Benito Jerónimo Feijoo

“ This was the effect of the church music of those times; which, like the lyre of David, expelled the evil spirit, that had not quite forsaken the possession of St. Austin, and invoked the good one; the music of these times expels the good one, if such resides, and invites the evil one. The ecclesiastical chant of those days, was like the sound of the trumpets of Joshua, which threw down the walls of Jericho, that is, the passions which fortify the strong town of Vice. The chant of the present times, resembles the songs of the Syrens, which lead navigators on rocks and shoals. ”

“ VI. Let them, who suppose the female sex to be more vicious than ours, tell me, how they can reconcile this, with the church having in an especial manner, bestowed on them the epithet of devout? How with the words of many of the most grave and eminent doctors, who have declared it as their opinion, that there are more women saved than men, even having regard to the proportion, in which it is generally thought the number of females exceeds that of the males? Which opinion, they do not, nor cannot found on any other thing, than their having observed in them a greater inclination to piety. ”

“ But be those few or many who say this, they say it without more foundation, than having imagined, the clouds of the horizon are translated to the sphere of the brain; as if in rainy countries, the opacity of the atmosphere was a dark shade, which obscured the soul, and that in countries which are blessed with a serene sky, the greater splendor of the day, would communicate greater clearness to the understanding. ”

“ Let us figure to ourselves a republic, armed for a war, undertaken on the principle of a just defence; and let us also proceed to examine by the light of reason, the impulse which animates men’s hearts to expose their lives in the quarrel. Among the private men, some inlist for the pay and the plunder, others with the hopes of bettering their fortunes, and acquiring military honour and preferment; but the greatest part, from motives of obedience, and fear of the Prince or the General. He who commands the army, is instigated by his interest and his glory. ”

“ But with respect to those events, which the historians of one nation affirm, and those of another deny; and as there are many such events, it will be prudent for us to suspend our judgment, till some well-informed third person shall decide upon them; for, excited either by vanity or inclination, or led by condescension, every one goes on to flatter his own nation; the light of truth at the same time, being concealed from the eyes of the people, by the smoke of the incense of flattery, and the harmony of adulation, preventing their listening to the voice of reason. ”

“ I speak of those faults in the practice of the law, which are committed by people of the profession, and those who know the true state and secrets of causes, and who intervene as instruments in the prosecution of them; such as the advocate, the solicitor, or the attorney, to which we may add the witnesses also. The tribunal is a whole of such delicate contexture, that there is no integral part of it whatever, which is not essential. It is a machine, in which, a failure, false construction, or weakness of the most minute wheel, disorders all its movements. ”

“ There the success of the unworthy man, is staring the neglected deserving one in the face, and there the hands of the unskilful artist fully employed, is exhibiting a disgusting spectacle, to the able one who has nothing to do. And although a modest man who only views this at a great distance, or who only hears it from report, may reason upon it, and contain himself like a philosopher, still, when the mortifying prospect is so near him, he can scarce speak of the thing with temper, nor look upon it without falling into a passion. ”

“ Reason tells us, that there is an honest complaisance due from one man to another; and whatever reason dictates should be esteemed a virtue. But how can a lying, deceitful, and affected complaisance be a virtue? It is evident it cannot. Urbanity then should arise from the bottom of the soul. What does not do that, is not Urbanity, but hypocrisy that counterfeits it. An honest soul, stands in no need of fiction to assist it in the observance of all those attentions which compose good-breeding, because it is naturally inclined to the observance of them, left alone to itself. ”

“ It is of great value to the possessor who lays it out sparingly, but if squandered and made ostentation of, it becomes trifling and ridiculous; and indeed upon a strict enquiry, it will be found that they very seldom possess it, who boast or make parade of being masters of it. They who know but little, are the only people, who in all places, are fond of exposing their whole stock of knowledge to view. They never enter into a conversation, that without waiting a fit opportunity for doing it, they don’t exhibit their whole scanty budget of informations. ”

“ Why the reason is, because this sort of lie is not considered as an affront offered to any man. The being noted for an officious or jocose liar, does not take from any man the honour, which in other respects is thought due to him. A gentleman, let him tell as many of these sort of lies as he will, is still looked upon as a gentleman; a nobleman also, notwithstanding his being remarked for this vice, is considered as a nobleman, and a prince as a prince. But this appears to me repugnant to all reason. Lying is infamous, bad, and vile; and a liar is unworthy of human society ”

“ IV. I don’t deny that many of them are vicious; but, alas! if we were to trace their slips and irregularities to their source, I fear we should find them originate in the obstinate and persevering impulse or solicitations of our sex. He, who would wish or endeavour to make all the women good, should begin with converting all the men. Nature implanted modesty in the sex, as a fence-wall to resist the attacks of appetite; and it very rarely happens, that a breach is made in this wall by force applied on the inside. ”

“ There we should survey at every step, the most pleasing spectacle the world can afford, that of a man’s opening the whole theatre of his soul to another. I do not think that Heaven adorned with all its splendor, or the spring embellished with all its flowers, could furnish a more delightful picture to the eyes of man, than that which would be presented to human curiosity, by the exposure of a variety of sentiments, affections, and passions, of those with whom we converse. ”

“ Who told Pliny, that the brain of a man was larger than that of any other animal? Has any one, think you, undertaken the prolix labour of breaking the skulls of the whole sensitive species, in order afterwards to weigh their brains? Or who told Aristotle, that man is more humid than any of the brute creation? Can it be supposed, that this philosopher had squeezed them all in a press, in order to ascertain the quantity of moisture contained in each? ”

“ LXXIV. One of the most essential instructions that can be acquired by true Urbanity, is that of learning upon all occurrences, to accommodate yourself and your conversation, to the genius and capacities of your company; and of leaving to the choice of others, the subject-matter of discourse, and in following them in the pursuit of it, as far as they shall find it pleasing and agreeable to carry it. He is not more absurd and extravagant who talks to another on a subject or faculty he does not understand, than he, who talks to him in a language he is an utter stranger to. ”

“ When the excess of merit in the [Pg 97] person set aside, is so notoriously superior to that of the man promoted, that it is manifest to all the world, except to him who dispensed the preferment, what doubt can there be, that he shut his eyes to avoid seeing it? or else, that the microscope of his passion magnified to his view, the virtues of the man preferred, and the defects of him neglected? There is scarce any man, who has not a portion of good and bad in his composition; a man without fault would be a miracle, and one without a single virtue would be a monster. ”

“ The first is, that although every officious or jocose lie considered by itself, is injurious to nobody; still, the frequency and impunity with which they are told, have a pernicious effect on the public; for they deprive the generality of mankind of a very valuable benefit. To make my meaning more clearly understood, I must beg every man to contemplate the inconveniencies that would arise from a doubt or distrust, whether whatever is told us be true or false; which distrust is unavoidable, and founded on prudence, if we advert to the frequency with which people lie. ”

“ The poor historians, scarce dare to do otherwise than disguise such truths, as are not advantageous to their countrymen. They must either flatter their own nation, or lay down the pen; for if they fail to do this, they will be branded with the epithet of being disaffected to their country. I lament most heartily the lot of father Mariana; this very learned Jesuit, over and above possessing the other talents necessary for an historian, was exceedingly sincere and ingenuous; but this illustrious quality, which aggrandized his glory with found critics, diminished it among the vulgar of Spain ”

“ Conversation is the food of the soul, but the cravings of the soul, are as various, as delicate, and as capricious as those of the body. The most noble diet persisted in for too long a time, becomes satiating, and loathsome. ”

“ CLIV. Though I go further, and maintain, the maxim we have established, is not only incapable of occasioning any moral evil, but that it may be productive of much good. Consider, how many men the imagined superiority of talents, has emboldened to attempt criminal conquests over the other sex. In every encounter, the confidence, or diffidence of a person’s own strength or power, goes a great way towards determining the event of the conflict. The man, presuming on the advantage of his superior understanding, proposes boldly; the woman, judging herself inferior, listens with respect. ”

“ XXXII. I do not deny that criminals should sometimes be pardoned; but then it should only be in those cases, where the public is as much, or more, interested in their forgiveness, than it is in their punishment. The public good is the true north, to which the wand of justice should always point. The services the guilty person has done to the commonwealth, or those which he may be expected to do to it, on account of his singular talents for doing them, are special and material considerations in such a case. ”

“ Mankind don’t care to be convinced, that in this and all other such endowments, nature not only furnishes the means, but does the whole executive part of the business herself. It is for the want of making this reflection, that those who are the least qualified for it by nature, attempt to imitate others, on whom she has with a bountiful hand bestowed the choicest qualities. The exceeding likeness there is between a man and a monkey, seems to me to be greater still, if in making the comparison between them, we begin with the man first. ”

“ The theoretical is derived from lying among men being reputed as infamous, or as a vice nearly bordering upon infamy. Let us admit, for argument’s sake, the divisions the theologians make of a lie, into officious, jocose, and pernicious. Let us admit also, that a pernicious lie is reputed in the common opinion as it deserves to be reputed, and that it is treated with all possible abhorrence, so that those who are noted for telling lies to the prejudice of their neighbours, are generally considered as the pests of society ”

“ The right understanding of things, is of itself estimable, without regard to any other end or object in the creation. Truths have their intrinsic value: and the stock, or riches of the understanding, does not consist of any other money. Some pieces are more valuable than others, but none are useless. Nor can the truth we have proved, of itself, induce in the women vanity or presumption. If they, in the perfections of the soul, are truly equal to us, there can be no harm in their knowing, or being sensible of it. ”

“ He is a great frequenter of, and a busy man in clubs and coffee-houses, to which he is always running, in quest of disputations and argumentations. His opinion is his idol, and nobody must dissent from it, on pain of experiencing the effects of his indignation; neither must any body prefer an opposite one, lest he should be treated by him as an enemy; and nothing can satisfy him, but a total acquiescence in, or silent approbation of all he says. His influence in conversation may be compared to that of the southern constellation, called Orion’s Belt, which excites nothing but tempests. ”

“ These are the things, on which men of abilities, should exert the whole power of their genius and talents. What employment can be more worthy a man of shining parts, than that of painting the beauty of virtue in such amiable colours, as to make mankind in love with it ”

“ A good, sound, and unembarrassed mind, accompanied with discretion, which is gentle without meanness, and is disposed by genius and inclination to conform to every thing that is not contrary to reason, to which dispositions there is annexed a clear understanding, or native prudence, which dictates to a man how he should speak and act, according to the different circumstances and situations in which he finds himself, will, without studying in any school, acquit himself well, and appear agreeable in his commerce with mankind. ”