I will make here, simply for my own particular edification, a little instructive memoir10 of the fine things which divided the minds of our grandfathers. In the eleventh century — in that good time in which we knew not the art of war, which however we have always practised; nor that of governing towns, nor commerce, nor society, and in which we could neither read nor write — men of much mind disputed solemnly, at much length, and with great vivacity11, on what happened at the water-closet, after having fulfilled a sacred duty, of which we must speak only with the most profound respect. This was called the dispute of the stercorists; and, not ending in a war, was in consequence one of the mildest impertinences of the human mind.
The dispute which divided learned Spain, in the same century, on the Mosarabic version, also terminated without ravaging12 provinces or shedding human blood. The spirit of chivalry13, which then prevailed, permitted not the difficulty to be enlightened otherwise than in leaving the decision to two noble knights14. As in that of the two Don Quixotes, whichever overthrew16 his adversary17 caused his own party to triumph. Don Ruis de Martanza, knight15 of the Mosarabic ritual, overthrew the Don Quixote of the Latin ritual; but as the laws of chivalry decided18 not positively19 that a ritual must be proscribed20 because its knight was unhorsed, a more certain and established secret was made use of, to know which of the books should be preferred. The expedient21 alluded22 to was that of throwing them both into the fire, it not being possible for the sound ritual to perish in the flames. I know not how it happened, however, but they were both burned, and the dispute remained undecided, to the great astonishment23 of the Spaniards. By degrees, the Latin ritual got the preference; and if any knight afterwards presented himself to maintain the Mosarabic, it was the knight and not the ritual which was thrown into the fire.
In these fine times, we and other polished people, when we were ill, were obliged to have recourse to an Arabian physician. When we would know what day of the moon it was, we referred to the Arabs. If we would buy a piece of cloth, we must pay a Jew for it; and when a farmer wanted rain, he addressed himself to a sorcerer. At last, however, when some of us learned Latin, and had a bad translation of Aristotle, we figured in the world with honor, passing three or four hundred years in deciphering some pages of the Stagyrite, and in adoring and condemning24 them. Some said that without him we should want articles of faith; others, that he was an atheist25. A Spaniard proved that Aristotle was a saint, and that we should celebrate his anniversary; while a council in France caused his divine writings to be burned. Colleges, universities, whole orders of monks26, were reciprocally anathematized, on the subject of some passages of this great man — which neither themselves, the judges who interposed their authority, nor the author himself, ever understood. There were many fisticuffs given in Germany in these grave quarrels, but there was not much bloodshed. It is a pity, for the glory of Aristotle, that they did not make civil war, and have some regular battles in favor of quiddities, and of the “universal of the part of the thing.” Our ancestors cut the throats of each other in disputes upon points which they understood very little better.
It is true that a much celebrated27 madman named Occam, surnamed the “invincible doctor,” chief of those who stood up for the “universal of the part of thought,” demanded from the emperor Louis of Bavaria, that he should defend his pen with his imperial sword against Scott, another Scottish madman, surnamed the “subtle doctor,” who fought for the “universal of the part of the thing.” Happily, the sword of Louis of Bavaria remained in its scabbard. Who would believe that these disputes have lasted until our days, and that the Parliament of Paris, in 1624, gave a fine sentence in favor of Aristotle?
Towards the time of the brave Occam and the intrepid28 Scott, a much more serious quarrel arose, into which the reverend father Cordeliers inveigled29 all the Christian30 world. This was to know if their kitchen garden belonged to themselves, or if they were merely simple tenants31 of it. The form of the cowls, and the size of the sleeves, were further subjects of this holy war. Pope John XXII., who interfered32, found out to whom he was speaking. The Cordeliers quitted his party for that of Louis of Bavaria, who then drew his sword.
There were, moreover, three or four Cordeliers burned as heretics, which is rather strong; but after all, this affair having neither shaken thrones nor ruined provinces, we may place it in the rank of peaceable follies34.
There have been always some of this kind, the greater part of whom have fallen into the most profound oblivion; and of four or five hundred sects36 which have appeared, there remain in the memory of men those only which have produced either extreme disorder37 or extreme folly38 — two things which they willingly retain. Who knows, in the present day, that there were Orebites, Osmites, and Insdorfians? Who is now acquainted with the Anointed, the Cornacians, or the Iscariots?
Dining one day at the house of a Dutch lady, I was charitably warned by one of the guests, to take care of myself, and not to praise Voetius. “I have no desire,’ said I, “to say either good or evil of your Voetius; but why do you give me this advice?” “Because madam is a Cocceian,” said my neighbor. “With all my heart,” said I. She added, that there were still four Cocceians in Holland, and that it was a great pity that the sect35 perished. A time will come in which the Jansenists, who have made so much noise among us, and who are unknown everywhere else, will have the fate of the Cocceians. An old doctor said to me: “Sir, in my youth, I have debated on the ‘mandata impossibilia volentibus et conantibus.’ I have written against the formulary and the pope, and I thought myself a confessor. I have been put in prison, and I thought myself a martyr39. I now no longer interfere33 in anything, and I believe myself to be reasonable.” “What are your occupations?” said I to him. “Sir,” replied he, “I am very fond of money.” It is thus that almost all men in their old age inwardly laugh at the follies which they ardently40 embraced in their youth. Sects grow old, like men. Those which have not been supported by great princes, which have not caused great mischief41, grow old much sooner than others. They are epidemic42 maladies, which pass over like the sweating sickness and the whooping-cough.
There is no longer any question on the pious43 reveries of Madame Guyon. We no longer read the most unintelligible44 book of Maxims45 of the Saints, but Telemachus. We no longer remember what the eloquent46 Bossuet wrote against the elegant and amiable47 Fénelon; we give the preference to his funeral orations48. In all the dispute on what is called quietism, there has been nothing good but the old tale revived of the honest woman who brought a torch to burn paradise, and a cruse of water to extinguish the fire of hell, that God should no longer be served either through hope or fear.
I will only remark one singularity in this proceeding49, which is not equal to the story of the good woman; it is, that the Jesuits, who were so much accused in France by the Jansenists of having been founded by St. Ignatius, expressly to destroy the love of God, warmly interfered at Rome in favor of the pure love of Fénelon. It happened to them as to M. de Langeais, who was pursued by his wife to the Parliament of Paris, on account of his impotence, and by a girl to the Parliament of Rennes, for having rendered her pregnant. He ought to have gained one of these two causes; he lost them both. Pure love, for which the Jesuits made so much stir, was condemned50 at Rome, and they were always supposed at Paris to be against loving God. This opinion was so rooted in the public mind that when, some years ago, an engraving51 was sold representing our Lord Jesus Christ dressed as a Jesuit, a wit — apparently52 the loustic of the Jansenist party — wrote lines under the print intimating that the ingenious fathers had habited God like themselves, as the surest means of preventing the love of him:
Admirez l’artifice extrême
Les ces pères ingénieux:
Ils vous ont habillé comme eux,
Mon Dieu, de peur qu’on ne vous aime.
At Rome, where such disputes never arise, and where they judge those that take place elsewhere, they were much annoyed with quarrels on pure love. Cardinal53 Carpegne, who was the reporter of the affairs of the archbishop of Cambray, was ill, and suffered much in a part which is not more spared in cardinals54 than in other men. His surgeon bandaged him with fine linen55, which is called cambrai (cambric) in Italy as in many other places. The cardinal cried out, when the surgeon pleaded that it was the finest cambrai: “What! more cambrai still? Is it not enough to have one’s head fatigued56 with it?” Happy the disputes which end thus! Happy would man be if all the disputers of the world, if heresiarchs, submitted with so much moderation, such magnanimous mildness, as the great archbishop of Cambray, who had no desire to be an heresiarch! I know not whether he was right in wishing God to be loved for himself alone, but M. de Fénelon certainly deserved to be loved thus.
In purely57 literary disputes there is often as much snarling58 and party spirit as in more interesting quarrels. We should, if we could, renew the factions of the circus, which agitated59 the Roman Empire. Two rival actresses are capable of dividing a town. Men have all a secret fascination60 for faction4. If we cannot cabal61, pursue, and destroy one another for crowns, tiaras, and mitres, we fall upon one another for a dancer or a musician. Rameau had a violent party against him, who would have exterminated62 him; and he knew nothing of it. I had a violent party against me, and I knew it well.
点击收听单词发音
1 ravaged | |
毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 ); 蹂躏; 劫掠; 抢劫 | |
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2 kindled | |
(使某物)燃烧,着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 ); 激起(感情等); 发亮,放光 | |
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3 factions | |
组织中的小派别,派系( faction的名词复数 ) | |
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4 faction | |
n.宗派,小集团;派别;派系斗争 | |
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5 celestial | |
adj.天体的;天上的 | |
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6 assassination | |
n.暗杀;暗杀事件 | |
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7 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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8 fidelity | |
n.忠诚,忠实;精确 | |
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9 faculty | |
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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10 memoir | |
n.[pl.]回忆录,自传;记事录 | |
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11 vivacity | |
n.快活,活泼,精神充沛 | |
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12 ravaging | |
毁坏( ravage的现在分词 ); 蹂躏; 劫掠; 抢劫 | |
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13 chivalry | |
n.骑士气概,侠义;(男人)对女人彬彬有礼,献殷勤 | |
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14 knights | |
骑士; (中古时代的)武士( knight的名词复数 ); 骑士; 爵士; (国际象棋中)马 | |
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15 knight | |
n.骑士,武士;爵士 | |
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16 overthrew | |
overthrow的过去式 | |
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17 adversary | |
adj.敌手,对手 | |
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18 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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19 positively | |
adv.明确地,断然,坚决地;实在,确实 | |
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20 proscribed | |
v.正式宣布(某事物)有危险或被禁止( proscribe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21 expedient | |
adj.有用的,有利的;n.紧急的办法,权宜之计 | |
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22 alluded | |
提及,暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23 astonishment | |
n.惊奇,惊异 | |
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24 condemning | |
v.(通常因道义上的原因而)谴责( condemn的现在分词 );宣判;宣布…不能使用;迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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25 atheist | |
n.无神论者 | |
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26 monks | |
n.修道士,僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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27 celebrated | |
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的 | |
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28 intrepid | |
adj.无畏的,刚毅的 | |
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29 inveigled | |
v.诱骗,引诱( inveigle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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31 tenants | |
n.房客( tenant的名词复数 );佃户;占用者;占有者 | |
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32 interfered | |
v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 );调停;妨碍;干涉 | |
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33 interfere | |
v.(in)干涉,干预;(with)妨碍,打扰 | |
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34 follies | |
罪恶,时事讽刺剧; 愚蠢,蠢笨,愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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35 sect | |
n.派别,宗教,学派,派系 | |
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36 sects | |
n.宗派,教派( sect的名词复数 ) | |
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37 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
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38 folly | |
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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39 martyr | |
n.烈士,殉难者;vt.杀害,折磨,牺牲 | |
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40 ardently | |
adv.热心地,热烈地 | |
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41 mischief | |
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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42 epidemic | |
n.流行病;盛行;adj.流行性的,流传极广的 | |
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43 pious | |
adj.虔诚的;道貌岸然的 | |
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44 unintelligible | |
adj.无法了解的,难解的,莫明其妙的 | |
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45 maxims | |
n.格言,座右铭( maxim的名词复数 ) | |
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46 eloquent | |
adj.雄辩的,口才流利的;明白显示出的 | |
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47 amiable | |
adj.和蔼可亲的,友善的,亲切的 | |
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48 orations | |
n.(正式仪式中的)演说,演讲( oration的名词复数 ) | |
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49 proceeding | |
n.行动,进行,(pl.)会议录,学报 | |
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50 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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51 engraving | |
n.版画;雕刻(作品);雕刻艺术;镌版术v.在(硬物)上雕刻(字,画等)( engrave的现在分词 );将某事物深深印在(记忆或头脑中) | |
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52 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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53 cardinal | |
n.(天主教的)红衣主教;adj.首要的,基本的 | |
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54 cardinals | |
红衣主教( cardinal的名词复数 ); 红衣凤头鸟(见于北美,雄鸟为鲜红色); 基数 | |
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55 linen | |
n.亚麻布,亚麻线,亚麻制品;adj.亚麻布制的,亚麻的 | |
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56 fatigued | |
adj. 疲乏的 | |
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57 purely | |
adv.纯粹地,完全地 | |
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58 snarling | |
v.(指狗)吠,嗥叫, (人)咆哮( snarl的现在分词 );咆哮着说,厉声地说 | |
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59 agitated | |
adj.被鼓动的,不安的 | |
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60 fascination | |
n.令人着迷的事物,魅力,迷恋 | |
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61 cabal | |
n.政治阴谋小集团 | |
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62 exterminated | |
v.消灭,根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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