P. 2. Pascal's Profession of Faith. A few days after Pascal's death, a servant discovered this profession sewed into a fold of his master's waistcoat, pourpoint. It was written on parchment, with a copy on paper. His family believed that he had carefully placed this in each new garment, desiring to have always about him the memorial of the great spiritual crisis. P. 3, l. 32. Dereliquerunt me. Jer. li. 13. P. 3. General Introduction. In this are apparently two drafts of the same preface, the second beginning with the paragraph "Before entering," p. 9, l. 6. M. FaugÈre was the first to recognize the true character of this sketch, which has borne various titles. The Port Royal edition called it: "Against the Indifference of Atheists;" Condorcet headed it: "On the Need of Concern for the Proofs of a Future Life;" Bossut: "On the Need of a Study of Religion." See note on p. 61. P. 3, l. 8. Deus absconditus. Is. xlv. 15. Vere tu es Deus absconditus, Deus Israel salvator. P. 11. Notes for the General Introduction. The fragments following are thus arranged by Molinier as having been in his judgment intended for and many of them expanded in the preceding Preface. P. 12, l. 23. Miton was a man of fashion at Paris, a friend of Pascal's friend, the Chevalier de MÉrÉ. P. 17. Preface to the First Part. This is Pascal's own title to the section. P. 17, l. 2. Charron, Pierre, was born at Paris in 1541. He was a friend of Montaigne, whose philosophy he adopted. His TraitÉ de la Sagesse, Bordeaux, 1601, is the work of whose elaborate divisions Pascal complains. P. 17, l. 12. Montaigne's defects. Mademoiselle de Gournay, Montaigne's adopted daughter, defends the Essayist in regard to this matter, in the preface to her edition of the Essays, Paris, 1595. P. 17, l. 14. people without eyes. Montaigne, Essais, l. ii. ch. xii. P. 17, l. 15. squaring the circle. Ib., l. ii. ch. xiv. P. 17, l. 15. a greater world. Montaigne, Essais, l. ii. ch. xii. P. 17, l. 16. on suicide and on death. Ib., l. i. ch. iii. P. 17, l. 17. without fear and without repentance. Ib., l. iii. ch. ii. P. 19. Man's Disproportion. Pascal's own title. P. 19, l. 34. the centre of which is every where, the circumference no where. Voltaire attributed this famous saying to the pseudo-TimÆus of Locris, an abridgement of Plato's TimÆus, but in neither work is the whole sentence to be found. The saying, however, is not originally Pascal's. It is probably borrowed from Mlle. de Gournay's preface to her edition of Montaigne, Paris, 1635, and was taken by her from Rabelais, bk. iii. ch. 13, where it is attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. M. Havet, who gives these, and many more details, finally traces it, on the authority of Vincent de Beauvais, 1200-1264, to Empedocles. P. 21, l. 36. I will discourse of the all. This saying of Democritus is taken by Pascal from Montaigne, Essais, l. ii. ch. xii. P. 22, l. 4. De omni scibili. The title given to nine hundred propositions, put forth at Rome by Pico della Mirandola, then aged twenty-three, in 1486. P. 22, l. 8. The Principles of Philosophy. Descartes wrote a work with this title, Principia PhilosophiÆ. P. 22, l. 38. Beneficia eo usque lata sunt. Tacitus, Ann. lib. iv. c. xviii. Taken by Pascal from Montaigne, Essais, l. iii. ch. viii. P. 24, l. 27. And what completes our inability. Compare for the whole of the passage on matter and spirit, Descartes, Discours de la MÉthode. P. 25, l. 34. Modus quo corporibus adhÆret spiritus. S. Aug. De Civitate Dei, xxi. 10. Taken by Pascal from Montaigne, Essais, l. ii. ch. xii. P. 26, l. 31. Lustravit lampade terras. The full couplet is Tales sunt hominum mentes, quali pater ipse Jupiter auctiferas lustravit lampade terras. S. Aug. De Civitate Dei, v. 8, a translation by Cicero of two lines in the Odyssey, xviii. 136. The quotation is borrowed from Montaigne, Essais, l. ii. ch. xii. P. 27, l. 20. a fly is buzzing. Borrowed from Montaigne, Essais, l. iii. ch. xiii. P. 27, l. 26. flies which win battles. Montaigne relates that the Portuguese besieging the town of Tamly were obliged to raise the siege on account of the clouds of flies. Essais, l. ii. ch. xii. P. 28, l. 12. Memoria hospitis unius diei prÆtereuntis. Lib. Sap. v. 14. P. 30, l. 4. Plerumque gratÆ, altered from Hor. Carm. iii. 29, v. 13. plerumque gratÆ divitibus vices. P. 30, l. 13. Epaminondas. The example is taken from Montaigne, Essais, l. ii. ch. xxxvi. P. 31, l. 22. Sneezing absorbs all the faculties. A paraphrase of a passage in Montaigne, Essais, l. iii. ch. v. P. 31, l. 28. Scaramouch. One of the traditional parts in Italian Comedy, at that time played by the well-known actor Tiberio Fiorelli, whom Pascal had probably seen. P. 31, l. 29. The doctor, also a common character in Italian forces. MoliÈre has borrowed from the Italian stage his doctor, so often a pedant and a fool, of whom le docteur Pancrace, in Le Marriage ForcÉ, is perhaps the most notable example, though that comedy was produced after the death of Pascal. P. 32, l. 11. the Condrieu, the Desargues. Gerard Desargues was a mathematician at Condrieu on the Rhone, who had been Pascal's teacher. Among the Muscat grapes grown at Condrieu, Pascal distinguishes a special variety of Desargues, and among these a particular vine. P. 32, l. 28. the Passion of Cleobuline. In ArtamÈne, on le Grand Cyrus, the celebrated romance of Mademoiselle de Scudery, Cleobuline, princess, afterwards queen of Corinth, is one of the principal characters. She is represented as in love with Myrinthe, one of her subjects, but "she loved him without thinking of love; and remained so long in her error, that when she became aware of it, her affection was no longer in a condition to be overcome." P. 33. Diversion. Under this heading Pascal comprises not only trivial occupations, and the distractions of idle society, but all which, save truth alone, can form the study or the research of man. The main idea of the chapter is borrowed from Montaigne, Essais, l. iii. chap. x. P. 35. l. 17. The counsel given to Pyrrhus. Ib., l. i. ch. xliii. P. 36, l. 11. as children are frightened at a face. Borrowed from Montaigne, Essais, l. ii. ch. iii., and Montaigne in his turn borrowed it from Seneca, Ep. 24. P. 36, l. 28. superintendent. Of finances. The last who held this office was Fouquet, still in office when this was written. He was dismissed in disgrace in 1661. P. 36, l. 29. first president. Of the Parliament of Paris. P. 36, l. 32. dismissed to their country houses. At that date, and for a long time afterwards, a Minister of State rarely fell from Office without receiving a Lettre de cachet which banished him to the seclusion of his country estate. P. 39, l. 17. In omnibus requiem quÆsivi. Eccles. xxiv. 7. P. 40, l. 9. will arise weariness. Compare Montaigne, Essais, l. iii. P. 41, l. 7. CÆsar was too old. See Montaigne, Essais, l. ii. ch. xxxiv. P. 43. The Greatness and Littleness of Man. The title suggested by Pascal, in many passages of the autograph MS. P. 43, l. 11. for Port Royal. The letters A. P. R. occur in several places in Pascal's MS. It is generally thought that they mean À Port-Royal, and are intended to indicate subjects to be developed later in confÉrences or lectures at that house. P. 45, l. 1. Man is neither angel nor brute. This is closely borrowed from Montaigne, Essais, l. iii. ch. xiii. P. 46, l. 15. Corrumpunt mores bonos colloquia prava. 1 ad Cor. xv. 33, but the Vulgate reading has mala. P. 47, l. 18. Paulus Emilius. The example is taken from Montaigne, Essais, l. i. ch. xix. See also Cic. Tuscul. v. 40. P. 47, l. 31. Ego vir videns, Lament, iii. 1. Ego vir videns paupertatem meam in virga indignationis ejus. P. 51. Of the deceptive powers, etc. This is Pascal's own title for this section. P. 51, l. 14. Imagination. Pascal uses this word in an extended sense already given to it by Montaigne, and means that faculty by which we attribute a value to those things which in fact have none. P. 53, l. 11. furred cats. Rabelais, bk. v. ch. 11. P. 54, l. 2. Della Opinione. No work is known under this name. Pascal possibly means a work of Carlo Flosi, L'Opinione tiranna, moralmente considerata ne gli affari del mondo, Mondovi, 1690. But it is not certain that this edition is the reprint of a work extant before Pascal wrote. P. 54, l. 27. Diseases are another source of error. Taken from Montaigne, Essais, l. ii. ch. xii. P. 56, l. 20. in Switzerland that of the burgesses. This may be compared with p. 66, l. 6. In the majority of Swiss towns every candidate for municipal office must needs possess the freedom of the town, but the intention was not to set aside those of noble birth, as Pascal supposes, but foreigners, and those of other towns, each of which was considered as a separate state. P. 57, l. 27. would care nothing for Provence. Compare Montaigne, Essais, l. i. ch. xxii. "C'est par l'entremise de la coustume que chascun est contant du lieu oÙ nature l'a plantÉ: et les sauvages d'Escosse n'ont que faire de la Touraine, ny les Scythes de la Thessalie." P. 57, l. 28. Ferox gens. Livy, l. xxxiv. c. 17. P. 58. l. 20. Brave deeds. Borrowed from Montaigne, Essais, l. i. ch. xl. P. 61. Of Justice, etc. These fragments, now among the best known of Pascal's Thoughts, but for the most part brought to notice in the Edition of Bossut, 1779, have their present arrangement and title from Molinier. P. 61, l. 30. Nihil amplius. These sentences, borrowed from Montaigne, are quoted, the first of them wrongly, from Cicero, De Finibus, v. 21; the second from Seneca, Ad Lucilium, Ep. 95; the third from Tacitus, Annales, iii. 25. Compare with the whole passage Montaigne, Essais, l. ii. ch. xii. and l. iii. ch. xiii. P. 62, l. 29. Quum veritatem. S. Aug., De Civit. Dei, iv. 31. From Montaigne, Essais, l. ii. ch. iii. P. 62, l. 27. the wisest of law givers. Socrates, in the Republic of Plato. P. 63, l. 9. Archesilas. Born at Pitane in Æolis of a Scythian father, about 300 b.c. He was founder of the School known as the Second Academy. See Montaigne, Essais, l. ii. ch. iii. P. 64, l. 19. For all that is here said on Custom, see Montaigne, Essais, l. i. ch. xxii. P. 65, l. 7. Pasce oves meas. Joh. xxi. 17. The words are those taken as the foundation of papal authority. You owe me pasturage, i.e. you owe me justice. P. 65, l. 30. the soldiers of Mahomet, thieves, heretics. Pascal boldly joins heretics and thieves, for those who did not hold his creed appeared to him as men sans foi ni loi, faithless and lawless. In his eyes a Turk was scarce a man. See the Provincial Letters, let. xiv. "Sont-ce des religieux et des prÊtres qui parlent de cette sorte? Sont-ce des ChrÉtiens? Sont-ce des Tures? Sont-ce des demons?" And Thoughts, p. 211, l. 30. "Do we not see beasts live and die like men, and Turks like Christians." P. 66, l. 6. The Swiss. See note on p. 56, l. 20. P. 66, l. 10. condemning so many Spaniards to death. Possibly an allusion to the battle of the Dunes, 1659, which led to the Peace of the Pyrenees, so long desired by all but Spain, then obliged to consent. P. 67, l. 13. Summum jus, summa injuria. Charron, TraitÉ de la Sagesse, etc. ch. xxvii. art. 8. P. 67, l. 26. The end of the Twelfth Provincial. The following is the passage to which Pascal alludes. "C'est une etrange et longue guerre que celle oÙ la violence essaye d'opprimer la vÉritÉ. Tons les efforts de la violence ne peuvent affaiblir la vÉritÉ, et ne servent qu'À la relever davantage. Toutes les lumiÈres de la vÉritÉ ne peuvent rien pour arrÊter P. 67, l. 27. The Fronde. This was the name given to the party which rose against Mazarin and the Court during the minority of Louis XIV., and plunged France into civil war. P. 69, l. 10. give me the strap. This is no exaggeration, since fifty years after Pascal wrote, Voltaire was beaten by the servants of the Duc de Rohan. P. 69, l. 12. It is odd that Montaigne. Essais, l. i. ch. xlii. P. 69, l. 16. When power attacks craft. Satyre MenippÉe, Harangue du Sire de Rieux: "il n'y a ny bonnet quarrÉ, ny bourlet, que je ne face voler." P. 69, l. 30. figmentum malum. Ps. ciii. 13. Quomodo miseretur pater filiorum, misertus est Dominus timentibus se: Quoniam ipse cognovit figmentum nostrum. P. 70, l. 14. Savages laugh at an infant king. Pascal is alluding to the story in Montaigne, Essais, l. i. ch. xxx., of the savages presented to Charles IX. at Rouen, who were astonished to see bearded men obey a child. P. 72, l. 16. Epictetus. See p. 45, l. 30, in order to understand this somewhat enigmatic fragment. In the next paragraph is an allusion to the passage in which Epictetus says, l. iv. ch. 7, that the philosopher may well be constant and detached from life by wisdom, as were the GalilÆans by their fanaticism. P. 73. Weakness, unrest, and defects of man. The arrangements of these fragments under this title is Molinier's. P. 73, l. 1. We anticipate the future. Compare Montaigne, Essais, l. i. ch. iii. P. 74, l. 28. Alexander's chastity. To attribute this virtue to Alexander is strange, but no doubt the circumstance in Pascal's thought was his generous conduct to the family of Darius, after the battle of Issus. P. 75, l. 12. the King of England. Probably Charles II., then living in exile, rather than Charles I. The King of Poland was Jean Casimir, driven from his throne by Charles X. of Sweden, after the battle of Warsaw in 1656. The Queen of Sweden was Christina, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, who abdicated in favour of her cousin, Charles X., in 1654. P. 75, l. 29. we shall die alone, "on mourra seul." It is a curious instance of the fact how little Pascal is known in England, that Keble having quoted this sentence wrongly, probably from memory, in the first edition of the Christian Year, as "Je mourrai seul," it has remained uncorrected and apparently unnoticed to this day. P. 76, l. 12. Cromwell. As Charles II. was restored in 1660, this fragment was written about that date, two years before Pascal's death. Cromwell's death did not arise from the cause stated in the text. P. 77, l. 8. the automaton. The expression of Descartes and his school for the animal body. P. 77, l. 25. Inclina cor meum, Deus. Ps. cxix. 36. "Inclina cor meum in testimonia tua, et non in avaritiam." P. 77, l. 30. Eritis sicut dii. Gen. iii. 5. P. 79, l. 30. men laugh and weep at the same thing. The thought is from Charron, TraitÉ de la Sagesse, l. i. ch. xxxviii. P. 80, l. 35. the grand Sultan. None of Pascal's editors have discovered whence he drew this purely fictitious description of the Sultan. P. 81, l. 9. That epigram about the two one-eyed people. This is not Martial's. It is found in Epigrammatum Delectus, published by Port Royal in 1659. Lumine Acon dextro, capta est Leonilla sinistro, Et potis est forma vincere uterque Deos. Blande puer, lumen quod habes concede parenti; Si tu cÆcus Amor, sic erit illa Venus. P. 81, l. 12. Ambitiosa recidet ornamenta. Horace, De Arte Poetica, v. 447. P. 83, l. 22. Spongia solis. The spots on the sun. Du Cange explains spongia by macula. Pascal seems to mean that the spots on the sun prepare us for its total extinction; that the sun will eventually expire, so that, contrary as it seems to the course of nature, there will come a day when there will be no sun. P. 89. The title given to this second part is furnished by Pascal. In the first part he has wished to prove the fallen state of man, and his weakness; he now maintains that man may be restored by faith in Jesus Christ, and the practice of religion. P. 91, l. 26. Nemo novit. Matt. xi. 27. Et nemo novit Filium nisi Pater: neque Patrem quis novit, nisi Filius, et cui voluerit Filius revelare. P. 92, l. 3. Vere tu es. Is. xlv. 15, see p. 3, l. 8. P. 92, l. 10. Quod curiositate cognoverint. Probably cited from recollection of Saint Augustine, but the passage is not verbally to be found. P. 96, l. 6. neither the stars. Porrum et cÆpe nefas violare et frangere morsu O sanctas gentes, quibus hÆc nascuntur in hortis Numina! Juvenal, Sat. xv. 9. See also Montaigne, Essais, l. i. ch. xlii. P. 97, l. 28. stultitiam. 1 Cor. i. 19. P. 101, l. 12. the opinion of Copernicus. Pascal no doubt refers to a passage in Montaigne, Essais, l. ii. ch. xii., in which he abstains from deciding between the rival systems of astronomy. Pascal, however, had no doubt on the matter himself, as is plain from the passage on Galileo in the Eighteenth Provincial. P. 101, l. 16. Fascinatio nugacitatis. Lib. Sap. iv. 12. Fascinatio enim nugacitatis obscurat bona. See note on p. 165. P. 102, l. 12. So our people often act. FÉnÉlon, Lettre À l'EvÊque d'Arras, says, "Toutes les difficultÉs s'evanouissent sans peine des qu'on a l'esprit gueri de la prÉsomption. Alors suivant le rÈgle de Saint Augustin, Epist. ad Hier., on passe sur tout ce que l'on n'entend pas, et on s'edifie de tout ce qu'on entend." See also De Imitatione Christi, l. i. ch. v. P. 104, l. 4. Harum sententiarum. Harum sententiarum quÆ vera sit Deus aliquis viderit. Cic. Tuscul. i. 11. P. 104, l. 14. The Preacher shows. The precise thought as Pascal has it here is not easy to find in Ecclesiastes. It is probably a reminiscence of Eccles. viii. 17. P. 105. The Philosophers. The title of this chapter is that given by Molinier to the collection of fragments contained in it. A few expressions and thoughts are from Montaigne, many more from Descartes, Discours de la MÉthode. P. 108, l. 16. DeliciÆ meÆ. Prov. viii. 31. P. 108, l. 17. Effundam spiritum. Joel ii. 28. P. 108, l. 17. Dii estis, Ps. lxxxii. 6. P. 108, l. 18. Omnis caro foenum. Is. xl. 6. P. 108, l. 18. Homo assimilatus est. Ps. xlix. 20. P. 108, l. 20. Dixi in corde meo. Eccl. iii. 18. P. 110, l. 28. Ex senatus consultis. Seneca, Ep. xcv., sec. 30. P. 110, l. 29. Nihil tam absurde. Cic. De Divia. ii. 58. P. 110, l. 32. Ut omnium rerum. Seneca, Ep. cvi. But the real reading is Quemadmodum—omnium rerum. P. 110, l. 34. Id maxime. Cic. De Off. i. 31. P. 110, l. 35. Hos natura modos. Virg. Georg. ii. 20. P. 111, l. 4. Mihi sic usus est. Ter. Hea. i. 1, 28. P. 111, l. 6. falsity of their dilemma in Montaigne. Essais, l. ii. ch. xii. "Si l'Âme est mortelle, il est absurde de craindre la mort, si elle est immortelle elle ne peut aller qu'en s'ameliorant." P. 112, l. 11. Felix qui potuit. Virg. Georg. ii. l. 489. P. 112, l. 13. nihil mirari. Hor. Epist. 1, vi. l. 1. The whole passage is, Nil admirari prope res est una, Numici, Solaque, quÆ possit facere et servare beatum. P. 113, l. 15. two sects. Epicureans and Stoics. P. 113, l. 17. Des Barreaux. Jacques Desbarreaux was an Epicurean poet born at Paris in 1602, died in 1673, who in his poems paraded his unbelief. Curiously enough, his only extant verses were written when he lay ill, and are addressed to God. P. 113, l. 28. Epictetus concludes. Encheiridion, iv. 7. P. 113, l. 30. three sects. Pascal no doubt refers the libido sentiendi to the Epicureans, the libido dominandi to the Stoics, and the libido sciendi to the dogmatic schools of Plato and Aristotle, of which Cicero always speaks as though they taught one and the same philosophy. P. 114, l. 3. two inches under water, are equally drowned with those who are at the bottom. P. 115. The fragments collected in this chapter are here placed by Molinier according to the plan which Pascal had traced out for his work, in which after he had laid the various philosophical systems before his supposed unbeliever, he brought forward for examination the other religions. P. 115, l. 20. forbade men to read it. It is not known whence Pascal obtained this statement, which is a complete mistake. P. 116, l. 15. Jesus Christ wills that his testimony to himself should be of no avail. John v. 31. "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true." P. 116, l. 30. The Koran says that Saint Matthew. The Koran does not name Saint Matthew, but says in general terms that Mahomet regarded the apostles of Jesus as holy. P. 117, l. 27. whose witnesses let themselves be slaughtered. After this Pascal had written, but erased the words "which of the two is most to be blamed, Moses or China?" and these aid us in the explanation of this enigmatic passage. The Jesuits had established themselves in China at the end of the sixteenth century, and when Pascal wrote their missions were in a flourishing state. They had studied the language, history, and literature of China. But the difficulty presented itself of reconciling the cosmogony and chronology of the Bible with those of the Chinese sages. It is probable that this passage was inspired by a private conversation with some one who had read letters from a missionary, for no book on the subject appears to have existed in Pascal's day. P. 118, l. 4. The five suns, etc. Montaigne, from whom this is taken, Essais, l. iii. ch. iv., probably borrowed it from some Spanish book now forgotten. P. 119. Of the Jewish People. This position in his intended treatise, before the sections on the Sacred Books and on Prophecy, is that which Pascal himself designed for his remarks on the Jews. P. 123, l. 5. The Masorah. The unwritten tradition of the Jews. P. 126, l. 9. Quis mihi det. Num. xi. 29. The true reading is, Quis tribuat ut omnis populus prophetet. P. 126, l. 17. If the story in Esdras is credible. In the 14th Chapter of the Second Book of Esdras God appears to Esdras in a bush, and orders him to assemble the people and deliver the message. Esdras replies, "I will go as thou hast commanded me, and reprove the people which are present, but they that shall be born afterward who shall admonish them?... For thy law is burnt, therefore no man knoweth the things that are done of thee, or the works that shall begin. But if I have found grace before thee, send the Holy Ghost into me, and I shall write all that hath been done in the world since the beginning." ... Then God ordered him to take five scribes, to whom for forty days he dictated the ancient law. The authenticity of this story, coming into conflict as it does with many passages of the prophets, and specially with Jeremiah, appeared open to such grave doubts, that at the Council of Trent the last book of Esdras, called in the Catholic Church, Esdras IV., by Protestants Esdras II., was then rejected from the Canon. P. 126, l. 27. Jeremiah gave them the law. See 2 Maccabees, ch. xi. P. 128, l. 31. Qui justus est justificetur adhuc. Apocal. xvii. 4. P. 129, l. 18. a thousand and twenty-two. This was the number of stars comprised in the Catalogue of Ptolemy, according to the system of Hipparchus. P. 132, l. 9. Non habemus regem nisi CÆsarem. Job. xx. 15. P. 134, l. 12. Eris palpans in meridie. Incorrectly quoted from Deut. xxviii. 29. P. 134, l. 13. Dabitur liber. Incorrectly quoted from Is. xxix. 12. P. 135, l. 6. Effundam spiritum meum. Is. xliv. 2. P. 135, l. 21. populum non credentem. Is. lxv. 2. P. 136, l. 2. ex omnibus iniquitatibus. Probably a remembrance of Is. xliv. 22. Delevi ut nubem iniquitates tuas. P. 136, l. 13. The little stone. Dan. ii. 34. P. 136, l. 33. Omnis JudÆa regio. Incorrectly quoted from Matt. iii. 5. P. 137, l. 3. These stones can become. Matt. iii. 9. P. 140, l. 15. Grotius. The allusion is no doubt to his work, De Veritate Religionis ChristianÆ, which appeared in 1662. P. 143, l. 6. the king of the Medes and Persians is Darius Codomanus; P. 143, l. 12. This paragraph refers to Antiochus Epiphanes, King of Syria, who died 164 b.c. See the account of his death, 1 Macc. c. 6. P. 145, l. 1. And in the end of years. The marriage of Antiochus Theos with Berenice took place about 247 b.c. Berenice was assassinated by Seleucus Ceraunos soon afterwards, and the war between Ptolemy Euergetes and the King of Syria lasted during almost all the reign of the latter. Syria regained the ascendancy only after the death of Ptolemy Euergetes in 222 b.c. P. 145, l. 26. Raphia. The Battle of Raphia was gained by Ptolemy Philopator over Antiochus the Great, 217 b.c. P. 145, l. 36. Euergetes, a mistake for Epiphanes. P. 147, l. 2. The leader taken from the thigh. A literal translation of Gen. xlix. 10. Non auferetur sceptrum de Juda, et dux de femore ejus. P. 152, l. 26. Pugio Fidei. The work so called, which Pascal first specifies in this place, is one of which he made great use in all his speculations on the fulfilment of Prophecy, and on the meaning of the Hebrew letters, etc. The book, of which the full title is Pugio Fidei adversus Mauros et JudÆos, was written in 1278 by Raymond Martin, a Catalonian monk. It remained almost unknown for four hundred years, and was first printed in 1651. It was, therefore, as it were, a new book when Pascal became acquainted with it. Under the name Mauri the author assails not the Koran nor Mahomet, but Arabic philosophy. P. 161, l. 2. Ut sciatis quod filius hominis. Marc. ii. 10-11. The words of Jesus to the paralytic. P. 164, l. 16. Signa legem in electis meis. Is. viii. 16, where the Vulgate has discipulis. P. 165, l. 15. Fascination. i.e., Fascinatio nugacitatis, see p. 101, l. 16. The blindness produced by the love of temporal possessions, or as the A. V. translates it, "the bewitching of naughtiness." P. 165, l. 15. Somnum suum. Ps. lxxvi. 5. Turbati sunt omnes insipientes corde. Dormierunt somnum suum: et nihil invenerunt omnes viri divitiarum in manibus suis. P. 165, l. 15. Figura hujus mundi. 1 ad Cor. vii. 31. Et qui utuntur hoc mundo, tanquam non utantur: prÆterit enim figura hujus mundi. P. 165, l. 16. Comedes panem tuum. Deut viii. 9. Panem nostrum. Luc. xi. 3. P. 165, l. 17. Inimici Dei terram lingent. Ps. lxxii 8. The Psalm is of Solomon, Inimici ejus terram lingent. P. 165, l. 22. cum amaritudinibus. Ex. xii. 8, where the Vulgate has cum lactucis agrestibus. P. 165, l. 24. Singularis sum ego. Ps. cxli. 10, where the true reading is "singulariter." P. 165, l. 34. We have no right. The following is the explanation of this and the next two paragraphs: In Is. ix. 6, a prophecy which the Rabbis apply to Messiah, and Christian interpreters to Jesus, are the words: Parvulus enim natus est nobis ... multiplicabatur ejus imperium. In the Hebrew words representing this latter clause, the closed mem, a letter ordinarily employed only at the end of a word, occurs where an open mem should be used. From this orthographic mistake the Rabbis have concluded that Messiah would be born of a virgin, ex virgine clausa. Moreover, as the closed mem in Hebrew writing means six hundred, the Rabbis supposed that Messiah was to come six hundred years after Isaiah. The final tsadÉ has the same value as the closed mem. P. 166, l. 8. the way of the philosopher's stone, no doubt the way of finding the philosopher's stone. The dreams of the alchemists on this subject were early mingled with those of the Rabbis on the Messiah. Nor had the Cabbala lost all credit in Pascal's days. In 1629 Robert Fludd, in Latin De Fluctibus, an Englishman, educated at Oxford, and a Fellow of the College of Physicians, published at Frankfort his Medicina Catholica. In this, sect 1. pt. ii. b. 1. ch. i. he speaks of sicknesses and healing as both sent from God by angelic intermediaries, and that all angelic natures are summed up in the great angel Mittatron, whom the Scriptures call Wisdom. In a further passage he says that in him whom the Cabalists call Mittatron others recognise Messiah, and quotes the passage of Isaiah in which occurs the closed mem. In Reuchlin's book De Arte Cabalistica the open mem is said to represent the sphere of Jupiter, and the closed mem the sphere of Mars. P. 166, l. 12. Apocalyptics. Interpreters of the Apocalypse. P. 166, l. 13. Preadamites. Those who hold that Adam was the progenitor of the Jews only, and not of the whole human race. P. 166, l. 13. Millenarians. The believers in the reign of Christ on earth for a thousand years. P. 166, l. 19. The allusion is probably to 2 Paralip. i. 14. Et fecit eos esse in urbibus quadrigarum, et cum rege in Jerusalem. P. 166, l. 31. Exortum est lumen. Ps. cxii. 4. But the word corde does not appear in the Vulgate. P. 168, l. 30. Agnus occisus est. Apoc. xiii. 8. P. 170, l. 23. the breasts of the Spouse. Song of Songs, iv. 5. P. 171, l. 32. Nisi fecissem. A partial citation of Joh. xv. 24. P. 174, l. 32. Adam forma futuri, ad Rom. v. 14. P. 175, l. 7. the six mornings. This passage is taken from S. Aug. De Genesi contra ManichÆos, i. 23. Pascal probably intending to write les six orients, dawns or mornings, his amanuensis has written les six arians, a source of much misunderstanding. The six mornings are, the creation; the deliverance from the Ark; the call of Abraham; the carrying away into Babylon; the preaching of Jesus. P. 175, l. 29. Fac secundum exemplar. Exod. xxv. 40, but the Vulgate has monstratum. P. 176, l. 9. Saint Paul says. 1 Cor. vii.; 1 Tim. iv. 3. P. 176, l. 14. On which Saint Paul says. Heb. viii. 5. P. 176, l. 16. Veri adoratores. Joh. iv. 23. Ecce agnus Dei. Joh. i. 29. P. 187, l. 11. ne evacuata sit crux. 1 ad Cor. i. 17. ut non evacuetur crux Christi. P. 187, l. 12. says that he came neither with wisdom nor with signs. See however 2 Cor. xii. 12. "Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds." P. 191, l. 7. DeliciÆ meÆ. Prov. viii. 31. Effundam. Joel, ii. 28. Dii estis. Ps. lxxxii. 6. Omnis caro foenum. Is. xl. 6. Homo comparatus est. Ps. xlix. 20. Dixi in corde. Eccles. iii. 18. P. 192, l. 3. Marton. Probably a mistake of the amanuensis for Miton. See p. 12, l. 22. P. 192, l. 10. Sapientius est hominibus. 1 ad Cor. i. 25. P. 194, l. 5. Nemo ante obitum beatus est. Ovid, Met. iii. 136. The passage runs:— Dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet. P. 194, l. 19. The citations from the Rabbis are taken from the Pugio Fidei. P. 195, l. 36. Chronology of Rabbinism. The chronology here given is in many points at variance with modern scholarship. P. 197, l. 19. Salutare tuum expectabo. Gen. xlix. 18. P. 200, l. 12. Miserere. The first word of Ps. li., "Miserere mei Deus." Expectavi. The first word of Ps. xl., "Expectans expectavi Dominum." P. 200, l. 29. Dixit Dominus. The first words of Ps. cx. P. 209, l. 11. ExcÆca. Is. vi. 10. P. 210, l. 13. nisi efficiamini. Matt, xviii. 3. P. 213, l. 21. Quis mihi det ut. Job, xix. 23-25. P. 215, l. 5. Quare fremuerunt gentes. Ps. ii. 1, 2. P. 215, l. 30. Ingrediens mundum. Probably a recollection of the meaning, but not the words, of Heb. i. 6. P. 215, l. 31. Stone upon stone. Mark, xiii. 2. P. 216, l. 23. in sanctificationem et in scandalum, a partial quotation of Isaiah, viii. 14. P. 217, l. 3. Ænigmatis. The word nowhere appears, but the allusion is no doubt to 1 ad Cor. xiii. 12. Videmus nunc per speculum in Ænigmate, tunc autem facie ad faciem. P. 219, l. 3. gladium tuum. Ps. xlv. 3. Accingere gladio tuo super femur tuum, potentissime. P. 220, l. 21. He hath blinded them. Is. vi. 10. P. 221, l. 22. Great Pan is dead. Plutarch De Oraculis. P. 221, l. 26. Barcoseba, or Barcochebas, a Jewish impostor who claimed to be the Messiah, a.d. 135. P. 222, l. 3. Curse of the Greeks, no doubt against those Heretics who tried to discover the exact date of the end of the world. P. 225, l. 19. Quia non cognovit. The quotation is modified from 1 ad Cor. i. 21, and with the important omission of the final word "credentes." P. 226, l. 24. Quod ergo ignorantes quÆritis. Adapted from Act. Ap. xvii. 23. Quod ergo ignorantes colitis ego annuncio vobis. P. 226, l. 28. via, veritas. Joh. xiv. 6. P. 227, l. 12. Jaddus to Alexander. Jaddus was the Jewish High Priest, who on Alexander's invasion of Syria refused to aid him. Thereupon Alexander marched on Jerusalem. Jaddus came out to meet him in processional pomp, when the conqueror prostrated himself at his feet, saying he had seen such a man in a dream, who had promised him the Empire of Asia. P. 228, l. 14. Archimedes, though of princely birth. Plutarch says that Archimedes was of a family allied to that of Hiero, King of Syracuse. P. 229, l. 11. I will bless those that bless thee. Gen. xii. 3. Benedicam benedicentibus tibi. P. 229, l. 13. Parum est ut. Is. xlix. 6. Parum est ut sis mihi servus ad suscitandas tribus Jacob et faeces Israel convertendas. Ecce dedi te in lucem gentium. P. 229, l. 15. Non fecit taliter. Ps. cxlvii. 20. P. 230, l. 8. Jesus Christ the Redeemer of all. "Jesu Redemptor omnium" is the first verse of the Christmas Vesper Hymn. P. 230, l. 21. Lord, when saw we thee an hungered? Matt. xxv. 34. P. 231. The Mystery of Jesus. This fragment has only been included by more recent editors. But it exists in the autograph MS., and unquestionably forms a part of the intended work. P. 231, l. 3. turbare semetipsum. Joh. xi. 33. In the text turbavit seipsum. P. 232, l. 9. Eamus. Processit. A recollection of Joh. xviii. 4, but the word eamus does not occur in the verse, being borrowed from the account in Matt. xxvi. 46. P. 233, l. 25. ut immundus pro luto. Possibly a reminiscence and misquotation of 2 Pet. ii. 22. Sus lota in volutabro luti. P. 234, l. 33. Noli me tangere. Joh. xx. 17. P. 235, l. 21. Et tu conversus. Luc. xxii. 32. Conversus Jesus. ib. 61. before should be "after." P. 238, l. 16. Qui adhÆret Deo. 1 ad Cor. v. 17. Qui autem adhÆret Domino unus spiritus est. P. 238, l. 28. because it has perhaps merited ours. See Bossuet's Catechism. Qu'entendez vous par la Communion des Saints? J'entends principalement la participation qu'ont tous les fidÈles au fruit des bonnes oeuvres les uns des autres. P. 240, l. 28. Book of Wisdom. Ch. ii. 6. But the sense only, and not the words, is given. P. 241, l. 16. et non intres in judicium. Ps. cxliii. 2. P. 241, l. 19. The goodness of God. Rom. ii. 4. P. 241, l. 20. Let us do penance. Jonah, iii. 9. But the sense only, not the words, is quoted. P. 243, l. 2. qui gloriatur, in Domino glorietur. 1 ad Cor. i. 31. P. 243, l. 4. libido sentiendi. From Jansenius, De statu naturÆ lapsÆ, ii. 8. P. 243, l. 5. Woe to the accursed land. This and the following paragraphs are taken from Saint Augustine's commentary on Ps. cxxxvii., Super flumina Babylonis. P. 244, l. 1. Abraham took nothing for himself. Gen. xiv. 24. P. 244, l. 5. Sub te erit appetitus tuus. Gen. iv. 7. P. 244, l. 29. Multi crediderunt. Joh. viii. 30-33. P. 245, l. 17. Comminutum cor. No doubt a misquotation of Ps. li. cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies. P. 245, l. 18. Albe vous a nommÉ. Corneille, Horace, act ii. sc. 3. P. 248, l. 1. Omnis creatura subjecta est vanitati. Eccles. iii. 19, but the true reading is "cuncta subjacent vanitati." P. 249, l. 33. Inclina cor meum. Ps. cxix. 36. P. 251, l. 13. Ne evacuetur crux Christi. 1 ad Cor. i. 17. P. 253. The Arrangement. Scattered here and there in Pascal's MS. were a number of notes concerning the plan, form, and matter of his intended treatise, many of them marked with the word "Ordre." These are gathered together by recent editors, and some others which seem to cohere with them added, but Molinier's arrangement, as well as that of FaugÈre, is necessarily somewhat arbitrary. P. 254, l. 6. Justus ex fide vivit. Habac. ii. 4. Ad Rom. i. 17. P. 254, l. 8. fides ex auditu. Ad Rom. x. 17. P. 254, l. 14. divide my moral qualities into four. The classical division of ancient philosophy was into four: prudence, temperance, justice, magnanimity. P. 254, l. 16. Abstine et sustine. The Stoic formula. P. 257. The Miracle of the Holy Thorn. Marguerite Perier, Pascal's niece, aged ten, was cured of lachrymal fistula on March 24, 1656, after touching the diseased part with a reliquary containing a thorn from the Saviour's crown. This was at the time that Port Royal was suffering deeply from persecution, and was considered by many a signal mark of the favour of heaven. The Jesuits did not deny the miracle, but the conclusions drawn from it. P. 257, l. 20. those who heal by invocation of the devil. Pascal, when a child, was supposed both to have been made ill and restored to health by a witch. He desires to show that this was no miracle. P. 258, l. 9. Believe the Church. Matt. xviii. 17. P. 258, l. 13. Montaigne. Cf. Essais, i. 26. P. 258, l. 23. JudÆi signa petunt. 1 ad Cor. i. 22. P. 258, l. 25. Sed plenum signis. This and the following one are not to be found. Pascal is probably citing Saint Paul from memory. P. 258, l. 29. Sed vos non creditis. Joh. x. 26. P. 261, l. 5. Saint Augustine. Pascal does not appear to refer to any single passage, but to the general teaching of Saint Augustine. But see especially De Civit. Dei, xxii. 9. P. 262, l. 19. Scimus quia venisti a Deo. Joh. iii. 2. P. 263, l. 3. We have Moses. John ix. 21. P. 263, l. 30. Quid debui. Is. v. 4. Quid est quod debui facere vineÆ meÆ et non feci ei. P. 264, l. 16. Barjesus was blinded. Acts xiii. 6-11. P. 264, l. 22. Si angelus. A reference to ad Gal. i. 8. P. 264, l. 28. my good father. Probably Father Annat. See p. 289, l. 28. P. 265, l. 21. 1 P. ix. 113, a. 10, ad. 2. These signs refer to the P. 265, l. 22. Si tu es Christus. Luc. xxii. 66. P. 265, l. 23. Opera quÆ ego facio. Joh. v. 36. P. 265, l. 25. Sed non vos creditis. Joh. x. 26. P. 265, l. 29. Nemo potest facere signa. Joh. iii. 2. P. 265, l. 34. Generatio prava. Matt. xii. 39. P. 266, l. 5. Nisi videritis signa non creditis. Joh. iv. 48. P. 266, l. 9. Secundum operationem SatanÆ. 2 ad Thess. ii. 9. P. 266, l. 12. Tentat enim vos Deus. Deut. xiii. 3. P. 266, l. 14. Ecce prÆdixi vobis. Matt. xxiv. 25. P. 267, l. 26. Father Lingende. Claude de Lingendes, 1591-1660, was a Jesuit preacher. His sermons were published in 1666. P. 268, l. 11. Ubi est Deus tuus. Ps. xlii. 3. P. 268, l. 22. do not believe that the five propositions are in Jansenius. To explain this fully would need a far longer note than can here be given. It may be said shortly that the allusion is to the "Augustinus" of Cornelius Jansen, Bishop of Ypres. Two questions arose: first, whether the propositions condemned were heretical, and second, whether if heretical they were in Jansen's book. The second assertion was that which the nuns of Port Royal refused to make. They had not read the book, and could not affirm that of which they were ignorant. The five propositions were on the Doctrines of Grace and Free Will. P. 268, l. 27. Tu quid dicis. These are partial quotations from Joh. iv. 19, etc. P. 269, l. 9. Nemo facit virtutem. Marc. ix. 38, but incorrectly. The true reading is Nemo est enim qui faciat. P. 269, l. 25. Omne regnum divisum. Matt. xii. 25. P. 269, l. 28. Si in digito Dei. Luc. xi. 20. P. 269, l. 35. Vatable, who died in 1517, was professor of Hebrew at the CollÉge Royal established by Francis I. In 1539 Robert Etienne published an edition of the Latin Bible of Leo of Modena—Rabbi Jehuda—to which he added under Vatable's name, notes which were not really Vatable's, but borrowed from various writers of the Reformation. These notes were condemned by the Sorbonne. The Bible known as that of Vatable contains the Hebrew, the Vulgate Version, and that of Rabbi Jehuda. P. 271, l. 23. miracles of Vespasian. Tacitus, Hist. iv. 81. P. 273. Jesuits and Jansenists. A collection of fragments on these subjects, which perhaps might be considered rather as an appendix to, or notes for the Provincial Letters, than a part of the Thoughts, properly so called. But they form part of the autograph MS. P. 273, l. 9. There is a time to laugh. Eccles. iii. 4. Responde, ne respondeas. Prov. xxvi. 4. P. 275, l. 9. Elias was a man like ourselves. Quoted by memory as from Saint Peter, but really from Saint James, v. 17. P. 275, l. 14. accused of many crimes. Athanasius was accused of rape, of murder, and of sacrilege. He was condemned by the Councils of Tyre, a.d. 335, of Arles, a.d. 353, and of Milan a.d. 355. Pope Liberius, after having long refused to ratify the condemnation, was said to have finally done so a.d. 357. But this is disputed by recent authorities. For Athanasius we are of course here to read Jansenius and Arnauld; for Saint Theresa, la mÈre AngÉlique or la mÈre AgnÈs; for Liberius, Clement IX. P. 275, l. 33. Antonio Escobar y Mendoza. The Spanish Jesuit whose system of morals was so severely handled by Pascal in the Provincial Letters. He is among those whose names have given rise to a word: "escobarderie" is a synonym for equivocation. P. 276, l. 6. Molina, Louis, a Spanish Jesuit, born 1535, died 1601. The Jansenists accused his Commentary on the Summa of Saint Thomas Aquinas of favouring a lax morality. P. 277, l. 4. Mohatra. "The contract Mohatra, by which a man buys cloth at a dear rate and on credit, to re-sell it at once to the same person cheaply for ready money." Eighth Provincial. P. 278, l. 21. Est and non est. P. 278, l. 26. VÆ qui conditis leges iniquas. Is. x. 1. But the Vulgate reads VÆ qui condunt. P. 279, l. 22. M. de Condran. No doubt Charles de Condren, 1588-1641, doctor of the Sorbonne, and second General of the French Oratory, a society of priests founded by Cardinal de BÉrulle at Paris in 1611. P. 280, l. 7. Sanctificavi prÆlium. Mic. iii. 5. P. 280, l. 12. Ne convertantur. Is. vi. 10. P. 282, l. 21. Coacervabunt tibi magistras. 2 ad Tim. iv. 3, where the Vulgate has "sibi." P. 282, l. 28. not to make appointments to bishoprics. But a few years after this Fathers La Chaise and Le Tellier, as Confessors to the King, had this power in their hands. P. 282, l. 31. Father Brisacier, born 1603, a Jesuit, and a warm opponent of Jansenism. He wrote Le JansÉnisme confondu, and several minor works. He is constantly quoted in the Provincial Letters. P. 283, l. 1. Venice. The Jesuits had just returned to Venice in 1657, having been expelled thence in 1606. P. 283, l. 22. Amice, ad quid venisti. Matt. xxvi. 50. P. 283, l. 24. probability, or, technically, probabilism. Probabilism teaches that it is permissible to act on an opinion which is less probable than the opinion opposed to it so long as there is a solid ground for regarding it as probable in itself. Thus, if out of three moral theologians of recognised authority, two give it as their opinion that a certain course of conduct is unlawful, while the third asserts it to be lawful, probabilism permits the adoption in practice of the third opinion in opposition to the other two. A confessor would therefore have no right to forbid it under pain of sin. P. 284, l. 12. Dii estis. Ps. lxxxii. 6. P. 284, l. 13. If my Letters are condemned at Rome. The Provincial Letters were condemned at Rome, Sept. 6, 1657. P. 285, l. 22. imago. An allusion to the famous panegyric on the Jesuits called, "Imago primi sÆculi." See Fifth Provincial. P. 285, l. 36. Si non fecissem quÆ alius non fecit. Jon. xv. 24. P. 286, l. 31. These nuns. The nuns of Port Royal were called upon to sign the Formula which declared that the Five Propositions were in Jansenius. P. 287, l. 4. Vide si via iniquitatis in me est. Ps. cxxxix. 24. P. 287, l. 15. they are so no longer, i.e. since the miracle. P. 288, l. 18. Vos autem non sic. Luc. xxii. 26. P. 289, l. 28. Annat, 1590-1670, a Jesuit priest, Provincial of the Order, and Confessor to Louis XIV., 1654-1670. He wrote the well-known book, Le Rabat-joie des JansÉnistes, 1666, and to him were addressed Pascal's Seventeenth and Eighteenth Provincials. P. 290, l. 9. Montalte. Louis de Montalte was the pseudonym adopted by Pascal as the writer of the Provincial Letters. P. 290, l. 26. A fructibus eorum. Matt. vii. 16. P. 291, l. 6. Lessius, Leonard, a Jesuit born at Brecht, near Antwerp, 1554, died 1623, a pupil of Suarez. He was censured by the Faculty of Louvain in 1584. He wrote, among others, a treatise, De licito usu Æquivocationum et mentalium restrictionum. P. 291, l. 9. Bauny. Pascal in his Eighth Provincial quotes an opinion of Father Bauny on the question of restitution to be made by one who has caused the burning of his neighbour's barn. P. 291, l. 10. quam primum. A reference to the rule that if a priest personally disqualified from saying Mass on account of any mortal sin is yet obliged to do so for the sake of his parishioners, it is sufficient that he make an act of contrition, and as soon as possible "quam primum" seek the Sacrament of Penance. P. 292, l. 18. State super vias. A partial quotation from Jer. vi. 16. P. 293, l. 20. Vince in bono malum. Ad Rom. xii. 21. P. 297, l. 5. Bibite ex hoc omnes. Matt xvii. 27. P. 297, l. 7. In quo omnes peccaverunt. Ad Rom. v. 12. P. 298, l. 10. Ne timeas, pusillus grex. Luc. xii. 32. P. 298, l. 13. Qui me recipit. Matt. x. 40. P. 298, l. 14. Nemo scit neque Filius. Luc. x. 22. P. 298, l. 15. Nemo lucida obumbravit. Matt. xvii. v. P. 303, l. 6. plus poetice quam humane locutus es. Petronius, c. 90, where the words have not the turn that Pascal here gives them. P. 304, l. 2. The part that I take in your sorrow. The Chevalier de MÉrÉ, in his Discours de la Conversation, says, that he had been witness to a bet, that on opening a letter of condolence the set phrase condemned above would occur, and that the lady to whom the letter was addressed could not help laughing in spite of her distress. Pascal's note is against writing mere formal phrases which can thus be easily guessed. The Cardinal is Mazarin. P. 304, l. 9. M. le M. Le Maistre, Antoine, 1608-1658. The allusion is to Les Plaidoyers et Harangues de M. le Maistre, Paris, 1657. On the first page of Plaidoyer VI., Pour un fils mis en religion par force, we find "Dieu qui rÉpand des aveuglements et des tÉnÈbres sur les passions illÉgitimes," and Pascal probably refers to this passage as one in which the word rÉpandre could not be replaced by verser. P. 305, l. 23. I judge by my watch. Mlle. Perier says, that Pascal always wore a watch attached to his left wrist-band. P. 309, l. 27. An example may be taken from the circulation of the blood. Apparently taken from Descartes, Discours de la MÉthode, pt. v., in which Descartes speaks of Harvey's discovery. P. 309, l. 33. M. de Roannez. Gouffier, Duc de Roannez, was a friend of Pascal, some seven or eight years younger than he. He was a devoted adherent of Port Royal, and died unmarried. P. 312, l. 23. Salomon de Tultie. An anagram for Louis de Montalte, see p. 290, l. 9. P. 313, l. 11. The story of the pike and frog. This story has hitherto escaped research. P. 313, l. 17. conatus recedendi. Centrifugal force. P. 316, l. 3. When a strong man armed. Luke xi. 21. |
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