning but this first judgment is nothing ; it is the voice of
+prejudice for or against. Thejudgment truly interesting to an author is thejudgment of the people, after reflection, which is almost
+always just.
+. (ibid.)
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+. (p. 332.) The age at which men attain great places is frequently that when attention becomes the most irksome. At that
+age he who compels me to study is my enemy ; I seek his punishment, and wish his death. I can very well pardon a poet for his
+fine verses ; I can read them without attention but I cannot
+pardon a moralist for his acute reasonings ; for the importance of
+the subject obliges me to reflect, and if he combats my prejudices,
+hewounds mypride, he robs me of my indolence, and forces me
+tothink ; now every constraint produces hatred. '
+. (p. 333.) The land of despotism is fruitful in miseries as
+well as monsters. Despotism is the luxury of power, of no signi
+ficance to the happiness of a sovereign. The very idea´ of this
+power would have made a Roman tremble. It is the terror ofan
+Englishman. Judge Pratt says on this subject, " Let us be cau-
+' tious that the study of the Italian and the French does not de-
+"base a free people. "
+What are in the eyes of the English the nobility of Europe ?
+Menwhojoin tothe quality of slaves that ofoppressors of the people ; of citizens whomthelawitself cannot protect against the man
+in place. A nobleman in Portugal is neither proprietor of his life,
+his estate, norhis liberty : he is a domestic negro, who, flogged by
+the immediate order of his master, despises the negro floggedby
+order of the overseer of a plantation. This, in almost all the
+courts of Europe, is the only difference between the humble citizen and the haughty nobleman.
+. (ibid. ) We must either creep, or keep at a distance from
+the court. He who cannot live but by its favours, must degrade
+his nature, or die of hunger. Few men prefer the latter.
+. (p. 334.) The late king of Prussia being at supper with the
+English ambassador, asked him what he thought ofmonarchs.
+" In
+general, he replied, I think them a worthless race : they are ig-
+"norant, and debauched by flattery. The only thing in which
+"theysuccced, is riding a horse ; and at the same time, of all'those
+"that approach them, the horse is the only one that does not flatter
+them ;
+TREATISE ON MAN. 385
+NOTES ON SECTION Y.
+" them ; for he breaks their neck if they do not manage
+" well."
+him
+. (p. 334.) Themore despotic a government is, and the more
+degraded the minds of the people are, the more they boast of a
+love of theirtyrant.
+The slaves in Morocco bless their fate and
+their prince, at the very time he condescends to cut theirthroats
+with his own hands.
+. (ibid.) Sovereigns corrupted by flattery are spoiled chil
+dren. Habituated to command slaves, they frequently attempt
+to behave in the same manner to their equals, and are sometimes
+punished by the loss of a part of their dominions. It was this
+chastisement which the Romans inflicted on Tigranes, Antiochus,
+&c. when those tyrants dared to equal themselves to a free people.
+. (p. 336.) When a man is rich he would be admired for his
+wealth ; when he is of quality, he would be admired for his
+rank ; whenhe is well made, for his figure. It is not difficult to
+praise all have something which theythink commendable.
+. (p. 338.) The man of genius thinks for himself; his opi
+nions are sometimes contrary to those commonly received ; he
+therefore shocks the vanity of the greater number. To offend
+nobody we should have no ideas but those ofthe world : a man is
+then without genius and without enemies.
+. (p. 343.) The Albigenses were treated in the same manner
+as the Vaudois. The excess to whichthe rage of intolerance was
+carried against them is notto be conceived. The frightful picture
+of the barbarities exercised on the Vaudois is leftus by Samuel
+Morland the English ambassador at Savoy, then resident on the
+spot. " Never, says he, did Christians commit such cruel-
+"ties on Christians : they cut offthe heads of the barbes, (the
+"teachers of the people), boiled and eat them : they cut
+"open the bellies of the women, to the navel, with flints ;
+"from others they cut off their breasts, broiled and eat them.
+" They applied fire to the private parts of some ; they brokethe
+"limbs of others, and exposed them to scorching fires ; from
+"others they plucked off their nails with pincers ; they tied men,
+VOL. I. 2 c
+half
+$86 TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION V.
+" half dead, to the tails of horses, and drew them in that manner
+"overrocks. The least oftheir punishments wasto be thrown from
+" a steep rock, from whence they frequently fell among trees, to
+"which they hung till they perished by hunger, cold, and their
+"wounds. They cut some of them into a thousand pieces, and
+"strewed their limbs and flesh about the country. They impaled
+"the virgins by their private parts, and carried them about like
+"standards. Among others they drew a young man, named
+" Pelanchion, about the streets of Lucerne, which are every where
+"strewed with pointed flint stones ; and if the pain made him lift up
+" his head or his hands, they were presently beat down : they at
+" last cut off his secret parts, and by stuffing them into his mouth,
+" stifled him ; then cut off his head, and threw the trunk into
+"the river. The Catholics tore to pieces with their hands the in-
+" fants they snatched from the cradle. They roasted young girls
+" alive, cut off their breasts, and ate them. From others they cut
+" off the nose, the ears, and other parts of their bodies. They
+"filled the mouth ofsomewith gun-powder, to which they set fire.
+" They flead others alive, and hung the skin before the windows of
+" Lucerne. They beat out the brains of others, which they roasted
+" or boiled, and then ate. The least punishments were to cut out
+"their hearts, to burn them alive, to disfigure their faces, cutthem
+"into a thousand pieces, and then drown them. But they shewed
+"themselves true Catholics, and worthy Romans, when at Garig-
+"liano they heated an oven, and forced eleven Vaudois to throw
+"each other into it, till the last, whom the murderers threw in
+"themselves. Nothing was to be seen in all the vallies but bo-
+"dies dead or dying. The snow of the Alps was stained with
+"their blood. Here was seen a head, there a trunk, legs, arms,
+"bowels torn out, and a heart yet beating."
+Forwhatpretended crime did they punish the Vaudois with so
+muchbarbarity? For that of rebellion, they said. They were reproached with not having abandoned their dwellings andthe place
+of their birth at the first order of Gastall and the pope ; of not
+•· having
+TREATISE ON MAN. 387
+NOTES ON SECTION V.
+having exiled themselves. from a country they had possessed for
+years, and where they had always enjoyed the free exercise of
+their religious worship. It is thus that the gentle Catholic religion,
+its gentle ministers and saints have at all times treated mankind.
+What could the apostles of the devil do worse ?
+. (p. 344.) No man can cast a penetrative look on the various
+false religions, without conceiving the greatest contempt for the
+human race in general, and for himself in particular. What ! he
+willsay, were thousands ofyears necessary to convince men equally
+intelligentwith myself of the folly of paganism ? Dothe Jews and
+the Guebres still persist in their errors ! Do the Mussulmans still
+believe inMahomet ; and may it be thousands of years before they
+are convinced ofthe fallacy of the Koran ! Man must certainly be
+a very weak and credulous animal, and in sl:ort, this planet of
+ours must be, as a wise man said, the mad-house of the universe.
+. (ibid. ) Why is the clergyman generally esteemed in Eng--
+land ? Because he is tolerant ; the laws tying his hands, and giving
+him no share in administration : because he does not, and cannot
+injure any one because the maintenance ofthe English clergy is
+not soburthensome to the state as Catholic clergy ; and lastly, because in that country religion is properly nothing more than a phi
+losophical opinion.
+. (ibid.) What I say of zeal I say also of humility. Of whatever sect we suppose a cardinal to be, he can never really think
+himself humble when he sets himself up at Rome for the protector
+ofsuch a kingdom as France. True humility would refuse so ostentatious a title. I do not mean however to deny the stupidity of
+some prelates ; but their ambitious pretensions prove less the abi
+lity of the clergy than the folly of the people. During my stay
+atJapan, said a traveller to me, whenever I heard the words DonooSury-Sama, that is to say, My Lord Crane, they forced meto
+think on the name of some bishop.
+. (ibid. ) Jesus exercised no authority upon earth. Ifhe had
+desired that the sacerdotal power should command, he would have
+c2 at
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION Y.
+at first left that command with his apostles. Now their successors
+have not yet shewn us their commission, or title to such a legacy.
+. (p. 345.) The Saducees were regarded as the most virtuous
+amongthe Jews. The word Saduc in Hebrew is synonimous to
+just. The Saducees therefore were, and ought to have been less
+hateful to God. than the Pharasees : the latter demanded the death
+and the blood of Jesus Christ. Now incredulity is, and ever will ,
+be, less contrary to the spirit ofthe Gospel than inhumanity and
+deicide.
+. (p. 346.) To the disgrace of France, M. Rousseau has not
+been less persecuted at Paris than at Neufchatel. The Sorbonnists could not forgive him his dialogue of the Reasoner and Inspired. That dialogue, they say, is too bold. What answer is there to
+this ? But the reasonings of M. Rousseau are either true or false.
+Torefutejust reasons by violence is injustice ; to refute bad reasons
+bythe same method is folly: it is to confess stupidity ; to injure our
+owncause. Sophismsrefute themselves : thetruthis easily defended.
+Besides what are the objections of M. Rousseau ? Those that
+every bonze, dervis, and mandarin makes to the monk he would
+convert. Are those objections insoluble ? Whatthen do the monks
+in China? Why do they ask assistance, alms, and gratuities of
+princes, to defray the expence of a mission wherethey can make
+no converts ? But the monks who travel over the East have no
+other object than to enrich themselves by commerce ; they employ the treasures that have been lavished on them by the people
+to no other purpose than to deprive those very people of the
+profit of legitimate con.merce. In this case what just reproaches
+have not the nations to make them ? And what accusations can
+they bring against M. Rousseau ? He has preached, they say, the
+religion of nature : but it is not contrary to that of revelation.
+M. Rousseau has been honest in his criticisms : he was not the author of those infamous libels intitled, Gazette Ecclesiastique,
+yet he is banished, and the novelist is tolerated. Whothenwere
+thy judges, Q illustrious Rousseau ? Fanatics, who would, if it
+were
+TREATISE ON MAN. 389
+NOTES ON SECTION V.
+were in their power, blast the memory of Marcus Aurelius, Antoninus, and Trajan, and would accuse the greatest prince in Europe of his superior talents as a crime. What regard is to be
+paid to such judgments ? None. Let us appeal to posterity, and
+despise all those judgments that are not pronounced by reason and
+equity. Posterity will judge the judges, and if the most intolerant
+have not been the greatest knaves, they have at least been the
+greatest fools.
+Abutt for the cabals of priests, M. Rousseau is treated in this century as Abelard was in the twelfth by the monks of St. Denis. He
+denied that their founder was Dionysius the Areopagite mentioned
+in the NewTestament. From that moment they declared him an
+enemy to the glory and crown of France : he was consequently
+defamed, persecuted, and proscribed by the saints of his age.
+Whoever opposes the pretensions ofa monk is an impious wretch.
+Hence the accusations of blasphemy and atheism are now become
+so puerile and ridiculous. I hope, for the honour of the human
+understanding, that the great men of the earth, the princes, ministers, and magistrates will one day blush at having b en the vile
+instruments of monastic rage and vengeance ; that they will fear to`
+make exiſe and punishment honourable by the merit of those on
+whom those punishments are inflicted.
+The Athenians, to secure their liberty, sometimes banished a
+too popular citizen : the fear of a master made them proscribe a
+great man. The nations of Europe, secure from that danger, have
+not the same pretence for committing the same injustice.
+. (p. 346.) Cassiodorus thought like St. John. Religion, he
+said, cannot be commanded. Force makes hypocrites, and not
+believers. Religio imperari non potest, quia nemo cogitur ut
+credat. Faith, says St. Bernard, ought to be persuaded, not commanded ; fides suadenda, non imperanda. Nothing is morevoluntary, says Lactantius, than religion ; it is nothing in him to
+whom it is repugnant. Nihil est tam voluntarium quam religio
+in qua, si animus uversus est, jam sublata, jam nuila est. Nothing
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION V.
+thingis more contrary to religion, says Tertullian, than to endea
+vour to force belief ; it is not by violence, but freely we must
+believe. Nonest religionis religionem cogere velle, cum sponte
+suscipi debeat, non vi.
+. (p. 349.) The Pagans, it will he said, believed in priests
+that were impostors. Be it so : but did that belief give them a
+right to persecute ? There are thousands who believe in a mountebank, or an old woman, rather than a physician. Has the latter
+a right to demand the death ofthe unbelievers in medicine ? In corporeal as well as spiritual maladies, every one ought to choose his
+own physician.
+. (ibid. ) Frequently, says M. Lambert of Prussia in his Novum Organum, we think, believe we think, and believe more than
+we really think and believe. This is the source of athousand errors. Ifa man forbear, for example, to read prohibited books, he
+thinks he believes, and suspects in secret the fallacy of his belief:
+he is like a false pleader, who fears to read the defence of the adverse party.
+. (ibid. ) The pilots of the vessels of superstition are skilful ; as
+for the sailors, the greatest part of them are ignorant. The govern
+ing clergy require but little understanding in the clergy governed; andon this account we have nothing with whichto reproach the
+latter. Somebody once asked Fontenelle : Howdoes yourbrother
+the priest employ himself? Inthe morning, replied the philosopher,
+he say's mass, and in the evening he does not know what he says.
+. (p. 350.) Nothing can be more absurdly subtle, say the
+English, than the arguments of the theologians, to prove to the
+ignorant Catholics the veracity of popery. These arguments would
+do equally well to prove the truth ofthe Koran, that of the Thousand and One Nights, or the tale of Mother Goose. To be convinced of this, let them apply to those stories the sophisms and
+distinctions of the schools, andthey will find nothing in them theologically incredible.
+. (ibid. ) Descartes, when persecuted, quitted France,
+taking,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 391
+NOTES ON SECTION V.
+taking, like Æneas, his penates with him, that is, the esteem and
+regret of men of sagacity. The parliament, then Aristotelian,
+published anarret against the Cartesians : their doctrine was therein
+condemned ; as has since been that of the Encyclopedia, l'Esprit,
+and Emilius. There is nothing different in these arrets buttheir
+dates. Nowthe present parliaments laugh at the former; future
+parliaments will laugh at the present.
+. (p. 350.) See the apology by Naudé, for great men accused
+of magic. The author there thinks himself obliged to prove that
+Homer, Virgil, Zoroaster, Orpheus, Democritus, Solomon, pope
+Sylvester, Empedocles, Apollonius, Agrippa, Albertus Magnus,
+Paracelsus, &c. never were sorcerers.
+. (ibid. ) The Theoiogians have so much abused the word
+materialists, of which they have never been able to give a clear
+idea, that the term at last became synonimous with a clear understanding. They now mean by that word those celebrated writers
+whoseworks are read with avidity.
+. (p. 352.) With what odious imputations have not the Catholics loaded the Protestants? What tricks have not the monks
+employed to irritate princes against their faithful subjects ! What
+art to make them appear no other than rebels, who with rage in
+their hearts, and arms in their hands, are ever ready to scale the
+throne ! Such, O monks, is your justice and your charity ! On
+what do you found your calumnies? Which of the churches, the
+Roman orthe Protestant, has the most frequently arrogated the
+right of dethroning kings, and depriving them at once of sceptre
+and life? and which has most frequently put it in practice ? If we
+examine history, and calculate the number and kind of attempts
+made by one and .the other, the question will soon be decided.
+The protestants, they will say, have made war on princes. No :
+but princes have made war onthem. When I am unjustly attacked, defence is a law of nature, and numerous persecuted always
+avail themselves of this law. It is by irritating the sovereign
+against his faithful subjects, that the monks put arms into the hands
+of
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION Y.
+ofthe protestants. Allthe different sects of Christians are at this
+day tolerated in Holland, England, and Germany ; and what
+troubles do they there excite ? Peace is established in that empire
+on the plan of toleration, and doubtless will remain there as long
+as the government shall restrain the ambition of the ecclesiastics.
+To conclude ; if, as I have already said, governments take no
+part in theological quarrels, the people will regard them as matters
+of no more importance than the disputes about the ancient and modern writers.
+. (p. 352.) Who has not laughed to see the Jesuits so often
+accuse the parliaments of revolt, and cite them before the king,
+as a scholar before his preceptor ? France, they then said, is a
+nation of slaves, where each one accuses the other of sedition.
+. (p. 353.) The monks are employed incessantly in searching
+the scriptures for passages whose interpretation may be favourable
+to intolerance ; but whodoes not know that though the scriptures
+are of God, the interpretations are ofmen.
+. (p. 354.) The warrior, frank and brave, is commonly hu
+mane ; his freedom and courage get him above all fear. The
+priest, on the contrary, is cruel. Why ? Because he is weak,
+false, and cowardly. Now of all creatures, says Montaigne, if
+women be the most cruel, it is because in general they are weak
+and destitute of courage. Cruelty is always the effect offear,
+weakness and cowardice.
+. (ibid. ) Nothing is more indeterminate than the signification of the word impious, to which is annexed a vague, confused
+idea of villainy. Do they by this word mean an atheist, and apply
+it to one who has only obscure ideas of the Deity ? In this sense
+all men are atheists ; for no one can comprehend incomprehensi
+bility. Dothey apply it to those who call themselves materialists ? But if we have not yet any clear, adequate ideas of matter,
+we can have no clear idea of the impiety of materialism. Are we
+to regard as atheists those who have not the same idea of God as
+the Catholics ? We must then call by this name the pagans, he
+retics,
+TREATISE ON MAN. 393
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+retics, and infidels. Now in the last sense atheist is not a synonimous term with villain : it signifies a man who on certain metaphysical or theological points does not think with the monk and
+the Sorbonne. That the word atheism or impiety may recal to the
+mind some idea of villainy, to whom should it be applied ? To
+persecutors.
+. (p. 356.) It is not to be imagined to what a degree intolerance has of late years carried idiotism in France. A man of
+sense informed me that during the last war a hundred idiots, when
+with their confessors, accused the Encyclopedists ofthe derange
+ment in the finances ; and God knows if any one ofthem ever
+had the least band in their administration. Others reproached the
+philosophers with the little love for glory in our generals ; and at
+that time these same philosophers were exposed to a persecution,
+that nothing but the love of glory and the public welfare could
+support. Others again attributed to the publication of the Encyclopedia, and the progress ofthe hilosophic spirit, the defeats
+ofthe French armies ; yet it was then that the very philosophic
+king of Prussia, and the very philosophic people of England,
+every where defeated those armies. Philosophy was the sprite in
+the story that did all the mischief.
+Yet, said a great prince on this subject, every people who banish
+philosophy and good sense from among them, cannot promise
+themselves either great success in war, or aspeedy re-establishment
+in peace.
+In Portugal there are few philosophers to be found ; and per
+haps the weakness of the state is there in proportion to the folly
+and superstition of the people.
+. (p. 357.) Without the aid ofthe Catholic princes the Papists,
+as stupid, and perhaps more intolerant than the Jews, would fall
+into the same contempt.
+. (p. 358.) Intolerance was never greater in France : perhaps
+they would not now print, without castrations, M. Fleury's Ecclesiastical History, nor permit the impression of Fontaine's Fables.
+VOL. I. 2 D
+What
+TREATISE ON MAN.
+NOTES ON SECTION IV.
+What impiety might they not find in his lines on the sculptor and
+the statue of Jupiter* ?
+(p. 360.) Every thing in us, even to self-love, is acquisi
+tion ; we learn to love ourselves, to be humane or inhuman, vir
+tuous or vicious. The moral man is all education and imitation .
+. (ibid. ) Our various characters are the produce of our factitious passions ; that they are not the effect of organisation or particular temperament is evident by their being attached to certain
+professions : such, according to Mr. Hume, is that of a soldier,
+and that of a minister of the altar, which are nearly the same in all
+ages, countries, and religions.
+. (p. 361. ) The love of glory elevates a man above himself;
+it extends the faculties of the mind and soul : but he who regards
+that passion as the effect of a particular organisation deceives himself. The desire of glory is a passion so truly factitious and dependent on the form ofgovernment, that the legislature canalways
+at its pleasure kindle or extinguish it in a nation.
+. (p. 363.) There is no art or science that has not its particular language and it is the study of this language that at an adyanced : Ye renders us incapable of the study of new sciences.
+. (p. 367.) There are in every country a certain number of
+objects, that education offers equally to all ; and it is the uniform
+impression ofthose objects that produces in the inhabitants that
+resemblance ofideas and sentiments to which we give the name of
+the spirit and character of the nation.
+There is besides, a certain number of different objects that
+chance and education present to each individual, and it is the different impressions of these objects which produce in the same indi-
+* The poet formerly owed but little to the weakness of the
+sculptor, who dreaded the wrath and hatred of the gods ofhis own
+making for in this he was a child, and children are solely concerned that their dolls be not offended. T.
+viduals
+TREATISE ON MAN, 395
+NOTES ON SECTION VIII.
+viduals that diversity of ideas and sentiments to which we give the
+name of particular spirit and character.
+. (p. 367.) I suppose that a man cannot make himselfillustrious
+in letters without dividing his time between the world and retirement ; that it is in solitude he must collect diamonds, and in the
+world cut, polish, and set them. It is evident " chance and
+fortune, which have permitted me to live by turns in the city andin
+the country, have done more for me than some others.
+END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
+==Front matter==
+A
+TREATISE ON MAN;
+HIS
+INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES
+AND HIS
+EDUCATION.
+Claudas Adrien
+By M. HELVETIUS.
+A
+Honteux de m'ignorer,
+Dans mon être, dans moi, je cherche à pénétrer.
+Voltaire, Dis. VI. de la Nat. del'Homme,
+TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCHI, WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES,
+By W. HOOPER, M. D.
+ANEW AND IMPROVED EDITION.
+IN TWO VOLUMES.
+VOL. I.
+ALBIONPRESS:
+PRINTED FOR JAMES CUNDEE, IVY-LANE,
+AND VERNOR, HOOD AND SHARPE,
+, POULTRY.
+.
+.
+VI
+X80599
+TREATISE ON MAN;
+A
+HIS
+INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES
+AND HIS
+EDUCATION.
+By M. HELVETIUS.
+Honteux de m'ignorer,
+Dans mon être, dans moi, je cherche à pénétrer.
+Voltaire, Dis. VI. de la Nat, de l'Homme.
+TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH!, WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES,
+By W. HOOPER, M. D.
+ANEW AND IMPROVED EDITION.
+IN TWO VOLUMES.
+VOL. I.
+ALBION PRESS:
+PRINTED FOR JAMES CUNDEE, IVY- LANE,
+PATERNOSTER- ROW, LONDON.
+.
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