Catholick Church are comprehended under the Name of Hereticks and liable to the Laws which have been enacted against them Haereticorum vocabulo continentur latis adversùs eos sanctionibus debent succumbere qui vel levi argumento à judicio Catholicae Religionis tramite detecti fuerint deviare One needs only read the V. Title of the XVI Book of the Theodosian Code against the Hereticks to see that as it was then the Custom to bestow excessive Praise so they excessively blamed those they did not love The Hereticks are call'd there not only Men fond of erroneous Opinions and obstinate but also Distracted Mad Prophane Perfidious Detestable and Sacrilegious Men who have wickedly conspired against the Deity c. Jacobus Gothofredus has collected all those reviling Words and placed them before the Title I have mention'd Tho' it be as clear as Noon Day-light that the Praises and Censures of that time are most of them strained and excessive yet several People who read the Writings of that Age take no notice of it and the ancient Customs having been changed in these latter Ages they fancy that all those who are styled Saints in those ancient Writings which was only a Title of Honour bestowed upon all Bishops and Priests are really Saints in such a Sense as that Word is now understood that is to say that they enjoy the Glory of Heaven and may be safely prayed to as the Church of Rome holds as being Mediators between God and Men. From whence it follows that their Writings ought to be infinitely more esteem'd than those of the Modern tho' the latter are composed with greater accuracy and according to all the Rules of Art For who durst believe that such Men reasoned ill and wrote carelesly They also conclude from it that Men who are prayed to could be guilty of no dangerous Error and that their Lives ought to be the Pattern of ours Thus they Canonize them together with their Errors and Vices to which they were as subject as those who live now An Order that has one of those Saints for its Patron is always very zealous in the Defence of his Opinions and manner of Life And because those great Saints condemn'd and persecuted as much as they could those who receded from their Opinions they who admire their Writings revile in their imitation and persecute those who differ from them This will always be as long as the Praises and Censures of the Ancient are approved of without any examination instead of comparing them with the unchangeable Rule of Reason and the Gospel CHAP. IX That it is a very difficult thing to Judge without Passion EVERY Body says That an Author who writes with Passion is not to be trusted and it cannot be denied but that it is a very true Maxim and very useful to those who follow It. But to know whether an Author writes with Passion or no one ought to free one self from Passion Otherwise a Man will deceive himself moue than he can be deceived by the most interested Author because every Body mistrusts himself less than others He that will free himself from his Passions must know that he is subject to them for he cannot get rid of a Habit which he thinks he has not contracted But what must one do to know it Men deceive themselves every Day and believe they keep within the Bounds of Moderation and Equity I confess that when we are actually agitated with a Passion we are not capable of judging well of ourselves but there is scarce any Passion but what has some Intervals Then the general Light of Reason and Equity which we have acquired by Study and Experience shines in our Minds because they cease to be fill'd with Fumes of Passions We must then improve that Time take a sound Resolution and form such Maxims as we will always observe as Physicians make use of the Intervals that are between Fits to cure those who are sick of a Fever If they don't prevent new Fits they will at least lessen the Violence of them In like manner some Reflections made whilst the Mind is calm do often prevent violent Passions or at least lessen them in a great measure He who often makes such Reflections will sooner perceive the Effects of 'em as the effects of Remedies are better known when they have been reiterated But there is this difference between a Fever and our Passions that we often recover of the former without using any Remedies whereas we cannot get rid of our Passions without reflecting on then and reiterating our Reflections If a Man therefore never Reflects he is past recovery In some cases every thing contributes to keep up our Passions and hinder us from Reflecting on the State we are in This may be observ'd in what is call'd Zeal for Religion in the Sects that are most remote from Truth That Zeal is nothing else but a vehement Desire of setting up One's Opinions by any means The Divines of those false Religions cry it up as a Virtue without which one cannot be acceptable to God and look upon Peace and Toleration as a detestable Vice Every Body hears this Doctrine from his tender Years reads it in all their Books and sees it practised by the most esteem'd Persons The Zealots get a great Reputation in their Party and obtain all the Rewards but the Admirers of peaceable Equity get nothing by it but Trouble and Contempt Ask therefore no more how it comes to pass that so marry People ire deceived and imposed upon You will say that you easily apprehend that it it is now very difficult to preserve one's self from the Illusions of Passions but that you cannot conceive how rational Men could establish Doctrines so contrary to Truth I answer That Men in Authority who sincerely believed some false Doctrines might have enacted some Laws and introduced some Customs as were fit to Authorize a false as well as a true Doctrine and then it proved a difficult thing to go against the Stream Some Impostors and Politicians might also have had a hand in it so that at last the Assertors of a false Doctrin proved so fond of it that it was a very hard matter to overcome their Prejudices Thus the most ridiculous Opinions of the Heathens and Mahometans were introduced at first and afterwards kept up by such means as I have mention'd Those Nations blindly believe whatever their Writers and Priests tell 'em without being aware that those Men getting their Livelyhood by those erroneous Doctrines will not fail to maintain a Party under whose Ruins they would infallibly sink Would to God they were the only Men whose Interest it is to maintain Errors and oppress the Truth Would to God that none but they were deceived by their own and other Men's Passions But it is a general Evil which in all likelyhood will last as long as there are Men in this World However we must endeavour to oppose it lest it should
soon as he has read the beginning and that pity which the Misfortunes of the Trojans raise in him and which Virgil at first sets forth with so much Art makes him extremely desirous to know how they shall be delivered out of them Altho' he knows well enough that 't is a pure Fiction of the Poet yet the Matter is so touching and so well disposed that he forgets that 't is a Romance and is not only as much affected by it as if it were a real Truth but what is more as if he were mightily interessed in it From that very moment as I have already observ'd every thing pleases and of Critics or severe Readers we become zealous Admirers of him after which we are concern'd for the Reputation of the Man whom we have admired We cannot endure that any one whoever he be should find any Defects in him altho' they are never so palpable This is the Reason why Zoilus surnam'd the Scourge of Homer made himself a thousand times more detested for having had the presumption to censure his Faults than if he had blasphem'd all the Gods His very Memory was held in Horrour and Detestation among the Grammarians the sworn Partisans of Homer who fail'd not to possess their Disciples with the same Hatred of him that is to say The World for all that learnt any thing pass'd at first under their Hands These Impressions that are made on us in our Childhood are not to be effaced without some trouble so that we are not to wonder if the World has been so long prejudic'd in favour of Homer even so far as to copy his very Faults Adrian de Valois who was a very learned Man has †Valesiana p. 63. remark'd that Virgil has committed a great fault in the Description he makes of Ascanius He cou'd not well be less than seven Years old when Troy was taken because he was able to march along with his Father who held him by the hand when he fled out of that City Scquitúrque patrem non passibus aequis says Virgil in the second Book of his Aeneis Consequently then when Aeneas was at Carthage seven Years after he was at least fourteen Years old Dido speaks thus to Aeneas towards the end of the first Book Nam te jam septima portat Omnibus errantem terris fluxibus aestas In effect Ascanius was able at this time to sit his Horse and ride out a Hunting Nay this was not all for no less Game wou'd content our young Spark but a Boar or a Lion thundering down the Mountains By which it appears that he was not only a good Horseman but that he was already Master of some Force and Courage At puer Ascanius †Aeneid Lib. IV. v. 156. mediis in vallibus acri Gaudet equo jámque hos cursu jam praeterit illos Spumantemque dari pecora inter inertia votis Optat aprum aut fulvum descendere monte leonem Nevertheless in this very †Aeneid Lib. I. v. 722. IV. v. 84. Book as well as in the first Dido dandles him upon her Knees like a Child of some four or five Years old 'T is visible that when Virgil put that Circumstance into his Poem he forgot himself how old Ascanius ought to have been according to his first supposition However his Narration so takes up the Reader 's Mind that he is not sensible of this Contradiction nay and will not see it when he is told of it The third thing that makes us take so much pleasure in reading the Poets is their Stile wherein two things are to be observed The first is the Expression considered in itself and the other the cadence or the harmony of their Verse Their Expression pleases when it is according to the Rules of Art because it is pure proper and simple when it ought to be so and figurative when it ought to be otherwise The Figures above all are frequently employ'd in their Compositions drawn from the most elevated and beautiful things so that they fill the Mind with nothing but noble and sublime Ideas Altho' in general Poets are obliged to follow the same Rules of Rhetoric as those that write in Prose yet they are allow'd to employ much more Decoration and to heighten all their Descriptions with the most lively Colours There is as much difference between the same Subject as it is managed by a Poet and by an Orator as there is between an Assembly of Men dress'd in plain ordinary Cloaths and the same Assembly in their richest Apparel upon some solemn Festival The Descriptions when finely touch'd particularly charm the Reader who fancies he does not read the Descriptions of things recounted by the Poet but that he sees them with his Eyes and is present at all the Actions Homer is excellent upon this score which occasion'd the saying That he surpass'd the Painters who only represent that which strikes the Eye whereas he frequently paints the Thoughts without so much as speaking Therefore we ought not to be surprized if the Poets please us more than the Orators The liveliness of their Colours strikes our Eyes so strongly that we forget with them the Rules of good Sense if we are not very much upon our Guard all the while we read them The irregular Imagination of the Poet expresses itself in so noble and sublime a manner that it easily overpowers ours and gives it the same Movements by which itself is agitated and this makes all its Irregularities to disappear For instance Virgil it in the first Book of his †Vers 25. seqq Aeneis thus describes the Habitation of the Winds Hîc vasto Rex Aeolus antro Luctantes ventos tempestatésque sonoras Imperio permit ac vinclis carcere fraenat Here in a vast Cavern King Aeolus commands the Winds that struggle to get out and the roaring Tempests which he imprisons I wou'd not have taken notice how ridiculous it was to make the four Winds to come out of one hole of a Rock in a little Island near Sicily because it may be replied That the Poets are full of the like Blunders and that we ought not to be so severe with them if some Interpreters wou'd not bear us down that all this was an effect of Virgil's great Learning who knew that the Winds arise from subterraneous Vapours For suppose it was so altho' 't is by no means probable he ought to have assign'd to each Wind its particular Cave and to have placed the East-wind at the most easterly part of Asia and so the rest since 't is impossible to establish the Source of the Winds if there were one any-where but towards those places from whence they seem to come For this Reason it was that the ancient Greeks placed the Residence of Boreas in Thrace who came from thence to carry away the Daughter of the King of Athens altho' I cannot comprehend what shift he made to get home back again unless we answer
nor the Method they proposed to follow in order to execute it The best are those whose Design we can perceive in gross and where the Matter is not too far fetch'd altho' there is no Order in it They heap together a world of Materials to build as one wou'd think a fine Structure but afterwards they throw them one upon another without Order and any Rules of Architecture Thus 't is a difficult matter well to disentangle this confusion of Thoughts and to form a clear and continued Idea of their Sentiments which has in part proved the occasion of so many Disputes about their Doctrin It must be own'd that those that write or speak now a days have much more Method at least for the greatest part and 't is an undeniable Truth that in this respect we very much surpass the Ancients whatever the Admirers of Antiquity may pretend However there are abundance of People still in the World who never made any serious reflexion upon a Method to dispose their Reasons in such a manner as shall be proper to make their Discourse clear and concluding If they sometimes succeed in this 't is by meer hazard for they trespass oftner against the most essential Rules These Rules had continued as it were hidden among the Geometricians till the time of Descartes who first discover'd the great Use that might be made of them upon all occasions Since the Discoveries that have been made in our Age about them several Persons have enlarged and even rectified his Thoughts as we may see in the Logic of the Port-Royal and the †By F. Male Branche Search after Truth The same Matter has likewise been treated with care in a Latin †Logicae Joannis Clerici denuo edita anno 1698 Logic printed twice at Amsterdam within a few Years where the use that may be made of it in all sorts of Disquisitions is shown at large These Books are too common to want any transcribing here I will only say in general that these Rules teach us that we ought in the first place to have an exact knowledge of the Question we intend to handle and to express it without Ambiguity In the second place That we must divide it into its parts if it is composed of several Propositions Thirdly That we must range these Propositions in that Order that the most simple and most easie may march first Fourthly That the Propositions that follow ought to be deduced from the preceeding ones as far as is possible There are other particular Rules with which I shall not meddle here 'T is sufficient to remark that these general Rules are notoriously violated both in Discourses and in Writings We set ourselves to compose without knowing well what we are minded to treat of and after some division ill understood we say in each part what we think belongs to it without troubling ourselves in what Order we range it What is more several Persons who affect to be thought Wits take a pride in retailing their Thoughts without any manner of connexion and think it enough that each Thought in particular has a relation to the Subject they treat upon This is call'd Writing and Preaching by Thoughts and after this manner it is that a good part of the Treatises which compose the famous Collection of the Essays of Morality are written the drift and end of which we cannot comprehend but in a general way and whose Method is exceedingly embroil'd Altho' the Stile of them is pure and fine and there are abundance of noble independent Thoughts in 'em yet to speak freely what I think these Works taken in the Gross are full of nonsensical Stuff and Sophisms The reason of which in my Opinion is only this because those that composed them either did not know what a good Method was or at least did not know the importance of observing it In the mean time no Man can question the Excellence of the above-mention'd Rules if it were only because all the Truths of the Mathematicians depend upon them 'T is impossible to deny that the Order they prescribe is admirable both to enlighten the Mind and touch the Heart of reasonable Persons 'T is likewise as plain 't is extremely useful and convenient for those that write for by this means they form a Plan of what they should say with all the ease imaginable when once they are accustom'd to them They avoid impertinent Repetitions and the Pain of finding out independent Thoughts and afterwards of connecting them together by unnatural Transitions I own indeed that such as have not used to make themselves a Plan which they are to follow and have contracted a habitude of Speaking without one will find themselves shackled by it but those that reason â—ill don't love for the same reason the Rules of good Reasoning Does it therefore follow that they must not endeavour to reform themselves or that others must imitate them I know nothing that can be objected against this but some Opinions of the Rhetors They maintain for Instance †Quinil Lib. IV. c. 5. That it is not good to divide one's Matter with exactness because it seems too much studied and the generality of things are more agreeable when they appear to be invented on the sudden and deduced from the thing itself than when we believe the Orator meditated on them at home Pleraque gratiora si inventa subitò nec demo allata sed inter dicendum ex re ipsâ nata videantur To which I answer That this Remark may perhaps hold good in a Reply which an Advocate makes before the Judges where some things may seem to have been invented upon the Spot But on other Occasions when all the World knows we come prepared in what we write and order to be Printed this sort of a Cheat will not pass Muster Thus 't is plain that Quintilian made this Remark upon the account of the Advocates only for whose use principally he composed his Book of Institutions In this Occasion those that have a bad Cause to defend are often forced to make use of divers Artifices that are below the Eloquence I have been talking of which will only undertake the Defence of a good Cause Of this kind is the Artifice that the same Rhetor speaks of in the following Words Sometimes says he we must put false Dice upon the Judge and insinuate ourselves into his favour by several Artifices so that he may believe we have a different design from that we have in reality Now and then a Man is forced to propose something which 't is difficult to obtain and if the Judge foresees it he is afraid of it before we speak to the Point just as we see a wounded Man fears the Instruments of a Chirurgeon when he sees them before the Operation begins But if a Discourse happens to make some Impression upon a Judge who distrusts nothing and having had no Intimation of the Business is not upon his Guard
doing better than they The Republic of Letters is at last become a Country of Reason and Light and not of Authority and implicit Faith as it has been but too long Multitudes pass no longer there for Arguments and all Cabals are silenced There is no Divine or Humane Law which prohibits us to bring the Art of writing History to Perfection as we have endeavour'd to bring to Perfection the other Arts and Sciences As a Philosoper is not to be excused now a-days if he speaks obscurely or supposes incertain things for certain after the Example of Aristotle and other ancient Philosophers who have committed the same Faults So the Example of Herodotus or Livy is no manner of Protection to those that imitate their Defects and Vices If we commend them it must always be remembred that these Commendations are paid to what is good in them as the Purity and Elegance of their Style but by no means to their Faults and Imperfections Besides we ought to consider that we esteem them in part because we have no other Monuments left but theirs and that we don't believe them but when we have no just Reason to contradict them or for the sake of the Probability of their Narrations or because we have no Testimony more ancient and more exact than theirs to correct them We believe in short the Gross of the History but we remain in suspence as to the Circumstances The Case being thus if there are great inconveniences in making no Citations neither the Example of the Ancients nor their Imitators is enough to cover from Censure such as have omitted to do it We therefore maintain that if a Man avoids to quote his Vouchers the reason of it is because he wou'd not have any one to examine the History as he relates it by comparing the Narration with that of other Historians who writ before him For what way is there to examine what any Author says in case he cites no one in particular unless we had every Book that he consulted and had carefully read them and preserv'd them in our Memory Not one Man in a thousand is capable of it and not one Man in a thousand has all the Books which he ought to have for this purpose But besides this we have always a just Pretence to think that we are impos'd upon for it may so happen that the Author whom we read has follow'd some Historian whom those who have an interest to examine the History have not by them or else have not read him or lastly have forgotten him But tho' we dare not immediately charge that Historian with Falsehood who has not made his Citations so neither dare we rely upon him As by following this Method 't is easie for a Man to sham a Romance upon the World without fear of discovery and to give his History whatever Turn he pleases the suspicious Reader does not know where to take his Word and immediately throws aside a Book on which he cannot safety depend It has been affirmed that a Modern Historian who has compos'd a very large History concerning the Troubles of Religion took this course that he might with more safety invent what might make for his side and satisfie the Facts that displeased him For my part I never examined him and therefore can say nothing to this Business but I must confess that the Method he has follow'd makes him suspected of all that has been laid to his Charge and that he has no other way to justifie himself but by fairly producing his Witnesses otherwise he will never answer the Objections and Complaints that have been made against his Books and which without question have come to his Ears before now Besides this they maintain that the Precaution which some Writers have taken to place the Authors whom they follow'd at the Head of their History is altogether insignificant unless they had cited the particular Places because that it is liable to almost all the Inconveniences which we complain'd of in those who don 't cite at all In effect 't is a very difficult matter to know what Historian a Man may have follow'd in every Fact even tho' he had them all But they carry the Matter farther and say That oftentimes this pompous Catalogue of Authors is only made for Ostentation and that the Compiler of it perhaps never saw the Covers of half the Books he puts in his Muster-Roll 'T is certain that nothing is so easie as to compose a great List of Historians whom we never beheld and to place them boldly at the Head of a History but supposing it compos'd with never so much sincerity yet still it depends upon the Reader whether he will believe it or no. There is only one thing I know of which can pardon this in an Historian and that is our being assured of his Veracity For this reason it is that we don't think the worse of Thuanus for having used this Conduct Those evident Marks of Sincerity and Moderation which he shews all along have made us forgive him this Fault altho' we don't forgive it in such People as Varillas whose Passion and Romancing Genius are conspicuous in every Line of his Works Of Truth II. THE second thing we require of an Historian is that after he has taken all poffible care to instruct himself in the Truth to have the Courage to declare it without being byass'd Who is it but must know that the principal Law of History is that it dare to utter nothing which is false and that it dare to speak all the truth that it may not give the least Umbrage that it is influenced either by Affection or Prejudice These in short are its Foundations that are known by all the World †Cicero Lib. II. de Oratore c. 15. Quis nescit primam esse Historiae legem nequid falsi dicere audeat deinde nequid veri non audeat ne qua suspicio gratiae sit in scribendo nequa simultatis Haec scilicet fundamenta nota suns omnibus But in order to observe this Law which is without dispute essential to History a Man before he sets himself down to Write ought entirely to disengage himself from all sorts of Passions and Prepossessions without which he will certainly suppress or disguise the Truth nay and publish a thousand Lies either on purpose or else for want of taking due heed 'T is impossible to say any thing upon this Article more vehement or more solid or more necessary than what Lucian has said in that Treatise where he teaches us in what manner a History ought to be written I will here set down some of his words and will follow d' Ablancourt's Translation altho' it only expresses the Author's Meaning and has retrench'd a great deal from the Original Above all says he we ought not to be devoted to any Party for we must not do like that Painter who painted a Monarch de profil because he had only one Eye We
in Aegypt in the Name of the Achaeans He went thither to renew the Alliance which the Achaeans had long before made with the Ptolomys and this Design had been vigorously supported by Philopoemen However heacquitted himself so negligently in this Employ that he contented himself with making the King of Aegypt Swear and with swearing himself in the Name or the Achaeans before he had agreed upon any Articles with him altho' the Achaeans had made several different Treaties with the Ptolomys At his return home Aristenus General of the Achaeans who was of the contrary Faction as he was giving his Advice in the general Assembly of Achaia ask'd him what sort of an Alliance he had renew'd with the King of Aegypt and reckon'd up several Treaties which the Republic had made with his Predecessors Upon this the Assembly was eager to know which of these Treaties he had confirmed Now this says the Son of Lycortas was what neither Philopoemen himself who as being General had advised the renewing of the Alliance nor Lycortas nor the other Ambassadors who had been at Alexandria cou'd say any thing to It was therefore unanimously adjudged that they had acquitted themselves very negligently in their Commission Aristenus on the contrary seemed to be a Man of Ability as being the only Person who knew what he said 'T is after this manner that Polybius speaks of his Protector and of his Father He observes the same Conduct when he speaks of those Persons for whom he had no Kindness He lays down their Virtues with as much Impartiality as their Vices because his only pleasure was to speak Truth I will give an Instance of it below The best Historians have imitated him more or less according as they had more or less Courage or Love for the Truth It is almost impossible for a Man not to have an Aversion for the Enemies of his Country or those from whom he has received any personal Injury He will have an Idea of Injustice generally before his Eyes whenever he thinks of them and this will so far influence him as to make him represent them for a People or a Set of Men that are Enemies to Justice The Princes that enter'd into a Cofederacy against France in the War which began in 1688 and ended in 1697 and their Subjects have looked upon and do still look upon France as an unjust Power which design'd to make itself Mistress of all Europe In France on the other hand they have accused the Allies of Injustice and it may be they are still prepossess'd with this Opinion Thus it happens that when Writers of these different Countries undertake to speak of the contrary Party they seldom fail to load it with an odious Character and to make an Apology for their own As their Minds are possess'd by prejudice and Passion their Thoughts consequently take the same Tincture even without their being sensible of it and this is the Reason why we see nothing almost upon these Subjects that deserves to be read But as we ought to forget that we have Friends Relations and a Country when we are obliged to mention them in History so we ought not to number whether others whom we have occasion to speak of be Enemies whether public or private 'T is impossible to say any thing more proper to this purpose than what Polybius has said upon the occasion of Timaeus the Historian and Agathocles the Tyrant of Syracuse and this is so much the more worthy of our observation as Polybius was born in a Commonwealth and extremely tinctured with Republican Inclinations as appears by what remains of his Works †Lib. XII p. 917. As wise People says he when they have a mind to be reveng'd on their Enemies don 't so much consider what their Enemies have deserved at their Hands as what Equity and good Manners will suffer them to do them in like manner when we are to say any thing disadvantagious of them we should not so much consider what they deserve should be said of them as what is fitting for us to publish and indeed 't is necessary that we shou'd have a regard to this above all things Those that measure every thing by their Anger and Hatred fall unavoidably into a thousand Faults and speak more III of them than they ought to do For this Reason we have Justice on our side to refuse our belief to the greatest part of those things which Timaeus has alledg'd against Demochares No body can excuse this in him or believe him because he has exceeded all the bounds of Justice in gratifying his reviling Humour Nay I can't endure the scandalous things he tells us of Agathocles he who was a wicked Man I mean what says of him towards the conclusion of his History where he lays the most infamous Debaucheries to his Charge c. There is no question but Nature had bestow'd very eminent Qualities upon Agathocles which sufficiently appears even by what Timaeus has said of him For since he left the Wheel the Smoke and Clay of his Father's Shop who was an ordinary Potter being scarce eighteen Years old when he came to Syracuse yet from these disadvantagious Circumstances he was able some time after to make himself Master of all Sicily and to involve the Carthaginians in very great Difficulties and lastly since he had grown old in Tyranny he died with the Name and Dignity of a King are we not forced to own that he was an extraordinary Man and that he was possess'd of admirable Talents for the execution of great Affairs Upon this account an Historian is obliged to recount to Posterity not only what was ill and blamable in Agathocles but likewise whatever was worthy of Commendation This ought to be the Aim and Intention of History But Timaeus blinded by his natural Inclination to Calumny reports the Bad with a world of Animosity and Exaggeration and passes over all his noble Actions in a few words In all appearance he was ignorant that to suppress in a History what really happen'd is no less a Lye than to advance what never was We may joyn to Polybius a famous modern Historian who after he had suffer'd exceedingly by the Injustice of a great Prince yet for all that was not wanting to relate his great Exploits with as much care and diligence as any other Historian and to speak all along of him as his eminent Qualities deserv'd without suffering the least word to drop from him which might show that he had a just occasion to complain of him I mean the incomparable Hugo Grotius who in his History of the Low-Countries has spoke of Prince Maurice of Nassau as if he had never had any Quarrel with him Here is now a remarkable Instance of Impartiality which shows that it is by no means impossible for a Man to overcome his Passion and to speak honourably of his Enemies as abundance of People imagine who judge of others by themselves Another thing that has
Writers of France don't think that 't is possible for the Council that governs it to commit the least Indiscretions so high an Idea they have of their wise Maxims and steddy Conduct I will not pretend to oppose this Idea of theirs because in truth it is founded upon diverse weighty Reasons But they should judge of Facts and their Consequences without having any regard to them because the most prudent Councils are not always infallible but are subject to take false Measures altho' this does not happen so often to them It is likewise reasonable that those that admire the Conduct of the other Princes of Europe who join'd against France should remember that the best Heads are sometimes over-seen We ought to do Justice reciprocally one to another and to judge of Faults and great Actions by themselves and by their Consequences and not altogether by Preposession Of Ecclesiastic History THESE Precautions in my Opinion are absolutely necessary for an Historian if he wou'd acquit himself as he ought in his Undertaking We may find as already has been observ'd Examples and Proofs of it in the best Historians of Pagan Antiquity But there is a sort of History among Christians wherein if we must talk Historically that is to say without being byass'd all the above-mention'd Rules that have been prescrib'd for the Writing of History are neglected and violated An Orthodox Author that undertakes to Compose an Ecclesiastic History cannot be too hot-headed and zealous for his own Party nor have too violent an Aversion for the other Sects He must shew this Disposition of Mind all along in his Work for therwise he will be defamed not only for a Man of no Abilities but likewise for an impious Person 'T is but just he should propose to himself as a Recompense for his Labour some Ecclesiastic Dignities if he is of a Profession to pretend to them or some other equivalent if he is a Laic upon condition he all along favour Orthodoxy that is his own Party If he be so ill advised as to speak never so little in favour of the Heretics or such as are opposite to his own side he must expect to be expos'd to the fury of Zealots to their Accusations and perhaps to all the Punishments Ecclesiastic and Civil that are inflicted in the place where he lives unless he will retract these rash Truths which are to be found in him advantageous to Heresy He ought to fore-arm himself with this Prejudice and never lay it aside viz. That all that may be honourable in Heretics is false and that all that is said to their Disreputation is true As on the contrary every thing that can do honour to the Orthodox is undoubted and all that reflects upon them is a downright Life 'T is necessary that an Orthodox Historian should carefully suppress or at least extenuate as far as in him lies the Errors and Vices of those that are respected among the Orthodox altho' they are not well known by them and on the other hand that he exaggerate as much as he can the Mistakes and Faults of the Heretics Besides he ought to remember that any Orthodox may serve as a Witness against a Heretic and ought to be believed upon his word and that on the contrary a Heretic's word ought never to be taken against the Orthodox All the honour that must be allow'd him is to hearken to him when he has any thing to say in favour of Orthodoxy or against himself An Orthodox may be cited as a Witness in his own proper Cause but a Heretic must not be so even in that of another In short there are Maxims which he must not examine but follow if he undertakes to write Ecclesiastic History under pain of Infamy Excommunication Banishment c. After this manner the Centuriators of Magdeburg have written on one side and Cardinal Baronius on the other which has obtain'd both of them among their own Party an immortal Reputation But we must confess at the same time that they were not the first and that they only imitated the generality of those that preceded them in this way of Writing It had been the fashion several Ages before this to search out in Antiquity not what was really there but what we judged ought to be there for the good of the Party which we had espous'd and to represent the Ancients such as we found it for our porpose that they should be for the advantage of the Cause which we have undertaken to defend A Man certainly found his profit in writing after this manner and danger in doing otherwise Sozomen in * Lib. I. c. 1. his Ecclesiastic History after having enumerated the Monuments out of which he compil'd it goes on as follows For fear lest any one should condemn my Work of Falsehood upon my not being sufficiently instructed in Matters as they happen'd because he finds the Relations in other Authors different from mine he must understand that upon the occasion of Arius's Opinions and those which sprung up afterwards the Governours of the Church being divided every one writ to those of his own Opinion concerning those things which he himself had taken to Heart That having assembled Synods a-part they confirm'd whatever they had a mind to and frequently condemn'd their Adversaries in their absence That they made their Court to the Emperors and the Great Men about them and left no Stone unturn'd to gain them over to their side and make them receive their own Opinions That in order to pass for Orthodox in the World each Party took a particular care to collect the Letters which favour'd their Sect and omitted the rest And this says he has given me abundance of trouble in my Search after the Truth But since the Sincerity of History requires that we should do all that in us lies to discover the Truth I thought myself oblig'd diligently to examine these sorts of Writings If I relate the Quarrels which the Ecclesiastics have had among one another about the Preference of their Sects let no one believe that this proceeds from Malice or any sinister Design Besides that 't is just as I have already observ'd that an Historian should prefer the Truth to all things the Truth of the Doctrins of the Catholick Church does but appear the more by it having been several times put to the Proof by the cunning Designs of those that opposed it c. It seems that he durst not speak all that he thought for after he had taken notice of the Quarrels and Ambition of the Ecclesiastics as well as of their Writings and Letters directly opposite one to the other he ought to have told his Reader what Rules he had follow'd in his History to distinguish the Truth from Falsehood Besides he ought to have concluded otherwise than he has done and have said that the vitious Lives and wicked Actions of the Ecclesiastics have no Connexion with the Christian Religion which condemns them and
Eloquence to perswade the World that Heresie causeth nothing but Disorders and Rebellions and makes Men wicked and Atheists When the Protestant Historians fall into the like Invectives speaking of the famous Catholic League which for so long a time tore France in pieces the contrary Party cannot endure this bitter Language and say That this is to Preach and not to Write a History If we had any remainders of Equity left among us we should unanimously condemn these Practices and be so honest as to own that the Vices of Men have infinitely a greater share in the Disorders of Europe than Religion in whatsoever manner 't is explain'd We should forbear all these Invectives which indeed are pardonable in no Man but much less in an Historian or if we must needs be venting our Malice against those Parties whom we disapprove we must not take it ill if they return us the same Language in their turn But herein lyes our Weakness to imagine that God is as partial and peevish as ourselves are and consequently that he requires of us that we lose no opportunity of railing and exclaiming against those whose Creator and Father he is as well as of the most fiery Zealots and rendring them odious whatever it costs us Historians ought to be more prudent and those that read them ought likewise to approve those generally who come nearest to this noble Idea which the Masters of this Art give us of a disinteressed Historian True Judges have exceedingly commended Thuanus who in his History has observed so admirable a moderation in relation to the Party wherein he was born and wherein he died But those who cou'd not endure to hear any Truths prejudicial to their Party have exclaimed vehemently against him Such a Man was Justus Lipsius a great Critic but one of a shallow Judgment in every thing besides who writ to him †See the Scaligerana p. 391. Ed. Amstel an 1695. That this History very much displeased him and the Liberty he took in writing it was not suitable for this Age. These are the Terms which de Thou uses in a Letter to Jos Scaliger dated June 29th 1606. I don't know continues he whether I ought to make him any answer He is mightily changed since he left Leyden for Louvain I am the very same I ever was and will be if it pleases God ready to correct any thing which I have written He exhorts me strongly to this correction but does not tell me wherein so that I know not what to make of his Advice I believe he wou'd send me to the Inquisition but it will be a hard matter to reconcile the French Liberty to that Yoke He deserves a sharper Answer than I am in a Humour to write I was willing to set down the greatest part of this Letter that I might draw two Consequences from it The first is that oftentimes even Men of Learning who know the value of Liberty are the very first to betray her infamously as Lipsius did altho' they know well enough that they do ill in it This Grammarian who bound himself hand and foot like a mean-spirited Slave to the Jesuites when he retired to Louvain was well enough satisfied in his own Conscience that de Thou had advanced nothing false at least out of Passion and did not tax him with deserting the Interest of Truth but only with taking a liberty which was not suitable for this Age as if we were born to be Slaves rather than those that were born in former Ages What Privilege of Heaven did they receive which we have not We are no less free than they except it be because we are afraid of our own Shadows and that instead of defending at least modestly those that have more Generosity than others we not only abandon them to the fury of the Factious who make use of the pretence of Religion to hinder Truth from being spoken but even endeavour to destroy them to procure to ourselves the favour of the Druids If all the Men of Learning in France had been of Lipsius's Humour we had lost this illustrious President to whom Posterity is so much obliged and who is if I must say it the last of the French Historians who has spoken with moderation of an opposite Party in respect of Religion For as for Mezeray he was very far from observing the Laws of History in this particular altho' they still commend that little liberty he shows in a Country where it is entirely extinct Another Consequence which I draw from this slavish and cowardly Advice of Lipsius is that we ought to be glad that he was only Historiographer of Spain for a Man of his Temper would at least have dissembled all that he knew disadvantageous to his own Party and have poison'd all the rest †See his Epist. ad Belgas Cent. 2. Ep. 67. altho' he pretends to set up for a Philosopher and what is more for a Stoic The King of Spain did very well to give him a Pension in consideration of his great Learning but he should not give him a Farthing in quality of an Historian a Title for which he was altogether unfit The History of the Miracles of the two Notre-dames for which he has been so justly ridiculed sufficiently shews what he was capable of doing in a History wherein Religion was any ways concern'd The second thing wherein those that attempt to write a History ought to be perfectly instructed is the Principles upon which Humane Society in general and particular Societies are founded and principally all that has a relation to Justice and Injustice Without this they will never be able to pass a solid Judgment upon almost any single Action that comes before them They will be liable to take very wicked Men for Models of Virtue and on the other hand virtuous Persons for Men of a most flagitious Character They will bestow the Elogiums of Virtue upon Vice and treat Virtue herself no better than a Criminal What is Vice with some People passes for Virtue with others and what we approve in our own Country we look upon as execrable in an Enemy Those that afterwards read these Histories and have not a better stock of Knowledge than the Historians instead of drawing those Advantages which they ought from 'em will soon fill their Minds with false Ideas which at long run will have but too great an Influence upon their Conduct An Historian therefore ought to consider what are the Duties which the very Constitution of Humane Nature has imposed upon all Men of what Condition or Quality soever and in what place or time sover they are born These are the Laws which all Men are obliged to observe one with another which can never suffer any change nor be alter'd by any form of Government whatsoever without violating the Principles of Humanity and consequently without deserving Censure For example for it is not my Business here to treat at large of that matter the