“One might imagine that the torrid and two frigid1 zones are not well suited to the sciences. Down to the present day they have not travelled beyond Egypt and Mauritania, on the one side, nor on the other beyond Sweden. Perhaps it is not owing to mere2 chance that they are retained within Mount Atlas3 and the Baltic Sea. We know not whether these may not be the limits appointed to them by nature, or whether we may ever hope to see great authors among Laplanders or negroes.”
Chardin, one of those travellers who reason and investigate, goes still further than Fontenelle, when speaking of Persia. “The temperature of warm climates,” says he, “enervates the mind as well as the body, and dissipates that fire which the imagination requires for invention. In such climates men are incapable4 of the long studies and intense application which are necessary to the production of first-rate works in the liberal and mechanic arts,” etc.
Chardin did not consider that Sadi and Lokman were Persians. He did not recollect5 that Archimedes belonged to Sicily, where the heat is greater than in three-fourths of Persia. He forgot that Pythagoras formerly6 taught geometry to the Brahmins. The Abbé Dubos supported and developed, as well as he was able, the opinion of Chardin.
One hundred and fifty years before them, Bodin made it the foundation of his system in his “Republic,” and in his “Method of History”; he asserts that the influence of climate is the principle both of the government and the religion of nations. Diodorus of Sicily was of the same opinion long before Bodin.
The author of the “Spirit of Laws,” without quoting any authority, carried this idea farther than Chardin and Bodin. A certain part of the nation believed him to have first suggested it, and imputed7 it to him as a crime. This was quite in character with that part of the nation alluded8 to. There are everywhere men who possess more zeal9 than understanding.
We might ask those who maintain that climate does everything, why the Emperor Julian, in his “Misopogon,” says that what pleased him in the Parisians was the gravity of their characters and the severity of their manners; and why these Parisians, without the slightest change of climate, are now like playful children, at whom the government punishes and smiles at the same moment, and who themselves, the moment after, also smile and sing lampoons10 upon their masters.
Why are the Egyptians, who are described as having been still more grave than the Parisians, at present the most lazy, frivolous11, and cowardly of people, after having, as we are told, conquered the whole world for their pleasure, under a king called Sesostris? Why are there no longer Anacreons, Aristotles, or Zeuxises at Athens? Whence comes it that Rome, instead of its Ciceros, Catos, and Livys, has merely citizens who dare not speak their minds, and a brutalized populace, whose supreme12 happiness consists in having oil cheap, and in gazing at processions?
Cicero, in his letters, is occasionally very jocular on the English. He desires his brother Quintus, C?sar’s lieutenant13, to inform him whether he has found any great philosophers among them, in his expedition to Britain. He little suspected that that country would one day produce mathematicians14 whom he could not understand. Yet the climate has not at all changed, and the sky of London is as cloudy now as it was then.
Everything changes, both in bodies and minds, by time. Perhaps the Americans will in some future period cross the sea to instruct Europeans in the arts. Climate has some influence, government a hundred times more; religion and government combined more still.
Influence of Climate.
Climate influences religion in respect to ceremonies and usages. A legislator could have experienced no difficulty in inducing the Indians to bathe in the Ganges at certain appearances of the moon; it is a high gratification to them. Had any one proposed a like bath to the people who inhabit the banks of the Dwina, near Archangel, he would have been stoned. Forbid pork to an Arab, who after eating this species of animal food (the most miserable15 and disgusting in his own country) would be affected16 by leprosy, he will obey you with joy; prohibit it to a Westphalian, and he will be tempted17 to knock you down. Abstinence from wine is a good precept18 of religion in Arabia, where orange, citron, and lemon waters are necessary to health. Mahomet would not have forbidden wine in Switzerland, especially before going to battle.
There are usages merely fanciful. Why did the priests of Egypt devise circumcision? It was not for the sake of health. Cambyses, who treated as they deserved both them and their bull Apis, the courtiers of Cambyses, and his soldiers, enjoyed perfectly19 good health without such mutilation. Climate has no peculiar20 influence over this particular portion of the person of a priest. The offering in question was made to Isis, probably on the same principle as the firstlings of the fruits of the earth were everywhere offered. It was typical of an offering of the first fruits of life.
Religions have always turned on two pivots21 — forms of ceremonies, and faith. Forms and ceremonies depend much on climate; faith not at all. A doctrine22 will be received with equal facility under the equator or near the pole. It will be afterwards equally rejected at Batavia and the Orcades, while it will be maintained, unguibus et rostro — with tooth and nail — at Salamanca. This depends not on sun and atmosphere, but solely23 upon opinion, that fickle24 empress of the world.
Certain libations of wine will be naturally enjoined25 in a country abounding26 in vineyards; and it would never occur to the mind of any legislator to institute sacred mysteries, which could not be celebrated27 without wine, in such a country as Norway.
It will be expressly commanded to burn incense28 in the court of a temple where beasts are killed in honor of the Divinity, and for the priests’ supper. This slaughter-house, called a temple, would be a place of abominable29 infection, if it were not continually purified; and without the use of aromatics30, the religion of the ancients would have introduced the plague. The interior of the temple was even festooned with flowers to sweeten the air.
The cow will not be sacrificed in the burning territory of the Indian peninsula, because it supplies the necessary article of milk, and is very rare in arid31 and barren districts, and because its flesh, being dry and tough, and yielding but little nourishment32, would afford the Brahmins but miserable cheer. On the contrary, the cow will be considered sacred, in consequence of its rareness and utility.
The temple of Jupiter Ammon, where the heat is excessive, will be entered only with bare feet. To perform his devotions at Copenhagen, a man requires his feet to be warm and well covered.
It is not thus with doctrine. Polytheism has been believed in all climates; and it is equally easy for a Crim Tartar and an inhabitant of Mecca to acknowledge one only incommunicable God, neither begotten33 nor begetting34. It is by doctrine, more than by rites35, that a religion extends from one climate to another. The doctrine of the unity36 of God passed rapidly from Medina to Mount Caucasus. Climate, then, yields to opinion.
The Arabs said to the Turks: “We practiced the ceremony of circumcision in Arabia without very well knowing why. It was an ancient usage of the priests of Egypt to offer to Oshiret, or Osiris, a small portion of what they considered most valuable. We had adopted this custom three thousand years before we became Mahometans. You will become circumcised like us; you will bind37 yourself to sleep with one of your wives every Friday, and to give two and a half per cent. of your income annually38 to the poor. We drink nothing but water and sherbet; all intoxicating39 liquors are forbidden us. In Arabia they are pernicious. You will embrace the same regimen, although you should be passionately40 fond of wine; and even although, on the banks of the Phasis and Araxes, it should often be necessary for you. In short, if you wish to go to heaven, and to obtain good places there, you will take the road through Mecca.”
The inhabitants north of the Caucasus subject themselves to these laws, and adopt, in the fullest extent, a religion which was never framed for them.
In Egypt the emblematical41 worship of animals succeeded to the doctrines42 of Thaut. The gods of the Romans afterwards shared Egypt with the dogs, the cats, and the crocodiles. To the Roman religion succeeded Christianity; that was completely banished44 by Mahometanism, which will perhaps be superseded45 by some new religion.
In all these changes climate has effected nothing; government has done everything. We are here considering only second causes, without raising our unhallowed eyes to that Providence46 which directs them. The Christian43 religion, which received its birth in Syria, and grew up towards its fulness of stature47 in Alexandria, inhabits now those countries where Teutat and Irminsul, Freya and Odin, were formerly adored.
There are some nations whose religion is not the result either of climate or of government. What cause detached the north of Germany, Denmark, three parts of Switzerland, Holland, England, Scotland, and Ireland, from the Romish communion? Poverty. Indulgences, and deliverance from purgatory48 for the souls of those whose bodies were at that time in possession of very little money, were sold too dear. The prelates and monks49 absorbed the whole revenue of a province. People adopted a cheaper religion. In short, after numerous civil wars, it was concluded that the pope’s religion was a good one for nobles, and the reformed one for citizens. Time will show whether the religion of the Greeks or of the Turks will prevail on the coasts of the Euxine and ?gean seas.
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1
frigid
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| adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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atlas
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| n.地图册，图表集 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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imputed
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| v.把（错误等）归咎于( impute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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lampoons
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| n.讽刺文章或言辞( lampoon的名词复数 )v.冷嘲热讽，奚落( lampoon的第三人称单数 ) | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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mathematicians
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| 数学家( mathematician的名词复数 ) | |
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15
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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18
precept
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| n.戒律；格言 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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pivots
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| n.枢( pivot的名词复数 )；最重要的人（或事物）；中心；核心v.（似）在枢轴上转动( pivot的第三人称单数 )；把…放在枢轴上；以…为核心，围绕（主旨）展开 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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fickle
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| adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的 | |
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enjoined
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| v.命令( enjoin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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abounding
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| adj.丰富的，大量的v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的现在分词 ) | |
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27
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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28
incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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29
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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aromatics
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| n.芳香植物( aromatic的名词复数 )；芳香剂，芳香药物 | |
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31
arid
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| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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32
nourishment
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| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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33
begotten
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| v.为…之生父( beget的过去分词 )；产生，引起 | |
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begetting
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| v.为…之生父( beget的现在分词 )；产生，引起 | |
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rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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unity
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| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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37
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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annually
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| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
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39
intoxicating
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| a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
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40
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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41
emblematical
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| adj.标志的，象征的，典型的 | |
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42
doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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43
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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44
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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46
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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47
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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48
purgatory
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| n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的 | |
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49
monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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