Read Ebook: Essays or discourses vol. 1 (of 4) by Feijoo Benito Jer Nimo Brett John Translator

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 51 lines and 79281 words, and 2 pages

TO THE READER.

My good reader, whoever you are, I have little expectation that you will be very propitious to this my undertaking, from a supposition, that you probably are already preoccupied in favour of many of the opinions which I combat; and I ought not to have such confidence, either in my persuasive powers, or in your docility, as to promise myself an early conquest of your prejudices, or a sudden attachment of your approbation. From hence it may follow, that stiff in your old opinions, you will condemn my sentiments, as false and injurious. Father Malebranche said justly, that those authors who write with an intention to banish common pre-possessions, should always conclude, that the public will receive their works with disgust. Whenever it happens that truth becomes triumphant, the victory advances by such slow paces, that the author while he lives, only enjoys the vain expectation, that his tomb will one day be crown'd with laurels. A striking example of this truth, was seen in the famous William Hervey, against whom, on account of his noble discovery respecting the circulation of the blood, the physicians of that time declaimed furiously, though all the professors of the science at present, venerate him as an oracle. In his life-time they loaded him with injuries; now he is dead they would place his image on the altars.

I should here endeavour to win your mind to an admission of my maxims, and take the opportunity of shewing by various examples, how involv'd in error, are many of the most established opinions; but this being the intire object of my first discourse, I must refer you thither, for the perusal of my arguments on this head, I having plac'd that discourse in the front, as a necessary preliminary to this volume; but if you are not to be persuaded, and are obstinately bent on remaining a constant partizan of the Voice of the People, in the name of goodness pursue your course. If you are wise, I shall treat you liberally, and we shall not become angry with each other; for liberality will reprehend the sentiment, without ill using the author; but if you are simple, you, together with that infirmity, will not fail to possess the quality of inexorable also. I know very well, there is not a more rigid censurer of a book, than a man who is incapable of dictating a letter. Such people may say what they please of me, and treat my opinions as excentric, because they are out of the common road; but let us agree in a preliminary, to wit, that if they are to take the liberty of calling me extravagant, I may be allowed to say they are ignorant.

I may perhaps be blamed, for giving the name of errors to all the opinions I controvert. The complaint would be just, if I did not remove the odium of the term by an explanation. I say then, that error in the sense I here take and use it, signifies no more than an opinion that I look upon as false, abstracted from, and without my determining upon the probability or improbability of it.

Neither by the term common errors, do I mean to signify, that those I encounter are incident to all mankind, it is sufficient to apply this term to them, if they are admitted by the generality of the vulgar, or lead in their train, a more than ordinary number of the literati. This must be understood with a reservation, that I don't mean to introduce myself as a judge in those questions, which are mooted in various schools, especially such as regard Theological points: for what advances can I make on those subjects, which have been studied and considered with the most intense reflection, by so many men of eminence? or who am I, to have such confidence in my own strength, as to fancy that I am capable of entering the lists, where so many giants engage? In matters purely physical, this objection need not detain me; for those of this species which are treated of in other schools are very few, and those few with little or no reflection.

I may be also blamed, when I am to touch upon many things which are mere matters of faculty, for having wrote in the Castilian Idiom: as an answer to this, it will be sufficient to reply, that no other reason is necessary to be given for so doing, than that I know of no reason against it. I do not deny, that there are truths, which should be hid from the vulgar, whose weakness exposes them to more danger by being informed, than they would be exposed to by remaining in ignorance; but this argument would militate with equal strength, against those truths going forth to the world in Latin, there being a great number of vulgar, among those who understand that language, and it passes easily from them, to those who understand no other than their mother tongue.

I am so far from having the least intention to communicate pernicious matter to the public, that the principal design of this work, is to undeceive them in many points, which by being admitted as true, would be very prejudicial to them; nor is it reasonable, that a benefit which can be made universal, should not be enjoyed by every one.

The common errors which I attack, do not always occupy the whole of the discourse in which I treat of them, and sometimes, many are comprehended in one and the same; either because they relate immediately to the matter of it, or because in pursuing the thread of the principal subject, they are found in the way, or fall in as it were by incidence. This method appeared to me the most convenient, as by writing a separate discourse upon every opinion I encounter, there being much to be said on some heads, and but little on others, there would result a compound or mass of parts extremely unequal.

I expect many attacks, especially with relation to two or three of the discourses in this book, and when some of my friends apprize me, that I shall be loaded with injuries and abuse; I reply, that such treatment will only serve to convince me more firmly, of the truth of what I have written; it being certain, that he is doubtful of his own strength, who attacks with unfair weapons. If they oppose me with arguments, I will reply to them; if with sneers and scurrility, I shall instantly allow myself vanquish'd, as that is a mode of engaging, in which I never exercised myself. Adieu.

THE

VOICE of the PEOPLE.

That ill-understood maxim, that God explains himself in the Voice of the People, authorizes the commonalty to triumph over sound judgment, and erect to themselves a tribunitial authority, capable of oppressing, and bearing down the dignity of literature. This is an error that is pregnant with an infinity of others, because, by establishing the position, that the voice of the multitude is the rule of truth, all the extravagances of the vulgar, would be venerated as inspirations of heaven. This consideration excites me to attack this error the first, upon a supposition, that by exploding this, I shall subdue many enemies in one, or at least, that it will be more easy to expunge other errors, by removing the patronage, which they receive from the common voice in the estimation of unwary men.

But what necessity is there for beating round the world, to discover, that in various regions, the common opinion is the reverse of truth; even among the people who were called God's people, so far many times was the voice of the people from being the voice of God, that there was not the least semblance between them: no sooner was the voice of the people in unison with the divine voice, than it immediately changed to the greatest dissonance. Moses propounded to them the laws which God had given him; and all the people cried with one consent, "What the Lord has commanded let us do:" how beautiful was the sound of consonance between the two voices! but no sooner did the chapel-master Moses, who had put them in tune, turn his back, than the same congregation, after obliging Aaron to make two idols, lifted up their voice, and said, "These are the true Gods to whom we owe our liberty:" what horrible dissonance!

I am disposed to think, that the accusation which some authors bring against Aristotle is a probable one, that is, that he did not fairly lay open to the world the opinions of other philosophers who preceded him, to the end, that by discrediting all those, he might establish the sovereignty of his own doctrine, and that he did by them, as the great Lord Bacon says the Ottoman Emperors do by their brothers, put them all to death, that they may reign in security.

With regard to virtue and vice, the instances of the one of them having been mistaken by the public for the other in particular people, are so numerous, that history stumbles upon them, at almost every step; nothing can illustrate this more evidently, than the greatest impostors the world has produced, having passed for repositories of the secrets of heaven. Numa Pompilius, introduced among the Romans, whatever policy and religion he thought fit, by means of the fiction, that all he proposed was dictated to him by the nymph Egeria. The Spaniards fought blindly against the Romans, under the banners of Sertorius, he having made them believe, that through a white doe, which he artfully made use of, and had trained for his purpose, he received by occult means, all sorts of information, which was communicated to the doe by the goddess Diana. Mahomed persuaded a great part of Asia, that Heaven had sent the Angel Gabriel to him as a Nuncio in the shape of a dove, which he had taught to put its bill into his ear. Most heretical opinions, although stained with manifest impurities, were reputed in many places, to proceed from the venerable archives of the divine mysteries.

Nor are the hearts of mankind in many parts of the world, much mended at this day. There are many places, where they feed on human flesh, and go hunting for men, as they would for wild beasts. The Yagos, a people of the kingdom of Ansicus in Africa, eat, not only the prisoners they take in war, but feed also upon such of their friends as die natural deaths; so that among them, the dead have no other burying place than the stomachs of the living. All the world knows, that in many parts of the East-Indies, they uphold the barbarous custom, of the women burning themselves at the funeral of their husbands, and though they are not by law obliged to do this, the instances of their failing to do it are very rare, because upon their declining it, they would remain infamous, despised, and abhorred by every one. Among the Cafres, all the relations of a person who dies are obliged to cut off the little finger of the left hand, and throw it into the grave of the deceased.

VIRTUE and VICE.

Every mortal has, within the little habitation of the soul, two females, the one chaste but rigid and unpleasant, the other wanton but soft and amorous. The first is the type of virtue, the second of worldly delights.

XL. The path of vice is very differently formed, and may be compared to a passage or cave, which, according to the naturalists, is fabricated as a place of safe retreat by the Rat of India. This sagacious animal, knowing the enmity the dragon bears him, and knowing also the insufficiency of his own strength to resist him, not only defends himself, but conquers his enemy by the following stratagem. He makes two entrances to his cave, the one small and proportioned to the bulk of his own body, the other wider at the surface, but which he draws narrower by degrees, till towards the other end it is but just wide enough to admit of his passing through. The use of this place is as follows: When the little animal finds himself pursued by that voracious beast, he flies to his cave, which he enters at the wide mouth, not doubting but the dragon will follow him, who eager for his prey, the large aperture being sufficiently wide to admit his whole body, plunges in, but as it insensibly becomes narrower and narrower, the dragon, who presses violently on, finds himself in the end so straitened, as not to be able either to retreat, or advance; the rat, as soon as he perceives this, sallies out of the narrow passage, and in the rear of the dragon, entering the wide one, revenges himself upon him much at his leisure, converting him into a regale for his appetite, and food for his resentment.

Exalted and Humble FORTUNE.

Those were blind themselves, who feigned Fortune to be blind; and they were unjust, who accused her of partiality. This error is corrected by religion, when it teaches us, that what is meant by the word Fortune, is nothing else but the Divine Providence, which is all eyes, and proceeds in every thing from the justest motives. But although the error is corrected in the essential, the deception is not so effectually dispelled, but there is still left remaining, a faint appearance of the principle. The complainers of fortune, compute the inequality of men's lots, according to the greater or less parade and figure which they make among their fellow creatures; and seeing that in a great measure, this inequality is not proportioned to men's merits, the wicked attribute it to the chimerical force of accident, the idolators to the caprice of a blind deity, and the true believers to the disposing will of a Supreme Providence.

Lib. 1. Sat. 1.

XL. All those voluntary poor, who are not so in the gospel sense, and for that reason, not comprehended in the benediction of Christ, are the pests of the states they inhabit, or where they strole about. They live well, not only without being of the least advantage, but are even an injury to the community. Like the ants, they are serviceable to themselves only, and a nuisance in the place where they make their nests, and where they run about. For which reason, they are not tolerated in any republic, that is governed by the maxims of good policy.

L. There are however some of such flexible tempers, that they can accommodate themselves to every kind of fortune, and be content to live within the limits of its extension; some dispositions of soft wax, who at will, can conform themselves in such a manner, that every thing sits easy on them. Nothing inquiets them, because the softness of their texture gives way to every impulse. They enlarge and contract themselves, in proportion to the limits of the walk which is allowed them. They rise without fatigue, and they descend without violence. In their own docility, they find the honey, which edulcorates every sort of acid. They are of so happy a temperament, that provided they don't want what is absolutely necessary, they are contented in every station. The wheel of their mind is concentrical with the wheel of their fortune, and let this last turn as it will, they with great facility turn themselves to correspond with it. They bear their fortune within themselves, let them move whichever way they will. It cannot be denied, that there are but few people of this sweet disposition; but it should be also confessed, that such are the truly happy, and that only the saints themselves can be more so, because they are either without the circle of the wheel, or placed in the center of it, so that its turnings can neither raise them to pride, nor precipitate them to contempt.

THE MOST REFINED POLICY.

XL. One of the most common effects of infamous policy, is, the author's own maxims being often turned upon, and brought to militate against himself. Jeroboam, when the kingdom of Israel was divided, having made himself master of the ten tribes, spun, as it appeared to him, a most exquisite fine thread of policy; for observing, that from a religious motive, the hearts of his subjects were attached to the Temple of Jerusalem; and that, if he could not separate them from the Jews in point of worship, he was not secure in the possession of his portion of the empire; he raised two idols, and insisted the ten tribes should worship them, forsaking the true God, who was worshiped in the Temple of Jerusalem; but this keen piece of policy, as we read in the Book of Kings, was the very cause, which deprived his posterity of the succession to the crown; his son Nadab in consequence of it, having lost the kingdom and his life by the hands of the rebellious General Baassa. In the death which the Jews inflicted on our Saviour, they pretended, that political precaution made it necessary they should deprive him of life, for otherwise, the Romans would demolish them for having acknowledged any other King but Caesar; but for their having carried this cursed maxim into execution, heaven ordained as their punishment, that these very Romans, should afterwards be the people to destroy them.

THE MACHIAVELIANISM OF THE ANCIENTS.

XL. It was said of Catherine of Medicis, who with the nicest caution, and greatest vigilance, continued to put this contrivance in practice for a long time, that she studied Machiavel every day, and that she had always his book in her hand, or else laying by her, which occasioned a satyrical writer to call it the New Testament of the queen; but perhaps this was said of her, on account of her being obliged to have recourse to the before-named arts. But in order to do this, what necessity was there for her having such a master at her elbow? The posture and situation of affairs, pointed out sufficiently to a person of the abilities and penetration of that queen, the utility of dispensing some favours to the heretics, and by conciliating their good-will, causing their weight to serve as a counterpoize to the power of the catholics, of whom she was jealous and apprehensive, but always taking care at the same time to declare and profess, that in point of faith she was a catholic, to prevent the affections of that party from being weaned and estranged from her.

L. But whether Theodotus, Aquilas, or Photinus, was the first who suggested the treacherous cruelty, is not material to the main question. The arguments used with Ptolemy, to incite him to the deed, were as follow: That great as his father's obligations were to Pompey, he ought to consider, that he owed more to himself than he did to him; that Fortune had declared itself in favour of Caesar, and against Pompey, and that it would be the height of imprudence to take part with that side, to whom Fortune was averse; that although it was true, the affording Pompey an asylum had the appearance of an honest action, still, princes ought not to attend to what was honest, but to what was useful; that the monarch, who is desirous of confining his operations within the limits of justice, is more a slave of the laws, than a master of his dominions; that the supreme power is paramount to all law, nor can it acknowledge any subjection; that it was beyond a doubt, the affording Pompey protection in his kingdom, would soon bring on him, the invincible arms of Caesar, and the power of the whole Roman empire; against which attack, he would be unable to make the slightest resistance; that he already, as far as his ability went, had complied with his obligations to Pompey, by wishing that he might be victorious; but now that Caesar had won the day, he ought to attach himself to die conqueror, and endeavour to court his favour, by taking away the life of Pompey; that pursuing the medium, of neither receiving nor destroying him, would be the worst resolution they could take, for that by such a determination, they would lose the useful, without attaining the honest; that Caesar would always look upon him as an enemy, who having had it in his power, should neglect to destroy his rival, although all the rest of the world should regard him as ungrateful, for refusing to protect his benefactor. It was also suggested, that it would not be difficult to assign a religious motive for destroying Pompey, and to cover the cruelty of the action under that pretence; for it might be alledged, that he was sacrificed to the goddess of Fortune, who had already declared herself adverse to the unhappy hero; that this sacrifice seemed not only to be dictated by religion, but justice also; for that protecting Pompey under such circumstances, in the kingdom of Egypt, and in the manner he wished, would infallibly, by provoking the indignation of Caesar, bring on it ruin and desolation, and that he ought therefore to be proceeded against with fire and sword, as against an avowed enemy of the state.

A declamation on behalf of Pompey.

AMBITION IN SOVEREIGNS.

XL. That this love should not impede, but rather stimulate him to punish delinquents; because the greatest benefit a King can confer on his subjects, is to root out from among them evil-doers.

L. I am not ignorant, that if Princes are pusillanimous, it will be necessary in various instances, in order to enlarge their minds, to educate them with less severe maxims; but those who are appointed to instruct them in their youth, need not be very attentive to this consideration; for they may naturally conclude, that when their pupils mount the throne, there will always be people enough at their elbows ready to supply this defect.

THE VALUE OR SUPERIOR EXCELLENCE OF NOBILITY.

With some Remarks on the Power or Influence of HIGH BLOOD.

XL. The first is, you would avoid by this means, multiplying the number of priviledged persons within a state. If it was frequent and common, to fill posts of consequence with people of humble birth, because they were virtuous and able; as from the elevation of these, would result that of their posterity; in the course of a century and a half, you would create a great multitude of fresh nobility, which is extremely prejudicial to a community; because in proportion as you lessen the number of those, who should apply themselves to business, and the improvement and cultivation of land; you would lessen the assistance of useful people; or what is worse, you would over-load with the burden of the others, such as were dedicated to these employments.

The want of sufferance and condescension in the inferiors, is succeeded by abhorrence and hatred in him who commands, with respect to them; and when he and they, reciprocally come to regard each other as enemies, there is no sort of confusion and danger, that may not be considered as near at hand.

THE SEMBLANCE OF VIRTUE; OR, VIRTUE IN APPEARANCE.

Upon serious reflection, it will not appear wonderful these are so few, for notwithstanding the road of hypocrisy is the shortest a man can pursue, to arrive at the temple of Fortune; still we rarely see men endued with a sufficient degree of perseverance, to engage in so laborious an undertaking; for conceive the practice of virtue to be ever so arduous, the pursuit of the feigned, is much more painful than that of the true. In order to carry it on, there is need of a constant studiousness, joined to a continual anxiety, and also an indefatigable watchfulness, to suppress the sallies of the soul, which without intermission is making efforts to disclose herself. There is no passion, which, like a wild beast chained, strives more forcibly to break its confinement, than that of dissimulation. The animal faculty of the heart is as plainly reflected on the countenance, as the vital is manifested in the artery. The tokens of their internal movements, may be compared to those of a clock, which has a bell that proclaims them, and a hand that points them out. There is not a word, nor an action, if not restrained by a contrary impetus, which would not follow the impulse of that animated machine. Curiosity and lust, importune and tempt a man's eyes by turns; he is anxious to give vent to his bosom by his voice, and his brow manifests his impatience to do it; a pleasant jest provokes to laughter; an injury calls for vengeance; and the tongue and the ear are averse to silence. There is not a member which is not put under painful restrictions, nor a faculty that is not constrained, by being thus compelled to wear the forced appearance of composure. The strings, of which the harmony of an exterior modesty are composed, are infinite, and ought always to be kept violently on the stretch; the desires also of possessing beloved objects, are continually tapping at the doors of the senses. What force is sufficient to resist so many impulses? or what address, equal to managing so many reins at a time?

It will be proper to observe here, that Eloisa, a sensible, beautiful, and noble French lady, was in her youth in love with, and beloved by Abelard, to such an excess, that their love broke through all the fences of honour. Historians relate a very singular circumstance of this woman, which is, that Abelard being desirous of marrying her, she, notwithstanding her prodigious fondness for him, rejected the proposal, and chose rather to continue his concubine than be his wife, alledging as her motive for this conduct, that she would not, by her marriage, deprive the church of the great lustre that might be reflected on it by the sublime genius of Abelard, although in the end, she, by the importunities and threats of her friends and relations, was prevailed on to espouse him. She afterwards took the veil, and became an exemplary religious. She always maintained a very tender and affectionate correspondence with Abelard, but at the same time in very chaste terms, and such as were conformable to the rules of virtue and decorum. As soon as she was informed of Abelard's death, she begged of St. Peter the Venerable, that he would let her have his body, that she might bury it in the convent where she was prelate; and the pious abbot granted her request. It appears by the epistles of Abelard, that Eloisa was universally beloved and respected for her virtue and discretion. He says, the bishops loved her as a daughter, the abbesses as a sister, and the seculars a mother.

First Epitaph.

Second Epitaph.

ERRATUM.

FOOTNOTES.

Feyjoo, in the supplement to his Teatro Critico, says, the relation of the Earl of Leicester's being guilty of the horrid crime of murdering his wife in order to remove all impediments to his marrying Queen Elizabeth, which he had entertained hopes of doing, was taken from Nicholas Sanders, and another person whose name he has forgot; he says further, he has since found reason to doubt the truth of that accusation, and condemns the mistaken zeal of Sanders, who he owns was much addicted to give credit to any thing he heard against the enemies of the Catholic Religion. He declares that Protestants have the same right to natural justice as Catholics, and that they should not be positively and unjustly charged with crimes, upon false rumours, or dubious reports.

The son of Pope Alexander the sixth.

Transcriber's Notes

References to "Theatrico-Critico" corrected to "Teatro Critico"

The erratum is corrected in place.

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.

Numbering errors/omissions from the original are left unaltered. As such there are missing/skipped section numbers and paragraph numbers in the text.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet