*F.P.BAGLEY,* 
 
BOHN'S STANDARD LIBRARY. 
 
 SCHLEGEL'S PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY. 
 
" Were I to pray for a taste which should stand me in stead under 
 every variety of circumstances, and be a source of happiness and 
 cheerfulness to me during life, and a shield against its ills, however 
 things might go amiss and the world frown upon me, it would be a 
 
 taste for reading Give a man this taste, and the means of 
 
 gratifying it, and you can hardly fail of making him a happy man ; 
 unless, indeed, you put into his hands a most perverse selection of 
 books. You place him in contact with the best society in every 
 period of history, — with the wisest, the wittiest, the tenderest, the 
 bravest, and the purest characters who have adorned humanity. You 
 make him a denizen of all nations, a contemporary of all ages. The 
 world has been created for him." — Sir John Herschel. Address 
 on the opening of the Eton Library > 1833. 
 
THE 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY, 
 
 IN A 
 
 COURSE OF LECTURES, 
 
 DELIVERED AT VIENNA 
 
 BY FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, 
 
 WITH A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR, 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES BURTON ROBERTSON, ESQ. 
 
 SEVENTH EDITION, REVISED. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 1850. 
 
WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STRAND. 
 
 If 
 
 SETTi' CENTER' 
 
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 Ten years have elapsed since this translation first 
 issued from the press. A long abode in Germany, and 
 a more extensive acquaintance with German literature, 
 have convinced me, that the estimate I had formed of the 
 genius of the eminent personage who forms the subject of 
 the following memoir, as well as of the moral and in- 
 tellectual influence he exerted over his age, was not 
 exaggerated. In many departments of letters and phi- 
 losophy, I perceived the deep traces which this remark- 
 able spirit had left in its passage. From enlightened 
 Germans, Protestant as well as Catholic, in conversation 
 as well as in print, I have heard him styled, " one of the 
 profoundest thinkers our country ever produced." 
 
 At Bonn, I had the honour of becoming acquainted 
 w T ith his celebrated brother, A. W. von Schlegel, whose 
 recent loss the literary world still deplores, and who had 
 preserved in his advanced age so much of the vigour 
 of his great intellectual powers. There also I formed a 
 friendship with the late excellent Dr.Windischmann,* who 
 had been F. Schlegel's most intimate friend, and whose 
 extensive learning and deep philosophic views, were only 
 equalled by his fervent piety. Later, I learned to know 
 
 * Dr. Windischmann was Catholic Professor of Philosophy at the 
 university of Bonn. His most celebrated work is the "History of 
 Religion and Philosophy in China and India." He was nominated 
 to the chair of philosophy at Bonn, in the year 1818, when the 
 university was founded; and no nomination reflected more credit 
 on the government of the late King of Prussia, or afforded more 
 satisfaction to his Rhenish subjects. By the statutes of the mixed 
 universities of Bonn and Breslau, the Catholic and Protestant 
 churches, are each entitled to their respective faculties of theology, 
 and to their several chairs of philosophy and hfstory. The other 
 prefessorships may be occupied indifferently by Catholics and Pro- 
 testants. By an arbitrary measure of the late King of Prussia, the 
 Catholic chair of history at Bonn was allowed to remain vacant for 
 the space of fifteen years; but his enlightened successor, on his ac- 
 cession to the throne, repaired this injustice. 
 
 b 
 
vi ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 that distinguished artist, Veith, who has married a rela- 
 tive of F. Schlegel's; as also the learned Dr. William 
 von Schiitz, who had been intimately acquainted with 
 him from his youth. From these eminent men I learned 
 interesting particulars respecting the subject of the pre- 
 ceding memoir. 
 
 I said once to Dr. Windischmann, " I thought there 
 was in Frederick Schlegel stuff enough to produce two 
 or three great geniuses." u You are right," he replied. 
 His last works, " The Philosophy of Life," " The Phi- 
 losophy of History," and " The Philosophy of Language," 
 were only the prelude, or the porch, to a vaster system 
 of philosophy. Of this I have • discovered the traces in 
 his papers, which have been confided to my care. Years 
 ago, when I wrote to him, that the world was looking- 
 for some other great work from his hands, he replied: 
 "I am working under ground." " The truth of this 
 remark," continued Dr. Windischmann, " I now per- 
 ceive." 
 
 I knew only one eminent man, who though a great ad- 
 mirer of the aesthetic and historical works of F. Schlegel, 
 yet underrated his metaphysical writings. This was a 
 Catholic theologian, distinguished for his great dialectic 
 skill, and whose favourite philosopher was our country- 
 man, Duns Scotus, the Doctor subtilis of the Middle 
 Age. Now the talent of dialectic ratiocination was the 
 least conspicuous of F. Schlegel's intellectual qualities. 
 This was, perhaps, the only gift, which Nature had dealt 
 out with a more niggard hand to her much-favoured 
 child. For this great writer, whose works are a vast 
 repertory of thoughts, hints, perceptions, and views, on 
 assthetics, history, theology, and metaphysics — whose me- 
 mory was stored with the riches of all climes, whose 
 imagination was so vigorous, whose understanding was 
 profound even to mystical intuition — this great writer 
 seemed not to possess the power of constructing a phi- 
 losophical system, fastened and bound in by a long chain 
 of reasoning. Hence he has not founded a metaphy- 
 sical school. And in the philosophic contest, which for 
 
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. vii 
 
 the last twenty-five years has been going on in Ger* 
 many — a contest which, on the part of the Pantheistic 
 Hegel and his followers, as well as of their Christian 
 adversaries, has been conducted in rigid dialectic forms 
 — his influence has, consequently, been less perceptible. 
 But in opposition to the opinion adverted to above, we 
 may cite the authority of the most philosophic spirits 
 of Germany — Staudenmaier (another eminent Catholic 
 divine), Molitor, Windischmann, Papst, and others, 
 who have rendered full justice to the richness, variety, 
 and depth of F. Schlegel's metaphysical view r s. Had 
 his genius been more dialectic, it would, probably, 
 have been less flexible, less plastic, and less universal; 
 for, in man's limited capacity, there are some talents 
 which seem mutually incompatible. But if less distin- 
 guished for logical precision, he has, like his brother, 
 never been surpassed in the art of rhetorical method or 
 arrangement. 
 
 In the foregoing memoir his poetry was not sufficiently 
 appreciated. His religious poems, above all, are particu- 
 larly beautiful, and are marked by that earnest, thoughtful 
 tone, which runs through all his compositions. 
 
 In respect to his personal life, I have one mistake to 
 correct. It was not in the year 1805, but in 1808, that 
 F. Schlegel was received into the bosom of the Catholic 
 Church. Prior to taking this important step, he devoted, 
 says Professor Windischmann,* days and nights to the 
 study of the Fathers. In his early days, when he pro- 
 fessed philosophy at the University of Jena, and enjoyed 
 the society of a circle of most distinguished men, composed 
 of his brother, Novalis, Tieck, Bitter, Fichte, Schelling, 
 Schleiermacher, and occasionally Gothe ; he was fre- 
 quently questioned as to his religious opinions, but he 
 invariably replied, " my answer is not yet ready." On one 
 occasion he declared in a letter to a friend ; "I regard the 
 Catholic Church as the greatest historical authority on the 
 earth." Vague, undefined, and unsettled as were his 
 
 * See the interesting introduction he prefixed to F. Schlegel's 
 posthumous works, published in 1837. 2 vols. Bonn. 1837. 
 
Vlii ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 religious principles in early life, and led away as he then was 
 by the pleasures of the world, still his strong love for Plato 
 the most orthodox of heathens, — his fervid passion for 
 Art in all her forms- — his spirit of historical research, which 
 acted as a counterpoise to his metaphysical speculations ; 
 lastly, his eminent sobriety of judgment, served to guard 
 him not only against the vulgar rationalism, but against 
 those more seductive errors of a subtle Pantheism, which 
 then fascinated many of the eminent men with whom he 
 associated. Though he then delighted in the writings of 
 that extraordinary mystic, Jacob Behmen, he knew, as 
 his early philosophical lectures show, how to distinguish 
 what was sound and excellent in them from what was 
 erroneous and dangerous. 
 
 One of the most amiable traits in this great man's cha- 
 racter, and which he shared with his illustrious friend, 
 Count Stolberg, was an unfailing sweetness of charity. 
 A harsh, intemperate, acrimonious zeal was not only ab- 
 horrent from his nature, but was regarded by him as most 
 detrimental to the best interests of religion. 
 
 Great as was the influence of his writings over the god- 
 less generation, in which his destiny was cast, that influence 
 is likely to increase in the better times that have succeeded ; 
 and the homage which he wrung from many a reluctant 
 contemporary, will be cheerfully and spontaneously ac- 
 corded to him by an unanimous posterity 
 
 October, 30th, 1845. 
 
THE 
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 The most important subject, and the first problem of 
 philosophy, is the restoration in man of the lost image of 
 God ; so far as this relates to science. 
 
 Should this restoration in the internal consciousness be 
 fully understood, and really brought about, the object of 
 pure philosophy is attained. 
 
 To point out historically in reference to the whole 
 human race, and in the outward conduct and experience 
 of life, the progress of this restoration in the various 
 
 f)eriods of the world, constitutes the object of the " Phi- 
 osophy of History." 
 
 In this way, we shall clearly see how, in the first ages 
 of the world, the original word of Divine revelation 
 formed the firm central point of faith for the future re- 
 union of the dispersed race of man; how later, amid the 
 various power, intellectual as well as political, which, in 
 the middle period of the world, all-ruling nations exerted 
 on their times according to the measure allotted to them, 
 it was alone the power of eternal love in the Christian 
 religion which truly emancipated and redeemed mankind : 
 and how, lastly, the pure light of this Divine truth, 
 universally diffused through the world, and through all 
 science — the term of all Christian hope, and Divine 
 promise, whose fulfilment is reserved for the last period 
 of consummation — crowns in conclusion the progress of 
 this restoration. 
 
X 
 
 THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 Why the progress of this restoration in human history, 
 according to the word, the power, and the light of God, 
 as well as the struggle against all that was opposed to 
 this Divine principle in humanity, can be clearly described 
 and pointed out only by a vivid sketch of the different 
 nations, and particular periods of the world; I have 
 alleged the reasons in various passages of the present 
 work. With this view, I have, for the purpose of my 
 present undertaking, availed myself, as far as these disco- 
 veries lay within my reach, of the rich acquisitions which 
 the recent historical researches of the last ten years have 
 furnished for the better understanding of the primitive 
 world, its spirit, its languages, and its monuments. 
 Besides the well-known names mentioned with gratitude 
 in the text, of Champollion, Abel Remusat, Colebrodke, 
 my brother, Augustus William Von Schlegel, the two 
 Barons Humboldt; and for what relates to Natural His- 
 tory, G. H. Schubert ; I have to name with the utmost 
 commendation for the section on China, 14 Windischmann's 
 Philosophy ;" and for what relates to the Hebrew Tradi- 
 tions, drawn from the esoteric doctrines and other Jewish 
 sources of information, which are here most copiously 
 used, I have been much indebted to a very valuable work 
 which appeared at Frankfort, 1827, entitled, " The Phi- 
 losophy of Tradition," and which reflects the highest 
 honour on its anonymous author.* To these I might add 
 the names of Niebuhr, and Raumer; but in the later 
 periods of history we are not so much concerned about 
 new researches on certain special points as about a right 
 comparison of things already known, and a just conception 
 of the whole. In the " Philosophy of History," historical 
 events can and ought to be not so much matter of dis- 
 cussion, as matter for example and illustration; and if on 
 those points, where the researches of the learned into 
 antiquity are as yet incomplete, any historical particulars 
 
 * The author is now known to be Professor Molitor. The second 
 part of this work has just appeared in Germany. — Trans. 
 
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 xi 
 
 should, in despite of my utmost diligence, have been imper- 
 fectly conceived or represented, yet the main result, I 
 trust, will in no case be thereby materially impaired. 
 
 The following sketch of the subject will show the order 
 of the Lectures, and give a general insight into the plan 
 of the work. The first two Lectures embrace, along with 
 the Introduction, the question of man's relation towards 
 the earth, the division of mankind into several nations, 
 and the two-fold condition of humanity in the primitive 
 world. 
 
 The subjects discussed in the seven succeeding Lectures 
 are as follows — the antiquity of China, and the general 
 system of her empire — the mental culture, moral and 
 political institutions and philosophy of the Hindoos — the 
 science and corruption of Egypt — the selection of the 
 Hebrew people for the maintenance of Divine revelation 
 in its purity — the destinies and special guidance of that 
 nation — next, an account of those nations of classical 
 antiquity, to whom were assigned a mighty historical 
 power, and a paramount influence over the world — such 
 as the Persians, with their Nature- worship, their manners, 
 and their conquests — the Greeks, with the spirit of their 
 science, and dominion — and the Romans, together with 
 the universal empire which they were the first to establish 
 in Europe. The next five Lectures treat of Christianity, 
 its consolidation and wider diffusion throughout the world 
 —of the emigration of the German tribes, and its con- 
 sequences — and of the Saracenic empire in the brilliant 
 age of the first Caliphs. Then follows an account of the 
 various epochs and the various stages of the progress 
 which the modern European nations have made in science 
 and civil polity, according to their use and application of 
 the light of truth, vouchsafed to them. So the subjects 
 here treated are — the establishment of a Christian imperial 
 dignity in the old German empire — the great schism of 
 the West, and the struggles of the middle age and the 
 period of the Crusades down to the discovery of the New 
 
xii THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 World, and the new awakening of science. The three 
 following Lectures are devoted to the Religious Wars, the 
 period of Illuminism, and the time of the French Revo- 
 lution. 
 
 The eighteenth and concluding Lecture turns on the 
 prevailing spirit of the age, and on the universal rege- 
 neration of society. 
 
 We have yet to make the following observations with 
 respect to this undertaking, in which we have attempted 
 to lay the foundations of a new general Philosophy. 
 
 The first awakening and excitement of human con- 
 sciousness to the true perception and knowledge of truth 
 has been already unfolded in my work on the " Philosophy 
 of Life.'; 
 
 To point out now the progressive restoration in human- 
 ity of the effaced image of God, according to the gra- 
 dation of grace in the various periods of the world, from 
 the revelation of the beginning, down to the middle 
 revelation of redemption and love, and from the latter to 
 the last consummation, is the object of this " Philosophy 
 of History." 
 
 A third work, treating of the science of thought in 
 the department of faith and nature, will, with more 
 immediate reference to the Philosophy of Language, 
 comprehend the complete restoration of consciousness, 
 according to the triple divine principle. 
 
 It is my wish that this work should, as soon as circum- 
 stances will permit, speedily follow the two works " The 
 Philosophy of Life," and " The Philosophy of History," 
 now presented to the Public. 
 
 Vienna, Sept. 6th 9 1828. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Advertisement to Second Edition v 
 
 Author's Preface ix 
 
 Memoir of the Literary Life of Frederick Von Schlegel 1 
 
 LECTURE L 
 
 Introduction 65 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 On the dispute in primitive history, and on the division of the hu- 
 man race 88 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 Of the Constitution of the Chinese Empire.— The moral and poli- 
 tical condition of China.— The character of Chinese intellect and 
 Chinese science 115 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 Of the Institutions of the Indians. — The Brahminical caste, and the 
 hereditary priesthood. — Of the doctrine of the transmigration of 
 souls, considered as the basis of Indian life, and of Indian philo- 
 sophy 138 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 A comparative view of the intellectual character of the four prin- 
 cipal nations in the primitive world — the Indians, the Chinese, 
 the Egyptians, and the Hebrews; next of the peculiar spirit and 
 political relations of the ancient Persians 162 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 Of the Hindoo Philosophy.— Dissertation on Languages. — Of the 
 peculiar political Constitution and Theocratic Government of 
 the Hebrews. — Of the Mosaic Genealogy of Nations 182 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 General considerations upon the Nature of Man, regarded in a his- 
 torical point of view, and on the two-fold view of history. — Of the 
 ancient Pagan Mysteries. — Of the universal Empire of Persia... 207 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 Variety of Grecian life and intellect. — State of education and of the 
 fine arts among the Greeks. — The origin of their philosophy and 
 natural science.— Their political degeneracy 228 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 Character of the Romans.— Sketch of their conquests. — On strict 
 law, and the law of equity in its application to History, and ac- 
 cording to the idea of divine justice. — Commencement of the 
 Christian dispensation , 250 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LECTURE X. 
 
 On the Christian point of view in the Philosophy of History. — 
 The origin of Christianity, considered in reference to the political 
 world. — Decline of the Roman Empire 274 
 
 LECTURE XL 
 Of the ancient Germans, and of the invasion of the Northern 
 tribes. — The march of Nature in the historical development of 
 Nations. — Further diffusion and internal consolidation of Chris- 
 tianity. — Great corruption of the world. — Rise of Mahomet- 
 
 anism . 297 
 
 LECTURE XII. 
 Sketch of Mahomet and his religion. — Establishment of the Sara- 
 cenic Empire — New organisation of the European West, and 
 Restoration of the Christian Empire 320 
 
 LECTURE XIII. 
 On the formation and consolidation of the Christian Government 
 in modern times. — On the principle which led to the establish- 
 ment of the old German Empire 348 
 
 LECTURE XIV. 
 On the struggles of the Guelfs and Ghibellines. — Spirit of the 
 Ghibelline age. — Origin of romantic poetry and art. — Character 
 of the scholastic science and the old jurisprudence. — Anarchical 
 state of Western Europe 364 
 
 LECTURE XV. 
 General observations on the Philosophy of History. — On the cor- 
 rupt state of society in the fifteenth century. — Origin of Protest- 
 antism, and character of the times of the Reformation 389 
 
 LECTURE XVI. 
 Further development and extension of Protestantism, in the period 
 of the religious wars, and subsequently thereto. — On the differ- 
 ent results of those wars in the principal European countries... 410 
 
 LECTURE XVII. 
 Parallel between the religious peace of Germany and that of the 
 other countries of Europe — The political system of the Balance 
 of Power, and the principle of false Illuminism prevalent in the 
 
 eighteenth century 43S 
 
 LECTURE XVIII. 
 On the general spirit of the age, and on the universal Regenera- 
 tion of Society 455 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 FREDERICK YON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 In the following sketch of the literary life of the late 
 Frederick Von Schlegel, it is the intention of the writer 
 to take a rapid review of that author's principal produc- 
 tions, noticing the circumstances out of which they grew, 
 and the influence they exerted on his age ; giving, at the 
 same, time a fuller analysis of his political and metaphysi- 
 cal systems : — an analysis which is useful, nay almost ne- 
 cessary to the elucidation of very many passages in the 
 work, to which this memoir is prefixed. Of the inade- 
 quacy of his powers to the due execution of such a task, 
 none can be more fully sensible than the writer himself; 
 but he trusts that he will experience from the kindness of 
 the reader, an indulgence proportionate to the difficulty 
 of the undertaking. 
 
 In offering to the British public a translation of one of 
 the last works of one among the most illustrious of 
 German writers, the translator is aware, that after the 
 excellent translation which appeared in 1818 of this 
 author's " History of Literature," and also after the ad- 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 mirable translation of his brother's " Lectures on Drama- 
 tic Literature," by Mr. Black, his own performance must 
 appear in a very disadvantageous point of view. But 
 this is a circumstance which only gives it additional claims 
 to indulgent consideration. 
 
 The family of the Schlegels seem to have been peculiarly 
 favoured by the Muses. Elias Schlegel, a member of 
 this family, was a distinguished dramatic writer in his 
 own time : and some of his plays are, I believe, acted in 
 Germany at the present day. Adolphus Schlegel, the 
 father of the subject of the present biography , was a 
 minister of the Lutheran church, distinguished for his li- 
 terary talents, and particularly for eloquence in the pulpit. 
 His eldest son, Charles Augustus Schlegel, entered with 
 the Hanoverian regiment to which he belonged into the 
 service of our East India Company, and had begun to 
 prosecute with success his studies in Sanscrit literature — 
 a field of knowledge in which his brothers have since ob- 
 tained so much distinction — when his youthful career was 
 unhappily terminated by the hand of death. Augustus 
 William Schlegel, the second son, who was destined to 
 carry to so high a pitch the literary glory of his family, 
 was born at Hanover, in 1769 — a year so propitious to 
 the birth of genius. Frederick Schlegel was born at 
 Hanover, in 1772. Though destined for commerce, he 
 received a highly classical education ; and in his sixteenth 
 year prevailed on his father to allow him to devote 
 himself to the Belles Lettres. After completing his 
 academical course at Gottingen and Leipzig, he rejoined 
 his brother, and became associated with him in his li- 
 terary labours. He has himself given us the interesting pic- 
 ture of his own mind at this early period. " In my first 
 youth," says he, "from the age of seventeen and upwards, 
 the writings of Plato, the Greek tragedians, and Winkel- 
 mann's enthusiastic works, formed the intellectual world 
 in which I lived, and where I often strove in a youthful 
 manner, to represent to my soul the ideas and images of 
 ancient gods and heroes. In the year 1789, I was en- 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 3 
 
 abled, for the first time, to gratify my inclination in that 
 capital so highly refined by art — Dresden ; and I was as 
 much surprised as delighted to see really before me those 
 antique figures of gods I had so long desired to behold. 
 Among these I often tarried for hours, especially in the 
 incomparable collection of Mengs's casts, which were then 
 to be found, disposed in a state of little order in the 
 Briihl garden, where I often let myself be shut up, in 
 order to remain without interruption. It w r as not the 
 consummate beauty of form alone, which satisfied and 
 even exceeded the expectation I had secretly formed ; but 
 it was still more the life — the animation in those Olympic 
 marbles, which excited my astonishment ; for the latter 
 qualities I had been less able to picture to myself in my 
 solitary musings. These first indelible impressions were 
 in succeeding years, the firm, enduring ground -work for 
 my study of classical antiqiiity."* Here he found the 
 sacred fire at which his genius lit the torch, destined to 
 blaze through his life with inextinguishable brightness. 
 
 He commenced his literary career in 1794, with a short 
 essay on the different schools of Greek poetry. It is cu- 
 rious to watch in this little piece the buddings of his 
 mind. Here we see, as it were, the germ of the first part 
 of the great work on ancient and modern literature, 
 which he published nearly twenty years afterwards. We 
 are astonished to find in a youth of twenty-two an erudi- 
 tion so extensive — an acquaintance not only w T ith the 
 more celebrated poets and philosophers of ancient Greece, 
 but also with the obscure, recondite Alexandrian poets, 
 known to comparatively few scholars even of a maturer 
 age. We admire, too, the clearness of analytic arrange- 
 ment — the admirable method of classification, in which 
 the author and his brother have ever so far outshone the 
 generality of German writers. The essay displays, also, a 
 delicacy of observation and an originality of views, which 
 announce the great critic. It is, in short, the labour of 
 an infant Hercules. 
 
 * Sammtliche Werke,Vorrede, p. 8, vol. 6. 
 b2 
 
4 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 As this essay gives promise of a mighty critic, so 
 two treatises, which the author wrote in the following 
 years, 1795 and 1796 — one entitled "Diotima," and 
 which treats of the condition of the female sex in ancient 
 Greece — the other, a parallel between Caesar and Alexan- 
 der, not published, however, till twenty-six years after- 
 wards — both show the dawnings of his great historical 
 genius. Rarely have the promises of youth been so amply 
 fulfilled — rarely has the green foliage of spring been fol- 
 lowed by fruits so rich and abundant. It is interesting 
 to observe the fine, organic development of Schlegel's 
 mental powers — to trace in these early productions, the 
 germs of those great historical works which it was re- 
 served for his manhood and age to achieve. In the latter 
 and most remarkable of these essays, he examines the 
 respective merits of Caesar and Alexander, considered as 
 men, as generals, and as statesmen. To the Macedonian 
 he assigns greater tenderness of feeling, a more generous 
 and lofty disinterestedness of character — and a finer power 
 of perception for the beauties of art. To the Roman he 
 ascribes greater coolness and sobriety of judgment, an 
 extraordinary degree of self-control, a mind tenacious of 
 its purpose, but careless as to the means by which it was 
 accomplished, an exquisite sense of fitness and propriety 
 in the smallest as in the greatest things, yet little suscep- 
 tibility for the beautiful in art. With respect to military 
 genius, he shows that Caesar united to the fire and rapid- 
 ity of the Macedonian, greater constancy and perseverance ; 
 yet that the temerity of Alexander was not always the 
 effect of impetuous passion, but sometimes the result at 
 once of situation and deliberate reflection. As regards 
 the political capacities of these two great conquerors, he 
 shows that Caesar possessed an over-mastering ascendency 
 over the minds of men — the talent of guiding their wills, 
 and making them subservient to his own views and inter- 
 ests — in short, a consummate skill in the tactics of a 
 party -leader. Yet he thinks him destitute of the wisdom 
 of a law-giver, or what he emphatically calls, the organic 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 5 
 
 genius of state — the power to found, or renovate a consti- 
 tution. To Alexander, on the contrary, he attributes the 
 plastic genius of legislation — the will and the ability to 
 diffuse among nations the blessings of civilisation — to plant 
 cities, and establish free, flourishing, and permanent com- 
 munities. 
 
 In the year 1797, Schlegel published his first import- 
 ant work, entitled " the Greeks and the Romans." This 
 work was, two or three years afterwards, followed by an- 
 other, entitled " History of Greek Poetry." These two 
 writings in their original form are no longer to be met 
 with — for in the new edition of the author's works, they 
 not only have undergone various alterations and additions, 
 but have been, as it were, melted into one work. Win- 
 kelmann's history of art was the model which Schlegel 
 proposed to himself in this history of Greek poetry ; and 
 we must allow that the noble school which that illustrious 
 man, as well as Lessing, Herder, and Goethe, had founded 
 in Germany, never received a richer acquisition than in 
 the work here spoken of. Prior to the illustrious writers 
 I have named, Germany had produced a multitude of 
 scholars distinguished for profound learning and critical 
 acuteness; but their labours may be considered as only 
 ancillary and preliminary to the works of men who, with 
 an erudition and a perspicacity never surpassed, united a 
 poetical sense and a philosophic discernment that could 
 catch the spirit of antiquity, reanimate her forms, and 
 place them in all their living freshness before our eyes. 
 
 In the first chapter of the " History of Greek Poetry," 
 Schlegel speaks of the religious rites and mysteries of the 
 primitive Greeks, and of the Orphic poetry to which they 
 gave rise. Contrary to the opinion of many scholars who, 
 though they admit the present form of the Orphic hymns 
 to be the work of a later period, yet refer their substance 
 to a very remote antiquity, Schlegel assigns their origin to 
 the age of Hesiod. " Enthusiasm," he says, " is the cha- 
 racteristic of the Orphic poetry — repose that of the Ho- 
 meric poems." His observations, however, on the early 
 
6 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 religion of the Greeks, form, in my humble opinion, the 
 least satisfactory portion of this work. He next gives an 
 interesting account of the state of society in Greece in the 
 age of Homer, as well as in the one preceeding, and shows 
 by a long process of inductive evidence, how the Homeric 
 poetry was the crown and perfection of a long series of 
 Bardic poems. 
 
 He then examines, at great length, the opinions of the 
 ancients from the earliest Greek to the latest Roman 
 critics, on the plan, the diction, and poetical merits of the 
 Iliad and the Odyssey ; interweaving in this review of an- 
 cient criticism his own remarks, which serve either to correct 
 the errors, supply the deficiencies, or illustrate the wisdom 
 of those ancient judges of art. After this survey of an- 
 cient criticism, he proceeds to point out some of the cha- 
 racteristic features of the Homeric poems. He inquires 
 what is understood by natural poetry, or the poetry of 
 nature ; shows that it is perfectly compatible with art — 
 that there is a wide difference between the natural and 
 the rude — that Homer is distinguished as much for deli- 
 cacy of perception, accuracy of delineation, and sagacity 
 of judgment, as for fertility of fancy and energy of passion. 
 The author next passes in review the Hesiodic epos, the 
 middle epos, or the works of the Cyclic poets, and lastly, 
 the productions of the Ionic, JEolic, and Doric schools of 
 lyric poetry. The fragments on the lyric poetry of Greece 
 are particularly beautiful, and comprise not only excellent 
 criticisms, on the genius of the different lyrists themselves, 
 but also most interesting observations on the character, 
 manners, and social institutions, of the races that composed 
 the Hellenic confederacy. 
 
 It was Schlegel's intention to have given a complete 
 history of Greek poetry; but the execution of this task 
 was abandoned, not from any want of perseverance, as 
 some have imagined, but from some peculiar circumstances 
 in the world of letters at that period. The literary scepti- 
 cism of Wolf, supported with so much learning and ability, 
 was then convulsing the German mind; and while the 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 7 
 
 purity of the Homeric text, and the unity and intregrity 
 of the Homeric poems themselves were so ably contested, 
 Schlegel deemed it a hazardous task to attempt to draw 
 public attention to any aesthetic inquiries on the elder 
 Greek poetry. Hence the second part of this work, 
 which treats of the lyric poets, remained unfinished. The 
 general qualities, which must strike all in this history of 
 Greek poetry are, a masterly acquaintance with classical 
 literature — a wariness and circumspection of judgment, 
 rare in any writer, especially in one so young — a critical 
 perspicacity, that draws its conclusions from the widest 
 range of observation — and a poetic flexibility of fancy, 
 that can transport itself into the remotest periods of anti- 
 quity. In a word, the author analyses as a critic, feels as 
 a poet, and observes like a philosopher. 
 
 But a new career now expanded before the ardent 
 mind of Schlegel. The enterprising spirit of British 
 scholars had but twenty years before opened a new intel- 
 lectual world to European inquiry; — a world many of 
 whose spiritual productions, disguised in one shape or 
 another, the Western nations had for a long course of ages 
 admired and enjoyed, ignorant as they were of the precise 
 region from which they were brought. For the know- 
 ledge of the Sanscrit tongue and literature — an event in 
 literary importance inferior only to the revival of Greek 
 learning, and in a religious and philosophic point of view, 
 pregnant, perhaps, with greater results; — mankind have 
 been indebted to the influence of British commerce ; and 
 it is not one of the least services which that commerce 
 has rendered to the cause of civilisation. In the promo- 
 tion of Sanscrit learning, the merchant princes of Britain 
 emulated the noble zeal displayed four centuries before by 
 the merchant princes of Florence, in the encouragement 
 and diffusion of Hellenic literature. By dint of promises 
 and entreaties, they extorted from the Brahmin the mys- 
 tic key, which has opened to us so many wonders of the 
 primitive world. And as a great Christian philosopher 
 
8 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 of our age* has observed, it is fortunate that India was 
 not then under the dominion of the French; for during 
 the irreligious fever which inflamed and maddened that 
 great people, their insidious guides — those detestable 
 sophists of the eighteenth century — would most assuredly 
 have leagued with the Brahmins to suppress the truth, to 
 mutilate the ancient monuments of Sanscrit lore, and thus 
 would have for ever poisoned the sources of Indian learn- 
 ing. A British society was established at Calcutta — 
 whose object it was to investigate the languages, historical 
 antiquities, sciences, and religious and philosophical sys- 
 tems of Asia, and more especially of Hindostan. Sir 
 William Jones — a name that will be revered as long as 
 genius, learning, and Christian philosophy command the 
 respect of mankind — was the soul of this enterprise. He 
 brought to the investigation of Indian literature and his- 
 tory, a mind stored with the treasures of classical and 
 Oriental scholarship — a spirit of indefatigable activity — 
 and a clear, methodical, and capacious intellect. No man, 
 too, so fully understood the religious bearings of these in- 
 quiries, and had so well seized the whole subject of Asiatic 
 antiquities in its connexion with the Bible. But at the 
 period at which we have arrived, this great spirit had 
 already taken its departure; nor in its flight had it dropped 
 its mantle of inspiration on any of the former associates of 
 its labours. For among the academicians of Calcutta, 
 though there were men of undoubted talent and learning, 
 there were none who inherited the philosophic mind of 
 Jones. At this period, too, the fanciful temerity of a 
 Wilford was bringing discredit on the Indian researches — 
 a temerity which would necessarily provoke a re-action, 
 and lead, as in some recent instances, to a prosaic narrow- 
 mindedness, that would seek to bring down the whole 
 system of Indian civilisation to the dull level of its own 
 vulgar conceptions. 
 
 Schlegei saw that the moment was critical. He saw 
 
 * Count Maistre. — See his " Soirees de St. Petersbourg." 
 
FEEDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 9 
 
 that the edifice of Oriental learning, raised at the cost of so 
 much labour by Sir William Jones, was in danger of 
 falling to pieces — that all the mighty results which 
 Christian philosophy had anticipated from these inquiries, 
 would be, if not frustrated, at least indefinitely postponed 
 — that a wild, uncritical, extravagant fancifulness on the 
 one hand, or a dull and dogged Rationalism on the other 
 — (equally adverse as both are to the cause of historic 
 truth) — would soon bring these researches into inextricable 
 confusion; in short, that the time had arrived when they 
 should be fairly brought before the more enlarged philo- 
 sophy of Germany. Filled with this idea, and animated 
 by that pure zeal for science, which is its own best reward, 
 Schlegel resolved to betake him to the stucty of the 
 Sanscrit tongue. But for the considerations I have 
 ventured to suggest, such a resolution on the part of such 
 a man would be surely calculated to excite regret : we 
 should be inclined to lament that a mind so original, 
 already saturated with so much elegant literature and 
 solid learning, should be thus doomed in the bloom of its 
 existence, to consume years in the toilsome acquisition of 
 the most difficult of all languages. 
 
 In prosecution of his undertaking, Schlegel repaired in 
 the year 1802, to Paris, which had been long celebrated 
 for her professors in the Eastern tongues, and where the 
 national library presented to the Oriental scholar, inex- 
 haustible stores of wealth. Here, with the able assistance 
 of those distinguished Orientalists, M.M. de Langles and 
 Chezy, Schlegel made considerable progress in the study 
 of Persian and Sanscrit literature. But while engaged in 
 these laborious pursuits, he contrives to find time to plunge 
 into the then almost unexplored mines of Provencal poesy 
 — to undertake profound researches into the history of the 
 middle age, and to deliver lectures on metaphysics in the 
 Trench language. If these lectures did not meet with all 
 the success which might have been hoped for, this cannot 
 surprise us, when we consider that the gross materialism 
 
10 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 which had long weighed on the Parisian mind, and from 
 which it was then but slowly emerging, could ill accord 
 with the lofty Platonism of the German ; nor when we add 
 to the disadvantage under which every one labours when 
 
 Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Provencal poetry. The 
 article on Portuguese poetry is singularly beautiful, and 
 contains, among other things, some remarks as new as they 
 are just, on the influence of climate and locality in the for- 
 mation of dialects. It comprises, too, an admirable critique 
 on the noble poem of the Lusiad, which in allusion to the 
 great national catastrophe that so soon followed on its pub- 
 lication,* and by which the ancient power, energy, and 
 glory of Portugal were for ever destroyed, he calls " the 
 swan-like cry of a people of heroes prior to its downfall." 
 This essay and others of the same period furnish also a 
 proof how very soon Frederick Schlegel had framed his 
 critical views and opinions on the various works of art. 
 His aesthetic system seems to have been formed at a single 
 cast — we might almost say, that from the head of this in- 
 tellectual Jove, the Pallas of criticism had leaped all armed. 
 His metaphysical theories, on the contrary, appear to have 
 been slowly elaborated — to have undergone many modi- 
 fications and improvements in the lapse of years, and 
 never to have been moulded into a form of perfect sym- 
 metry, until the last years of his life. 
 
 During his abode in France, he addressed to a friend in 
 Germany, a series of beautiful letters on the different 
 schools and epochs of Christian painting. The pictorial 
 treasures of a large part of Europe were then concentrated 
 in the French capital; and Schlegel, availing himself of 
 this golden opportunity, gave an account of the various 
 master-pieces of modem art, contained in the public and 
 private collections of Paris; interweaving in these notices, 
 general views on the nature, object, and limits of Christian 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 11 
 
 painting. These letters the author has since revised and 
 enlarged; and they now form one of the most delightful 
 volumes in the general collection of his works. 
 
 The three arts, sculpture, music, and painting, cor- 
 respond, according to the author, to the three parts of 
 human consciousness, the body — the soul — and the mind. 
 Sculpture, the most material of the fine arts, best repre- 
 sents the beauty of form, and the properties of sense : 
 Music explores and gives utterance to the deepest feelings 
 of the human soul : but it is reserved for the most spiritual 
 of the arts — Painting, to express all the mysteries of in- 
 telligence — all the divine symbolism in nature and in 
 man. He shows that the three arts have objects very 
 distinct, and which must by no means be confounded. 
 But the respective limits of these arts have not always 
 been duly observed. Hence, confining his observation to 
 painting, there are some artists, whom he calls sculpture- 
 painters, like the great Angelo — others again musical 
 painters, like Correggio and Murillo. 
 
 The various schools of art — the elder Italian — the later 
 Italian — the Spanish — the old German — and the Flemish, 
 pass successively under review. The distinctive qualities 
 of the mighty masters in each school — the fantastic and 
 truly Dantesque wildness of Giotto — the soft outline 
 of Perugino — the depth of feeling that characterises Leo- 
 nardo da Vinci — the ideal beauty — the various, the 
 infinite charm of Raphael — the gigantic conception of 
 Angelo — the glowing reality of Titian — the harmonious 
 elegance of Correggio — the bold vigour of Julio Romano 
 — the noble effort of the Caraccis to revive in a declining 
 age the style of the great masters — the true Spanish ear- 
 nestness and concentrated energy of Murillo — the deep- 
 toned piety of Velasquez — the profound and comprehensive 
 understanding which distinguishes his own Diirer, whom 
 he calls the Shakspeare of painting — the distinctive quali- 
 ties of these great masters (to name but a few of the more 
 eminent), are analysed with incomparable skill, and set 
 forth with charming diction. I regret that the limits 
 
12 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 q{ this introductory memoir will not allow me to give an 
 analysis of these enchanting letters ; but I cannot forbear 
 observing in conclusion, that at the present moment, when 
 there seems, to be an earnest wish on all sides to revive the 
 higher art among ourselves, whoever would undertake a 
 translation of these letters, would, I think, confer a service 
 on the public generally, and on our artists in particular. 
 To the friends and followers of art, such a work is the 
 more necessary, as the illustrious author has, in a manner, 
 taken up the subject where Winklemann had left off. 
 These letters are followed by others equally admirable on 
 Gothic architecture, where the characteristic qualities of 
 the different epochs in the civil and ecclesiastical archi- 
 tecture of the middle age are set forth with the same 
 masterly powers of fancy and discrimination. This sublime 
 art seemed to respond best to Schlegel's inmost feelings. 
 
 But I am now approaching a passage in the life of 
 Schlegel, which will be viewed in a different light, accord- 
 ing to the different feelings and convictions of my readers. 
 By some his conduct will be considered a blameable apos- 
 tacy from the faith of his fathers — by others, a generous 
 sacrifice of early prejudices on the altar of truth. To 
 disguise my own approbation of his conduct, would be to 
 do violence to my feelings, and wrong to my principles ; 
 but to enter into a justification of his motives, would be 
 to engage in a polemical discussion, most unseemly in an 
 introduction to a work which is perfectly foreign to in- 
 quiries of that nature. I shall therefore confine myself to 
 a brief statement of facts: noticing, at the same time, the 
 intellectual condition of the two great religious parties of 
 Germany, immediately prior and subsequent to Schlegers 
 change of religion. 
 
 It was on his return from France in the year 1805, 
 and in the ancient city of Cologne, that the subject of 
 this memoir was received into the bosom of the Catholic 
 church. There, in that venerable city, which was so 
 often honoured by the abode of the great founder of 
 Christendom — Charlemagne — which abounds with so 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 13 
 
 many monuments of the arts, the learning, the opu- 
 lence, and political greatness of the middle age — where 
 the Christian Aristotle of the thirteenth century — Aquinas 
 — had passed the first years of his academic course — there, 
 in that venerable minster, too, one of the proudest monu- 
 ments of Gothic architecture — was solemnised in the 
 person of this illustrious man, the alliance between the 
 ancient faith and modern science of Germany — an alli- 
 ance that has been productive of such important conse- 
 quences, and is yet pregnant with mightier results. 
 
 The purity of the motives which directed Schlegel in 
 this, the most important act of his life, few would be 
 ignorant or shameless enough to impeach. His station, 
 his character — his virtues — all suffice to repel the very 
 suspicion of unworthy motives; and the least reflection 
 will show, that while in a country circumstanced like 
 Germany, his change of religion could not procure for 
 him greater honours and emoluments than, under any 
 circumstances, his genius would be certain to command; 
 that change would too surely expose him to obloquy, 
 misrepresentation, and calumny — and what, to a heart so 
 sensitive as his, must have been still more painful — the 
 alienation perhaps of esteemed friends. Had he remained a 
 Protestant, he would, instead of engaging in the service of 
 Austria, have in all probability taken to that of Prussia, 
 and there, doubtless, have received the same honours and 
 distinctions which have been so deservingly bestowed on 
 his illustrious brother. We may suppose, also, that a 
 man of his mind and character, would not on slight and 
 frivolous grounds, have taken a step so important ; nor in 
 a matter so momentous, have come to a decision, without 
 a full and anxious investigation. In fact, his theological 
 learning w^as extensive — he was well read in the ancient 
 fathers — the schoolmen of the middle age, and the more 
 eminent modern divines; and though I am not aware 
 that he has devoted any special treatise to theology, yet 
 the remarks scattered through his works, whether on 
 Biblical exegesis, or dogmatic divinity, are so pregnant, 
 
14 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 original, and profound, that we plainly see it was in his 
 power to have given the world a " sy sterna theologicum? 
 no less masterly than that of his great predecessor — 
 Leibnitz. The works of the early Greek fathers, indeed, 
 he appears to have made a special object of scientific re- 
 search, well knowing what golden grains of philosophy 
 may be picked up in that sacred stream. The conversion 
 of Schlegel was hailed with enthusiasm by the Catholics 
 of Germany. This event occurred, indeed, at a moment 
 equally opportune to himself and to the Catholic body. 
 To himself — for though his noble mind would never have 
 run a-ground amid the miserable shallows of Rationalism, 
 yet had it not then taken refuge in the secure haven of 
 Catholicism, it might have been sucked down in the 
 rapid eddies of Pantheism. To the Catholic body in 
 Germany, this event was no less opportune; and for the 
 reasons which shall now be stated. 
 
 Germany, which in the middle age had produced so 
 many distinguished poets, artists, and philosophers, was, 
 at the Reformation, shorn of much of her intellectual 
 strength. In the disastrous Thirty Years' War, which that 
 event brought about, she saw her universities robbed of 
 their most distinguished ornaments, and the lights, which 
 ought to have adorned her at home, shedding their lustre 
 on foreign lands. The general languor and exhaustion of 
 the German mind, consequent on that fearful and con- 
 vulsive struggle, was apparent enough in the literature of 
 the age, which ensued after the treaty of Westphalia. To 
 these causes, which produced this general declension of 
 German intellect, must be added one which specially 
 applies to the Catholic portion of Germany. 
 
 Every great abuse of human reason, by a natural revul- 
 sion of feeling, inspires a certain dread and distrust of its 
 powers. This has been more than once exemplified in the 
 history of the church. So, at this momentous period, 
 some of the German Catholic powers sought in obscu- 
 rantism, a refuge and security against religious and poli- 
 tical innovations, and denied to that science that encou- 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 15 
 
 ragement which she nad a right to look for at their 
 hands: — a policy as infatuated as it is culpable, for, while 
 ignorance draws down contempt and disgrace on religion, 
 it begets in its turn, as a melancholy experience has 
 proved, those very errors and that very unbelief, against 
 which it was designed as a protection. 
 
 Had the court of Austria acceded to the proposal of 
 Leibnitz, for establishing at Vienna that academy of 
 sciences which he afterwards succeeded in founding at 
 Berlin, the glory of that great resuscitation of the German 
 mind, which occurred in the middle of the eighteenth 
 century, would have then probably redounded to Catholic, 
 rather than to Protestant Germany. But the German 
 Catholics, though they started later in the career of intel- 
 lectual improvement, have at length reached, and even 
 outstripped, their Protestant brethren in the race. 
 
 Three or four years before Schlegel embraced the Ca- 
 tholic faith, the signal for a return to the ancient church 
 was given by the illustrious Count Stolberg. The reli- 
 gious impulse, which this great man imparted to Ger- 
 man literature, was simultaneous with that Christian re- 
 generation of philosophy, commenced in France by the 
 Viscount de Bonald. And these two illustrious men, in 
 the noble career which five-and-thirty years ago they 
 opened in their respective countries, have been followed 
 by a series of gigantic intellects, who have restored the 
 empire of faith, regenerated art and science, and reno- 
 vated, if I may so speak, the human mind itself* 
 
 Forty years ago, the Catholics of Germany, as I said, 
 were in a state of the most humiliating intellectual infe- 
 riority to their Protestant brethren — they could point to 
 few writers of eminence in their own body — Protestant- 
 ism was the lord of the ascendant in every department of 
 German letters ; — and yet so well have the Catholics em- 
 
 * The aristocracy of French literature, and a splendid aristocracy 
 it is, has been for the last twenty years decidedly Catholic. The 
 enemies of the church are to be found almost exclusively in the 
 bourgeoisie, and still more in the canaille, of that literature. 
 
16 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OP 
 
 ployed the intervening time, that they now furnish the 
 most valuable portion of a literature, in many respects the 
 most valuable in Europe. In every branch of knowledge 
 they can now show writers of the highest order. To 
 name but a few of the most distinguished, they have pro- 
 duced the two greatest Biblical critics of the age — Hug 
 and Scholz — profound Biblical exegetists, like Alber, 
 Ackermann, and, recently, Molitor, who has created a 
 hew era not only in Biblical literature, but in the Phi- 
 losophy of History — divines, like Wiest, Dobmayer, 
 Schwarz, Zimmer, Brenner, Liebermann, and Moehler, 
 distinguished as they are for various and extensive learn- 
 ing, and understandings as comprehensive as they are 
 acute — an ecclesiastical historian pre-eminent for genius, 
 erudition, and celestial suavity, like Count Stolberg — phi- 
 losophic archaeologists, like Hammer and Schlosser — ad- 
 mirable publicists, like Gents, Adam Miiller, and the 
 Swiss Haller — and two philosophers, possessed of vast 
 acquirements and colossal intellects like Goerres, and the 
 subject of this memoir. In Germany, and elsewhere, 
 Catholic genius seems only to have slumbered during the 
 eighteenth century, in order to astonish the world by a 
 new and extraordinary display of strength. It is un- 
 doubtedly true that several of the above-named indivi- 
 duals originally belonged to the Protestant church, and 
 that that church should have given birth to men of such 
 exalted genius, refined sensibility, and moral worth, is a 
 circumstance which furnishes our Protestant brethren 
 with additional claims to our love and respect. We hail 
 these first proselytes as the pledges of a more general, and 
 surely not a very distant re-union. 
 
 The vigorous graft of talent, which the Catholic thus 
 received from the Protestant community, was imparted to 
 a stock, where the powers of vegetation, long dormant, 
 began now to revive with renovated strength. The old 
 Catholics zealously co-operated with the new in the rege- 
 neration of all the sciences — and the effects of their joint 
 labours have been apparent, not only in the transcendent 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 17 
 
 excellence of individual productions, but in the new life 
 and energy infused into the learned corporations — the 
 universities as ^ well as the institutes of science. The 
 mixed universities, like those of Bonn, F.reyburg, and 
 others, are in a great degree supported by Catholic talent ; 
 and the great Catholic University of Munich, which the 
 present excellent King of Bavaria founded in 1826, al- 
 ready by the celebrity of its professors, the number of its 
 scholars, and the admirable direction of the studies, 
 bids fair to rival the most celebrated universities in Ger- 
 many.* 
 
 Gratifying as it must have been to Schlegel to see by 
 how many distinguished spirits his example had been fol- 
 lowed, and to witness the rapid literary improvement of 
 that community in Germany to which he had now united 
 himself, he could not expect to escape those crosses and 
 contradictions which are, in this world, the heritage of the 
 just. The rancorous invectives which the fanatic Eation- 
 laist — Voss, had never ceased to pour out on his own early 
 friend and benefactor— the heavenly-minded Stolberg, 
 excited the contempt and disgust of every well-constituted 
 mind in^ the Protestant community. This Cerberus of 
 Rationalism opened his deep-mouthed cry on Schlegel 
 
 * The words which the King of Bavaria used at the moment of 
 founding this university, are remarkable. " I do not wish," said he, 
 " that my subjects should be learned at the cost of religion, nor reli- 
 gious at the cost of learning."— See Baader's opening speech in 1826. 
 " PhilosophischeSchriften,"p. 366. These are golden words, which 
 ought to be engraven on the hearts of all princes. In other words, 
 the monarch meant to say, I wish to consecrate science by religion, 
 and I wish to confirm and extend religion by science. This sove- 
 reign is the most enlightened, as well as munificent, patron of learn- 
 ing in Europe ; and whether we consider his zeal in the cause of 
 religion—his solicitude for the freedom and prosperity of his subjects 
 —Ins profound knowledge, as well as active patronage, of art and 
 science— and his true-hearted German frankness and probity ; he is 
 M ^ er -r res P e {*' a worthy namesake of the illustrious Emperor 
 Maximilian. He has assisted in making his capital a true German 
 Athens ; and, small as it is, it may at this moment compete in art, 
 literature, and science, with the proudest cities in Europe. 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 also, as he set liis foot on the threshold of the Catholic 
 church. In this instance, the religious bigotry of Voss 
 was inflamed and exasperated by literary jealousy. By 
 his criticisms, and masterly translation of Homer and other 
 Greek poets, this highly-gifted man had not only rendered 
 imperishable service to German literature, but had contri- 
 buted to infuse a new life into the study of classical anti- 
 quity. Jealous, therefore of his Greeks, whom he wor- 
 shipped with a sort of exclusive idolatry, he looked with 
 distrust and aversion on every attempt to introduce the 
 Orientals to the literary notice of the Germans. He ran 
 down Asiatic literature of every age and nation with the 
 most indiscriminate and unsparing violence — denounced 
 the intentions of its admirers as evil and sinister ; and in 
 allusion to the noble use which Stolberg, Schlegel, and 
 others had made of their Oriental learning in support of 
 Christianity, petulantly exclaimed on one occasion. "The 
 Brahims have leagued with the Jesuits, in order to sub- 
 vert the Protestant, or (as we should translate that word 
 in this country) the Rationalist religion." 
 
 It was in 1808, after several years spent in the study 
 of Sanscrit literature, Schlegel published the result of his 
 researches and meditations in the celebrated work entitled 
 the " Language and Wisdom of the Indians." This work, 
 the first part of which is occupied with a comparative ex- 
 amination of the etymology and grammatical structure of 
 the Sanscrit, Persian, Greek, Roman, and German lan- 
 guages, the second whereof traces the filiation and con- 
 nexion of the different religious and philosophical systems 
 that have prevailed in the ancient Oriental world, and the 
 last of which consists of metrical versions from the sacred 
 and didactic poems of the Hindoos — this work, I say, 
 might not be inaptly termed a grammar, syntax, and pro- 
 sody of philosophy. 
 
 With respect to etymology, Schlegel points out the 
 number of Sanscrit words identical in sound and significa- 
 tion with words in the Persian, or the Greek, or the 
 Latin, or the German, or sometimes even in all those 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 19 
 
 languages put together. He excludes words which are 
 imitations of natural sounds, and which, therefore, might 
 have been adopted simultaneously by nations unknown to 
 each other ; and selects those words only which arc of the 
 most simple and primitive signification, such as relate to 
 those intellectual and physical objects most closely allied 
 to man; as also auxiliary verbs, pronouns, nouns of number, 
 and prepositions : — words which are less exposed than any 
 to those casual and partial changes which conquest, com- 
 merce, and religion, ' introduce into language. With re- 
 spect to grammatical structure, the author shows that the 
 mode of declining nouns, and conjugating verbs, of forming 
 the degrees of comparison in adjectives, of marking the gen- 
 der and number of substantives, of changing or modifying 
 the signification of words by prefixed articles, is common to 
 the Sanscrit, and the other derivative languages above- 
 mentioned. It is from this strong external and internal 
 resemblance, these languages have received the appella- 
 tion of the Indo-Germanic. The prior antiquity of the 
 Sanscrit the author infers from the greater length and 
 fulness of its words, and the richness and refinement of its 
 grammatical forms ; for, to use his own expression, " words, 
 like coin, are clipped by use, and the languages, where 
 abbreviation prevails, are ever the most recent." 
 
 The prescient genius of Leibnitz had foretold, a century 
 and a half ago, that the study of languages would be 
 found one day to throw a great light on history. No one 
 better realised this prediction than Schlegel. In the first 
 part of this work, he has proved, by his own example, 
 that language is not a mere instrument of knowledge, but 
 a science in itself ; and when I consider the noble use he 
 has made of his Sanscrit learning; when I contemplate 
 all the great and brilliant results of his Oriental researches, 
 I must recal the sort of regret I expressed a few pages 
 above. While, in the course of the last fifty years, a 
 number of distinguished naturalists have carried the torch 
 of science into the dark caverns of the earth, traced by its 
 
 C 2 
 
20 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 light the physical revolutions of our globe, and discovered 
 the remains of an extinct world of nature; many illus- 
 trious philologists have at the same time explored the 
 inmost recesses of language, and, by their profound re- 
 searches, brought to light the fossil remains of early his- 
 tory, discovered the migrations of nations and the changes 
 of empire, and regained the lost traces of portions of our 
 species. This remarkable parallelism in the moral and 
 physical inquiries of the age, will be considered fortuitous 
 by those only who have not watched the luminous course 
 of that loving Providence, whose hand is equally visible 
 in the progress of science, as in every other department 
 of human activity. 
 
 But on no branch of historical knowledge have the 
 recent philological researches thrown more light than on 
 mythology — a science which the present age may be said 
 to have created. While illustrious defenders of the Chris- 
 tian religion — a Count Stolberg # in Germany, and still 
 more, an Abbe de la Mennaisf in France, treading in the 
 footsteps of the ancient fathers, and of the abler modern 
 apologists, like Grotius, Huet, and others, have victo- 
 riously proved the existence of a primeval revelation, the 
 diffusion and perpetuity of its doctrines among all the 
 nations of the world, civilised and barbarous — the com- 
 patibly of a belief in the unity of the God-head with 
 the crime of idolatry, ranked by the apostle, "among the 
 works of the flesh/ ' — the local nature and object of the 
 Mosaic law, destined by the Almighty for the special 
 use of a people charged with maintaining, in its purity, 
 that worship of Jehovah mostly abandoned or neglected 
 by the nations, who, " though they knew God, did not 
 glorify him as God" — and favoured also with the pro- 
 mises of " the good things to come," intrusted with the 
 
 * " Geschichte der Religion."— 1804-11. 
 
 f " Essai sur l'lndifference en Matiere de Religion :" 4 vols., 8vo. 
 Paris, 1823. A work where learning, eloquence, and philosophy 
 have laid their richest offerings at the shrine of Christianity. 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 21 
 
 prophetic records of the life and ministry of that Mes- 
 siah, of whose future coming the Gentiles had only a 
 vague and obscure anticipation : — while these illustrious 
 defenders of religion, I say, were proving the agreement 
 of all the heathen nations in the great dogmas of the pri- 
 mitive revelation; another class of inquirers (and among 
 these was Schlegel) laboured to show the points of di- 
 vergence in the different systems of heathenism, studied 
 the peculiar genius of each, and traced the influence which 
 climate, circumstance, and national character have exerted 
 over all. The object of the former was to point out the 
 general threads of primeval truth in the fabric of Pa- 
 ganism — that of the latter to trace the later and fanciful 
 intertexture of superstition. For in that fantastic web, 
 which we call mythology, truth and fiction, poetry and 
 history, physics and philosophy, are all curiously inter- 
 woven. Hence the arduous nature of those researches — 
 hence the difficulties and perils which await the investi- 
 gator at almost every step. 
 
 Of the second part of this work on India, which treats 
 of the religious and philosophical systems of the early 
 Asiatic nations, it is the less necessary here to speak, as 
 the reader will find the subject amply discussed in the 
 course of the following sheets. It may be proper, how- 
 ever, to observe, that the different philosophic errors men- 
 tioned by Schlegel, as prevalent in the ancient Asiatic 
 world, may all be resolved to two systems — Dualism and 
 Pantheism — the two earliest heresies in the history of 
 religion — the two gulfs, into which dark, but presump- 
 tuous, reason fell, when, rejecting the light of revelation, 
 she attempted to explain those unfathomable mysteries — 
 the origin of evil on the one hand, and the co-existence 
 of the finite and the infinite on the other. 
 
 On the whole, the " Wisdom of the Indians!' is an 
 admirable little book, whether we consider the profound 
 and extensive philological knowledge it displays — the 
 rich variety of historical perceptions it discloses — the 
 clearness of its arrangement, the elegant simplicity of 
 
22 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 the style. In the seven and twenty years which have 
 elapsed since this production saw the light, the subjects 
 discussed in it have undergone ample investigation — 
 many of its observations have passed into the current 
 coin of the learned world — truths which it vaguely sur- 
 mised, have since been fully established — and the know- 
 ledge of Indian literature and philosophy have been vastly 
 extended ; yet this is one of those works which will be 
 always read with a lively interest. It is thus that, in 
 despite of the progress of classical philology, the wait- 
 ings of the great critical restorers of ancient literature 
 have, after the lapse of three centuries, retained their 
 place in public estimation. It is pleasing to watch the 
 stream of learning in its various meanderings — to trace it 
 as its winds through a broader, but not always deeper, 
 channel, sullied and disturbed not unfrequently by acci- 
 dental pollutions — it is pleasing to trace it to its source, 
 where, from underneath the rock, it wells out in all its 
 limpid purity. Prior to the publication of this w T ork, 
 the Semitic languages of the East w T ere alone, I believe, 
 cultivated with much ardour in Germany ; its appear- 
 ance had the effect of directing the national energies to- 
 wards an intellectual region, where they were destined 
 to meet with the most brilliant success ; and, if Germany 
 may now boast with reason of her illustrious professors 
 of Sanscrit; if France, under the Restoration, made such 
 rapid progress in Oriental literature ; if England, roused 
 from her inglorious apathy, has at last founded an Asiatic 
 society in London, and more recently, the Boden profes- 
 sorship at Oxford — -these events are, in a great degree, attri- 
 butable to the enthusiasm which this little book excited. 
 
 In the year 1810, Schlegel delivered, at Vienna, 
 a course of lectures on " Modern History." This book, 
 which was in two volumes, 8vo., has long been out 
 of print ; and the volumes destined to contain it in the 
 general collection of the author's works, have not yet 
 been published. Hence no account of it can be here 
 given — a circumstance which I the more regret, as, in 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 23 
 
 the opinion of some, it is Schlegel's masterpiece. It em- 
 bodied in a systematic form the views and opinions con- 
 tained in a variety of the author's earlier historical essays, 
 which are also out of print, and have not yet been re- 
 published. In it, I know, are to be found the detailed 
 proofs and evidences of many positions advanced in the 
 second volume of the work, to which this memoir is pre- 
 fixed. 
 
 We should, however, form a very inadequate estimate 
 of the services this great writer has rendered to literature, 
 and of the influence he has exerted on his age, were we 
 to confine our attention solely to his larger works. 
 Throughout his whole life, he was an assiduous contri- 
 butor to periodical literature — a species of writing which, 
 in the present age, has been cultivated with signal success 
 in England, France, and Germany. At the commence- 
 ment of the present century, he edited, in conjunction 
 with Tieck, Novalis and his brother, a literary journal, 
 entitled the rt Athenaeum ;" and afterwards successively 
 conducted political and philosophical journals, such as 
 the " Europa," — the u German Museum," — and lastly, 
 the " Concordia ;" giving, latterly, also, his zealous support 
 to the " Vienna Quarterly Review." Some of his earlier 
 critiques have already been noticed. Among the shorter 
 literary essays, which appeared in the twelve years that 
 elapsed from 1800 to 1812, I may notice the one entitled 
 " The Epochs of Literature," 1800; and which may be 
 considered the first rude outline of those immortal lectures 
 on the " History of Literature," which he delivered in 
 1812. Often as he has occasion to treat the same subject, 
 yet such is the inexhaustible wealth of his intellect, he 
 seldom tires by repetition. Thus his minutest fragments, 
 like the sketches of Raphael, are full of interest and 
 variety, Another essay of the same year, " On the 
 Different Style in Goethe's Earlier and Later Works," 
 shows with what a discriminating eye the young critic 
 had already scanned all the heights and the depths of 
 this wonderful poet. Of this great writer, the moral 
 
24 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 direction of some of whose writings he reprobated in the 
 strongest degree, he did not hesitate to say that, like 
 Dante in the middle age, he was the founder of a new 
 order of poetry — that he had been the first to restore the 
 art to the elevation from which, since the commencement 
 of the seventeenth century, it had sunk — that he united 
 the amenity of Homer — the ideal beauty of Sophocles — 
 and the wit of Aristophanes. The opinion which in 
 youth he had formed of the great national poet of 
 Germany, his maturer experience fully confirmed. Eight 
 years afterwards, he published a long and elaborate critique 
 on Goethe's lays, songs, elegies, and miscellaneous poems. 
 Pre-eminently great as Goethe is in every branch of 
 poetry, in songs he is allowed to stand perfectly unrivalled. 
 " From the shores of the Baltic, to the frontiers of 
 Alsace," says the Baron d'Eckstein, " the lyric poetry of 
 Goethe lives in the hearts and on the lips of an enthu- 
 siastic people." In this reviewal we find, among other 
 things, a learned and ingenious dissertation on the various 
 species of lyric poetry — the lay, the romance, the ballad, 
 and the occasional poem; on the nature, object, and limits 
 of each — their points of resemblance, and points of dif- 
 ference, together with observations on the fitness of certain 
 metres for certain kinds of poetry. 
 
 From his youth upwards, Schlegel was in the habit of 
 seeking, in the delightful worship of the muse, a solace 
 and relaxation from his severer and more laborious 
 pursuits. Without making pretensions to anything of a 
 very high order, his poetry is remarkable for a chaste, 
 classical diction, great harmony and flexibility of versifi- 
 cation, a sweet elegance of fancy, and, at times, depth 
 and tenderness of feeling. Friendship, patriotism and 
 piety, are the noble themes to which he consecrates his 
 strains. What spirit and fire in his lines on Mohammed's 
 flight from Mecca ! What a noble burst of nationality 
 in his address to the Rhine ! How touching the verses 
 to the memory of his much-loved friend, Novalis — that 
 sweet flower of poesy and philosophy, cut off in its early 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 25 
 
 bloom ! In the lines to Corinna, what lofty consolations 
 are administered to that illustrious woman, under the 
 persecutions she had to sustain from the Imperial despotism 
 of France! And in the sonnet entitled " Peace," 1806, 
 what lessons of exalted wisdom are given to the men of 
 our time ! 
 
 The longer poem, entitled " Hercules Musagetes," is 
 among the most admired of the author's pieces. His ori- 
 ginal poems equal in number, though not in excellence, 
 those of his brother; for it would be absurd to expect 
 that this universal genius should shine equally in every de- 
 partment of letters. The flexible, graceful, harmonious 
 genius of Augustus William Schlegel has at different 
 periods enriched his own tongue with the noblest literary 
 treasures of ancient and modern Italy, of Portugal, Spain 
 and England; and his immortal translations, which have 
 superior merit to any original poems, but those of the 
 highest order, are admitted by competent judges to have 
 done more than the works of any writer, except Goethe, 
 for improving the rhythm and poetical diction of his 
 country. The great poetical powers which his short 
 original pieces, as well as his translations display, make it 
 a matter of regret that he should have so much confined 
 himself to translation, and never venture on the compo- 
 sition of a great poem. 
 
 Both these incomparable brothers are minds eminently 
 poetical, and eminently philosophical. In one, the 
 poetic element prevails — in the other, the philosophical 
 element, and, by a great deal, predominates. In their early 
 productions we can scarcely discriminate the features of 
 these apparently intellectual twins: but, as their genius 
 ripens to manhood, the one becomes an etherial Apollo, 
 full of grace, energy, and majesty — the other an intel- 
 lectual Hercules, of the most gigantic strength and colossal 
 stature. 
 
 It was in the Spring of 1812 that Schlegel delivered, 
 before a numerous and distinguished audience at Vienna, 
 his lectures on ancient and modern literature. Of this 
 
26 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 work, which a German critic has characterised " as a 
 great national possession of the Germans/ ' and which has 
 been translated into several European languages, and is so 
 well known to the English reader by the excellent trans- 
 lation which appeared in 1818, it is unnecessary to speak 
 at much length. Here were concentrated in one focus all 
 those radii of criticism that this powerful mind had so long 
 emitted. Here, at the bidding of a potent magician, the 
 lords of intellect — the mighty princes of literature of all 
 times — 
 
 " The dead, yet sceptred, sovereigns, who still rule 
 Our spirits from their urns — " 
 
 pass before our eyes in stately procession — each with his 
 distinct physiognomy — his native port — and all clothed 
 with a fresh immortality. Literature is considered not 
 merely in reference to art — but in relation to the influence 
 it has exerted on the destinies of mankind, and to the 
 various modifications w T hich the religion, the government, 
 the laws, the manners, and habits of different nations have 
 caused it to undergo. The first quality that must strike us 
 in this work is the admirable arrangement which has 
 formed so many and such various materials into one har- 
 monious whole. By what an easy and natural transition 
 does the author pass from the Greek to the Roman litera- 
 ture ! With what admirable skill he passes, in the age of 
 Hadrian, from the old Roman to the oriental literature, 
 and from the latter back again to the Christian literature 
 of the middle age ! How skilfully he has interwoven, in 
 this sketch of oriental letters, the notices of the ancients 
 and the researches of the moderns on the East ! The next 
 characteristic of this work is gigantic learning. To that 
 intimate familiarity with the poets, historians, orators 
 and philosophers of classical antiquity which his earlier 
 writings had displayed — to the profound knowledge of 
 Oriental, and especially Sanscrit, literature evinced in the 
 above-noticed work on India — we now see added a know- 
 ledge of the long-buried treasures of the old German and 
 
FREDERICK VON SCIILEGEL. 
 
 27 
 
 Provencal poetry of the middle age — the scholastic phi- 
 losophy — the principal modern European literatures in 
 their several periods of bloom, maturity and decay. 
 What a strong light, also, is thrown on some dark passages 
 in the history of philosophy ! Where shall we find a more 
 curious, graphic, and interesting account of the mystics of 
 the middle age, and of the German and Italian Platonists 
 of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ! Every page bears 
 the stamp of long and diligent inquiry, and original inves- 
 tigation. The minute traits — the accurate drawing — 
 the freshness and vividness of colouring — the truth and 
 life-like reality in this whole picture of literature, prove 
 that the artist drew from the original, and not a copy. 
 No better proof can be adduced of the accuracy as well 
 as extent of learning which distinguished this illustrious 
 man and his brother, than the fact that their different 
 works on classical, oriental and modern literature have 
 received the approbation of such scholars, as made those 
 several branches of knowledge the special objects of their 
 study and inquiry. Thus their labours on Greek and 
 Roman poetry met with the high sanction of a Heyne, 
 a Wolf, and other distinguished Hellenists — their works 
 on Sanscrit literature have been commended by a Guig- 
 nault — a Remusat — a Chezy, and our own academicians of 
 Calcutta ; and their critiques on Shakspeare and the early 
 English poets have been approved by the national critics, 
 and especially by one who had devoted many years to the 
 study of our elder poetry — I mean that able critic and ac- 
 complished scholar — the late Mr. Gifford. 
 
 The other and more important characteristics of this 
 work are delicacy of taste, solidity of judgment, vigour 
 and boldness of fancy, and depth and comprehensiveness of 
 understanding. Here we see united, though in a more 
 eminent degree, the acuteness, sagacity, and erudition of 
 Lessing — the high artist-like enthusiasm of Winklemann 
 — and that exquisite sense of the beautiful, that vigorous, 
 flexible and excursive fancy which made the genius of 
 Herder at home in every region of art, and in every clime 
 
28 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 of poesy. The intellectual productions of every age and 
 country — the primitive oriental world — classical antiquity 
 — the middle age — and modern times, pass under review, 
 and receive the same impartial attention — the same just 
 appreciation — the same masterly characterisation. In a 
 work so. full of beauties, it is difficult to make selections 
 — but, w T ere I called upon to point out specimens of suc- 
 cinct criticism, which, for justness and delicacy of discrim- 
 ination — a poetic soaring of conception — and depth of ob- 
 servation, are unsurpassed, perhaps, in the whole range of 
 literature, I should name the several critiques on Homer 
 — Lucretius — Dante — Calderon — and Cervantes. The 
 part least well done is that which treats of the literature 
 of the last two centuries ; but from the vast multiplicity 
 of details, it was impossible for the author, within his 
 narrow limits, to do full justice to this part of his sub- 
 ject. He has not paid due homage to several of the 
 great writers that adorned the reign of Louis XIV. 
 He drops but one word on Pascal, and passes Malle- 
 branche over in silence ; though if ever there were 
 writers deserving the notice of the historian of literature 
 and philosophy, it was surely those two eminent men. In 
 general, Schlegel was too fond of crowding his figures 
 within a narrow canvass — hence many of them could not 
 be placed in a suitable light or position ; and several of 
 his heads appear but half-sketched. This is not a mere 
 book of criticism — it is a philosophical work in the widest 
 sense of the word — the genius of the author is ever soar- 
 ing above his subject — ever springing from the lower 
 world of art, to those high and aerial regions of philoso- 
 phy still more native to his spirit. To him the beautiful 
 w r as only the symbol of the divine — hence the tone of ear- 
 nestness and solemnity which he carries even into aesthe- 
 tic dissertations. The style too, of this u History of Litera- 
 ture" leaves little to be desired. To the lightness, clear- 
 ness, and elegance of diction which had distinguished 
 Schlegel's earlier productions, was here united a greater 
 richness and copiousness of expression, and a more harmo- 
 
FREDEKICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 29 
 
 nious fulness and roundness of period. From this time, 
 however, (if an Englishman may presume to offer an 
 opinion on such a -subject,) a decline may, I think, be ob- 
 served in his style. His mind, indeed, seemed to gain 
 strength and expansion with the advance of years — the 
 horizon of his views was perpetually enlarged — and in 
 vastness of conception, and profundity of observation, his 
 last philosophical works outshine even those of his early 
 manhood. Yet to whatever cause we are to attribute the 
 fact — whether it be that his last works had not received 
 from his hands the same careful revisal — or whether some 
 men as they advance in life, become as negligent in their 
 style as in their dress — or whether he at last gave in to 
 the bad practice so prevalent in Germany, of disregarding 
 the lighter graces of diction — certain it is, that his later 
 writings, much as they may have gained in excellence of 
 matter, and presenting, as they do, passages perhaps of 
 superior power and splendour, are, on the whole, no longer 
 characterised by the same uniform terseness and perspicuity 
 of language. 
 
 With the " History of Ancient and Modern Literature/' 
 Schlegel closed his critical career. He never afterwards 
 mounted the tribunal of criticism, except on one occasion, 
 when he awarded in favour of the early poetical effusions 
 of M. de la Martine, a solemn sentence of approbation.* 
 He now devoted himself with exclusive ardour to the 
 graver concerns of politics and philosophy. Nor can we 
 regret this resolution on his part, when we reflect that as 
 far as regards literature, he had done all that was neces- 
 sary — that he had now only to leave to time to work out 
 his sesthetic principles in the German mind — and that 
 
 * In the beautiful critique inserted in the Concordia on M. de la 
 Martine's " Meditations Poetiques," (1820) Schlegel observes that 
 Lord Byron was the representative of a by-gone poesy, and La 
 Martine the herald of a new Christian poetry that was to come. 
 Comparing the three greatest contemporary poets out of his own 
 country, Scott, Byron, and La Martine, Schlegel saw in the produc- 
 tions of the first, the poetry of a vague reminiscence — in those of 
 the second, the poetry of despair ; and in those of the last, the 
 
30 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 should further elucidation on these topics be required, the 
 distinguished Tieck, and his illustrious brother were at 
 hand to furnish the requisite aid. But in metaphysics 
 and political philosophy, what German could supply his 
 place ? 
 
 In the four eventful years which elapsed from 1808 to 
 1812, occupations as new to Schlegel as they were im- 
 portant and various in themselves, filled up the active life 
 of this extraordinary man. In the Austrian campaign of 
 1809, he was employed as secretary to the Archduke 
 Charles; and it is said that his eloquent proclamations had 
 considerable effect in kindling the patriotism of the Aus- 
 trian people. It was about the same time he founded a 
 daily paper, called " the Austrian Observer," which has 
 since become the official organ of the Austrian govern- 
 ment. The establishment of this journal — the situation 
 which Schlegel had previously held at the head-quarters 
 of the Archduke Charles — the diplomatic missions in 
 which, after the peace of 1814, he was employed by 
 Prince Metternich, who, be it said to the glory of that 
 illustrious statesman, ever honoured him with his friend- 
 ship and patronage — and finally the pension, letters of no- 
 bility, and office of Aulic Councillor, which the emperor 
 was pleased to confer on him, may induce some of my 
 readers to suppose that his political views were identified 
 with those of the government in whose service he was 
 occasionally engaged ; and that he was an unqualified ad- 
 commencement of apoetry of hope.* Much as he reprobated the 
 anti-christian spirit and tendency of Lord Byron's muse, and much 
 as he rejoiced that its pernicious influence was in some degree coun- 
 teracted by the noble effusions of the French rhapsodist, he still 
 rendered full justice to the great genius of the British bard. He 
 calls him in one of his last works, " the wonderful English poet — 
 perhaps the greatest — certainly the most remarkable poet of our 
 times — an encomium which Byron's admirers may learn to ap- 
 preciate, when they remember who his contemporaries were, and 
 who the critic was, that pronounced this judgment. 
 
 * See his " History of Literature," vol. 2. New edition in Ger- 
 man. 
 
 f " Philosophic des Lerjens," p. 21. 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 31 
 
 mirer of the whole foreign and domestic policy of Aus- 
 tria. No conception can be more erroneous. As secre- 
 tary to the Archduke Charles, he knew he lent his sup- 
 port to a government which had shown itself the most 
 honest, vigilant, and powerful friend of German inde- 
 pendence — he knew he fought the battle of his country 
 against an unholy and execrable tyranny, which, what- 
 ever shape it might assume — whether that of a lawless 
 democracy or a ruthless despotism — was alike inimical to 
 Christianity — alike fatal to the peace, the happiness, and 
 the liberties of every country it subdued. In the next 
 place, it is not usual, even in the representative system, 
 still less under a government constituted like that of Aus- 
 tria, to exact a perfect conformity of political sentiments 
 between diplomatic agents and the heads of administra- 
 tion. Again the pension, title, and dignity which Schle- 
 gel received at the hands of the Emperor of Austria, 
 were the well-earned recompense of distinguished services, 
 and not the badges of servility. Lastly, with respect to 
 to the " Austrian Observer," his motive in establishing 
 that journal was purely patriotic. To enkindle the war- 
 like enthusiasm of the Austrian people — to unite the 
 weakened, divided, and distracted states of Germany in a 
 common league against a common foe — to procure for his 
 country the first of all political blessings — that without 
 which all others are valueless — national independence; - 
 such was his object in this undertaking — such the object 
 of every sincere and reflecting patriot of Germany at that 
 period. The leaning towards a stationary absolutism, 
 which has marked this journal since Schlegel gave up 
 the conduct of it, belongs to its present editors; but that 
 tone of dignified moderation, which, according to the 
 express acknowledgment of German Liberals, it carries 
 into the discussion of political matters — that aversion 
 from all extreme and violent parties and measures in 
 politics, which distinguishes this journal, betray the illus- 
 trious hand which first set it in motion. 
 Nothing, in fact, can be more dissimilar than the policy 
 
32 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 long followed by the Austrian government, and that 
 which Schlegel would have recommended, and did in 
 fact recommend. What, especially since the time of the 
 Emperor Joseph II., has characterised the general policy 
 of this government? In respect to ecclesiastical matters, 
 (though the evil was mitigated by the piety of the 
 late emperor), we still see that government, by a rest- 
 less, encroaching spirit of jealousy, hamper the jurisdic- 
 tion, and cramp the moral and intellectual energies of 
 the clergy. In relation to the people, its sway is mild 
 and paternal, indeed, but at the same time, intrusive, 
 meddling, and vexatious — it is, in short, a dead, mecha- 
 nical absolutism, where all spontaneity of popular action 
 has been destroyed — all equilibrium of powers overturned 
 — and where royalty, by an irregular attraction, has dis- 
 turbed, deranged, or compressed the movements of the 
 other social bodies. With respect to science, those best 
 acquainted with the policy of this government affirm, 
 that its patronage is too exclusively confined to the me- 
 chanical arts and the physical sciences. In short, nowhere 
 has the political materialism of the eighteenth century 
 attained a more systematic development than in the Aus- 
 trian government. Yet in that empire are to be found 
 all the elements of a great social regeneration; and to a 
 minister desirous of earning enduring fame, to a monarch 
 ambitious of living for ever in the hearts of a grateful 
 people, the noblest opportunity is presented for reviving, 
 renovating, and bringing to perfection the free, glorious, 
 but now, alas ! mutilated and half-eifaced institutions of 
 the middle age. 
 
 If such is the policy of the Austrian government in re- 
 lation to the church, to liberty, and to science, it is need- 
 less to observe how entirely opposed it was to the views 
 of Schlegel. His whole life was devoted to the cultiva- 
 tion and diffusion of elegant literature and liberal science; 
 and any policy which tended to obstruct their progress, 
 or shackle the energies of the human mind, must have 
 been most adverse to his feelings and wishes. As a sin- 
 
FBEDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 33 
 
 cere friend to religious liberty, as well as a good Catholic, 
 he must have deplored the bondage under which the 
 Church groaned ; and how ardently attached he was to 
 the cause of popular freedom, how utterly averse from 
 any thing like absolutism in politics, the reader will soon 
 have an opportunity of judging for himself. 
 
 But before I quit this subject, I cannot forbear noticing 
 the very exaggerated statements sometimes put forth by 
 party spirit in England, respecting the state of learning 
 in the Austrian empire. Without pretending to any per- 
 sonal knowledge of that country, there are, however, a 
 certain number of admitted and well attested facts, which 
 prove, that however inferior in mental cultivation Austria 
 may be to some other states of Catholic as well as Pro- 
 testant Germany, she yet holds a distinguished place in 
 literature and science. The very general diffusion of 
 popular education in that country — the great success with 
 which all the arts and sciences connected with industry 
 are cultivated — the admirable organisation of its medical 
 board — the distinguished physicians, theoretical as well as 
 practical, whom it has produced — the great attention be- 
 stowed on strategy and the sciences subservient to it — 
 the excellence to which the histrionic art has there attained 
 — the universal passion for music, and the unrivalled 
 degree of perfection the art has there reached — the 
 acknowledged superiority of the " Quarterly Review of 
 Vienna," (the " Wiener Jahrbiicher ") — lastly, the favour, 
 countenance, and encouragement extended by the Austrian 
 public to the oral lectures and published writings of the 
 eminent literary characters, whether natives or foreigners, 
 who for the last thirty years have thrown such a glory 
 over their capital — all these incontrovertible facts, I say, 
 prove this people to have reached an advanced stage of 
 intellectual refinement. So far from finding among the 
 Viennese that Boeotian dulness of which we sometimes 
 hear them accused, Augustus William Schlegel (and his 
 testimony is impartial, for he is neither a native nor resident 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 of Austria,) confesses* that he discovered in them great 
 aptness of intelligence, a keen relish for the beauties of 
 poetry, and much of the vivacity of the southern tempe- 
 rament. And the crowded audiences which flocked to 
 the philosophical lectures Frederick Schlegel delivered on 
 various occasions at Vienna, a metaphysician of equal 
 celebrity might in vain look for in another European 
 capital I could name, and which certainly considers itself 
 very enlightened. There is no doubt that this Archduchy 
 of Austria, which in the middle age produced some of 
 the most celebrated Minnesingers, would, with free insti- 
 tutions and a more generous policy on the part of the 
 government, soon attain that intellectual station, to which 
 its political greatness, and recent as well as ancient military 
 glory, alike bid it to aspire. If the statesmen that rule 
 the destinies of that country were to regard the matter 
 merely in a political point of view, they might see what 
 moral dignity, weight, and importance, the patronage of 
 letters has given to the Protestant King of Prussia on the 
 one hand, and to the Catholic King of Bavaria on the 
 other. 
 
 For several years after the peace of 1814, Schlegel 
 was one of the representatives of the Court of Vienna at 
 the diet of Frankfort. These diplomatic functions occa- 
 sioned a temporary interruption to his literary pursuits — 
 an interruption which will be regretted by those only 
 who have not reflected on the advantages of active life to 
 the man of letters. The high dignity with which he was 
 now invested — the commanding view which his station 
 gave him of European politics — the insight he was enabled 
 to obtain into the political state and relations of Germany 
 — as well as the society and conversation of some of the 
 most illustrious statesmen of the age, were all of inesti- 
 mable service to the publicist ; and by making him 
 acquainted with the excellences as well as defects of 
 
 * See the Preface to the " Lectures on Dramatic Literature,'* in 
 the French translation. 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 35 
 
 existing governments, the obstacles which retard the pro- 
 gress of improvement, the ill success which sometimes 
 attends even well-considered measures of reform, were 
 calculated to check the rashness of speculation, inspire 
 sobriety of judgment, and at the same time enlarge his 
 views of political philosophy. In the year 1818, he 
 returned to Vienna, and resumed his literary occupations 
 with renewed ardour. He wrote the following year in 
 the " Vienna Quarterly Review," (the " Wiener Jahr- 
 biicher,") a long and elaborate reviewal of M. Rhode's 
 work on Primitive History. This reviewal, which from 
 its length may fairly be called a treatise, contains a clear, 
 succinct, and masterly exposition of those views on the 
 early history of mankind, which he has on some points 
 more fully developed in the work, of which a translation 
 is now given. This article, which alternately delights and 
 astonishes us by the historical learning, the philological 
 skill, the curious geographical lore, and the bold, profound 
 and original philosophy it displays, may be considered 
 one of the most admirable commentaries ever written on 
 the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis; and in 
 none of his shorter essays has the genius of the illustrious 
 writer shone more pre-eminently than in this.* 
 
 The year 1820 was marked by the simultaneous out- 
 break of several revolutions in different countries of 
 Europe, and by symptoms of general discontent, distrust, 
 and agitation in other parts. The violent, though tran- 
 sitory, volcanic irruptions which convulsed and desolated 
 the south of Europe, scattered sparkles and ashes on the 
 already burning soil of France, and shook on her rocky 
 bed even the ocean-queen. In Germany, the wild revo- 
 lutionary enthusiasm which pervaded a large portion of 
 the youth — the frenzied joy with which the assassination 
 of Kotzebue had been hailed — the wide spread of associa- 
 tions^ fatal to the peace and freedom of mankind, and the 
 pernicious anti-social doctrines proclaimed in many 
 writings, and even from some professorial chairs, led the 
 * See " Sammtliche Werke," vol. x. p. 267. 
 
 D2 
 
36 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 different governments to measures of severe scrutiny and 
 jealous vigilance, likely by a re-action to prove dangerous 
 to the cause of liberty. The causes of these various social 
 phenomena it is not my business here to point out; but 
 I may observe in passing, that these discontents — these 
 struggles — these revolutions, had their origin partly in 
 natural causes, partly in the errors both of governments 
 and nations. The general disjointing of all interests — 
 — the derangement in the concerns of all classes of society 
 produced by the transition from a state of long protracted 
 warfare to a state of general peace — the blunders com- 
 mitted by the Congress of Vienna in the settlement of 
 Europe — the blind recurrence in some European states to 
 the thoroughly worn-out absolutism of the eighteenth 
 century, injurious as that political system had proved to 
 religion, to social order, and to national prosperity — in 
 other countries, a rash imitation of the mere outward forms 
 of the British constitution, without any true knowledge 
 of its internal organism — above all, the deadly legacy of 
 anti-Christian doctrines and anti-social principles, which 
 the last age had bequeathed to the present — such, inde- 
 pendently of minor and more local reasons, are the 
 principal causes to which I think the impartial voice of 
 history will ascribe the political commotions of that 
 period. It was now evident that the great work of 
 European restoration had been but half-accomplished; 
 and that the malignant Typhon of revolution was 
 collecting his scattered members, recruiting his exhausted 
 energies, and preparing anew to assault, oppress, and 
 desolate the world. 
 
 Alarmed at the political aspect of Germany and Europe, 
 Schlegel deemed the moment had arrived, when every 
 friend of religion and social order should be found at his 
 post. The importance of the struggle — the violence of 
 parties — the false line of policy adopted by some govern- 
 ments — the errors and delusions too prevalent even among 
 many of the defenders of legitimacy, rendered the 
 warning voice of an enlightened mediator more necessary 
 than ever. In conjunction with his illustrious friend, 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 37 
 
 Adam Muller, and some of the Redemptorists — a most able, 
 amiable, and exemplar)'- body of ecclesiastics at Vienna 
 — lie established, in 1820, a religious and political journal, 
 entitled " Concordia." In a series of articles, entitled 
 Characteristics of the Age, and which contain a most 
 masterly sketch of the political state and prospects of the 
 principal European countries, Schlegel has given a fuller 
 exposition of his political principles, than in any other of 
 his writings which have come under my notice. The 
 extreme interest and importance of the matters discussed 
 in these articles, and still more, the light they throw on 
 very many passages in the following translation, have 
 induced me to lay before the reader a rapid analysis of 
 such parts as embody the author's political system. I 
 shall therefore now proceed to this task, premising that 
 in this analysis I shall occasionally interweave a remark of 
 my own, to illustrate the author's views : — 
 
 There are five essential and eternal corporations in 
 human society — the family — the church — the state — the 
 guild — and the school. 
 
 I. The family is the smallest and simplest corporation 
 — the ground- work of all the others; — and on its right 
 constitution and moral development depend, as we shall 
 presently see, the freedom, prosperity, and enlightenment 
 of the state, the guild, and the school. 
 
 II. With respect to the church, its constitution under 
 the primitive revelation was purely domestic; religious 
 instruction and the solemnisation of religious offices, being 
 intrusted to the heads of families and tribes. In the 
 Mosaic law, the Almighty founded a public ministry in 
 the synagogue, which was an admirable type of the future 
 constitution of the Christian church. Unlike the local 
 and temporary synagogue, the Christian church is per- 
 petual and universal — but like the synagogue, it hath a 
 public ministry. " This church," to use Schlegel's own 
 words, 44 is that great and divine corporation which 
 embraces all other social relations, protects them under 
 its vaults crowns them with dignity, and lovingly imparts 
 
38 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 to them the power of a peculiar consecration. The 
 church is not a mere substitute formed to supply or repair 
 the deficiencies of the other social institutes and corpora- 
 tions; but is it self a free, peculiar, independent corporation, 
 pervading all states, and in its object exalted far above 
 them — an union and society with God, from whom it 
 immediately derives its sustaining power."* 
 
 III. Between these two corporations — the family, that 
 deep, solid foundation of the social edifice below — and 
 the church, that high, expansive and illumined vault 
 above — stands the state. Schlegel defines the state, " a 
 corporation armed for the maintenance of peace." Its 
 existence says he, is bound up with all the other corpora- 
 tions ; it lives and moves in them ; they are its natural 
 organs; and as soon as the state, whether with despotic 
 or anarchical views, attempts to impede the natural func- 
 tions of these organs, to disturb or derange their peculiar 
 sphere of action, it impairs its own vital powers, and 
 prepares the way sooner or later for its own destruction." 
 
 IV. There are two intermediate corporations — the 
 guild, which stands between the family and the state: 
 and the school, which stands between the church and the 
 state. By the guild, Schlegel understands " every species 
 of traffic, industry, and commerce, bound together in 
 every part of the world by the common tie of money." 
 The object of this corporation is the advancement of the 
 material interests of the family ; interests which it is the 
 bounden duty of the state to protect and promote. 
 
 V. By the school, the author signifies " the whole 
 intellectual culture of mankind — not merely the existing 
 republic of letters, but all the tradition of science from 
 the remotest ages to the present times." This corporation, 
 I should say, has for its object the glorification of the 
 church, the utility of the state, and the intellectual activity 
 of the family, or rather its individual members. 
 
 But among these primary corporations, it is the state 
 which forms the immediate object of the author's inquiries. 
 * * Concordia," page 59. 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 39 
 
 I shall now proceed to lay before the reader the several 
 characteristics which, according to the author, distinguish 
 the Christian state, or the state animated with the spirit of 
 Christianity. 
 
 §§ I. The Christian state is without slaves, and honours 
 the sanctity of the nuptial tie. 
 
 Christianity first mitigated, and then abolished slavery. 
 Slavery is incompatible with the spirit of Christianity, 
 not only on account of the mal- treatment, injuries, and 
 oppression to which it subjects men; not only on account 
 of the dangers to which it exposes female virtue; but 
 chiefly and especially, because the state of slavery is one 
 inconsistent with the dignity of a being made after the 
 likeness of God. This complete emancipation of the 
 lower classes from the bonds of servitude pre-eminently 
 distinguishes the modern Christian states from those of 
 classical antiquity on the one hand, and those of the 
 primitive Oriental world on the other. In the former, 
 domestic and predial slavery were carried to the last 
 degree of harshness and severity — in the latter, especially 
 in India, a totally different form of servitude existed. 
 There the innocent descendants of those who had been 
 guilty of certain crimes, or who had contracted unlawful 
 marriages, were doomed to a state of irremediable oppres- 
 sion, debarred from all civil rights, and excluded from the 
 very charities of life. The fate of these hapless beings 
 was even harder than that of the slaves among the 
 ancient Greeks and Romans. As the exclusion of a 
 whole class from the rights of citizenship and the offices 
 of religion is incompatible with the principles of Christian 
 love; so the hereditary transmission of the sacerdotal 
 dignity is inconsistent with the Christian doctrine, which 
 inculcates the necessity of a divine call to the priesthood. 
 Hence the incompatibility which exists between the system 
 of castes and the Christian religion. 
 
 The author shows that the various species of vassalage 
 are clearly distinguishable from slavery ; yet that even 
 
iO 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 these have yielded to the benign spirit of Christianity. 
 The existence of slavery in the Christian colonies nowise 
 militates against the principle here laid down ; for the 
 slave-trade has ever been condemned by all Christian na- 
 tions as wicked and unjust ; and slavery, the introduction 
 of which into the colonies the church had so strenuously 
 opposed, was afterwards tolerated by her only as a neces- 
 sary evil. For, as Schlegel observes with his character- 
 istic wisdom, " the sudden abolition of an evil that has 
 become an inveterate habit in society, is mostly attended 
 with danger, and frequently works another wrong of an 
 opposite kind."* But this is one of those truths, which 
 the giddy, reckless spirit of a spurious philanthropy can 
 never be made to comprehend. 
 
 As the Christian state abhors slavery from its incon- 
 sistency with the dignity of man, so, for the same reason, 
 it guards with jealous vigilance the sanctity and invio- 
 lability of the nuptial tie. Polygamy degrades woman 
 from her natural rank in society — destroys the happiness 
 of private life — poisons the very well-springs of education 
 — and connected as it too frequently is with a traffic in 
 slaves, plunges the male sex into irremediable degra- 
 dation.f This practice is supposed to have originated 
 with the Cainites in the ante-diluvian world ; but for 
 high and prudential reasons, it was tolerated rather than 
 approved under the patriarchal dispensation and the 
 Mosaic law. In the ancient Asiatic monarchies, especially 
 in the period of their decline, this usage sometimes pre- 
 vailed to a licentious extent ; but in the modern Maho- 
 metan states, where polygamy is indulged in to the most 
 libidinous excess, this defective constitution of the family 
 has proved one of the greatest barriers to political and 
 intellectual improvement. 
 
 In ancient Greece and Rome, how far superior was the 
 legislation on marriage ! How much more healthful and 
 vigorous was the constitution of domestic society ! What 
 
 * " Concordia," page 363. 
 
 f See " Concordia." 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 41 
 
 a fine idea do we conceive of the early Romans, when 
 we read that though the law sanctioned divorce, yet that 
 for the first five hundred years, no individual took ad- 
 vantage of such a law ! In the corrupt ages of Imperial 
 Rome, divorce, permitted and practised on the most fri- 
 volous' pretexts, was productive of more baneful conse- 
 quences than polygamy in its worst form. 
 
 Polygamy is proscribed in all Christian states. In the 
 Catholic church, marriage is raised to the dignity of a 
 sacrament ; and divorce is not permitted, even in the case 
 of adultery. Hereby woman is invested with the high- 
 est degree of dignity, and even influence — the union and 
 happiness of the family are best secured — and the peace 
 and stability of the state itself acquire the strongest gua- 
 rantees. It is well known that some of the ablest divines 
 of the Church of England also uphold in all cases the 
 indissolubility of the nuptial tie ; and the British legis- 
 lature, by according divorce only after adultery, and by 
 rendering the obtaining of it a matter of difficulty and 
 expense, has widely opposed limitations to the practice. 
 Yet, as was truly observed some years ago in parliament, 
 the increase in the number of applications for divorce, 
 is one among the many signs of the decline of morality 
 in this country. 
 
 The principal Protestant churches regard marriage as a 
 religious ceremony ; and so the general proposition of 
 Schlegel is correct, that all Christian states recognise the 
 sanctity of the nuptial bond. And here is one of the 
 main causes of the superior happiness, freedom, and civi- 
 lisation enjoyed by Christian nations. 
 
 §§ II. Christian justice is founded on a system of equity, 
 and the Christian state has from its constitution, an es- 
 sentially -pacific tendency. 
 
 Schlegel observes that the difference between strict 
 law and equitable law is the most arduous problem in all 
 jurisprudence. Strict law is an abstract law, deduced 
 from certain general principles, applied without the least 
 
42 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OP 
 
 regard to adventitious circumstances. Equity, on the 
 other hand, pays due regard to such circumstances, 
 examines into the peculiar state of things, and the mu- 
 tual relations of parties ; and forms her decisions not ac- 
 cording to the caprice of fancy, or the waywardness of 
 feeling, but according to the general principles of right, 
 applied to the variable circumstances and situations of 
 parties. 
 
 According to the author's definition, the object of the 
 institution of the state is the maintenance of internal and 
 external peace. Justice is the only basis of peace ; but 
 justice is here the means, and not the end. If justice were 
 the end for which the state was constituted, then neither 
 external nor internal peace could ever be procured or 
 maintained; for the state would then be compelled to 
 wage eternal war against all who, at home or abroad, were 
 guilty of injustice, and could never lay down its arms 
 till that injustice were removed. 
 
 As peace is essentially the end of that great corporation 
 called the state, it follows that the justice by which its 
 foreign and domestic policy must be regulated, is not 
 that strict or absolute justice spoken of above, but that 
 temperate or conciliatory equity, which is alone appli- 
 cable to the concerns of men. The maxim, " a thousand 
 years' wrong cannot constitute an hour's right," if ap- 
 plied to civil jurisprudence, would introduce interminable 
 confusion, hardship, and misery in the affairs of private 
 life, and if applied to constitutional and international law, 
 would lead to perpetual anarchy at home, and to endless, 
 exterminating war abroad. 
 
 The Christian religion, as it comes from God, is emi- 
 nently social — hence it abhors the principle of absolute 
 or inexorable right, whether applied to civil or public 
 law — hence the Christian state, or the state animated with 
 the spirit of Christianity, is in its tendency essentially 
 pacific. 
 
 This pacific policy of the state, however, so far from 
 excluding, necessarily implies the firm, uncompromising 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 43 
 
 vindication of its rights and interests, "whether at home 
 or abroad ; and the repression of evil doers within, or a 
 just war without, is often the only means of attaining the 
 object for which the state was constituted — to wit, the 
 maintenance of peace. On the other hand the revolu- 
 tionary state, or the state where, in opposition to existing 
 rights and interests, new rights and interests are violently 
 enforced ; and where, in subversion of all established in- 
 stitutions, new institutions, conceived according to ab- 
 stract and arbitrary theories, are violently introduced ; 
 the revolutionary state, I say, is, from its nature and 
 origin — no matter what form it may assume — necessarily 
 driven to a course of iniquitous policy — to disorga- 
 nising tyranny within, and to fierce relentless hostility 
 without. 
 
 Against the pacific character of the Christian state, the 
 bloody wars of Charlemagne with the Saxons, the Cru- 
 sades of a later period, and the religious wars of the 
 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are commonly ob- 
 jected. In the course of the work, to which this memoir 
 is prefixed, the reader will find these several objections 
 victoriously answered. 
 
 §§ III. The Christian state recognises the legal existence 
 of Corporations, and depends on their organic co-opera' 
 tion. 
 
 The author has before shown that the Christian reli- 
 gion, following the principle of conciliatory equity, recog- 
 nises, without reference to their origin, all existing rights 
 and interests. Hence the Christian religion can co-exist, 
 and has in fact co-existed, with every form or species of 
 government. But there are some governments which, 
 from their spirit and constitution, are more congenial 
 than others to Christianity ; and it is in this sense we 
 speak of the Christian state. 
 
 We have already seen that there are five essential and 
 eternal corporations— the family — the church — the state 
 — the guild — and the school. These great corporations 
 
44 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 have each their several and subordinate institutions 
 or corporations, which are accidental and transitory by 
 nature, and consequently vary with time, place, and cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 The Christian state is that which best secures and pre- 
 serves to those essential corporations, and all their subor- 
 dinate institutions, their due sphere of action. Hence 
 our author shows that, under certain circumstances, and 
 in certain countries, the republic, whether democratic 
 or aristocratic, may answer that end as well or even better 
 than monarchy ; and that it is only because, in great 
 empires, monarchy is best calculated to maintain the free 
 development and organic co-operation of corporations, 
 that it may be called, par excellence, the Christian state. 
 But what form of monarchy is best adapted for this end? 
 The absolute monarchy* is certainly the least : there then 
 remain only the representative system, and the constitu- 
 tion of the three estates, or, as the Germans call that 
 mode of government, Stande-verfassung. Schlegel pro- 
 ceeds to examine the respective characteristics of those 
 two forms of government, and to show the points in 
 which they agree, and in which they differ. The con- 
 stitution of estates is the old, legitimate constitution of 
 European states, whether republican or monarchical ; but 
 in too many countries, this noble institution has been un- 
 dermined by despotism, or destroyed by revolution. On 
 the other hand, the representative system is comparatively 
 modern, and, on the continent, has, amid the great con- 
 vulsions produced by the French revolution, sprung out 
 of a defective and superficial imitation of the British 
 constitution. It is therefore to the latter constitution the 
 author, when he has occasion to treat of the representative 
 system, principally directs the attention of his readers. 
 
 As to the points of resemblance between this system, 
 
 * In a number of the " Concordia" for 1820, Adam Miiller frankly 
 declared his opinion, that all the friends of social order would soon 
 concur in the necessity of re-establishing the constitution of the three 
 estates. This is language which at Vienna is as bold as it is auspicious. 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 45 
 
 and the states-constitution, both have legislative assem- 
 blies — in both, petitions and remonstrances are addressed 
 to the throne, and in both, the grant of subsidies rests 
 chiefly with the commons; while to the enactment of every 
 law, the concurrence of the different branches of the legis- 
 lature is essentially requisite. But, in many important 
 points, these two forms of government totally differ. In 
 the states-constitution, the crown is invested with more 
 power and dignity. With more dignity, because to the 
 crown landed estates are annexed ; and the sovereign, 
 instead of being a pensioner on the bounty of his parlia- 
 ments, is the first independent proprietor: — with more 
 power, because in the representative system, the king, 
 with the single exception of choosing an administration, 
 can perform no act without the sanction of his ministers. 
 Thus, in this political system, according to the author's 
 remark, the substantial power of royalty is vested in 
 the hands of the ministry. 
 
 The next point of difference is that the representative 
 system, particularly in England, rests too exclusively on 
 the material basis of property; and that intelligence is 
 there deprived of an adequate share in the national repre- 
 sentation.* In the states-constitution, where the clerical 
 and scientific classes form a separate estate, or distinct 
 branch of the legislature, intelligence is invested with all 
 the dignity and glory which human society can confer. 
 The clergy, who are the representatives of revealed faith, 
 or the fixed and immutable part of intelligence, corre- 
 spond to the aristocracy, or the representatives of fixed 
 property — while the scientific class, representing science, 
 or the variable or progressive part of intelligence, cor- 
 responds to the Commons, the representatives of moveable 
 property. Hence, Francis Baader has ingeniously called 
 
 * Those political changes which since Schlegel's death have oc- 
 curred in the British constitution, while they have deprived property 
 of much of its legitimate influence, have caused intelligence to be 
 even less represented than heretofore in the legislature. 
 
46 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 the clergy the Upper House of intelligence, and the 
 scientific class the Lower House.* 
 
 The last point of difference is that, while in many of 
 the modern representative systems, municipal corpora- 
 tions are despised and rejected, they form the very key- 
 stone of the states-constitution. The revolutionists, who 
 have had so prominent a share in the formation of these 
 representative governments, know full well that muni- 
 cipal corporations form the best security of the rights of 
 the family — the firmest ramparts of popular freedom. 
 They are thus objects of peculiar hatred to men who, so 
 far from wishing the commonalty to obtain stability or 
 cohesion in their constitution, are desirous they should 
 ever remain a loose, shifting mass of disunited atoms, 
 ready to receive any form or impress which despotism 
 may impose. Hence the war which, at different times 
 and in different countries, regal or democratic tyranny 
 has waged against these admirable institutions. In the 
 English constitution, on the other hand, which has pre- 
 served so many elements of the old Christian monarchy, 
 the free, municipal institutions have been carefully main- 
 tained. "The true internal strength and greatness of 
 England (says Schlegel), consists, as is now almost uni- 
 versally admitted by profound political observers, far 
 more in the vigour and freedom of municipal corpora- 
 tions, better preserved in that country than elsewhere, 
 than in her admired political constitution itself'f De- 
 fective in many parts that constitution appeared to the 
 author, yet on the whole, he highly valued the vigo- 
 rously constituted, but temperate and mitigated aris- 
 tocracy of 1688. He knew that the remnants of the old 
 Christian constitution were better there than in any of 
 the great continental monarchies :$ that the British go- 
 
 * " Philosophische Schriften," vol. ii. f See Concordia/' p. 66. 
 
 f According to the just remark of Burke, the states-constitution 
 was, in latter ages, better preserved in the republics than in the 
 monarchies of Europe. — See his " Letters on a Regicide Peace." 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 47 
 
 vernment possessed elements of stability as well as of 
 freedom, to which those monarchies, in their existing 
 degeneracy, could in vain pretend; and that the very 
 peculiarities in the British constitution, to which he most 
 strongly objected, had their origin in local circumstances, 
 deep-rooted wants, and remote historical events. That 
 extreme jealousy of regal power which that constitution 
 betrays — that undue preponderance of property over in- 
 telligence — that political preponderance of the aristo- 
 cracy, which, though rendered necessary by the exces- 
 sive depression of royalty and of the clergy, was certainly 
 calculated to impede the organic development of the 
 democracy, and thereby to expose the body politic to 
 dangerous revulsions — in fine, that fierce collision of 
 parties, which that constitution nurses and encourages — 
 all reveal the fearful struggles by which it came into life. 
 The imitation of this constitution which, by bringing 
 back to the European nations the reminiscence of their 
 ancient freedom, has naturally excited their enthusiastic 
 admiration — the imitation of that constitution, I say, 
 difficult at all times, has been rendered in some countries 
 utterly impracticable by the studious rejection of two of 
 the great hinges on which, for a hundred and fifty years, 
 it has turned — I mean the predominance of the aristo- 
 cracy on the one hand, and the free, municipal organisa- 
 tion of the commonalty on the other. In many of the 
 German states, as the author observes, the representative 
 system works well ; because the legislators have had the 
 wisdom to connect the new with anterior institutions. 
 
 On the whole, what has been said of the Gothic archi- 
 tecture, may be applied to the old Christian monarchy 
 — it was never brought to perfection. That lofty ideal 
 of government, which Christianity had traced to the 
 nations of the middle age — that admirable constitution, 
 which was a partial reflection of the constitution of the 
 church itself, and wherein were blended and united the 
 principles of love and intelligence, stability and activity 
 — in other words, where a paternal royalty, an enlight- 
 
48 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 ened priesthood, a mild aristocracy, a loyal, yet free- 
 spirited, commonalty controlled, aided, balanced, and 
 defended each other — that lofty ideal has never been — » 
 probably never will be — fully realised. Yet there are 
 many reasons to suppose that a momentous, and not very 
 distant, futurity will be charged with realising, as far as 
 human infirmity will permit, this ideal conception of the 
 Christian state. 
 
 Such is an outline of the principal features in Schlegel's 
 system — a system which I have endeavoured, as far as 
 my feeble powers permitted, to explain, illustrate, and 
 enforce. 
 
 But while in the east of Germany, this great luminary 
 and his satellite were shedding their mild radiance of 
 political wisdom, a star of the first magnitude rose above 
 the western horizon of Germany, and filled the surround- 
 ing heaven with the splendour of its light. The illus- 
 trious Goerres, already celebrated for his profound re- 
 searches in archaeology, and many admirable political 
 writings, published in 1819 his work, entitled u Germany 
 and the Revolution," which produced so extraordinary a 
 sensation, and was at this time so ably translated by Mr. 
 Black. This work was followed in 1821 by that writer's 
 still more wonderful production, entitled " Europe and 
 the Revolution," a production which in the soundness of 
 its doctrines — the generosity of its sentiments — the depth 
 and comprehensiveness of its views — and the copiousness, 
 and variety of historical illustration brought forward in 
 their support — surpasses perhaps all the mighty works in 
 defence of social order and liberty which the momentous 
 events of the last fifty years have called forth in different 
 parts of Europe. With a few slight shades of difference, 
 the political views of Goerres mainly accord with those 
 of Schlegel ; but, living under the government of Ba- 
 varia, the former is able boldly to proclaim truths which 
 the latter at Vienna was able only to hint. Goerres 
 unites the strong, practical sense of Gentz — the masterly 
 learning and profound and comprehensive understanding 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 49 
 
 of F. Schlegel — to great boldness of character, and a 
 style of peculiar force and condensation. While the po- 
 litical glance of Schlegel was mostly directed towards the 
 past — that of Gentz to the present hour — the eye of 
 Goerres is turned more particularly to the future. Had 
 the counsels of this illustrious man been more generally 
 followed, the perilous crisis, in which for the last five 
 years Germany has been involved, would have been 
 happily averted, or at least better provided against. Him- 
 self and Schlegel may be considered as the supreme 
 oracles of that illustrious school of liberal conservatives, 
 founded by our great Burke, and which numbers besides 
 the eminent Germans, whose names have already been 
 mentioned, a Baron de Haller in Switzerland — a Vis- 
 count de Bonald in France* — a Count Henri de Merode 
 in Belgium — and a Count Maistre in Piedmont: men 
 whose writings contain, in a greater or less degree, the 
 seeds of the future political regeneration of Europe. 
 
 While engaged in the editorship of the " Concordia," 
 Schlegel gave a new edition of his works, with consider- 
 able improvements and augmentations. Actively as his 
 time had been employed, a long period had now elapsed 
 since he had given any great production to the world ; 
 and he was now preparing those immortal works, which 
 were to shed so bright an effulgence round the close of his 
 life. In the rapid review which has been here taken of his 
 critical, philological, and historical writings, nothing has 
 been said of his philosophical pursuits ; and yet philo- 
 sophy was his darling study — philosophy, which the 
 ancients called " the science of divine and human things," 
 was alone capable of filling the vast capacity of Schlegel's 
 
 * Among these great conservatives, M. de Bonald is the only one 
 who can be regarded as favourable to absolutism. As long as this 
 great writer deals in general propositions, he seldom errs ; but when 
 he comes to apply his principles to practice, then the political pre- 
 judices in which he was bred, and which a too limited course of 
 reading has failed to correct, lead him sometimes into exaggerations 
 and errors. On the whole, he is as inferior to Burke as a publicist, 
 as he is superior to him as a metaphysician* 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 mind. At the age of nineteen, he had already read all 
 the works of Plato in their original tongue ; and six-and- 
 thirty years afterwards, he expressed a vivid recollection 
 of the delight and enthusiasm which the perusal had ex- 
 cited in his youthful mind. In 1800, he commenced his 
 philosophical career at the University of Jena, before an 
 admiring audience ; we have already seen him at Paris, 
 amid his philological labours, devoting a portion of his 
 time to the cultivation of philosophy ; and, amid all the 
 struggles and occupations of his subsequent life, he would 
 ever and anon snatch some moment to pay his homage 
 to this celestial maid — this mistress of his heart — this 
 object of his earliest enthusiasm and latest worship. 
 
 A very distinguished friend and disciple of Schlegel's, 
 the Baron d'Eckstein, asserts that, towards the close of 
 the last century, a confederacy was formed among some 
 men of the most superior minds, for the regeneration of 
 natural science — for the revival of the lofty physics ot 
 remote antiquity, when nature was regarded only as the 
 splendid and almost transparent veil of the spiritual world. 
 The members of this intellectual association were Schel- 
 ling, the two Schlegels, the poet Tieck, Novalis, and the 
 celebrated geographer, Hitter. This confederacy was 
 dissolved, when the pantheistical tendency of Spel- 
 ling's philosophy became more apparent ; and Frederick 
 Schlegel, in particular, became afterwards the most stre- 
 nuous and formidable opponent of a philosophic sys- 
 tem which appeared to him, and rightly enough, only a 
 more subtle and refined Spinosism. On the true nature 
 of this philosophy, however, opinion was much divided; 
 many religious men among the Protestants ranged them- 
 selves under its banners ; even some of the orthodox en- 
 tered into terms of accommodation with it ; and the 
 great Catholic theologian, Zimmer, thought that, by means 
 of this system, he could obtain a clearer conception of 
 the great Christian mystery of the Trinity. Enormous 
 as may be the errors contained in this philosophy, yet, 
 as few philosophic systems are entirely erroneous, the 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 51 
 
 philosophy of Schelling, which appears to have under- 
 gone a purification in its course, has been attended with 
 some beneficial results. It has led to a more profound 
 and spiritual knowledge of nature — it has been, to many, 
 a point of transition from the materialism and rationalism 
 of the eighteenth century to the Christian religion — and, 
 indeed, this effect it has had on the illustrious founder 
 himself, who has for some years returned to the bosom 
 of Christianity, and who probably will be remembered 
 by posterity more for his recent labours as a profound 
 Christian naturalist, than for the pantheistic reveries of 
 his youth.* 
 
 Schlegel's earlier philosophical, as well as historical, works 
 are no longer to be met with, and have not yet been re- 
 published. In the " Corcordia," for 1820, we find an out- 
 line of those lectures on the Philosophy of Life, which the 
 author delivered at Vienna, in the year 1827. This work 
 immediately preceeded the one to which this memoir is 
 prefixed; and, as it embodies those general philosophical 
 principles, of which in the latter an application is made 
 
 * This view of the matter is confirmed by the high authority of 
 the great Catholic philosopher — Molitor. Speaking of Schelling and 
 his disciples, he says (in the words of his recent French translator) : 
 * Quoique leurs premiers ouvrages ne respirent pas encore entitrement 
 Tespritpur et veritable, mais soient entaches plus ou moins de pan- 
 th£isme ou de naturalisme, comme cela etoit presque necessaire & 
 une 6poque encore si profondement enfoncee dans l'incr^dulite* et 
 Torgueil, cependant leurs principes ont eveiHe - l'esprit religieux, et 
 donne une base plus profonde aux verites de cet ordre. C'est dans 
 ce sens qu'on a retravaille toutes les sciences, et l'on pent dire que 
 ces hommes ont plus contribue* h conduire vers la religion, que cette 
 multitude de compendiums dogmatiques du siecle dernier." He then 
 adds : " On peut se faire une idee de la direction religieuse de la 
 physique par les ecrits de StefFens, Schubert, Pfaff, et Baader. Cet 
 esprit conduira encore a de plus grands resultats ; et bientot de 
 nouvelles decouvertes faites au ciel etoile, sur la terre et dans son 
 int£rieur, aussi bien que dans l'organisme, affermiront et mettront 
 dans une nouvelle lumiere ces hautes Veritas connues des anciens, 
 mais que le sens stupide des modernes rejetait comme des songes et 
 des superstitions." pp. 165-6, " Philosophie de la Tradition, tra- 
 duite de PAllemand." Paris. 1834. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 to history, a rapid analysis of its doctrines, particularly in 
 the psychological and ontological parts, will be useful, nay, 
 almost necessary, to the elucidation of many passages in the 
 following translation. But how can I attempt the analysis 
 of a work where the arrangement of a formal, didactic 
 discussion is studiously avoided — where the author pours 
 forth his thoughts with all the freedom of conversation — 
 high, spiritual conversation — where such is the exuberant 
 fulness of his ideas, such the shadowy subtilty of his per- 
 ceptions, that even the German language, copious and 
 philosophical as it is, seems at times inadequate to their 
 expression. Long as Germany had been habituated to 
 the genius of Schlegel, she herself seems to have been 
 startled by the appearance of a work where the boldest, 
 the most unlooked for, the sublimest vistas of philosophy 
 were opened to her astonished view. 
 
 Bespeaking then the indulgence of the reader, I will 
 now proceed to lay before him an outline of some of the 
 principal ideas on psychology and ontology, contained in 
 the Philosophy of Life. 
 
 The consciousness of man is composed of mind, soul, and 
 body. The soul is the centre of consciousness. The 
 consciousness of man maybe best understood by comparing 
 it with that of other created beings. The existence of brutes 
 is extremely simple — they have only a body — they have 
 no mind — they have, properly speaking, no soul — at least, 
 their soul is completely mingled with their corporeal frame ; 
 so that on the destruction of the latter, it reverts to the 
 elements, or is absorbed in the general vital energy of 
 nature (Natur-seele). In the scale of existence superior to 
 man, the angelic spirits are represented in Holy Writ, and 
 in the traditions of all nations, as pure, intellectual beings, 
 devoid of a gross corporeal frame. But have they no body 
 whatsoever? Schlegel ascribes to them what he calls in 
 his beautiful language, " an etherial body of light." This 
 opinion, it must be confessed, has comparatively few sup- 
 porters in the modern schools of theology, whether in the 
 Catholic or Protestant churches; but it was maintained 
 
FKEDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 53 
 
 by many of the ancient fathers, and, in modern times, 
 it has met with the high sanction of the great Leibnitz. 
 Schlegel assigns no reason for his opinion; but I have 
 means of knowing that another great Christian philosopher 
 of the age has, in his unpublished system of metaphysics, 
 adduced very cogent arguments in support of this theory. 
 With the exception of this subtle, etherial, luminous body, 
 the celestial spirits, according to the author, are nothing 
 but intelligence or mind. They have, strictly speaking, 
 no soul; for the distinctive faculties of the soul (as will 
 be presently shown) are reason and imagination; and 
 these faculties cannot be ascribed to beings in whom an 
 intuitive understanding needs not the slow deductions, 
 and analytic process of reason; nor wants a medium of 
 communication with the world of sense, like imagination. 
 Hence the lines of the great German poet fully represent 
 the difference, as well as the resemblance, in the intellectual 
 action of man and the angelic spirits : 
 
 " Science, O man, thou shar'st with higher spirits ; 
 But Art thou hast alone.'* 
 
 Hence the nature of brutes is simple — that of angels two- 
 fold — that of men three-fold. 
 
 The third part of human consciousness, the body — its 
 organic laws, powers, and properties, the philosopher 
 must leave to the naturalist. It is only when it has refer- 
 ence to the higher parts of consciousness that its proper- 
 ties can be made the matter of his investigation. The 
 soul and the mind form the fit and peculiar subject of his 
 inquiries. To the mind belong the faculties of will and 
 understanding — to the soul, those of reason and imagina- 
 tion. Schlegel observes it is remarkable that the three 
 different species of mental alienation correspond to the 
 three parts of human consciousness. Thus monomania 
 springs from some error deeply rooted in the mind — frenzy 
 is the disorder of a soul that has broken loose from all the 
 restraints of reason; and idiotcy arises from some organic 
 
54 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 defect in the brain. The last is the effect of physical, the 
 two former the consequence of moral, and frequently 
 accidental, causes. The author lays it down as a general 
 principle^ subject, however, to many modifications and 
 exceptions, that in man mind or thought predominates — 
 in woman soul or feeling prevails. Hence in marriage, 
 which is a sacred union of souls, the deficiencies in the 
 psychology of either sex are happily and mutually sup- 
 plied. On this subject, Schlegel has some of the most 
 touching and beautiful reflections, which a loving heart 
 and a noble fancy have ever inspired. 
 
 Imagination (Einbildungs-kraft) is the inventive faculty 
 — Reason (Vernunft) the regulative — Understanding (Ver- 
 stand) the penetrative, or in a higher degree the intuitive 
 — and the Will (Wille) the moral, faculty. To these 
 primary faculties, or, as the author styles them, these main 
 boughs of human consciousness, four secondary faculties 
 are subservient — the memory — the conscience — the pas- 
 sions or natural impulses, and the outward senses. The 
 memory is the intermediate faculty between the under- 
 standing and the reason — the conscience the intermediate 
 faculty between the reason and the will — the passions 
 or natural impulses the intermediate faculty between 
 the will and the imagination — and the outward senses 
 form the connecting link between imagination and the 
 body. 
 
 Reason is the regulative faculty implanted in the soul. 
 In real life, it corresponds to what we commonly call 
 judgment, and is that faculty by which the transactions 
 of men are regulated, and the resolutions of the will are 
 brought to maturity, whether in sacred or secular concerns. 
 In science, reason is the dialectical or analytic faculty, 
 by which the discoveries of imagination and the percep- 
 tions of the understanding receive a definite form — the 
 faculty of analysis, arrangement, and combination. Reason 
 in itself is not inventive — it makes no discoveries — it is 
 rather a negative than a positive faculty — but it is the 
 
FREDERICK YON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 55 
 
 indispensable arbitress, to whose decision understanding 
 and imagination must submit their various productions. 
 
 Imagination, on the other hand, is the inventive faculty 
 in art, poetry, and even science. No great discovery, says 
 the author, can be made even in the mathematics, with- 
 out imagination. This assertion may strike us as strange ; 
 but we must remember that Leibnitz declared he was led 
 to his great methematical discoveries by the aid of meta- 
 physics ; and that imagination necessarily enters into the 
 composition of a great metaphysical genius, few will be 
 disposed. to question. Here, however, if I may be allowed 
 to offer an opinion, Schlegel does not appear to me to have 
 traced, with sufficient distinctness, the boundaries between 
 imagination and understanding. 
 
 Understanding is the faculty of apprehension — it pene- 
 trates into the inward essence of things, and discerns the 
 manifestations of the divine or human mind in their 
 several revelations and communications. — Thus the natur- 
 alist, whose eye searches into the inward life of nature — 
 the statesman, who can fathom the most deep-laid plans 
 of a hostile policy — the theologian, who can discover the 
 most hidden sense of Scripture, may be said to possess in 
 an eminent degree, the faculty of understanding. 
 
 Will is the other faculty implanted in the mind of man 
 — the faculty on whose good or evil discretion that of all 
 the other faculties of mind and soul essentially depends. 
 Independently of the moral direction of the will, its innate 
 strength or weakness, its steadiness or vacillation, propor- 
 tionally augment or diminish the power of all the other 
 faculties. How far moderate abilities, when directed by 
 a firm, tenacious, perseverant will can avail — to what a 
 degree of success they may sometimes lead, daily expe- 
 rience may serve to convince us. 
 
 Originally all these faculties, will and understanding, 
 reason and imagination, were harmoniously blended and 
 united in the human consciousness; but since, at the fall 
 of man, a dark spirit interposed its shadow betwixt him 
 
THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 and the Sun of Righteousness, disorder and confusion 
 have entered into his mind and soul, and troubled their 
 several faculties. Thus the understanding often points 
 out a course which the will refuses to follow; and the will, 
 on the other hand, is often disposed to pursue the good 
 and right path, were the blind or narrow understanding 
 competent to direct it. Not only are will and under- 
 standing in frequent collision with one another, but each 
 is at variance with itself. What the will resolves to-day 
 it shrinks from to-morrow ! How often does the under- 
 standing view the same subject in a different light at 
 different times ! How much do time, circumstance, and 
 humour, place the same truth in a clearer or obscurer 
 aspect ! The same opposition is observable betwixt reason 
 and imagination. Where fancy is the strongest in the 
 house, how often doth she spurn the warnings of her 
 more homely and unpretending sister — reason. Again, 
 where reason has the ascendancy, what groundless aver- 
 sion and paltry jealousy does she not frequently evince 
 at the superior nature of her brilliant sister ! Or, to drop 
 this figurative language, how often do we behold a man 
 of lofty imagination very deficient in practical sense ; and 
 again, in your man of strong sense, how frequently dull 
 and pedestrian is the fancy ! In real life what a deplor- 
 able schism exists between poets and artists on the one 
 hand, and men of business on the other ! What mutual 
 contempt and aversion do they not frequently exhibit! 
 Well, this schism is nothing else than the external realisa- 
 tion of the inward conflict between reason and imagination. 
 
 With respect to the four secondary faculties — memory 
 — conscience — the natural impulses — and the outward 
 senses — faculties, which, as the author says^ cannot from 
 their importance be termed subordinate, but should rather 
 be called susidiary or assigned; — Schlegel shows that, as 
 regards the first, the decay of the memory precedes the 
 decline of the reason, and its sudden and entire loss brings 
 about the extinction of the latter faculty. In the same 
 way the deadness of the conscience argues the utmost 
 
FKEDE1UCK VON SCHLEGEL. 57 
 
 depravity of the will. The conscience is the memory of 
 the will, as the memory is the conscience of the under- 
 standing. 
 
 "The natural impulses," says Schlegel, u where they 
 appear exalted to passion, are to be regarded as nothing 
 else but the motions of a will, that has been overpowered 
 by the false illusions of imagination. The middle position 
 of the impulses betwixt the will and the imagination, as 
 well as the abused co-operation of those two faculties in 
 any passion or sensual gratification, become habitual, is 
 apparent particularly in those inclinations which man has 
 in common with the brute, and where the viciousness lies 
 only in their excess or violence* Aspiration after infinity 
 is natural to man, and belongs essentially to his being. 
 Whatever is defective or disorderly in his impulses 
 consists only in their unbounded gratification — in the 
 perversion of that aspiration after infinity towards perish- 
 able, sensual, material, and often most unworthy objects; 
 for that aspiration, natural as it is to man, where it is pure 
 and genuine, can be gratified by no sensual indulgence 
 and no earthly possession."f In the brute, the gratifica- 
 tion of the natural appetites is regular, uniform, subject 
 to no vicissitudes or excesses, and entails no injury on his 
 nature, because undisturbed and unvitiated by the false 
 illusions of imagination. 
 
 Lastly, with regard to the outward senses, there are, 
 philosophically speaking, but three, sight, hearing, and 
 touch — for under the last, taste and smell are included; 
 and it is remarkable how these severally correspond to the 
 three parts of human consciousness. The sight is pre- 
 eminently the sense of the mind— hearing the sense of the 
 soul — while the touch is peculiarly the sense of the body; 
 the sense given to the body for its special protection and 
 preservation. The loss of the first two senses the body 
 can survive— -but it perishes with the utter extinction of 
 
 * « Philosophic der Sprache," p. 1 18—19. f Ibid., p. 121. 
 
58 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 the last. Those expressions in common parlance, a good 
 artist-like eye — a fine musical ear — prove the close con- 
 nexion which mankind has always felt to exist between 
 the outer senses and the higher faculties of man. 
 
 " Had the soul," says the author, " not been originally 
 darkened and troubled — had it remained in a clear, 
 luminous repose in its God — then the human conscious- 
 ness would have been of a far more simple nature than at 
 present ; for it would have consisted only of understanding, 
 soul, and with Reason and imagination, which are now 
 in such frequent collision with the will and understanding, 
 as well as with each other, would then have been absorbed 
 in those higher faculties. Even the conscience would not 
 then have been a special act, or special function of the 
 judgment — but a tender feeling — a gentle, almost uncon- 
 scious pulsation of the soul. The senses and the memory, 
 those ministrant faculties which, in the present dissonance 
 of the human consciousness, form so many distinct powers 
 of the soul, would, in its state of harmony, have been 
 mere bodily organs."* 
 
 So much for the author's psychology — let us now 
 proceed to the ontological part of the work. 
 
 To the Supreme Being, will and understanding belong 
 in a supreme degree; in him they exist in the most 
 perfect harmony — will is understanding, and under- 
 standing will. But with no propriety can the faculty of 
 reason be ascribed to the Deity; and " it is remarkable/' 
 says the author, " that nowhere in Holy Writ, nor in the 
 sacred traditions of the primitive nations, nor in the 
 writings of the great philosophers of antiquity, is the 
 term reason ever used in reference to Almighty God. It 
 is only among a few of the later, degenerate, and ration- 
 alist sects of philosophy, the Stoics for example, that the 
 expression Divine Reason is ever met with. If such an 
 expression is incorrect or unsound, with still less fitness 
 
 * " Philosophie des Lebens," p. 142. 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 59 
 
 and decorum can the faculty of imagination be assigned 
 to the God-head — the very term would shock the under- 
 standings, and revolt the inmost feelings, of all men* 
 
 The Deity reveals himself unto men in four different 
 ways — in Scripture (including of course its running and 
 necessary commentary, ecclesiastical Tradition); — in 
 Nature — in Conscience, and in History. 
 
 " Holy Writ," says the author, " as it is delivered to 
 uSj and as it was begun and founded three-and-thirty 
 centuries ago, does not exclude the elder sacred traditions 
 of the preceding two thousand four hundred years; or 
 the revelation, which was the common heritage of the 
 whole human race. On the contrary, it contains very 
 explicit allusions to the fact, that such a revelation was 
 imparted to the first man, as well as to that patriarch who, 
 after the destruction of the primeval world of giants, was 
 the second progenitor of mankind. As the sacred know- 
 ledge derived from this revelation flowed on every side, 
 and in copious streams over the succeeding generations of 
 men, the ancient and holy traditions were soon disfigured, 
 and covered over with fictions and fables; where, amid a 
 multitude of remarkable vestiges and glorious traits of 
 true religion, immoral mysteries and Bacchanalian rites 
 were often intermixed, and truth itself, as in a second 
 chaos, buried under a mass of contradictory symbols. 
 Thence arose that Babylonish confusion of languages, 
 sagas, and symbols, which is universally found among 
 the ancient, and even the primitive nations. In the great 
 work of the restoration of true religion, which accord- 
 ingly we must regard as a second revelation, or rather as a 
 second stage of revelation, a rigid proscription of those 
 heathen fictions, and of all the immorality connected with 
 them, was the first and most essential requisite. But in 
 that gospel of creation, which forms the introduction to the 
 whole Bible, that elder revelation, accorded to the first 
 man and to the second progenitor, is expressly laid down 
 as the ground- work; and in this introduction we shall find 
 
60 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 the clue to the history and religion of the primitive world 
 — nay, it is the true Genesis of all historical science."* 
 
 Now with respect to the secondary or more indirect 
 modes, by which the Deity communicates himself to men, 
 the author observes, that " Nature, too, is a book written 
 on both sides, within and without, in which the finger 
 of God is clearly visible: — a species of Holy Writ, in a 
 bodily form — a glorious panegyric, as it were, on God's 
 omnipotence, expressed in the most vivid symbols. To- 
 gether with these two great witnesses of the glory of the 
 Creator, Scripture, and nature — the voice of conscience is 
 an inward revelation of God — the first index of those 
 other two greater and more general sources of revealed 
 truths; while History, by laying before our eyes the 
 march of Divine Providence — a Providence whose loving 
 agency is apparent as well in the lives of individuals as 
 in the social career of nations — History, I say, constitutes 
 the fourth revelation of God."f 
 
 We have next to consider the conduct of Divine 
 Providence in the education of the human race. How 
 do we educate the boy? We first endeavour to awaken 
 his sense — then we cultivate his soul, or his moral faculties; 
 while at the same time, we aid the gradual unfolding of 
 his understanding. It is so with the divine education of 
 mankind. In the primitive relation indeed, the first man 
 received the highest intellectual illumination; an illumi- 
 nation, which, though at his fall it was obscured by sin, 
 still shines with a shorn splendour through all the history 
 and traditions of the primeval world. When, however, 
 by the abuse he had made of his great intellectual powers, 
 man was successively deprived of all those high gifts with 
 which he had been originally endowed; when by the 
 errors of idolatry he had lapsed into a state of intellectual 
 infancy ; then it was necessary that his sense should first 
 be awakened to divine things ; and this was accomplished 
 in the Mosaic revelation. But this revelation was only 
 
 * " Philosophie des Lebens," pp. 86—7. f Ibid -> P- 85 - 
 
FREDERICK VOX SCHLEGEL. 
 
 61 
 
 reparatory to another, destined to renovate the soul of 
 umanity, and gradually illumine its intelligence. This 
 regeneration of the moral faculties of man "was achieved 
 immediately and directly by Christianity; for, without 
 this moral regeneration, any sudden illumination of the 
 intellect would have been hurtful rather than beneficial to 
 mankind. Under the benign influence of Christianity, 
 the scientific enlightenment of the human mind has been 
 wisely progressive; but it seems reserved for the last 
 glorious ages of the triumphant church to witness the 
 full meridian splendour of human intelligence. Then 
 the great scheme of creation will be fulfilled; and the 
 intellectual light which played around the cradle will 
 brighten the last age of humanity. 
 
 Let us now proceed to consider nature in herself, and 
 in her relations to God, to the spiritual intelligences, and 
 to man. 
 
 Nature was originally the beautiful, the faultless work 
 of the Almighty's hand. But the rebel angel in his fall 
 brought disorder and death into all material creation. 
 Hence arose that chaos, which the breath of creative 
 Power only could remove. Thus, according to the 
 author, a wide interval occurs between the first and 
 second verse of Genesis. " In the beginning,'' says the 
 inspired historian, " God made heaven and earth," that is, 
 as the Nicene Creed explains it, the visible and invisible 
 world. " And the earth was without form, and void ; 
 and darkness was upon the face of the deep." But that 
 void- — that darkness — that chaos proceeded not from the 
 luminous hand of an all-wise and all-perfect Maker — but 
 from the disturbing influence of that fiend whom Holy 
 Writ hath called, with such unfathomable depth, the 
 " murderer from the beginning." Hence Schlegel terms 
 him in his sublime language, u the author or original of 
 death"— (Erfinder des Todes). 
 
 On a subject of such vast importance, I presume not to 
 offer an opinion : but I must merely content myself with 
 the humble task of analysis. It may be proper to ob- 
 
62 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 serve, however, that this opinion of Schlegel's would 
 seem, from a passage in the work of the great Catholic 
 writer, Molitor, to be consonant with the tradition of the 
 ancient synagogue. " The Cabala" says he, " was di- 
 vided into two parts — the theoretical and the practical. 
 The former was composed of the patriarchal traditions on 
 the holy mystery of God, and the divine persons ; on 
 the spiritual creation and the fall of the angels ; on the 
 origin of the chaos of matter, and the renovation of the 
 world in the six days of the creation ; on the creation of 
 man, his fall, and the divine ways conducive to his re- 
 storation."* 
 
 " Death," says Schlegel, " came by sin into the world. 
 As by the fall of the first man, who was not created for 
 death, nor originally designed for death, death was trans- 
 mitted to the whole human race ; so by the preceding 
 fall of him, who was the first and most glorious of all 
 created spirits, death came into the universe, that is, the 
 eternal death, whose fire is inextinguishable. Hence it is 
 said : 4 Darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the 
 earth was without form, and void' — as the mere tomb- 
 stone of that eternal death ; but the Spirit of God moved 
 over the waters, and therein lay the first vital germ of 
 the new creation.' "f 
 
 But if such is the origin of nature, how is its existence 
 perpetuated, and what will be its final destiny ? 
 
 Nature, as was said above, is a book of God's reve- 
 lation, written within and without. The outer part of 
 this sacred volume attests the supreme power, wisdom, 
 and goodness of the Creator in characters too clear and 
 luminous to be unperceived or misread by the dullest or 
 the most vitiated eye. The inner pages of this book 
 comprise a still more glorious revelation of God — but 
 their language is more mysterious, and much which they 
 contain seems to have been wisely withheld, or rather 
 
 * See " Philosophic de la Tradition, traduite de rAUemand," p. 26. 
 Paris, 1834. 
 f " Philosophic des Lebens," p. 126. 
 
FREDERICK YON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 63 
 
 withdrawn from the knowledge of mankind. It was 
 this acquaintance with the internal secrets of nature, de- 
 rived partly from revelation, and partly from intuition, 
 which gave the men of the primitive, and especially the 
 antediluvian, world such a vast superiority over all the 
 succeeding generations of mankind. But it was the abuse 
 of that knowledge, also, which brought about in the 
 primeval world a Satanic delusion, and a gigantic moral 
 and intellectual corruption, of which we can now scarcely 
 form the remotest idea. But this key to the inward 
 science of nature, which was taken away from a corrupt 
 world, that had so grossly abused it, seems now about to 
 be restored to man, renovated as his soul and intelligence 
 have been by a long Christian education. The physical 
 researches of the last fifty years, especially in Germany, 
 lead the inquirer more and more to the knowledge of this 
 important truth, stamped on all the pages of ancient tra- 
 dition, and never effaced from the recollection of man- 
 kind, to wit, the action of spiritual intelligences on the 
 material world. The nature of this -action is briefly 
 adverted to in the following passage (among many others 
 to the same purport), in the " Philosophy of Life." " It is 
 especially of importance," says the author, " for the 
 understanding of fcbe general system of nature, to observe 
 how the modern chemistry mostly dissolves and decom- 
 poses all solid bodies, as well as water itself, into different 
 forms of elements of air, and thereby has taken away 
 from nature the appearance of rigidity and petrifaction. 
 There are everywhere living elemental powers hidden and 
 shut up under this appearance of rigidity. The quantity 
 of water in the air is so great that it would suffice for 
 more than one deluge ; a similar inundation of light 
 would occur, if all the light latent in darkness were at 
 once set free ; and all things would be consumed by fire, 
 if that element, in the quantity in which it exists, were 
 suddenly let loose. The salutary bonds, by which these 
 elemental powers are held in due equilibrium, one bound 
 by the other, and kept within its prescribed limits, I will 
 
64 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 not now make a matter of investigation ; nor now exa- 
 mine the question, whether these bonds be not perhaps of a 
 higher kind than naturalists commonly suppose" 
 
 The great apostle of the Gentiles represents all nature 
 as sighing for her deliverance from the bondage of death. 
 " Every creature groaneth and travaileth in pain, even 
 now." Some chapters in the " Philosophy of Life" maybe 
 considered as one luminous commentary on that text. 
 My limits will permit me to cite but one passage. 
 
 " That planetary world of sense, and the soul of the earth 
 imprisoned therein, is only apparently dead. Nature only 
 sleeps, and may again be awakened : and sleep is, if not the 
 essence, yet a characteristic mark of nature. Every 
 thing in nature hath this quality of sleep ; not the animals 
 merely, but the plants also sleep; and in the course of the 
 seasons on the surface of the globe, there is a constant 
 alternation between waking and slumber." . . . " That 
 soul," he continues, " which slumbers under the prodigious 
 tombstone of outward nature — a soul, which is not alien, 
 but half akin to us — is divided between the troubled, 
 painful reminiscence of eternal death, in which it orginated, 
 and the bright flowers of celestial hope, which grow 
 on the borders of that dark abyss. For this earthly 
 nature, as Holy Writ saith, is indeed subjected to nothing- 
 ness — yet without its will, and without its fault : so it looks 
 forward in expectation of Him who hath so subjected it 
 — it looks forward in the hope that it may one day be free 
 — one day have a share in the general resurrection and 
 consummate revelation of God's glory; and for this last 
 great day of future creation nature anxiously sighs, and 
 yearns from her inmost soul."* 
 
 I will now wind up this analysis with the following 
 passage, in which the distinctive peculiarities of the dif- 
 ferent parts of ontology are shortly stated: "The distinc- 
 tive characteristic of nature is sleep, or the struggle 
 between, life and death; the distinctive characteristic of 
 man is imagination (for reason is a more negative faculty); 
 * " Philosophie des Lebens," p. 129. 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 64* 
 
 the distinctive characteristic of the intelligences superior 
 to man is restless, eternal activity, implanted in the very 
 constitution of their being ; and the distinctive character- 
 istic of the Deity, in relation to his creatures, is infinite 
 condescension." 
 
 Such is a brief summary of some of the principal 
 observations in the psychological and ontological parts of 
 the " Philosophy of Life." And in this summary it has 
 been my intention not so much to give an analysis of 
 those parts, as to convey to the reader a clue for the better 
 understanding of many passages in the work I have trans- 
 lated. The remaining parts of the " Philosophy of Life" 
 are devoted to a variety of ethical, political, and aesthetic 
 reflections, which it is unnecessary to enter into here. 
 
 Scarce had Germany recovered from the enthusiasm 
 which this work (the " Philosophy of Life") excited; when 
 its illustrious author delivered, in the year 1828, the fol- 
 lowing course of lectures on the "Philosophy of History," 
 which are now presented to the reader in an English garb. 
 Defective as may be the medium through which the 
 English reader becomes acquainted with this work, he 
 will be enabled to form on it a more impartial, as well as 
 more enlightened, judgment than any the translator could 
 pronounce; and he will, therefore, only venture to observe 
 that it has been considered in every respect worthy of its 
 author's high reputation. 
 
 Towards the close of the year 1828, Schlegel repaired 
 to Dresden ; and in that city, where the torch of his early 
 enthusiasm had been first kindled, was now to witness its 
 final extinction. He delivered in this city, before a 
 numerous and distinguished auditory, nine lectures on the 
 " Philosophy of Language" (Philosophic der Sprache), 
 wherein he developed and expanded those philosophical 
 views already laid down in his "Philosophy of Life." 
 This work is even more metaphysical than the one last 
 named — with untiring wing, the author here sustains 
 his flight through the sublimest regions of philosophy. 
 This production displays at times a gigantic vastness of 
 
64 b 
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE OF 
 
 conception which almost appals — we might almost say, 
 that this mighty intelligence had in his ardent aspirations 
 after immortality, burst his earthly fetters — or that 
 Divine Providence, judging a degenerate world unworthy 
 of hearing such sublime accents, had called him to con- 
 tinue his hymn in eternity. On Sunday, the 11th of 
 January, 1829, he was, between ten and eleven o'clock at 
 night, preparing a lecture, which he was to deliver on the 
 following Wednesday. He had in his former lectures 
 spoken of time and eternity — he had called time a dis- 
 traction of eternity — he had adverted to those ecstacies of 
 great saints, which he called transitions to eternity. He 
 was now in this lecture discoursing of the different degrees 
 of knowledge attainable by man — of the perception — the 
 notion — and the idea. He began a sentence with these re- 
 markable words :— " Das ganz vollendeteund vollkommene 
 verstehen selbst aber," — "But the consummate and the 
 perfect knowledge" — when the hand of sickness arrested 
 his pen. That consummate and perfect knowledge he 
 himself was now destined to attain in another and a better 
 world; for at one o'clock on the same night, he breathed 
 out his pure and harmonious soul to heaven. 
 
 His death, though sudden, was not unprovided. He 
 had ever lived up to his faith- — through his writings there 
 runs an under-current of calm, unostentatious piety; and 
 I know no writer more deeply impressed with a sense of 
 the loving agency of Providence. A gentleman, well 
 acquainted with some of his most intimate friends, has 
 assured me that, for some time prior to his death, he had 
 prosecuted his devotional exercises with more than ordi- 
 nary fervour; and that on the morning of that Sunday on 
 which his last illness seized him, he had been united to his 
 Lord in the Holy Communion — a presage and an earnest, 
 let us hope, of that intimate union he was destined to en- 
 joy in the long and cloudless day of eternity ! 
 
 The melancholy news of his death, when conveyed to his 
 distinguished friend — Adam Miiller, then at Vienna, gave 
 such a violent shock to his feelings, that it brought on a 
 
FREDERICK VON SCHLEGEL. 
 
 64* 
 
 stroke of apoplexy, which terminated his existence. A 
 chain of the most exalted sympathies had united those 
 souls in life — what marvel if the electric stroke, which 
 prostrated the one should have laid low the other ! 
 
 Frederick Schlegel married early in life the daughter of 
 the celebrated Jewish philosopher Mendelsohn. This lady 
 followed her husband in his change of religion. Mrs. 
 Schlegel is one of the most intellectual women in 
 Germany — she is advantageously known to the literary 
 world by her German translation of Madame de Stael's 
 " Corinne ;" and report has ascribed to her elegant pen 
 several of the poems in her husband's collection* 
 
 In conclusion, I will endeavour to recapitulate the 
 obligations which literature and science owe to the great 
 man, whose literary biography I have attempted to sketch. 
 
 To have, in common with his illustrious brother, es- 
 tablished a system of broad, comprehensive, synthetic 
 criticism, by which the principles of ancient and modern 
 art were unfolded to view — by which we were introduced 
 into the intellectual laboratories of genius, made to assist 
 at the birth of her mighty conceptions, and by whose 
 plastic touch the great works of ancient and modern poetry 
 were in a manner created anew : — to have unlocked the 
 fountains of the old Germanic minstrelsy, and refreshed 
 the poetry of his age with a new stream of fictions : — to 
 have been among the first to do for philology what the 
 Stagyrite had done for natural history ; by classifying 
 languages not according to their outward form, but their 
 internal organisation, not according to a specious, though 
 often delusive, etymology, but according to grammatical 
 structure : to have deciphered the mysterious wisdom of 
 old days, and with admirable tact to have caught the 
 spirit of the primitive world, as disclosed in its sagas and 
 its symbols, its poetry and its philosophy : next to have 
 evoked from the dust the better philosophy of ancient 
 Greece, and presented her venerable form to the renewed 
 
 * A complete edition of Frederick Schlegel's works, in fifteen 
 volumes 8vo., is now publishing at Vienna. 
 
64 d THE LITERARY LIFE OF SCHLEGEL. 
 
 love and respect of mankind, partly by an admirable trans- 
 lation of portions of Plato, partly by luminous critiques, 
 and partly again by the example of his own philosophy, 
 in form as well as spirit so eminently Platonic: then, 
 in the field of modern history, to have traced the rise and 
 progress of the European states, the genius of their civil 
 and political institutions, the causes and effects of their 
 moral and social revolutions, with an extent of learning, a 
 spirit of impartiality, and a depth and comprehensiveness 
 of understanding, unsurpassed by preceding writers, and 
 in his own age rivalled only by his illustrious countryman 
 — Goerres: lastly, to have put the crowning glory to 
 a life so full of glorious achievement by his last philoso- 
 phical works, where a strong and broad light is thrown 
 upon the mysteries of psychology, where the most im- 
 portant questions of ontology are treated with equal bold- 
 ness and sublimity of thought, and magnificence of fancy, 
 while even on physics many bright hints are thrown out, 
 which a deeper science will know one day how to turn to 
 account : such are the services which this illustrious man 
 has rendered to the cause of literature and philosophy. 
 Living in an age which is only an epoch of momentous 
 transition from the adolescence to the virility of the 
 human mind, he was evidently, together with some other 
 chosen spirits of his time, the precursor of an era of 
 Christian philosophy, when* to use the language of a 
 young, but very distinguished French writer (the Abbe 
 Gerbet), " the sterile dust of futile abstractions will be 
 swept away, and the antique faith will appear crowned 
 with all the rays of science." " Already," continues the 
 writer just quoted, " even infidel science, astonished at 
 her own discoveries, which disconcert alike ideology and 
 materialism, begins to suspect 
 
 a There are more things in heaven and earth 
 Than are dreamt of in that philosophy/' 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon 
 the face of the deep; but the Spirit of God moved upon the face of 
 the waters." Gen., i. 9. 
 
 By philosophy of history must not be understood a series of 
 remarks or ideas upon history, formed according to any con- 
 certed system, or train of arbitrary hypotheses attached to 
 facts. History cannot be separated from facts, and depends 
 entirely on reality ; and thus the Philosophy of history, as it 
 is the spirit or idea of history, must be deduced from real his- 
 torical events, from the faithful record and lively narration of 
 facts — it must be the pure emanation of the great whole — the 
 one connected whole of history, and for the right understand- 
 ing of this connexion a clear arrangement is an essential con- 
 dition and an important aid. For although this great edifice 
 of universal history, where the conclusion at least is still want- 
 ing, is in this respect incomplete, and appears but a mighty 
 fragment of which even particular parts are less known to us 
 than others ; yet is this edifice sufficiently advanced, and 
 many of its great wings and members are sufficiently unfolded 
 to our view, to enable us, by a lucid arrangement of the dif- 
 ferent periods of history, to gain a clear insight into the general 
 plan of the whole. 
 
 It is thus my intention to render as intelligible as I possibly 
 can, the general results and the connexion of all the past trans- 
 actions in the history of the human race ; to form a true judg- 
 ment on the particular portions or sections of history, accord- 
 
66 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 ing to their intrinsic nature and real value in reference to the 
 general progress of mankind, carefully distinguishing what 
 was injurious, what advantageous, and what indifferent; and 
 thereby, as far as is possible to the limited perceptions of man, 
 to comprehend in some degree that mighty whole. This per- 
 ception — this comprehension — this right discernment of the 
 great events and general results of universal history, is what 
 might be termed a science of history ; and I would have here 
 preferred that term, were it not liable to much misconception, 
 and might have been understood as referring more to special 
 and learned inquiries, than the other name I have adopted to 
 denote the nature of the present work. 
 
 If we would seize and comprehend the general outline of 
 history, we must keep our eye steadily upon it ; and must not 
 suffer our attention to be confused by details, or drawn off by 
 the objects immediately surrounding us. Judging from the 
 feelings of the present, nothing so nearly concerns our interests 
 as the matter of peace or war ; and this is natural, as, in a prac- 
 tical point of view they are both affairs of the highest mo- 
 ment ; while the courageous and successful conduct of the one 
 insures the highest degree of glory, and the solid establish- 
 ment and lasting maintenance of the other, may be considered 
 as the greatest problem of political art and human wisdom. 
 But it is otherwise in universal history, when this is conceived 
 in a comprehensive and enlarged spirit. Then the remotest 
 Past, the highest antiquity, is as much entitled to our atten- 
 tion as the passing events of the day, or the nearest concerns 
 of our own time. 
 
 When a war, indeed, carried on more than two thousand 
 years ago, in which the belligerent parties have long ceased to 
 exist, when every thing has been since changed — when a long 
 series of historical catastrophes has intervened between that 
 period and our own ; when such a warfare, offering as it does 
 but at best a remote analogy to the circumstances of nearer 
 times, and consequently possessing no immediate interest, has 
 been investigated by the mighty intellect of a Thucydides, 
 portrayed by him in the highest style of eloquence, and un- 
 folded to our view with the most consummate knowledge of 
 mankind, of public life, and of the most intimate relations of 
 Government ; such a warfare then retains a permanent interest, 
 and is a lasting source of instruction. We love to dive into 
 
HISTORY. ^ 67 
 
 the minutest details of an event so widely removed from us — 
 and such a study is to be regarded and prized as highly use- 
 ful, were it only as an exercise of historical reflection, and a 
 school of political science. This remark will equally hold 
 good, when the internal feuds of a less powerful state have 
 been analysed and laid open by the acute perspicacity and 
 delicate discrimination of a Machiavelli. And still more, per- 
 haps, when a great system of pacification, like that which Au- 
 gustus gave, or promised to give to the whole civilised world, 
 and established for a certain period at least, has been fathomed 
 by the searching eye of a Tacitus, and by his masterly hand 
 delineated in its ulterior progress and remote effects ; showing, 
 as he does, how that surface, apparently so calm, concealed 
 numberless sources of disquiet — an abyss of crime and destruc- 
 tion — how that evil principle in the degenerate government 
 of Rome became more and more apparent, and under a suc- 
 cession of wicked rulers, broke out into paroxysms more and 
 more fearful. 
 
 As a school of political science and historical reflection, the 
 study of these and similar classical historical works is of inesti- 
 mable advantage. But independently of this, and considered 
 merely in themselves, all those countless battles — those endless, 
 and even, for the greater part, useless wars, of which the long 
 succession fills up for so many thousand years the annals of all 
 nations, are but little atoms compared with the great whole of 
 human destiny. The same, with a slight distinction, will hold 
 good of so many celebrated treaties of peace in past ages, when 
 these have lost all interest for real life and the present order of 
 things; — treaties, which though brought about by great labour, 
 and upheld by consummate art, were yet internally defective, 
 and sooner or later, and often quickly enough, fell to pieces and 
 were destroyed. 
 
 From all these descriptions of ancient wars, and treaties of 
 peace, no longer applicable or of interest to the present world, 
 or present order of things, historical philosophy can deduce but 
 one, though by no means unimportant, result. It is this — that 
 the internal discord, innate in man and in the human race, may 
 easily and at every moment, break out into real and open strife 
 — nay, that peace itself — that immutable object of high political 
 art, when regarded from this point of view, appears to be no- 
 thing else than a war retarded or kept under by human dexte- 
 
 f 2 
 
63 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 rity ; for some secret disposition — some diseased political matter, 
 is almost ever at hand to call it into existence. In the same 
 way as a scientific physician regards the health of the body, or 
 its right temperature, as a happy equipoise — a middle line not 
 easy to be observed between two contending evils — we must 
 ever expect in such an organic imperfection a tendency to, or 
 the seeds of, disease in one shape or another. 
 
 Political events form but one part, and not the whole, of 
 human history. A knowledge of details, however great and 
 various it may be, constitutes no science in the philosophic sense 
 of the word, for it is in the right and comprehensive conception 
 of the whole that science consists. 
 
 As the greater part of the nine hundred millions of men on 
 the whole surface of the earth, according to the highest estimate 
 of a hazardous calculation, are born, live, and die, without a 
 history of them being possible, or without their reckoning a 
 fraction in the general history — so that the extremely small 
 number of those called historical men, forms but a rare excep- 
 tion—so there are nations and countries, which in a general 
 comparative survey of nations, serve but as a mark or evidence 
 of some particular stage of civilisation, without of themselves 
 holding any place in the general history of our species, or con- 
 ducing to the social progress of mankind, or possessing any 
 weight or importance in the scale of humanity. 
 
 There is a point of view, indeed, from which the matter ap- 
 pears under a different aspect, and is really different. To the 
 all-seeing eye of Providence, every human life, however brief 
 its duration, however apparently insignificant, presents a point 
 of internal development and crisis, consequently a species of 
 history, cognisable and visible to that Eye only, and, therefore, 
 not entirely without an object. But this point of view belongs 
 to another order of things, and is no longer historical — it has 
 reference to the immortal destinies of the human soul, and the 
 connexion of the present life with another world invisible to 
 us. But our historical science is limited to the department of 
 man's present existence ; and in our historical inquiries we must 
 not lose sight of this principle. 
 
 But the internal development of mind, so far as it is histo- 
 rical, belongs as much as the external events of politics to the 
 department of human history, and must by no means be ex- 
 cluded from it. Among these rare exceptions of historical men 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 69 
 
 must be named that ancient master of human acuteness, who 
 was the teacher of Alexander the Great, and who perhaps holds 
 not an humbler or less important place in this exalted sphere 
 than the conqueror himself, although this philosopher, whose 
 genius embraced nature, the world, and life, was by his own 
 contemporaries less honoured and celebrated than by a remote 
 posterity. Here in our western world, and long after the king- 
 doms founded by the Macedonian conqueror had disappeared, 
 and were forgotten, Aristotle for many centuries reigned the 
 absolute lord of the Christian schools, and directed the march 
 of human science and human speculation in the middle age. 
 "Whether he were always rightly understood and studied in the 
 right way is another question, for here we are speaking of his 
 overruling influence and historical importance. Nay, in later 
 times, lie has materially served the cause of the better natural 
 philosophy founded on experience, in which he himself accom- 
 plished things so extraordinary for his age, and was originally, 
 and for a long while, the guide and master. 
 
 The first fundamental rule of historical science and research, 
 when by these is sought a knowledge of the general destinies 
 of mankind, is to keep these, and every object connected with 
 them, steadily in view, without losing ourselves in the details of 
 special inquiries and particular facts, for the multitude and 
 variety of these subjects is absolutely boundless ; and on the 
 ocean of historical science the main subject easily vanishes from 
 the eye. In history, as in every branch of mental culture, the 
 first elementary school-instruction is not merely an important, 
 but an essential, condition to a higher and more scientific know- 
 ledge. At first, indeed, it is merely a nomenclature of cele- 
 brated personages and events —a sketch of the great historical 
 eras, divided according to chronological dates, or a geographical 
 plan — which must be impressed on the memory, and which 
 serves as a basis preparatory to that more vivid and compre- 
 hensive knowledge to be obtained in riper years. Thus this 
 first knowledge stored up in the memory, and necessary for me- 
 thodising and arranging the mass of historical learning to be 
 afterwards acquired, is more a preparation for the study of his- 
 tory, than the real science of history itself. In the higher 
 grades of academic instruction, the lessons on history must vary 
 with each one's calling and pursuits — one course of historical 
 reading is necessary for the theologian, another for the lawyer 
 
70 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 or civilian. To the physician, and in general to the naturalist, 
 natural history, and what in the history of man is most akin to 
 that science, will ever be the most captivating. And the phi- 
 lologist will find a boundless field for inquiry in special anti- 
 quarian researches, particularly now when, in addition to clas- 
 sical learning and the more common Oriental tongues, the 
 languages and historical antiquities of the remoter nations of 
 Asia have attracted the attention of European scholars, and the 
 original sources are becoming every day more accessible. 
 
 Even the sphere of modern political history, from which for 
 the practical business of government so much is to be learned, will 
 be found equally extensive — when, besides the modern classical 
 works, we look to the countless multitude of private memoirs 
 and other historical and political writings ; especially at a time, 
 and in a world where even periodical publications and news- 
 papers have become a power and an art or a science, and society 
 itself falls more and more under the sway of journalism. If in this 
 department of politics and statistics, we add also the number of 
 unprinted documents, we shall find that the archives of many a 
 state would alone furnish occupation for more than a man's life. 
 
 In all such special departments of historical science, the great 
 whole of history is made subordinate to some secondary object ; 
 and this cannot be otherwise. It may even be advantageous 
 for the profounder knowledge and more skilful exposition of 
 universal history that we should seriously investigate some par- 
 ticular branch of history ; and, in a science so various, select 
 some special subject for more minute inquiry; but this can 
 never be done without some decided predilection — some almost 
 party bias towards the subject. Yet such special inquiries are 
 only preparatory or auxiliary to the general science or philo- 
 sophy of history — but not that science itself. Thus at the out- 
 set of my literary career, I devoted a considerable time to a 
 very minute study of the Greeks* — and subsequently I applied 
 myself to the Hindoo language and philosophy, at that time 
 more difficult of access than at the present day.f In the strug- 
 gles of life, and amid the public dangers of our times, I was alive to 
 
 * Schlegel's first great work was entitled "The Greeks and the Ro- 
 mans," published in the year 1797. 
 
 f The result of our author's researches on Hindoo literature and phi- 
 losophy was evinced in his work entitled, " The Language and Wisdom 
 of the Indians," published in 1808. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 71 
 
 a patriotic feeling for the history of my own country, and recent 
 times ; and, perhaps, there are some among my present hearers 
 who remember the historical lectures I delivered in this spirit 
 eighteen years ago in this imperial city.* It is now my wish, 
 and the object I propose to myself, to discard all antiquarian, 
 Oriental, or European predilections for particular branches of 
 history, and to unfold to view, and render completely clear and 
 intelligible, the great edifice of universal history in all its parts, 
 members, and degrees. The first fundamental rule here laid 
 down, with respect to the mode of treating general history -r- 
 namely, to keep the attention fixed on the main subject, and 
 not to let it be distracted or dissipated by a number of minute 
 details— concerned more the method of historical science. The 
 second rule regards the subject and purport of history, and 
 stands in more immediate connexion with the first portion of 
 this work — that relating to primitive history. This second 
 fundamental rule of historical science may be thus simply ex- 
 pressed : — we should not wish to explain every thing. Histo- 
 rical tradition must never be abandoned in the philosophy of 
 history — otherwise we lose all firm ground and footing. But 
 historical tradition, ever so accurately conceived and carefully 
 sifted, doth not always, especially in the early and primitive 
 ages, bring with it a full and demonstrative certainty. In such 
 cases, we have nothing to do but to record, as it is given, the 
 best and safest testimony which tradition, so far as we have it, 
 can afford; supposing even that some things in that testimony 
 appear strange, obscure, and even enigmatical ; and perhaps a 
 comparison with some other part of historical science — or, if I 
 may so speak, stream of tradition, will unexpectedly lead to the 
 solution of the difficulty. Extremely hazardous is the desire to 
 explain every thing, and to supply whatever appears a gap in 
 history — for in this propensity lies the first cause and germ of 
 all those violent and arbitrary hypotheses which perplex and 
 pervert the science of history far more than the open avowal of 
 our ignorance, or the uncertainty of our knowledge : hypotheses 
 which give an oblique direction, or an exaggerated and false 
 extension to a view of the subject originally not incorrect. And 
 even if there are points which appear not very clear to us, or 
 which we leave unexplained — this will not prevent us from com- 
 
 * Schlegel alludes to " The Lectures on Modern History," which he 
 delivered at Vienna in the year 1810. 
 
72 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 prehending, so far at least as the limited conception of man is 
 able, the great outline of human history, though here and there 
 a gap should remain. 
 
 This matter will be best explained by an example that will 
 bring us at once to the subject we propose to treat. Let us 
 imagine some bold navigators (and what we here suppose by 
 way of example has more than once actually occurred) touch- 
 ing at some island inhabited by wild savages in the midst of 
 the great ocean between America and Eastern Asia. This 
 iskind lies, we suppose, at a very great distance from either 
 continent, and the same will hold good of it, though there be 
 a group of islands. These savages have but miserable fishing- 
 boats made of hollow trunks of trees, by which it is not easy 
 to conceive how they could have been transported so far. The 
 question now naturally occurs, how has this race of men come 
 hither ? — 
 
 A pagan natural philosophy, which even now dares often 
 enough to raise its voice, would be very ready with its answer : 
 " There," it would say, "you see plainly how every thing has 
 sprung from the pap of the earth — the primitive slime — there 
 is no need of the far-fetched idea of an imaginary Creator — 
 these self-existing' men of the earth — these well-known autoc- 
 thones of the ancients — these true sons of nature — have risen 
 up or crawled out of the fruitful slime of the earth." 
 
 A deeper physiological science would, independently of every 
 other consideration, and looking merely to the natural organi- 
 sation of man, scout this wild chaotic hypothesis respecting his 
 origin from slime. For this organic frame of the human body, 
 which has become a body of death, is still endowed with many 
 and wonderful powers, and still encloses the hidden light of its 
 celestial origin. — Without, however, entering further into this 
 inquiry, which falls not within the limits here prescribed, let 
 us rather tacitly believe that although as the ancient history 
 saith, man was formed out of the slime of the earth ; yet it 
 was by the same Hand which invisibly conducts each indivi- 
 dual through life, and has more than once rescued all mankind 
 from the brink of the abyss, that his marvellous body was 
 framed, into which the Maker himself breathed the immortal 
 spirit of life. This divine in-dwelling spark in man, the 
 heathens themselves, notwithstanding the opinion about the 
 autocthones, recognised in the beautiful tradition or fiction of 
 
HISTORY. 73 
 
 Prometheus; and many of their first spirits, philosophers, 
 orators, and poets, and grave and moral teachers, have in one 
 form or another, and under a variety of figurative expressions, 
 borne frequent, and loud, and repeated testimony to the truth 
 of a higher spirit, a divine flame, animating the breast of man. 
 This universal faith in the heavenly Promethean light — or as 
 we should rather say, this spark of our bosoms — is the only 
 thing we must here pre-suppose, and from which all our his- 
 torical deductions must be taken. With the opposite doctrine 
 — with the absolute unbelief in all which constitutes man 
 really man — no history, and no science of history, is possible ; 
 and this is the only remark we shall here oppose to an infidelity 
 that denies the existence of every thing high and godly. For 
 the question respecting the creation of man, or as atheism 
 terms it, the first springing up of the human race, is beyond 
 the limits of history, and must be left to the decision of revela- 
 tion and faith ; for the question can be reached by no history, 
 no science of history — no historical research. History begins, 
 as this will be presently shown, with man's second step ; 
 which immediately follows his concealed origin antecedent to all 
 history. 
 
 To recur now to the example already given of an island 
 situated in the middle of the ocean, with its savage inhabitants 
 and their miserable fishing-boats — the real solution, as experi- 
 ence has really proved, of this apparent difficulty is, on a nearer 
 acquaintance with the subject, easily found. If, for example, 
 the language and traditions of this rude, savage, or at least 
 degraded, tribe, are minutely studied and investigated, then so 
 striking a resemblance and affinity will be found with the lan- 
 guages and traditions of the races in either of the remotely 
 situated continents, that the most sceptical mind will hardly 
 entertain a doubt respecting the common origin of both; for 
 this community in language and traditions is too strong, too 
 strikingly evident, to be ascribed with any degree of proba- 
 bility to the sport of accident. This truth now once firmly 
 established (for a community of language, tradition, and race 
 among all the nations of the earth is a truth almost unani- 
 mously received and acknowledged by those historical inquirers 
 most versed in nature, and most learned in philology of the 
 present age), it becomes a mere matter of indifference, or ono 
 at least of minor importance, how and in what way tins 
 
74 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 originally savage, or at least barbarised tribe first arrived 
 hither ; and it were a mere waste of labour to select, among 
 the hundred conceivable or inconceivable accidents and possi* 
 bilities which may have occasioned or led to this arrival, any 
 particular one as the best explanation, and to found thereon 
 some ingenious hypothesis, how the land on both sides may 
 have been differently situated, before a closer connexion with 
 this little island was broken off by the destructive floods ; or in 
 which of the last great catastrophes of the earth that disjunc- 
 tion may have taken place. We may le^ave such conjectures 
 to themselves, and, satisfied with the main result, proceed 
 further in the historical investigation and survey of the earth. 
 For, in truth, the earth's surface more narrowly and carefully 
 examined, furnishes, in reference to man and his primitive 
 history, far other and weightier problems than those involved 
 in the example first selected. 
 
 It is generally known that in a great many places situated 
 in various parts of the earth, in the interior of mountains and 
 even on plains, sometimes near the surface, and sometimes at a 
 greater or less depth in the interior of mountainous chains 
 rising to a very great elevation above the level of the sea, 
 there are found whole strata of scattered bones belonging to 
 animal species either actually existing, or which formerly 
 existed and are now totally extinct — the chaotic remains of an 
 all-destroying inundation that immediately remind us of the 
 general tradition respecting the great Flood. In other places 
 again, extensive layers of coral, sea-shells, marine plants, and 
 other products of the sea, imbedded in the firm soil, prove 
 these tracts of land to have been an ancient bottom of the 
 sea. According to all appearance, these are not only monu- 
 ments of one great natural revolution, but these elemental 
 gigantic sepulchres of the primitive world offer to the mind 
 many and various problems which more nearly, indeed, regard 
 the earth, but as that planet is the habitation of man, have in 
 consequence an indirect; but proximate, reference to mankind 
 and their earliest history. A single example will best serve to 
 point out among so many things, which are no longer perhaps 
 susceptible of explanation, that which is of most moment to 
 the historian ; as well as the limits within which he should 
 keep. 
 
 Not long back, about nine years ago, a cave was discovered 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 75 
 
 in the county of Yorkshire, in England, filled for the most 
 part with the bones and skeletons of hyaenas, of the same species 
 now found in the southernmost point of Africa — the Cape of 
 Good Hope. These bones were intermixed with those of tigers, 
 bears, wolves, as also of elephants, rhinosceri, and other ani- 
 mals, among which were found the remains of the old large 
 deer, that is not now to be met with in England. The pro- 
 found naturalist, Schubert, whom, in subjects of this* kind, I 
 willingly take for my guide, observes in his natural history 
 with respect to this newly-discovered cavern (which evidently 
 belongs to another, long extinct, and anterior world of nature), 
 that the opinion which would make a whole stratum of bones 
 to have been swept thither by floods in so sound a state, and 
 from so remote a distance, is perfectly inadmissible. He shows 
 it to be much more probable that this cave was the den of a 
 troop of hyaenas, which had dragged thither the bones of the 
 other animals ; for this fell and rapacious animal feeds by pre- 
 ference on bones, which it knows how to break, as it is in the 
 habit of raking up dead bodies. What an immense interval 
 separates that now highly civilised state — those flourishing 
 provinces — that country abounding, and almost overteeming 
 with all the fruits of human industry, with all the productions 
 of mechanic skill ; — that cultivated garden, that Island- Queen, 
 the mistress of every sea ; — what an immense interval sepa- 
 rates her from those savage times, when troops of hyaenas 
 prowled about the land, together with the other gigantic ani- 
 mals of the southern zone and tropic clime ! 
 
 Thus is it natural to suppose that in one of the last great 
 revolutions of nature the climate of the earth has undergone a 
 total change ; and that originally the now icy north enjoyed a 
 glowing warmth, a rich fertility, and all the fulness of luxu- 
 riant life. A number of still more decisive facts declare for this 
 supposition, or, to speak more properly, this certainty ; since 
 we discover in the upper parts of Northern Asia, and in ge- 
 neral throughout the Polar regions, entire forests of palm in the 
 subterraneous strata, as also well preserved remains of whole 
 herds of elephants, and of many other kindred species of ani- 
 mals now totally extinct. Long before most of these facts 
 were discovered, Leibnitz had conjectured that originally the 
 earth in general, even in the north, enjoyed a much warmer 
 temperature than in the present period of all-ruling and pro- 
 
76 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 gressive frost ; and Buffon and others have established on this 
 idea the hypothesis of a vast central fire in the interior of the 
 earth. The interior parts of the earth and its internal depths 
 are a region totally impervious to the eye of mortal man, and 
 can least of all be approached by those ordinary paths of hypo- 
 thesis adopted by naturalists and geologists. The region 
 designed for the existence of man, and of every other creature 
 endowed with organic life, as well as the sphere open to the 
 perception of man's senses, is confined to a limited space 
 between the upper and lower parts of the earth, exceedingly 
 small in proportion to the diameter, or even semi-diameter, of 
 the earth, and forming only the exterior surface, or outer skins, 
 of the great body of the earth. Even at a very slight depth 
 below the earth's surface, all change of seasons ceases and an 
 even temperature eternally prevails, approximating rather to 
 cold than living heat. Yet on this side the earth is more easy 
 of access than in the upper regions, where not only the higher 
 Alps and glaciers are the last attainable limit to human daring, 
 but even the pure ether of the supernal atmosphere made an 
 aeronaut, celebrated for his disaster, learn at his own cost, how 
 very near is that boundary where, in deadening cold, all life 
 and all observation cease. It is in the physical, as in the 
 moral world — where light and heat should exist, there two 
 things are necessary — a power to give light and communicate 
 heat, and a substance capable of receiving and absorbing the 
 one and the other. Where either condition is wanting, there 
 reigns eternal darkness, and deadly and eternal cold ; and so 
 the fact, that the whole action of heat, and of all the life it 
 produces, is confined entirely to this lower atmosphere, should 
 awake attention rather than create surprise. In all matters, 
 even of this sort, we cannot be too mindful of the necessity of 
 confining our researches to that small, narrowly circumscribed 
 sphere inhabited by man, and of never exceeding those limits. 
 
 Thus to explain the fact that the habitable earth has not, as 
 originally, so warm a temperature as the north, we need not 
 have recourse to any supposition of a central fire suddenly ex- 
 tinguished, like an oven that becomes cold, or to any other 
 violent hypothesis of the same kind ; for this fact may be suffi- 
 ciently accounted for by the last great revolution of nature — the 
 general deluge, which, as may be assumed with great proba- 
 bility, produced a change in the heretofore much purer, balmier 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 77 
 
 and more genial atmosphere. That towards the equator, the 
 position of the earth's axis has undergone a change, and that 
 thereby this great revolution in the earth's climate was occa- 
 sioned, is indeed a bare possibility ; but until further proof, 
 W this must be regarded as a purely gratuitous hypothesis. But 
 without subscribing to these fanciful suppositions, and mathe- 
 matical theories, and without wishing to penetrate, with some 
 geologists, into the hidden depths of the earth in quest of an 
 imagined central fire, we shall find on the inhabited surface 
 of the globe, or very near it, many proofs and indications of 
 the once superior energy of the principle of fire — a principle 
 whereof volcanoes, whether subsisting or extinct and the kin- 
 dred phenomena of earthquakes, may be considered the last 
 feeble surviving effects ; for not basalt only, but porphyry, 
 granite, and in general all the primary rocks, and those which, 
 according to the classification of geologists, are more immedi- 
 ately akin to them, can be proved to be of a volcanic nature 
 with as much certainty, as we can trace, in the horizontal se- 
 condary formations, the destructive influence and operation of 
 the element of water. Hence this layer of subterraneous, 
 though now in general slumbering fire, with all its volcanic 
 arteries and veins of earthquakes, may once have been as 
 widely diffused over the surface of the globe, as the element 
 of water, now occupying so large a portion of that surface. 
 As volcanic rocks exist in the ocean, or rather at its bottom, 
 and as their irruptions burst through the body of waters up 
 to the surface of the sea ; as their volcanic agency gives birth 
 to earthquakes, and not unfrequently raises, and heaves up 
 new islands from the depths of the ocean ; naturalists have 
 concluded, with reason for these various facts, that the volcanic 
 basis of the earth's surface, though tolerably near, must still 
 be somewhat deeper than the bottom of the sea. And without 
 stopping to examine the hypothesis relative to the immea- 
 surable depth of the ocean, the opinion which fixes the earth's 
 basis at about 30,000 feet, or one geographical mile and a half 
 below the level of the sea, does not exceed the modest limits of a 
 well-considered probability. In the present period of the globe, 
 water is the predominant element on the earth's surface. But if 
 that volcanic power which lies deeper in the bosom of the earth 
 and the kindred principle of fire, had at an early epoch of nature, 
 
78 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 the same influence and operation on the earth, as water after- 
 wards had, we can well imagine such an influence to have 
 materially affected the lower atmosphere, and to have rendered 
 the climate of the earth, even at the north, totally different 
 from what it is at present. 
 
 The strata of bones formed by the old flood, and the buried 
 remains of a former race of animals, call forth a remark, which 
 is not without importance in respect to the primitive history 
 of man ;— it is, that among the many bones of other large and 
 small land animals, which form of themselves a rich and varied 
 collection of the subterraneous products of nature, the fossil 
 remains of man are scarcely anywhere to be found. It has 
 sometimes happened that what were at first considered the bones 
 of human giants, have been afterwards proved to have been 
 those of animals. It is so very rare an instance to meet in 
 fossil remains with a real human bone, skull, jaw-bone, or 
 entire human skeleton (as in one particular instance was found 
 enclosed in a lime-stone, mixed with some few utensils and in- 
 struments of the primitive world, such as a stone-knife, a 
 copper axe, an iron club, and a dagger of a very ancient form, 
 together with some human bones) ; that the very rareness of 
 the exception serves only to confirm the general rule. Were 
 we from this fact immediately to draw the conclusion that 
 during all those revolutions of nature, mankind had not yet 
 existence, such an hypothesis would be rash, groundless, com- 
 pletely at variance with history — one to which many even phy- 
 sical objections, too long to detail here, might be opposed. 
 That so very few, and indeed scarcely any human bones are 
 to be found among the fossil remains of the primitive world, 
 may possibly be owing to the circumstance that by the very 
 artificial, hot, and highly- seasoned food of men, their bones, 
 from their chemical nature and qualities, are more liable to 
 destruction than those of other animals. I may here repeat 
 what I have already had occasion to remark, and what is here 
 of especial importance, as applying particularly to the history 
 and circumstances of the primitive world ;— namely, that all 
 things are not susceptible of an entire, satisfactory, and abso- 
 lutely certain explanation ; and that yet we may form a tole- 
 rably correct conception of general facts ; though many of the 
 particulars may remain for a time unexplained, or at least not 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 79 
 
 capable of a full explanation. So, on the other hand, it would 
 be premature, and little conformable to the grave circumspection 
 of the historian, to reduce all those natural catastrophes (the 
 vouching monuments and mysterious inscriptions of which are 
 now daily disclosed to the eye of Science as she explores the 
 deep sepulchres of the earth) — to reduce, I say, all those 
 natural catastrophes exclusively to the one nearest to the his- 
 torical times, and which, indeed, is attested by the clear, 
 unanimous tradition of all, or at least of most ancient nations ; 
 for several mighty and violent revolutions of nature, of various 
 kinds, though of a less general extent, may possibly have hap- 
 pened, and very probably did really happen simultaneously 
 with, or subsequently, or even previously, to the last general 
 flood. 
 
 The irruption of the Black Sea into the Thracian Bosphorus 
 is regarded by very competent judges in such matters, as an 
 event perfectly historical, or at least, from its proximity to the 
 historical times, as not comparatively of so primitive a date. 
 A celebrated northern naturalist has shown it to be extremely 
 probable that the Caspian Sea, and the Lake Aral, were origi- 
 nally united with the Euxine, and that on the other hand, the 
 North Sea extended very far over land, and even near to those 
 regions, leaving some marine plants very different from those of 
 the Southern Seas. The sea originally must have stretched 
 much further over the earth and even over many places where 
 now is dry land, as may easily be inferred from the great and 
 extensive salt-steppes in Asia, Africa, and some parts of 
 Eastern Europe, which furnish many and irrefragable proofs 
 that the land was once occupied by the sea. 
 
 All these great physical changes are not necessarily and 
 exclusively to be ascribed to the last general deluge. The 
 presumed irruption of the Mediterranean into the ocean, as 
 well as many other mere partial revolutions in the earth and 
 sea, may have occurred much later, and quite apart from this 
 great event. The original magnificence of the climate of the 
 north, as displayed in the luxuriant richness of all organic 
 productions, is commemorated in many traditions of the primi- 
 tive nations, especially those of : Southern Asia; and, in these 
 Sagas, the north is ever made the subject of uncommon 
 eulogy. That the north enjoys a certain natural pre-eminence 
 
gO PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 appears? to be matter of certainty; and to be even susceptible 
 of scientific demonstration. The northern and southern ex- 
 tremities of our planet appear at least to be very unlike, if we 
 judge the terraqueous globe according to the present state of 
 geographical knowledge. While the old and new continents, 
 the north of Asia and of America, extend in long and wide 
 tracts of land high up towards the North Pole, so that the 
 boundaries of land cannot be everywhere perfectly defined ; 
 water is the predominant element around the colder South 
 Pole, to which even the southernmost point of America, and 
 the remotest island of Polynesia—the extreme verge of land 
 —make no near approach ; and beyond these points, so far 
 as the boldest navigators have been able to penetrate, they 
 have discovered only sea and ice, and nowhere a real Polar 
 re°ion of any great extent. Thus the South Pole is the cold 
 and waterv side, or as we should say in dynamics, the negative 
 and weaker end of the earth's body, while the North Pole on 
 the other hand appears to be the positive and stronger extre- 
 mity ; for, though the centre of the earth's magnetic attraction 
 and magnetic life, accords not mathematically with the northern 
 point, yet it lies at no very great distance from it.^ In other 
 phenomena of nature, too, the real seat and principle of life 
 will be found, not at the mathematical point, but a little 
 removed from it. 
 
 Another circumstance worthy of consideration is, that the 
 northern firmament possesses by far the largest and most 
 brilliant constellations, and that though the southern firma- 
 ment is embellished by its own, they are neither m the same 
 number, nor of the same beauty. To the impressions made 
 by such objects, the men of the primitive ages were certainly 
 far more alive than those of the present day; and an obscure 
 feelino- for nature, grounded on the real natural superiority of 
 the north, as well as the poetical Sagas which were in part the 
 natural offspring of such feelings, may have contributed to 
 direct the stream of the first migrations of nations towards 
 the north, and have occasioned the very early colonisation 
 and settlement of its regions : for, in primitive antiquity, a 
 certain presentient instinct, it is right to suppose, was much 
 oftener the primary cause of those migrations than such a 
 spirit of commercial speculation as afterwards animated the 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 81 
 
 Phoenicians and their various colonies. We may here also 
 observe, that even in its present state, the remoter north has 
 its own peculiar charms and advantages, and that by human 
 industry it may attain to a much higher degree of productive- 
 ness, than we should be at first-sight tempted to suppose. In 
 this sense ought to be taken the tradition of antiquity, as to 
 the happy and virtuous people of the Hyperboreans; and it 
 is easy to understand it in this sense without infering thence 
 too many consequences. If, on the other hand, some able and 
 learned naturalists, led away by this fact, appear almost inclined 
 to regard the region of the North Pole, once in the enjoyment 
 of a warm southern temperature, as one of the earliest, nay, 
 the very earliest abode of the human race ; I cannot follow 
 them in their hypothesis, opposed as it is to the positive and 
 unanimous tradition of many and most ancient nations, pointing 
 with one concurrent voice to Central Asia as man's primitive 
 dwelling-place. It appears, indeed, that the tradition of anti- 
 quity as to the Island of Atlantis ought to be considered 
 historical ; but instead of regarding this country as an island 
 of the Blessed situated in the arctic circle, I think it much 
 more natural to refer the whole tradition to an obscure nautical 
 knowledge of America, or of those adjacent islands at which 
 Columbus first touched, and to which the Phoenician pilots (who 
 beyond all doubt circumnavigated Africa), may not improbably 
 have been driven in the course of their voyage. 
 
 I have laid it down as an invariable maxim constantly to 
 follow historical tradition and to hold fast by that clue, even 
 when many things, in the testimony and declarations of tradition, 
 appear strange and almost inexplicable, or at least enigmatical : 
 for so soon as in the investigations of ancient history we let 
 slip that thread of Ariadne, we can find no outlet from the 
 labyrinth of fanciful theories, and the chaos of clashing 
 opinions. For this reason I cannot concur in the very violent 
 hypothesis which a celebrated geologist towards the close of 
 the last century, M. De Luc, has hazarded respecting the 
 deluge, and which the excellent Stolberg has adopted in his 
 great historical work ;* although the author of this theory, so 
 far from intending to oppose it to the Mosaic account of the 
 
 * The History of Religion of Count Frederick Stolberg;— u noble 
 monument raised by genius and learning to the honour of Religion.— 
 Trans. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 deluge, or to set aside the narrative of the inspired hisW ; ..^ 
 conceived his hypothesis was calculated to furnish the strongest 
 confirmation and clearest illustration of the sacred text. But 
 I cannot reconcile his theory either with Holy Writ, or with 
 the general testimony of historical tradition. The supposition 
 is this, that the deluge was not a general inundation of the 
 whole earth, according to the ordinary belief, but a mere 
 change of the solid and fluid parts of the earth's surface, a dyna- 
 mical transmutation of land and sea, so that what was formerly 
 land became sea, and vice versa\ This is much more than can 
 be found in the old account of the Noachian flood, or than a 
 sound critical interpretation would infer ; and the supposition 
 that the names of rivers and countries occurring in the Bible, 
 refer to those objects as they existed in the original dry land ; 
 and are again to be transferred to similar objects in the new 
 land that sprung up with, or after, or out of the deluge ; this 
 supposition, I say, bears too evidently the stamp of arbitrary 
 conjecture, to gain admission and credit with those who have 
 taken historical tradition for their guide. If by the geological 
 facts which offer, or which we think offer, satisfactory proof, 
 not only of the general Noachian flood, but of more than one 
 deluge and of still more violent catastrophes of nature ; if by 
 these geological facts before our eyes, such a total revolution 
 and dynamic transmutation of land and sea were really proved 
 (and the character of these proofs I must abandon to the 
 investigation and judgment of others); this great revolution 
 examined in an historical point of view, and in reference to 
 the Mosaic history, must then be rather referred to that elder 
 period, whereof it is said : " The earth was without form and 
 void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep ; but the 
 Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." 
 
 These words which announce the presage of a new morn of 
 creation, not only represent a darker and wilder state of the 
 globe, but very clearly show the element of water to be still 
 in predominant force. Even the division of the elements of 
 the waters above the firmament, and of the waters below it, on 
 the second day of creation — the permanent limitation of the 
 sea for the formation and visible appearance of dry land, neces- 
 sarily imply a mighty revolution in the earth, and afford 
 additional proof that the Mosaic history speaks not only of 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 83 
 
 one, but of several catastrophes of nature ; a circumstance that 
 has not been near enough attended to in the geological inter- 
 pretation and illustration of the Bible. But to the bold and 
 ill-founded hypothesis above-mentioned, many geological facts 
 may be opposed, for in the midst of vast tracts and strata of an 
 ancient bottom of the sea, many spots are found covered -with 
 the accumulated remains of land animals, with trunks of trees 
 and various other products of vegetation, pertaining not to the 
 sea, but to dry land. 
 
 With the clearest and most indubitable precision, the Mosaic 
 history fixes the primitive dwelling-place of man in that central 
 region of Western Asia situate near two great rivers, and amid 
 four inland seas, the Persian and Arabian gulfs on the one hand, 
 and the Caspian and Mediterranean seas on the other, and which 
 is likewise designated for the same purpose by the concurrent 
 traditions of most other primitive nations. The ancient tra- 
 dition of the European nations as to their own origin and 
 early history, conducts the inquirer constantly to the Cau- 
 casian regions, to Asia Minor, to Phoenicia, and to Egypt ; 
 countries all of them contiguous to, in the vicinity and even on 
 the coast of, that central region. Among the primitive Asiatic 
 nations, the Chinese place the cradle of their origin and civilisa- 
 tion in the north-western province of Shensee ; and the Indians 
 fix theirs towards the north of the Himalaya Mountains. Thus 
 this last tradition points to Bactriana, which, as it borders 
 on Persia, approximates consequently to that central region; 
 whereof the holy and primitive country of the Persian Sagas, 
 Atropatena or land of fire, now known by the name of Adher- 
 bijan, forms a part. With a clearness and precision which admit 
 of no doubt, the Mosaic history designates the two great rivers 
 of that central region, the Tigris and Euphrates, by the same 
 names which they have ever afterwards borne; and even the 
 name of Eden, down to a later period, was affixed to a country 
 near Damascus, and to another in Assyria. The third river of 
 Paradise has been sought for by some in a more northerly di- 
 rection — in the region of Mount Caucasus ; and though not 
 with equal certainty as in the other two instances, they have 
 thought to find it in the Phasis. The fourth river towards the 
 south, the old interpreters generally took to be the Nile; but 
 the description of its course is so widely different from the pre- 
 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 gent situation of that river, and the present geography of the 
 whole of those regions, that here at least a very great change 
 must have occurred, in order to occasion this discrepancy be- 
 tween the old description of this river's course, and the present 
 geography of the country. 
 
 In another circumstance also, which lias been mostly too 
 little attended to, this disparity between the Mosaic descrip- 
 tion and the present conformation of those regions is particu- 
 larly striking. The geography of the rivers of Paradise, at least 
 of two or three, may be easily traced, though the fourth remains 
 a matter of uncertainty ; but the one source of Paradise in 
 which those four rivers had their rise, in order thence to spread 
 and diffuse fertility over the whole earth — this one source 
 which is precisely the object of most importance, can nowhere 
 be found on the earth ; whether it be dried or filled up, or how- 
 soever it has been removed. In attending to some indications 
 in Scripture, and without transgressing the due limits of inter- 
 pretation, may we not be permitted to conjecture that the first 
 chastisement inflicted on man by expulsion from his first glo- 
 rious habitation and primeval home, may have been accom- 
 panied by a change in Paradise brought about by some natural 
 convulsion? To judge by analogy, and from circumstances, 
 which even a passage in Holy Writ alludes to, this convulsion 
 must have been rather a volcanic eruption, by which even at 
 the present day the sources of rivers are dried up, and their 
 course completely changed, than a mere inundation that we are 
 ever wont to regard as the sole possible cause of physical revo- 
 lutions. Many vestiges of such changes may perhaps be proved 
 from even geological observation; — thus to cite only one ex- 
 ample, the Dead Sea in Palestine itself may be included in the 
 number of those lakes that bear very evident traces of a volcanic 
 origin. The supposition, however, which we have ventured to 
 make, must not be looked upon in the light of a formal hypo- 
 thesis, but rather as a question dictated by a love of inquiry, and 
 by a desire for the further elucidation of a subject not yet suf- 
 ficiently understood. 
 
 Thus have I now taken a general survey of the early condi- 
 tion of the globe, considered as the habitation of man, and as 
 far as was necessary for that object ; and in this rapid sketch I 
 have endeavoured, as far as was possible for a layman, to place 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 85 
 
 in the clearest light the most remarkable and best attested 
 facts and discoveries of geology, with a constant attention to 
 the testimony of primitive and historical tradition. No longer 
 embarrassed by these physical discussions, we may now proceed 
 to meet the main question : " What relation hath man to this 
 his habitation — earth ; what place doth he occupy therein ; and 
 what rank doth he hold among the other creatures and co- 
 habitants of this globe ; what is his proper destiny upon, and in 
 relation to, the earth ; and what is it which really constitutes 
 him man ?" 
 
 The absolute, and, for that reason, pagan system of natural 
 philosophy spoken of above, has indeed, in these latter times, had 
 the courage, laudable perhaps in the perverse course which it 
 had taken, to rank man with the ape, as a peculiar species of 
 the general kind. When in its anatomical investigations, it 
 has numbered the various characteristics of this human ape, 
 according to the number of its vertebrae, its toes, &c, it con- 
 cedes to man, as his distinguishing quality, not what we are 
 wont to call reason, perfectibility, or the faculty of speech, but 
 "a capacity for constitutions!" Thus man would be a liberal 
 ape ! And so far from disagreeing with the author of this 
 opinion, we think man may undoubtedly become so to a certain 
 extent, although the idea that he was originally nothing more 
 than a nobler or better disciplined ape is alike opposed to the 
 voice of history, and the testimony of natural science. If in 
 the examination of man's nature we will confine our view ex- 
 clusively to the lower world of animals, I should say that the 
 possible contagion and communication of various diseases, and 
 organic properties and powers of animals, would prove in man 
 rather a greater sympathy and affinity of organic life and animal 
 blood with the cow, the sheep, the camel, the horse, and the 
 elephant, than with the ape. Even in the venomous serpent 
 and the mad dog, this deadly affinity of blood and this fearful 
 contact of internal life exist in a different and nearer degree, 
 than have yet been discovered in the ape. The docility, too, of 
 the elephant and other generous animals, bears much stronger 
 marks of analogy with reason than the cunning of the ape, in 
 which the native sense of a sound, unprejudiced mind will 
 always recognise an unsuccessful and abortive imitation of man. 
 The resemblance of physiognomy and east of countenance in 
 
86 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 the lion, the bull, and the eagle, to the human face — a resem- 
 blance so celebrated in sculpture and the imitative arts, and 
 which was interwoven into the whole mythology and symbolism 
 of the ancients — this resemblance is founded on far deeper and 
 more spiritual ideas than any mere comparison of dead bones in 
 an animal skeleton can suggest. 
 
 The extremes of error, when it has reached the height of 
 extravagance, often accelerate the return to truth; and thus 
 to the assertion that man is nothing more than a liberalised 
 ape, we may boldly answer that man, on the contrary, was 
 originally, and by the very constitution of his being, designed 
 to be the lord of creation, and, though in a subordinate degree, 
 the legitimate ruler of the earth and of the world around him 
 — the vicegerent of God in nature. And if he no longer 
 enjoys this high prerogative to its full extent, as he might and 
 ought to have done, he has only himself to blame ; if he exer- 
 cises his empire over creatures rather by indirect means and 
 mechanical agency than by the immediate power and native 
 energy of his own intellectual pre-eminence, he still is the lord 
 of creation, and has retained much of the power and dignity 
 he once received, did he but always make a right use of that 
 power. 
 
 The distinguishing characteristic of man, and the peculiar 
 eminence of his nature and his destiny, as these are universally 
 felt and acknowledged by mankind, are usually defined to con- 
 sist, either in reason, or in the faculty of speech. But this 
 definition is defective in this respect, that, on one hand, reason 
 is a mere abstract faculty, which to be judged, requires a 
 psychological investigation or analysis ; and that, on the other 
 hand, the faculty of speech is a mere potentiality, or a germ 
 which must be unfolded before it can become a real entity. 
 We should therefore give a much more correct and compre- 
 hensive definition, if, instead of this, we said : The peculiar 
 pre-eminence of man consists in this — that to him alone 
 among all other of earth's creatures, the word has been im- 
 parted and communicated. The word actually delivered and 
 really communicated is not a mere dead faculty, but an histori- 
 cal reality and occurrence ; and for that very reason, the defini- 
 tion we have given stands much more fitly at the head of 
 a story, than the other more abstract one. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 87 
 
 In the idea of the word, considered as the basis of man's 
 dignity and peculiar destination, the internal light of conscious- 
 ness and of our own understanding, is undoubtedly first included 
 — this word is not a mere faculty of speech, but the fertile root 
 whence the stately trunk of all language has sprung. But the 
 word is not confined to this only — it next includes a living, 
 working power — it is not merely an object and organ of know- 
 ledge^ — an instrument of teaching and learning ; — but the 
 medium of affectionate union and conciliatory accommodation, 
 judicial arbitrement and efficacious command, or even creative 
 productiveness, as our own experience and life itself manifest 
 each of those significations of the word ; and thus it embraces 
 the whole plenitude of the excellencies and qualities which cha- 
 racterise man. 
 
 Nature, too, has her mute language and her symbolical 
 writing ; but she requires a discerning intellect to gain the key 
 to her secrets, to unravel her profound enigmas ; and, piercing 
 through her mysteries, interpret the hidden sense of her word, 
 and thus reveal the fulness of her glory. But he, to whom 
 alone among all earth's creatures, the word has been imparted, 
 has been for that reason constituted the lord and ruler of the 
 earth. As soon, however, as he abandons that divine principle 
 implanted in his breast ; as soon as he loses that word of life 
 which had been communicated and confided to him; he sinks 
 down to a level with nature, and from her lord, becomes her 
 vassal ; and here commences the history of man. 
 
 BHD OF LECTURE I, 
 
88 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 ON THE DISPUTE IN PRIMITIVE HISTORY, AND ON THE 
 DIVISION OF THE HUMAN RACE. 
 
 " In the beginning man had the word, and that word was from God." 
 
 Thus the divine, Promethean spark in the human breast, when 
 more accurately described and expressed in less figurative lan- 
 guage, springs from the word originally communicated or 
 intrusted to man, as that wherein consist his peculiar nature, 
 his intellectual dignity, and his high destination. — The preg- 
 nant expression borrowed above from the New Testament, on 
 the mystery and internal nature of God, may, with some varia- 
 tion, and bating, as is evident, the immense distance between 
 the creature and the Creator, be applied to man and his pri- 
 mitive condition ; and may serve as a superscription or intro- 
 duction to primitive history in the following terms : " In the 
 beginning man had the word, and that word was from God — 
 and out of the living power communicated to man in and by 
 that word, came the light of his existence." — This is at least the 
 divine foundation of all history — it falls not properly within 
 the domain of history, but is anterior to it. To this position 
 the state of nature among savages forms no valid objection ; 
 for that this was the really original condition of mankind is by 
 no means proved, and is arbitrarily assumed ; nay, on the con- 
 trary, the savage state must be looked upon as a state of de- 
 generacy and degradation — consequently not as the first, but 
 as the second, phenomenon in human history — as something 
 which, as it has resulted from this second step in man's pro- 
 gress, must be regarded as of a later origin. 
 
 In history, as in all science and in life itself, the principal 
 point on which every thing turns, and the all-deciding problem, 
 is, whether all things should be deduced from God, and God 
 himself should be considered the first, nature the second exis- 
 tence — the latter holding undoubtedly a very important place, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 89 
 
 or, whether, in the inverse order, the precedency should be 
 given to nature, and, as invariably happens in such cases, all 
 things should be deduced from nature only, whereby the 
 Deity, though not by express unequivocal words, yet in fact is 
 indirectly set aside, or remains at least unknown. This ques- 
 tion cannot be settled, nor brought to a conclusion, by mere 
 dialectic strife, which rarely leads to its object. It is the will 
 which here mostly decides; and, according to the nature and 
 leaning of his character, leads the individual to choose between 
 the two opposite paths, the one he would follow in speculation 
 and in science, in faith and in life. 
 
 Thus much at least we may say, in reference to the science 
 of history, that they who in that department will consider 
 nature only, and view man but with the eye of a naturalist 
 (specious and plausible as their reasons may at first sight 
 appear), will never rightly comprehend the world and reality of 
 history, and never obtain an adequate conception, nor exhibit 
 an intelligible representation of its phenomena. On the other 
 hand, if we proceed not solely and exclusively from nature, but 
 first from God and that beginning of nature appointed by God, 
 so this is by no means a degradation or misapprehension of 
 nature ; nor does it imply any hostility towards nature — an 
 hostility which could arise only from a very defective, erroneous, 
 or narrow-minded conception of historical philosophy. On the 
 contrary, experience has proved that by this course of speculation 
 we are led more thoroughly to comprehend the glory of God in 
 nature^ and the magnificence of nature herself — a course of spe- 
 culation quite consistent with the full recognition of nature's 
 rights, and the share due to her in the history and progress of 
 man. 
 
 Regarded in an historical point of view, man was created 
 free — there lay two paths before him — he had to choose 
 between the one, conducting to the realms above, and the 
 other, leading to the regions below; — and thus at least he was 
 endowed with the faculty of two different wills. Had he 
 remained steadfast in his first will — that pure emanation of the 
 Deity — had he remained true to the word which God had com- 
 municated to him — he would have had but one will. He 
 would, however, have still been free ; but his freedom would 
 have resembled that of the heavenly spirits, whom we must not 
 imagine to be devoid of freedom because they are no longer in 
 
90 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 a state of trial, and can never be separated from God. We 
 should, besides, greatly err, if we figured to ourselves the Para- 
 disaic state of the first man as one of happy indolence; for, 
 in truth, it was far otherwise designed, and it is clearly and 
 expressly said that our first parent was placed in the garden of 
 the earth to guard and cultivate it. " To guard," because an 
 enemy was to be at hand, against whom it behoved to watch and 
 to contend. " To cultivate," possibly in a very different man- 
 ner, yet still with labour, though, doubtless, a labour blessed 
 with far richer and more abundant recompense than afterwards, 
 when, on man's account, the earth was charged with malediction. 
 
 This first divine law of nature, if we may so speak, by virtue 
 of which labour and struggle became from the beginning the des- 
 tiny of man, has retained its full force through all succeeding 
 ages, and is applicable alike to every class, and every nation, 
 to each individual as well as to mankind in general, to the 
 most important, as to the most insignificant, relations of 
 society. He who weakly shrinks from the struggle, who will 
 offer no resistance, who will endure no labour nor fatigue, can 
 neither fulfil his own vocation, whatever it be, nor contribute 
 aught to the general welfare of mankind. But since man hath 
 been the prey of discord, two different wills have contended 
 within him for the mastery — a divine and a natural will. Even 
 his freedom is no longer that happy freedom of celestial peace 
 — the freedom of one who hath conquered and triumphed — but 
 a freedom, as we now see it — the freedom of undetermined 
 choice — of arduous, still undecided, struggle. To return to 
 the divine will, or the one comformable to God — to restore har- 
 mony between the natural and the divine will, and to convert 
 and transform more and more the lower, earthly, and natural 
 will into the higher and divine one, is the great task of man- 
 kind in general, as of each individual in particular. And this 
 return — this restoration — this transformation — all the endea- 
 vours after such — the progress or retrogressions . in this path — 
 constitute an essential part of universal history, so far as this 
 embraces the moral development and intellectual march of 
 humanity. But the fact that man, so soon as he loses the 
 internal sheet-anchor of truth and life — so soon as he abandons 
 the eternal law of divine ordinance, falls immediately under 
 the dominion of nature, and becomes her bondsman, each indi- 
 vidual may learn from his own interior, his own experience, and 
 
HISTORY 
 
 91 
 
 a survey of life ; since the violent disorderly might of passion 
 herself is only a blind power of nature acting within us. Al- 
 though this fact is historical, and indeed the first of all histo- 
 rical facts, yet as it belongs to all mankind, and recurs in each 
 individual, it may be regarded as a psychological fact and phe- 
 nomenon of human consciousness. And on this very account 
 it does not precisely fall within the limits of history, and it 
 precedes all history ; but all the consequences or possible con- 
 sequences of this fact, all the consequences that have really 
 occurred, are within the essential province of history. 
 
 The next consequence which, after this internal discord had 
 broken out in the consciousness and life of man, flowed from 
 the development of this principle, was the division of the 
 single race of man into a plurality of nations, and the conse- 
 quent diversity of languages. As long as the internal harmony 
 of the soul was undisturbed and unbroken, and the light of 
 the mind unclouded by sin, language could be nought else 
 than the simple and beautiful copy or expression of internal 
 serenity ; and, consequently, there could be but one speech. 
 But after the internal word, which had been communicated by 
 God to man, had become obscured; after man's connexion 
 with his Creator had been broken ; even outward language 
 necessarily fell into disorder and confusion. The simple and 
 divine truth was overlaid with various and sensual fictions, 
 buried under illusive symbols, and at last perverted into a 
 horrible phantom. Even Nature, that, like a clear mirror of 
 God's creation, had originally lain revealed and transparent 
 to the unclouded eye of man, became now more and more 
 unintelligible, strange, and fearful ; once fallen away from 
 his God, man fell more and more into a state of internal con" 
 flict and confusion. Thus there sprang up a multitude of 
 languages, alien one from the other, and varying with every 
 climate, in proportion as mankind became morally disunited, 
 geographically divided and dispersed, and even distinguished 
 by an organic diversity of form; — for when man had once 
 fallen under the power and dominion of nature, his physical 
 conformation changed with every climate. As a plant or 
 animal indigenous to Africa or America has a totally different 
 form and constitution in Asia, so it is with man ; and the races 
 of mankind form so many specific variations of the same kind, 
 from the negro to the copper-coloured American and the 
 
92 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 savage islander of the South Sea. The expression races, how- 
 ever, applied to man, involves something abhorrent from his high 
 uplifted spirit, and debasing to its native dignity. This diversity 
 of races among men no one ought to exaggerate in a manner 
 so as to raise doubts as to the identity of their origin ; for, 
 according to a general organic law, which indeed is allowed to 
 hold good in the natural history of animals, races capable of a 
 prolific union, must be considered of the same origin, and as 
 constituting the same species. Even the apparent chaos of 
 different languages may be classed into kindred families, which, 
 though separated by the distance of half the globe, seem still 
 very closely allied. Of these different families of tongues, 
 the first and most eminent are those by which their internal 
 beauty, and the noble spirit breathing through them and 
 apparent in their whole construction, demote for the most part 
 a higher origin and divine inspiration ; and, much as all these 
 languages differ from each other, they appear, after all, to be 
 merely branches of one common stem. 
 
 The American tribes appear, indeed, to be singularly 
 strange, and to stand at a fearful distance from the rest of 
 mankind ; yet the European writer,* most deeply conversant 
 with those nations and their languages, has found in their 
 traditions and tongues, and even in their manners and customs, 
 many positive and incontestable points of analogy with Eastern 
 Asia and its inhabitants. 
 
 When man had once fallen from virtue, no determinable 
 limit could be assigned to his degradation, nor how far he might 
 descend by degrees, and approximate even to the level of the 
 brute ; for, as from his origin he was a being essentially free, 
 he was in consequence capable of change, and even in his 
 organic powers most flexible. 
 
 We must adopt this principle as the only clue to guide us in 
 our inquires, from the negro who, as well from his bodily 
 strength and agility, as from his docile and in general excellent 
 character is far from occupying the lowest grade in the scale of 
 humanity, down to the monstrous Patagonian, the almost im- 
 becile Peshwerais, and the horrible cannibal of New Zealand, 
 whose very portrait excites a shudder in the beholder. How, 
 even in the midst of civilisation, man may degenerate into 
 
 Schlegel alludes to Alexander von Humboldt.— Tram. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 93 
 
 the savage state; to what a pitch of moral degradation he 
 may descend, those can attest who have had opportunities of 
 investigating more closely the criminal history of great cul- 
 prits, and even, at some periods, the history of whole nations. 
 In fact, every revolution is a transient period of barbarism, 
 in which man, while he displays partial examples of the 
 most heroic virtue and generous self-devotion, is often half a 
 savage. Nay, a war conducted with great animosity and 
 protracted to extremities, may easily degenerate into such a 
 state of savage ferocity : hence it is the highest glory of truly 
 civilised nations to repress and subdue, by the sentiment of ho- 
 nour, by a system of severe discipline, and by a generous code of 
 warfare, respected alike by all the belligerent parties, that ten- 
 dency and proneness to cruelty and barbarity inherent in man. 
 
 Among the different tribes of savages, there are many, indeed, 
 that appear to be of a character incomparably better and more 
 noble than those above-mentioned; yet, after the first ever so 
 favourable impression, a closer investigation will almost always 
 discover in them very bad traits of character and manners. — 
 So far from seeking with Rousseau and his disciples for the true 
 origin of mankind, and the proper foundation of the social com- 
 pact, in the condition even of the best and noblest savages ; 
 and so little disposed are we to remodel society upon this boasted 
 ideal of a pretended state of nature, that we regard it, on the 
 contrary, as a state of degeneracy and degradation. Thus in 
 his origin, and by nature, man is no savage : — he may, indeed, 
 at any time and in any place, and even at the present day, be- 
 come one easily and rapidly, but in general, not by a sudden 
 fall, but by a slow and gradual declension ; and we the more 
 willingly adopt this view as there are many historical grounds 
 of probability that, in the origin of mankind, this second fall of 
 man was not immediate and total, but slow and gradual, and 
 that consequently all those tribes which we call savage are of 
 the same origin with the noblest and most civilised nations, 
 and have only by degrees descended to their present state of 
 brutish degradation. 
 
 Even the division of the human race into a plurality of nations, 
 and the chaotic diversity of human tongues, appear, from his- 
 torical tradition, to have become general and complete only at 
 a more advanced period ; for, in the beginning, mention is made 
 but of one separation of mankind into two races or hostile classes. 
 
94 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 I use the general expression historical tradition ; for the brief 
 and almost enigmatical, but very significant and pregnant 
 words, in which the first great outward discord, or conflict of 
 mankind in primitive history, is represented in the Mosaic nar- 
 rative, are corroborated in a very remarkable degree by the 
 Sagas of other nations, among which I may instance in particular 
 those of the Greeks and the Indians. Although this primitive 
 conflict, or opposition among men, is represented in these tra- 
 ditions under various local colours, and not without some ad- 
 mixture of poetical embellishment, yet this circumstance serves 
 only for the better confirmation of the fundamental truth, if we 
 separate the essential matter from the adventitious details. 
 Before I attempt to place in a clearer light this first great his- 
 torical event, whicb, indeed, constitutes the main subject of all 
 primitive history, by showing the strong concurrence of the 
 many and various authorities attesting it ; it may be proper to 
 call your attention to a third fundamental canon of historical 
 criticism, which, indeed, requires no lengthened demonstration, 
 and is merely this, that in all inquiries, particularly into ancient 
 and primitive history, we must not re;ect as impossible or im- 
 probable whatever strikes us at first as strange or marvellous. 
 For it often happens that a closer investigation and a deeper 
 knowledge of a subject proves those things precisely to be true, 
 which at the first view or impression, appeared to us as the most 
 singular ; while, on the other hand, if we persist in estimating 
 truth and probability by the sole standard of objects vulgar and 
 familiar to ourselves ; and if we will apply this exclusive standard 
 to a world and to ages so totally different, and so widely remote 
 from our own, we shall be certainly led into the most violent 
 and most erroneous hypotheses. 
 
 In entering on this subject we must observe that, in the 
 Mosaic account, primit^e and, what we call, universal history, 
 does not properly commence with the first man, his creation or 
 ulterior destiny, but with Cain — the fratricide and curse of 
 Cain. The preceding part of the sacred narrative regards, if 
 we may so speak, only the private life of Adam, which, how- 
 ever, will always retain a deep significancy for all the descendants 
 of the first progenitor. 
 
 The origin of discord in man, and the transmission of that 
 mischief to all ages and all generations, is, indeed, the first 
 historical fact ; but on account of its universality, it forms, at 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 95 
 
 the same time, as I have before observed, a psychological phe- 
 nomenon ; and while, in this first section of sacred history, 
 every thing points and refers to the mysteries of religion ; the 
 fratricide of Cain on the other hand, and the flight of that 
 restless criminal to Eastern Asia, are the first events and cir- 
 cumstances which properly belong to the province of history. 
 In this account we see first the foundation of the most ancient 
 city, by which undoubtedly we must understand a great, or at 
 least an old and celebrated city of Eastern Asia ; and, secondly, 
 the origin of various hereditary classes, trades, and arts ; espe- 
 cially of those connected with the first knowledge and use of 
 metals, and which, doubtless, hold the first place in the history 
 of human arts and discoveries. 
 
 The music, which is attributed to those primitive ages, con- 
 sisted, probably, rather in a medicinal or even magical use of 
 that art, than in the beautiful system of later melody. Among 
 the various works and instruments of smithcraft, and productions 
 of art which the knowledge of mines and metals led to, the 
 momentous discovery of the sword is particularly mentioned : 
 by the brief enigmatic words which relate this discovery, it is 
 difficult to know whether we are to understand them as the 
 expression of a spirit of warlike enthusiasm, or of a renewed 
 curse and dire wailing over all the succeeding centuries of he- 
 reditary murder, and progressive evil, under the divine per- 
 mission. In all probability, these words refer to the origin of 
 human sacrifices, emanating as they did from an infernal design, 
 which we must consider as one of the strongest characteristics 
 of this race ; and those bloody sacrifices of the primitive world 
 seem to have stamped on the rites and customs, as well as on 
 the traditions and sentiments of many nations, a peculiar cha- 
 racter of gloom and sadness. From this race were descended 
 not only the inhabitant s of cities, but no made tribes, whereof 
 many led, several thousand years ago, the same wandering life 
 which they follow at the present day in the central parts of 
 Eastern Asia, where vast remains of primitive mining operations 
 are frequently found. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that, among one of these nations, 
 the Ishudes, who inhabit a metallic mountain, we find, if we 
 may so speak, an inverted history of Cain ; mention is made 
 of the enmity between the first two brothers of mankind, but 
 all the circumstances are set forth in a party-spirit favourable 
 
96 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 to Cain. It is said that the elder brother acquired wealth by 
 gold and silver mines, but that the younger, becoming envious, 
 drove him away, and forced him to take refuge in the East.* 
 
 So is the race of Cain and Cain's sons represented from its 
 origin, as one attached to the arts, versed in the use of metals, 
 disinclined to peace, and addicted to habits of warfare and 
 violence, as again at a later period, it appears in Scripture as a 
 haughty and wicked race of giants. 
 
 On the other hand, the peaceful race of Patriarchs who 
 lived in a docile reverence of God and with a holy simplicity 
 of manners, were descended from Seth. This second progenitor 
 of mankind occupies a very prominent place even in the tradi- 
 tions of other nations, which make particular mention of the 
 columns of Seth, signifying no doubt in the language of 
 remote antiquity, very ancient monuments, and, as it were, the 
 stony records of sacred tradition. In general, the first ten 
 holy Progenitors or Patriarchs of the primitive world are 
 mentioned under different names in the Sagas, not only of the 
 Indians, but of several other Asiatic nations, though undoubt- 
 edly with important variations, and not without much poetical 
 colouring. But as in these traditions we can clearly discern 
 the same general traits of history, this diversity of representa- 
 tion serves only to corroborate the main truth, and to illustrate 
 it more fully and forcibly. The views, therefore, of those 
 modern theologians, who represent the concurrent testimony of 
 Gentile nations to the truths of primitive history as derived 
 solely from the Mosaic narrative, and, as it were, transcribed 
 from a genuine copy of our Bible, are equally narrow-minded 
 and erroneous. 
 
 It would be more just and more consonant with the whole 
 spirit of the primitive world, to assert, what indeed may be 
 conceded with little difficulty, that these nations had received 
 much from the primeval source of sacred tradition ; but they 
 regarded as a peculiar possession, and represented under pe- 
 culiar forms, the common blessings of primitive revelation; 
 and, instead of preserving in their integrity and purity the 
 traditions and oracles of the primitive world, they overlaid 
 them with poetical ornament, so that their whole traditions 
 wear a fabulous aspect, until a nearer and more patient inves- 
 
 * See Bitter's Geography, Jst part, page 548,— 1st Edition in Ger- 
 man. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 97 
 
 tigation clearly discovers in them the main features of historic 
 truth. 
 
 Under these two different forms, therefore, doth tradition 
 reveal to us the primitive world, or, in other words, these are 
 the two grand conditions of humanity which fill the records 
 of primitive history. On the one hand, we see a race, lovers 
 of peace, revering God, blessed with long life, which they 
 spend in patriarchal simplicity and innocence, and still no 
 strangers to deeper science, especially in all that relates to 
 sacred tradition and inward contemplation, and transmitting 
 their science to posterity in the old or symbolical writing, 
 not in fragile volumes, but on durable monuments of stone. 
 On the other hand, we behold a giant race of pretended demi- 
 gods, proud, wicked, and violent, or, as they are called 
 in the later Sagas of the heroic times, the heaven-storming 
 Titans. 
 
 This opposition, and this discord — this hostile struggle 
 between the two great divisions of the human race, forms the 
 whole tenure of primitive history. When the moral harmony 
 of man had once been deranged, and two opposite wills had 
 sprung up within him, a divine will or a will-seeking God, 
 and a natural will or a will bent on sensible objects, passionate 
 and ambitious, it is easy to conceive how mankind from their 
 very origin must have diverged into two opposite paths. 
 
 Although this primitive division of mankind is now charac- 
 terised as a difference of races, this is far from being merely 
 the case ; and that opposition which distracted the primitive 
 world had far deeper causes than the mere distinction of a 
 noble and a meaner race of men. It is somewhat in this manner 
 a German scholar of the last generation divided all nations now 
 existing, or which have appeared within the later historical ages, 
 into two classes ; wherever he imagined he found his favourite 
 Celts and their descendants, he had not words strong enough to 
 extol their romantic heroism ; while he pursued with the most 
 pitiless animosity, over the whole face of the earth, the unfor- 
 tunate Monguls, and all those he deduced from that stock. 
 The struggle which divided the primitive world into two great 
 parties, arose far more from the opposition of feelings and of 
 principles, than from difference of extraction. Great as is 
 the interval which separates those ages and that world from our 
 own, we can easily comprehend how this first mighty contest of 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 nations, which history makes mention of, was, in fact, a struggle 
 between two religious parties — two hostile sects, though 
 indeed under far other forms, and in different relations 
 from any thing we witness in the present state of the world. 
 It was, in one word, a contest between religion and impiety, 
 conducted, however, on the mighty scale of the primitive world, 
 and with all those gigantic powers which, according to ancient 
 tradition, the first men possessed.* 
 
 The Greek Sagas represent this two-fold state of mankind 
 in the primitive ante-historical ages in a very peculiar manner, 
 as the gradual decline and corruption of successive generations; 
 of this kind is the tradition of the ages of the world, whereof 
 four or five are numbered. The Golden age of human felicity 
 and the Brazen age of all-ruling violence form the two essen- 
 tial terms of this tradition ; and the intermediate ages are 
 mere links, or points of transition, to render the account more 
 complete. 
 
 In the age of Saturn, the first race allied to the gods lived 
 in peace and happiness, and were blessed with eternal youth; 
 the earth poured forth her fruits and gifts in spontaneous 
 
 * We must npt suppose that the impiety of the Cainites was of a 
 dogmatic kind. How could those primitive men, living so near the 
 Fountain-head of revelation, conversing with those who had witnessed 
 the rise and first development of man's marvellous history, endowed 
 with that quick, intuitive science which, in the operations of external 
 nature, revealed to them the agency of invisible spirits, witnessing the 
 wondrous manifestations of God's love and power, the active ministry 
 of his messengers of light ; and, lastly, engaged themselves in a close 
 communication with the infernal powers: how could they, I say, fall 
 into atheism or any other species of speculative unbelief? Their impiety 
 was of a more practical nature, displaying itself in a daring violation of 
 the precepts of Heaven, and in the practice of a dark, mysterious magic. 
 By the allurements of sense, and the fascination of their false science, 
 they by degrees inveigled the great mass of mankind into their errors. 
 Their vast powers, supported and strengthened by infernal agency, 
 were calculated to introduce disorder and confusion in the economy of 
 the moral and physical universe, and to let loose on this probationary 
 world the science of the abyss. What do I say? The barrier between 
 the visible and invisible world would have been broken down — Hell 
 would have ruled the earth, had not the Almighty, by an awful judg- 
 ment, buried the guilty race of men and their infernal knowledge in the 
 waters of the Deluge. In the race of Cham, however, which perpe- 
 tuated so many traditions of the early Cainites, some fragments of this 
 ante-diluvian science of evil were preserved; and traces of it may still 
 be discerned among the worshippers of Siva in India. — Trans, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 99 
 
 abundance, and even the end of human life was not a real or 
 painful death, but a gentle slumber into another and higher 
 world of immortal spirits. But the next generation in the age 
 of Silver is represented as wicked, devoid of reverence for the 
 gods, and giving loose to every turbulent passion. In the 
 Brazen age this state of crime and disorder reached its highest 
 pitch; lordly violence was the characteristic of the rude and 
 gigantic Titans. Their arms were of copper and their instru- 
 ments and utensils of brass, and even, in the construction of 
 their edifices, they made use of copper; for as the old poet 
 says, " black iron was not then known ;" a circumstance which 
 we must consider as strictly historical, and as characteristic of 
 the primitive nations. Between this and the following age, the 
 better heroic race of poetical and even historic tradition is 
 somewhat strangely introduced ; and the whole series of gene- 
 rations is closed by the Iron age, the present and last period of 
 the world — the term of man's progressive degeneracy. 
 
 This idea of a gradual and deeper degradation of human 
 kind in each succeeding age, appears at first sight not to 
 accord very well with the testimony which sacred tradition 
 furnishes on man's primitive state ; for it represents the two 
 races of the primitive world as contemporary ; and indeed 
 Seth, the progenitor of the better and nobler race of virtuous 
 Patriarchs, was much younger than Cain. However, this con- 
 tradiction is only apparent, if we reflect that it was the wicked 
 and violent race which drew the other into its disorders, and 
 that it was from this contamination a giant corruption sprang, 
 which continually increased till, with a trifling exception, it 
 pervaded the whole mass of mankind, and till the justice of 
 God required the extirpation of degenerate humanity by one 
 universal Flood. 
 
 In the Indian Sagas the two races of the primitive world are 
 represented in a state of continual or perpetually-renewed war- 
 fare -wicked nations of giants attack one or other of the two 
 Brahminical races that descend from the virtuous Patriarchs ; 
 generous and divinely-inspired heroes come to their assistance, 
 and achieve many wonderful victories over these formidable 
 foes. Such is the chief subject of all the great epic poems, 
 and most ancient heroic Sagas of the Indians. In conformity 
 to their present modes of thinking, and to their present con- 
 stitution of society, they describe that fierce race of giants as 
 
 H 2 
 
100 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 a degraded caste of warriors ; and they even give that de- 
 nomination to many nations well known in later history, such 
 as the Chinese, who bear the same name with them as with 
 ourselves ; the Pahlavas, who were a tribe of the ancient Medes 
 and Persians, corresponding to one of the two sacred languages 
 of ancient Persia — the Pahlavi — and the Ionians or Yavanas 
 according to the Asiatic denomination of the primitive Greeks. 
 
 It may even be a matter of doubt, whether a regular caste of 
 warriors, and an hereditary priesthood, according to the very 
 ancient system of the hereditary division of classes, did not 
 exist in the primitive world. However great may be the chro- 
 nological confusion evinced in these poems and Sagas, however 
 much, perhaps, of later history may have been interwoven into 
 their ancient narratives, and however much of poetical embel- 
 lishment and gigantic hyperbole the whole may have received, 
 the leading features of historic truth may still be distinguished 
 with certainty in the chequered tablet of tradition. For the 
 hostility of two rival races in the primitive world, considered 
 in itself, and independently of adventitious circumstances, must 
 be looked upon as a positive and well authenticated fact. It 
 might perhaps be proved before the tribunal of the severest 
 historical criticism, that poetry, that is to say, primitive historic 
 tradition clothed with the ornaments of poetry — is often much 
 nearer the truth in its representations of the primitive world 
 than a dull reason, that draws its estimate of probability from 
 mere vulgar analogies, and which sees or affects to see every- 
 where, only stupid and brutish savages. 
 
 A circumstance which we must never lose sight of in this 
 inquiry is that man did not suffer an immediate and entire loss 
 of those high powers with which he had been endowed at his 
 origin; but that the loss was gradual, and that for a long time 
 yet he retained much of those powers, and that it was indeed 
 the fearful abuse of those faculties in his last stage of degene- 
 racy which produced that enormous licentiousness and wicked- 
 ness spoken of in Holy Writ. And this is the real clue to the 
 whole purport of primitive history, and to all that appears to 
 us in it so full of enigma. This leading subject of primitive 
 history — the struggle between two races, as it is the first great 
 event in universal history, is also of the utmost importance in 
 the investigation of the subsequent progress of nations ; for 
 this original contest and opposition among men, according to 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 101 
 
 the two-fold direction of the will, a will conformable to that of 
 God, and a will carnal, ambitious, and enslaved to Nature, 
 often recurs, though on a lesser scale, in later history ; or at 
 least we can perceive something like a feeble reflection or a 
 distant echo of this primal discord. And even at the present 
 period, which is certainly much nearer to the last than to the 
 first ages of the world, it would appear sometimes as if hu- 
 manity were again destined, as at its origin, to be more and 
 more separated into two parties, or two hostile divisions. And 
 as the greatest of German philosophers, Leibnitz, admirably 
 observed that the sect of atheism would be the last in Christen- 
 dom and in the world ; so it is highly probable that this sect 
 was the last in the primitive world, though stamped with the 
 peculiar form which society at that period must have given to 
 it, and on a scale of more gigantic magnitude. 
 
 On this important subject we have another observation to 
 make, which refers more properly to an incidental circumstance 
 in primitive history ; for our great business is with the moral 
 and intellectual progress of man. But even in respect to this 
 more important object, the circumstance which we allude to 
 should not be passed over in silence, as it tends to exemplify, 
 illustrate, and confirm the principle we have already had occa- 
 sion to enforce ; namely, that we ought not to estimate by the 
 narrow standard of present analogies and vulgar probabilities, 
 all those facts in primitive nature and in primitive history 
 which strike us as so strange, mysterious, and marvellous ; 
 provided they be really attested by ancient monuments and 
 ancient tradition. We should ever bear in mind what a mighty 
 wall of separation — what an impassable abyss — divides us from 
 that remote world both of nature and of man. I refer to the 
 unanimous testimony of ancient tradition respecting the gigan- 
 tic forms of the first men, and their corresponding longevity, 
 far exceeding, as it did, the present ordinary standard of the 
 duration of human life. With respect to the latter circum- 
 stance, indeed, there are so very many causes contributing to 
 shorten considerably the length of human life, that we have 
 completely lost every criterion by which to estimate its original 
 duration ; and it would be no slight problem for a profound 
 physiological science to discover and explain from a deeper 
 investigation of the internal constitution of the earth, or of 
 astronomical influences, which are often susceptible of very 
 
102 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 minute applications, the primary cause of human longevity. 
 By a simpler course of life and diet than the very artificial, 
 unnatural, and over-refined modes we follow, there are even at 
 the present day numerous examples of a longevity far beyond 
 the ordinary duration of human life. In India it is by no 
 means uncommon to meet with men, especially in the Brahmi- 
 nical caste, more than a hundred years of age, and in the 
 enjoyment of a robust, and even generative vigour of constitu- 
 tion. In the labouring class in Russia, whose mode of living is so 
 simple, there are examples of men living to more than a hun- 
 dred, a hundred and twenty, and even a hundred and fifty years 
 of age; and although these instances form but rare exceptions, 
 they are less uncommon there than in other European countries. 
 There are even remarkable cases of old men who, after the 
 entire loss of their teeth, have gained a complete new set, as if 
 their constitution had received a new sap of life, and a principle 
 of second growth. What, in the present physical degene- 
 racy of mankind, forms but a rare exception, may originally 
 have been the ordinary measure of the duration of human life, 
 or at least may afford us some trace and indication of such a 
 measure; more especially as other branches of natural science 
 offer correspondent analogies. On the other side of that great 
 wall of separation which divides us from the primitive ages — in 
 that remote world so little known to us, a standard for the 
 duration of human life very different from the present may 
 have prevailed ; and such an opinion is extremely probable, 
 supported as it is by manifold testimony, and confirmed by the 
 sacred record of man's divine origin. 
 
 In order better to understand and judge more correctly of 
 the biblical number of years in human life, we ought never to 
 overlook the very religious purport of the symbolical relation of 
 numbers in the divine chronology. We should thus ever keep 
 ourselves in readiness, as, according to the expression of Holy 
 Writ, the hairs on a man's head are numbered — and how 
 much more so the years of his life ! — and as nothing here must 
 be considered fortuitous, but all things as predetermined and 
 regulated according to the views of Providence. Again, as 
 the Scripture often mentions that, in the hidden decrees of his 
 mercy, the Almighty hath graciously been pleased to shorten 
 the duration of a determined space of time i — as, for example, 
 a course of irreversible suffering — or, on the other hand, hath 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 103 
 
 added a certain number of years to a determined period of 
 grace, or prolonged the duration of a man's life ; it behoves 
 us to examine which of these two courses of divine favour be in 
 any proposed case discoverable. In the extreme longevity of 
 the holy Patriarchs of the primitive world — a longevity which 
 as has been long proved and acknowledged, must be understood 
 with reference only to the common astronomical years, the lat- 
 ter course of the divine goodness is discernible, and human 
 life in those ages must be regarded as miraculously and super- 
 naturally prolonged.* In the duration of Enoch's life, that 
 Jioly prophet of the primitive world, whose translation was no 
 death, but which, as the exit originally designed for man, 
 should on that account be considered natural, the coincidence 
 with the astronomical number of days in the sun's course round 
 the earth is the more striking, as in the number of 365 years 
 the number 83 is comprised as the root — a number which, in 
 every respect, and in the most various application, is discovered 
 to be the primary number of the earth. For, with the slight 
 difference of an unit, the number of 365 years corresponds to 
 the sum of 333, with the addition of 33 ; but the number of 
 days strictly comprised in those 365 years amounts to four 
 times 33,000, with the addition of four times 330 days. 
 
 With regard to the gigantic stature attributed to' the primi- 
 tive race of men, by the authentic testimony of universal tra- 
 dition ; — a testimony which it is easy to distinguish from mere 
 poetical embellishment or exaggeration — it is singular that 
 
 * Noah affords another striking example of a wonderful prolongation 
 or delay of time. The first nine Patriarchs of the primitive world pro- 
 pagated their race at the mean or average term of the hundredth year 
 of their lives:— some near that period — others considerably earlier — 
 and others again much later. But in the case of Noah we find that, 
 to the mean term of a hundred years, four hundred were yet added; 
 and that the Patriarch was five hundred years of age when he propa- 
 gated his race. The high motive of this evidently supernatural delay 
 may be traced to the fact that, although during this long prophetic 
 period of preparation, the holy Seer well foresaw and felt firmly assured 
 of the judgments impending over a degenerate and corrupt world, it 
 was not equally clear to him that he was destined by God to be the 
 second progenitor of mankind, and the renovator of the human race. 
 But that great doom of the world, already foretold by Enoch, Noah 
 probably expected to be its last end; and hence perhaps might consider 
 the propagation of his race as not altogether conformable to the divine 
 will, till the hidden decrees of the Eternal were more fully and more 
 clearly revealed to him. 
 
104 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 those who are otherwise so disposed to apply the analogies of 
 nature to the human species, should in this instance, at least, 
 hold up the now ordinary scale of human bulk as the only 
 standard of probability and certainty. The remains, more 
 than once alluded to, of that primitive world which has 
 perished, show that of the elephant, rhinoceros, and hip- 
 popotamus, the largest of all existing animals, there were 
 originally from twenty to thirty different tribes and species 
 which are now extinct. Of the mammoth, that gigantic 
 animal of antiquity, remains of which are found not only in 
 Siberia and America, but in the different countries of Europe, 
 near Paris, and even in this immediate neighbourhood, a 
 great number of various species have been also proved to have 
 existed from the investigation of these antediluvian remains. 
 Even of animals more familiar to us, bones and other re- 
 mains have been discovered of a very unusual and truly 
 gigantic size. Bulls' horns fastened together by a front-bone 
 — antlers of stags, and elephants' tusks have been found, 
 which prove those animals to have been of a dimension, three, 
 four, or five times greater than they usually are at pre- 
 sent. If in this elder period of organic nature, and of an 
 animal kingdom which has become extinct, this gigantic style 
 was so very prevalent, is it not reasonable to infer a similar 
 analogy in the human species, so far at least as relates to their 
 physical conformation, especially when this analogy is unani- 
 mously attested by the primitive Sagas and traditions of all 
 nations ? 
 
 As regards our sacred writings, I must observe that they 
 tacitly imply, and indeed pretty clearly attest, the superior sta- 
 ture as well as great longevity of the first men, while, on the 
 other hand, they represent the really gigantic structure of body 
 as an organic degradation and degeneracy, originating in the 
 illicit union of the two primitive races — the Cainites and the 
 Sethites — an union which was the source of universal corrup- 
 tion — as the all-destroying deluge was a mighty judgment 
 brought about by the pride and wickedness of those giants and, 
 was indeed against those principally directed. — Even at a later 
 period, the Scripture speaks of some nations of giants, that, 
 prior to the introduction of the Israelites into the promised land, 
 occupied several of its provinces, such as Moab, Ammon, 
 Bashan, and the country about the primitive city of giants — 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 105 
 
 Hebron. These tribes are represented as celebrated for valour 
 indeed, yet as inclined solely to warfare, wild and wicked ; and 
 even the individual giants that appear in the age of Moses and 
 in the history of David, are described as peculiarly monstrous 
 from their great corporal deformity. The only savage tribe 
 now existing (as far as our present knowledge of the globe can 
 enable us to speak,) possessed of a very uncommon, enormous, 
 and almost gigantic stature — the Patagonians of America, are 
 at the same time noted for their personal deformity. With 
 them it is the upper part of the body that is of such a dispro- 
 portionate length, for when seen on horseback they appear to 
 be real giants, and hence they were so accounted at first. When 
 on a closer inspection we see the whole length of their bodies 
 in the attitude either of standing or of walking, we perceive 
 indeed they are of the very extraordinary height of from seven 
 to eight feet, but not of that gigantic stature which the first 
 impression led us to suppose, and which may so naturally have 
 given rise to exaggerated accounts. 
 
 After all this, and what has been above stated, I need say no 
 more than frankly declare that, as to these two points, the ex- 
 traordinary longevity and gigantic stature of the first men, — 
 I never could have the courage to raise a formal doubt against 
 the plain declaration of Holy Writ, and the general testimony 
 of primitive tradition. The full explanation, the more correct 
 conception, and the perfect comprehension of these two facts 
 are perhaps reserved for a later period, and the investigations of 
 a deeper physical science. 
 
 There exist, also, monuments, or rather fragments of edifices, 
 of the most primitive antiquity, which, as they are connected 
 with the subject under discussion, are here deserving of a slight 
 notice. I allude to those cyclopean walls, which are to be 
 found in several parts of Italy, and which those who have once 
 seen will not easily forget, nor the singular stamp of antiquity 
 they bear. In this very peculiar architecture, we see, instead 
 of the stones of the usual cubical or oblong form, huge frag- 
 ments of rock rudely cut into the shape of an irregular polygon, 
 and skilfully enough joined together. Even the great, and 
 often admired, subterraneous aqueduct, or Cloaca of ancient 
 Rome is considered as belonging to this cyclopean architecture, 
 remains of which exist also near Argos, and in several other 
 parts of Greece. These edifices were certainly not built by the 
 
106 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 celebrated nations that at a later period occupied these countries; 
 for even they regarded them as the work and production of a 
 primitive and departed race of giants ; and hence the name 
 which these monuments received. When we consider how very 
 imperfect must have been the instruments of those remote ages, 
 and that they cannot be supposed to have possessed that know- 
 ledge in mechanics which the Egyptians, for instance, display 
 in the erection of their obelisks ; we can easily conceive how 
 men were led to imagine that more vigorous arms and other 
 powers than those belonging to the present race of men, were 
 necessary to the construction of those edifices of rock. 
 
 Thus have we now endeavoured to explain, as far as was 
 necessary for our purpose, the origin of that dissension, which 
 is inherent in human nature, and forms the basis of all his- 
 tory. We have, in the next place, sought to unfold and illus- 
 trate the universal tradition, which attests the hostility between 
 the virtuous Patriarchs and the proud Titans of the primitive 
 world, or the different and opposite spirit -that characterised the 
 two primitive races of mankind ; assigning, at the same time, to 
 savage nations, or to the more degraded portions of human 
 kind, their proper place in history — a place important un- 
 doubtedly, but still secondary in the great scheme of humanity. 
 
 These facts, too important to be passed over in silence, form 
 the introduction, and are, as it were, the porch to universal his- 
 tory, and to the civilisation of the human species in the later 
 historical ages. Now that we have seen mankind divided and 
 split into a plurality of nations, our next task, in the period 
 which follows, is to discover the most remarkable and most 
 civilised nations, and to observe in what peculiar forms the Word, 
 whether innate in man, or communicated to him — the word 
 which may be considered the essence of all the high pre- 
 rogatives and characteristic qualities of man ; to observe, we say, 
 in what peculiar forms the word is assumed among each of those 
 nations, in their language and writing, in their religious tradi- 
 tions, their historical Sagas, their poetry, art and science. In 
 the account of ancient nations, we shall adopt the ethnographi- 
 cal mode of treating history ; and it will be only in modern and 
 more recent times that this method will gradually give place to 
 the synchronical ; and the reasons of this change will be sug- 
 gested by the very nature of the subject. In this general sur- 
 vey, we must confine ourselves to those mighty and celebrated 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 107 
 
 nations who have attained to a high degree of intellectual ex- 
 cellence ; and we shall select and briefly state remarkable traits 
 or extraordinary historical facts illustrative of the manners, 
 social institutions, political refinement, and even political his- 
 tory of every nation, worthy of occupying a place in this 
 sketch, in order the better to mark the progress of the intel- 
 lectual principle in the peculiar culture and modes of thinking 
 of each. It is only at a later period that political history be- 
 comes the main object of attention, and almost the leading 
 principle in the progressive march, and even the partial retro- 
 gressions of mankind. 
 
 In this general picture of the earliest development of the 
 human mind, we can select such nations only as are sufficiently 
 well known, or respecting whom the sources of information are 
 now at least of easier access ; for were we to comprehend in this 
 general survey, nations with whom we were less perfectly ac- 
 quainted, we should be led into minute and interminable re- 
 searches, without, after all, perhaps, obtaining any new or 
 satisfactory result for the principal object in view. In the first 
 period of antiquity will figure the Chinese, the Indians, and the 
 Egyptians, besides the isolated, and the so-called chosen people 
 of the Hebrews ; and if I commence by the remotest of the 
 civilised countries of Asia, China, I beg leave to premise that I 
 mean to determine no question of priority as to the respective 
 antiquity of those nations, or to adjudge any preference to one 
 or other amongst them. Indeed, their own chronological 
 accounts and pretensions, which often deserve the name of 
 chronological fictions, turn out, on a closer inquiry, to be mere 
 calculations of astronomical periods ; and a sound historical cri- 
 ticism will not admit that they were originally meant to be 
 chronological. Suffice it to say that the three nations we have 
 mentioned belonged to the same period of the world, and at- 
 tained to an equal, or a very similar, degree of moral and intel- 
 lectual refinement; and so in respect to that higher object, the 
 chronological dispute becomes unnecessary, or is, at least, of 
 minor importance. Among those, however, who take an active 
 part in these researches, a partiality for one or other of these 
 nations, and for their respective antiquity, easily springs up ; 
 for even objects the most remote will excite in the human breast 
 the spirit of party. In order to keep as free as possible from 
 prepossessions of this kind, I have adopted a species of geo- 
 
1 38 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 graphical division of my subject, which, when I come to treat 
 later of the different periods of modern history, will give place 
 to a more chronological arrangement. I said a species of geo- 
 graphical division, for undoubtedly from the special nature of 
 this historical inquiry, it must be supposed I shall take a dif- 
 ferent point of view in the geographical survey of the earth than 
 ordinarily occurs in geographical investigations. The geo- 
 graphies for common use properly take as their basis the present 
 situation of the different states and kingdoms now in existence, 
 but a more scientific geography adopts the direction of moun- 
 tains, and the course of rivers, the valleys produced by the 
 former, and the space occupied by the waters of the latter, as 
 the leading clue to the division and arrangement of the earth. 
 Thus in the philosophy of history the series of the principal 
 civilised states will form a high, commanding chain ; and the 
 philosophic historian will have to follow from east to west, or 
 in any other direction that history may point out, not merely 
 rivers transporting articles of commerce, but the mighty stream 
 of traditions and doctrines which has traversed and fertilised the 
 world. 
 
 As the individuals who can be termed historical form but 
 rare exceptions among mankind, so in the whole circumference 
 of the globe, there are only a certain number of nations that 
 occupy an important and really historical place in the annals 
 of civilisation. By far the greater part of the inhabited or 
 habitable globe, however rich and ample a field it may offer 
 to the investigations of the naturalist, cannot be included in 
 this class, or has not attained to this degree of eminence. In 
 the whole continent of Africa, there is, besides Egypt, only 
 the northern coast stretching along the Mediterranean, that 
 is at all connected with the history and intellectual progress 
 of the civilised world. The other coasts of Africa, including 
 its southernmost cape, furnish points of importance to com- 
 merce, navigation, and even some attempts at colonisation ; 
 while the interior parts of this continent, still so little known, 
 possess much to excite the attention and wonder of the natu- 
 ralist; but beyond this, its maritime as well as central regions, 
 cannot be said to occupy a place in the intellectual history, or 
 in the moral progress of our species. It is only since it has 
 formed a province of the Russian Empire, that the vast terri- 
 tory of Northern Asia has become known to us, and has 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 109 
 
 been as it were, newly discovered. From central and eastern 
 Asia, from the south of Tartary and the north of China, many 
 mighty and conquering nations have issued, that have spread 
 the terror of their arms over the face of civilisation, as far as the 
 frontiers of Europe. 
 
 But, in the march and development of the human mind, these 
 nations are far from occupying the same eminent station. In 
 this respect, also, the fifth continent of the globe, Polynesia — 
 though nearly equal to Europe in extent, counts as nought. 
 Even America, the largest of those continents, occupies here 
 a comparatively subordinate rank ; and it is only in latter ages, 
 and since its discovery, that it can be said to belong to history. 
 Since that period, indeed, the inhabitants of this portion of 
 the world have adopted, for the most part, the language, the 
 manners, the modes of thinking, and the political institutions 
 of Europe ; for the still subsisting remnant of its ancient 
 savages is very inconsiderable ; so that America may be re- 
 garded as a remote dependency, and, as it were, a continuation 
 of old Europe on the other side of the Atlantic. Great as 
 the re-action may be, which this second Europe, sprung up 
 in the solitudes of the new world, has during the last fifty 
 years exerted on its mother-continent, still as this influence 
 forms a part but of very recent history, it is only in very mo- 
 dern times that America has obtained any historical weight and 
 importance. 
 
 Even in this natural configuration, the new world is more 
 widely different from the old, than the principal parts of the 
 latter are from each other. As in comparing the northern 
 extremity of the earth with its southern or aqueous extremity, 
 we observe a striking disparity, and almost complete opposition 
 between the two ; so we shall find this to be the case, if, in 
 advancing in the opposite direction from east to west, we di- 
 vide the whole surface of the earth into two equal parts. On 
 one hand that more important division of the earth, extending 
 from the western coast of Africa to the eastern coast of Asia, 
 comprises the three ancient continents, which, from the upper 
 to the middle part, occupy almost the whole space of this half 
 of the globe. Here is the greatest quantity of land, and the 
 animal kingdom, too, is on a more large and magnificent scale. 
 It is only at the southern extremity of this hemisphere that 
 sea and water are predominant ; and here a continuous chain 
 
110 
 
 PHILOSOPIIY OF 
 
 of islands from the southernmost point of Asia reaches to the 
 fifth and last portion of the globe — Australia, making it a sort 
 of Asiatic dependency. In the American hemisphere, the ele- 
 ment of water is predominant, not only at the southern ex- 
 tremity, but towards the middle; for, large as America may 
 be, it can bear no comparison with the other continents in 
 respect to extent of surface. Our hemisphere is more remark- 
 able even for extent of population than for the quantity of land. 
 Here, indeed, is the chief seat of population, and the principal 
 theatre of human history and human civilisation. 
 
 The entire population of America, which, as it is for the 
 most part of European extraction, is better known to us than 
 that of many countries more contiguous — the entire population 
 of America at the highest computation of the whole number 
 of inhabitants on the globe, forms but a thirtieth part, and at 
 the lowest computation, not a four-and-twentieth part of the 
 whole. Widely extended as this thinly-peopled continent is, 
 the whole number of its inhabitants scarcely exceeds the popu- 
 lation of a single great European state, such as either France 
 or Germany, whose population, indeed, it about equals. Ve- 
 getation, indeed, is most rich and luxuriant in America; but 
 the two most generous plants reared by human culture, and 
 which are so closely connected with the primitive history of 
 man — corn and the vine — were originally unknown in this 
 quarter of the world. In the animal kingdom, America is 
 far inferior to the other and more ancient continents of the 
 globe. Many of the noblest and most beautiful species of 
 animals did not exist there originally; and others, again, were 
 found most unseemly in form, and most degenerate in nature. 
 Some species of animals indigenous to that continent form but 
 a feeble compensation for the absence of others, the most 
 useful and most necessary for the purposes of husbandry and 
 the domestic uses of man. We may boldly lay it down as a 
 general proposition not to be taxed with error or exaggeration, 
 that in the new hemisphere, vegetation is predominant, while 
 in the old, animal force preponderates, and is more fully 
 developed. This superiority is apparent, not only in the com- 
 parative extent of population, but in the organic structure of 
 the human form. Even the African tribes are far superior 
 in bodily strength and agility to the aboriginal natives of 
 America ; and in point of longevity and fecundity, the latter 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 Ill 
 
 are not to be compared with the Malayan race, and the Mongul 
 tribes in the central or north-eastern parts of Asia, and in 
 Southern Tartary, races with whom, in other respects, they 
 seem to bear some analogy. 
 
 As the American continent, in other respects so incomplete, 
 is mostly separated from all the others ; and its form is more 
 simple and less complex than that of the ancient divisions of 
 the globe, it well deserves our consideration in that point of 
 view ; and it may perhaps furnish the general type and true 
 geographical outline of a continent in its natural state. A 
 narrow isthmus connects the upper half, stretching in a widely 
 extended tract towards the North Pole, and the inferior part, 
 with its southern peak; and thus both form, according to 
 general impression, but one and the same continent ; and so 
 prove, in fact, how totally the northern and southern parts of 
 a continent may differ. That now in the period when the 
 Euxine was still united to the Caspian, when the White Sea 
 stretched further into land, and the Ural Mountains formed 
 an island, or were surrounded to the north and south by the 
 sea, Asia and Europe were probably separated towards the 
 north, is a point to which we have already had occasion to 
 allude. But if, on the one hand, Europe was separated from 
 Asia, it might on the other have been easily joined to Africa by 
 an isthmus, where it is now divided from it by a strait, and 
 so have formed with it one connected continent ; in the same 
 way as Australia is united with Asia, if at least we consider the 
 long chain of islands between them as one unbroken conti- 
 nuity. Then in truth there would have been but three 
 continents of a form similar to the above-mentioned one of 
 America ; except that the two nobler continents closely en- 
 tangled with one another would not on that account have so 
 well preserved the original conformation. That it is on the 
 whole more correct, and more consonant with nature, as well 
 as with theory, to suppose the existence of only three original 
 portions of the globe, might be shown by much additional 
 evidence. 
 
 But, laying aside these geological facts and observations, 
 ideas and conjectures, the philosophic historian can reckon 
 over the whole surface of the globe but fifteen historical and 
 important civilised countries of greater or less extent, which 
 can form the subject and furnish the geographical outline of 
 
112 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 his remarks. This historical chain of lands, or this stream 
 of historical nations from the south-east of Asia to the 
 northern and western extremities of Europe, forms a tract, 
 through both continents, which though of considerable breadth, 
 is not, in proportion to the extent of these continents, of very 
 great magnitude, and which may be divided into three classes, 
 coinciding chronologically in their several periods of historical 
 glory and development with the great eras or sections of 
 universal history from the primitive ages down to the present 
 times. In the first class of these mighty and celebrated 
 civilised countries, I would place the three great magnificent 
 regions in Eastern and Southern Asia, China, India, between 
 which the ancient Bactriana forms a point of transition and 
 connecting link — and lastly Persia. In a more westerly and 
 somewhat more northerly direction than the three countries 
 just named, the second or middle class is composed of four or 
 five regions remarkable for extent and beauty, and above all 
 for their historical importance and celebrity. First of all, 
 there is that middle country of Western Asia, above-mentioned, 
 which is situate near two great streams — the Tigris and the 
 Euphrates, and bounded by four inland seas, the Persian and 
 Arabian gulfs, and the Caspian and Mediterranean seas. Upon 
 this midland country of ancient history, in every respect so 
 worthy of notice, I have but one observation to add, that in 
 this great series of civilised countries it occupies nearly the 
 middle place ; for the southern extremity of India is about 
 as far removed from it, as in the opposite direction, the north 
 of Scotland. And the eastern part of China is not much 
 more distant from this region, than in the opposite quarter 
 the western coast of the Hesperian Peninsula. Next must 
 be included in this class the circumjacent countries, Arabia, 
 Egypt, and Asia Minor, together with the Caucasian regions. 
 
 As in the flourishing period of her ancient history, Greece 
 was in every way far more closely connected with Asia Minor, 
 Phoenicia and Egypt, than with the countries of Europe, she 
 also must be comprised in this division of Central Asia. On 
 the other hand, there is no country in Europe which, consi- 
 dered in itself, bears so strongly the distinctive geographical 
 configuration peculiar to the European continent. This pecu- 
 liar configuration of Europe, so well adapted to the purposes 
 of settlement, and to the progress of civilisation, consists in 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 113 
 
 this — that in no other continent does the same given space of 
 territory present to the sea so extensive and diversified a line 
 of coast, and furnish it with so many streams, great and small, 
 as Europe, shut in as it is, between two inland seas, and the 
 great ocean, and which runs out into so many great and commo- 
 diously situated peninsulas, and possesses large, magnificent, 
 and in part, very anciently and highly civilised islands, like 
 Sicily and the British Isles. What Europe is in a large way, 
 Greece is in a small — a region of coasts, islands, and peninsulas. 
 Belonging more to one continent in its natural conformation, 
 and to the other by its historical connexion, Greece forms the 
 point of transition and the intermediate link between Asia 
 and Europe. 
 
 The other six or seven principal countries in Europe, taken 
 according to a strict geographical classification, and without 
 paying attention to the political variations of territory, whether 
 in antiquity, the middle ages, or modern times, form the 
 members of the third class. These are, first the two beautiful 
 peninsulas, Italy and Spain ; next France on the north and 
 south washed by two different seas, and towards the north, 
 jutting out into a by-no-means inconsiderable peninsula — 
 further on, the British Isles, the ancient Germany with its 
 northern coast stretching along two seas, to which must be 
 annexed from the ancient consanguinity of their inhabitants, 
 the Cimbric and Scandinavian islands and peninsulas ; lastly, 
 the vast Sarmatia, towards the north and east extending far 
 into Asia, in the wide tract from the Euxine to the Frozen 
 Sea. From Sarmatia, however, must be separated, on account 
 of their natural situation, the great Danubian countries, 
 extending from the south of the Carpathian Mountains, down 
 to the other mountainous chain northward of Greece — such 
 as the ancient Illyricum, Pannonia, and Dacia — regions which, 
 in a strict geographical point of view, must be regarded as 
 forming a distinct class. In an historical point of view, the 
 whole northern coast of Africa, stretching along the Medi- 
 terranean, should be included in this division of European 
 countries, not only from that early commercial and colonial 
 connexion, established in the time of the Carthaginian republic, 
 and in the first period of the Roman wars and conquests ; but 
 from the prevalence in that country, down to the fourth and 
 fifth centuries, of European manners, language, and refinement. 
 
 I 
 
114 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 Even during the existence of the Saracenic empire, a very 
 close intercourse subsisted for many centuries between this 
 coast and Spain. 
 
 Such, according to a general geographical survey of the 
 globe, would be the historical land-chart of civilisation, if I 
 may so express myself, which forms the grand outline I must 
 steadily keep in view, in the following sketch of nations, in 
 which I will endeavour to explain with the utmost clearness 
 and precision, and point out closely in all its particular bearings, 
 the principle laid down in this work respecting the internal 
 Word, as the essential characteristic of man. 
 
 END OF LECTURE II. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 115 
 
 LECTUKE III. 
 
 Of the Constitution of the Chinese Empire— the moral and political 
 Condition of China — the Character of Chinese Intellect and Chinese 
 Science. 
 
 " Man and the earth/' — this has been the subject of our pre- 
 vious disquisitions, and might serve as the superscription to this 
 first portion of the work. In the second part, comprised in 
 the four or five following lectures, the subject discussed is 
 sacred tradition, according to the peculiar form which it 
 assumed among each of the great and most remarkable nations 
 in primitive antiquity, and as it is known from the visible and 
 universally scattered traces of a divine revelation. It will be 
 our duty to trace, with a discriminating eye, the various course 
 which, in the lapse of ages, this sacred tradition followed 
 among each of those nations ; and at the same time to point 
 out, as far as the subject will admit of historical proof, the one 
 common source whence, as from a centre, issued those different 
 streams of tradition to diffuse throughout all the regions of the 
 earth fertility and life, or to be lost and dried up in the sterile 
 sands of human error. It will be also our task more accurately 
 to define the share allotted to each of these leading nations in 
 divine truth, or the heritage of higher knowledge which had 
 been imparted to them. Closely connected with this subject, 
 is the designation of the internal Word, constituting as it does 
 the distinguishing mark and intellectual being of man and 
 mankind ; and which, as it has been variously manifested and 
 developed in the language, writings, Sagas, history, art, and 
 science — in the faith, the life, and modes of thinking of each 
 of those nations, will be described in its most essential traits. 
 
 I shall commence with the Chinese Empire, because, among 
 the fifteen historical countries included in the line of civilisa- 
 tion we have drawn above, it occupies the extreme point of 
 Eastern Asia. The names of east and west are indeed purely 
 relative ; and have not the same permanent and definite signi- 
 
 I 2 
 
116 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 fication as the North or South Pole in every portion of the 
 globe. China lies to the west of Peru ; and to North America, 
 or Brazil, Europe forms the east or north-east point. We 
 still, however, adhere to common speech, purely relative as it is, 
 and take our point of view from this Asiatic and European 
 hemisphere, in which we dwell. If we would extend in a 
 westerly direction and to the great continent of America, 
 which is more and more assuming an important place in the 
 history of the world, that series of great and civilised states, 
 stretching from the south-east to the north-west in our mightier, 
 more celebrated, and earlier civilised hemisphere, we might 
 add to the before-mentioned fifteen ancient and modern coun- 
 tries three young or rising states in the new world, which, 
 springing in a three -fold division from British, Spanish, and 
 Portuguese extraction, would constitute the most recent, or last 
 historical links in this chain of communities. 
 
 The Chinese Empire is the largest of all the monarchies now 
 existing on the earth, and even in this respect may well chal- 
 lenge the attention of the historical inquirer. This empire is 
 not absolutely the greatest in territorial extent, though even in 
 this respect it is scarcely inferior to the greatest ; but in point 
 of population it is in all probability the first. Spain, if we 
 could now include in the number of her possessions her Ame- 
 rican colonies, would exceed all empires in extent. The same 
 may be said of Russia, with her annexed colonies, and bound- 
 less provinces in the north of Asia. But, great as the popula- 
 tion of this empire may be, when considered in itself and 
 relatively to the other European states, it can sustain no com- 
 parison with that of China. England with the East Indies 
 and her colonial possessions in the three divisions of the globe, 
 Polynesia, Africa, and America, has indeed a very wide extent, 
 and, perhaps, when we include the hundred and ten millions 
 that own her sway in India, comes the nearest in point of popu- 
 lation to China. Of the amount of the Chinese population, 
 which is not with certainty known, that of India may furnish 
 a criterion for a conjectural and probable estimate. The Bri- 
 tish ambassador, Lord Macartney, received an official document, 
 in which the whole population of China was computed at the 
 monstrous amount of 330 millions. Even if the Chinese pos- 
 sessed those exact statistical estimates we have in Europe, it 
 would still be a matter of doubt how far in such cases we could 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 117 
 
 confide in their veracity, especially in their relations with 
 foreigners, and Europeans. In another and somewhat earlier 
 statistical work, composed towards the close of the 18th cen- 
 tury, the population of this empire is estimated at 147 millions ; 
 and the very incredible statement is added, that a hundred and 
 fifty years before, or about the middle of the 17th century, the 
 Chinese population amounted only to 27 millions and a half. 
 This rapid rise, or rather this prodigious stride in the numbers 
 of a people, would be in utter opposition to all principles and 
 observations on the growth and progressive increase of popula- 
 tion, even in the most civilised countries. Thus even the sta- 
 tistical estimates of the Chinese furnish us with no certain in- 
 formation on this subject. However, as this vast region is 
 everywhere intersected by navigable rivers and canals, every- 
 where studded with large and highly-populous cities, and enjoys 
 a climate as genial, or even still more genial, and certainly 
 far more salubrious than that of India; as, like the latter 
 country, it everywhere presents to the eye the richest culture, 
 and is in all appearance as much peopled, or over-peopled, we 
 may take India, whose total population is not near included in 
 the 110 millions under British rule, as furnishing a pretty accu- 
 rate standard for the computation of the Chinese population. 
 Now, when we reflect that even the proper China is larger 
 than the whole western peninsula of India, and that the vast 
 countries dependent on China, such as Thibet and Southern 
 Tartary are very populous, the conjectural calculation of the 
 English writer, from whom I have taken these critical remarks 
 on the early estimates of Chinese population, and who reckons 
 it at 150 millions, may be regarded as a very moderate compu- 
 tation, and may with perfect safety, be considerably raised. 
 Thus, then, the Chinese population is nearly as large as the 
 whole population of Europe, and constitutes, if not a fourth, at 
 least a fifth, of the total population of the globe. 
 
 I permit myself to indulge in cursory comparisons of this 
 kind, and for the reason that the history of civilisation, which 
 forms the basis, and, as it were, the outward body, of the 
 philosophy of history, which should be the inner and higher 
 sense of the whole, is deeply interested in all that refers to the 
 general condition of humanity. And such an interest, which 
 does not of itself lie in mere statistical calculations, but in the 
 
118 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 outward condition of mankind, as the symbol of its inward state, 
 may very well attach to comparisons of this nature. 
 
 The interest, however, which the philosophic historian 
 should take in all that relates to humanity in general, and to 
 the various nations of the earth, ought not to be regulated by 
 the false standard of an indiscriminate equality, that would 
 consider all nations of equal importance, and pay equal atten- 
 tion to all without distinction. This would, indeed, betray 
 an indifference to, or at least ignorance of, the higher prin- 
 ciple implanted in the human breast. But this interest should 
 be measured not merely by the degree of population in a state, 
 or by geographical extent of territory, or by external power, 
 but by population, territory, and power combined — by moral 
 worth and intellectual pre-eminence, by the scale of civilisation 
 to which the nation has attained. The Tongoosses, though a 
 very widely-diffused race, the Calmucks though, compared 
 with the other nations of Central Asia, they have much to claim 
 our attention, cannot certainly excite equal interest, or hold as 
 high a place in the history of human civilisation as the Greeks 
 or the Egyptians ; though the territory of Egypt itself is cer- 
 tainly not particularly large nor, according to our customary 
 standard of population, were its inhabitants in all probability ever 
 very numerous. In the same way the empire of the Moguls, 
 which embraced China itself, has not the same high interest and 
 importance in our eyes, as the Roman Empire either in its rise 
 or in its fall. Writers on universal history have not however 
 always avoided this fault, and have been too much disposed 
 to place all nations on the same historical footing — on the 
 false level of an indiscriminate equality; and to regard hu- 
 manity in a mere physical point of view, and according to the 
 natural classification of tribes and races. In these sketches of 
 history, the high and the noble is often ranked with the low and 
 the vulgar, and neither what is truly great, nor what is of lesser 
 importance (for this, too, should not be overlooked), has its due 
 place in these portraits of mankind. 
 
 A numerous, or even successive population is undoubtedly 
 an essential element of political power in a state ; but it is not 
 the only, nor in any respect, the principal symptom or indica- 
 tion of the civilisation of a country. It is only in regard to 
 civilisation that the population of China deserves our consi- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 119 
 
 deration. Although in these latter times, when Europe, by 
 her political ascendency over the other parts of the world, has 
 proved the high pre-eminence of her arts and civilisation ; 
 England and Russia have become the immediate neighbours 
 of China towards the north and west ; still these territorial 
 relations affect not the rest of Europe ; and China, when we 
 leave out of consideration its very important commerce, cannot 
 certainly be accounted- a political power in the general system. 
 Even in ancient, as well as in modern times, China never 
 figured in the history of Western Asia or Europe, and had 
 no connexion whatever with their inhabitants ; but this great 
 country has ever stood apart, like a world within itself, in the 
 remote, unknown Eastern Asia. Hence the earlier writers on 
 universal history have taken little or no notice of this great 
 empire, shut out as it was from the confined horizon of their 
 views. And this was natural, when we consider that the con- 
 quests and expeditions of the Asiatic nations were considered 
 by these writers as subjects of the greatest weight and import- 
 ance. No conquerors have ever marched from China into 
 Western Asia, like Xerxes, for instance, who passed from the 
 interior of Persia to Athens ; or like Alexander the Great, who 
 extended his victorious march from his small paternal province of 
 Macedon, to beyond the Indus, and almost to the borders of the 
 Ganges, though the latter river, he was, in despite of all his 
 efforts, unable to reach. But the great victorious expeditions 
 have proceeded not from China, but from Central Asia, and 
 the nations of Tartary, who have invaded China itself ; though 
 in these invasions the manners, mind, and civilisation of the 
 Chinese have evinced their power, as their Tartar conquerors, 
 in the earliest as in the latest times, have, after a few genera- 
 tions, invariably conformed to the manners and civilisation of 
 the conquered nation and become more or less Chinese. 
 
 Not only the great population and flourishing agriculture of 
 this fruitful country, but the cultivation of silk, for which it has 
 been celebrated from all antiquity; the culture of the tea-plant, 
 which forms such an important article of European trade ; as 
 well as the knowledge of several most useful medicinal produc- 
 tions of nature ; and unique and, in their way, excellent products 
 of industry and manufacture ; prove the very high degree of 
 civilisation which this people has attained to. And how should 
 not that people be entitled to a high or one of the highest places 
 
120 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 among civilised nations, which had known, many centuries 
 before Europe, the art of printing, gunpowder, and the magnet 
 i — those three so highly celebrated and valuable discoveries of 
 European skill ? Instead of the regular art of printing with 
 transposeable letters, which would not suit the Chinese system 
 of writing, this people make use of a species of lithography, 
 which, to all essential purposes is the same, and attended with 
 the same effects. Gunpowder served in China, as it did in 
 Europe in the infancy of the discovery, rather for amusement 
 and for fireworks, than for the more serious purpose of warlike 
 fortification and conquest: and though this people are acquainted 
 with the magnetic needle, they have never made a like extended 
 application of its powers, and never employ it either in a confined 
 river and coasting navigation, or on the wide ocean, on which 
 they never venture. 
 
 The Chinese are remarkable, too, for the utmost polish and 
 refinement of manners, and even for a fastidious urbanity and a 
 love of stately ceremonial. In many respects, indeed, their polite- 
 ness and refinement almost equal those of European nations, or 
 at least are very superior to what we usually designate by the 
 term of Oriental manners — a term which in our sense can apply 
 only to the more contiguous Mahometan countries of the Levant. 
 Of this assertion we may find a sufficient proof in any single 
 tale that pourtrays the present Chinese life and manners, in the 
 novel, for instance, translated by M. Remusat.* In their pre- 
 sent manners, and fashions, however, there are many things 
 utterly at variance with European taste and feelings ; I need 
 only mention the custom of the dignitaries, functionaries, and 
 men of letters, of letting their nails grow to the length of birds' 
 claws, and that other custom in women of rank, of compressing 
 their feet to a most artificial diminutiveness. Both customs, 
 according to the recent account of a very intelligent English- 
 man, serve to mark and distinguish the upper class ; for the 
 former renders the men totally incapable of hard or manual 
 labour, and the latter impedes the women of rank in walking, 
 or at least gives them a mincing gait, and a languid, delicate, 
 and interesting air. These minute traits of manners should 
 not be overlooked in the general sketch of this nation, for they 
 perfectly correspond to many other characteristic marks and 
 
 * Entitled Ju-Kiao-li, or the Cousins. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 121 
 
 indications of unnatural stiffness, childish vanity, and exagge- 
 rated refinement, which we meet with in the more inportant 
 province of its intellectual exertions. Even in the basis of all 
 intellectual culture, the language, or rather the writing of the 
 Chinese, this character of refinement pushed beyond all bounds 
 and all conception is visible, while on the other hand it is 
 coupled with great intellectual poverty and jejuneness. In a 
 language where there are not much more than 300, not near 
 400, and (according to the most recent critical investigation), 
 only 272 monosyllabic primitive roots without any kind of gram- 
 mar ; w T here the not merely various, but utterly unconnected, 
 significations of one and the same word are marked, in the first 
 place, by a varying modulation of the voice, according to a four- 
 fold method of accentuation ; in the next place, and chiefly by 
 the written characters, which amount to the prodigious number 
 of 80,000 ; while the Egyptian hieroglyphs do not exceed the 
 number of 800 ; and this Chinese system of writing is the most 
 artificial in the whole world. An inference which is not inva- 
 lidated by the fact that, out of that great number of all actual 
 or possible written characters, but a fourth part perhaps is really 
 in use, and a still less portion is necessary to be learned. As 
 the meaning, especially of more complex notions and abstract 
 ideas, can be fully fixed and accurately determined only by such 
 artificial ciphers ; the language is far more dependent on these 
 written characters than on living sound ; for one and the same 
 sound may often be designated by 160 different characters, and 
 have as many significations. It not rarely occurs that Chinese, 
 when they do not very well understand each other in conversa- 
 tion, have recourse to writing, and by copying down these ci- 
 phers are enabled to divine each other's meaning, and become 
 mutually intelligible. To comprehend rightly this immeasur- 
 able chaos of originally symbolic, but now merely conventional 
 signs — in other words, to be able to read and write, though this 
 science involves great and difficult problems even for the most 
 practised, constitutes the real subject and purport of the scien- 
 tific education of a Chinese. Indeed it furnishes labour suffi- 
 cient to fill up the life of man, for even the European scholars, 
 who have engaged in this study, find it a matter of no small 
 difficulty to devise a system whereby a dictionary, or rather a 
 systematic catalogue of all these written characters may be 
 composed, to serve as a fit guide on this ocean of Chinese signs. 
 
122 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 But we shall have again occasion to recur to this subject; and 
 indeed it is only in connexion with the peculiar bearings of the 
 Chinese mind this writing system can be properly explained and 
 understood in its true meaning, or rather its meaningless con- 
 struction and elaborateness. 
 
 Of the external civilisation of China, we have a striking proof 
 and a standing monument in the construction of so many canals 
 that intersect the whole country, and in every thing connected 
 therewith. As the extraordinary fertility of the soil is produced 
 by the many rivers of greater or less magnitude that intersect 
 the country, but which at the same time threaten the flat plains 
 with inundation, it is the first object and most important care 
 of government, to avert the danger of such inundations, to dis- 
 tribute the fertilising waters in equal abundance over the whole 
 country, and thus, by means of canals, to maintain in all parts 
 the communication by water, which is at the same time of equal 
 benefit and importance to industry and internal commerce. In 
 no civilised state are establishments of this kind so extensively 
 diffused and brought to so high a state of perfection as in 
 China. The great imperial canal, which extends to the length 
 of 1 20 geographical leagues, has, it is said, no parallel on the 
 earth. Although the construction of canals, and all the regu- 
 lations on water-carriage could have attained by degrees only 
 to their present state of perfection, still this alone would prove 
 the very early attention which this people had bestowed on the 
 arts of civilised life. Mention is often made of them in the 
 old Chinese histories and imperial annals ; and the canals of 
 China, like the Nile in Egypt, were ever the objects of most 
 anxious solicitude to the government. These annals, whenever 
 they have occasion to speak of those great inundations and de- 
 structive floods, which are of such frequent occurrence in Chinese 
 history, invariably represent the attention bestowed on water- 
 courses, and water regulations, as the most certain mark of a 
 wise, benevolent, and provident administration. On the other 
 hand, the neglect of this most important of administrative con- 
 cerns is ever regarded as the proof of a wicked, reckless, and 
 unfortunate reign ; and in these histories some great calamity, 
 or even violent catastrophe, is sure to follow, like a stroke of 
 divine vengeance, on this unpardonable neglect of duty. To- 
 gether with the imperial canal, the great Chinese wall, which 
 extends on the northern frontier of China proper, to the 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 123 
 
 length of 150 geographical leagues, is another no less impor- 
 tant, and still standing monument of the comparatively high 
 civilisation which this country had very early attained. Such 
 is the height and thickness of this wall, that it has been 
 calculated that its cubic contents exceed all the mass of stone 
 employed in all the buildings in England and Scotland ; or 
 again, that the same materials would serve to construct a wall 
 of ordinary height and moderate thickness round the whole 
 earth. This great wall of China may be considered as a cha- 
 racteristic, and as it were a symbol of the exclusive spirit 
 and aversion to every thing foreign in person, manners, 
 and modes of thinking, which distinguish the Chinese state. 
 This spirit, however, has been as little able as the great wall it- 
 self, to defend China against foreign conquests, or even against 
 the introduction of foreign sects. This wall, which was built 
 about two centuries before the Christian era, is an historical 
 monument, which furnishes far stronger proof than all the du- 
 bious accounts of the old annals, that even in ancient times, 
 and long before the conquests of the Monguls, and the estab- 
 lishment of the present dynasty of Mantchou Tartars, the 
 empire had been often conquered, or at least was constantly 
 exposed to the invasions of the Tartar tribes of the north. 
 
 The long succession of the different native dynasties of China, 
 Tchin, Han, Tang, and Sung, down to the Monguls, which fills 
 the diffuse annals of the empire, furnishes few important data 
 on the intellectual progress of the Chinese ; and every thing of 
 importance to the object of our present inquiries, that can be 
 gathered out of the mass of political history, may be reduced to 
 a very few plain facts. The English writer, whom we have 
 already cited, though otherwise inclined to a certain degree of 
 scepticism in his views, fixes the commencement of the historical 
 history in the ancient dynasty of Chow, eleven hundred years 
 before the Christian era. The first fact of importance, as re- 
 gards the moral and intellectual civilisation of China, is that 
 this country was originally divided into many small principali- 
 ties, and, under petty sovereigns, whose power was more limited, 
 enjoyed a greater share of liberty : and that it was formed into 
 a great and absolute monarchy only two hundred years before 
 Christ. The general burning of the books, of which more par- 
 ticular mention will be presently made, as well as the erection 
 of the great wall, are attributed to the first general Emperor of 
 
124 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 all China, Chi-hoangti ; in whose reign, too, Japan became a 
 Chinese colony, or received from China a political establish- 
 ment. At a still later period, as in the fifth century of our 
 era, and again at the time of the Mogul conquest under Zingis 
 Khan, China was divided into two kingdoms, a northern and a 
 southern. But there is another fact already mentioned that 
 throws still stronger light on the high civilisation of China — it 
 is, that at every period, when this empire has been conquered 
 by the Moguls and Tartars, the conquerors, overcome in their 
 turn by the ascendency of Chinese civilisation, have, within a 
 short time, invariably adopted the manners, laws, and even lan- 
 guage of China, and thus its institutions have remained, on the 
 whole, unaltered. But here is a circumstance in Chinese his- 
 tory particularly worthy of our attention. In no state in the 
 world do we see such an entire, absolute, and rigid monarchical 
 unity as in that of China, especially under its ancient form ; 
 although this government is more limited by laws and manners, 
 and is by no means of that arbitrary and despotic character 
 which we are wont to attribute to the more modern Oriental 
 states. In China, before the introduction of the Indian religion 
 of Buddha, there was not even a distinct sacerdotal class — 
 there is no nobility, no hereditary class with hereditary rights — 
 education, and employment in the service of the state, form the 
 only marks of distinction ; and the men of letters and govern- 
 ment functionaries are blended together in the single class of 
 Mandarins ; but the state is all in all. However, this absolute 
 monarchical system has not conduced to the peace, stability, 
 and permanent prosperity of the state, for the whole history of 
 China, from beginning to end, displays one continued series of 
 seditions, usurpations, anarchy, changes of dynasty, and other 
 violent revolutions and catastrophes. This is proved by the 
 bare statement of facts, though the official language of the im- 
 perial annals ever concedes the final triumph to the monarchical 
 principle. 
 
 The same violent revolutions occurred in the department of 
 science and of public doctrines, as in the instance already cited 
 of the general burning of the books by order of the first general 
 emperor ; when the men of letters, or at least a party of them, 
 were persecuted, and 460 followers of Confucius burnt. This 
 act of tyranny undoubtedly supposes a very violent contest be- 
 tween factions — an important political struggle between hostile 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 125 
 
 sects, and a mighty revolution in the intellectual world. At 
 the same time, too, a favourite of this tyrannical prince intro- 
 duced a new system of writing, which has led to the greatest 
 confusion even in subsequent ages. Such an intellectual revo- 
 lution is doubtless evident on the introduction of the Indian 
 religion of Buddha, or Fo (according to the Chinese appella- 
 tion), which took place precisely three-and-thirty years after 
 the foundation of Christianity. The conquest of China by the 
 Moguls, under Zingis Khan, occurred at the same time that 
 their expeditions towards the opposite quarter of Europe spread 
 terror and desolation over Russia and Poland, as far as the 
 confines of Silesia. This conquest produced a redaction, and a 
 popular revolution, conducted by a common citizen of China, by 
 name Chow, restored the empire ; this citizen afterwards as- 
 cended the throne, and became the founder of a new Chinese 
 dynasty. The emperors of the present dynasty of Mantchou 
 Tartars, that has now governed China since the middle of the 
 17th century, are distinguished for their attachment to the old 
 customs and institutions of China, and even to its language and 
 science ; and their elevation to the throne has given rise to 
 many great scientific enterprises, and has been singularly fa- 
 vourable to the investigation of those European scholars whose 
 object it is to make us better acquainted with China. But at the 
 moment I am speaking, a great rebellion has broken out in the 
 northern part of the kingdom, and in the opposite extremity the 
 Christians are exposed to a more than ordinary persecution. 
 
 These few leading incidents in Chinese history may suffice 
 to make known the principal epochs in the intellectual progress 
 and civilisation of this people. As the constitution and de- 
 velopement of the human mind are in each of those ancient 
 nations closely connected with the nature of their language, 
 and even sometimes (as in the case of the Chinese) with 
 their system of writing, the language of the latter people, 
 being, on account of its amazing copiousness, less fit for con- 
 versation than for writing, I shall now make a few remarks on 
 the very artificial mode of Chinese writing, which is perfectly 
 unique in its kind ; but I shall confine my observations to its 
 general character, and shall forbear entering into the vast 
 labyrinth of the 80,000 cipher-signs of speech, and all the 
 problems and difficulties which they involve. The Chinese 
 writing was undoubtedly in its origin symbolical ; though the 
 rude marks of those primitive symbols can now scarcely be 
 
126 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 discerned in the enigmatical abbreviations, and in the complex 
 combinations of the characters at present in use. It is no 
 slight problem, even for the learned of China, to reduce with 
 any degree of certainty the boundless quantity of their written 
 characters to their simple elements and primitive roots ; in 
 this, however, they have succeeded, and have shown that all 
 these elements are to be found in the 214 symbols, or keys of 
 writing, as they call them. The Chinese characters of the 
 primitive ages comprise only such representations indicated 
 by a few rude strokes, of those first simple objects which sur- 
 round man while living in the most simple state of society — 
 such as the sun and the moon, the most familiar animals, the 
 common plants, the instruments of human labour, weapons, 
 and the different parts of human dwellings. This is the same 
 rude symbolical writing which we find among other uncivilised 
 nations, the Americans, for example, and among these, the 
 Mexicans in particular. 
 
 The celebrated French orientalist, Abel Remusat, who in 
 our times has infused a new life into the study of Chinese 
 literature, and especially thrown on the whole subject a much 
 greater degree of clearness* than originally belonged to it, has, 
 in his examination of this first very meagre outline of the 
 infant civilisation of China, wherein he discovers the then very 
 contracted circle of Chinese ideas, passed many intellectual 
 observations, and drawn many historical deductions. And if, 
 as he conjectures, the discovery of Chinese writing must date 
 its origin from four thousand years back, this would bring it 
 within three or four generations from the Deluge, according 
 to vulgar era — an estimate which certainly is not exaggerated. 
 If this European scholar, intimately conversant as he is with 
 Chinese antiquities and science, is at a loss adequately to 
 describe his astonishment at the extreme poverty of these 
 first symbols of Chinese writing, so no one, doubtless, possesses 
 in a higher degree than himself all the necessary attainments 
 to enable him to appreciate the immeasurable distance between 
 this first extreme jejuneness of ideas, and the boundless wealth 
 displayed in the later, artificial, and complex writing of the 
 Chinese. 
 
 But when, among other things, he calls our attention to the 
 fact that, in this primitive writing, even the sign or symbol of 
 a priest is wanting — a symbol which together with the class 
 itself must exist among the very rudest nations — I cannot 
 
HISTORY. 127 
 
 concur in the truth of the remark; for he himself adduces, 
 among other characters, one which must represent a magician. 
 Now among the heathen nations of the primitive age, the 
 one personage was certainly identical with the other, as even 
 among the Cainites was very probably the case. Even the 
 combination of several of those simple characters, which generally 
 serves to denote the more abstract ideas, seems often, or at 
 least originally, not to have been regulated by any profound 
 principle of symbolism, but to have arisen merely out of the 
 vulgar perceptions or impressions of every-day life. For in- 
 stance, the character denoting happiness is composed of two 
 signs, of which one represents an open mouth, and the other 
 a hand full of rice, or rice by itself. Here we see no allusion 
 is made to any very lofty or chimerical idea of happiness, or to 
 any mystic or spiritual conception of the same subject ; but, 
 as this written- character well evinces, the Chinese notion of 
 happiness is simply represented by a mouth filled and saturated 
 with good rice. Another example of nearly the same kind is 
 given by Remus at with something of shyness and reserve ; — 
 the character designating woman, when doubled, signifies 
 strife and contention, and when tripled, immoral and disorderly 
 conduct. How widely removed are all these coarse and trivial 
 combinations of ideas from an exquisite sense — a deep sym- 
 bolism of Nature — from those spiritual emblems in the Egyp- 
 tian hieroplyphics, so far as they have been deciphered ; 
 although these emblems may have been, and were in fact 
 applied to the purpose of alphabetic usage. In the hierogly- 
 phics there is, besides the bare literal meaning, a high symbo- 
 lical inspiration, like a soul of life — like the breathing of a high 
 in-dwelling spirit — a deeply felt significancy — a lofty and beau- 
 tiful design apparent through the dead character denoting any 
 particular name or fact.* 
 
 But independently of this boundless chaos of written-charac- 
 ters, the Chinese undoubtedly possess a system of scientific 
 symbols, and symbolical signs, which constitute the purport of 
 the most ancient of their sacred books — the I — King — which 
 signifies the book of unity, or, as others explain it, the book of 
 
 * There are some exceptions to the truth of these remarks respecting 
 Chinese symbols. Eor instance, the idea of " dispersion" is expressed 
 in the Chinese writing by the sign of a tower. What a beautiful and 
 profound allusion to the great events of primitive history. — Trans. 
 
128 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 changes; and either name will agree with the meaning of 
 those symbols which, when rightly understood, and conceived in 
 the spirit of early antiquity, will appear to be of a very re- 
 markable and scientific nature. There are only two primary 
 figures or lines, from which proceed originally the four symbols 
 and the eight koua or combinations representing nature, which 
 form the basis of the high Chinese philosophy. These first two 
 primary principles are a straight, unbroken line, and a line 
 broken or divided into two. If these first simple elements are 
 doubled ; namely — two straight lines put under each other like 
 our arithmetical sign of equation, and two broken or divided 
 lines also put together, the different lines are formed. Accord- 
 ing as one broken line occupies the upper or the lower place, 
 there are two possible variations — when put together, there are 
 four possible variations ; and these constitute the four symbols. 
 But if three lines of these two kinds, the straight and the 
 broken, are united or placed under each other, so, according to 
 the number of the upper, middle, or lower place of either species 
 of line, there are eight possible combinations, and these are the 
 eight koua, which, together with the four symbols, refer to the 
 natural elements, and to the primary principles of all things, 
 and serve as the symbolical expression, or scientific designation, 
 of these. 
 
 What is now the real sense and the proper signification of 
 those scientific primary lines among the Chinese, which exert 
 an influence over the whole of their ancient literature, and 
 upon which they themselves have written an incredible number 
 of learned commentaries ? Leibnitz supposed them to contain 
 a reference to the modern algebraical discoveries, and especially 
 to the binary calculation. Other writers, especially among 
 the English, drawing their observations more from real life, 
 remark, on the other hand, that this ancient system of mystical 
 lines serves at present the purpose of a sort of oracular play 
 of questions, like the turning up of cards among Europeans, 
 and is converted to many ^superstitious uses, especially for 
 making pretended discoveries in alchymy, to which the Chinese 
 are very much addicted. But this is only an abuse of modern 
 times, which no longer understand this primitive system of 
 symbolical signs and lines. The high antiquity of these lines, 
 and of the eight koua can be the less a matter of doubt as 
 even mythology has ascribed them to the primitive Patriarch 
 
HISTOKY. 
 
 129 
 
 of the Chinese — Fohi, who is represented as having espied 
 these lines on the back of a tortoise, and having thence 
 deduced the written characters, which many of the learned 
 Chinese wish to derive from these eight koua or combinations 
 of the first symbolical lines. But the French scholar, whom 
 I have more than once had occasion to name, and who is 
 well able to form a competent opinion on the subject, is most 
 decidedly opposed to this Chinese derivation of all the 
 written characters from the eight koua ; and it would appear, 
 indeed, that the latter differ totally from the common system 
 of Chinese writing, and must be looked upon as of a distinct 
 scientific nature. 
 
 Perhaps we may find a natural explanation of the true, 
 and not very hidden sense of these signs, by comparing the 
 fundamental doctrines in the elder Greek philosophy and 
 science of nature. Thus, in the writings of Plato, mention 
 is often made of the one and of the other, or of unity and 
 duality, as the original elements of nature and first principles 
 of all existence. By this is meant the doctrine of the first 
 opposition, and of the many oppositions derived from the 
 first ; and also of the possible, and conceivable, or required 
 adjustment and compromise between the two, and of the re- 
 storation of the first unity and eternal equality anterior to all 
 opposition, and which terminates and absorbs in itself all 
 discord. Thus these eight koua, and mathematical signs or 
 symbolical lines of ancient China, would comprise nothing 
 more than a dry outline of all dynamical speculation and 
 science. And it is therefore quite consistent that the old 
 sacred book which contains these principles of Chinese science 
 should be termed either the book of unity, or the book 
 of changes ; for doubtless this title refers to the doctrine 
 of an absolute unity, as the fundamental principle of all 
 things, and to the doctrine of differences, or oppositions 
 or changes springing out of that first unity. This doctrine 
 of an opposition in all things — in thought as in nature 
 — will become more apparent if we reflect on the new and 
 brilliant discoveries in natural philosophy. For as in this 
 science, the oxygen and hydrogen parts in the chemistry of 
 metals, or the positive and negative end of electrical phe- 
 nomena, in the attracting and repelling pole of magnetism, 
 reveal such an opposition and dynamic play of living powers 
 in nature ; so in this philosophy of China, the abstrac f 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 doctrine of this opposition and dynamical change of existence 
 seems to be laid down with a sort of mathematical generality, 
 as the basis of all future science. In our higher natural 
 philosophy, indeed, all this has been proved from facts and 
 experience ; and, besides this, dynamic life forms but the one 
 element, and the one branch of the science to be acquired ; 
 and a philosophy founded entirely on this dynamical law of 
 existence, without any regard to the other and higher principle 
 of internal experience and moral life, intellectual intuition and 
 divine revelation, would be at best a very partial system, and 
 by no means of general application ; or if a general application 
 of such a system were made, it must lead to endless mistakes, 
 errors, and contradictions. That such a system of dynamical 
 speculation and science, if extended to objects where it cannot 
 be corroborated by facts — to all things divine and human, real, 
 possible, or impossible, will undoubtedly lead to such a chaotic 
 confusion of ideas ; we have had a memorable experience in 
 the German " Philosophy of Nature 99 of the last generation ;* 
 a philosophy which consisted in a fanciful play of thought with 
 Polarities, and oppositions, and points of indifference between 
 them, but which has been long appreciated in its true worth 
 and real nature, and consigned to its proper limits. 
 
 Thus this outline of the old Chinese symbols of thought, 
 which have a purely metaphysical import, would lay before us 
 the most recent error clothed in the most antique form — but the 
 Chinese system is in itself very remarkable and important. The 
 fundamental text of the old sacred book on this doctrine of 
 unity and oppositions, and which may now be easily compre- 
 hended, runs thus, according to Remusat's literal translation : 
 " The great first Principle has engendered or produced two 
 equations and differences, or primary rules of existence; but 
 the two primary rules or two oppositions, namely Yn and Yang, 
 or repose and motion (the affirmative and negative as we might 
 otherwise call them) have produced four signs or symbols ; and 
 the four symbols have produced the eight koua, or further 
 
 * The author alludes to Schelling's philosophy, which is called some- 
 times the " Philosophy of Nature," and sometimes the " Philosophy of 
 Identity." M. Cuvier, in his masterly introduction to his great work 
 on Fossile Remains, mentions some of the extravagant theories broached 
 in the department of geology alone by those German naturalists, who 
 some years ago attempted to apply to natural philosophy, the metaphy- 
 sical system of Schelling. — Trans, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 131 
 
 combinations." These eight koua are kien or ether, kui or 
 pure water, li or pure fire, tchin or thunder, siun, the wind, 
 kan, common water, ken, a mountain, and kuen, the earth. 
 
 On this ancient basis of Chinese philosophy, proceeding from 
 indifference to differences, was afterwards founded the rationalist 
 system of Lao-tseu, whose name occurs somewhat earlier than 
 that of Confucius. The Taosse, or disciples of Reason, as the 
 followers of this philosopher entitle themselves, have very much 
 degenerated, and have become a complete atheistical sect ; 
 though the guilt of tins must be attributed, not to the founder, 
 but to his disciples only. It is, however, acknowledged that 
 the atheistical principles of this dead science of reason, have 
 been very widely diffused throughout the Chinese empire, and 
 for a certain period were almost generally prevalent. 
 
 As it is necessary to keep in view a certain chronological 
 order, in our investigations of the progressive development of 
 Chinese intellect, I may here observe that, as far as European 
 research has been able to ascertain, we may distinguish three 
 principal and successive epochs in the history both of the reli- 
 gion and science of China. The first epoch is that of sacred 
 tradition, and of the old constitution of the Chinese empire, 
 and discloses those primitive views, and that primitive system 
 of ethics, on which the empire was founded. The second, which 
 we may fix about six centuries before our era, is the period of 
 scientific philosophy, that pursued two opposite paths of inquiry. 
 Confucius applied his attention entirely to the more practical 
 study of ethics, with which, indeed, the old constitution, history, 
 and sacred traditions of the Chinese were very intimately con- 
 nected ; and the pure morality of Confucius, which was the first 
 branch of Chinese philosophy known in Europe, excited to a 
 high degree the enthusiasm of many European scholars, who, 
 by their too exclusive admiration, were prevented from forming 
 a right estimate of the general character of Chinese philosophy. 
 
 Another system of philosophy, purely speculative and widely 
 different from the practical and ethical doctrine of Confucius, 
 was the system of Lao-tseu and his school, whence issued the 
 above-mentioned rationalist sect of Taosse that has at last fallen 
 into atheism. As to the question whether Lao-tseu travelled 
 into the remote West, or in case he came only as far as Western 
 Asia, whether he derived his system from the Persian or Egyp- 
 tian doctrines or mediately from the Greek philosophy — this 
 
 k 2 
 
132 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 question I shall not here stop to discuss ; for the matter is very 
 doubtful in itself, and, were it even proved, still all the doctrines 
 borrowed from the West were invested in a form purely Chi- 
 nese, and clothed in quite a native garb. Those signs in the 
 I — King, we have already spoken of, evidently comprise the 
 germ of such an absolute, negative, and consequently atheistic 
 rationalism — a mechanical play of idle abstractions. The third 
 epoch in the progress of Chinese opinions is formed by the in- 
 troduction of the Indian religion of Buddha or of Fo. The 
 great revolution which had previously occurred in the old doc- 
 trines and manners of China, and the ruling spirit of that false 
 and absolute rationalism, had already paved the way for the 
 foreign religion of Buddha, which of all the Pagan imitations of 
 truth, occupies the lowest grade. 
 
 The old sacred traditions of the Chinese are not so overlaid 
 nor disfigured with fictions, as those of most other Asiatic na- 
 tions ; those of the Indians, for example, and of the early nations 
 of Pagan Europe ; but their traditions breathe the purer spirit 
 of genuine history. Hence the poetry of the Chinese is not 
 mythological, like that of other nations ; but is either lyrical 
 (as in the Shi — King, a book of sacred songs, composed or 
 compiled by Confucius) ; or is entirely confined to the repre- 
 sentation of real life, and of the social relations (as in the 
 modern tales and novels, several of wliich have been translated 
 into the European languages). 
 
 The old traditions of the Chinese have many traits of a 
 kindred character with, or at least of a strong resemblance to, 
 the Mosaic revelation, and even to the sacred traditions of the 
 nations of Western Asia, particularly the Persians ; and in 
 these traditions we find much that either corroborates the 
 testimony of Holy Writ, or at least affords matter for further 
 comparison. We have before mentioned the very peculiar 
 manner in which the Chinese speak of the great Flood, and 
 how their first progenitors struggled against the savage waters, 
 and how this task was afterwards neglected by bad or impro- 
 vident rulers, who, in consequence, of this neglect, were brought 
 to ruin. 
 
 I will cite but one instance, where the parallel is indeed 
 remarkable. In the I — King, mention is made of the fallen 
 dragon, or of the spirit of the dragon that, for his presumption 
 in wishing to ascend to heaven, was precipitated into the 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 133 
 
 abyss ; and the words in which this event is described are 
 precisely the same, or at least very similar, to those which our 
 Scriptures apply to the rebel angel, and the Persian books to 
 Ahriman. However this dragon is whimsically, we might 
 almost say, artlessly, made the sacred symbol of the Chinese 
 empire and emperor. The paternal power of the latter is 
 understood in a much too absolute sense : not only is the 
 emperor styled the lord of heaven and earth, and even the 
 son of God ; but his will is revered as the will of God, or 
 rather completely identified with it ; and even the most deter- 
 mined eulogists of the Chinese constitution and manners cannot 
 deny that the monarch is almost the object of a real worship. 
 Christianity teaches that all power is from God ; but it does 
 not thereby declare that all power is one and the same with 
 God. Even a dominion over nature and her powers is ascribed 
 to the Emperor of China, as the illustrious lord of heaven and 
 earth. 
 
 Moreover, no hereditary nobility, no classes separated, by 
 distinctions of birth, exist in this country, as in India. The 
 emperor, half identified with the Deity, had alone the privilege 
 in ancient times of offering on the sacred heights the great 
 sacrifice to God. Some European writers have, from this 
 circumstance, conceived the Chinese constitution to be theo- 
 cratic ; but if it be so, it is only in its outward form, or 
 original mould ; for it would be difficult to show in it any trace 
 of a true, vital theocracy. All that pomp of sacred ceremony 
 and religious titles so strangely abused, forms a striking contrast 
 with real history, and with that long succession of profligate 
 and unfortunate reigns and perpetual revolutions which fill 
 most of the pages of the Chinese annals. We should err 
 greatly were we to regard all these high imperial titles as the 
 mere swell and exaggeration of Eastern phraseology. The 
 Chinese speak of their celestial Empire of the Medium, as 
 they call their country, in terms which no European writer 
 would apply to a Christian state, and such indeed as the 
 Scriptures and religious authors use in reference only to the 
 kingdom of God. They cannot conceive it possible for the 
 earth to contain two emperors at one and the same time, and 
 own the sway of more than one such absolute lord and master. 
 Hence they look on every solemn foreign embassy as a debt of 
 homage; nor is this sentiment the idle effect of vanity, or 
 
134 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 fancy — it is a firm and settled belief, perfectly coinciding with 
 the whole system of their religious and political doctrines. 
 This political idolatry of the state, which the Chinese identify 
 with the emperor's person, is a pagan error: all excess, all 
 exaggeration is sure to produce opposition and reaction, or a 
 tendency thereto. Hence the pages of Chinese history present 
 by the side of this high boasted ideal of absolute power, as a 
 fearful concomitant, and fitting commentary, one continuous 
 series of political revolutions and catastrophes. Neither the 
 pure morality of those ancient books revered by the Chinese as 
 sacred, whatever be the morality of books in which the principle 
 of rationalism is so exclusively predominant ; nor all the high 
 refinement of philosophic speculation in the scientific period 
 of their history, have prevented this people from falling into 
 the grossest of idolatries, and adopting a foreign superstition, 
 which of all false religions is unquestionably the most repre- 
 hensible. Some persons have sought to trace a certain re- 
 semblance to Christianity in this religion of Fo, partly on 
 account of some external institutions, and partly on account 
 of the fundamental principle of the incarnation, equally 
 perverted and misapplied in this superstition, as in the rival 
 mythology of Brahma. The enemies of Christianity, since 
 the time of Voltaire, have not failed, at the name of Bonzis, 
 to throw out many malicious epigrams against religion. 
 The similarity here observed is not real, but is that caricature 
 resemblance the ape bears to man, and which has led many 
 naturalists into error ; for the ape has with man no real 
 affinity, no true internal sympathy in his organic conformation, 
 but merely the likeness of a spiteful parody, such as we may 
 suppose an evil spirit to have devised to mock the image of 
 God — the masterpiece of creation ; and indeed the frailties 
 and corruption of degenerate men may well give occasion to 
 such a parody. We may lay it down as a general principle 
 that the greater the apparent resemblance which a false religion, 
 utterly and fundamentally different in its spiritual character 
 and moral tendency, externally bears to the true, the more 
 reprehensible will it be in itself, and the greater its hostility to 
 the truth. An example near at hand will place the truth of 
 this remark in the clearest light. If, for instance, Mahomet, 
 instead of merely giving himself out as a prophet, had declared 
 he was the son of God, the eternal Word, the incarnate Deity, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 135 
 
 the true and real Christ, his religious system would certainly 
 have been far more adverse and repulsive to our feelings than 
 it now is, and would have shocked alike every mind trained in 
 the intellectual discipline of Europe, brought up with Christian 
 feelings, and even unconsciously imbued with such. But this 
 is precisely the characteristic feature, the peculiar doctrine of 
 the religion of Buddha ; for not only is Buddha himself wor- 
 shipped as an incarnate divinity, but this prerogative of a 
 divine incarnation has been transmitted to his chief priests 
 through every generation ; and thus this personal idolatry has 
 ever been kept alive. In regard to morals, too, a comparison 
 between the religion of the Buddhists and of the Mahometans, 
 would be equally disadvantageous to the former. The injurious 
 influence which polygamy, and that degradation of the female 
 sex it necessarily involves, exert on the manners and intellectual 
 character of Mahometan nations, has been often observed, and 
 can never be questioned. But that that other and opposite 
 abuse of marriage, poly-andry, which is legally established 
 among the Buddhist nations, is infinitely more repugnant to, 
 and destructive of morality, and more debasing to the male 
 character, must be perceptible to the feelings of every indi- 
 vidual, and can require no comment. I do not find, indeed, in 
 the different accounts of China, any mention made of this 
 abominable practice ; and it is very possible that in this, as in 
 other cases, the good old customs of the Chinese have had 
 the ascendency, and preserved their beneficial influence : but 
 in Thibet, the chief seat of Buddhism, in many parts of India, 
 and in other countries where this religion prevails, the unna- 
 tural custom exists. 
 
 The writer* best versed in the language and writings of the 
 Buddhist Moguls boasts of their superior humanity and mildness 
 of manners, when compared with the Mahometan nations ; but 
 this observation must be taken only in a relative sense, and un- 
 derstood of a mere outward polish, and superficial refinement of 
 manner ; for history does not show the Moguls to have been at 
 all more humane in their conduct. The indescribable confusion 
 in the mythological system of the Buddhists, their innumerable 
 books of metaphysics, all wearisomely prolix and unintelligible, 
 according to the explicit avowal of the critic just now cited, 
 
 * M. Abel Remusat 
 
136 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 M. Remusat, prove the essentially false direction of speculation 
 and philosophy among* the Buddhists — a philosophy which, by 
 a dialectic or rather ideal course, has been led into a chaos of 
 void abstractions, and a pure nihilism ; and more scientific ob- 
 servers have ever judged it to be an absolute system of atheism. 
 
 It would appear that the Nestorians, or other degenerate 
 Christian sects, have exerted some influence on Buddhism, and 
 co-operated in its further development; — so we may well 
 imagine that this exotic influence has not tended to the ameli- 
 oration or improvement of a religion false in its essence, and 
 fundamentally corrupt ; but that its vices and absurdities have 
 remained equally flagrant, or, as it is easy to suppose, have been 
 aggravated in the progress of time. 
 
 This religion of Fo must not be considered as resem- 
 bling Christianity, because its followers have monastic institu- 
 tions, and make use of a kind of rosary; but as the political 
 idolatry of the Chinese for their state and sovereign is widely 
 different from the true principle of Christian government, that 
 all poiver is from God, so this false religion of Buddha is fur- 
 ther removed than any other from Christianity: it is on the 
 contrary adverse to our religion, and, so far from being half 
 similar to Christianity, is a decidedly anti-Christian creed*. 
 
 We may thus sum up the result of our inquiries : — among 
 the great nations of primitive antiquity who stood the nearest, 
 
 * No Gentile people preserved so long and in such purity the worship of 
 the true God as the Chinese. This no doubt must be ascribed to the 
 secluded situation of the country — to the great reverence of the Chinese 
 for their ancestors, as well as to the patriarchal mildness of their early 
 governments; and, we must add, to the unpoetical character of the 
 nation itself, which was a safeguard against idolatry. There is histo- 
 rical evidence that, up to two centuries before the Christian era, idolatry- 
 had made little progress among this people. So vivid was their ex- 
 pectation of the Messiah — " the Great Saint who, as Confucius says, 
 was to appear in the West" — so fully sensible were they not only of the 
 place of his birth, but of the time of his coming, that, about sixty years 
 after the birth of our Saviour, they sent their envoys to hail the 
 expected Redeemer. These envoys encountered on their way the Mis- 
 sionaries of Buddhism coming from India — the latter, announcing an 
 incarnate God, were taken to be the disciples of the true Christ, 
 and were presented as such to their countrymen by the deluded ambas- 
 sadors. Thus was this religion introduced into China, and thus did this 
 phantasmagoria of Hell intercept the light of the gospel. So, not in the 
 internal spirit only, but in the outward history of Buddhism, a demo- 
 niacal intent is very visible.— Trans, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 137 
 
 or at least very Bear, to the source of sacred tradition — the 
 word of primitive revelation — the Chinese hold a very distin- 
 guished place ; and many passages in their primitive history, 
 many remarkable vestiges of eternal truth — the heritage of old 
 thoughts — to be found in their ancient classical works, prove 
 the originally high eminence of this people. But at a very 
 early period, their science had taken a course completely erro- 
 neous, and even their language partly followed this direction, 
 or at least assumed a very stiff and artificial character. De- 
 scending from one degree of political idolatry to a grade still 
 lower, they have at last openly embraced a foreign superstition 
 — a diabolic mimicry of Christianity, which emanated from 
 India, has made Thibet its principal seat, prevails in China, 
 and, widely diffused over the whole middle of Asia, reckons a 
 greater number of followers than any other religion on the 
 earth. 
 
 BHD OF LECTURE III. 
 
138 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 LECTUEE IV. 
 
 Of the Institutions of the Indians — the Brahminical Caste, and the he- 
 reditary Priesthood. — Of the Doctrine of the Transmigration of Souls, 
 considered as the Basis of Indian Life, and of Indian Philosophy. 
 
 When Alexander the Great had attained the object of his 
 most ardent desires, and, realising the fabulous expedition of 
 Bacchus and his train of followers, had at last reached India, 
 the Greeks found this vast region, even on this side of the 
 Ganges — (for that river, the peculiar object of Alexander's 
 ambition, the conqueror, in despite of all his efforts, was 
 unable to reach) — the Greeks found this country extensive, 
 fertile, highly cultivated, populous, and filled with flourishing 
 cities, as it was divided into a number of great and petty 
 kingdoms. They found there an hereditary division of castes, 
 such as still subsists ; although they reckoned not four, but 
 seven castes, a circumstance, however, which, as we shall see later, 
 argues no essential difference in the division of Indian classes 
 at that period. They remarked, also, that the country was 
 divided into two religious parties or sects, the Brachmans and 
 the Samaneans. By the first, the Greeks designated the fol- 
 lowers of the religion of Brahma, as well as of Vishnoo and 
 Siva, a religion which still subsists, and is more deeply rooted 
 and more widely diffused and prevalent in India than any 
 other religious system ; distinguished as it is by its leading 
 dogma of the transmigration of souls, which has exerted the 
 mightiest influence on every department of thought, on the 
 whole bearing of Indian philosophy, and on the whole arrange- 
 ment of Indian life. But by the Greek denomination of Sa- 
 maneans we must certainly understand the Buddhists, as, among 
 the rude nations of Central Asia, as in other countries, the 
 priests of the religion of Fo bear at this day the name of Scha- 
 mans. These priests indeed appear to be little better than 
 mere sorcerers and jugglers, as are the priests of all idolatrous 
 nations that are sunk to the lowest degree of barbarism and 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 139 
 
 superstition. The word itself is pure Indian, and occurs fre- 
 quently in the religious and metaphysical treatises of that 
 people ; for originally, and before it had received such a mean 
 acceptation among those Buddhist nations, it had quite a 
 philosophical sense, as it still has in the Sanscrit. This word 
 denotes that equability of mind, or that deep internal equa- 
 nimity which, according to the Indian philosophy, must pre- 
 cede, and is indispensably requisite to, the perfect union with the 
 God-head. In general all the names by which Buddha, the 
 priests of his religion, and its important and fundamental 
 doctrines are known, whether in Thibet, or among the Mpn- 
 gul nations, in Siam, in Pegu, or in Japan — in general, we 
 say, all those names are pure Indian words ; for the tradition 
 of all those nations, with unanimous accord, deduces the origin 
 of this sect from India. 
 
 The name of Buddha, which the Chinese have changed, or 
 shortened into that of Fo, is rather an honorary appellation, 
 and is expressive of the divine wisdom with which, in the 
 opinion of his followers, he was endowed ; or which rather, 
 according to their belief, became visible in his person. The 
 period of his existence is fixed by many at six hundred years, 
 by others again at a thousand years, before the Christian era. 
 His real and historical name was Gautama ; and it is remark- 
 able that the same name was borne by the author of one of the 
 principal philosophical systems of the Hindoos, the Nyaya 
 philosophy, the leading principles of which will be the subject 
 of future consideration, when we come to speak of the Indian 
 philosophy. Indeed, the dialectic spirit which pervades the 
 Nyaya philosophy would seem to be of a kindred nature and 
 like origin with the confused metaphysics of the Buddhists. 
 But the names, notwithstanding their identity, denote two 
 different persons ; although even the founder of the dialectic 
 system, like almost all other celebrated names in the ancient 
 history, traditions, and science of the Indians, figures in the 
 character of a mythological personage. But we must first 
 take a view of the state of manners, and the state of political 
 civilisation, in India, in order to be able to form a right judg- 
 ment and estimate of the intellectual and scientific exertions of 
 its inhabitants, and of the peculiar nature and tendency of the 
 Indian opinions. 
 
 By the manner in which the Greek writers speak of the two 
 
140 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 religious parties, into which Alexander found the country 
 divided, it can scarcely he doubted that the Buddhists at that 
 period were far more numerous, and more extensively diffused 
 throughout India, than they are at the present day, and this 
 inference is even corroborated by many historical vouchers of 
 the Indians themselves. Although the Buddhists are now but 
 an obscure sect of dissenters in the Western Peninsula, they 
 are still tolerably numerous in several of its provinces ; while, 
 on the other hand, they have complete possession of the whole 
 Eastern and Indo-Chinese peninsula. Besides this sect, there 
 are many other religious dissenters even in Hindostau ; such 
 for instance, as the sect of Jains, who steer a middle course 
 between the followers of the old and established religion of 
 Brahma, and the Buddhists ; for, like the latter, they reject the 
 Indian division and system of castes. Even the established re- 
 ligion itself is divided into three parties, which, though they do 
 not form precisely separate sects, still are marked by no incon- 
 siderable differences in their opinions, views, and conduct : ac- 
 cording as each of these parties acknowledges the supremacy, 
 or renders a nearly exclusive worship to one or other of the 
 three principal Hindoo divinities, Brahma, Vishnoo, and Siva. 
 And, although in the empire of the great Mogul, the number 
 of the Mahometan conquerors, and of those that accompanied 
 them into India, was very small, compared with the mass of the 
 native population, yet, after the total destruction of this empire, 
 there still remain several millions of Mahometans in the country, 
 Even the Persian language, or a corrupt dialect of it, which 
 these conquerors introduced, is still in many places in use as the 
 language of ordinary life, trade, and business ; in the same way 
 as the Portuguese in the maritime and commercial cities of 
 India, or the Lingua Franca in our Eastern factories, serves as 
 the usual and convenient medium of communication. 
 
 The Indian is not the only, or exclusively prevailing, lan- 
 guage in the whole peninsula ; in several provinces, as for in- 
 stance, on the southern coast, and in the Isle of Ceylon, quite 
 a different language prevails ; and the old cultivated and 
 classical speech of India is there unknown. The name of 
 Sanscrit, by which the latter is designated, denotes a cultivated 
 or highly -wrought language ; but the Pracrit, which is em- 
 ployed together or alternately with the Sanscrit in the theatri- 
 cal pieces of the Indians, signifies a natural and artless speech, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 141 
 
 and is not so much a distinct dialect as a softer pronunciation 
 of the Sanscrit, which smoothes, suppresses, or melts down the 
 hard and crowded consonants, and pays less regard to the more 
 elaborate grammatical forms of this language. The Pracrit, 
 which is used in dramatic pieces, particularly in the female 
 parts, stands, from its more simple grammar, in the same relation 
 to the Sanscrit as the softer Italian or Portuguese does to the old 
 Latin, without however the same heterogeneous alloy. But, 
 independently of these variations in the later and beautiful 
 language of Indian poetry, the language of that country is 
 split and divided into a number of dissimilar and widely dis- 
 similar dialects, such as the Malabar, for example ; and almost 
 in every province the common language undergoes a variety of 
 changes ; and this is the case even in Bengal. The country of 
 the Upper Ganges, especially Benares, is renowned for being 
 the chief seat of the Sanscrit tongue, — the place, at least, 
 where it is best understood, and spoken with the greatest purity. 
 
 Those languages which differ totally from the Indian, belong 
 in part to quite a different race of men, mostly, perhaps to the 
 Malays: for, so far is India from being entirely peopled by one 
 single race of inhabitants, that we find in several of its pro- 
 vinces tribes of an origin totally different from that of the Hin- 
 doos. This great variety in the whole life, manners, and poli- 
 tical institutions of the Indians, forms a striking contrast with 
 the absolute unity, and internal uniformity of the Chinese Em- 
 pire. It was perhaps this variety in the moral and political 
 aspect of ancient India, that gave rise to the denomination 
 which it has received in the old sacred Median books of Zo- 
 roaster, where, in the first fargard, or section of the Yendidat, 
 it is described as the fifteenth pure region of the earth, created 
 by Ormuzd, and designated by the name of Hapte Heando — 
 a name which signifies the seven Indias. As India is still split 
 into a multitude of sects and religions, and divided into dif- 
 ferent tribes, speaking various languages ; so, as Herodotus long" 
 ago observed, it has for the most part been ever composed of a 
 multitude of great and petty states, although from its natural 
 boundaries it might easily have been formed into one great 
 monarchy, and really constitutes but one country in its geo- 
 graphical circumscription. 
 
 The historian of India would have principally to speak of the 
 successes of a Jong series of foreign conquerors, who, from 
 
142 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 Alexander the Great to Nadir Shah, have invaded this country 
 by the north-west side from Persia. The Greeks were indeed 
 told that, before Alexander the Great, no foreign conqueror had 
 ever invaded India ; and even after this invasion, and on the 
 death of Sandracottus, when the Indians were liberated from 
 the transient dominion of the Greeks, they were for a long 
 lapse of ages governed by native princes ; and their country was 
 parcelled out into a number of great and petty kingdoms, such 
 as those of Magadha, Ayodha, &c. It is a striking incident in 
 the moral and intellectual history of the Hindoos, that amid all 
 the revolutions under their ancient and native rulers, and amid 
 all the later vicissitudes of foreign conquest, their peculiar modes 
 of life and their institution of castes should have been pre- 
 served, and, despite of all the changes of time and of empire, 
 should have stood unchanged, like the one surviving monument 
 of the primitive world. In the administration and government 
 of this country, the absolute monarchical sway which exists in 
 China, and the unlimited despotism of other Oriental countries, 
 could never be realised ; for that hereditary division of classes, 
 and those hereditary rights belonging to each, which, as they 
 form a part of the Indian constitution, have taken such deep 
 root in the soil; and which, as they rest on the immoveable 
 basis of ancient faith, have become, as it were, the second 
 nature of this people — all these present an unassailable rampart, 
 which not even a foreign conqueror could ever succeed in over- 
 throwing. We can hence understand what led the Greeks to 
 believe and assert that there were republican states in India. 
 If from prepossessions, which were natural to that people, they 
 asserted too much, or thought they saw more than a nearer in- 
 vestigation proves to be actually the case; still their assertion 
 is not totally without foundation, for the Indian system of 
 castes is in many respects more favourable to institutions of a 
 republican nature, or at least republican tendency, than the con- 
 stitution of any other Asiatic state. When those modern writers, 
 therefore, who were the declared enemies of all hereditary rank 
 and hereditary rights, spoke with contempt and abhorrence of 
 the Indian constitution of castes, represented it as the peculiar 
 basis of despotism, and even applied the name of caste as a 
 party- word to the social relations of Europe; their assertions 
 were false, and utterly opposed to history. The invectives of 
 tihese writers may be easily accounted for, from their very 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 143 
 
 democratic views, or rather from their doctrine of absolute 
 equality, as this equality itself is ever the attendant of despotism, 
 produces it, or proceeds from it, and is one of its most distinc- 
 tive characteristics. In confirmation of what we have said, we 
 may observe, that even at the present day most of the cities of 
 India possess municipal institutions, which are much admired 
 by English writers, who attest from their personal experience 
 and observation, their salutary influence on individual and public 
 prosperity. In general the English have paid very great at- 
 tention to the jurisprudence and civil legislation of India ; as 
 the fundamental principle of their Indian government is to rule 
 that country according to its own laws, customs, and privileges; 
 while, on the contrary, the other European powers that once 
 had obtained a firm footing in India, formed alliances with, and 
 attached themselves by preference to, the Mahometan sove- 
 reigns of the country. By this simple but enlightened prin- 
 ciple in their Indian policy and administration, the English 
 have obtained the ascendency over all their rivals or opponents, 
 and have become complete masters of the whole of this splen- 
 did region. 
 
 The scholars of Europe began their Indian researches by the 
 study and translation of the laws and jurisprudence of the Hin- 
 doos, the text as well as commentaries, and it was only at a later 
 
 Jeriod they extended their inquiries to other subjects. The 
 ndian jurisprudence is undoubtedly a standing proof and monu- 
 ment of the comparatively high and very ancient moral and 
 intellectual refinement of that people ; and a more minute and 
 profound investigation of that jurisprudence would no doubt 
 give rise to many interesting points of comparison, and to many 
 striking analogies, partly with the old Athenian, or first Roman 
 laws, partly with the Mosaic legislation, and even in some par- 
 ticular points with the Germanic constitution. As the caste of 
 warriors in India, who constitute the class of landed proprietors, 
 and the aristocracy of the country, are founded on exactly the 
 same principle as the hereditary nobility of Germany, it cannot 
 excite surprise, if we find in India, not indeed the elaborate and 
 complex feudality of the Germans, but a more simple system of 
 fiefs. 
 
 But, according to the plan we have proposed to ourselves, in 
 the history of all ancient, and especially of the primitive Asiatic 
 nations, the matter of greatest moment must be to trace their 
 
144 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 intellectual progress, their scientific labours, and predominant 
 opinions ; all those views of divine and human things, that have 
 a mighty influence on life ; and, finally, the peculiar religious 
 feelings and principles of each of those ancient nations. In the 
 second part of this work, when we shall have to speak of the 
 progress of mankind in modern times, we may perhaps change our 
 point of view, and find it of more importance to trace the mu- 
 tual relations between the external state of society and the in- 
 ternal development of intellect. But in that remote antiquity, 
 which is contiguous to the primitive ages, the points of greatest 
 moment, as we have already observed, are the intellectual cha- 
 racter, the modes of thinking, and the religion of those nations. 
 On the other hand, their civil legislation, and even their political 
 constitutions, however important, interesting, and instructive 
 the closer investigation of those subjects may be in other re- 
 spects, can occupy in this history but a secondary place ; and it 
 will suffice for our purpose to point out some leading points of 
 legislation that serve as the foundation and principle of the 
 moral and intellectual character of those nations. In India this 
 leading point is the institution of castes, the most remarkable 
 feature in all Indian life, and which in its essential traits existed 
 in Egypt. This singular phenomenon of Indian life has even 
 some points of connexion with a capital article of their creed, 
 the doctrine of the transmigration of souls — a doctrine which 
 will be later the subject of our inquiries, and which we shall en- 
 deavour to place in a nearer and clearer light. In showing the 
 influence of the institution of castes on the state of manners in 
 India, I may observe, in the first place, that in this division of 
 the social ranks there is no distinct class of slaves (as was indeed 
 long ago remarked by the Greeks) ; that is to say, no such class 
 of bought slaves — no men, the property and merchandise of their 
 fellow-men — as existed in ancient Greece and Rome, as exist 
 even at this day among Mahometan nations; and, as in the 
 case of the negroes, are still to be found in the colonial posses- 
 sions of the Christian and European states. The labouring 
 class of the Sudras is undoubtedly not admitted to the high 
 privileges of the first classes, and is in a state of great depen- 
 dance upon these ; but this very caste of Sudras has its heredi- 
 tary and clearly defined rights. It is only by a crime that a 
 man in India can lose his caste, and the rights annexed to it. 
 These rights are acquired by birth ; except in the instance of 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 145 
 
 the offspring of unlawful marriages between persons of different 
 castes. The fate of these hapless wretches is indeed hard, — 
 harder, almost, than that of real slaves among other nations. 
 Ejected, excommunicated as it were, loaded with malediction, 
 they are regarded as the outcasts of society, yea almost of 
 humanity itself. This terrible exclusion, however, from the 
 rights of citizenship occurs only in certain clearly specified 
 cases. There are even some cases of exception explicitly laid 
 down, where a marriage with a person of different caste is 
 permitted ; or where, at least, the only consequence to the 
 children of such marriage is a degradation to an inferior class 
 of society. But the general rule is that a lawful marriage can 
 be contracted only with a woman of the same caste. Women 
 participate in all the rights of their caste ; in the high prero- 
 gatives of Brahmins, if they are of the sacerdotal race (although 
 there are not and never were priestesses among the Indians as 
 among the other heathen nations of antiquity) ; or in the 
 privileges of nobility, if they belong to the caste of the 
 Cshatriyas. These privileges, which belong and are secured to 
 women, and this participation in the rights and advantages of 
 their respective classes, must tend much undoubtedly to miti- 
 gate the injurious effects of polygamy. The latter custom has 
 ever prevailed, and still prevails, in India ; though not to the 
 same degree of licentiousness, nor with the same unh'mited and 
 despotic control, as in Mahometan countries ; but a plurality 
 of wives is there permitted only under certain conditions, and 
 with certain legal restrictions; consequently, in that milder 
 form, under which it existed of old in the warm climes of Asia, 
 and according to the patriarchal simplicity of the yet thinly 
 peopled world. The much higher social rank, and better moral 
 condition of the female sex in India, are apparent from those 
 portraits of Indian life which are drawn in their beautiful works 
 of poetry, whether of a primitive or a later date ; and from 
 that deep feeling of tenderness, that affectionate regard and re- 
 verence, with which the character of woman and her domestic 
 relations are invariably represented. These few examples suf- 
 fice to show the moral effects of the Indian division of castes ; 
 and while they serve to defend this institution against a sweep- 
 ing sentence of condemnation, or the indiscriminate censure of 
 too partial prejudice, they place the subject in its true and 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 proper light, and present alike the advantages and defects of 
 the system. 
 
 From its connexion with the general plan of my work, I am 
 desirous of entering more deeply into the internal principle of 
 this singular division and rigid separation of the social ranks, 
 and into the historical origin of this strange constitution of hu- 
 man society. When the Greeks, who accompanied or followed 
 Alexander into India, numbered seven instead of four castes in 
 that country, they did not judge inaccurately the outward con- 
 dition of things ; but they paid not sufficient attention to the 
 Indian notions of castes ; and their very enumeration of those 
 castes proves they had mistaken some points of detail. In this 
 enumeration they assign the first rank to Brachmans, or wise 
 men ; and by the artisans, they no doubt understood the trad- 
 ing and manufacturing class of the Vaisyas. The councillors 
 and intendants of kings and princes do not constitute a distinct 
 caste, but are mere officers and functionaries ; who, if they be 
 lawyers, belong to, and must be taken from, the caste of Brah- 
 mins ; though the other two upper castes are not always rigidly 
 excluded from these functions. The class again that tends 
 the breeding of cattle, and lives by the chase, forms not a 
 distinct caste, but merely follows a peculiar kind of employ- 
 ment. And when the Greeks make two castes of the agri- 
 culturists and the warriors, they only mean to draw a distinc- 
 tion between the labourers and the masters, or the real proprie- 
 tors of the soil. Even the name of Cshatriyas signifies 
 landed proprietor ; and, as in the old Germanic constitution, 
 the arriere-ban was composed of landed proprietors, and the 
 very possession of the soil imposed on the nobility the obliga- 
 tion of military service ; so, in the Indian constitution, the 
 two ideas of property in land, and military service, are indisso- 
 lubly connected. Some modern inquirers have attached very 
 great importance to the undoubtedly wide and remarkable se- 
 paration of the fourth or menial caste of Sudras from the three 
 upper castes. They have thought they perceived, also, a very 
 great difference in the bodily structure and general physiog- 
 nomy of this fourth caste from those of the others ; and have 
 thence concluded that the caste of Sudras is descended from a 
 totally different race, some primitive and barbarous people whom 
 a more civilised nation, to whom the three upper castes must 
 
HISTOKY. 
 
 147 
 
 have belonged, have conquered and subdued, and degraded to 
 that menial condition, the lowest grade in the social scale — a 
 grade to which the iron arm of law eternally binds them down. 
 This hypothesis is in itself not very improbable ; and it may 
 be proved from history that the like has really occurred in se- 
 veral Asiatic, and even European, countries. In the back- 
 ground of old, mighty and civilised nations, we can almost 
 always trace the primeval inhabitants of the country, who, dis- 
 possessed of their territory, have been either reduced to servi- 
 tude by their conquerors, or have gradually been incorporated 
 with them. These primitive inhabitants, wben compared with 
 their later and more civilised conquerors, appear indeed in 
 general rude and barbarous ; though we find among them a 
 certain number of ancient customs and arts, which by no 
 means tend to confirm the notion of an original and universal 
 savage state of nature. It is possible that the same circum- 
 stances have occurred in India ; though this is by no means a 
 necessary inference, for humanity in its progress, follows not 
 one uniform course, but pursues various and widely different 
 paths ; and, hitherto, at least, no adequate historical proof has, 
 in my opinion, been adduced for the reality of such an occur- 
 rence in India. It has also been conjectured that the caste of 
 warriors, or the princes and hereditary nobility, possessed ori- 
 ginally greater power and influence ; and that it is only by de- 
 grees the race of Brahmins has attained to that great prepon- 
 derance which it displays in later times, and which it even still 
 possesses. We find, indeed, in the old epic, mythological, and 
 historical poems of the Indians, many passages which describe 
 a contest between these two classes, and which represent the 
 deified heroes of India victoriously defending the wise and 
 pious Brahmins from the attacks of the fierce and presumptu- 
 ous Cshatriyas. This account, however, is susceptible of ano- 
 ther interpretation, and should not be taken exclusively in this 
 political sense. That in the brilliant period of their ancient 
 and national dynasties and governments, the princes and war- 
 like nobility possessed greater weight and importance than at 
 present, is quite in the nature of things, and appears indeed to 
 have been undoubtedly the case. From many indications in 
 the old Indian traditions and histories, it would appear that the 
 caste of Cshatriyas was partially, at least, of foreign extraction ; 
 while those traditionary accounts constantly represent the caste 
 
 l2 
 
148 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 of Brahmins as the highest class, and nobler part, nay, the 
 corner-stone of the whole community. 
 
 The origin of an hereditary caste of warriors, when consi- 
 dered in itself, may be easily accounted for, and it is no wise 
 contrary to the nature of things that, even in a state of society 
 where legal rights are yet undefined, the son, especially the 
 eldest, should govern and administer the territory or property 
 which his deceased father possessed, and even in those cases 
 where it was necessary, should take possession, administer, and 
 defend this property by open force and the aid of his depend- 
 ents. 
 
 But afterwards, when the social relations became more 
 clearly fixed by law, and an union on a larger scale was formed 
 by a general league, as the duties of military service were an- 
 nexed to the soil, so the right to the soil was again determined 
 by, and depended on, military service ; now, in that primitive 
 period of history, such a political union might have been formed 
 by a common subordination to a higher power, or by a confe- 
 deracy between several potentates ; and this has really been 
 the origin of an hereditary landed nobility in many coun- 
 tries. 
 
 The hereditary continuance or transmission of arts and 
 trades, whereby the son pursues the occupation of the father, 
 and learns and applies what the latter has discovered, has no- 
 thing singular in itself, and appears indeed to contain its own 
 explanation. But it is not easy, or at least equally so, to ac- 
 count for the exclusive distribution and the exact and rigid 
 separation of castes, particularly by any religious motives and 
 principles, which are, however, indubitably connected with this 
 institution. Still less can we understand the existence of a 
 great hereditary class of priests, eternally divided from the rest 
 of the community, such as existed both in India and Egypt. 
 To comprehend this strange phenomenon, we must endeavour 
 to discover its origin, and trace it back, as far as is possible, to 
 the primitive ages of the world. If, for the sake of brevity, I 
 have used the expression, " a class of hereditary priests" I 
 ought to add, in order to explain my meaning more clearly, 
 that the word priests must not be taken in that hmited sense 
 which antiquity attached to it ; that the Brahmins are not 
 merely confined to the functions of prayer, but are strictly and 
 eminently theologians, since they alone are permitted to read 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 149 
 
 and interpret the Vedas, while the other castes can read only 
 with their sanction such passages of those sacred writings as 
 are adapted to their circumstances, and the fourth caste are 
 entirely prohibited from hearing any portion of them. The 
 Brahmins are also the lawyers and physicians of India, and 
 hence the Greeks did not designate them erroneously, when they 
 termed them the caste of philosophers. 
 
 We have already had occasion to observe that the Mosaic 
 narrative, — that first monument of all history, (which a very 
 intellectual German writer has called the primitive document of 
 the human race, and which it indeed is even in a mere histo- 
 rical sense, and in the literal acceptation of the word) — that the 
 Mosaic narrative, we say, ascribes to the Cainites the origin of 
 hereditary arts and trades. And there are two which are par- 
 ticularly worthy of remark, and to which I drew your attention 
 — the knowledge of metals, and the art of music. I used the 
 general expression, the knowledge of metals, because in the 
 primitive ages of the world, the art of working mines, or of ex- 
 ploring and extracting metals from the earth, was essentially 
 connected with the art of preparing and polishing them ; and 
 this knowledge of metals was very instrumental in forwarding 
 the infant civilisation of the primitive world, as the art of 
 working and polishing them has ever contributed to the refine- 
 ment of mankind. By the music of the Cainites, I said we 
 were not to understand our own more elaborate and sublime 
 system of melody. This art was chiefly consecrated, in those 
 ancient times, to the uses of divine service; still older, per- 
 haps, was the medicinal, or rather the magical, use and in- 
 fluence of music. This is at least indicated by the tradition 
 and mythology of all nations ; and such a supposition is 
 quite conformable to the spirit of those early ages ; and I 
 would here remind you that, in the primitive symbolical 
 writing of the Chinese, the sign of a magician represents 
 also a priest-— a character which, as Remusat has observed, 
 is not to be found in the narrow circle of their symbols. I 
 added, that the existence of an hereditary caste of warriors 
 among the Cainites was possible, and even probable ; though 
 not so, in my opinion, the existence of an hereditary sacerdo- 
 tal caste. But though such an institution did not emanate 
 from the Cainites, it may at least have been occasioned by 
 them. As I said before, the Mosaic history represents the vast, 
 
150 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 boundless, prodigious corruption of the world in the age imme- 
 diately preceding the deluge, as produced solely by the union 
 of the better and godly portion of mankind with the lawless 
 descendants of Cain. Thus this would suppose a certain dread 
 and apprehension of any alliance and intercourse with a race 
 laden with malediction, and pregnant with calamity. And 
 may not this very circumstance have given rise to the establish- 
 ment of a distinctly separate and hereditary class, not of priests 
 in the later signification of that word, but of men chosen and 
 consecrated by God, and entirely devoted to his service ? and, 
 consequently, is it not among the later Sethites, we must look 
 for the origin of this institution ? 
 
 We should transport ourselves in imagination to the age of 
 the patriarchs, and then consider that, with the high powers 
 which they still possessed, they must have watched with the 
 most jealous and far-sighted solicitude over the fate of their 
 posterity, in order to preserve them in their original purity and 
 high hereditary dignity. The Indian traditions acknowledge 
 and revere the succession of the first ancestors of mankind, or the 
 holy patriarchs of the primitive world, under the name of the 
 seven great Rishis, or sages of hoary antiquity ; though they 
 invest their history with a cloud of fictions. They place all these 
 patriarchs in the primitive world, and assign them to the race 
 of Brahmins ; — a circumstance which cannot here appear un- 
 fitting. It has been often observed that the Indians have no 
 regular histories, no works of real historical science ; and the 
 reason is that with them the sense of the primitive world is still 
 fresh and lively, and that not only do they clothe their ideas in 
 a poetical garb, but all their conceptions of human affairs and 
 events are exclusively mythological ; so that all the real events 
 of later historical times are absorbed in the element of mythology; 
 or at least strongly tinged with its colours. It is in the same 
 way, the panegyrists of the Chinese language remark that the 
 almost total absence of grammar in that language, among a 
 people of such highly cultivated intellect, should not be taken 
 merely to denote the poverty and jejuneness of the infancy of 
 speech, as this in a great measure originated in the fact that 
 the profound primitive emotions, which gave birth to those first 
 languages, were too absorbed in the subject of their contem- 
 plation, too much bent on giving utterance to the most effec- 
 tive word, or expressing themselves with the most condensed 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 151 
 
 brevity, to perplex or trouble themselves with nicer distinctions, 
 and minor and often superfluous rules. 
 
 The providential care of these first patriarchs for the pre- 
 servation and prosperity of their offspring and race is evinced 
 in those patriarchal scenes described not only in the Sagas of 
 other primitive nations, but also in the sacred writings of the 
 Hebrews ; and where the hoary grandsire imparts and transmits 
 to his sons and grandsons, the power of his benediction, which was 
 not a mere empty form of words, as the special inheritance of each. 
 We see, too, that, after assigning the first rank to the eldest son, or 
 to some favourite child, perhaps, originally chosen and pre- 
 ferred by God, the venerable patriarch utters some words of 
 warning which the succeeding history but too well justifies ; 
 or darkly indicates a deep presentiment of some great impend- 
 ing calamity. But there is, in particular, a passage relative to 
 the first great progenitor of mankind which deserves to be here 
 noticed. When the calamitous epoch of the first fraternal con- 
 test, and the first fatal fratricide had elapsed, it is said in Holy 
 Writ: " Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image, 
 and called his name Seth." The first thing that must strike 
 us in this passage is the great and humiliating inferiority which 
 it involves. Adam was created after the likeness of Almighty 
 God ; but Seth is begotten after the likeness of Adam. Yet 
 there is no doubt that, from the peculiar style and manner of 
 Holy Writ, a very high pre-eminence was here conferred on 
 Seth. For in the same way as we have seen that the patri- 
 archs were wont to impart their blessings to their sons and their 
 posterity, Adam granted and communicated to Seth, as to his 
 first-born in this second commencement of the human race, and 
 as his inheritance and exclusive birthright, all those preroga- 
 tives and high gifts and powers, which he himself had originally 
 received from his Creator, and which, on his reconciliation with 
 his God, he had once more obtained. Nothing similar is said 
 of the other sons and daughters afterwards begotten by Adam, 
 and through whom other nations have derived their descent 
 from the common parent. This circumstance confirms and 
 explains that high pre-eminence which, according to sacred 
 tradition, was conferred on the race of Seth. As to the high 
 powers which the father of mankind had preserved after his fall, 
 or had a second time received, we may well suppose that, after 
 the crime and flight of Cain, he would endeavour to retrieve 
 
152 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 his errors by the establishment of the better race of Seth, and 
 by a consequent renovation of humanity. This is not a mere 
 arbitrary supposition, for it is expressly said in Holy Writ that 
 the first man, ordained to be " the father of the whole earth," 
 (as he is there called) became on his reconciliation with his 
 Maker, the wisest of all men, and, according to tradition, the 
 greatest of prophets, who, in his far-reaching ken, foresaw the 
 destinies of all mankind, in all successive ages down to the end 
 of the world. All this must be taken in a strict historical sense, 
 for the moral interpretation we abandon to others. The pre- 
 eminence of the Sethites, chosen by God, and entirely devoted 
 to his service, must be received as an undoubted historical fact, to 
 which we find many pointed allusions even in the traditions of the 
 other Asiatic nations. Nay?the hostility between the Sethites and 
 Cainites, and the mutual relations of these two races, form the 
 chief clue to the history of the primitive world, and even of 
 many particular nations of antiquity. That, after the violent 
 but transient interruption occasioned by the deluge, the re- 
 membrance of many things might revive, and the same or a 
 similar hostility between the two races which had existed in the 
 ante-diluvian world, might be a second time displayed, is a 
 matter which it is unnecessary to examine any further. Equally 
 needless would it be to show that, in the increasing degeneracy 
 of man, every thing was soon more and more disfigured and de- 
 ranged, and finally became for the most part undistinguishable, 
 till it was afterwards a problem for the historical inquirer to 
 reduce to the simple elements of their origin the greatest, most 
 extraordinary, and most remarkable phenomena which still re- 
 mained, or were remembered, of the primitive ages. 
 
 If I think it not impossible that the Indian constitution of 
 castes, and its most important branch, the Brahminical class 
 — that is to say, the moral and general conception of this an- 
 cient institution, may be connected with the Scriptural history 
 and the sacred tradition respecting the race of Seth ; I must 
 observe that to this hypothesis an objection can no more be 
 taken from the present character and moral condition of the 
 Brahmins, than we can estimate the high gifts, the great men, 
 and the mighty prophets, that the Almighty once accorded to 
 the Jewish nation, or such noble natures as those of Moses 
 and Elias, by the present fallen state of that dispersed people. 
 
 The3e remarks may suffice to give an idea of the most 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 153 
 
 important feature in Indian society. Before I attempt to 
 examine the second great characteristic of this people — the 
 doctrine of the transmigration of souls, a principle which, if it 
 has not produced, has at least given the peculiar hent to their 
 whole philosophy , I wish to take a general view of polytheism, 
 particularly as our notions of it, chiefly derived from the 
 Greeks, are by no means perfectly applicable to the primitive 
 nations of Asia. 
 
 We are wont to regard the Grecian mythology, and its 
 many- coloured world of fables, only as the beautiful effusion of 
 poetry, or a playful creation of fancy ; and we never think of 
 inquiring deeply or minutely into its details, or of examining its 
 moral import and influence. It is the more natural that the 
 mythology of the Greeks should produce this impression on our 
 minds, and that we should regard it in this light, as all the 
 higher ideas and severer doctrines on the God-head, its sovereign 
 nature and infinite might, on the Eternal Wisdom and Providence 
 that conducts and directs all things to their proper end, on the 
 Infinite Mind and Supreme Intelligence that created all things, 
 and that is raised far above external nature ; all these higher 
 ideas and severer doctrines have been expounded more or less 
 perfectly by Pythagoras, or by Anaxagoras and Socrates ; and 
 have been developed in the most beautiful and luminous manner 
 by Plato and the philosophers that followed him. But all this 
 did not pass into the popular religion of the Greeks, and it 
 remained for the most part a stranger to these exalted doc- 
 trines ; and, though we find in this mythology many things 
 capable of a deeper import and more spiritual signification, yet 
 they appear but as rare vestiges of ancient truth — vague pre- 
 sentiments — fugitive tones — momentary flashes, revealing a 
 belief in a supreme Being, an almighty Creator of the universe, 
 and the common Father of mankind. 
 
 But it is far otherwise in the Indian mythology. There, 
 amid a sensual idolatry of nature more passionate and enthu- 
 siastic still than that of the Greeks, amid pagan fictions and 
 conceptions far more gigantic than those of the latter, we find 
 almost all the truths of natural theology, not indeed without a 
 considerable admixture of error, expressed with the utmost 
 earnestness and dignity. We meet too, in this mythology, 
 with the most rigidly scientific and metaphysical notions of the 
 Supreme Being, his attributes and his relations ; and it is the 
 
154 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 peculiar character of the Indian mythology to combine a 
 gigantic wildness of fantasy, and a boundless enthusiasm for 
 nature, with a deep mystical import, and a profound philosophic 
 sense. If the Pythagoreans had succeeded in the design, which 
 they in all probability entertained, of rendering their lofty 
 notions on the Deity and on man, on the immortality of the 
 soul, and the invisible world, more generally prevalent, and of 
 introducing these ideas into the popular religion ; as it was not 
 their intention entirely to reject the vulgar creed, but only to 
 mould it to their own principles, and impart to it a higher and 
 more spiritual sense (an attempt which was afterwards made by 
 the New Platonists and the Emperor Julian, out of hatred to 
 Christianity, though, as the time had then long gone by, their 
 enterprise was attended with no permanent effects) ; if the Py- 
 thagoreans, we say, had succeeded in their design, the Greek 
 mythology might then have borne some resemblance to the 
 Indian, and we might have instituted a comparison between the 
 two. In the Indian mythology this strange combination, this 
 inconsistent junction of the sublimest truth with the most 
 sensual error, of the wildest and most extravagant fiction with 
 the most abstract metaphysics, and even the purest natural 
 theology (if we may thus call the divine Revelation of the 
 primitive world); this strange combination, we say, has not 
 been the effect of artful interpolation, but the fruit of native 
 growth and of earliest development. 
 
 We must now be on our guard not to admit too lightly or 
 too quickly the coincidence of certain symbols and conceptions 
 of mythology with truths and doctrines familiar to ourselves. 
 How much, for instance, would a man err, who would suppose 
 that there was any analogy in the Indian symbol and notion of 
 Trimurti, or the divine Triad, I do not say with the Christian 
 doctrine of the Trinity, but with the opinion of either of the 
 Platonic schools on the triple essence or the triple Personality 
 of the one God. In this symbol the heads of the three 
 principal Hindoo divinities, Brahma, Vishnoo, and Siva, the 
 Gods of creation, preservation, and destruction, are united in 
 one figure, and this union undoubtedly indicates the primary 
 energy common to all three. If we examine each in particular, 
 we shall see that the attributes assigned to Brahma, and the 
 expressions usually applied to his person, when divested of their 
 poetical garb and mythic accompaniments, may often, almost 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 155 
 
 literally, and in strict truth, be referred to the Deity. The 
 all-pervading and self-transforming Vishnoo is much more the 
 wonderful Prometheus of nature, than a real and well-defined 
 divinity. The third in this divine Triad, the formidable and 
 destructive Siva, has but a very remote analogy with the Deity 
 that judges and chastises the world according to justice. This 
 God of destruction, whose worshippers appear to have been 
 formerly the most numerous in India, as those of Vishnoo are 
 at the present day ; this God of destruction, with his serpents 
 and bracelets of human skulls, appears evidently to be that 
 demon of corruption who brought death into all creation, and 
 who here, whimsically and inconsistently enough, has been 
 introduced into the symbol, and made a part of the Deity 
 itself. This union or confusion of Eternal Perfection with the 
 Evil Principle is made in another way by the Indian philoso- 
 phers ; as some of them explain the doctrine of Trimurti, or 
 the divine Triad, by reference to the Traigunyan, or the three 
 qualities. These three different regions, or degrees, into 
 which, according to the Indian doctrine, all existence is divided, 
 are the pure world of eternal truth or of light, the middle 
 region of vain appearance and illusion, and the abyss of 
 darkness. However, it must be observed, that the Indians do 
 not express the pure and metaphysical idea of the Supreme 
 Being by either of the names of the two last mentioned 
 popular divinities ; nor do they even denote this idea by the 
 name of Brahma, the first person of their trinity, but by the 
 word Brahm, a neuter noun, which signifies the Supreme 
 Being. 
 
 As there were now two conflicting elements in the breast of 
 man — the old inheritance or original dowry of truth, which 
 God had imparted to him in the primitive revelation ; and error, 
 or the foundation for error in his degraded sense and spirit now 
 turned from God to nature — how easily must error have sprung 
 up, when the precious gem of divine truth was no longer guarded 
 with jealous care, nor preserved in its pristine purity ; how 
 much must truth have been obscured, as error advanced in all 
 its formidable might, and in all its power of seduction ; and how 
 soon must not this have happened among a people, like the 
 Indians, with whom imagination and a very deep, but still 
 sensual, feeling for nature, were so predominant ! — It was thus 
 a wild enthusiasm, and a sensual idolatry of nature, generally 
 
156 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 superseded the simple worship of Almighty God, and set aside 
 or disfigured the pure belief in the eternal uncreated Spirit. 
 The great powers and elements of nature, and the vital principle 
 of production and procreation through all generations, then 
 the celestial spirits, or the heavenly host (to speak the language 
 of antiquity), the luminous choir of stars, which the whole 
 ancient world regarded not as mere globes of light or bodies 
 of fire, but as animated substances ; next the Genii and tutelar 
 spirits, and even the souls of the dead, received now divine 
 worship ; and men, instead of honouring the Creator in these, 
 and of regarding these in reference to their Creator, considered 
 them as gods. Such is, when we have once supposed that 
 man had turned away from God to nature, — such is the natural 
 origin of polytheism, which in every nation assumed a different 
 form according to the peculiar modes of life, and the prevailing 
 principles of life, in each. 
 
 Among the Indians this ruling principle of existence was the 
 doctrine of the transmigration of souls, which appears indeed to 
 be the most characteristic of all their opinions, and w r as by its 
 influence on real life, by far the most important. We must in 
 the first place remember, and keep well in our minds, that 
 among those nations of primitive antiquity, the doctrine of the 
 immortality of the soul was not a mere probable hypothesis, 
 which, as with many moderns, needs laborious researches and 
 diffuse argumentations in order to produce conviction on the 
 mind. Nay, we can hardly give the name of faith to this pri- 
 mitive conception ; for it was a lively certainty, like the feeling 
 of one's own being, and of what is actually present ; and this 
 firm belief in a future existence exerted its influence on all sub- 
 lunary affairs, and was often the motive of mightier deeds 
 and enterprises than any mere earthly interest could inspire. 
 I said above that the doctrine of the transmigration of souls was 
 not unconnected with the Indian system of castes ; for the most 
 honourable appellation of a Brahmin is Tvija, that is to say, a 
 second time born, or regenerated. On one hand this appellation 
 refers to that spiritual renovation and second birth of a life of 
 purity consecrated to God, as in this consists the true calling of 
 a Brahmin, and the special purpose of his caste. On the other 
 hand this term refers to the belief that the soul, after many 
 transmigrations through various forms of animals, and various 
 stages of natural existence, is permitted in certain cases, as a 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 157 
 
 peculiar* recompense, when it has gone through its prescribed 
 cycle of migrations, to return to the world, and be born in the 
 class of Brahmins. This doctrine of the transmigration of 
 souls through various bodies of animals or other forms of exist- 
 ence, and even through more than one repetition of human life, 
 (whether such migrations were intended as the punishment of 
 souls for their viciousness and impiety, or as trials for their 
 further purification and amendment) — this doctrine which has 
 always been, and is still so prevalent in India, was held likewise 
 by the ancient Egyptians. This accordance in the faith of 
 these two ancient nations, established beyond all doubt by his- 
 torical testimony, is indeed remarkable; and even in the mi- 
 nutest particulars on the course of migration allotted to souls, 
 and on the stated periods and cycles of that migration, the 
 coincidence is often perfectly exact. How strangely now is this 
 most singular error mixed up, I do not say with truth, but with 
 a feeling that is certainly closely akin to primitive truth! 
 When an individual of our age, out of disgust with modern 
 and well-known systems, or with the vulgar doctrines, and 
 from a love of paradox, adopted this ancient hypothesis 
 of the transmigration of souls; he merely considered the 
 bare transmutation of earthly forms.* But among those 
 ancient nations this doctrine rested on a religious basis, and 
 was connected with a sentiment purely religious. In this doc- 
 trine there was a noble element of truth — the feeling that man, 
 since he has gone astray, and wandered so far from his God, 
 must needs exert many efforts, and undergo a long and painful 
 pilgrimage, before he can rejoin the Source of all perfection ; — 
 the firm conviction and positive certainty that nothing defec- 
 tive, impure, or defiled with earthly stains can enter the pure 
 region of perfect spirits, or be eternally united to God ; and 
 that thus, before it can attain to this blissful end, the immortal 
 soul must pass through long trials and many purifications. It 
 may now well be conceived, (and indeed the experience of this 
 
 * Schlegel here alludes to the celebrated Lessing, who in his work 
 entitled " The Education of the Human Kace," had maintained the 
 doctrine of the Metempsychosis, a doctrine doubly absurd in a Deist, 
 like Lessing, for the metempsychosis was a philosophical, though false, 
 explanation of the primitive and universal dogma of an intermediate or 
 probationary state of souls. — Trans. 
 
158 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 life would prove it,) that suffering, which deeply pierces the 
 soul, anguish that convulses all the members of existence, may 
 contribute, or may even be necessary, to the deliverance of the 
 soul from all alloy and pollution, as, to borrow a comparison 
 from natural objects, the generous metal is melted down in fire 
 and purged from its dross. It is certainly true that the greater 
 the degeneracy and the degradation of man, the nearer is his 
 approximation to the brute ; and when the transmigration of 
 the immortal soul through the bodies of various animals is 
 merely considered as the punishment of its former transgressions, 
 we can very well understand the opinion which supposes that 
 man who, by his crimes and the abuse of his reason, had de- 
 scended to the level of the brute, should at last be transformed 
 into the brute itself. But what could have given rise to the 
 opinion that the transmigration of souls through the bodies of 
 beasts was the road or channel of amendment, was destined to 
 draw the soul nearer to infinite perfection, and even to accom- 
 plish its total union with the Supreme Being, from whom, in 
 all appearance, it seemed calculated to remove it further? And 
 as regards a return to the present state and existence of man, 
 what thinking person would ever wish to return to a life divided 
 and fluctuating as it is, between desire and disgust, wasted in 
 internal and external strife, and which, though brightened by a 
 few scattered rays of truth, is still encompassed with the dense 
 clouds of error ; — even though this return to earthly existence 
 should be accomplished in the Brahminical class so highly re- 
 vered in India, or in the princely and royal race so highly 
 favoured by fortune ? There is in all this a strange mixture and 
 confusion of the ideas of this world with those of the next ; and 
 how the latter is separated from the former by an impassable 
 gulf, they seem not to have been sufficiently aware. Both 
 these ancient nations, the Egyptians as well as the Indians, re- 
 garded, with few exceptions, the Metempsychosis, not as an 
 object of joyful hope, but rather as a calamity impending over 
 the soul ; and whether they considered it to be a punishment 
 for earthly transgressions, or a state of probation — a severe but 
 preparatory trial of purification — they still looked on it as a 
 calamity ; which to avert or to mitigate they deemed no 
 attempt, no act, no exertion, no sacrifice ought to be spared. 
 In the manner, however, in which these two nations con- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 159 
 
 ceived this doctrine, there was a striking and fundamental 
 difference ; and if the leading tenet was the same among both, 
 the views which each connected with it were very dissimilar. 
 Deprived, as we are, of the old books and original writings of 
 the Egyptians, we are unable perfectly to comprehend and seize 
 their peculiar ideas on this subject, and state them with the same 
 assurance as we can those of the Indians, whose ancient writings 
 we now possess in such abundance, and which in all main points 
 perfectly agree with the accounts of the ancient classics. But 
 we are left to infer the ideas of the Egyptians on the Metempsy- 
 chosis only from their singular treatment of the dead, and the 
 bodies of the deceased; from that sepulchral art (if I may use 
 the expression) which with them acquired a dignity and import- 
 ance, and was carried to a pitch of refinement, such as we find 
 among no other people ; from that careful and costly consecra- 
 tion of the corpse, which we still regard with wonder and asto- 
 nishment in their mummies and other monuments. That all 
 these solemn preparations, and the religious rites which accom- 
 panied them, that the inscriptions on the tombs and mummies had 
 all a religious meaning and object, and were intimately con- 
 nected with the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, can 
 admit of no doubt ; though it is a matter of greater difficulty to 
 ascertain with precision the peculiar ideas they were meant to 
 express. Did the Egyptians believe that the soul did not 
 separate immediately from the body which it had ceased to ani- 
 mate, but only on the entire decay and putrefaction of the 
 corpse? Or did they wish by their art of embalment to preserve 
 the body from decay, in order to deliver the soul from the 
 dreaded transmigration? The Egyptian treatment of the dead 
 would certainly seem to imply a belief that, for some time at 
 least after death, there existed a certain connexion between the 
 soul and body. Yet we cannot adopt this supposition to an un- 
 qualified extent, as it would be in contradiction with those sym- 
 bolical representations that so frequently occur in Egyptian art, 
 and in which the soul immediately after death is represented as 
 summoned before the judgment-seat of God, severely accused 
 by the hostile demon, but defended by the friendly and guar- 
 dian spirit, who employs every resource to procure the deliver- 
 ance and acquittal of the soul. Or did the Egyptians think that 
 by all these rites, as by so many magical expedients, they would 
 
160 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 keep off the malevolent fiend from the soul, and obtain for it 
 the succour of good and friendly divinities? Now that the 
 gates of hieroglyphic science have been at last opened, we may 
 trust that a further progress in the science will disclose to us 
 more satisfactory information on all these topics. 
 
 The Indians, however, who ever remained total strangers to 
 the mode of burial and treatment of the dead practised in Egypt, 
 adopted a very different course to procure the deliverance of the 
 human soul from transmigration : — they had recourse to phi- 
 losophy — to the highest aspirings of thought towards God — to 
 a total and lasting immersion of feeling in the unfathomable 
 abyss of the divine essence. They have never doubted that by 
 this means a perfect union with the Deity might be obtained 
 even in this life, and that thus the soul, freed and emancipated 
 from all mutation and migration through the various forms of 
 animated nature in this world of illusion, might remain for ever 
 united with its God. Such is the object to which all the dif- 
 ferent systems of Indian philosophy tend — such is the term of 
 all their inquiries. This philosophy contains a multitude of the 
 sublimest reflections on the separation from all earthly things, 
 and on the union with the God-head; and there is no high 
 conception in this department of metaphysics, unknown to the 
 Hindoos. But this absorption of all thought and all conscious- 
 ness in God — this solitary enduring feeling of internal and 
 eternal union with the Deity, they have carried to a pitch and 
 extreme that may almost be called a moral and intellectual 
 self-annihilation. This is the same philosophy, though in a 
 different form, which in the history of European intellect and 
 science, has received the denomination of mysticism. The pos- 
 sible excesses — the perilous abyss in this philosophy, have been 
 in general acknowledged, and even pointed out in particular 
 cases, where egotism or pride has been detected under a secret 
 disguise, or where this total abstraction of thought and feeling 
 has spurned all limit, measure, and law. In general, however, 
 the European mind, by its more temperate and harmonious 
 constitution, by the greater variety of its attainments, and 
 above all, by the purer and fuller light of revealed truth, has 
 been preserved from those aberrations of mysticism which in 
 India have been carried to such a fearful extent, not only in 
 speculation, but in real life and practice; and which, trans- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 161 
 
 cending as they do all the limits of human nature, far exceed 
 the bounds of possibility, or what men have in general consi- 
 dered as such. And the apparently incredible things the Greeks 
 related more than two thousand years ago, respecting the re- 
 cluses of India, or Gymnosophists, as they called those Yogis, 
 are found to exist even at the present day ; and ocular 
 experience has fully corroborated the truth of their narratives. 
 
 END OE LECTTJEE IV. 
 
 M 
 
)62 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 A Comparative View of the Intellectual Character of the four principal 
 Nations in the Primitive World — the Indians, the Chinese, the 
 Egyptians, and the Hebrews; next of the peculiar Spirit and political 
 Kelations of the Ancient Persians. 
 
 As, after discord had broken out among mankind, humanity 
 became split and divided into a multitude of nations, races, and 
 languages, into hostile and conflicting tribes, castes rigidly 
 separated, and classes variously divided ; as, indeed, when 
 once we suppose this original division and primitive opposition 
 in the human race, it could not be otherwise from the very 
 nature and even destiny of man ; so in a psychological point 
 of view, the moral unity of the individual man was broken, and 
 his faculties of will and understanding became mutually op- 
 posed, or followed contrary courses. The whole internal 
 structure of human consciousness was deranged, and, in the 
 present divided state of the human faculties, there is no longer 
 the full play of the harmonious soul — of the once unbroken 
 spirit — but its every faculty hath now but a limited, or, to speak 
 more properly, one half of its proper power. 
 
 The restoration of the full life and entire operation of the 
 divided faculties of the human soul must be considered now 
 only as a splendid exception — the high gift of creative genius, 
 and of a more than ordinary strength of character ; and such 
 a reunion of faculties must be looked upon as the high problem 
 which constitutes the ultimate object and ideal term of all the 
 intellectual and moral exertions of man. When in an indi- 
 vidual, a clear, comprehensive, penetrative understanding, 
 that has mastered all sound science, is combined with a will 
 not only firm, but pure and upright, such an individual has 
 attained the great object of his existence ; and when a whole 
 generation, or mankind in general, present this harmonious 
 concord between science on the one hand, and moral conduct 
 and external life, or, to characterise them by one word, the 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 163 
 
 general will, on the other, which is often in utter hostility with 
 science — we may then truly say that humanity has attained 
 its destiny. The great error of ordinary philosophy, and the 
 principal reason that has prevented it from accomplishing its 
 ends, is the supposition it so hastily admits that the conscious- 
 ness of man, now entirely changed, broken, and mutilated, is 
 the same as it was originally, and as it was created and 
 fashioned by its Maker; without observing that since the 
 great primeval Revolution, man has not only been outwardly 
 or historically disunited, but even internally and psychologically 
 deranged. The moral being of a man, a prey to internal dis- 
 cord, may be said to be quartered, because the four primary 
 faculties of the soul and mind of man — Understanding and 
 Will, Reason and Imagination, stand in a twofold opposition 
 one to the other, and are, if we may so speak, dispersed into 
 the four regions of existence. Reason in man is the regulat- 
 ing faculty of thought ; and so far it occupies the first place 
 in life, and the whole system and arrangement of life ; but it 
 is unproductive in itself, and even in science it can pretend 
 to no real fertility or immediate intuition. Imagination on the 
 other hand is fertile and inventive indeed, but left to itself 
 and without guidance, it is blind, and consequently subject to 
 illusion. The best will, devoid of discernment and understand- 
 ing, can accomplish little good. Still less capable of good is 
 a strong, and even the strongest understanding, when coupled 
 with a wicked and corrupt character ; or should such an un- 
 derstanding be associated with an unsteady and changeable will, 
 the individual destitute of character, is entirely without influ- 
 ence. 
 
 To prove, moreover, how all the other faculties of the soul, 
 or the mind, elsewhere enumerated, are but the connecting 
 links — the subordinate branches* of those four primary facul- 
 ties ; how the general dismemberment of the human conscious- 
 ness reaches even to them ; how they diverge from one another, 
 and appear still more split and narrowed ; to prove this would 
 lead me too far, and is the less necessary, as, in the peculiar 
 character of particular ages or nations, the historical in- 
 quirer can observe but those four primary faculties mentioned 
 
 * The four secondary faculties of human consciousness are, according 
 to our author, the memory, the conscience, the impulses or passions, 
 and the outward senses. — Trans* 
 
164 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 above, as the intellectual elements prevalent in each. As in 
 the intellectual character of particular men, or in any given 
 system of human thought, fiction, or science (and these can 
 be better described and more closely analysed than the fleeting 
 and transient phenomena of real life and the social relations); 
 as in every such individual production, I say, of human thought 
 and human action, either Reason will preponderate as a sys- 
 tematic methodiser and a moral regulator, or a fertile, inventive 
 Imagination will be displayed, or a clear, penetrative under- 
 standing, or again a peculiar energy of will and strength of 
 character will be observed ; so the same holds good in the 
 great whole of universal history — in the moral and intellectual 
 existence — the character, or the mind of particular ages or na- 
 tions in the ancient world. 
 
 This is apparent not only in the very various manner, in which 
 sacred tradition — the external word to man revealed — was 
 conceived, developed, and disfigured among each of those na- 
 tions ; but in the peculiar form and direction which the internal 
 word in man — that is to say, his higher consciousness and in- 
 tellectual life — assumed among each. Such an intellectual op- 
 position evidently exists between those two great primitive na- 
 tions already characterised, that inhabit the extreme East and 
 South of Asia — an opposition between reason and imagination. 
 In regard to the intellectual and moral character of nations as 
 well as of individuals, Reason is that human faculty which is 
 conversant with grammatical construction, logical inferences, dia- 
 lectic contests, systematic arrangement ; and in practical life it 
 serves as the divine regulator, in so far as it adheres to the higher 
 order of God. But when it refuses to do this, and wishes to 
 deduce all from itself and its own individuality, then it becomes 
 an egotistical, over-refining, selfish, calculating, degenerate 
 Reason, the inventress of all the arbitrary systems of science 
 and morals, dividing and splitting every thing into sects and 
 parties. Imagination must not be considered as a mere faculty 
 for fiction, nor confined to the circle of art and poetry — it in- 
 cludes a faculty for scientific discoveries; nor did a mind desti- 
 tute of all imagination ever make a great scientific discovery. 
 There is even a higher, purely speculative fancy, which finds 
 its proper sphere in a mysticism, like the Indian, that has already 
 been described. Even if a mysticism, like that which consti- 
 tutes the basis of the Indian philosophy, were entirely free from 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 165 
 
 all admixture of sensual feelings, and were entirely destitute of 
 images, we should certainly not be right in refusing on that 
 account to imagination its share in this peculiar intellectual 
 phenomenon. That in the intellectual character of the Chinese, 
 reason, and not imagination, was the predominant element, it 
 would, after the sketch we have before given of that people, 
 and which was drawn from the best and most recent sources 
 and authorities, be scarcely necessary to prove at any length — 
 so clearly is that fact established. Originally, when the old 
 system of Chinese manners was regulated by the pure worship 
 of God, not disfigured, as among other nations, by manifold 
 fictions, but breathing the better spirit of Confucius, it was 
 undoubtedly in a sound, upright Reason, conformable to God, 
 that the Chinese placed the foundation of their moral and poli- 
 tical existence ; since they designated the Supreme Being by 
 the name of Divine Reason. Although some modern writers in 
 our time have, like the Chinese, applied the term divine reason to 
 Almighty God ; yet I cannot adopt this Chinese mode of speech^ 
 since, though according to the doctrine from which I start, and 
 the truth of which has been all along presupposed, the living 
 God is a spirit; yet it by no means follows thence that God is 
 Reason, or Reason God. If we examine the expression closely, 
 and in its scientific rigour, we can with as little propriety attri- 
 bute to God the faculty of reason, as the faculty of the imagina- 
 tion. The latter prevails in the poetical mythology of ancient 
 paganism; the former, when the expression is really correct, 
 designates rationalism or the modern idolatry of Reason; and 
 to this, indeed, we may discern a certain tendency even in very 
 early times, and particularly among the Chinese. Among the 
 latter people, at a tolerably early period, a sound, just Reason, 
 conformable and docile to divine revelation, was superseded by 
 an egotistical, subtle, over-refining Reason, which split into hos- 
 tile sects, and at last subverted the old edifice of sacred tradi- 
 tion, to reconstruct it on a new revolutionary plan. 
 
 Equally, and even still more strongly, apparent is the predo- 
 minance of the imaginative faculty among the Indians, as is 
 seen even in their science and in that peculiar tendency to mys- 
 ticism which this faculty has imparted to the whole Indian phi- 
 losophy. The creative fulness of a bold poetical imagination is 
 evinced by those gigantic works of architecture which may well 
 sustain a comparison with the monuments of Egypt; by a 
 
166 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 poetry, which in the manifold richness of invention is not in- 
 ferior to that of the Greeks, while it often approximates to the 
 beauty of its forms ; and, above all, by a mythology which, in 
 its leading features, its profound import, and its general con- 
 nexion,' resembles the Egyptian, while in its rich clothing of 
 poetry, in its attractive and bewitching representations, it bears 
 a strong similarity to that of the Greeks. This decided and 
 peculiar character of the whole intellectual culture of the In- 
 dians will not permit us to doubt which of the various faculties 
 of the soul is there the ruling and preponderant element. 
 
 A similar, and equally decided opposition in the intellectual 
 character and predominant element of human consciousness is 
 observed between the Hebrews and Egyptians ; though this 
 was an opposition of a different kind, and of a deeper import. 
 To show this more clearly, I will take the liberty of interrupting 
 for a moment the order I have hitherto followed, of characterising 
 each nation in regular succession, and with as much accuracy 
 and fulness as possible ; in order by a comparative view of the 
 four principal nations of remote antiquity, to draw such a ge- 
 neral sketch of the first period of universal history as may serve 
 at once for a central point in our inquiries, and for the ground- 
 work of subsequent remarks. Such a comparison will tend to 
 facilitate our survey of the primitive ages of the world : and in 
 this general combination of the whole, each part will appear in 
 a clearer light. 
 
 If I wished to characterise in one word the peculiar bearing 
 and ruhng element of the Egyptian mind — however unsatisfac- 
 tory in other respects such general designations may be — I 
 should say that the intellectual eminence of that people was in 
 its scientific profundity — in an understanding that penetrated 
 or sought to penetrate by magic into all the depths and myste- 
 ries of nature, even into their most hidden abyss. So thoroughly 
 scientific was the whole leaning* and character of the Egyptian 
 mind, that even the architecture of this people had an astrono- 
 mical import, even far more than that of the other nations of 
 early antiquity. I have already had occasion to speak of the 
 deep and mysterious signification of their treatment of the dead. 
 In all the natural sciences, in mathematics, astronomy, and even 
 in medicine, they were the masters of the Greeks ; and even 
 the profoundest thinkers among the latter, the Pythagoreans, 
 and afterwards the great Plato himself, derived from them the 
 
HISTORV. 
 
 167 
 
 first elements of their doctrines, or caught at least the first out- 
 line of their mighty speculations. Here too, in the birth-place 
 of hieroglyphics, was the chief seat of the Mysteries ; and Egypt 
 has at all times been the native country of many true, as well 
 as of many false secrets. These few remarks may here serve 
 to characterise this people ; we shall later have occasion to add 
 many minuter traits to complete this brief sketch of the Egyp- 
 tian intellect. 
 
 Very different was the character of the ancient Hebrews, 
 who, in science as well as in art, can sustain no comparison 
 with those other nations we have spoken of, and to whom we 
 must apply a very different criterion of excellence. The moral 
 eminence of this people, or the part allotted to it in high histo- 
 rical destiny, lies rather in the sphere of will, and in a well-re- 
 gulated conduct of the wilL Moses himself was, undoubtedly, 
 as it is said of him, " versed in all the science of the Egyp- 
 tians ;" for he had received a completely Egyptian education, 
 which, by the care of an Egyptian princess, was of the highest 
 and politest kind, and consequently, as the customs of the coun- 
 try imply, extremely scientific. Even his name, according to 
 the credible testimony of several ancient writers, was originally 
 Egyptian, and afterwards Hebraised; for Moyses* as he is 
 called in the Greek version of the Seventy, signifies in Egyp- 
 tian, 07ie saved out of the ivater. But the Hebrew people 
 were far from possessing that Egyptian science of which Moses 
 was so great a master ; on the contrary, the Jewish legislator 
 seemed to consider the greater part of that foreign science, in 
 which he himself was so well versed, as of little service to his 
 object ; and in many instances sought to withhold this know- 
 ledge from his nation. Many of the Mosaic precepts, in- 
 deed, especially such as have a reference to external life, to 
 subsistence, diet, and health, and which are in part at least 
 founded on reasons of climate, are entirely conformable to 
 Egyptian usages, and are found to have been practised among 
 that people ; for these ancient lawgivers and founders of 
 Asiatic states did not scruple to give even medical precepts in 
 their codes of moral legislation, that embraced the minutest 
 circumstances of life. But to these precepts and usages the 
 Hebrew legislator has imparted in general a higher import and 
 
 Mwvarjs* 
 
168 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 a religious consecration. We must not suppose, however, that 
 he has taken all his laws from this source, or make this a matter 
 of reproach to the Jewish lawgiver, as many critics of our own 
 times have done; for, to minds enslaved by the narrow spirit of 
 the age, difficult, indeed, is it to transport themselves into that 
 remote antiquity. It would be a great error, also, to suppose 
 that all the science which Moses had acquired by his Egyptian 
 education, he wished to conceal from his nation, and reserve for 
 the secret use of himself and a few confidential friends. It is 
 evident, if we regard the subject only in an historical point of 
 view, that a higher and better element, completely foreign to 
 the science of Egypt, animated and pervaded all the views and 
 conduct of this great man, whether we consider him as the 
 founder and lawgiver of the Hebrew state, or as the guide and 
 instructor of the Hebrew people. In the forty years' sojourn 
 of Moses in the Arabian desert with Jethro, one of whose seven 
 daughters he married, and who has rightly been accounted an 
 Emir ; or petty pastoral prince of Arabia, this higher principle 
 silently grew up and expanded in the breast of this exalted 
 man, until it at last burst forth in all the majesty of divine 
 power. All that appeared to Moses truly sound and excellent 
 in Egyptian customs and science, or serviceable to his purpose, 
 he adopted and used with choice and circumspection. But all 
 that was incompatible with his designs, and which he knew to 
 be corrupt, he strenuously rejected, or he gave to it a totally 
 different application, and established a higher principle in its 
 room. 
 
 In the same way he was not disconcerted by the secret arts 
 of the Egyptian sorcerers, for it was no difficult matter for him 
 to vanquish them in the presence of the king by the higher 
 power of God. It is thus we should understand the conduct of 
 Moses in reference to the science and modes of thinking of the 
 Egyptians; and that conduct will be found not only perfectly 
 irreproachable in a human point of view, but entitled to our 
 warmest admiration. If for instance we suppose that Moses, 
 the first and greatest writer in the Hebrew tongue, — the 
 founder and legislator of that language also, was, if not the 
 first that discovered, at least the first that fixed and regulated, 
 the Hebrew alphabet, we may easily conceive him to have 
 taken the first ten, as well as the last twelve Hebrew letters 
 from the Egyptian hieroglyphics ; for, even at that early period, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 169 
 
 the hieroglyphics, while they retained their original symbolical 
 meaning, had acquired an alphabetical use. This supposition 
 is at least extremely probable, for many of the Hebrew letters 
 are found in precisely the same form in the hieroglyphical al- 
 phabet; though our knowledge of this alphabet is still so very 
 imperfect, and though we have deciphered but perhaps a tenth 
 part of all the various literal symbols which may there exist. 
 But to continue our supposition, Moses did not wish to take from 
 the Egyptian hieroglyphics more than the twenty-two literal 
 signs ; he neglected the other hieroglyphs and natural symbols, 
 for he had no need of them. On the contrary, he studiously 
 excluded all natural symbols from his religious system, and 
 prohibited with inexorable severity the chosen people the use of 
 images and all that was most remotely connected with such a 
 service. He well foresaw that if he made the slightest conces- 
 sion on this point, and permitted the least indulgence, or left 
 the slightest opening to the passion for natural and symbolical 
 representations, it would be impossible to set any restraint on 
 this indulgence, and that the Hebrews when they had once 
 swerved from the path marked out for them, would follow the 
 same course as the pagan nations. The subsequent history of 
 the Jewish nation sufficiently proves how important and ne- 
 cessary was that part of the Mosaic legislation which proscribed 
 all that was connected with the religious use of images. But 
 wherein consisted the peculiar bent of mind, the moral and in- 
 tellectual character traced out to the Hebrews by their legislator 
 and all their patriarchs? Completely opposed to the Egyptian 
 science — to the Egyptian understanding, that dived and pene- 
 trated by magical power into the profoundest secrets and 
 mysteries of nature, the ruling element of the Hebrew spirit 
 was the will — a will that sought with sincerity, earnestness and 
 ardour, its God and its Maker, far exalted above all nature, went 
 after his light when perceived, and followed with faith, with re- 
 signation, and with unshaken courage, his commands, and the 
 slightest suggestions of his paternal guidance, whether through 
 the stormy sea, or across the savage desert. I do not mean to 
 assert that the whole nation of the Jews was thoroughly, con- 
 stantly, and uniformly actuated and animated with such a pure 
 spirit and such pure feelings — many pages of their history attest 
 the contrary, and but too well manifest how often they were in 
 contradiction with themselves. But this and this alone was the 
 
170 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 fundamental principle, the first mighty impulse, the permanent 
 course of conduct which Moses and the other leaders and chosen 
 men among the Hebrews sought to trace out to their people — this 
 was the abiding character, the great distinctive mark which they 
 had stamped upon their nation. This, too, was the distinguish- 
 ing character of all the primitive patriarchs, as represented in 
 the sacred writings of the Old Testament. 
 
 Independently of particular traits of national character, and 
 the special destiny of nations, it is philosophically certain, or, if 
 we may so speak, it is a truth grounded on psychological prin- 
 ciples, that the will and not the understanding is in man the 
 principal organ for the perception of divine truths. And by 
 this, we understand a will that seeks out with all the earnestness 
 of desire the light of truth, which is God, and when that light 
 has appeared clear, or begins to appear clear, follows with 
 fidelity its guidance, and listens to the internal voice of truth 
 and all its high inspirations. I affirm that in man the under- 
 standing is not the principal organ for the perception of divine 
 truth — that is to say, the understanding alone. On the 
 understanding alone, indeed, the light may dawn and may even 
 be received — but if the will be not there — if the will pursue a 
 separate and contrary course, that ligh* of higher knowledge 
 is soon obscured, and soon becomes clouded and unsteady ; or, 
 if it should still gleam, it is changed into the treacherous 
 meteor of illusion. Without the co-operation of a good will, 
 this light cannot be preserved or maintained in its purity ; nay, 
 the will must make the first advances towards truth ; it must 
 lay the first basis for the higher science of divine truth, and 
 religious knowledge. In other words, as the God whom we 
 acknowledge and revere as. the Supreme Being is a living God; 
 so truth, which is God, is a living truth — it is only from life 
 that it can be derived, by life attained, and in life learned. In 
 the present state of man's existence, in this period of the world 
 1 — a period of discord, of sunken power, of misery and delusion 
 — a period, which, as the Indians designate our fourth and last 
 epoch of the world by the name of Caliyug, is the period of 
 predominant woe and misfortune ; in this present life, the path 
 marked out for man as leading to the knowledge of divine 
 truth and to a higher life, is the path of patience, resignation, 
 and perseverance in the struggle of life — a toilsome probation, 
 cheered and supported by hope. Desire or love is the beginning 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 171 
 
 or root of all higher science or divine knowledge ; perseverance 
 in desire, in faith, and in the combat of life, forms the mid-way 
 of our pilgrimage ; but the term of this pilgrimage is only a 
 term of hope. This necessary period of preparation, of slow 
 and irksome preparation, and gradual progression, cannot be 
 avoided or overleaped by the most heroic exertions of man. 
 The supreme perfection and full contentment of the soul — the 
 intimate union of the spirit with God — and God himself cannot 
 be thus grasped, wrested, and held fast by a violent concen- 
 tration of all our thoughts on a single point, by a species of 
 arrogated omnipotence — the self-potency of obstinate and 
 tenacious thought ; as the Indian philosophy believes, and as 
 the modern German philosophy* for some time seemed to 
 believe, or at least attempted. 
 
 The real character and even history of the Jewish people 
 are frequently misunderstood, and ill appreciated ; because the 
 men of our times, who in all their speculations, and whatever 
 may be the nature of their opinions, incline ever more and more 
 to the spirit of the absolute, are unable to seize and enter into 
 the idea of that epoch of preparation and progressive advance- 
 ment which was as indispensable for the perfection of intellect 
 and knowledge, as of moral life itself. The whole historical ex- 
 istence and destiny of the Hebrews is confined within one of 
 those great epochs of providential dispensation — it marks but 
 one stage in the wonderful march of humanity towards its 
 divine goal. The whole existence of this people turned on 
 the pivot of hope, and the keystone of its moral life projected 
 its far shadows into futurity. Herein consists the mighty 
 difference between the sacred traditions of the Hebrews and 
 those of the other ancient Asiatic nations. When we examine 
 the primitive records and sacred books of these nations, who 
 were so much nearer the fountain-head of primitive revelation 
 than the later nations of the polished West ; — when we leave 
 out of sight the moral precepts and ordinances of liturgy com- 
 prised in these books, we shall find their historical view is 
 turned back towards the glorious past, and that they breathe 
 throughout a melancholy regret for all that man and the world 
 have since lost. And undoubtedly these primitive traditions 
 
 * Schlegel here alludes to that sort of intuitive mysticism in matters 
 of religion, which was the boast of the adherents of Schelling's philo- 
 sophy.— Trarcs. 
 
172 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 contain many ancient and beautiful reminiscences of primeval 
 happiness, for even Nature herself was then far different from 
 what she is at present, more lovely, more akin to the world 
 of spirits, peopled and encompassed with celestial genii ; and 
 not only the small garden of Eden, but all creation, enjoyed 
 a state of Paradisaic innocence and happy infancy, ere strife 
 had commenced in the world, and ere death was known. Out 
 of the multitude of these holy and affecting recollections, and 
 out of the whole body of primitive traditions, Moses, by a wise 
 law of economy, has retained but very little in the revelation, 
 which was specially destined for .the Hebrew people, and has 
 communicated only what appeared to him absolutely and indis- 
 pensably necessary for his nation, and for his particular designs, 
 or rather the designs of God, in the conduct of that nation. 
 But the little he has said — the insignificant brevity of the first 
 pages of the Mosaic history, involves much profound truth for 
 us in these later ages, and comprises very many solutions as 
 to the great problems of primitive history, did we but know 
 how to extract the simple sense with like simplicity. But 
 every thing else, and in general the whole tenor of the Mosaic 
 writings, like the existence of the Hebrew nation, was formed 
 for futurity — and to this were the views of the Jewish legis- 
 lator almost exclusively directed. And as all the sacred writ- 
 ings of the Old Testament, which, by this direction towards 
 futurity, were even in their outward form so clearly distin- 
 guishable from the sacred books and primitive records of other 
 ancient nations ; as all these sacred writings, I say, from the 
 first lawgiver, who in a high spiritual sense, delivered from 
 the Egyptian bondage of nature his people chosen for that 
 especial object, down to the royal and prophetic Psalmist, and 
 down to that last voice of warning and of promise that re- 
 sounded in the desert, were both in their form and meaning 
 eminently prophetic ; so the whole Hebrew people may, in a 
 lofty sense, be called prophetic, and have been really so in 
 their historical existence and wonderful destiny. 
 
 To these four nations, whom we have compared, in respect 
 to the different shape and course which the primitive revelation 
 and sacred tradition assumed among them, as well as in respect 
 to the diversities in their intellectual development, the con- 
 trarieties in the internal Word ? and higher consciousness of 
 each ; to these nations, in order to complete the instructive 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 173 
 
 parallel, we may now add a fifth — the Persians ; a people 
 which in some points was similar, in others dissimilar to one or 
 other of these nations, and which hearing a nearer affinity to 
 some in its doctrines and views of life, or even in its language 
 and turn of fancy, and more closely connected with others in 
 the bonds of political intercourse, may be said to occupy a 
 middle place among these nations. In ancient history, the 
 Persians form the point of transition from the first to the 
 second epoch of the world ; £nd in this they hold the first 
 place, in so far as they commenced the career of universal con- 
 quest ; a passion which passed from them to the Greeks, and 
 from these in a still fuller extent to the Romans, like some 
 noxious humour — some deadly disease transmitted with aug- 
 mented virulence through every age from generation to gene- 
 ration ; and even in modern times, this hereditary malady in 
 the human race has again broken out. 
 
 But, considered in a spiritual point of view, and with re- 
 gard to their religion and sacred traditions, the Persians must 
 be classed with the four great nations of the primitive world, 
 and can be compared with them only ; for, in this respect, 
 they so totally differed from the Phoenicians and Greeks, that 
 no comparison can be instituted between them and the latter ; 
 and no parallel, where the objects are so unlike, can be pro- 
 ductive of any useful result. To the Indians they bore the 
 strongest resemblance in their language, poetry, and poetic- 
 Sagas ; their conquests, which stretched far into the provinces 
 of Central Asia, brought them in contact with the remote 
 Eastern Asia, and the celestial Empire of the Chmese, so com- 
 pletely sequestered from the western world ; with Egypt they 
 were involved in political contests, till they finally subdued it 
 — and in their religious doctrines and traditions, they more 
 nearly approximated to the Hebrews ; or their views of God 
 and religion were more akin to the Hebrew doctrines than 
 those of any other nation. Of the King of Heaven, and the 
 Father of eternal light, and of the pure world of light, of the 
 eternal Word by which all things were created, of the seven 
 mighty spirits that stand next to the throne of Light and 
 Omnipotence, and of the glory of those heavenly hosts which 
 encompass that throne ; next, of the origin of evil and of the 
 Prince of darkness^ the monarch of those rebellious spirits — 
 the enemies of all good ; they in a great measure enterta 
 
174 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 completely similar, or at least very kindred, tenets to those of 
 the Hebrews. That with all these doctrines much may have 
 been, or really was, combined, which the ancient Hebrews and 
 even we would account erroneous, is very possible, and indeed 
 may almost naturally be surmised ; but this by no means impairs 
 that strong historical resemblance we here speak of. A cir- 
 cumstance well worthy of observation is the manner in which 
 Cyrus and the Persians are represented in the historical books 
 of the Old Testament, and are there so clearly distinguished 
 from all other pagan nations. Among the latter they can 
 with no propriety be numbered ; nay, they felt towards the 
 Egyptian idolatry as strong an abhorrence, and in political 
 life manifested it more violently, than the Hebrews themselves. 
 During their sway in Egypt, this idolatry was an object of 
 their persecution, and under Cambyses, they pursued a regular 
 plan for its utter extirpation. Even Xerxes in his expedition 
 into Greece, destroyed many temples and erected fire-chapels 
 in the whole course of his march ; for it cannot be questioned 
 but religious views were principally instrumental in giving 
 birth to the Persian conquests, at least to those of an earlier 
 date. This is a circumstance which should not be overlooked, 
 if we would rightly understand the whole course of these events, 
 and penetrate into the true spirit and original design of these 
 mighty movements in the world. From their fire-worship, we 
 must not be led to accuse the ancient Persians of an absolute 
 deification of the elements, and of a sensual idolatry of nature ; 
 in their religion, which was so eminently spiritual, the earthly 
 fire and the earthly sacrifice were but the signs and the em- 
 blems of another devotion and of a higher power. Symbols 
 and figurative representations were in general not so rigidly 
 excluded from their religious system, as from that of the 
 Hebrews. Yet, among the Persians, these had a totally differ- 
 ent character from those in the Indian or Egyptian idolatry. 
 The generous character of the ancient Persians, their life and 
 their manners, which display such an exalted sense of nature, 
 possess in themselves something peculiarly winning and capti- 
 vating for the feelings. The leading result of the few observa- 
 tions we have made may be comprised in the following general 
 remarks : — 
 
 If a poetical recollection of Paradise sufficed for the moral 
 destiny of man — if the pure feeling, enthusiasm, and admira- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 175 
 
 tion for sideral nature were alone capable of revealing all the 
 glory of the celestial abodes, and of the heavenly hosts, of open- 
 ing to mental eyes the gates of eternal light — if this were the 
 one thing necessary, and of the first necessity for man — if it 
 were, or could be conformable to the will of God, that the eter- 
 nal empire of pure light should be diffused over the whole earth 
 by the enthusiasm of martial glory, by the generous valour and 
 heroic magnanimity of a chivalric nobility, such as the Persian 
 undoubtedly was — then, indeed, would the Persians hold the 
 pre-eminence, or be entitled to claim the first rank among 
 those four nations that were nearest the source of the primitive 
 revelation. But it was otherwise ordained; the path alone fit and 
 salutary for man, and evidently marked out by the will of God, 
 is the path of patience and perseverance — the unremitting 
 struggle of slow preparation. Thus, as we may easily conceive, 
 it was not the Persians, distinguished as that nation was by its 
 noble character, and by its spiritual views of life; it was not 
 the Egyptians, versed and initiated as they were in all the mys- 
 teries of nature and all the depths of science ; — but it was the 
 politically insignificant, and, in an earthly point of view, the 
 far less important, almost imperceptible, people of the Hebrews, 
 that were chosen to be the medium of transition — the con- 
 necting link between the primitive revelation and the full de- 
 velopment of religion in modern times, and its last glorious 
 expansion towards the close of ages. They are now the car- 
 riers, and, we may well say, the porters of the designs of Pro- 
 vidence, destined to bear the torch of primitive tradition and 
 sacred promise from the beginning to the consummation of the 
 world: — while the once magnanimous nation of the Persians 
 has sunk from that pure knowledge of truth, and those high 
 spiritual notions of religion it once entertained, down to the 
 an ti- Christian superstition of Mahomet; and the profound 
 people of Egypt has become totally extinct, and is not to be 
 traced even in the small community of Coptic Christians, who 
 have preserved a feeble remnant of the ancient language. 
 
 Since now this general sketch of the various and contrary 
 directions which the human mind followed in the first ages of 
 history has been rendered more clear and definite by a compa- 
 rative view of the five principal nations of the primitive world, 
 it only remains for us to subjoin some important traits in the 
 history of each, to complete this picture of the earliest nations; 
 in order to pass over, along with the Persians to the second 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 period of the ancient world — a period which is so much nearer to 
 us, and appears so much more clear and open to our apprehension. 
 
 The origin of ancient heathenism we must seek among the 
 Indians, and not among the Chinese, for the reason we have 
 before alleged : namely, that in the primitive ages, the Chinese 
 observed a pure, simple, and patriarchal worship of the Deity ; 
 and it was only when under the first general and powerful 
 emperor of China, the rationalism introduced by the sect of 
 Taosse had brought about a complete revolution in the whole 
 system of Chinese faith, manners, and customs, that a real 
 form of paganism — the Indian superstition of Buddha— -was 
 subsequently introduced into that country. This subversion of 
 the whole system, of ancient government — of ancient doctrines 
 — and of what among the Chinese was inseparably allied with 
 the latter, the early system of writing, was a real revolution in 
 the public mind. As the general burning of the sacred books, 
 and the persecution and execution of many of the learned, were 
 measures directed solely against the school of Confucius, that 
 adhered to the old system of morals and government, it is by 
 no means an arbitrary and baseless hypothesis to ascribe to the 
 antagonist party, the rationalist sect of Taosse, a great share 
 in this violent moral and political revolution ; inasmuch as the 
 powerful Emperor Chi-ho-angti must have been quite in the 
 interest of this party. Although the erection of the great 
 wall of China, and- the settlement of a Chinese colony in Japan, 
 gave external splendour to his reign ; yet at home its despotic 
 violence rendered it thoroughly revolutionary. And so this 
 mighty catastrophe, which occurred two thousand years ago in 
 the Chinese empire, widely removed as it is from us by the 
 distance of space and time, and different as is the form under 
 which it occurred, bears nevertheless no slight resemblance or 
 analogy to much we hav seen and experienced in our own 
 times. To explain the contradiction which seems involved in 
 the fact, that on one hand we have commended that pure, 
 simple, and patriarchal worship of the Deity by the Chinese 
 in the primitive period ; and much that denoted the compara- 
 tively high state of civilisation among this people, together 
 with a science perverted and degenerate indeed, yet carried to 
 a high degree of refinement ; and that, on the other hand, we 
 have pointed out many things in their primitive writing- system, 
 which displayed a great rudeness and poverty of ideas, and a 
 very confined circle of symbols, we may observe that it is with 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 177 
 
 China as with many other ancient civilised countries, where, 
 in the background of a ruling and highly polished people, a 
 close investigation will discover a race of primitive inhabitants 
 more barbarous, or at least less advanced in intellectual refine- 
 ment. Such a race is mentioned by historians as existing in 
 different provinces of China under the name of Mino — they 
 are precisely characterised as an earlier, less polished race of 
 inhabitants, and they have indeed been preserved down to later 
 times. The historical inquirer meets almost always in the first 
 ages of the world with two strata of nations, consisting of an 
 elder and a younger race ; — in the same way as the geologist 
 in his investigation of the earth's surface can clearly distinguish 
 a twofold formation of mountains and separate periods in the 
 formation of that surface. Thus, in China, the more polished 
 new-comers and founders of the subsequent nation and state, 
 accommodated themselves in many respects to the manners and 
 customs, the language and even perhaps symbolical writing of 
 these half savages, as the Europeans have partly done, when 
 they have wished to civilise and instruct the Mexicans and other 
 barbarous nations ; and as men must always act in similar 
 cases, if they would wish success to crown their benevolent 
 endeavours. All researches into the origin of the Chinese 
 nation and Chinese civilisation ever conduct the inquirer to the 
 north-west, where the province of Shensee is situated, and to 
 the countries lying beyond. Thus this only serves to confirm 
 the opinion, highly probable in itself, and supported by such 
 manifold testimony, of the general derivation of all Asiatic 
 civilisation from the great central region of Western Asia. 
 
 Agreeably to this opinion, the Indian traditions, as we have 
 already mentioned, deduce the historical descent of Indian 
 civilisation from the northern mountainous range of the Hima- 
 laya and the country northwards ; and in support of this tradi- 
 tion, we may cite the vast ruins, the immense subterraneous 
 temples hewn out of the rock, in the neighbourhood of the old 
 and celebrated city of Bamyan. Though the latter city be not 
 in the proper India, but more northward towards Cabul, in 
 Hindu Cutch, still its ruins present to the eye of the spectator 
 the peculiar forms and structure of the architecture and colos- 
 sal images of India, (whereof they contain a great abundance,) 
 such as are observed in the other great monumental edifices of 
 the Indians at Ellore, in the centre of the southern province of 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 Deccan, in the Isles of Salsette and Elephanta, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Bombay, in the island of Ceylon, and near Mava- 
 lipuram on the coast of Madras. All these immense temples, 
 which have been hewn in the cavities of rocks, or have been 
 cut out of the solid rock ; and where often many temples are 
 ranged above and beside the other, together with the buildings 
 for the use of the Brahmins and the swarms of pilgrims, occu- 
 pying in length and breadth the vast space of half a German 
 mile, and even more ; — these temples form the regular places of 
 Hindoo pilgrimage, whither immense multitudes of pilgrims 
 flock from all the countries of India ; and an English writer, 
 who wrote as an eye-witness, estimated the multitude at the al- 
 most incredible number of two millions and a half. Together 
 with the colossal images of gods and of sacred animals, such as 
 the elephant and the nandi, or the bull sacred to Siva, we find 
 the rocky walls of these subterraneous temples adorned with an 
 almost incalculable number of carved figures, representing various 
 scenes from the Indian mythology. These figures jut so pro- 
 minently from the rock, that it would almost seem as if their 
 backs alone joined the wall. The multitude of figures is ex- 
 ceedingly great, and in the ruins near Bamyan, the number is 
 computed at twelve thousand ; though this calculation may not 
 perhaps be very accurate, for the thick forests which surround 
 these now desolate ruins are often the repair of tigers and ser- 
 pents, and thus all approach to them is attended with danger. 
 Besides, in the ruins of Bamyan many of the figures, and even 
 some of the colossal idols, have been destroyed by the Maho- 
 metans, for whenever their armies chance to pass by these ruins, 
 they never fail to point their cannon against the images of 
 those fabulous divinities, which all Mahometans hold in so much 
 abhorrence. 
 
 As to architecture, the perfection which this art attained 
 among the Indians is evident from the beautiful workmanship 
 and varied decoration of their columns, whole rows of which, 
 like a forest of pillars, support the massy roof of upper rock. 
 Notwithstanding the essential difference which must exist in 
 the architecture of temples hewn out of rocks, or constructed 
 in the cavities of rocks, we shall find that the prevailing ten- 
 dency in Indian architecture is towards the pyramidal form. 
 On the other hand, it is observed that the art 'of vaulting ap- 
 pears to have been less known, or, at least, not to have attained 
 great perfection, or been in frequent use. We find, too, among 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 179 
 
 these monuments, vast walls constructed out of immense blocks 
 of stone, and rudely cut fragments of rock, not unlike the old 
 Cyclopean structures. The amateurs of such subjects have 
 acquired a more accurate knowledge of them by the splendid 
 illustrations which the English have published ; for a mere 
 verbal description can with difficulty convey a just notion of 
 the nature and peculiar character of this architecture. Of the 
 political history of India little can be said, for the Indians 
 scarcely possess any regular history — any works to which we 
 should give the denomination of historical ; for their history is 
 interwoven and almost confounded with mythology, and is to 
 be found only in the old mythological works, especially in their 
 two great national and epic poems, the Ramayan and the 
 Mahabarat, and in the eighteen Puranas (the most select and 
 classical of the popular and mythological legends of India), and, 
 perhaps, in the traditionary history of particular dynasties and 
 provinces ; and even the works we have mentioned are not 
 merely of a mytho-historical, but in a great measure of a theo- 
 logical and philosophical purport. The more modern history 
 of Hindostan, from the first Mahometan conquest at the com- 
 mencement of the eleventh century of our era, can, indeed, be 
 traced with pretty tolerable certainty; but as this portion of Indian 
 history is unconnected with, and incapable of illustrating the 
 true state and progress of the intellectual refinement of the 
 Hindoos, it is of no importance to our immediate object. The 
 more ancient history of that country, particularly in the earlier 
 period, is most fabulous, or, to characterise it by a softer, and 
 at the same time, more correct name, a history purely mythic 
 and traditionary ; and it would be no easy task to divest the 
 real and authentic history of ancient India of the garb of my- 
 thology and poetical tradition ; a task which, at least, has not 
 yet been executed with adequate critical acumen. 
 
 Chronology, too, shares the same fate with the sister science 
 of history, for in the early period it is fabulous, and in the 
 more modern, it is often not sufficiently precise and accurate. 
 The number of years assigned to the first three epochs of the 
 world must be considered as possessing an astronomical import, 
 rather than as fmrAshing any criterion for an historical use. 
 It is only the fourth and last period of the world — the age of 
 progressive misery and all-prevailing woe, which the Indians 
 term Caliyug, that we can in any way consider an historical 
 
 n2 
 
180 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OV 
 
 epoch; and this, the duration of which is computed at fouf 
 thousand years, hegan ahout a thousand years before the Chris- 
 tian era. Of the progress and term of this period of the world, 
 considered in reference to the history of mankind, the Indians 
 entertain a very simple notion. They believe that the condi- 
 tion of mankind will become, at first, much worse, but will be 
 afterwards ameliorated. The regular historical epoch, when 
 the chronology of India begins to acquire greater certainty, 
 and from which, indeed, it is ordinarily computed, is the age of 
 King Vikramaditya, who reigned in the more civilised part of 
 India, somewhat earlier than the Emperor Augustus in the 
 west, perhaps about sixty years before our era. It was at the 
 court of this monarch that flourished nine of the most 
 celebrated sages and poets of the second era of Indian 
 literature ; and among these was Calidas, the author of 
 the beautiful dramatic poem of u Sacontala," so generally 
 known by the English and German translations. It was in the 
 age of Vikramaditya that the later poetry and literature of 
 India, of which Calidas was so bright an ornament, reached its 
 full bloom. The elder Indian poetry, particularly the two great 
 epic poems above mentioned, entirely belong to the early and 
 more fabulous ages of the world ; so far at least as the poets 
 themselves are assigned to those ages, and figure in some degree 
 as fabulous personages. We may, however, observe, that in the 
 style of poetry, in art, and even, in the language itself, there 
 reigns a very great difference between these primitive heroic 
 poems, and the works of Calidas and other contemporary poets 
 — the difference is at least as great as that which exists between 
 Homer and Theocritus, or the other bucolick poets of Greece. 
 The oldest of the two epic poems of the Indians, the Ramayana 
 by the poet Valmiki, celebrates Rayma, his love for a royal 
 princess, the beautiful Sita, and his conquest of Lanka, or the 
 modern isle of Ceylon. Although in the old historical Sagas of 
 the Indians, we find mention made of far-ruling monarchs and all- 
 conquering heroes ; still these traditions seem to show, as in the 
 instance first cited, that in the oldest, as in the latest times prior 
 to foreign conquest, India was not united in one great monarchy, 
 but was generally parcelled out into a variety of states ; and 
 this fact serves to prove that such has ever been in general the 
 political condition of that country. The whole body of ancient 
 Indian traditions and mythological history is to be found in the 
 
mstoRir. 181 
 
 other great epic of the Indians, the Maha-Barata, whose author, 
 or at least compiler, was Vyasa, the founder of the Vedanta 
 philosophy, the most esteemed, and most prevalent of all 
 the philosophical systems of the Hindoos. This leads us to 
 observe a second remarkable, and singularly characteristic, fea- 
 ture in Indian intellect and Indian literature, so widely 
 remote from the relation between poetry and philosophy among 
 other nations, purticularly the Greeks. This is the close con- 
 nexion and almost entire fusion of poetry and philosophy among 
 this people. Many of their more ancient philosophical works 
 were composed in metre, though they possess productions of a 
 later period, which display the highest logical subtil ty and analysis. 
 Their great old poems, whatever may be the beauty of the lan- 
 guage, and the captivating interest of the narrative, are gene- 
 rally imbued with, and pervaded by, the most profound philo- 
 sophy ; and among this people, even the history of metaphysics 
 ascends as far back as the mythic ages. This, at least, holds 
 good of the authors, to whom the invention of the leading phi- 
 losophical systems has been ascribed ; although the subsequent 
 commentaries belong to a much later and more historical period. 
 Thus the Mahabarata contains as an episode a didactic poem, 
 or philosophical dialogue between the fabulous personages and 
 heroes of the epic, known in Europe by the name of the Bhaga- 
 vatgita, and which has recently been ably edited and expounded 
 in Germany, by Augustus William Von Schlegel, and 
 William Von Humboldt. The leading principles of the Ve- 
 danta philosophy are copiously set forth in this poem, which 
 may be regarded as a manual of Indian mysticism ; for such is 
 the ultimate object of all Indian philosophy; and of this peculiar 
 propensity of the Hindoo mind we have already cited some re- 
 markable traits. For the accomplishment of our more imme- 
 diate object, and in order rightly to understand the true place 
 which the intellectual culture of India occupies in primitive his- 
 tory, a general knowledge of Indian philosophy is far more im- 
 portant and necessary, than any minute analysis and criticism on 
 the manifold beauties of the very rich poetry of that country ; 
 and this philosophy we shall now endeavour to characterise ac- 
 cording to its various systems, and in its main and essential 
 features. 
 
 END OF LECTURE V. 
 
182 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 Of the Hindoo Philosophy — Dissertation on Languages — Of the peculiar 
 political Constitution and Theocratic Government of the Hebrews — 
 Of the Mosaic Genealogy of Nations. 
 
 The Indian philosophy, from the place it holds in the primitive 
 intellectual history of Asia, and from the insight it gives us into 
 the character and peculiar tendency of the human mind in that 
 early period, possesses a high, almost higher, interest than 
 that offered by the beautiful and captivating poetry of this 
 ancient people. However, even the poetry of the Indians con- 
 tains much that refers to, or bears the stamp of, that peculiar 
 mystical philosophy which we have more than once spoken of. 
 We shall give a more correct and comprehensive idea of the 
 Indian philosophy, if we observe, beforehand, that the six In- 
 dian systems which are the most prevalent and the most cele- 
 brated, and which, though in many points differing from the 
 Vedas, are not to be regarded as entirely reprehensible or 
 heterodox, — the six Indian systems, we say, must be classed in 
 couples, and that the first of each pair treats of the beginning 
 of the subject discussed in the second, and the second contains 
 the development and extension of the principles laid down in 
 the first, or applies those principles to another and higher 
 object of inquiry. In the whole Indian philosophy there are, 
 in fact, only three different modes of thought, or three systems 
 absolutely divergent, and we shall give a sufficiently clear idea 
 of these systems, if we say that the first is founded on nature, — 
 the second on thought, or on the thinking self; and the third 
 attaches itself exclusively to the revelation comprised in the 
 Vedas. The first system, which seems to be one of the most 
 ancient, bears the name of the Sanchya philosophy — a name 
 which signifies "the philosophy of numbers." This is not to 
 be understood in the Pythagorean sense, that numbers are the 
 principle of all things, or according to the very similar prin- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 183 
 
 ciple laid down in the Chinese books of I — King, where we find 
 the eight koua, or the symbolic primary lines of all existence. 
 But the Sanchya system bears this name because it reckons 
 successively the first principles of all things and of all being to 
 the number of four or five-and-twenty. Among these first 
 principles, it assigns the highest place to Nature — the second 
 to understanding, and by this is meant not merely human un- 
 derstanding, but general and even Infinite Intelligence ; so 
 that we may consider this system as a very partial philosophy 
 of Nature ; and indeed it has been regarded by some Indian 
 writers as atheistical — a censure in which the learned English- 
 man, Mr. Colebrooke, (to whose extracts and notices we are in- 
 debted for our most precise information on this whole branch 
 of Indian literature)* seems almost inclined to concur. This 
 system was, however, by no means a coarse materialism, or a 
 denial of the Divinity and of every thing sacred. The doubts 
 expressed in the passages cited by Mr. Colebrooke are directed 
 far more against the Creation than against God ; they regard 
 the motive which could have induced the Supreme Being, the 
 Spirit of Infinite Perfection, to create the external world, and 
 the possibility of such a creation. 
 
 The Sanchya philosophy would be more properly designated 
 in our modern philosophic phraseology as a system of complete 
 dualism, where two substances are represented as co- existent — 
 on one hand, a self-existent energy of Nature, which emanated, 
 or eternally emanates, from itself; and on the other hand, 
 eternal truth, or the Supreme and Infinite Mind. 
 
 The Indian philosophers in general were so inclined to 
 regard the whole outward world of sense as the product of illu- 
 sion, as a vain and idle apparition, and we can well imagine they 
 were unable to reconcile the creation of such a world (which 
 appeared to them a world of darkness, or perhaps, on a some- 
 what higher scale, as an intermediate state of illusion) with their 
 mystical notion of the infinite perfection of the Supreme Being 
 and Eternal Spirit. For even in ethics, they were wont to 
 place the idea of Supreme Perfection in a state of absolute 
 
 * The valuable articles by this great Sanscrit scholar on Hindoo 
 philosophy have excited a greater sensation in France and Germany, 
 than in his own country. It would be well if the Asiatic Society were 
 to publish those articles in a separate form. — Trans. 
 
184 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 repose, but not (at least to an equal degree) in the state of 
 active energy or exertion. Great as the error of such a system 
 of dualism may be — there is yet a mighty difference between 
 a philosophy which denies, or at least misconceives, the crea- 
 tion, and one which denies the existence of the Deity ; for such 
 atheism never occurred to the minds of those philosophers. 
 The doctrine of a primary self-existing energy in nature, or of 
 the eternity of the universe, may, in a practical point of view, 
 appear as gross an error ; but in philosophy we must make ac- 
 curate distinctions, and forbear to place this ancient dualism on 
 the same level with that coarse materialism — that destructive 
 and atheistic atomical philosophy, or any other doctrines pro- 
 fessed by the later sects of a dialectic rationalism. 
 
 Valuable, undoubtedly, as are such extracts and communica- 
 tions from the originals in a branch of human science still so 
 little known, yet they will not alone suffice, and, without a cer- 
 tain philosophic flexibility of talent in the inquirer, they will 
 fail to afford him a proper insight into the true nature, the 
 real spirit and tendency of those ancient systems of philosophy. 
 That the Indian philosophy, even when it has started from the 
 most opposite principles, and when its circuitous or devious 
 course has branched more or less widely from the common 
 path is sure to wind round, and fall into the one general track 
 — the uniform term of all Indian philosophy — is well exempli- 
 fied by the second part of the Sanchya system (called the Yoga 
 philosophy), where we find a totally different principle pro- 
 claimed ; and while it utterly abandons the primary doctrine 
 of a self-existent principle in nature laid down in the first part 
 of the philosophy, it unfolds those maxims of Indian mysticism 
 which recur in every department of Hindoo literature. That 
 total absorption in the one thought of the Deity, that entire 
 abstraction from all the impressions and notions of sense — 
 that suspension of all outward, and in part even of inward, 
 life effected by the energy of a will tenaciously fixed and en- 
 tirely concentrated on a single point — and by which, according 
 to the belief of the Indians, miraculous power and super- 
 natural knowledge are attained — are held up in the second part 
 of the Sanchya system as the highest term of all mental exer- 
 tion. The word Yoga signifies the complete union of all our 
 thoughts and faculties with God — by which alone the soul can 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 185 
 
 be freed — that is, delivered from the unhappy lot of transmi- 
 gration ; and this, and this only, forms the object of all Indian 
 philosophy. 
 
 The Indian name of Yogi is derived from the same word, 
 which designates this philosophy. The Indian Yogi is a hermit 
 or penitent, who, absorbed in this mystic contemplation, remains 
 often for years fixed immoveably to a single spot. In order to 
 give a lively representation of a phenomenon so strange to us, 
 which appears totally incredible and almost impossible, al- 
 though it has been repeatedly attested by eye-witnesses, and is 
 a well-ascertained historical fact ; I will extract from the 
 drama of Sacontala, by the poet Calidas, a description of a 
 Yogi, remarkable for its vivid accuracy, or, to use the expres- 
 sion of the German commentator, its fearful beauty. King 
 Dushmanta inquires of Indra's charioteer the sacred abode of 
 him whom he seeks ; and to this the charioteer replies :* " A 
 little beyond the grove, where you see a pious Yogi, motionless 
 as a pollard, holding his thick bushy hair and fixing his eyes on 
 the solar orb. Mark : — his body is half covered with a white 
 ant's edifice made of raised clay ; the skin of a snake supplies 
 the place of his sacerdotal thread, and part of it girds his 
 loins ; a number of knotty plants encircle and wound his neck ; 
 and surrounding birds' nests almost conceal his shoulders.' ' 
 We must not take this for the invention of fancy, or the ex- 
 aggeration of a poet ; the accuracy of this description is con- 
 firmed by the testimony of innumerable eye-witnesses, who 
 recount the same fact, and in precisely similar colours. During 
 that period of wonderful phenomena and supernatural powers 
 — the first three centuries of the Christian church — we meet 
 with only one Simon Stylites, or column-stander ; and his con- 
 duct is by no means held up by Christian writers as a model of 
 imitation, but is regarded, at best, as an extraordinary excep- 
 tion permitted on certain special grounds. In the Indian 
 forests and deserts, and in the neighbourhood of those holy 
 places of pilgrimage mentioned above, there are many hundreds 
 of these hermits — these strange human phenomena of the 
 highest intellectual abstraction or delusion. Even the Greeks 
 were acquainted with them, and, among so many other won- 
 
 * We have transcribed Sir William Jones's own words, as given in 
 his translation of Sacontala. — Trans. 
 
186 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 ders, make mention of them in their description of India under 
 the name of the Gymnosophists. Formerly such accounts 
 would have been regarded as incredible and as exceeding the 
 bounds of possibility ; but such conjectures can be of no avail 
 against historical facts repeatedly attested and undeniably 
 proved. Now that men are better acquainted with the won- 
 derful flexibility of human organisation, and with those mar- 
 vellous powers which slumber concealed within it, they are less 
 disposed to form light and hasty decisions on phenomena of 
 this description. The whole is indeed a magical intellectual 
 self-exaltation, accomplished by the energy of the will concen- 
 trated on a single point ; and this concentration of the mind, 
 when carried to this excess, may lead not merely to a figura- 
 tive, but to a real intellectual self-annihilation, and to the dis- 
 order of all thought, even of the brain. While on the one 
 hand we must remain amazed at the strength of a will so tena- 
 ciously and perse veringly fixed on an object purely spiritual, 
 we must, on the other hand, be filled with profound regret at 
 the sight of so much energy wasted for a purpose so erroneous, 
 and in a manner so appalling. 
 
 The second species of Indian philosophy, totally different 
 from the other two kinds, and which proceeds not from Nature, 
 but from the principle of thought and from the thinking self, 
 is comprised in the Nyaya system, whose founder was Gau- 
 tama — a personage whom several of the earlier investigators 
 of Indian literature, particularly Dr. Taylor, in his Translation 
 of the "Prabodha Chandrodaya" (page 116) have con- 
 founded with the founder of the Buddhist sect, as both bear 
 the same name. But a closer inquiry has proved them to be 
 distinct persons ; and Mr. Colebrooke himself finds greater 
 points of coincidence or affinity between the Sanchya philo- 
 sophy and Buddhism, than between the latter and the Nyaya 
 system. This Nyaya philosophy, proceeding from the act of 
 thought, comprises in the doctrine of particulars, distinctions 
 and subdivisions, the application of the thinking principle ; and 
 this part of the system embraces all which among the Greeks 
 went under the name of logic or dialectic ; and which with us 
 is partly classed under the same head. Very many writings 
 and commentaries have been devoted to the detailed treatment 
 and exposition of these subjects, which the Indians seem to 
 have discussed with almost the same diffuseness, or at least co 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 187 
 
 piousness, as the Greeks. Like the Indians, the learned En- 
 glishman who has first unlocked to our view this department of 
 Indian literature, has paid comparatively most attention to this 
 second part of the Nyaya philosophy. But all this logical phi- 
 losophy, though it may furnish one more proof (if such bs ne- 
 cessary) of the extreme richness, variety, and refinement of the 
 intellectual culture of the Hindoos, yet possesses no immediate 
 interest for the object we here propose to ourselves. Mr. Cole- 
 brooke remarks, however, that the fundamental tenets of this 
 philosophy comprise, as indeed is evident, not merely a logic in 
 the ordinary acceptation of the word, but the metaphysics of 
 all logical science. On this part of the subject, I could have 
 wished that in the authentic extracts he has given us from the 
 Sanscrit originals, he had more distinctly educed the leading 
 doctrines of the system, and thus furnished us with the adequate 
 data for forming a judgment on the general character of this 
 philosophy, as well as on its points of coincidence with other 
 systems, and with the philosophy of the Buddhists. For 
 although it appears to be well ascertained that the religion of 
 Buddha sprang out of some perverted system of Hindoo philo- 
 sophy ; yet the points of transition to such a religious creed 
 existing in the Indian systems of philosophy, have not yet been 
 clearly pointed out. The Vedanta philosophy must here evi- 
 dently be excepted ; for to this Buddhism is as much opposed 
 as to the old Indian religion of the Vedas. Moreover that 
 endless confusion and unintelligibleness of the Buddhist meta- 
 physics, which we have before spoken of, may first be traced to 
 the source of idealism ; though in the progress of that philo- 
 sophy, many errors have been associated with it — errors even 
 which, in its origin, were most widely removed from it; for 
 every system of error asserts and even believes that it is perfectly 
 consistent, though in none is such consistency found. 
 
 The basis and prevailing tendency of the Nyaya system (to 
 judge from the extracts with which we have been furnished) is 
 most decidedly ideal. On the whole we can very well conceive 
 that a system of philosophy beginning with the highest act of 
 thought, or proceeding from the thinking self, should run into a 
 course of the most decided and absolute idealism, and that the 
 general inclination of the Indian philosophers to regard the 
 whole external world of sense as vain illusion, and to represent 
 individual personality as absorbed in the God-head by the most 
 
188 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 intimate union, should have given birth to a complete system 
 of self-delusion — a diabolic self-idolatry, very congenial with 
 the principles of that most ancient of all an ti- Christian sects — 
 the Buddhists. 
 
 The Indian authorities cited by Mr. Colebrooke, impute to the 
 second part of the Nyaya, philosophy a strong leaning to the 
 atomical system. We must here recollect that, as the Indian 
 mind pursued the most various and opposite paths of inquiry 
 even in philosophy, there were besides the six most prevalent 
 philosophic systems, recognised as generally conformable to 
 religion, several others in direct opposition to the established 
 doctrines on the Deity and on religion. Among these the 
 Charvaca philosophy, which, according to Mr. Colebrooke, com- 
 prises the metaphysics of the sect of Jains, deserves a passing 
 notice. It is a system of complete materialism founded on the 
 atomical doctrines, such as Epicurus taught, and which met 
 with so much favour and adhesion in the declining ages of 
 Greece and Rome ; — doctrines which several moderns have re- 
 vived in latter times, but which the profound investigations of 
 natural philosophy, now so far advanced, will scarcely ever 
 permit to take root again. 
 
 The third species or branch of Indian philosophy, is that 
 which is attached to the Vedas, and to the sacred revelation and 
 traditions they contain. The first part of this philosophy, — 
 the Mimansa, is, according to Mr. Colebrooke, more immediately 
 devoted to the interpretation of the Vedas, and most probably 
 contains the fundamental rules of interpretation, or the leading 
 principles, whereby independent reason is made to harmonise 
 with the word of revelation conveyed by sacred tradition. The 
 second or finished part of the system is called the Vedanta 
 philosophy. The last word in this term, " Vedanta," which is 
 compounded of two roots, is equivalent to the German word 
 ende (end), or still more to the Latin finis, and denotes the 
 end or ultimate object of any effort ; and so the entire term 
 Vedanta will signify a philosophy which reveals the true sense, 
 the internal spirit, and the proper object of the Vedas, and of 
 the primitive relation of Brahma comprised therein. This 
 Vedanta philosophy is the one which now generally exerts the 
 greatest influence on Indian literature and Indian life ; and it 
 is very possible that some of the six recognised, or at least- 
 tolerated, systems of philosophy, may have been purposely 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 189 
 
 thrown into the background, or when they clashed too rudely 
 with the principles of the prevailing system, have been softened 
 down by their partisans, and have thus come down, to us in that 
 state. A wide field is here opened to the future research and * 
 critical inquiries of Indian scholars. 
 
 This Vedanta philosophy is, in its general tendency, a com- 
 plete system of Pantheism ; but not the rigid, mathematical, 
 abstract, negative Pantheism of some modern thinkers ; for 
 such a total denial of all Personality in God, and of all freedom 
 in man, is incompatible with the attachment which the Vedanta 
 philosophy professes for sacred tradition and ancient mythology ; 
 and accordingly a modified, poetical, and half-mythological 
 system of Pantheism may here naturally be expected, and 
 actually exists. Even in the doctrine of the immortality of the 
 soul and of the metempsychosis, the personal existence of the 
 human soul, inculcated by the ancient faith, is not wholly denied 
 or rejected by this more modern system of philosophy ; though 
 on the whole it certainly is not exempt from the charge of 
 Pantheism. But all the systems of Indian philosophy tend 
 more or less to one practical aim — namely, the final deliverance 
 and eternal emancipation of the soul from the old calamity — 
 the dreaded fate — the frightful lot — of being compelled to 
 wander through the dark regions of nature — through the 
 various forms of the brute creation — and to change ever anew 
 its terrestrial shape. The second point in which the different 
 systems of Indian philosophy mostly agree is this, that the 
 various sacrifices prescribed for this end in the Vedas are not 
 free from blame or vice, partly on account of the effusion of 
 blood necessarily connected with animal sacrifice — and partly 
 on account of the inadequacy of such sacrifices to the final 
 deliverance of the soul ,• useful and salutary though they be 
 in other respects. 
 
 The general and fundamental doctrine of the metempsychosis 
 has rendered the destruction of animals extremely repulsive to 
 Indian feelings, from the strong apprehension that a case may 
 occur where, unconsciously and innocently, one may violate or 
 injure the soul of some former relative in its present integu- 
 ment. But even the Vedas themselves inculcate the neces- 
 sity of that sublime science which rises above nature, for the 
 attainment of the full and final deliverance of the soul ; as is 
 expressed in an old remarkable passage of the Vedas, thus 
 
190 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 literally translated by Mr. Colebrooke.* (i Man must recegnise 
 the soul — man must separate it from nature — then it comes 
 not again — then it comes not again." These last words signify, 
 then the soul is delivered from the danger of a return to earth 
 — from the misfortune of transmigration, and it remains for 
 ever united to God ; an union which can be obtained only by 
 that pure separation from nature, which is that sublimest science, 
 invoked in the first words of this passage. 
 
 Animal sacrifices for the souls of the departed, particularly 
 for those of deceased parents, which were regarded as the most 
 sacred duty of the son and of the posterity, were among those 
 religious usages which occupied an important place in the 
 patriarchal ages, and were most deeply interwoven with the 
 whole arrangement of life in that primitive period, as is evident 
 from all those Indian rites, and the system of doctrines akin to 
 them. These sacrifices are certainly of very ancient origin, 
 and may well have been derived from the mourning father of 
 mankind, and the first pair of hostile brothers. To these may 
 afterwards have been added all that multitude of religious rites, 
 and doctrines, or marvellous theories respecting the immortal 
 soul and its ulterior destinies. Hence the indispensable obliga- 
 tion of marriage for the Brahmins, in order to insure the 
 blessing of legitimate offspring, regarded as one of the highest 
 objects of existence in the patriarchal ages, for the prayers of 
 the son only could obtain the deliverance, and secure the 
 repose of a departed parent's soul, and this was one of his 
 most sacred duties. The high reverence for women, among 
 the Indians, rests on the same religious notion ; as is expressed 
 by the old poet in these lines 
 
 " Woman is man's better half, 
 Woman is man's bosom friend, 
 Woman is redemption's source, 
 From woman springs the liberator." 
 
 This last line signifies, what we mentioned above, that the 
 son is the liberator appointed by God, to deliver by prayer the 
 soul of his deceased father. The poet then continues ; — 
 " Women are the friends of the solitary — they solace him with 
 their sweet converse ; like to a father, in discharge of duty, 
 consoling as a mother in misfortune/ ' 
 
 * See Colebrooke's articles on the Vedas in the 8th volume of Asiatic 
 
 Researches. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 191 
 
 We should scarcely conceive it possible (and it certainly tends 
 to prove the original power, copiousness, and flexibility of the 
 human mind,) that, by the side of a false mysticism totally 
 sunk and lost in the abyss of the eternally incomprehensible and 
 unfathomable, like the Indian philosophy, a rich, various, beau- 
 tiful, and highly wrought poetry should have existed. The epic 
 narrative of the old Indian poems bears a great resemblance to 
 the Homeric poetry, in its inexhaustible copiousness, in the 
 touching simplicity of its antique forms, in justness of feeling, 
 and accuracy of delineation. Yet in its subjects, and in the 
 prevailing tone of its mythological fictions, this Indian epic 
 poetry is characterised by a style of fancy incomparably more 
 gigantic, such as occasionally prevails in the mythology of 
 Hesiod — in the accounts of the old Titanic wars — or in the 
 fabulous world of iEschylus, and of the Doric Pindar. In the 
 tenderness of amatory feeling, in the description of female 
 beauty, of the character and domestic relations of woman, the 
 Indian poetry may be compared to the purest and noblest 
 effusions of Christian poesy; though, on the whole, from the 
 thoroughly mythical nature of its subjects, and from the rhyth- 
 mical forms of its speech, it bears a greater resemblance to that 
 of the ancients. Among the later poets, Calidas, who is the 
 most renowned and esteemed in the dramatic poetry of the 
 Indians, might be called, by way of comparison, an idyllic and 
 sentimental Sophocles. The poetry of the Indians is not a 
 little indebted to the genius of their beautiful language, which 
 bears indubitable traces of the same generous and lofty poetical 
 spirit; and it may be therefore necessary, in this general sketch 
 of the primitive state of the human mind, to make a few obser- 
 vations on this very remarkable language. 
 
 In its grammatical structure the language of India is abso- 
 lutely similar to the Greek and Latin, even to the minutest 
 particulars. But the grammatical forms of the Sanscrit are 
 far richer and more varied than those of the Latin tongue, and 
 more regular and systematic than those of the Greek. In its 
 roots and words the Sanscrit has a very strong and remarkable 
 affinity to the Persian and Germanic race of languages; an 
 affinity which furnishes interesting disclosures, or gives occasion 
 at least for instructive comparisons, on the progress of ideas 
 among those ancient nations, and, as one and the same word is 
 sometimes extended, sometimes contracted in its meaning or 
 
192 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 applied to kindred objects — reveals the first natural impressions, 
 or primary notions of life in those early ages. To prove more 
 clearly, by one or two examples, this affinity between the 
 languages of nations so widely removed from one another, and 
 almost separated by the distance of two quarters of the globe, 
 and to show the important data which the discovery of such 
 facts furnishes to history, I will mention, as a striking instance, 
 that the German word mensch (man) perfectly agrees in root 
 and signification with the Indian word manuschya, with this 
 only difference, that in the Sanscrit the latter word has a regular 
 root, and is derived from the word manu, which means spirit. 
 Thus the word mensch (man) in its primitive root signifies a 
 being endowed with spirit by way of pre-eminence above all 
 earthly creatures. It is evident, too, from this, that the Latin 
 word mens (mind) is of a cognate kind, and belongs to the same 
 family of words; for, in these philological comparisons, the 
 members of one radical word, scattered through different 
 languages, serve when combined to illustrate each other. To 
 cite an instance of a remarkable extension and contraction of 
 meaning in one and the same word, we may remark that the 
 same word which, in the German loch, signifies the space of a 
 narrow aperture, and in the Latin locus, comprehends the ge- 
 neral notion of space, as well as of a particular place, means the 
 universe in the Sanscrit lokas. Thus the Sanscrit word 
 trailokas, or trailokyan, signifies the three worlds or the triple 
 world — the world of truth or eternal being, the world of illusion 
 or vain appearance, and the world of darkness; — a division 
 which constitutes one of the main points in the Indian philo- 
 sophy, and is expressed by the two Sanscrit words trai and 
 lokas, which are at the same time also Latin and German. I 
 will adduce but one more example. As mostly the ancient 
 nations of Asia, and likewise of Europe, were led by a certain 
 natural feeling and a not erroneous instinct, (totally independent 
 of the nomenclature and classifications of our natural history,) 
 to regard the bull, the most useful and important of all the 
 animals which man has domesticated, as the representative 
 of earthly fertility, and (as it were) the primary animal of the 
 earth, and afterwards made that animal the emblem of all 
 earthly existence and earthly energy; so it is extraordinary to 
 see, (as Augustus William Schlegel has shown by an interesting 
 comparison of the words which designate either of these objects 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 193 
 
 in various languages of a kindred stem), it is extraordinary to 
 see what mutual light and illustration they reflect on each 
 other. The Indian and Persian word, gau, with which the 
 the German kuh, (cow) perfectly coincides, quite agrees with 
 the Greek word for earth, in the old Doric form of ya : the 
 Latin bos (ox) in its inflection bovis or bove, belongs to a whole 
 family of Sanscrit words, such as bhu, bhava, bhumi, which 
 signify the earth or earthly, or whatever is remotely connected 
 therewith. So, originally, in this language one and the same 
 word served to denote the earth and the bull. Comparisons of 
 this sort, when not strained by etymological subtility, but 
 founded on matter of fact and clear self-evident deductions, 
 may offer much curious illustration of the state of opinion, and 
 the nature and connexion of ideas in the primitive and mythic 
 ages, or may serve, at least, to give us a clearer and more lively 
 insight into the secret operations of the human mind, and into 
 the modes of thinking prevalent among ancient nations. And, 
 besides the few instances here cited, we might adduce many 
 hundred examples of a similar kind. 
 
 As language in itself forms one of the corner-stones of man's his- 
 tory (and that not the least important), as the different tongues 
 spread in such amazing variety over the inhabited globe, are 
 essentially connected with universal history, and the his- 
 tory of particular races ; it is necessary to say a few words on 
 this subject, not that we would plunge deeper than is 
 here expedient, into the vast and immense labyrinth of lan- 
 guages ; but in order to show the point of view whence the 
 philosophic historian should take his survey, if he would gain a 
 clear and comprehensive notion of this otherwise immeasurable 
 chaos. Perhaps the shortest way for this would be to figure 
 to oneself all the different dialects and modes of speech diffused 
 over the habitable globe, under the general image of a pyramid 
 of languages of three degrees, separated one from the other 
 by a very simple principle of division. The broad basis of this 
 pyramid would be formed by those languages whose roots 
 and primitive words are mostly monosyllabic, and which either 
 are entirely without a grammar, like the Chinese language, 
 or at best display only the rude lineaments of a very simple 
 and imperfect grammatical structure. The languages belong- 
 ing to this class, are by far the most considerable in number, 
 and the most widely spread over the four quarters of the globe ■ 
 
 o 
 
194 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 and if, in a general philological investigation, we "would wish 
 to reduce these to any species of classification, we must 
 adopt a geographical mode of arrangement, and designate 
 them, for example, as the languages of Northern and Eastern 
 Asia, of America, and of Africa. The Chinese must be con- 
 sidered as the most important and remarkable language of 
 this class, precisely because it best answers to the character of 
 a monosyllabic speech totally destitute of grammar, and has 
 attained to as high a degree of refinement and perfection as 
 languages of this kind are susceptible of. This is the stage of 
 infancy in language, as children's first attempts at speech 
 almost always incline to monosyllables — it is the cry of na- 
 ture which breaks out in these simple sounds, or the infantine 
 imitation of some natural sound. This primitive character is 
 still to be clearly traced in the Chinese ; although a very 
 artificial mode of writing , and the high degree of refinement 
 to which science has been carried, have given a mighty ex- 
 tension, and a quite conventional character, to this infant 
 language. For any parallels or analogies which may be 
 drawn between the periods of natural life and the epochs of 
 intellectual culture must never be understood in an exact and 
 literal sense. 
 
 The next degree in this pyramid of speech is occupied by 
 the noble languages of the second class, and this race of lan- 
 guages, which are connected with each other by strong and 
 manifold ties of affinity, are the indo-Persic, the Graeco-Latin, 
 and the Gothico- Teutonic* Here the roots are, for the most 
 part at least, dyssyllabic ; and these roots, which are by this 
 means internally flexible, and become as it were, living and 
 productive, afford room and occasion for a more varied gram- 
 matical structure. The distinguishing character of these lan- 
 guages is a very artificial grammar, which enters so com- 
 pletely into the primary formation of these languages, that the 
 nearer we approach their original, the more regular and sys- 
 tematic do we find their structure. In their progress these 
 languages are characterised by a poetical fulness and variety 
 in the forms of narration, and even by a rigid precision in 
 scientific discussions. 
 
 * These are usually termed the Indo-Germanic race of languages.— 
 Trans. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 195 
 
 The third and last class are the Semitic languages, as they 
 are styled — the Hebrew and the Arabic, which, together with 
 their kindred dialects, form the summit or apex of this pyra- 
 mid. In these languages the ruling principle is that all the 
 roots must be tri-syllabic, for each of the three letters, of which 
 the root is regularly composed, counts for a syllable, and is 
 articulated as such. Whatever exceptions from this rule 
 exist, must be treated as exceptions only. It cannot well be 
 doubted that this principle of tri-syllabic roots is purposely 
 wrought into the whole internal structure of these languages, 
 and perhaps not without some deep signincancy — some presen- 
 tient feeling implied by that triplicity of roots.* In these 
 languages the verb is the first principle of derivation — the 
 root from which every thing is deduced ; and hence a cer- 
 tain rapidity, fire, and vivacity in the expression. But with 
 such formal regularity the rich, full, elaborate grammatical 
 forms and structure which distinguish the languages of the 
 Indo-Greek race, are not at all compatible ; these tri-syllabic 
 tongues have a certain tendency to monotony, and do not cer- 
 tainly possess that poetical variety, and that flexible adaptation 
 to scientific purposes, which characterise the second class of 
 languages. The general characteristic of the Semitic tongues 
 is their peculiar fitness for prophetic inspiration and for pro- 
 found symbolical import — this is their special character. We 
 speak here of the language itself, and of its internal structure, 
 and not of the spirit which may direct it ; and I shall only add 
 that the character we have here assigned to the Semitic lan- 
 guages is, according to the declaration of many of the most 
 competent judges, more uniformly perceptible in the Arabic 
 than in the Hebrew, although the former has received a totally 
 different application, and has undergone a very diversified cul- 
 ture. Thus the Hebrew tongue was eminently adapted to the 
 high spiritual destination of the Hebrew people, and was a fit 
 organ of the prophetic revelation and promises imparted to that 
 nation; and, even in this respect, this Semitic language is 
 worthy of being considered the summit of the pyramid of 
 human speech. But it never can be regarded as the basis of 
 that pyramid, nor the root whence all other tongues have 
 
 * Schlegel here supposes that the triplicity of roots in the Semitic 
 languages contains a mystic allusion to the Tri-une Godhead, the root 
 and principle of all existence, 
 
 o2 
 
196 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 sprung, as many scholars in former times conceived — an 
 opinion which would seem tacitly to imply that Adam could 
 have spoken no other language in Paradise hut the Hebrew. 
 But this language of the first man created by God — this lan- 
 guage which God himself had taught him — this word of nature 
 which the Deity imparted to man, together with the dominion 
 over all other creatures, and over the whole visible world, may 
 have been neither the Hebrew nor the Indian, nor any of the 
 other known or existing languages of the earth. Possibly it 
 was not a speech which we could learn or understand, or which, 
 according to the present scheme of language, we can even con- 
 ceive or imagine. In the same way no one is capable of prov- 
 ing or discovering the geographical site of the one lost source 
 in Paradise, whence those four rivers took their rise, which are 
 in part to be still traced on the earth. As to the Hebrew lan- 
 guage, I think that a deeper inquiry would show that it is not 
 so far removed from the Indo-Greek family; and that it is even 
 partially related to it, although this affinity may be at first 
 very much concealed by the great difference of structure, and 
 by the total diversity of grammatical forms. In general, we 
 must not endeavour to enforce, with too rigid uniformity and too 
 systematic precision, the division of languages here marked out. 
 It suffices to adhere to one general point of survey ; but in other 
 respects so luxuriant, so various, so irregular, has been the 
 growth of the human mind in the region of languages, that it 
 may be compared to the expansive life of free, uncultivated nature, 
 to the wild variety of the thick-grown forest, or of the flowery 
 meadow. 
 
 To the second order of languages of the Indo-Greek race, 
 probably belongs the great Sclavonian family of languages, 
 which, after the others, would form the fourth member in this 
 class ; but a definite and decisive judgment on this matter, I 
 must leave to those philologists who are perfectly conversant 
 with this branch of human speech. Between the second and 
 third class of languages, there are a multitude of intermediate 
 tongues which have sprung up out of that intermixture of races 
 and nations, occurring at all periods of history, and necessarily 
 affecting, more or less, language itself I allude particularly to 
 such languages as are not perfectly monosyllabic, and which 
 have, nevertheless, a very simple and imperfect, or even a very 
 irregular, strange, and awkward grammatical structure. Such, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 197 
 
 for instance, are some of the American languages, which, in this 
 respect at least, cannot he ranked in the third class, while they 
 do not bear a closer, or at all close, affinity to those of the se- 
 cond. Most of the fragments of the earlier languages of Europe, 
 which are still extant, belong to this intermediate class of 
 tongues partaking of both those species, or at least holding a 
 middle place between them. Such are the Celtic or Gaelic lan- 
 guages, the Finnish and other ancient remnants of language, 
 which must not escape the study of the philologist, whose judg- 
 ment is too frequently warped by some patriotic partiality or 
 some learned predilection. 
 
 The noble languages of the second class have, from a remote 
 antiquity, become indigenous to Europe, and are there now ge- 
 nerally prevalent. The other fragments of speech which are 
 to be found on our continent by the side of these, either 
 bear to them a remote affinity like the various Celtic or Gaelic 
 dialects, or lead the inquirer to the great Asiatic, perhaps even 
 to the African, family of tongues; for we could hardly expect 
 to find a native race of languages peculiar to this small quarter 
 of the globe, which holds the lowest place in point of historical 
 antiquity. From the historical connexion between the north 
 of Africa and the southern coasts of western Europe, espe- 
 cially the Hesperian Peninsula (a connexion which has subsisted 
 from the remotest ages, and has been renewed so frequently, 
 and in such various forms), one might be induced to suppose 
 that the existence of this intercourse would have been attested 
 by an affinity between the languages of the two countries. 
 But the ablest scholars and critics cannot trace in the Basque 
 tongue any affinity with the primitive African family, though 
 they can discover in it an analogy with the Scythian race of 
 Finnish languages. The Magiar language, at the other eastern 
 extremity of Europe, is most decidedly an Asiatic tongue, be- 
 longing to that class which prevails in the central regions of 
 Asia; but in its grammatical structure it bears some ana- 
 logy to the languages of the second class. If, in conclusion, I 
 might be allowed to hazard a conjecture, 1 should say that no- 
 thing would more materially contribute to a comprehensive 
 knowledge of the whole system of human language, as well as 
 to a deeper insight into its internal principles and structure, 
 than the success of the now rising school of Egyptian philolo- 
 gists, who, in deciphering the hieroglyphics by the aid of the 
 
198 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 Coptic, endeavour to give us a more accurate knowledge, or at 
 least a more minute conception, of the old Egyptian tongue. 
 And if we would venture the attempt of approximating nearer 
 to the primitive speech (the lost or extinct source of all lan- 
 guages), we must start from four different quarters, and thread 
 our way, not only through the Sanscrit and Hebrew languages, 
 but through the primitive Chinese and the old Egyptian, as 
 far as we can trace the latter. 
 
 How extremely alike ancient Egypt and India were to each 
 other, not only in their political institutions, but in their system 
 of idolatry, in their fundamental doctrines of belief, and in 
 their general views of life, we have had ample opportunity of 
 satisfying ourselves in the present age, when both these coun- 
 tries have been more accurately surveyed, and more closely in- 
 vestigated. In a remarkable expedition which occurred in our 
 own times, this strong religious sympathy was strikingly dis- 
 played in a spontaneous and instantaneous burst of feeling. 
 When, in the course of the French war in Egypt, an Indian 
 army in British pay there landed, and, ascending up the 
 country, came before the old monuments of Upper Egypt, the 
 soldiers prostrated themselves on the earth, believing they had 
 once more found the Deities of their native land. Great, how- 
 ever, as the resemblance between the two nations may be, they 
 are still characterised by perceptible differences. On the one 
 hand the Egyptian mind, so far as it has been delineated by 
 the Greeks, appears to have been more deeply conversant and 
 initiated in natural science : and on the other hand, the 
 Egyptian idolatry was of a more decided cast, and was even 
 more material in its fundamental errors than the Indian. 
 The worship of animals, especially, was far more general, 
 and was not confined to the god Apis, who may be compared 
 to the Nandi, the bull sacred to Siva, but branched out into a 
 variety of other forms . In the progress of idolatry it needs 
 came to pass that what was originally revered only as the sym- 
 bol of a higher principle was gradually confounded or identified 
 with that object, and worshipped, till this error in worship led 
 to a more degraded form of idolatry ; for it should be remem- 
 bered that as error is not merely the absence of truth, but a 
 false and counterfeit imitation of the truth, it has, like the latter, 
 a principle of permanent growth and internal development. 
 Several writers, who, in a general review of all heathen religions, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 199 
 
 have attempted to classify them after the maimer of naturalists, 
 assign the lowest place to the Fetish worship (so called), which 
 they rank immediately below the worship of animals. They make 
 the essence of the Fetish worship to consist in the divine adora- 
 tion of a lifeless corporeal object ; while they place on higher de- 
 grees, in this scale of pagan error, the sensual nature-worship 
 — the apotheosis of particular men — and the adoration of the 
 elements, the stars, and the different powers of nature. How- 
 ever just and correct this view of the subject may otherwise be, 
 it should be remembered that the question agitated is not only 
 what were the objects of divine worship, but what were the 
 views, intentions, and doctrines connected with that worship. 
 For it is in these moral views we must look, either for the half- 
 effaced vestige of ancient truth, or for the full enormity — the 
 profound abyss of error. When we come to examine more 
 closely the accounts of that Fetish worship (so called) which is 
 most widely diffused through the interior of Africa, and prevails 
 among some American tribes, and nations of the north-east of 
 Asia ; it is easy to perceive, that magical rites are connected 
 with it, and that all these corporeal objects are but magical in- 
 struments and conductors of magical power ; and that the reli- 
 gion of these nations, sunk undoubtedly to the lowest grade 
 of idolatry, comprises nothing beyond the rude beginnings 
 of a pagan magic, such as, in all probability, was practised by the 
 Cainites, according to historical indications mentioned in an 
 earlier part of this work. That the Egyptian mind had a cer- 
 tain leaning towards magic, though towards a magic of a very 
 different, more comprehensive, and even more profound and 
 scientific nature, cannot be called in question ; for all the 
 Hebrew, Greek, and native vouchers and authorities are una- 
 nimous in the assertion. 
 
 But if the different religions of paganism must be classed 
 according to their outward rites and outward objects of wor- 
 ship, the diversity of sacrifices would constitute a far better and 
 more important standard of classification. We are taught that 
 a difference in the mode of sacrifice was the principal cause of 
 the dispute between the first two hostile brothers among men. 
 Although, if we were to judge from first impressions, and ac- 
 cording to human feelings, no sacrifice is so filial, so simple, so 
 appropriate, as that of the first fruits of the earth in returning 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 spring (such, for instance, as the flower-offering of the pious 
 Brahmins, or a similar oblation of thanksgiving among the 
 ancient Persians and other nations) ; still, on account of their 
 deeper import and typical character, the pre-eminence has ever 
 been allotted to animal-sacrifices ; and these among the most 
 civilised nations of pagan antiquity have ever held the foremost 
 place. Of this kind is the great sacrifice of the horse* in 
 India, where, in ancient times, the bull was offered in sacrifice, 
 till the destruction of the latter animal was severely prohibited, 
 and came to be considered as a grievous crime. But there was 
 ever a symbolical meaning attached to this sort of sacrifice, f 
 and the victim, selected as it was out of the purest and noblest 
 species of domestic animals that surround man (such as the bull, 
 the horse, or the lamb), was looked upon only as the repre- 
 sentative of another, and the emblem of a far higher victim. 
 
 It is an error to consider ancient paganism as nothing more 
 than mere poetry or agreeable fiction. The rites of the ancient 
 polytheism had very distinct and practical objects in view ; and 
 were intended either to propitiate the malignant powers of dark- 
 ness, or to obtain by their agency preternatural power ; or, on the 
 other hand, to conciliate the favour and appease the anger of 
 the Deity. And for this object the heathens shrunk from no 
 expedient — deemed no price— no victim too costly, as the ex- 
 istence of human sacrifices, and especially the sacrifice of chil- 
 dren may serve to convince us ; and I cannot conclude this first 
 part of the ancient history of the world, without bestowing a 
 more particular examination on this extreme aberration of 
 paganism, which passed by inheritance from the remoter ages 
 to the second, more civilised, and (in many respects), milder 
 era of history. The species of human sacrifice most widely 
 diffused among all the Phoenician nations was that in which 
 the idol Moloch, heated from below, grasped in his glowing 
 arms the infant victim. Even in the Punic city, Carthage, 
 this cruel custom long prevailed, and was for a long time 
 
 * The Aswameda. 
 
 f The reader may derive both pleasure and instruction from the 
 perusal of a most masterly Treatise on Sacrifices, by the late Count 
 Maistre, inserted at the end of the 2nd volume of " Soirees de St. 
 Peter sbourg." Nowhere have the learning, the eloquence, the bold and 
 profound philosophy of the noble author been more strikingly displayed, 
 than in that short but admirable tract. — Trans. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 201 
 
 secretly practised under the Roman domination. These sacri- 
 fices existed among the Greeks and Romans, no less than 
 among the Indians and Egyptians ; and the Chinese, so far at 
 least as my acquaintance with their authentic records extends, 
 are the only people among whom I do not recollect meeting 
 with any mention of this kind of sacrifice. But in the civilised 
 states of Greece and Rome, this ancient custom was, in later 
 and milder times, gradually abolished, or silently supplanted by 
 some equivalent. 
 
 Besides the sacrifice of children, there was another species 
 which was customary and particularly striking, and in one 
 respect even more worthy the historian's attention — I mean 
 the sacrifice of pure youths. I may here again enforce the 
 maxim which I have before laid down — namely, that error is 
 the most appalling when it is connected in its origin, or mixexi 
 up in its principle, with some confused notion — some profound, 
 though obscure, feeling of the truth. Bearing this in mind, 
 we shall find that the enigmatic lamentation of Lamech* over 
 his mysterious slaying of a stripling, occurring in the Mosaic 
 account of the Cainites, would seem to indicate that human 
 sacrifices, and especially this particular kind, had their origin 
 among the race of Cain, deeply imbued, even at that early 
 period, with an ti- Christian errors ; and that an unhappy delusion 
 — a confused anticipation of a real necessity and of a future 
 reality, contributed to the institution of these sacrifices. Of 
 that great mystery of truth, which the holy patriarch of the 
 Hebrews, with a prophetic intuition, had discerned in the 
 sacrifice of his well-beloved son commanded him by God, but 
 through the divine mercy not consummated — of this great 
 mystery, we say, a diabolic imitation may have led to the 
 human sacrifices by the early heathens. But these sacrifices 
 were more widely diffused, even in the Druidical North, and 
 they continued down to a much later period than is commonly 
 supposed, or at present asserted. Thus, for instance, the 
 
 * " And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice, 
 ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech; for I have slain a man to 
 the wounding of myself, and a stripling to my own bruising. — Gen. iv., 
 23. This obscure text has long perplexed the commentators : — Schle- 
 gel, I think, has furnished an explanation as solid as it is ingenious. 
 Thus Lamech to whom the introduction of polygamy is generally 
 ascribed, was probably, also, the founder of human sacrifices. Accord- 
 ing to our great poet lust sits enthroned hard by hate. — Trans. 
 
202 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 anti- Christian Emperor Julian sought to revive them, in order 
 to promote the infernal purposes of his dark magical rites. 
 We are so habituated to look on the divinities and beautiful 
 fables of ancient Greece, as the fairy creations of poetry, that 
 we are painfully surprised when we unexpectedly stumble on 
 some historical fact, which discloses the true spirit and internal 
 essence of polytheism — the fact, for instance, that Themistocles 
 himself, the deliverer of Greece, offered up three youths in 
 sacrifice. 
 
 The profound abyss of error, in which the most civilised 
 nations of ancient heathenism had sunk and were lost, becomes 
 the more apparent, the more closely it is investigated, and the 
 more fully it is understood. And on this account, we should 
 learn to see how necessary and salutary was that slow progres- 
 sion — that gradual preparation for a brighter futurity, wherein, 
 as T above stated, consisted the peculiar destination and 
 spiritual career of the Hebrew people. It is only from this, 
 its peculiar destination for the future, the Hebrew people 
 presents so high an interest to historical philosophy, and holds 
 the lofty place assigned to it in the first period of human 
 civilisation. The later destinies of the Jewish nation, and the 
 particular events and characters in their later annals, are 
 subjects of the highest moment in a history of religion ; for 
 they can be rightly understood and fully appreciated only by 
 their practical application, and profound symbolical reference 
 to the circumstances of Christianity. But it is only the 
 political constitution of the Jewish state in the earliest period of 
 its history — a constitution which was so peculiar and unique in 
 itself, so entirely without a parallel — that can be the appropriate 
 subject of consideration in this general review of history ; 
 because this constitution was connected with the prophetic 
 calling of the Hebrew people, and even bore a prophetic cha- 
 racter itself. This constitution has been called a theocracy, 
 and so it was in the right and old signification of that word, 
 by which was meant a government under the special and 
 immediate providence of God. But in the now ordinary 
 acceptation of the term, which implies a sacerdotal empire or 
 dominion, the Jewish state was at no time and by no means a 
 theocracy. Moses was no more a priest than a king ; and 
 after him all those men of Desire, as they were called from 
 the first circumstances of their institution, or men of the 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 203 
 
 desert, because after a preparation in the solitude of the desert, 
 they led and conducted the people in a literal or figurative 
 gense, through the wilderness — all these men appointed by 
 God, and without any other title or insignia but the staff, 
 which as pilgrims they brought out of the desert, governed 
 and directed the people under the immediate providence of 
 God. If, on a certain occasion, one of the prophets girded on 
 the sword, and led out an army — this was only a transient 
 instance ; and the prophets in general were nothing more than 
 the men of God, and the divinely-appointed conductors of the 
 people. When the wish in which the Hebrews had so long 
 indulged of having a king, like the heathen nations, was at last 
 gratified ; a wish which, in the higher views of Holy Writ, 
 was regarded as the culpable illusion of a carnal sense ; — the 
 last of the prophets formed a party, and constituted in a very 
 peculiar and singular manner, a species of political opposition, 
 which was acknowledged to be, and was in fact, perfectly 
 legitimate and just. And when some of them, like Elias for 
 instance, had received from God the supreme and immediate 
 power over life and death, as the distinct badge of dominion ; 
 we cannot wonder that men should have followed them, the 
 people have been at their bidding, and kings themselves, even 
 though they followed not always their counsels, have hearkened 
 at least to their warning voice. If those who are so fond of 
 playing the part of oppositionists in every country could only 
 once rise superior to vulgar forms and formulas, and not 
 everywhere seek for the echo of their modern opinions, an 
 attentive study of the character of Elias would hold up to their 
 admiring view an oppositionist, who, in energy of conduct, 
 and in burning zeal for the cause of truth and justice, or in 
 other words, of God, could not be perhaps easily equalled by 
 any historical personage whether of ancient republics, or of 
 modern monarchies. 
 
 After the Jewish state had become a kingdom of no very 
 great dimensions, it shared the destiny of most of the petty 
 states of those regions ; and was first a province of the Assyro- 
 Babylonish empire, then became subject to the Persian 
 monarchs, afterwards to the Greek kings of Syria and Egypt, 
 till, with these, it was finally swallowed up in the vast empire 
 of all-conquering Rome, 
 
 In that restoration of the Jewish state which the Maccabees 
 
204 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 accomplished in the last period of the Greek domination over 
 Judea, the high-priest acquired a concurrent political power ; 
 a power which he even still retained under the oppressive 
 protectorate of the Romans, though his functions, which were 
 those of a legislator and supreme judge, were confined to the 
 internal government of the state. But this does not constitute 
 a really sacerdotal dominion, and the term theocracy is as 
 little applicable to such an order of things, as to the Greek 
 Patriarchate in the Turkish empire. However, the holy city 
 of Jerusalem, along with Solomon's old, mighty and symbo- 
 lical temple (Vhose deep import and proper signification the 
 Jews themselves at a later period no longer understood), still 
 continued to be the main centre of the old national existence 
 and ancient recollections of the Hebrews, as well as of their 
 future hopes and prophetic promises. Even after the fearful 
 destruction of Jerusalem, this emblematic idea of the holy 
 city still lived in the recollection of mankind, and a long time 
 afterwards was, in Christian Europe, an animating incentive to 
 the warlike nations of the middle age. 
 
 In conclusion, we must add some observations, referring not 
 so much to the Jewish people and their history, as to their 
 most ancient historical books, and to those general views of 
 mankind which they contain, so far as such views relate to the 
 general history of the primitive ages, and are connected with the 
 philosophy of history. In the same way it is neither necessary 
 nor practicable to regard the Hebrew tongue as the general root 
 or primal source of all the languages spoken on the earth, because 
 it was the organ of divine revelation ; so the Mosaic genealogy 
 of nations can with as little propriety be made the basis of a ge- 
 neral history of the world, as has in earlier times been so often 
 attempted, but never accomplished without much violence to the 
 text. Although it would be difficult to find in the primitive re- 
 cords of the other Asiatic nations an historical survey of all the 
 nations on the globe, at once so clear, luminous, and instruc- 
 tive ; yet the Mosaic revelation had a far different object in 
 view than to furnish a school-compendium of historical learning. 
 This historical genealogy, which in its way cannot be too 
 highly esteemed, was evidently destined by Moses more imme- 
 diately for his own people, and his own book of the law ; and 
 in his account of the origin of nations, the sacred historian pro- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 205 
 
 ceeded on views and principles very different from ours. For 
 instance, with us it is the affinity of languages, which forms 
 the chief clue in the arrangement and classification of the 
 different races of mankind; and, according to this principle, 
 we rank the Hebrews with the Phcenieans, and regard them as 
 kindred nations. But in the Mosaic history these two nations, 
 separated by mutual hostility, stand at the widest distance 
 one from the other ; for in maimers, religion, and feelings, 
 they were diametrically opposed. 
 
 In this investigation, indeed, historical circumstances may 
 often occur — such as the popular commotions and intermixture 
 of nations happening at all periods of the world — by which the 
 question of the origin and affinity of different races under- 
 goes considerable modifications, and the whole subject is 
 rendered unsusceptible of a systematic division and arrange- 
 ment. It often happens that one race adopts the language of 
 another, without on that account losing its national indentity, 
 or being totally confounded with the other ; for, on the con- 
 trary, its moral or intellectual character bears the clear traces of 
 its original descent ; so that here, at least, language alone will 
 decide nothing. Often a less numerous tribe will stamp its 
 own native moral and intellectual character on a whole people. 
 In general the descent of nations can be clearly traced and 
 demonstrated in those cases only where the race has been 
 kept up pure, and all marriage and connexion with other na- 
 tions been strictly prevented. But such has been the case 
 among certain nations only ; and even in those countries, where 
 it was the law, it was not in every instance rigidly observed, 
 nor constantly maintained ; as is exemplified in the frequent 
 intermarriages of the Hebrews with the Phoenicians, severely 
 prohibited as such intermarriages were. The ancient law- 
 givers attached, indeed, a very high importance to lineage, 
 as is proved by all those restrictive laws on marriage, which 
 were destined to preserve the purity of descent ; but they set 
 a far higher value on the patrimonial inheritance of ancient 
 customs, institutions, doctrines, and intellectual qualities, as 
 constituting the true essence of national character and deter- 
 mining the rank which one race should hold above another. 
 By Moses, in particular, this intellectual character of the dif- 
 ferent races — their feelings — modes of thinking — the whole 
 spirit which animated them ; in a word, the chain of sacred 
 
206 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 tradition, and its transmission and preservation among the 
 different nations — all these are regarded of primary import* 
 ance, and they alone furnish us with a clue to the discovery of 
 his views. 
 
 The great middle country in Western Asia, where the true 
 Eden, the original abode of the first man, and great progenitor 
 of mankind, was situated, forms the central point in the general 
 historical survey of Moses. The wide-spread race of Japhet 
 comprehends the Caucasian nations in the north, and all its 
 contiguous regions, and also those in the central Asia nations 
 which were sound, vigorous, comparatively speaking, less cor- 
 rupt, and by no means entirely barbarous : but which were de- 
 barred from that near and immediate participation in the sacred 
 traditions of primitive revelation, enjoyed by the people of the 
 Semitic race in that midland country, whose distinctive charac* 
 ter and high pre-eminence, according to Moses, consisted in 
 this very participation. To the south, the race of Cham in- 
 cludes the degenerate, corrupt, and ungodly Egypt (a country 
 which in its native language bore the name of Chemi), and 
 beyond this, all the African tribes devoted to the dark rites of 
 magic. How entirely subjective in itself — how exclusively 
 adapted to his own people, and his own national object, is the 
 genealogy of nations by Moses, may be proved among other 
 things by the fact that, while many great nations in remoter 
 lands, or in the distant Eastern Asia, cannot, in this historical 
 survey, be traced without difficulty to their proper place, or 
 forced therein without violence to the text, twelve or thirteen 
 generations are given of the kindred Arabian branch, or of the 
 hostile Phoenician race. If regarded in this simple point of 
 view, the Mosaic genealogy of all the nations throughout the 
 inhabited globe will be found very clear, and, though the names 
 of some particular races remain matter of doubt, this summary 
 is in general perfectly intelligible, and throws a broad light 
 on the history of mankind. 
 
 END OF LECTURE VI. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 207 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 General Considerations upon the Nature of Man, regarded in an His- 
 torical Point of View, and on the Two-fold View of History.— Of the 
 Ancient Pagan Mysteries. — Of the Universal Empire of Persia, 
 
 Instead of the Mosaic genealogy of nations, commented on 
 in a hnndred different ways, and interpreted according to the 
 received views of each individual — a genealogy which was 
 considered as the necessary basis of every universal history, 
 and which by the most false and arbitrary methods was vio- 
 lently strained into an adaptation to all the data of history, 
 evidently contrary to the real views and mighty object of its 
 inspired author ; — instead of this genealogy, we say, the sacred 
 records of divine truth furnish us with a far more profound 
 principle, a principle highly simple and comprehensive, and 
 which is perfectly applicable to the philosophy of history. 
 That is that principle laid down in that revelation, at the com- 
 mencement of all history, as the one w r herein consists the pecu- 
 liar nature — the true essence — and the final destiny of man — 
 I mean his likeness to his Creator. Now it is this principle 
 which forms the ground-work of our whole plan — and now 
 that we have reached the conclusion of the first period of his- 
 tory, and are about to pass to the second, it may be proper to 
 examine more minutely the nature of this principle, and to 
 give an accurate definition of it. 
 
 According to the different notions entertained of man's 
 nature, there are but two opposite views of history — two 
 mighty and conflicting parties in the department of historical 
 science. It is quite unnecessary to observe that we include not, 
 in either class, such writers as, confining themselves to a bare 
 detail of facts, indulge not in any general historical views, or 
 even such as, vacillating in their opinions, have no clear, defi- 
 nite, and consistent views on the subject. According to one 
 party, man is merely an animal, ennobled and gradually dis- 
 
203 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 ciplined into reason, and finally exalted into genius ; and 
 therefore the history of human civilisation is but the history of 
 a gradual, progressive, and endless improvement. This theory 
 may, in a certain sense, be termed the liberalism of historical 
 philosophy ; and no one perhaps has developed it with such 
 clearness and mathematical rigour, as a very celebrated French 
 writer, entirely possessed with this idea, and who indeed be- 
 came in his time a martyr to these principles. * 
 
 In the contests of opinion, which embrace the general rela- 
 tions of society, it is far less those dogmas in which each indi- 
 vidual seeks light, aid, strength and repose for his feelings and 
 his conscience, his inward struggles and his final hopes — than 
 the single article of faith respecting man, and what constitutes 
 his essential being, his internal nature, and his higher destiny, 
 which determines the Christian or unchristian view — the reli- 
 gion or irreligion of history, if I may be allowed the expres- 
 sion. This principle of the endless perfectibility of man has 
 something in it very accordant with reason ; and if this per- 
 fectibility be considered as a mere possible disposition of the 
 human mind, there is doubtless much truth in the theory, but 
 it must be borne in mind that the corruptibility of man is quite 
 as great as his perfectibility. 
 
 But when this system is applied to the general course of 
 history, it is destitute of any real beginning ; for this vague 
 notion of an animal capable of infinite improvement is not a 
 beginning of any series of terms ; and in philosophy, as in life 
 and history, there is no true and solid beginning for any thing 
 out of God. And this principle is equally destitute of any 
 right end ; for a mere interminable progress is not a fixed 
 term nor positive object. But history presents a mass of stub- 
 born facts, which agree not always with this abstract law of an 
 infinitely progressive perfection, and, on the contrary, the 
 annals not only of particular nations, but of whole periods of 
 the world, would prove that the natural march of humanity 
 lay rather in a circuitous course. This disagreeable fact is 
 utterly inexplicable according to the rationalist system of his- 
 tory — or if it be susceptible of explanation, it certainly is not 
 reconcilable with the liberal view. .As often as from the path 
 of endless perfectibility, thus mathematically traced out for 
 them, man and mankind swerve in eccentric deviations ; or 
 
 * The author alludes to Condorcet. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 209 
 
 even should their course, like that of the planets of our heaven 
 at stated periods, be in appearance once retrogressive ; the his- 
 torical inquirer, who starts from this principle, is im mediately- 
 disconcerted by such a course of events so contrary to his 
 theory ; and, in his blind indignation in which he involves 
 alike the present and future, as well as the past, and by 
 the false light of the passionate spirit of time, he pronounces 
 on these a judgment most iniquitous, or at best extremely 
 partial, certainly at least most repugnant to the dictates of 
 truth. 
 
 But man is not merely a nobler animal, fashioned by degrees 
 to reason or dignified into genius. His peculiar and distinctive 
 excellence — his real essence — his true nature and destiny con- 
 sist in his likeness to God ; and from this principle proceeds a 
 view of history totally different from that we have just de- 
 scribed ; for, according to it, man's history must be the history 
 of the restoration of the likeness to God, or of the progress 
 towards that restoration. That this sublime origin of man 
 being once supposed — the divine image has been much altered, 
 impaired, and defaced in the inmost recesses of the human 
 breast, both of man in particular and of mankind in general, is 
 a truth we may learn, independently of the positive doctrine of 
 religion ; for clearly is it vouched and confirmed by the testi- 
 mony of our own feelings, our own experience of life, and a 
 general survey of the world. No man who well knows that 
 the image of God has been stamped on the human soul — an 
 image, whose old, half-obliterated characters are still to be 
 found on all the pages of primitive history, and whose impress, 
 not utterly effaced, every reflecting mind may discover in its 
 own interior — can ever forego the hope, that, much as that 
 divine image may seem, or may in fact be, impaired, its resto- 
 ration is still possible. The man who knows from human life, 
 and from his own experience, how great and arduous is this 
 work — how many obstacles oppose its accomplishment, and 
 how easily, even after a partial success, what already appeared 
 won, may be again lost; — the man understanding this, will 
 not be at a loss to comprehend any pause or retrogression, real 
 or apparent, in the march of mankind ; he will judge the fact 
 with more equity, and consequently more accuracy ; and will, 
 in every case, confide in the guidance of that superior Provi- 
 dence, clearly visible in this regeneration of the world. If, in 
 
 p 
 
210 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 opposition to the rationalist theory of man's endless perfectibility, 
 we were to designate the opposite system of history founded on 
 man's inborn likeness to his Maker, as the legitimacy of histo- 
 rical philosophy; this title would not be incorrect, since all 
 divine and human laws and rights, as they are found in history, 
 depend, in their first basis, on the supposition of the high dig- 
 nity and divine destination of man. Hence this view of history 
 is the only one winch restores to man the full rights and pecu- 
 liar prerogatives of his being. Even to all other truths it re- 
 stores their full force and rights ; and it alone can do so without 
 detriment to its own principle ; for, as this is the simple truth, 
 it is, therefore, complete and comprehensive. It must even 
 acknowledge that man, beside his higher dignity and divine 
 destiny, is and remains in his outward existence a physical 
 creature — and though he be such not in an exclusive, but 
 only secondary and subordinate sense, still, in respect to 
 his external being and external development, he may be 
 subject to certain natural laws in history. In the same 
 way, it may admit that man endowed with freedom, even 
 when he rejects the religious principle, is still a being 
 gifted with reason ; a being that consequently on this foun- 
 dation incessantly works, builds, and improves, in good as in 
 evil, essentially, interminably, — we might almost say, fear- 
 fully progressive. This legitimate philosophy of history, which 
 proceeds from the high, divine point of view, should be, as far 
 as the limited capacity of man will permit, a recognition and a 
 just appreciation of the truth, and thereby become a science of 
 history — that is to say, of all which under Providence has oc- 
 cured to the human race. Thus it must by no means adopt a 
 view of life and of the world, transcending the true right and 
 the right truth — it must avoid deviating into ultraism — though 
 this term of the present day involves in the expression of a true 
 idea, some inaccuracy and misconception. On the contrary, 
 this religious view of history and of life, precisely because it is 
 such, can never in its historical judgments sanction a spirit of 
 harsh, precipitate, unqualified censure. For as the Mosaic doc- 
 trine of the divine image stamped on the human soul, forms 
 the real and distinctively Christian theory of man, and conse- 
 quently of his history ; so this evidently implies, that among all 
 the laws of human conduct, emanating from this Christian 
 theory, and from Christianity itself, the law of love is the first 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 211 
 
 and the greatest: — a law which must retain its full force and effi- 
 cacy not only in life, but in science also. Yet love or charity 
 is by no means incompatible with firmness of principle — the 
 vacillations of judgment proceed only from indifference to, or 
 the utter absence of, all principle — the tomb of love, as well as 
 of truth. 
 
 This divine image implanted in the human breast is not an 
 isolated thought — a transient flash of light, like the kindling 
 spark of Prometheus : nor is it a mere Platonic resemblance to 
 the Deity — an ideal speculation of the human mind soaring be- 
 yond the range of vulgar conception. But, as this likeness to 
 God forms the fundamental principle of human existence, it is 
 interwoven with the internal structure of human consciousness ; 
 and the triple nature of the soul is intimately connected with 
 the principle of the divine resemblance. In its state of discord^ 
 the human consciousness, in its external operations, pursues 
 four opposite paths of direction towards reason (Vernunft) ; or 
 imagination (Fantasie), or understanding (Verstand), or will 
 (Wille), so long as these faculties remain disunited. But, 
 when consciousness is restored to its primitive harmony, the 
 internal life of man is threefold in mind, soul, and sense; 
 and to expound and demonstrate this truth, was the pur- 
 port and object of the Philosophy of Life, which I treated of 
 in a former course of lectures. And this triple nature of 
 spiritual life, which, among all creatures, characterises man 
 alone, is most closely allied with the triple energy and per- 
 sonality of the one Divine Being, and constitutes, as far as the 
 immeasurable distance between the creature and Creator will 
 permit, the wonderful analogy between weak, mutable man, 
 and the infinite Spirit of eternal Love. But the original har- 
 mony of human consciousness — the triple nature of spiritual life, 
 can be restored in individual man by the following means only : 
 — the soul, previously distracted, can regain its unity, or be- 
 come again whole, only by a divine illumination ; — when this 
 light — the first ray of hope — is humbly received and imbibed 
 by the soul. Enlightened by this first incipient ray, the mind, 
 the living mind, no longer now a cold, dead ; abstract under- 
 standing, is enabled to embrace with faith the pure word of 
 truth (which is one with love), and to comprehend this word 
 aright ? and, by this word, to comprehend the world and its own- 
 self : — while the understanding, in its former isolated and ab- 
 
 f 2 
 
212 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 stract state, was both internally and externally distracted and 
 divided betweent the phantasmata of nature and the endless so- 
 phisms of contentious dialectic. When thus the strong hand of 
 all-guiding love, hath loosed the Gordian knot which bound the 
 human consciousness in inextricable folds ; — the third funda- 
 mental faculty in man — the sense for divine things — is then 
 awakened and excited. This is now no longer a mere passive 
 feeling for divine things — a will undetermined, or incapable of 
 good ; but it becomes an energy acting on life — an energy 
 which is itself life and deed. 
 
 But the progressive march of social man, which constitutes 
 the subject of universal history, or, as we term it, the formation 
 and growth of humanity, are regulated by principles somewhat 
 different from those which determine the internal life of indivi- 
 dual man. Here the different stages of development cannot be 
 classed according to the three fundamental faculties of con- 
 sciousness in individual man ; but the principle of development 
 must be sought for in the divine impulse, as the same is attested 
 by history, and which, in every stage of social progress, has 
 been to mankind the source of a new life ; though here again, 
 from the very nature of things, three marked degrees of social 
 advancement occur. Corresponding to the divine image im- 
 planted in the breast of individual man — the main subject of all 
 history — the word of divine truth originally communicated to 
 man, and which the sacred traditions of all nations attest in so 
 many and such various ways, forms the leading clue of historical 
 investigation and judgment, during the first stage of the pro- 
 gress of society. But in the second stage of social development, 
 which must be fixed in that full noon -day period of refinement, 
 when victorious power shines forth so conspicuously in the as- 
 cendency obtained by nations, to whom universal pre-eminence 
 was accorded — the right notion of this power, or the question 
 how far it were just and godly, or pernicious in its application 
 — whether it were inimical to God, or at least of a mixed 
 nature — must constitute the true standard of historical investi- 
 gation. In the third or last stage, however, of this progress, 
 which occurs in the modern period of the world, the pure truths 
 of Christianity as they influence science and life itself, alone can 
 furnish the right clue of historical inquiry, and can alone afford 
 any indication as to the ulterior advances of society in future 
 ages ; thus then the Word, the Power, and the Light, form the 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 213 
 
 three-fold divine principle, or the moral classification of historical 
 philosophy — a classification which is founded on historical ex- 
 perience and historical reality. 
 
 The existence of a primitive revelation — the establishment 
 of Christianity, which was the principle and power of a new 
 moral life in society — and the pre-eminence of modern Europe 
 in civilisation, in which she outshines all other portions of the 
 globe, and even in many respects most periods of antiquity, 
 are three historical data — three mighty facts in civilisation, 
 which evince the successive stages of human progress and im- 
 provement. And it is our task to appreciate in their full ex- 
 tent each of those different degrees of social advancement, and 
 to comprehend and explain them aright in their relative bear- 
 ings to the whole. That the Christian nations and states of 
 Europe have received, along with the light of divine truth, a 
 high intellectual, moral, and political illumination, no one will 
 deny; and it is equally evident that this vital principle of 
 modern society is still involved in the crisis of its development 
 — a crisis which will form the principal subject of historical in- 
 quiry in the latter part of this work. 
 
 It is equally undeniable that, in the second period of the 
 world, to which I now pass, each of those nations that attained 
 to universal empire at that epoch displayed a high intellectual 
 or moral energy. This energy was visible in that strong, 
 deep sense of nature, which characterised the old ancestra 
 faith and pure manners of the ancient Persians, and in that 
 high martial enthusiasm, and fervent patriotism, which it 
 so easily inspired. The power of inventive genius in the 
 sciences, and in the fine arts, none can deny to the Greeks ; 
 none can dispute their pre-eminence in these ; as, on the other 
 hand, the Romans were equally unrivalled in vigour of charac- 
 ter, and in that moral energy of will, which they exhibited in 
 all their contests with other states. Here now the question to 
 be asked is, whether that high intellectual and moral energy 
 accorded to those nations, thus gifted with universal dominion, 
 were always well employed : whether that power, exalted as it 
 was, were truly divine, or what were the earthly and pernicious 
 elements intermixed with it ;— whether this power, great and 
 wonderful as it was in its way, were in itself adequate to the 
 moral and intellectual regeneration of degraded humanity ; or, 
 whether a power of another, far purer and higher nature were 
 
214 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 requisite to this end. I should think I had amply solved the 
 problem involved in the history of that first period of the world, 
 which I have here brought to a close, if, in this brief historical 
 sketch, I have succeeded in proving the existence of an original 
 revelation to mankind — the primitive word of divine truth — 
 whereof we find the clearest indications and scattered traces in 
 the sacred traditions of all the primitive nations — traces which, 
 when viewed apart, appear like the broken remnants, the mys- 
 terious, and, as it were, hieroglyphic characters — of a mighty 
 edifice that has been destroyed. I should think, too, I had 
 folly accomplished my task, if I have succeeded in proving 
 that, however much amid the growing degeneracy of mankind, 
 this primal word of revelation may have been falsified by the 
 admixture of various errors, however much it may have been 
 overlaid or obscured by numberless and manifold fictions, inex- 
 tricably confused and disfigured almost beyond the power of 
 recognition ; still a profound inquiry will discover in heathen- 
 ism many luminous vestiges of primitive truth. 
 
 For the old heathenism (and we must add this remark as 
 the result of our inquiries), the old heathenism had a founda- 
 tion in truth, and, thoroughly examined and rightly under- 
 stood, would serve for a confirmation of the same; for the 
 profound researches of recent times on ancient mythology, 
 and its historical sources, though conducted with the most op- 
 posite views, lead us more and more to this great end and 
 result of all the knowledge of antiquity, or at least very near 
 it. Were it possible, or could we succeed in separating the 
 pure intuition into nature and the simple symbols of nature, 
 that constituted the basis of all heathenism, from the alloy of 
 error, and the incumbrances of fiction ; those first hieroglyphic 
 traits of the instinctive science of the first men would not be 
 repugnant to truth and to a true knowledge of nature, but 
 would offer, on the contrary, an instructive image of a freer, 
 purer, more comprehensive, and more finished philosophy of 
 life. For, if man, who is the highest and most central object 
 of nature on the earth, had not possessed in the beginning 
 an instinctive science and immediate insight into nature, he 
 could never have attained to this knowledge by the resources 
 of art, and by all the aids of instruments and machinery, or 
 have acquired thereby a true understanding of nature, her in- 
 ternal life, and her hidden powers. The symbolical error which 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 215 
 
 has produced mythology, and which has again emanated from 
 mythology — I mean the identification of the symbol with the 
 object itself, of which, as the latter was something higher and 
 more mysterious, the former originally was, and should have 
 been, nothing more than the mere explanatory emblem — the 
 symbolical error is comparatively the most excusable ; and for a 
 being constituted like man, whose soul is divided between 
 figurative fancy and discursive reason, is almost natural, and 
 has grown into a psychological habit, and a second nature. 
 This error would never have arisen, if the confusion of the high 
 and of the low, of the principal and of the inferior, of God and 
 of nature, and the inversion of the due order of each, had not, 
 in a partial degree at least, previously taken place. The fun- 
 damental error of paganism lay in the sensual idolatry of 
 nature, by which that inversion of things, and with them of all 
 moral doctrines, took place ; although this destructive error of 
 materialism is to be found not only in the heathen religion, but 
 in the atomical philosophy and other false systems of science. 
 Besides that sensual deification of nature, which was the pre- 
 dominant principle in the mythology and popular religion of 
 the ancients, there was another and capital error — magic, which 
 was a dark and abusive application — an illicit perversion of the 
 high powers of nature, when these were really understood, and 
 the mind, penetrating through her sensible and external veil, 
 had caught her true spirit and internal life. This loftier, and, 
 on that account, more dangerous error was not so prevalent in 
 the popular and poetical religion of antiquity, but was chiefly 
 to be fouud in the secret associations of the pagan mysteries. — 
 Although these mysteries which, in Greece, as well as in 
 Egypt, exerted such a mighty influence on public opinion,, on 
 science, and on the whole system of thinking, nay, on life itself, 
 disclosed far graver and profounder doctrines than the vulgar 
 mythology of the poets, on all the great questions relative to 
 the human soul, its capacity and original dignity, as well as to 
 the hidden powers of nature and the whole invisible world ; 
 still we must not imagine that the influence of these mysteries 
 was always salutary, or that their internal constitution and 
 ruling spirit were in their ultimate tendency always entitled to 
 commendation. We may, in my opinion, ascribe to the Egyp- 
 tians much science, especially in physics, more, perhaps, than 
 the Greeks in general, and the Pythagoreans in particular, 
 
216 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 had, as far as we yet know, learned and borrowed from them ; 
 but we must not imagine this Egyptian science to have been 
 exempt from a gross alloy of error, and the various abuses of 
 magic. When once the sacred standard and clue of truth are 
 lost, when the due order of things and of doctrines is once in- 
 verted, then the mind of man often associates the sublime, the 
 mysterious, and the wonderful, with the mean, the perverse, and 
 the wicked. Amid all those false and whimsical images of gods, 
 the mere symbols of nature, but at least very equivocal emblems 
 and hieroglyphs, the temple sleep of the Egyptians might easily 
 nourish illusions of error and visions of darkness ; especially 
 where a magical spirit prevailed, that is to say, an illicit purpose 
 in the application of the high powers of nature — and a will in- 
 stigated to evil by the arts of the demon. And in all science 
 the matter of greatest moment, and that which determines its 
 value, is its relation to the higher and divine truth ; that is to 
 say, whether this science be well employed, or whether, on the 
 contrary, it be converted to a corrupt and destructive use ; 
 whether the due order and subordination of inferior nature, and 
 of every thing earthly, towards God and the things of God, 
 which are the principal, be rightly observed and maintained. 
 But this fundamental truth being once supposed, all science, 
 even that which penetrates the deepest into nature and her 
 most hidden springs of life, can conduce only to the greater 
 glory of the mighty Author of nature. All these natural 
 secrets, and their true explanations, are to be found in various 
 passages, notices, and allusions in the Old Testament, especially 
 in the books of Moses ; they are, indeed, to be found there, like 
 so many golden grains of science in full weight, but, scattered 
 and dispersed, they serve at once to adorn and point out the 
 path that leads to an object, ever regarded as the most im- 
 portant in Holy Writ — namely, the revealing to man the 
 wonderful ways of Divine Providence in the conduct of the 
 human race — the holy ark of the covenant of divine mysteries 
 and promises, if I may be allowed such an expression. Here 
 every thing is subordinate to religion, every thing ministers to 
 this higher object — and this is the distinctive mark and stamp 
 of truth, even in the investigations of nature, and of its revealed 
 or hidden mysteries. 
 
 How a slight deviation trom truth may suffice to give birth 
 in time to a mighty and progressive error, is strongly exempli- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 217 
 
 fied in the fundamental doctrine of the ancient religion of Persia 
 — a doctrine which was at first nothing more than a simple ve- 
 neration of nature, its pure elements and its primary energies 
 — the sacred fire, and above all, light — the air, not the lower 
 atmospheric air, but the purer and higher air of heaven — the 
 breath that animates and pervades the breath of mortal life. In 
 India, too, this doctrine must have been very prevalent in the 
 primitive ages ; for many and very ancient passages of the 
 Vedas refer to these elements, while, on the other hand, the 
 names of the later Hindoo divinities appear to have been 
 entirely unknown at that period. This pure and simple vene- 
 ration of nature is perhaps the most ancient, and was by far 
 the most generally prevalent in the primitive and patriarchal 
 world. In its original conception, it was by no means a deifi- 
 cation of nature, or a denial of the sovereignty of God — it was 
 only at a later period that the symbol, as it so often happens, 
 was confounded with the thing itself, and usurped the place of 
 that higher object which it was destined originally to represent. 
 And how can we doubt that these pure elements and primitive 
 essences of created nature would offer to the first men, who 
 were still in a close communication with the Deity, not indeed 
 a likeness or resemblance (for in man alone is that to be found), 
 nor a mere fanciful image, or a poetical figure, but a natural 
 and true symbol of divine power : — how can we doubt this, I 
 say, when we see that, in so many passages of Holy Writ (not 
 to say in every part), the pure light or sacred fire is employed 
 as an image of the all-pervading and all-consuming power and 
 omnipotence of God? Not to speak again of those passages of 
 Scripture, which describe the animating breath and inspiration 
 of God as the first source of life, and speak of the gentle breath, 
 the light whisper of the breeze that announced to the prophet 
 the immediate presence of his God, before whom he fell 
 prostrate, and mantled himself in awe and reverence ; and this 
 surely cannot be understood as a poetical and figurative expres- 
 sion ! Undoubtedly, the Scriptures often oppose to that natural 
 emblem or veil of divine power, in the pure elements, an evil, 
 subterraneous and destructive fire — the false light of the fiends 
 of error — the poisonous breath of moral contagion. And how 
 could it be otherwise ? Nature in its origin was nought else 
 than a beautiful image — a pure emanation — a wonderful 
 creation — a sport of omnipotent love ; so, when it was severed 
 
218 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 from its divine original, internally displaced, and turned against 
 its Maker, it became vitiated in its substance, and fraught with 
 evil. This alienation of nature from God, this inversion of the 
 right order in the relations between God and nature, was the 
 peculiar, essential, and fundamental error of ancient paganism,, 
 its false mysteries, and the abusive application of the higher 
 powers of nature in magical rites. On the other hand, we 
 ought to regard every similar inversion of things and of ideas, 
 every similar derangement in the divine system, though 
 established on the basis of Christianity, and by Christian philo- 
 sophers — we ought, I say, to regard every such attempt as 
 being in its essential nature and principle a heathen enterprise 
 — the foundation of a scientific paganism, although no altars 
 be erected to Apollo, and no mysteries be celebrated in honour 
 of Isis.* 
 
 The pure symbolism of nature, and the whole circle of the 
 primitive symbolical ideas of the Egyptians, several of the 
 Greek writers attempted to gather out of the mass of idolatrous 
 tenets, natural emblems, and hieroglyphic signs of speech ; but 
 their researches do not correspond to the importance of the 
 subject itself, nor to the present demands of science. It is well 
 worthy of remark that the hieroglyphics, as far as they have 
 yet been deciphered, do not indicate in their formation that 
 variety of epochs observable in the Chinese system of writing ; 
 but, on the contrary, they seem to be all of a single cast, and 
 offer the same circle of ideas and the same style of emblems* 
 And as images of gods are to be found in a diminutive form 
 among the other hieroglyphic signs, we may conclude from 
 this circumstance, that all the hieroglyphics must have had a 
 simultaneous origin, and have remained subsequently unchanged ; 
 and that their origin must have occurred at a time when the 
 Egyptian idolatry had already been wrought into a perfect 
 system. 
 
 In the primitive ages, during the first thirty-three centu- 
 ries of the world, according to the ordinary computation, the 
 various nations into which mankind were divided, followed in 
 their development a separate and secluded course ; and two 
 mighty nations, the Indians and the Chinese, have remained 
 to this day in this isolated and totally sequestered state. The 
 
 * This is an allusion to the Pantheistic Naturalism of Schelling.— 
 Tram. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 219 
 
 peculiar character which distinguishes the second from the first 
 epoch of the world is that, along with the first mighty con- 
 quests, there existed a much closer connexion, a mutual influ- 
 ence, an active commerce, and various intercourse among many 
 nations, nay, among all the nations of the then civilised world. 
 From this period, when the intercourse among nations becomes 
 more intimate, history acquires greater clearness, precision, 
 and critical exactness ; and this is only six, or at most seven 
 centuries before the Christian era. The first Persian con- 
 querors advanced with rapid strides towards the objects of their 
 ambition ; for after the founder of the Persian empire — Cyrus, 
 had made himself master of the whole central region of 
 Western Asia, as well as of the Lesser Asia, his successes were 
 soon followed up by the conquest of Egypt by the arms of 
 Cambyses ; and a little subsequent to this, by the great expe- 
 dition of Xerxes into Greece, whose valiant defenders, how- 
 ever, ruined his hopes of conquest. Egypt, which in its intel- 
 lectual character, civilisation, and political institutions, had a 
 much stronger analogy and affinity with those two great pri- 
 mitive states — India and China, shut out from the rest of the 
 world, was engaged in political relations with the nations of 
 Western Asia, and those inhabiting the shores of the Medi- 
 terranean, such as the Persians, the Phoenicians, and the 
 Greeks ; and hence a short sketch of its political history, down 
 to the period of the Persian conquest, as far at least as is neces- 
 sary for the elucidation of general history, will not be here 
 inappropriate or misplaced. 
 
 The long list of names of kings, belonging to more than 
 twenty dynasties of the ancient Pharaohs, furnishes, indeed, 
 matter of little interest or importance to the philosophic in* 
 quirer in his researches on universal history. It is, however, 
 worthy of remark that many and vast expeditions appear to 
 have been undertaken in the early ages of Egypt ; though, 
 while mention is made of such conquests, nothing is said of the 
 permanent possession of the conquered countries. Sesostris, 
 who, in the lifetime of his father, Amenophis, had seized the 
 whole coast of Arabia, next vanquished, for the first time, 
 Lybia and Ethiopia, afterwards extended his conquests to Bac- 
 triana, subdued the Scythian nations in the Caucasian coun- 
 tries, in Colchis, and as far as the Don, and even took posses- 
 sion of Thrace. The descent of the Colchians from the Egyp- 
 
220 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 tians, or the existence of an Egyptian colony in Colchis, was 
 regarded by the ancients as an historical fact. The yet more 
 ancient King Osymandas is said to have undertaken an expe- 
 dition attended by an immense army to reconquer Bactriana, 
 that had revolted against the Egyptian sway ; and the tri- 
 umphant arms of Osiris stretched on one hand as far as the 
 Gauges, and on the other as far as the sources of the Danube. 
 Here a question arises : — did the Egyptians possess heroic 
 poems similar to the Ramayana and Mahabarata of the Indians, 
 and were these marvellous narratives extracted from these 
 poems ? Or had all these narratives a signification purely 
 mythic, as we may easily conjecture to be the case in the expe- 
 dition of Osiris ? In those historical ages which are better 
 known to us, Egypt was certainly never a conquering power — 
 at least its conquests were never of a solid and permanent 
 nature ; though even in those times Egypt made some tran- 
 sient conquests, or at least expeditions ; and, guilty of great 
 political encroachments on other states and nations, was often 
 doomed to experience from these a vigorous resistance to her 
 attempts. A part of Lybia, the coast of Arabia contiguous to 
 the Red Sea, and the Arabia Petraea, acknowledged for a long 
 time the sceptre of the Pharaohs, (and this fact indeed, the 
 various monuments covered over with hieroglyphics, which are 
 found in those countries, would seem to corroborate): Ethiopia, 
 too, or at least a considerable portion of that region, was for a 
 long period in the possession of the Egyptian kings. The 
 construction of the many ancient and vast edifices and monu- 
 ments which are crowded together in the province of Thebais 
 must, to all appearance, have required a greater number of 
 hands than the Proper Egypt (a country by no means of con- 
 siderable extent) could have furnished of itself. As Ethiopia 
 had been conquered by the Egyptians, so the Ethiopians in 
 their turn invaded Egypt, and founded there a royal dynasty. 
 The second of these Ethiopian kings, Tirhaka, sought to 
 stretch his conquests as far as Libya and the northern coast of 
 Africa, and must have penetrated as far as the columns of 
 Hercules, or the modern straits of Gibraltar. On the other 
 hand, there is historical evidence that even the Carthaginians, 
 at the time when the family of Mago had the ascendency in 
 their state, conquered and took possession of the Egyptian 
 city of Thebes. The king of Egypt, who is known in the 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 221 
 
 historical books of the Hebrews by the name of Shishak, and 
 who made the transient conquest of Jerusalem, is called Shes- 
 honk or Sesonchis in the ancient inscriptions of the Pharaohs. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that we find, in the old Egyptian 
 monuments, pictures of war- scenes representing very strangely- 
 formed, or at least very remote, nations, as captives of war, 
 and among these, we distinguish some with red hair and blue 
 eyes, tattooed on the legs, perfectly corresponding to the de- 
 scriptions which many ancients have left us of the Scythian 
 nations. At a much earlier period, a nomade tribe of Phoeni- 
 cian, or, more probably, Arabian descent, had taken pos- 
 session of the throne of Egypt, and had established in that 
 country the national dynasty of the Hycsos, that is to say, the 
 shepherd-kings. Some have wished to connect these with 
 the Israelites ; but in the whole history of the latter — the hos- 
 pitable reception of the Hebrew colony under Joseph — its sub- 
 sequent oppression — and its final expulsion from Egypt in the 
 time of Moses, we can find no trace of any such dominion of 
 a pastoral nation of Hebrews, or of any dynasty founded by 
 them in Egypt ; .and even other circumstances agree not at 
 all with such a supposition. With the neighbouring nations 
 and tribes, Egypt had manifold and various relations, which, 
 though in some particulars they might be similar, were far 
 from being identical. If it is proved that Sesostris ascended 
 the throne immediately after his father had succeeded in ex- 
 pelling the Hycsos, it may fairly be presumed that as an 
 internal revolt against a foreign power and a foreign dynasty 
 is wont to enkindle a spirit of martial enthusiasm, which easily 
 leads to ulterior and more vigorous undertakings ; the expedi- 
 tions and conquests of Sesostris, though ever so much exag- 
 gerated, are not entirely destitute of historical foundation. 
 Thus much is certain, that in antiquity there existed in many 
 places, comparatively remote from Egypt, whole colonies, es- 
 pecially of a sacerdotal kind, whose origin was undoubtedly 
 Egyptian ; and that the first colonies which carried arts and 
 civilisation into Greece, and the other countries bordering on 
 the Mediterranean, did not come solely from Phoenicia ; for 
 even in Greece, the genealogy of many royal families and an- 
 cient cities, as well as most, if not all, the mysteries, particularly 
 the Orphic, pointed to Egypt as their common parent. And 
 it is very possible that in those early ages, in which these 
 
222 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 Egyptian expeditions are said to have been undertaken, armed 
 colonies may have emigrated from Egypt, not always influ- 
 enced, however, by those commercial views which invariably 
 directed the colonists of Phoenicia; but animated by those 
 higher motives of religion, which, for example, had such an 
 evident influence on the first Persian conquests — by a de- 
 sire to diffuse the mysteries, and thereby, while they bound 
 to Egypt the then still barbarous nations of the West, to 
 raise the latter to the more exalted scale of Egyptian civi- 
 lisation. Even domestic troubles and civil discord may have 
 been instrumental in producing those distant emigrations, 
 which at this distance of time appear to us so mysterious and 
 unaccountable. Such civil discord, indeed, existed in Egypt 
 under various forms. The country itself was often divided 
 into several kingdoms ; and even when united, we observe a 
 great conflict of interests between the agricultural province of 
 Upper Egypt, and the commercial and manufacturing province 
 of the Lower ; as, indeed, a similar clashing of interests is 
 often to be noticed in modern states. In the period imme- 
 diately preceding the Persian conquest, the easte of warriors, 
 that is to say, the whole class of the nobility, were decidedly 
 opposed to the monarchs, because they imagined them to pro- 
 mote too much the power of the priesthood ; in the same way 
 as the history of India presents a similar rivalry or political 
 hostility between the Brahmins and the caste of the Csha- 
 triyas. In the reign of the Egyptian King Psammetichus, 
 who had first checked or repelled the Scythian nations whose 
 victorious arms then menaced the whole of Asia, the disaffection 
 of the native nobility obliged this prince to take Greek soldiers 
 into his pay ; and thus at length was the defence of Egypt 
 intrusted to an army of foreign mercenaries. This circum- 
 stance, as well as the great commercial intercourse with the 
 Greeks, and the number of Greek settlements in Lower Egypt, 
 had made this province half Greek, even prior to the Persian 
 conquest ; and had paved the way and opened the door to 
 this, as well as to the later, conquests by the Greeks ; for, in 
 general, states and kingdoms, before they succumb to a foreign 
 conqueror, are, if not outwardly and visibly, yet secretly and 
 internally, undermined. 
 
 The classical writers of antiquity begin, in general, their 
 universal history by an account of the Assyro- Babylonian em- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 223 
 
 pire, which preceded the Medo-Persian, and the annals of the 
 early mythic ages of this empire are embellished with the fabu- 
 lous victories of Semiramis ; as similar fictions indeed are to be 
 found in the primitive Sagas of all the other Asiatic nations. 
 However, the conquest of Media by Ninus appears to be more 
 historical. The simplest, and for that reason, the most correct 
 view of the subject is this, that in this great central region of 
 Western Asia, four countries were contiguous, which often 
 formed separate empires — Babylon and Assyria, Media and 
 Persia; and which, when united, were governed sometimes 
 by one, sometimes by another province, according to the coun- 
 try to which the ruling dynasty belonged; while the different 
 capitals of these four countries, Babylon, Ninive, Eebatana, 
 Susa, or Persepolis, alternately formed, during their flourishing 
 period, the centre of a great empire. This first A ssyro- Baby- 
 lonian universal monarchy,* as it is called, should not be consi- 
 dered as a distinct period of history, but rather as the most an- 
 cient dynasty of a great Asiatic empire, which was succeeded 
 by a second, the Medo-Persian dynasty; in the same way as 
 the successors of Alexander the Great founded in this very 
 country a new Greek kingdom, and as at a later period the 
 Parthians, whose original seat lay to the north-east, re-estab- 
 Wished in this land a native sovereignty, that proved very 
 formidable to the Romans. This great middle country of 
 Western Asia is the native seat of conquest; it was hence that 
 emanated the spirit of ambition and enterprise, which found, 
 indeed, in the very situation of the country most extraordinary 
 facilities. And it is here, too, that Holy Writ places the 
 abode of the first universal conqueror — the cradle of all ambi- 
 tion and conquest. In the very place where the ancient Ba- 
 bylon stood there are now immense ruins, to which the inha- 
 bitants of the country give the name of Nimrod's Castle, and 
 which involuntarily bring to the modern traveller's mind the 
 old history of the Tower of Babel; as these ruins, in all proba- 
 bility, formed a part of the great Temple of Belus, which in 
 eight lofty stories rose to a prodigious height, and on the pin- 
 nacle whereof stood a colossal idol of the national divinity — 
 the sun. Even now the ruins of this temple, piled in immense 
 heaps one upon the other, and which seem as if glazed by some 
 raging fire, produce a very profound impression on the mind; 
 and to such a height do they rise, that the clouds rest on their 
 
224 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 summit above, while lions couch on the walls, or haunt the 
 caverns below. Here, too, we look for the place where were 
 the vast terraces, with their hanging or floating gardens, as the 
 ancients called them, and which in a country by no means 
 abounding in wood, the Assyrian monarch constructed from 
 affection to his Median spouse. Here the widely-scattered 
 heaps and mounds of brick, inscribed with the cuneal characters 
 of Babylon, attest the existence and vast circumference of the 
 mighty capital, of whose dimensions no European city, but the 
 Asiatic cities only, can furnish an adequate idea. This Baby- 
 lonish tower has been in every age a figure of the heaven- 
 aspiring edifice of lordly arrogance, which sooner or later is 
 sure to be struck down and scattered afar by the arm of the 
 divine Nemesis; and in Holy Writ itself, the Babylon giddied 
 by the intoxicating cup of ambition, drunk with the blood of 
 nations, is a mighty historical emblem, applicable to every age 
 from the earliest to the latest times, of the mad, people-destroy- 
 ing career of a pagan pride. Here did the evil commence, 
 although the first Assyrian empire had no very extensive in- 
 fluence on the nations westward, and although the real epoch 
 of universal conquest dates from the Persian Cyrus. Yet the 
 ancient Babylon contrived to maintain her power, for, as has 
 so often been exemplified in history, she, by the moral conta- 
 gion of her voluptuous manners, conquered her conquerors, who 
 abandoned the gods of their ancestors, to embrace the sensual 
 nature-worship of the Babylonians. In the new monarchy 
 founded by Cyrus, the Persians (now the ruling nation) were 
 closely united, and politically, at least, incorporated with the 
 once more powerful Medes. Yet their race and language were 
 originally very different, and even at a later period we can still 
 observe some traces of mutual jealousy in a change of dynasty, 
 or the forcible dethronement of the prince. The institute of 
 the Magi, which Cyrus established in his new Persian empire, 
 served, outwardly at least, to cement this union; for the Magi 
 were of the Median race, and their sacred zend-books were not 
 composed in the Persian language, but in two distinct dialects 
 of Media, if one, indeed, were not rather Bactrian. The Magi 
 were not so much an hereditary sacerdotal caste, as an order 
 or association divided into various and successive ranks and 
 grades, such as existed in the mysteries — the grade of appren- 
 ticeship — that of mastership — that of perfect mastership. Fo- 
 
HISTOKY. 
 
 225 
 
 reigners could not easily gain admission into this sacerdotal 
 order ; and it was only at the express solicitation of the King 
 of Persia, at whose court he resided, that this extraordinary 
 favour was accorded to Themistocles. Whether the old Persian 
 doctrine and system of light* did not undergo material altera- 
 tions in the hands of its Median restorer, Zoroaster ; or whether 
 this doctrine were preserved in all its purity by the order of 
 the Magi, may well be questioned. It is certain, at least, that 
 that primitive veneration of nature is found completely disfigured 
 and corrupted in the small existing remnant of the sect of 
 Guebers, or fire -worshippers. 
 
 On the order of the Magi devolved the important trust of 
 the monarch's education — a trust which must necessarily have 
 given them great weight and influence in the state. They 
 were in high credit at the Persiangates — for that was the 
 Oriental name given to the capital of the empire, and the abode 
 of the prince ; and they took the most active part in all the 
 factions that encompassed the throne, or that were formed in 
 the vicinity of the court. In Greece, and even in Egypt, the 
 sacerdotal fraternities and associations of initiated, formed by 
 the mysteries, had in general but an indirect, though not 
 unimportant, influence on affairs of state ; but in the Persian 
 monarchy, they acquired a complete political ascendency. The 
 next main pillar of the Persian monarchy was its nobility, or 
 the principal race of the Pasargads, who immediately surrounded 
 the throne, enjoyed the highest prerogatives, and formed indeed 
 the flower of the Persian army. The strict moral and military 
 education which this nobility received, and of which Xenophon 
 has drawn such a beautiful ideal sketch, constituted the chief 
 strength of the state. And certainly the neglect of this old 
 Persian system of education was one of the primary causes of 
 the decline of the empire — a decline which the progressive 
 relaxation and corruption of public morals accelerated with a 
 fearful rapidity. After the first mighty impulse, and that 
 severe moral character which Cyrus had imparted to Persia, 
 had disappeared, the same fate befel this empire, as has befallen 
 all the great Oriental monarchies. The same evils, which the 
 domination of provincial satraps — a government of the seraglio 
 — invariably bring along with it — the factions, the conspiracies, 
 the changes of dynasty, and the other disorders incident to 
 * In the German " Lichtsage," or Tradition of Light.— Trans. 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 despotism, appear in exactly similar colours in the Persian 
 annals ; and even in the modern kingdom of Persia, we find 
 many of those characteristic traits or usages of Asiatic govern- 
 ment as they existed in the ancient empire. Even the army, 
 for the most part, consisted of troops levied out of the conquered 
 nations, and the greater were its numbers, the less internal 
 union did it possess. Hence we can well conceive that a small 
 army of Greeks, animated by patriotic valour, and commanded 
 by generals possessed of a true tactical eye and genius, were 
 able to oppose to the immense hosts of Persia a resistance, 
 which, in a numerical point of view, appears almost incredible, 
 and were even enabled to gain unexpected victories over their 
 enemies. We can conceive too, how, in the time of Alexander 
 the Great, three battles should have decided the fate of this 
 great empire ; for its moral life and energy were gone, and 
 the pillars of the state were completely decayed. 
 
 The Persian empire lasted but for the short period of two 
 hundred and twenty years, from its foundation by Cyrus, to 
 the reign of the last Darius, whose personal character and fate 
 leave such an affecting and tragical impression on our minds. 
 The universal conquests of the Persians, rapid, but transient, 
 acted on the age with all the violence of the elemental powers 
 of nature. Sudden and rapid, like a wind-storm, they invaded 
 and subdued all other states and kingdoms : — the expedition of 
 Xerxes into Greece was a real inundation of nations — and as 
 the destructive fire, after blazing on high and desolating and 
 consuming all things around, sinks quickly again — it was so 
 with the Persian empire. The dominion of the Persians 
 exerted no very permanent influence on those other nations 
 whose civilisation was anterior to their own. Egypt, in despite 
 of the violent persecution which she sustained under Cambyses, 
 remained still the ancient Egypt — and with yet greater fidelity 
 did she cling to her ancient customs, under the milder sway of 
 the Ptolemies, whose government was so much more congenial 
 to her spirit and character. Phoenicia, Palestine, and Asia 
 Minor, also remained essentially unchanged. In an historical 
 point of view, the main result of the Persian conquests was 
 this — they brought the nations of Western Asia and of Egypt 
 into a close contact, and a very active and permanent intercourse 
 with the states of Greece, and those situated on the shores of 
 the Mediterranean. The Persian dominion, and the contest 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 227 
 
 of that power with Greece, had indeed a very great, though 
 only indirect, influence on the latter country, inasmuch as it 
 favoured the growth and development of Grecian liberty, and 
 at a later period produced the great reaction under Alexander 
 the Great. This Greek re- action was, in its spirit and character, 
 somewhat similar to the previous irruption and ambitious inva- 
 sion of the Persians j in Alexander at least, we can clearly 
 discover an Oriental spirit, that not content with the narrow 
 boundaries of his hereditary kingdom of Macedon, sought to 
 transcend the sphere of Hellenic civilisation, Hellenic doctrines, 
 and Hellenic modes of thinking. And I call that an Asiatic 
 enthusiasm which, with resistless impetuosity, bore away the 
 Macedonian to the capital of Persia, and even beyond the 
 banks of the Indus. 
 
 END OF LECTURE VII. 
 
 Q2 
 
228 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 Variety of Grecian Life and Intellect — State of Education and of the 
 Fine Arts among the Greeks — The Origin of their Philosophy and 
 Natural Science — Their Political Degeneracy. 
 
 It would be difficult to point out a more striking difference, 
 a more decided opposition in the whole circle of the intellectual 
 and moral character and habits of nations, as far at least as 
 the sphere of known history extends, than that which exists 
 between the seclusive and monotonous character of Asiatic 
 intellect — the generally unchangeable uniformity of Oriental 
 manners and Oriental society, and the manifold activity — the 
 varied life of the Greeks, in the first flourishing ages of their 
 history. This amazing diversity in the moral and intellectual 
 habits of the Greeks appears not only in their legislation, their 
 forms of government, their manners, occupations, and usages 
 of life, but in their various and widely dispersed settlements 
 and colonies, in their descent, which was composed of so many 
 heterogeneous elements, in the first seeds of their civilisation 
 — as well as their distribution into hostile tribes and great and 
 petty states, and even in their traditions, their history, and the 
 arts and forms of art to which those gave rise — finally, in a 
 science, engaged in incessant strife, and marching from system 
 to system, amid the noise and tumult of opposition. In Asia, 
 even in those countries such as India, where the poetry, the 
 views of life, and the systems of philosophy were extremely 
 various, and bore in this respect an external resemblance to 
 those of Greece ; where even the country in ancient times was 
 never permanently united into one compact empire ; yet the 
 whole way of thinking, the prevalent feeling, was entirely 
 monarchical, proceeding from, and returning again to, un- 
 changeable unity. On the other hand, in Greece, science, like 
 life itself, was thoroughly republican — and if we meet with 
 particular thinkers, who leaned to this Asiatic doctrine of unity, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 229 
 
 we must regard this as only an exception — a system adopted 
 from a love of change, or out of a spirit of opposition to the 
 vulgar and generally received opinion that all in nature and 
 the world, as well as in man, was in a state of perpetual move- 
 ment, constant change, and freedom of life. Even the fabulous 
 world of Grecian divinities, as it has been painted by their 
 poets, has a republican cast ; for there every thing is in a 
 state of change, of successive renovation, and of mutual 
 collision in the war of nature's elements, in the hostility of 
 old and new deities — of the superior and inferior gods — of giants 
 and of heroes — presenting, as it does, a state of poetical 
 anarchy. Hence, even the historical traditions of the Greeks, 
 and the first accounts of their early seats, settlements, and the 
 migrations of their different races, present to the eye of the 
 historical inquirer a dense forest of truth and fiction, of 
 fanciful conjecture, absolute fable, and ancient and venerable 
 knowledge — a labyrinth of poetry and of history, in whose 
 various and intricate mazes it is often difficult for the critic to 
 find the true outlet, and to hold fast by the guiding clue of 
 Ariadne, when he wishes to adopt a lucid arrangement, and 
 assign to each part its due place in the system of the whole. 
 The Greek tribes and nations inhabited not only the proper 
 Greece, the Peloponnesian Peninsula, the contiguous islands, 
 the southern plains of the Continent (on whose northern 
 frontiers it is often difficult to draw the line of demarcation 
 between the tribes of Greek and foreign extraction) ; and also 
 the western coasts of Asia Minor ; but they had founded a 
 number of small states and planted many flourishing coloniea 
 in the remotest corners of the Euxine, in the Lower Egypt, 
 where, long prior to the Persian wars, many Greek settlements 
 existed — along the northern shore of Africa, where the 
 flourishing Cyrene was situated, on the southern coasts of Spain 
 and Gaul, in Sicily, and throughout the whole of Southern 
 Italy. Their navigation extended even to the Baltic, as the 
 voyage of Pytheas evinces ; and, though they did not circum- 
 navigate Africa, — a thing which it is still doubtful whether the 
 Phoenicians accomplished,— they rather surpassed than yielded 
 to the latter nation in the activity of their trade, and the 
 wealth and extent of their colonies. The stupendous monu- 
 ments and edifices of the Egyptians are indeed of more colossal 
 dimensions ; yet the works of Grecian sculpture and archi- 
 
230 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 teeture, while some of them are on a very large scale, are 
 incomparably more various, more rich in ornament, more 
 animated, and beautiful, than those of Egypt. The Greeks 
 were not a mere seafaring and commercial people like the 
 Phoenicians ; nor did they compete with the Egyptians in those 
 proud monuments of architecture whose erection required such 
 thousands of human hands ; but they were from their earliest 
 period a martial people, well trained to war. Independently 
 of every feeling of patriotic enthusiasm and national defence, 
 they looked, on war as a trade and a living, and they loved it 
 accordingly. This is proved by the fact that, in the age 
 preceding the Persian conquest, and long before the Persians 
 waged war with Greece, the kings of Egypt had not only 
 Greek squadrons in their service, but that the whole Egyptian 
 army was for the most part composed of Grecian mercenaries. 
 Sucn, too, was the case in Carthage, and, at a later period, in 
 Persia, where whole legions and armies of Greeks were engaged 
 in the service of the great king. This old custom among the 
 Greeks of enlisting in the military service of foreign states, 
 may have been indeed an excellent preparation for their great 
 national wars, though in these the first great exploits were 
 achieved by small companies of troops from Athens, Sparta, 
 and other free states, as well as by a select body of free citizens. 
 But this custom could have had no very unfavourable influence 
 on national opinions and feelings, and the mutual relations of 
 the Greek tribes and states. 
 
 The republican form of government mostly prevailed in the 
 various Greek settlements and colonies, established round the 
 shores of the Mediterranean ; for it is to this species of govern- 
 ment that maritime nations, commercial cities, and petty states 
 almost always incline, as long as their territories remain cir- 
 cumscribed. Yet in these states, we find a great variety of po- 
 litical constitutions ; for along with that multitude of small 
 commercial republics, there were many, like Sparta and others, 
 that depended exclusively, or for the most part, on agriculture 
 and the riches of the soil. In these, the hereditary nobility, the 
 proprietors of the soil, formed the principal class ; for in general 
 the Greeks attached a very high importance to the noble races 
 and princely families that deduced their descent from the old 
 heroic times. The original constitution of many, of almost the 
 greater part of these small. Greek republics, was a tolerably 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 231 
 
 mild aristocracy, headed by an hereditary prince, or chieftain. 
 In some states, as for instance in Athens, the transition from 
 this old aristocratical government, headed by an hereditary 
 prince, to a thoroughly democratic constitution, was but slow 
 and gradual ; as the memory of their ancient kings, for ex- 
 ample, of Codrus, who fell in the defence of his country, was 
 ever cherished by the Athenian people with love and reverence. 
 The popular hatred in Athens was directed only against those 
 leaders of the state who, like Pisistratus, after having obtained 
 their power by means of popular influence, sought to stretch 
 and perpetuate it by force of arms and the use of foreign 
 mercenaries. Yet even Pisistratus possessed great qualities, 
 and his sway was in general mild, and comformable to the laws 
 of Solon ; — it cannot be denied, however, that this was an 
 usurped authority, and one founded on illegitimate force. At a 
 later period, and when the Athenian state became more and 
 more democratic — as there is not a more thankless being in all 
 nature than the sovereign people, in its lawless and capricious 
 rule, the people of Athens, jealous of their freedom, and too 
 easily deluded by the arts of oratorical sophistry, pointed their 
 hatred at all the great men and deserving citizens of the state. 
 The general Miltiades perished in prison ; Aristides the Just, 
 Cimon and many others, fell the victims of ostracism, and died 
 in exile, as did the great historians, Herodotus and Thucydides. 
 Themistocles himself, who had been the liberator of Athens 
 and of Greece, was obliged to take refuge at the court of the 
 Persian monarch, from whom he received protection and hospi- 
 tality. The wisest of the Athenians, the master of Plato, 
 who had ever proved himself an honest citizen and a valiant 
 defender of his country, received the cup of poison for his 
 recompense. 
 
 But we nowhere discover in the early ages of Athens, and 
 of the other Greek republics, that hatred to kings and to 
 royalty in general, which even the primitive history of Rome 
 displays. Nay, in Sparta, amid a republican constitution, the 
 kingly power and dignity were preserved inviolate down to 
 the latest period ; while in Macedon a new monarchy grew up, 
 which at first asserted a sort of protectorate over the other 
 states, and at last established a very despotic ascendency over 
 all Greece. Even in those states where the constitution was 
 more democratical, that is to say, where it was founded, not on 
 
232 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 an hereditary nobility and the possession of the soil, but chiefly 
 on moveable property, on trade, and manufactures, we must 
 not look for that sort of arithmetical freedom and equality 
 which exists in some modern republics, for instance, in the 
 United States of America. The number of citizens really 
 free, eligible, and possessed of the right of suffrage, was 
 exceedingly small when compared with the bulk of the popula- 
 tion — by far the greater part were not so, and a multitude of 
 bought slaves, especially in the commercial states, was employed 
 in manufactures, and in the tillage of the land. This univer- 
 sally prevalent custom — the harsh treatment and oppression of 
 slaves — forms a very painful contrast in the ancient republics, 
 little corresponding to our own ideal of social happiness, and 
 in itself very degrading to humanity. In the interior and 
 more aristocratic states, slavery assumed another shape — the 
 remnant of the original inhabitants of the soil, that had 
 survived the conquest of their country, such as the Helots of 
 Sparta, and the Penestse of Thessaly, were not merely reduced 
 by the conquerors in their newly -founded governments to the 
 condition of vassals, as we should term them, or even of serfs ; 
 but were degraded to a state of absolute slavery, and gene- 
 really treated with great severity. If we except this one cir- 
 cumstance, the aristocracy, that ruled in most of the ancient 
 republics- of Greece, was, on the whole, tolerably well constituted; 
 a number of accessory circumstances had tended to soften its 
 sway, and even in some instances it was ennobled by high worth. 
 Ancestral manners and customs — the very smallness of the 
 states — all tended to mitigate its rule — a wise legislation, like 
 that of Solon, and of other lawgivers animated by the same 
 spirit, had at once consolidated and tempered its power ; while 
 it was adorned by republican virtues, and many personal quali- 
 ties in those elder and better times, ere the ancient simplicity 
 of manners was yet totally corrupted. 
 
 In most of the Greek republics, besides, commerce daily 
 acquired greater influence and importance, and it was impos- 
 sible in such a state of things that any rigidly exclusive aris- 
 tocracy could have been formed, or could have long maintained 
 its ascendency. Even the priesthood in Greece (for there 
 was no danger of the political predominance of an heredi- 
 tary sacerdotal caste, as in Egypt), — even the priesthood, by 
 maintaining ancient manners, customs, and laws, on which, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 233 
 
 indeed, their own existence depended, exerted a mild and be- 
 neficial influence in the state ; for they at least formed a coun- 
 terpoise to a mere selfish aristocracy, and sometimes opposed 
 the last barrier to democratic tyranny. 
 
 The mysteries, too, in particular, which, although they did 
 not at a later period, as in their origin, diffuse a sounder 
 morality than the popular mythology, yet certainly inculcated 
 more serious doctrines, and more spiritual views of life,, ex- 
 erted, together with the Olympic and Isthmian games, a 
 gentle, and on the whole, a very beneficial influence, and 
 served as a bond of connexion between the variously divided 
 and discordant nations of Greece. Nay, these public and gym- 
 nastic games, which were celebrated in the festive poetry of 
 the Greeks, served to knit more firmly the bond of national 
 union, so exceedingly loose among this people; and many 
 times, in a moment of danger, has the oracle of Delphi roused 
 and united all the sons of Hellas. These political decisions of 
 the oracle were not false, so far at least as in these critical 
 moments they gave no other council to the Greeks, but that 
 of patriotic courage, prudent firmness, and national concord. 
 
 Widely dissimilar as were the Greek tribes and nations in 
 their original seats and settlements, their occupations, and modes 
 of living, their manners and political institutions, they differed 
 not less in the primitive element s of their civilisation. The Phoe- 
 nician Cadmus, according to tradition, brought the alphabet, 
 and with it, undoubtedly, many other elements of knowledge to 
 the city of Thebes — the Egyptian Cecrops laid the ground- work 
 of the old Athenian manners and government — the Thracian 
 Orpheus, though his doctrines had much analogy to those of 
 Egypt, founded the widely diffused mysteries that bore his name, 
 while he sought by song to mitigate the terrors of the lower 
 world, and to overcome the powers of darkness. To these many 
 other names might be added ; and among them many which 
 did not deduce their descent, like most, indeed, from Phoenicia 
 and Egypt, but are clearly to be traced, as well as the doc- 
 trines and sacred, customs they introduced, to the North ; and, 
 though they sprang more immediately from Asiatics on the 
 northern side of the Caucasus, they were nearly allied to 
 the nations dwelling further towards the north and west. 
 The profound and concurrent researches of many modern 
 scholars have adduced such numerous and repeated proofs from 
 
234 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 antiquity, of the existence of this northern stratum in Greek 
 antiquities, that this branch of Grecian history, formerly neg- 
 lected, must no longer pass unobserved. The Greeks were of 
 very various extraction ; and in the different countries of Greece 
 we may distinguish, along with the Hellenes, two, if not more, 
 principal nations, clearly distinct from the former. These 
 were the Thracians in the northern provinces, or at least 
 in those immediately contiguous — a race for the most part of 
 northern descent, and, together with the Indian, the most 
 numerous on the earth, according to Herodotus — perhaps of the 
 same origin with the nations on the banks of the Danube, or 
 even those further northward. There were, next, the Pelasgi, 
 the real aborigines of Greece, the authors of those gigantic 
 walls and constructions, which are known in Italy by the name 
 of Cyclopean, and in Greece by that of Pelasgic, and some of 
 which still exist, besides several others that existed in the Pe- 
 loponnesus, and which are mentioned by the ancients. These 
 aborigines, or this primitive race of people, occur in many 
 countries under the same, or at least, very similar, traits — to 
 them we must ascribe those monuments of architecture we 
 have just spoken of, a certain knowledge of metals, some rude 
 religious rites, without any mythology, which was only of 
 later origin, nay, without any names of specific divinities ; 
 — human sacrifices — manners and customs, if not absolutely 
 savage, still very rude and barbarous, and a constant restless- 
 ness and disposition to roam. Deucalion alone is to be con- 
 sidered as the ancestor of the Hellenes, as all the noble fami- 
 lies of kings and heroes derived their descent from him, and 
 the later tribes of Greece, the iEolians, the Dorians, and 
 Ionians, took their names from his sons. According to every 
 indication, this people would appear to be a Caucasian race of 
 Asiatics, of Indian, or at least of a cognate, origin. When 
 these Hellenes, iEolians, and Dorians, had taken possession 
 of Thessaly, of the adjacent countries, and the Peloponnesus, 
 and had there formed settlements, the Pelasgi were every- 
 where dispossessed, or oppressed, and thrown into the back- 
 ground. But they certainly were not entirely extirpated, nor 
 did they emigrate in full numbers ; and it is beyond a doubt 
 that various causes contributed to unite the old and new inha- 
 bitants of Greece ; for here intermarriages Were not entirely 
 prohibited and rigidly prevented, as in India or Egypt, by the 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 235 
 
 institution of castes ; and the two nations were gradually 
 formed into one race and one people, according as the circum- 
 stances or situation of one country or the other favoured such 
 an union. And hence we can understand why Herodotus, for 
 example, should have attributed to the lonians in particular 
 much that was Pelasgic, as if under this new denomination 
 they were in all essential points the ancient Pelasgi, or had 
 mingled more with the latter, and were not of such a pure 
 Hellenic race as the Dorians ; for in other respects, the Pelasgi 
 and Hellenes are represented as being originally two perfectly 
 distinct nations, The people of Thrace, too, although they 
 continued as a separate nation to a much later period, un- 
 doubtedly mingled considerably with the Hellenic tribes that 
 inhabited the borders of Thrace, or that lived among the inha- 
 bitants of that country. 
 
 The primitive inhabitants of Greece were, in general, ex- 
 tremely rude and barbarous in their manners and tenets ; until 
 the noble race of Prometheus, the sons of Deucalion, who had 
 come from the regions of Mount Caucasus, and colonies still 
 more civilised that had emigrated from Phoenicia, Egypt, and 
 other countries of Asia, exerted their beneficial influence, and 
 gave by degrees an entirely new form and fashion to the people 
 of Greece, and even to the country itself. For that region, 
 which afterwards presented so beautiful an aspect, which was 
 so richly endowed, and splendidly embellished by the hand of 
 nature, was, until it had been well cultivated and fertilised, and 
 until the power of boisterous elements had been subdued, a 
 complete wilderness, and the scene of many violent revolutions 
 of nature; which were very naturally considered as a sort of par- 
 tial and feeble imitation of the destructive and universal flood 
 of elder times, when water was the all-prevailing element on the 
 earth. In Greece there was an old obscure tradition, of the 
 original existence of a continent called Lectonia, which occupied 
 a portion of the subsequent Greek sea, and of which the islands 
 form now the only existing remains ; the rest of the continent 
 having been sunk and destroyed, at the very time when the 
 Black Sea, which had been originally connected with the Cas- 
 pian, burst through the Bosphorus, and precipitated its waves 
 into the Mediterranean. At this very remote period, all Thes- 
 saly was one vast lake, till, in a natural catastrophe of a similar 
 
236 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 kind, the river Peneus burst its way through a defile of rocks, 
 and found an outlet into the sea. The lake Copais in Bceotia 
 in an inundation overflowed the whole circumjacent flat country 
 in the time of Ogyges; and thus the name and tradition of 
 Ogyges served afterwards to designate the epoch of those early 
 floods. At a later period, and when the civilisation of the 
 Greeks was more advanced, in the true flourishing era of their 
 power and literature, the two principal races among this people, 
 the Ionians and the Dorians, were completely opposed to each 
 other in arts and manners, in government, modes of thinking, 
 and even in philosophy. Athens was at the head of the Ionic 
 race ; Sparta took the lead in the Doric confederacy ; and this 
 internal discord did not a little contribute towards the utter 
 ruin of Greece, and towards the consummation of that internal 
 and external anarchy that dragged all things into its abyss. 
 
 Now that we enter upon that period when all the great po- 
 litical events have been sufficiently described, and partly, at 
 least, set forth with incomparable talent, by the great classical 
 historians of antiquity; by a multitude of writers that have 
 borrowed from that source, or have worked upon those lofty 
 models ; it would be idle to repeat what is universally known, 
 and to recount, in long historical detail, how, after contests 
 and struggles of less importance, the glory of Greece burst 
 forth in all its lustre in her resistance to Persian might ; how, 
 soon after, she exhausted her best strength in the great Pelo- 
 ponnesian civil war betwixt Sparta and Athens, and how both 
 those states ruined themselves in the idle ambition of maintain- 
 ing the rjyefxovLa as they called it, or the superiority and pre- 
 ponderance in the political system of Greece ; — how, after the 
 short dominion of the Thebans under their single great man, 
 Epaminondas, the Macedonians became lords of the ascendant, 
 and ruled for a long time with despotic sway ; — and, finally, how 
 Greece obtained an apparent freedom under the generous pro- 
 tection of Rome, and was soon after reduced to a state of per- 
 manent vassalage under her prefects and her legions : — this in- 
 structive and, we may well say, eternal history, may be read, 
 studied, and meditated on in all its ample details and living clear- 
 ness in the pages of tjie great classical historians of antiquity. 
 The knowledge of all these historical facts must be here pre-sup- 
 posed, and I must confine myself to a rapid and lively sketch of 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 237 
 
 the intellectual character and moral life of the Greeks, in their 
 relation to the rest of mankind, and according to the place which 
 they occupy in universal history. 
 
 In this point of view, all that is universally interesting in the 
 character, life, and intellect of the Greeks will be best and most 
 easily classed under three categories. The first is the divine 
 in their system of art, or the mythology that was so closely 
 interwoven with their traditions and their fictions, their whole 
 arrangement of life, their customs, and political institutions ; 
 and which so much excites our astonishment and admiration. 
 The second is their science of nature — a science so natural to 
 them, and which embraced all the objects of nature and the 
 world, as well as of history, and even man himself, with the 
 utmost clearness of perception, sagacity of intellect, and beauty 
 and animation of expression — a science that, from its earliest in- 
 fancy down to its complete perfection in the writings of Flato and 
 Aristotle, has established the lasting glory of the Greeks, and has 
 had a deep and abiding influence on the human mind, through 
 all succeeding ages. The third and last category, in this por- 
 trait of the Greek intellect and character, is the political rational- 
 ism in Greece's latter days, founded on those maxims and prin- 
 ciples which had finally triumphed after the most violent con- 
 test of parties, and under which the state was entirely swayed 
 by the arts of eloquence and the power of rhetoric, now become 
 a real political authority in society. All that can be said truly 
 to the honour of the ancient Greek states, and their republican 
 virtues, has been briefly noticed above. Their decay and gene- 
 ral anarchy, and final subjugation by Rome, may be well ac- 
 counted for by the decline of the Greek philosophy, and the 
 consequent corruption of morals and doctrine — by that dominion 
 of sophists, unparalleled at least in ancient history, whose 
 pernicious art of a false rhetoric was the bane of public life, 
 government, and all national greatness. 
 
 The marvellous and living mythology in the glorious old 
 poetry of Greece justly occupies here the first place; for all arts, 
 even the plastic arts, had their origin in this first Homeric source. 
 And this fresh living stream of mythic fictions and heroic tra- 
 ditions which has flowed and continues to flow, through all ages 
 and nations in the West, proves to us, by a mighty historical 
 experience, which determines even the most difficult problems 
 (and this has been univerally acknowledged in Christian Europe), 
 
238 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 that all classical education — all high intellectual refinement, is 
 and should be grounded on poetry — that is to say, on a poetry 
 which, like the Homeric, springs out of natural feelings and 
 embraces the world with a clear, intuitive glance. For there 
 can be no comprehensive culture of the human mind, — no high 
 and harmonious development of its powers, and the various 
 faculties of the soul,— unless all those deep feelings of life, that 
 mighty, productive energy of human nature, the marvellous 
 imagination, be awakened and excited, and by that excitement 
 and exertion, attain an expansive, noble, and beautiful form. 
 This the experience of all ages has proved, and hence the glory 
 of the Homeric poems, and of the whole intellectual refinement 
 of the Greeks, which has thence sprung, has remained imperish- 
 able. Were the mental culture of any people founded solely 
 on a dead, cold, abstract science, to the exclusion of all poetry ; 
 such a mere mathematical people — with minds thus sharpened 
 and pointed by mathematical discipline, would and could never 
 possess a rich and various intellectual existence ; nor even pro- 
 bably ever attain to a living science, or a true science of life. 
 The characteristic excellence of this Homeric poetry, and in 
 general of all the Greek poetry, is that it observes a wise me- 
 dium between the gigantic fictions of Oriental imagination, 
 even as the purer creations of Indian fancy display ; and that 
 distinctness of view, that broad knowledge and observation of 
 the world, which distinguish the ages of prosaic narrative, when 
 the relations of society become at once more refined and more 
 complicated. In this poetry, these two opposite, and almost 
 incompatible, qualities are blended and united — the fresh en- 
 thusiasm of the most living feelings of nature — a blooming, 
 fertile, and captivating fancy, and a clear intuitive perception 
 of life, are joined with a delicacy of tact, a purity and harmony 
 of taste, excluding all exaggeration — all false ornament — and 
 which few nations since the Greeks, none perhaps in an equal 
 degree, certainly none before them, have ever possessed to a 
 like extent. 
 
 This poetry was most intimately interwoven with the whole 
 public life of the Greeks — the public spectacles, games, and 
 popular festivals were so many theatres for poetry ; nay music 
 and the gymnastic exercises were the ground- work, and formed 
 almost the whole scope, of a high, polite, and liberal education 
 among the Greeks. Both were so in a very wide, compre- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 239 
 
 hensive, and significant sense of the term. The gymnastic 
 struggles, the peculiar object of the public games, and where 
 the human frame attained a beautiful form and expansion 
 by every species of exercise — the gymnastic struggles had a 
 verv close connexion with, and may be said to have formed 
 the* basis for, the imitative arts, especially sculpture, which, 
 without that habitual contemplation of the most exquisite forms 
 afforded by these games, could never have acquired so bold, 
 free, and animated a renresentation of the human body. 
 Music, or the art of the ikuses, included not only the art of 
 melody, but the poetry of song. Still the plan of Grecian 
 education and refinement was ever of too narrow and exclusive 
 a character ; and when at a later period, rhetoric came to form 
 one of its elements, the Greeks considered it (what indeed it 
 never should be considered) as a sort of gymnastic exercise for 
 the intellect, a species of public spectacle, where eloquence, 
 little solicitous about the truth, only sought to display its art or 
 address in the combat. And in the same way philosophy, 
 when the Greeks attained a knowledge of it, came to be re- 
 garded, according to the narrow and exclusive principles of 
 their system of education, as nothing more than a species of 
 intellectual melody, the internal harmony of thought and 
 mind — the music of the soul ; till later, by means of the 
 sophists, and popular sycophants that deluded their age, it sunk 
 into the all- destructive abyss of false rhetoric, which was the 
 death of true science and genuine art, and which, in the shape 
 of logic and metaphysics, had as injurious an influence on the 
 schools as a false and political eloquence had on the state and 
 on public life. That principle of harmony which formed the 
 leading tenet of the primitive philosophy of Greece before the 
 introduction of sophistry, was not an ignoble — it was even a 
 beautiful, idea, although it might be far from solving the high 
 problems and questions of philosophy, or satisfying the deeper 
 inquiries of the human mind. 
 
 It was from these public games, popular festivals, and great 
 poetical exhibitions, which had such a mighty and important 
 influence on the whole public life of the Greeks, and which 
 served to knit so strongly the bonds of the Hellenic confe- 
 deracy, that, by means of the odes, specifically designed for 
 such occasions, the theatre, and the whole dramatic art of the 
 Greeks, derived their origin. This poetry, which is less £ene- 
 
240 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 rally intelligible to other nations and times than the Homeric 
 poems, because it enters more deeply into the individual life of 
 the Greeks, does not display less invention, sublimity, and 
 depth of art, from that ideal beauty which pervades its whole 
 character, and from its lofty tone of feeling. Even the Doric 
 odes of Pindar, amid their milder beauties, rise often to the 
 tragic grandeur of the succeeding poets, or to the comprehen- 
 sive and epic fulness of the old Maeonian bard. 
 
 No nation has as yet been able to equal the charm and ame- 
 nity of Homer, the elevation of iEschylus, and the noble beauty 
 of Sophocles ; and perhaps it is wrong even to aspire to their 
 excellence, for true beauty and true sublimity can never be ac- 
 quired in the path of imitation. Euripides, who lived in the 
 times when rhetoric was predominant, is ranked with the great 
 poets we have named by such critics only, as are unable to 
 comprehend and appreciate the whole elevation of Grecian in- 
 tellect, and to discern its peculiar and characteristic depth. It 
 is worthy of remark, as it serves to show the general propensity 
 of Grecian intellect for the boldest contrasts, that these loftiest 
 productions of tragedy, and which have retained that character 
 of unrivalled excellence through all succeeding ages, were ac- 
 companied by the old popular comedy which, while its inven- 
 tive fancy dealt in the boldest fictions of mythology, and in the 
 humorous exhibitions of the gods, made it its peculiar business 
 to fasten on all the follies of ordinary life and to exhibit them 
 to public ridicule without the least reserve. 
 
 That the sensual worship of nature, the basis of all heathen- 
 ism, and more particularly so of the Greek idolatry, must have 
 had a very prejudicial influence on Greek morals ; that the 
 want of a solid system of ethics, founded on God and divine 
 truth, must have given rise to great corruption even in a more 
 simple period of society ; and that this already prevalent cor- 
 ruption must have increased to a frightful extent in the general 
 degradation of the state — is a matter evident of itself ; and it 
 would be no difficult task to draw from the pages of the popu- 
 lar comedy we have just spoken of, and from other sources, a 
 terrific picture of the moral habits of the Greeks. Yet I know 
 not whether such a description would be necessary, or even 
 advantageous, for the purpose of this philosophy of history — the 
 more so, as it would not be difficult to draw from similar sources 
 of immorality, and from the now usual statistics of vice and 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 241 
 
 crime, a sketch of the moral condition of one or more Christian 
 nations, that would hy no means accord with the pre -conceived 
 notion of the great moral superiority of modern times. We 
 may thus the more willingly rest contented with a general 
 acknowledgement of the great moral depravity of mankind, 
 which exists wherever mighty powers and strong motives of a 
 superior order do not counteract ifc, and which must have 
 broken out more conspicuously there, where, as among the 
 Greeks, the prevailing religion was a paganism that promoted 
 and sanctioned sensuality. In regard to the poetry and plastic 
 arts of the Greeks, it must even strike us as a matter of asto- 
 nishment that it is in comparatively but few passages, and few 
 works, this pagan sensuality appears in a manner hurtful to 
 dignity of style and harmony of expression. It would not at 
 least have surprised us had this defect been oftener apparent, 
 when we consider the doctrines and views of life generally pre- 
 valent in antiquity ; for it was, in most cases, less the sterner 
 dictates of morality that prevented the recurrence of this defect 
 than an exquisite sense of propriety, which even in art is the out- 
 ward drapery that girds and sets off beauty. Besides a mere 
 conventional concealment cannot be imposed as a law on the art 
 of sculpture ; our moral feelings are much less offended by the 
 representation of nudity in the pure noble style of the best 
 antiques, than by the disguised sensuality which marks many 
 spurious productions of modern art. In poetry and in art, at 
 least in the elder and flourishing period, the Greeks have, for 
 the most part, attained to internal harmony — in philosophy 
 they were much less fortunate — and least of all in public life, 
 which was almost always distracted, and at last utterly jarring, 
 dissonant, and ruinous. 
 
 I called the science of the Greeks a natural science, and in 
 this quality, which it possessed in so eminent a degree, it affords 
 us the highest instruction, and is of itself extremely interesting ; 
 for in its origin, this science proceeded chiefly, almost exclusively, 
 from nature — pursued a sequestered and solitary path — a 
 stranger to poetry and mythology which was there predominant, 
 far removed from public and political life — and often even in 
 an attitude of hostility towards the state. The physical sciences, 
 and particularly natural history, were created by the Greeks — 
 so was the science of medicine, in which Hippocrates is still 
 honoured as the greatest master ; and geometry and the ancient 
 
 R 
 
242 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 system of astronomy were handed down to posterity, conside- 
 rably enlarged and improved by the labours of the Greeks. In 
 the second place, Grecian science may be denominated a natural 
 science, because, as it directed its attention successively to the 
 various objects of the world, of life, and to man himself, it ever 
 took a thoroughly natural view of all things, and even in self- 
 knowledge, in practical life, and in history, sought to seize and 
 comprehend the nature of man, and to unfold the character of 
 his being, with the utmost precision of language, and according 
 to conceptions derived exclusively from life. Thus when Plato 
 and his followers direct their philosophical inquiries to objects 
 lying beyond, and far exalted above, the sphere of nature and 
 real life, we must regard these inquiries as exceptions from the 
 ordinary practice of Grecian intellect, and from the ruling spirit 
 of its speculations ; in the same way as the expeditions of Alex- 
 ander the Great form an exception from the usual routine of 
 Grecian politics . Lastly, Grecian science may be denominated 
 a natural science, because philosophy, founded on the old basis 
 of poetry and classical culture, allied to history, and the lan- 
 guage and symbols of tradition, assumed in general a form 
 clear, beautiful, animated, and eminently conformable to nature 
 and the mind of man ; and however much this philosophy may 
 at times have been lost and bewildered in the void of a false 
 dialectic, it still never perished in the petrifying chill of abstract 
 speculations. And even Plato, though his philosophy so far 
 transcended the ordinary sphere of Grecian intellect, had been 
 well nurtured in Hellenic eloquence, art, and culture — and, in 
 all these, was himself the greatest master. 
 
 With this profound and lofty feeling for nature, did the early 
 philosophers of Greece, who were chiefly Ionian s, like Thales, 
 Anaximenes, and Heraclitus, consider respectively water, air, 
 and fire, as the primary powers of nature and of all things ; 
 and it was only Anaxagoras, the master of Socrates, who first 
 clearly expounded the nature of that supreme and divine intel- 
 ligence which created nature and regulates the world. Prior 
 to this philosopher, Heraclifus had asserted this doctrine, per- 
 haps with greater purity — certainly with more depth and pene- 
 tration ; but in his obscure writings it is less intelligibly ex- 
 pressed. With his supreme intelligence in nature, Anaxagoras 
 conjoined the ofioiofxepea, that is to say, not the real atoms of 
 a lifeless matter, but rather the animated substance of material 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 245 
 
 life. Thus his doctrine was a simple system of dualism, quite 
 in harmony, it would seem, with the feelings of those early 
 ages, as we have noticed a similar system in the history of 
 Indian philosophy. These old Ionian philosophers in general 
 regarded only the internal life in nature and all existence — 
 the constant change and endless vicissitude in the world and in 
 all things ; and hence many of them began to doubt, and at 
 last finally denied, the existence of any thing steadfast and en- 
 during. According to that law and march of contrast, which 
 Grecian intellect, whether consciously or unconsciously, invari- 
 ably pursued, these Ionian philosophers were now opposed by 
 the school of Parmenides, which inculcated the doctrine of an 
 all-pervading unity — and taught that this principle was the first 
 and last, the sole, true, permanent, and eternal Being. Although 
 this system was at first propounded in verse, it was by no means, 
 in its essential and ruling spirit, a poetical pantheism, like that 
 of the Indians — but more congenial with the intellectual 
 habits of the Greeks, it was a pantheism thoroughly dialectic, 
 which at first regarded all change as an illusion and idle phe- 
 nomenon, and at last positively denied the possibility of change, 
 Between these two extreme schools appeared the great dis- 
 ciple of Socrates, who sought, by a path of inquiry completely 
 new, completely foreign to the Greeks — by a range of specu- 
 lation which soared far above the world of sense, and outward 
 experience, as well as above mere logic, to return to the 
 supreme Godhead, infinitely exalted above all nature — deriving 
 the notion of the Deity from immediate intuition, primeval 
 revelation, or profound internal reminiscence. By this doctrine 
 of reminiscence, which is the fundamental tenet of the Platonic 
 system, this philosophy has a strong coincidence or affinity with 
 the Indian doctrine of the metempsychosis, by the supposition 
 it involves of the prior existence of the human soul. To sueh 
 a notion of the pre-existence of the soul, in the literal sense of 
 the term, no system of Christian philosophy could easily sub- 
 scribe. But if, as there is no reason to prevent us, we should 
 understand this Platonic notion of reminiscence in a more 
 spiritual sense — as the awakening or resuscitation of the con- 
 sciousness of the divine image implanted in our souls — as the 
 soul's perception of that image ; this theory would then per- 
 fectly coincide with the Christian doctrine of the divine image 
 originally stamped on the human soul, and of the internal illu- 
 
 r 2 
 
244 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 mination of the soul by the renovation of that image ; and 
 hence we ought in no way to be astonished that this Platonic 
 mode of thinking — for such it is rather than any exclusive 
 system, as it is the first great philosophy of revelation clothed 
 and propounded in an European form — should have ever ap- 
 peared so captivating to the profound thinkers of Christianity. 
 In Plato's time, that host of sophists who had sprung out of 
 the dialectic contests of the earlier philosophy, out of its rejec- 
 tion and disbelief of every thing permanent, immutable, and 
 eternal in nature, in life, and in knowledge, as well as out of 
 the democratic spirit of the age, and the ever-prevailing immo- 
 rality — in Plato's time, that host of sophists completely bewil- 
 dered and confused the public mind, poisoned all principle and 
 morality in their very source, and accomplished the ruin of 
 society in Greece in general, and in Athens in particular. And 
 the masterly portrait which Plato has given us of these sophists 
 exhibits well this race, and the pernicious influence they exerted 
 over Grecian intellect, and the whole circle of Grecian states ; 
 and this political influence of the sophists forms the third epoch 
 in the history of Greece, which, by means of these popular 
 sycophants, became daily more and more democratic, till at last 
 it perished in anarchy. 
 
 The more ancient philosophers of Greece lived almost all in a 
 state of retirement from public life, taking no part in political 
 affairs, or evincing very evident sentiments of hostility to the 
 governments and republics of their native country. They were 
 almost all unfriendly to the prevailing principles of democracy; 
 and the ideal governments, which they, as well as Plato, have 
 sketched, were all in the spirit of a very rigid aristocracy of 
 virtue and law — evincing a very marked predilection for that 
 form of government as it existed, though in a state of great 
 degeneracy, among the Doric Greeks. Long before Plato, the 
 Pythagoreans had inculcated doctrines perfectly similar, or at 
 least of a very kindred nature ; and with the view and purpose 
 of introducing their principles into public life, by which un- 
 doubtedly the governments and the whole frame of society in 
 Greece, as well as the whole system of Grecian thought, would 
 have assumed a totally new and different shape. But before 
 the Pythagorean confederacy, which was so widely diffused 
 through the Greek states of Southern Italy, was able to accom- 
 plish its design, the violent re-action of an opposite party of 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 245 
 
 thinkers destroyed it, or at least deprived it of all ascendency 
 and political influence. 
 
 The age of Aristotle concurred with that of the Macedonian 
 sway to terminate anarchy of every kind. To the old evil of a 
 false dialectic, which had become an inveterate habit, and, as 
 it were, a second nature to Grecian intellect, he endeavoured 
 to oppose his ample aud substantial logic; and this must be 
 regarded not so much as a wonderful organum, a living and 
 never-failing source of scientific truth, but rather as a remedy 
 for that disease of a false, sophistical rhetoric, so prevalent in 
 his own age, and the one immediately preceding — and which 
 had brought about the ruin of all truths, and an universal 
 anarchy of doctrines, even in practical life. With a perspica- 
 cious, penetrative, and comprehensive intellect, he has reduced 
 all the philosophic, and all the historical science of preceding 
 ages and of his own time, to a clear, well-ordered system, for 
 the ample instruction of posterity: — in both these sciences, as 
 well as in natural history, he has remained, down to the latest 
 time, the master-guide. In those parts of his philosophy which 
 lie between this natural science and the old dialectic contests, 
 in its primary and fundamental principles, the system of Aris- 
 totle, when rightly understood, contains much that leads to the 
 most dangerous errors, especially in his notion of God : though 
 we cannot with justice impute to him the abuse which has been 
 made of his philosophy in subsequent ages. Notwithstanding 
 the many excellent things which are to be found in the Ethics 
 of Aristotle, considered merely as an effort of unassisted reason ; 
 yet in all the inquiries after a higher truth — after the first 
 notion of the divine which, in the elder philosophy of nature, 
 was so imperfectly understood, and which in the consummate 
 rationalism of Aristotle was completely misapprehended- — in all 
 these important inquiries, the Stagyrite is far from being such 
 a guide as Plato ; and his philosophy is not like the Platonic, a 
 scientific introduction to the Christian revelation, and to the 
 knowledge of divine truths. The later systems of philosophy 
 among the Greeks were, with some slight variations of form, 
 mere repetitions, often only mere combinations and com- 
 pilations, of the ancient philosophy ; or they exhibited a 
 thorough degeneracy of science and intellect, as in the atomical 
 system of Epicurus, which even on life and morals had an 
 atomical influence. 
 
246 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 The Greek states have long since disappeared from the face of 
 the earth — the republics, as well as the Macedonian kingdoms 
 founded by Alexander, have long since ceased to exist. Many 
 centuries — near two thousand years, have elapsed, since a ves- 
 tige remained of that ancient greatness and transitory power. 
 If the celebrated battles and other mighty events of those ages 
 are still known to us ; if they still excite in us a lively interest, 
 it is principally because they have been delineated with such 
 incomparable beauty, such instructive interest, by the great 
 classical writers. It is not the republican governments of 
 Greece, nor the brief and fleeting period of Grecian liberty, 
 which was so soon succeeded by civil war and anarchy — it is 
 not the universal empire of Macedon, which was but of short 
 duration, and\was soon swallowed up in the Roman or Parthian 
 domination — it is not these that mark out the place which 
 Greece occupies in the great whole of universal history, nor the 
 mighty and important part she has had in the civilisation of 
 mankind. The share allotted to her was the light of science in 
 its most ample extent, and in all the clear brilliance of exposi- 
 tion which it could derive from art. It is in this intellectual 
 sphere only that the Greeks have been gifted with extraordinary 
 power, and have exerted a mighty influence on after-ages. 
 Plato and Aristotle, far more than Leonidas and Alexander the 
 Great, contain nearly the sum and essence of all truly perma- 
 nent and influential which the Greeks have bequeathed to pos- 
 terity. It is evident that I include under these great names the 
 whole classical culture which formed the basis of this Greek 
 science — the general refinement of minds — the fine arts, and 
 above all, the glorious old poetry of Greece. We have to men- 
 tion another department of Greek science, wherein from its 
 natural clearness and liveliness, its profound observation of 
 man, the most eminent success was attained. And the pre- 
 eminence consists in this — that historical art, as well as histo- 
 rical research, was originated by the Greeks, and that both 
 have attained a degree of perfection which has been almost ever 
 unknown to the Asiatic nations, and which even the moderns 
 have only imitated by degrees upon the great models of anti- 
 quity. The father of history, Herodotus, has not been without 
 reason compared to Homer, on account of his manifold charms, 
 and the clearness and fulness of his narrative. We remain in 
 utter astonishment when we reflect on the depth and extent of 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 247 
 
 his knowledge, researches, inquiries, and remarks on the his- 
 tory and antiquities of the various nations of the earth, and 
 of mankind in general. The deeper and more comprehensive 
 the researches of the moderns have been on ancient history, 
 the more have their regard and esteem for Herodotus increased, 
 the latter classical historians display much rhetoric ; but this 
 was natural, when we consider what a mighty influence rhetoric 
 exerted on public life, and that it had become an all-ruling 
 power in the state. This false rhetoric, that idle pomp of 
 words, the death of all genuine poetry and higher art, as the 
 endless strifes of a false dialectic are the ruin of all sane and 
 legitimate science, of all precision of intellect, and soundness of 
 judgment — this false rhetoric, by the exclusively sophistical 
 turn which it gave to the public mind and public opinion, acce- 
 lerated the downfal of government, and of all public virtues in 
 Greece. 
 
 The third category or sphere of Grecian intellect and 
 Grecian life which I designated after that of divine art, and natu- 
 ral science, and the varied knowledge of man, was political 
 rationalism.* I have used that expression, chiefly in reference 
 to the later ages of the Greek republics, as it is the quality 
 which eminently distinguished them from the Asiatic states, 
 and those of modern Europe. 
 
 In the later ages of Athens, and of the other democratic 
 states, the rationalist principles of freedom and equality were 
 the sole prevailing and recognised maxims of government. 
 Considered in this historical point of view, the chief difference 
 between the two principal forms of government consists in this 
 — that the republic is, or at least tends to be, the government 
 of reason ; while monarchy is founded on the higher principles 
 of faith and love. But the distinction lies rather in the ruling 
 spirit, the moral principle which animates these two govern- 
 ments, than in their mere outward form. Republics which are 
 founded on ancient laws and customs, on hereditary rites, and 
 usages, on faith in the sanctity of hereditary right, on attach- 
 ment to ancestral manners (as was undoubtedly the case with 
 the Greek republics in the early ages of their history), such 
 states, so far from being opposed to the true spirit of monarchy, 
 
 * In the German, Vernunft-staat, the government of reason. 
 
248 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 are, to all essential purposes, of a kindred nature with it. Such, 
 too, are those happy republics which, content with the narrow 
 limits of their power and existence, at peace with other states, 
 devoid of ambition, firmly wedded to their ancient rites and 
 customs, figure but little on the arena of history, and occupy 
 but small space in the columns of the gazetteer. In a mo- 
 narchy, attachment to the hereditary sovereign and to the royal 
 dynasty is the corner-stone and the firmest pillar of the state — 
 whole provinces may be conquered, and important battles may be 
 lost ; but while this foundation of love remains unshaken — while 
 this principle is in active operation, the edifice of the state will 
 stand unmoved. 
 
 The next foundation of monarchy is faith in ancient rights — 
 in the heritage of ancestral customs and privileges, according 
 to the several relations of the different classes of the state ; and 
 we should beware, in a monarchical government, not to touch or 
 violate with an incautious hand, or change without necessity, 
 hereditary rights and usages which time has consecrated, for 
 such heedless changes shake the very foundations of the social 
 edifice. When a monarchy is founded on a written contract 
 (whether it be intended as a sort of treaty of peace, with some 
 party aspiring to dominion in the state, or be only the suc- 
 cessful experiment of some scientific theory of political ration- 
 alism), such a government, though it may preserve the outward 
 form, has ceased, in all essential points, to be a monarchy ac- 
 cording to the old acceptation of the term. An absolute go- 
 vernment, whatever shape it may assume, whether it take the 
 form of republicanism, and adopt the rationalist principles of 
 freedom and equality — principles which in the nature of things, 
 and according to the very constitution of human reason, are 
 almost ever inseparable from a spirit of progressive encroach- 
 ment in foreign policy (as is sufficiently proved by the inordinate 
 ambition, the insatiable thirst of power which distinguished the 
 great republics of antiquity, in proportion as they became more 
 democratic, and more a prey to anarchy), or whether the abso- 
 lute government assume the lawless and illegitimate sway of a 
 military despotism — -such a government may indeed be esta- 
 blished in a sort of equipoise, circumscribed within tolerably rea- 
 sonable limits, and preserved at least in its physical existence 
 by means of such a written compact as we have spoken of above. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 249 
 
 But the old Christian state — the state which is founded in faith 
 and love — can be renovated and re-established, not by the mere 
 dead letter of any theory, though it should contain nothing but 
 the pure dogmatic truth — but by faith — by love — by the re- 
 ligious energy of all the great fundamental principles of moral 
 life. 
 
 END OF LECTURE VIII, 
 
250 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 Character of the Romans— Sketch of their Conquests— On strict Law, 
 and the Law of Equity in its application to History, and according 
 to the Idea of Divine Justice — Commencement of the Christian Dis- 
 pensation. 
 
 Instead of that astonishing variety in the states, the races, the 
 political constitutions, the manners, styles of art, and modes of 
 intellectual cultivation, which divided from its very origin the 
 social existence of Greece — a division which gave a more rich 
 and diversified aspect to Greek civilisation — the ancient history 
 of Italy shows us, on the contrary, how every thing merged 
 more and more in the one, eternal, imperishable, ever-prospe- 
 rous, ever-progressive, and at last all-devouring, city — Rome. 
 The first ages, indeed, of Italy — the primitive nations that 
 settled in that country — suchasth* Pelasgi, whose early historical 
 existence is attested by those Cyclopean, or more properly, 
 Pelasgic walls and constructions still extant there — the Etruscans 
 (according to some authors, descended from the more northern 
 race of Rhcetians), from whom the Romans borrowed so many 
 of their idolatrous rites and customs — the Sabines and Samnites, 
 the Latins and the Trojans — lastly, the Celts in northern, 
 and the Greeks in southern, Italy — all in their several rela- 
 tions to one another, and in the various commixture of their 
 origin and progress, open a wide field of intricate investiga- 
 tion and perplexing research to the historical inquirer. But 
 from the general point of view taken in universal history, 
 all this antiquarian learning soon falls into the background, 
 in the presence of that great central city which quickly absorbs 
 into itself all the ancient states of Italy, and Italy itself, 
 and which, though originally composed of many heterogeneous 
 elements — Latin, Sabine, and Etruscan — still was very early 
 moulded into an unity of character — and whose ulterior growth 
 and progress, slow indeed at first, but soon as fearfully rapid as 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 251 
 
 it was immeasurably great, principally attracts the notice of the 
 historical observer. In the later, and still more in the early, 
 ages of Rome, the national idolatry was less poetically wrought 
 and adorned than that of the Greeks — it was altogether much 
 simpler, ruder, and more serious than the latter. Even the 
 word religio, to take it in its first signification as a second tie, 
 Corresponds to a far more definite and serious object than can be 
 found in the gay mythology of the popular religion of the 
 Greeks. Idolatrous rites were closely interwoven into the whole 
 life of the ancient Romans. As the twins of Mars, Romulus 
 and Remus, who were suckled by the she-wolf, were called the 
 founders of the city ; so Mars himself was honoured by the 
 Romans as their real progenitor, and principal national divinity 
 — particularly under the name of Gradivus, that is to say, the 
 swift for battle, or the strider of the earth. The sacred shields 
 of brass which, on certain appointed festivals, were borne in the 
 military dances, the Palladium, the sceptre of the venerable 
 Priam, formed, together with similar relics of antiquity, the 
 seven holy pledges of the eternal duration and ever-flourishing 
 increase of the seven-hilled city, which was honoured under 
 three different names ; one whereof was ever kept secret, while 
 the other two referred to its blooming strength and ever-en- 
 during power. The ancient cities of the Greeks, those of the 
 Italian nations, whether akin to them, or otherwise, possessed, 
 indeed, their tutelary deities, their particular sanctuaries, their 
 highly revered Palladium, some ancient oracles, and certain 
 religious rites and festivals consecrated to their honour. But 
 it would not be easy to find another example where the tra- 
 ditionary reverence, we might almost say, the old hereditary 
 deification of the city, had, from the earliest period, taken 
 such deep root in the minds of men ; and where such a formal 
 worship was so intimately interwoven with manners, customs, 
 and even maxims of state, as among the Romans. And when 
 an universal monarchy had sprung out from this single city, it 
 was still that city — it was still eternal Rome that was ever re- 
 garded, not merely as the centre, but as the essence of the 
 whole — the personified conception of the state — the grand idea 
 of the empire. The early traditions of the Romans which, though 
 from the commencement of the city they assume the garb of 
 authentic history (as in the pages of Livy for instance), yet are 
 for a long time to be regarded mostly as mere traditions, — 
 
2c>2 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 evince a fact well entitled to our consideration, — as it serves to 
 snow how that strong, inflexible, but harsh, Roman character, 
 such as the later records of history display, manifested itself even 
 in the earliest infancy of this people ; — it is this, that among 
 no other nation, did historical recollections even of the remotest 
 antiquity exert such a powerful influence on life, or strike so 
 deep a root in the minds of men. Nearly five hundred years 
 had elapsed since the time of the elder Brutus, when, in the 
 Roman world now so mightily changed, a citizen appealed to the 
 second Brutus in these words — " Brutus, thou sleepest" — as if to 
 urge him to that deed which the first had perpetrated on the proud 
 Tarquin, and by which that celebrated name had become iden- 
 tified with the idea of a bold deliverer. An ardent hatred 
 towards all kings, and towards royalty itself, which from that 
 period remained ever deeply fixed in the Roman mind, charac- 
 terised this people even in the most ancient period of their his- 
 tory. Not only in the remarks and reflections of the later 
 Roman historians on the first ages of Rome, but in facts them- 
 selves, as in the case of Spurius Cassius, we may trace the 
 natural concomitant of this hatred — a passionate jealousy of all 
 powerful party -chiefs, and democratic leaders, who were perhaps 
 suspected, or probably convicted, of aspiring to supreme power 
 in the state, and aiming at the establishment of tyranny — as if the 
 Romans even then had a clear presentiment of the inevitable fate 
 that awaited an empire like theirs, and of the quarter whence their 
 ruin would proceed. Even in the first ages, the Patricians and 
 Plebeians appear on the historical arena, not only as separate 
 classes, such as existed in almost all ancient states, and between 
 whom no matrimonial ties could be formed originally at Rome ; 
 but as political parties, in a state of mutual hostility, each of 
 which strove to obtain the ascendency in the forum and in the 
 state. 
 
 The old Romans of these early times were strangers to those 
 various systems of legislation, those rhetorical treatises of juris - 
 prudence, conceived mostly on democratic principles, or to those 
 opposite political theories composed in an aristocratic spirit, 
 which the Greeks then possessed in such abundance. On the 
 contrary, the Romans manifested even then, in the primitive 
 period of their existence, a deep, perspicacious, practical sense, 
 and a mighty political instinct, which showed itself in their first 
 institutions of state. Even in the first idea of the Tribunate — 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 253 
 
 as a regular mode of popular representation, an element of 
 opposition introduced into the very constitution of the state — 
 there was contained the germ of that mighty political power 
 and action, which afterwards a man of energetic character, like 
 Tiberius Gracchus, knew how to exert. This power, had it been 
 kept within due limits, might have proved most beneficial to the 
 community ; and a single man, endowed with such a character, 
 and animated by the same spirit of a true patriotic opposition, 
 has often accomplished more at Rome, than whole parliaments in 
 modern free states. The authority of the Censor, negative and 
 restrictive in itself, but still not merely judicial — and which 
 over the conduct of persons was very extensive — the excep- 
 tional institution of the Dictatorship, in the early ages of Rome 
 by no means so dangerous — were so many just, and practical 
 political discoveries of the Romans, which evince their states- 
 man-like genius, and which even in later times, among other 
 nations, and under various forms, have served as real and effec- 
 tual elements in the constitution of states. 
 
 The interest of those two parties — the Plebeians and the 
 Patricians — concurred fully but in one point — the desire which 
 both had of constantly invading the neighbouring nations, and 
 obtaining landed possessions for themselves in the conquests 
 they made for the state. The Plebeians ever and again cherished 
 the hope of being able to obtain for their profk, and that of 
 the poorer citizens, a sort of distribution of the state-lands won 
 in war. But as the Patricians were mostly invested with all 
 the high offices and dignities in war as well as peace, they knew 
 how to turn all the opportunities of conquest to their best 
 advantage, however much they might on particular occasions 
 postpone their private interests as individuals to the general 
 interests of the state. Although, so long as their ancient prin- 
 ciples remained unchanged, the Romans were distinguished for 
 the utmost disinterestedness in regard to their country, and 
 for great simplicity of manners, and even frugality in private 
 life, they were in all their foreign enterprises, even in the 
 earliest times, exceedingly covetous of gain, or rather of land ; 
 for it was in land, and the produce of the soil, that their prin- 
 cipal, and almost only wealth consisted. The old Romans were 
 a thoroughly agricultural people ; and it was only at a later 
 period that commerce, trades and arts were introduced among 
 them, and even then they occupied but a subordinate place. 
 
254 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 Agriculture was even highly honoured by the Romans; and 
 while almost all the celebrated, and, in general, most of the 
 proper, names among the Greeks were derived from gods and 
 heroes, and had a poetical lustre, and glorious significancy, it 
 is a circumstance characteristic of the Romans, that the names 
 of many of their most distinguished families, such as Fabius, 
 Lentulus, Piso, Cicero, and many others, were taken from agri- 
 culture and from vegetables ; while others again, as Secundus, 
 Quintus, Septimus, and Octavius, are tolerably prosaic, and are 
 derived from the numbers of the old popular reckoning. The 
 science of agriculture forms one of the few subjects on which 
 the Romans produced writers truly original. That of juris- 
 prudence, in which they were most at home, which they culti- 
 vated with peculiar care, and which they very considerably 
 enlarged, had its foundation in the written laws of the primi- 
 tive period of their history; and in their elder jurisprudence, 
 the Agrarian system very evidently prevails. As a robust, 
 agricultural people, they were eminently fitted for military ser- 
 vice ; and in practised vigour, and constancy under every pri- 
 vation, the Roman infantry, with the vigorous masses of its 
 legion, surpassed all military bodies that have ever been or- 
 ganised. 
 
 The Roman state from its origin, and according to its first 
 constitution, was nothing else than a well-organised school of 
 war, a permanent establishment for conquest. Among other 
 nations, as among the Persians and Greeks, the desire of mili- 
 tary glory and the lust of conquest was only a temporary en- 
 thusiasm, called forth by some special cause, or some mighty 
 motive — a sudden sally — the thought of a moment. Among 
 the Romans it is precisely the systematically slow and progres- 
 sive march of their first conquests, their inflexible perseverance, 
 their unremitting activity, the vigilant use of every advan- 
 tageous opportunity, which strike the observer, and explain the 
 cause of their mighty success in after-times. That unshaken 
 constancy under misfortune, which ever characterised the Ro- 
 mans, they displayed even at this early period, during the con- 
 quest of their city by the Gauls; though this misfortune, like 
 that people itself, was but a transient calamity. In general, 
 the Romans never evinced greater energy than when they were 
 overcome, or when they met with an unexpected resistance. 
 Sometimes, in a moment of extreme urgency, their generals, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 255 
 
 like the Consul Decius Mus, taking a chosen body of troops, 
 invoked the national gods, devoted themselves to death, and 
 rushed on the superior forces of the enemy, whereby, though 
 they fell the victims of their zeal, they saved the army from the 
 menaced ignominy of defeat, and aelrieved a signal victory. 
 With such a character, such unshaken fortitude and perse- 
 verance under misfortune, we can well conceive that in a state 
 so constituted like theirs, the Romans, by their indefatigable 
 activity in war, should in no very great space of time have con- 
 quered and subdued all the surrounding nations and states of 
 Italy. It was thus they successively overcame the kindred and 
 confederated tribes of Latium, and the rude Sabines; that, 
 after a long and obstinate siege of the Tuscan city of Veii, 
 they became masters of the Etrurian league, lords of the beau- 
 tiful Campania, and vanquished the warlike Samnites on the 
 Apennine range, and on the coast of the Adriatic. They now 
 cast their eyes on the rich provinces of Magna Grsecia. In the 
 war against Tarentum, which was in alliance with Pyrrhus, 
 King of Epirus, they came for the first time in contact with 
 the great extra-Italic Greek powers, and had to encounter, in 
 the ranks of the enemy, the unwonted spectacle of war- ele- 
 phants, which were there employed according to the Asiatic 
 custom. After the loss of the first battles, they were victo- 
 rious; and they now added Apulia and Calabria to their con- 
 quests. Each step in the career of victory drew after it new 
 embarrassments, new occasions, and new matter for future 
 wars. The inhabitants of Syracuse, who had been for some 
 time governed by tyrants, formed, on the retreat of Pyrrhus, 
 an alliance with the Carthaginians, then masters of half of 
 Sicily, and sought their protection against the Romans, who 
 were confederated with their enemies, another party in the 
 island. This brought on the first Punic war with that republic, 
 then mistress of the sea. In this warfare against Pyrrhus and 
 the Carthaginians, the Romans, who had been hitherto con- 
 fined within the secluded circle of the petty states of Italy, 
 appeared for the first time on the great historical theatre of the 
 then political world. In that age which was immediately sub- 
 sequent to the time of Alexander the Great, the different Ma- 
 cedonian and other Greek powers of importance formed, toge- 
 ther with Egypt and Carthage, a variously connected system 
 of states, in one respect not unlike the political system of mo- 
 
256 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 dern Europe, at the end of the seventeenth and during the 
 greater part of the eighteenth century. For, according to 
 a principle of the balance of power, each state sought to 
 strengthen itself by alliances, and to repress an overwhelming 
 ascendency, without on that account at all relaxing its efforts 
 for its own aggrandisement. That on one hand, the fluc- 
 tuating condition and internal troubles of those countries, and 
 on the other, the fresh youthful vigour, the steady perseverance 
 and constancy of the Roman people, would soon put an end to 
 this system of equilibrium, to these political oscillations be- 
 tween the different states, and bring about the complete tri- 
 umph and decided ascendancy of the Romans, might, indeed, 
 have been easily foreseen, and was in the very nature of things. 
 After the first Punic war, the Romans to the conquest of Sicily 
 added that of Corsica and Sardinia; and they next subdued 
 the Cisalpine Gauls in the North of Italy. When even Han- 
 nibal, the most formidable enemy the Roman republic ever had 
 to encounter, and the one who had the most deeply studied its 
 true character, and the danger threatening the world from that 
 quarter ; when even he, after the many great victories which, 
 in a long series of years, he had obtained over the Romans, in 
 the second Punic war ; though he shook the power, was unable 
 to break the spirit of this people ; — when this was the case, one 
 might regard the great political question of the then civilised 
 world as settled ; and it could no longer be a matter of doubt 
 that that city, justly denominated Strength, and which, even 
 from of old had been the idol of her sons (who accounted every 
 thing as nought in comparison with her interests) ; that that 
 city, I say, was destined to conquer the world, and establish an 
 empire, the like whereof had never yet been founded by pre- 
 ceding conquerors. The second Punic war terminated under 
 the elder Scipio before the walls of Carthage, and it completed the 
 destruction of that rival of Rome, at least as a political power. 
 The princes and states that, while it was yet time, should have 
 formed a firm and steadfast league against the common foe, fell 
 now separately under the sword of the victors, and the yoke of 
 conquest. In the further progress of their triumphs, the con- 
 querors knew to assume a certain character of generosity, and 
 give a certain colour of magnanimity to their acts, in the eyes 
 of a gazing and terrified world. Thus, for instance, after the 
 defeat of Philip, King of Macedon, they declared to deluded 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 257 
 
 Greece that she was free; and again, Antiochus the Great, 
 whose arrogance had given offence to many, and whose over- 
 throw was, in consequence, the subject of very general joy, 
 was compelled to cede the Lesser Asia as far as Mount Taurus ; 
 and the victors gave away the conquered provinces and king- 
 doms to the princes in their alliance, and affected not to have 
 the intention of subduing and keeping all for themselves. For 
 it was yet much too soon to let the unconquered states and 
 nations perceive that all, without distinction, were destined, 
 one after the other, to become the provinces of the all-absorb- 
 ing empire of Rome. Thus now overpassing the limits of 
 Greece, the Romans had obtained a firm footing in Asia; and 
 this first step was soon enough to be succeeded by other and 
 still further advances. Historians have often remarked the de- 
 cisive moment when Caesar, after an instant's reflection and 
 delay, crossed the Rubicon; but we may ask now, when Rome 
 herself had passed her Rubicon, where was that historical limit 
 — that last boundary-line of ambition, after passing which no 
 return, no halt was possible ; if now, when all right, all jus - 
 tice, every human term and limit to ambition were lost sight 
 of, if now idolised Rome, in the fulness of her pagan pride, 
 and in her rapid career of destruction, marching from one 
 crime against the world to another, and descending deeper and 
 deeper into the abyss of interminable foreign and domestic 
 bloodshed, was, from the summit of her triumphs, to sink be- 
 yond redemption, down to Caligula and Nero? We might 
 point out, as an instance of this ever-growing and reckless ar- 
 rogance, the moment when the last King of Macedon,* not 
 more than a century and a half from the death of Alexander 
 the Great, was led in triumph into the city of the conquerors, 
 a captive and in chains, to sate the eyes of the Roman popu- 
 lace. It entered into the high designs of Providence in the 
 government of the world, during this middle and second period 
 of universal history, that each of the conquering nations should 
 receive its full measure of justice from another worse than 
 itself, emerging suddenly from obscurity, and chosen as the 
 instrument of its annihilation or subjection. But a still more 
 decisive example of the spirit of Roman conquests was the cruel 
 destruction of Carthage in the third Punic war, begun without 
 
 * Perseus. 
 
 s 
 
258 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 any assignable motive, and from pure caprice. In this case no 
 other resistance could be expected than the resistance of despair, 
 which here, indeed, showed itself in all its energy. For seven- 
 teen days the city was in flames, and the numbers that were 
 exterminated amounted to 700,000 souls, including the women 
 and children sold into slavery; so that this scene of horror 
 served as an early prelude to the later destruction of Jerusalem. 
 The wiser and more lenient Scipios had been against this war 
 of extermination, and had had to contend with the self-willed 
 rancour of the elder Cato; yet a Scipio conducted this war, 
 and was the last conqueror over the ashes of Carthage. And 
 this was a man universally accounted to be of a mild cha- 
 racter and generous nature; and such he really was in other 
 respects, and in private life. But this reputation must be ap- 
 parently estimated by the Roman standard; for, whenever 
 Roman interests were at stake, all mankind, and the lives of 
 nations, were considered as of no importance. Besides, it is 
 really not in the power of a general to do away with the cruelty 
 of any received system of warfare. 
 
 The example of the first great re-action of nations, too late 
 aroused, was set by Greece in the war of the Achaian league, 
 It terminated like all the preceding wars; — Corinth was con- 
 sumed, and its destruction involved that of an infinite number 
 of noble and beautiful works of art, belonging to the better 
 ages of Greece. Among the nations of the north and west 
 that lived under a yet free and natural form of government, the 
 Spanish distinguished themselves by a peculiar obstinacy of 
 resistance. Scipio was unable to conquer Numantia; the 
 people who defended their liberty behind this rampart, set fire 
 to the city, and the remaining defenders devoted themselves to 
 a voluntary death. In the public triumph which the Romans 
 celebrated on this occasion, they were able to exhibit only a few 
 brave Lusitanians of a gigantic size. Now commenced the 
 civil wars : — the first was occasioned by Tiberius Gracchus, then 
 leader of the popular party at Rome. To undertake the 
 complete justification of any one of the leading men in the 
 Roman parties, would be an arduous, not to say impracticable 
 task ; yet we may positively assert of the elder Gracchus, that 
 he was the best man of his party ; as the same observation will 
 apply to the Scipios in the opposite party of the Patricians. 
 The proposal of Gracchus was this — that the rights of Roman 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 259 
 
 citizens should be extended to the rest of Italy. It was in the 
 very nature of things that such a change, or at least one very 
 similar, should now take place, as in fact it did somewhat later ; 
 for after the conquest of so many provinces, the disproportion 
 between the one all-ruling city, and the vast regions which it 
 had subdued, was much too great to continue long. The armed 
 insurrection of all the Italian nations that occurred soon after, 
 sufficiently proves of what vital importance this measure was 
 considered. But the pride of the ruling Patricians was 
 extremely offended at this claim — they regarded it as an 
 attempt to subvert the ancient constitution of the country — and, 
 in the revolt that ensued, Tiberius Gracchus lost his life. From 
 that time forward the principles apparently contended for on 
 both sides were mere pretexts — whether it were the maintenance 
 of the law, and of the ancient constitution, as asserted by 
 the Patricians — or the just claims of the people, and the ne- 
 cessary changes which the altered circumstances of the times 
 demanded, as alleged by the opposite party. It was now an 
 open struggle for ascendency between a few factious leaders and 
 their partisans — a civil war carried on between fierce and for- 
 midable Oligarchs. 
 
 The effusion of blood was still greater in the troubles which 
 the younger Caius Gracchus occasioned, and which had the 
 same motive and the same object as the preceding commotions, 
 though conducted with more animosity, and stained by greater 
 crimes; and in the Patrician party, the noble Scipio, the hero of 
 the third Punic war, fell a victim of assassination. Murders 
 and poisoning were now every day more common ; and it 
 became the practice to carry daggers under the mantle. On 
 this occasion we may cite an observation, made not by any 
 father of the church, or any Christian moralist ; but by a cele- 
 brated German historian, who was in other respects an enthu- 
 siastic admirer of the republican heroism of the ancients: 
 " Rome, the mistress of the world," says he, " drunk with the 
 blood of nations, began now to rage in her entrails." Of 
 Marius and Sylla, on whom next devolved the conduct of the 
 Patrician and Plebeian parties in the civil war, now conducted 
 on a more extended scale, it 'is difficult to decide which of the 
 two surpassed the other in cruelty and blood-thirstiness. 
 Marius was indeed of a ruder and more savage character — but 
 Sylla evinced perhaps a more systematic and relentless ferocity, 
 
 s 2 
 
260 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 Both were great generals; and it was only after obtaining 
 splendid victories over foreign nations that they could think of 
 turning their fury against their native city, after having spent 
 their rage on the rest of mankind. The victories of Marius 
 had delivered Rome from the mighty danger with which she 
 had been menaced, by the irruption of the powerful tribes 
 of the Cimbri and Teutones — the first forerunner of the great 
 northern emigration. Danger served but to arouse the 
 Roman people to more triumphant exertions; and every effort 
 of hostile resistance, when once overcome, tended only to 
 confirm their universal dominion. The greatest and most for- 
 midable of these efforts of resistance was made by Mithridates, 
 King of Pontus — it began by the murder of eighty thousand 
 Romans in his dominions, and the simultaneous revolt of all the 
 Italian nations against the Roman sway. No enemy of the 
 Romans, since Hannibal, had formed such a deep-laid plan as 
 Mithridates, whose intention it was to unite in one armed con- 
 federacy against Rome all the nations of the north, from 
 the regions of Mount Caucasus, as far as Gaul and the Alps. 
 By his victories over this enemy, Sylla prepared to return to 
 Rome, torn and convulsed by civil war; and on his entry into 
 the city, he treated it with all the infuriated vengeance of 
 a conqueror, proscribed, gave full loose to slaughter, and perpe- 
 trated the most execrable atrocities. We may cite as a strange 
 instance of the still surviving greatness of the Roman character, 
 the fact, that Sylla, immediately after all this immense blood- 
 shed, as if every thing had passed in perfect conformity to law 
 and order, laid down the dictatorship, retired peacefully to his 
 estate, and there prepared to write his own history. In one 
 respect, however, he was a flatterer of the multitude — he seems 
 to have thoroughly understood the Roman people, for he was 
 the first to introduce the games of the circus, those bloody 
 combats of animals, those cruel gladiatorial fights, which after- 
 wards, under the emperors, became, like bread, one of the most 
 indispensable necessaries to the Roman people, and one of the 
 most important objects of concern to its rulers. For these 
 games, where the Roman eye delighted to contemplate men 
 devoted to certain death contend and wrestle with the most 
 savage animals, Pompey on one occasion introduced six 
 hundred lions on the arena, and Augustus, four hundred 
 panthers. Thus did a thirst for blood, after having been long 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 261 
 
 the predominant passion of the party -leaders of this all- 
 ruling people, become an actual craving — a festive entertain- 
 ment for the multitude. And yet the Romans of this age, 
 when we consider their conduct in war — in the battles and 
 victories they won, or the strength of character they evinced, 
 whether on the tented field, or on the arena of political 
 contests, displayed an admirable, we might sometimes say 
 a super-human, energy; so that we are often at a loss how to 
 reconcile our admiration with the detestation which their 
 actions unavoidably inspire. It was as if the iron-footed god 
 of war, Gradivus, so highly revered from of old by the people 
 of Romulus, actually bestrode the globe, and at every step 
 struck out new torrents of blood; or as if the dark Pluto 
 had emerged from the abyss of eternal night, escorted by all the 
 vengeful spirits of the lower world, by all the Furies of passion 
 and insatiable cupidity, by the blood-thirsty demons of murder, 
 to establish his visible empire, and erect his throne for ever on 
 the earth. There can be no doubt that if the Roman history 
 were divested of its accustomed rhetoric, of all the patriotic 
 maxims and trite sayings of politicians, and were presented 
 with strict and minute accuracy in all its living reality, every 
 humane mind would be deeply shocked at such a picture of 
 tragic truth, and penetrated with the profoundest detestation and 
 horror. The licentiousness of Roman manners, too, was really 
 gigantic ; so that the moral corruption of the Greeks appears in 
 comparison a mere infant essay in the school of vice. 
 
 The civil wars that next followed had in all essential points 
 the same character with the first, though the fearful recollection 
 which still dwelt in men's minds, of the times of Marius and 
 Sylla, tended to introduce at first a certain caution in all exter- 
 nal proceedings ; but in the course of their progress, these wars 
 resumed the sanguinary character of the earlier civil contests. 
 The proper circle of the Roman conquests, whose natural cir- 
 cumference was now marked out by all the countries bordering 
 on the Mediterranean, was in the second period of the civil wars 
 pretty well filled up by Caesar and Pompey— by Pompey on the 
 side of Asia, and by Caesar on the side of the incomparably 
 more formidable and more warlike nations of the north-western 
 frontier. The conquest of Gaul was achieved by an uncommon 
 effusion of human blood, even according to a Roman estimation ; 
 and in the fifty battles related by Caesar to have been fought in 
 
262 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 the Gallic war, in the complete subjugation of Spain, in the 
 first wars on the Germanic frontiers and in Britain, as well as 
 in the north of Africa against Juba, and against the son of 
 Mithridates, the number of men left on the field is computed at 
 twelve hundred thousand ; and it is to be observed that as Caesar 
 is his own historian, these estimates have in part been given by 
 himself. Yet he was praised for the goodness and mildness of his 
 character ; but this praise must be measured by the Roman 
 standard, and it is so far true that Caesar was by no means vin- 
 dictive, nor in general subject to passion, nor cruel without a 
 motive. But, whenever his interest required it, he was careless 
 what blood he spilled. The war between Caesar and Pompey 
 extended over all the provinces and regions of the Roman world ; 
 but, when conqueror, Caesar formed and followed up the plan 
 of completing and consolidating his victory by a system of lenity 
 and conciliation. With all his indefatigable activity and con- 
 summate wisdom, with all the equanimity, prudence, and energy 
 of his character, he appears to have been still weak enough to 
 imagine that the laurels he had acquired, in a way unequalled 
 by any, were insufficient without the diadem — at least he gave 
 occasion for such a suspicion. And so the second Brutus perpe- 
 trated on his person the act, for which the elder had been so 
 highly commended by all Roman historians. To relate the 
 subsequent civil war of Brutus and Cassius, the reconciliation 
 between Antony and Octavius, which involved the death of 
 Cicero, the new rupture and war between the latter rivals, would 
 serve only to swell this account of Rome and her destinies. 
 These contests terminated in the establishment of monarchy, 
 when the bloody proscriptions and civil wars of preceding times 
 were forgotten, and Octavius, under the name of Augustus, 
 appeared as the restorer of general peace, and the first absolute 
 monarch of the Roman world ; — a monarch whose long reign 
 was on the whole very happy, when compared with previous 
 times, and who during his life was half-deified by his subjects. 
 Unlimited power was still clothed and half veiled in the old re- 
 publican forms and expressions ; and the recollection of Caesar's 
 fate was too present to the mind of the cautious Augustus, for him 
 ever to neglect those forms and usages. It would really appear 
 as if the world were destined to breath for a time in peace, and 
 to repose awhile from those earlier wars, before another and a 
 higher peace descended, and became visible on the earth — and 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 263 
 
 along with that other, higher and divine peace, a new and spiritual 
 combat, waged not with the warlike parties of old, nor even 
 with external and earthly power, but with the secret and inter- 
 nal cause of all those agitations, and all that injustice in the 
 world. 
 
 A golden age of literature and poetry served now to adorn 
 the general peace, which the mighty Augustus had conferred on 
 the conquered world. This poetry was, however, but a late 
 harvest which flourished towards the autumn of declining pagan- 
 ism. Plautus and Terence we can regard merely as tolerably 
 successful imitators of the Greeks. The beautiful diction and 
 poetry of Virgil and Horace are in a general survey of literature 
 chiefly valuable, inasmuch as they gave a noble refinement to a 
 language which, in modern ages, and even still among ourselves, 
 has been universally current ; but all this poetry, including that, 
 which the richer, more copious, and more inventive fancy of 
 Ovid produced, can be considered by posterity as only a very 
 thin gleaning after the full bloom and rich harvest of Grecian 
 poetry and art. The real poetry of the Roman people lay 
 elsewhere than in those artificial compositions of Greek scholars. 
 It must be sought for in the festive games of the circus, which 
 the prudent Augustus never neglected — in those theatrical com- 
 bats, where the gladiator, wrestling with death, knew how to 
 fall and die with dignity, when he wished to obtain the plaudits 
 of the multitude — in that circus, in fine, which so often after- 
 wards resounded with the cry of an infuriated populace : " Chris- 
 tianos adleones!" " the Christians to the lions, the Christians to 
 the lions!" 
 
 In the department of history, the case was very different from 
 what it was in poetry. There the strong practical sense of the 
 Romans, their profound political sagacity, the far wider circle of 
 their political relations, gave them a decided advantage over the 
 Greeks, who can show no historian possessed of the simple 
 grandeur of Caesar;— a style as rapid, and as straightforward, 
 as the exploits of Caesar himself ; or distinguished, like Tacitus, 
 by that deep insight into the abyss of human corruption ; while 
 to Livy must be assigned a place by the side at least of the most 
 illustrious Greeks. Among the Romans, political eloquence 
 and philosophy, by that union of the two, such as prevails in 
 Cicero's writings, as well as by the greater magnitude and prac- 
 tical importance of the subjects which both found for discussion, 
 
264 
 
 PHILOSOrHY OF 
 
 possess a peculiar charm and value. At this period, the study 
 of Greek philosophy was regarded and prosecuted by the Romans 
 merely as an useful auxiliary to eloquence ; and in the general 
 depravity of morals, and amid the utter indifference for public 
 misery and universal bloodshed, the philosophy of Epicurus 
 naturally found the most admirers. It was only at a later 
 period, when, under the better emperors, some men had under- 
 taken the task of the moral regeneration of the Roman people 
 and the Roman state, that those who entertained this great 
 design sought for the last plank of national safety in the stoical 
 philosophy, which harmonised so well with the austere gravity 
 of the Roman character. Then this philosophy obtained nume- 
 rous followers among the Romans, as in earlier times it had 
 found favour with many of them, especially among the Jurists. 
 
 In the whole circle of human sciences, jurisprudence is that 
 department of intellect, in which the Romans have thought with 
 the most originality, and have exerted the greatest influence ; 
 and which, by means of their writers, has obtained at once a 
 very great degree of refinement, and a very wide diffusion. 
 Caesar had formed the project of a general digest of Roman laws; 
 but this great design, like so many others he had entertained, 
 was left unexecuted ; and the age of Augustus at least was dis- 
 tinguished by two great lawyers of opposite schools. It is by 
 the scientific jurisprudence which they have bequeathed to pos- 
 terity, more than by any thing else, that the Romans have ex- 
 erted a mighty influence on after- ages. It must strike us at 
 first sight as singular that a nation which, in its external rela- 
 tions, had risen to greatness, and indeed had founded its great- 
 ness, on so fearful an access of injustice, should have risen to 
 such eminence in the science of jurisprudence, as the Romans 
 undoubtedly have. But the injustice of their conduct towards 
 other states and nations this people well knew how to conceal 
 under legal forms, and establish on legal titles ; and it often 
 happened that, by the inconsistent conduct of other nations, 
 they were able to give a colouring of equity to their acts, and 
 show on their side the strict letter of law. 
 
 In the next place, the Roman jurisprudence regarded more 
 immediately the relations of private life, and ail the artificial 
 forms of civil law ; and we can well conceive that a people like 
 the Romans, distinguished for so sound a judgment and such 
 strong practical sense, and whose minds were so exclusively bent 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 265 
 
 on civil life, and its various relations, should have attained such 
 distinction in the science of civil jurisprudence, notwithstanding 
 the enormous iniquity of their conduct in the wider historical 
 department of international law ; and here we may find an ex- 
 planation of that apparent contradiction between law and injus- 
 tice, such as we find frequent examples of in human nature and 
 in the records of history. 
 
 There is also another element of contradiction in the Roman 
 law, considered both in itself, and in its relation to other codes 
 — a contradiction which strongly pervaded the whole theory of 
 that legislation, and may furnish us with a clue to a right 
 judgment on the Roman jurisprudence, and on the influence it 
 has exercised on posterity. This is the distinction between 
 strict or absolute law, and the law of equity, that is to say, the 
 law qualified by historical circumstances. In the Germanic 
 law, as it is a law of custom and ancient usage, a law qualified 
 by times and circumstances, the principle of equity is more 
 predominant ; and we have, indeed, reason to regret that this 
 native and original legislation of the modern European nations 
 should, by the prevailing influence of the more scientific juris- 
 prudence of ancient Rome, have been cast into the background, 
 in proportion as those nations began to mistake the true cha- 
 racter of their historical antiquity. The Roman jurisprudence, 
 as it deals in rigid formulas, and adheres to the strict letter, 
 inclines more towards rigid and absolute law ; and its spirit 
 has something akin to the stern international policy of the 
 ancient Romans. But is this strict and absolute law a fit cri- 
 terion to apply to earthly concerns, can it be a true standard 
 of human justice, in its more large and general applications to 
 the great transactions of universal history, and in its relations 
 to divine justice ? Every thing absolute (and such undoubtedly 
 is strict laiv, in the relations of private, and still more in those 
 of public life), — every thing absolute is sure to provoke its con- 
 trary, and if continued, will occasion successive reactions, that 
 can terminate only in the mutual destruction of conflicting 
 parties — the inevitable result of all contests carried to extreme 
 lengths — unless some higher principle of peace intervene to 
 compose and determine them by a divine law of equity. 
 
 But if this conciliating principle do not pronounce its sen- 
 tence, or if it be not attended to, extreme injustice only can 
 spring from this rigid and inflexible application of extreme law ; 
 
266 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 and this is quite in the splint of the old saying of the Jurists, 
 which we must here apply in a more general sense, in order to 
 estimate with truth and accuracy the nature of the contests 
 which divide the world. " Let justice be done," they say (and 
 the word is here used in the juridical sense of strict and abso- 
 lute law), — "let justice be done, though the world should be 
 ruined." And we may well say in reply : — Woe to mankind, 
 woe to every individual, woe to the world, were they doomed 
 to be finally judged according to this rigid justice, and this 
 rigid justice only, by Him who alone has the power and the 
 right to dispense such severe justice unto men, and judge them 
 by its rules. But since such full and inexorable justice belongs 
 to God only, who is incapable of error ; and since all human 
 justice is but the temporary delegate of the divine ; it should 
 necessarily be mild, indulgent, qualified by circumstances ; and 
 should on the principle of equity be as lenient as possible, and 
 be ever mindful of its due limits. And this principle is appli- 
 cable to the most important as well as the most insignificant 
 relations of life, and is so thoroughly connected with them all 
 that, according as we adopt the one or the other principle of 
 strict and absolute law, or of mild equity, the whole of our 
 conduct, opinions, and views of the world must differ. The 
 power of the state is only a temporary and delegated power, 
 destined to accomplish the ends of divine justice ; and this 
 dignity, indeed, is sufficiently exalted, and the responsibility 
 attached to it sufficiently great ; but this supreme human jus- 
 tice, unless it disregard its own limits, as well as those of 
 mankind, is not divine justice, nor the immediate authority of 
 God, nor God himself. 
 
 The old hereditary vice and fundamental error of the Roman 
 government, and, indeed, of the Roman people, was that po- 
 litical idolatry of the state, to which the false theory of strict 
 and absolute law was of itself calculated to lead. Although 
 the absolute power of Augustus was still somewhat veiled under 
 the old forms of the republic, yet even in his reign commenced 
 the formal deification of the person of the prince, and, under 
 the succeeding emperors, it exceeded all bounds, and descended 
 to the basest forms of adulation. And even if this idolatry had 
 been paid, not so exclusi vely to the person of an Augustus or a 
 Tiberius, as to the idea of the state identified with that person; 
 and if thus the real object of that pagan worship had been in 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 267 
 
 the latest, as in the earliest times, Rome, the eternally pro- 
 sperous, the everlastingly powerful, the world- destroying, and 
 people-devouring Rome, to which every thing must fall a sacri- 
 fice; still it was not the less a thorough political idolatry. 
 And as a sensual worship of nature eminently characterised 
 the poetical religion of the Greeks —as the abusive rites of 
 magic were peculiar to the false mysteries of Egypt — so this 
 third and greatest aberration of paganism — political idolatry in 
 its most frightful shape, formed the distinguishing character 
 and leading principle of the Roman state, from the earliest to 
 the latest period of its history. 
 
 Under Augustus, the Roman empire was well-nigh rounded 
 off in extent, since the geographical situation, as we before 
 observed, of all the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, 
 might be considered a sufficiently wide natural frontier. The 
 countries on the coast of Africa were protected by the contiguous 
 deserts ; on the northern side of the empire, which was more 
 menaced by invasion, the strongly fortified borders of the 
 Rhine and the Danube formed a secure barrier. Towards the 
 eastern and Asiatic frontier, the Parthians were indeed a 
 powerful and formidable enemy; but there was no probability 
 they would ever seek, as the Persians had once done, to pene- 
 trate so far beyond their boundaries; while, on the other hand, 
 the Romans had no real interest in extending their conquests 
 further into that region, or into the interior parts of central 
 Asia, as such a policy would only lead them further from the 
 centre of their empire and their power, now unalterably fixed 
 in Italy, and the old eternal city. The thoughts and feelings 
 of all the better Romans were no longer turned on the aggran- 
 disement of their empire, but solely and exclusively on a great 
 internal regeneration of public morals, and, as far as was prac- 
 ticable, of the state itself, according to those ideal conceptions 
 which they formed of old Rome in her better and more pro- 
 sperous days. These projects of social regeneration were 
 nearly in the same spirit and of the same tendency as those 
 which the better emperors of succeeding ages, a Trajan and a 
 Marcus Aurelius, actually attempted to accomplish. Others 
 again were filled with apprehensions for the future ; and well, 
 indeed, might they entertain the most alarming presentiments; 
 for when the licentiousness of public morals was growing to a 
 more and more fearful height, and a succession of indolent 
 
268 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 emperors was hastening the downfal of the state, the strong 
 fortifications of the northern frontier could afford little protec- 
 tion, and the nations of the north must burst in without resist- 
 ance upon the empire. This event did really occur, though at 
 a much later period ; but all that was to precede that event — 
 the quarter whence the new principle would rise up in the 
 world, that was to overcome Rome herself, and regenerate 
 mankind — all this was certainly not anticipated by any Roman 
 of those times, however generous and exalted might be his sen- 
 timents, and profound and penetrative his understanding. Nay, 
 when this phenomenon did actually appear, it was but too evi- 
 dent that they were at first unable to seize and comprehend its 
 meaning and purport. And what was, then, that new power 
 which was to conquer, and did really conquer, the earthly con- 
 querors of the world? The old universal empire of Persia, and 
 the subsequent one of Macedon, had long since passed away, 
 and disappeared from the face of the earth. The oppressive 
 military despotism of Rome had to fear no rival that would at 
 all equal her in power. The influence of the Greek philosophy, 
 which had previously sunk into great degeneracy, was com- 
 pletely debased under the yoke of Roman domination, and 
 barely sufficed to adorn and dignify the Roman sway, still 
 less to work a fundamental change and reform in the Roman 
 government. 
 
 It was the divine power of love, tried in sufferings, and sacri- 
 ficing to high love itself, not only life, but every earthly desire ; 
 and from which proceeded the new words of a new life, a new 
 light and moral and divine science, that was to unfold new 
 views of the world, introduce a new organisation of society, 
 and give a new form to human existence. And such was that 
 primitive energy of Christian love, which displayed itself in the 
 internal harmony and close union of the Christian church; in 
 the rapid diffusion of its doctrines through all the countries and 
 among all the nations of the then known world; in its courageous 
 resistance to all the assaults of persecution; in the careful pre- 
 servation of its purity from all alloy and corruption; in its firmer 
 consolidation and more manifold development in words, and 
 works, and deeds ; in writings and in life ; that not many genera- 
 tions, and but a few centuries, had passed away, before Christianity 
 became a ruling power in the world — an indirect and spiritual 
 power, indeed, but more than any other active and influential. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 269 
 
 A passage on Elias in the Old Testament, which we have 
 already had occasion to cite, may be applied to the imperceptible 
 beginnings of this great moral revolution, produced in the 
 world by a new effort of God's power. When the prophet, 
 from the bottom of his soul, had sighed after death, and had 
 journeyed for the space of forty days towards the holy moun- 
 tain of Horeb, the splendour and omnipotence of the Deity 
 were revealed to him, and passed before his mortal eyes. 
 There came a great and strong wind, which overthrew the 
 mountains and split the rocks; but, as the Scripture saith, God 
 was not in the wind. There came afterwards a violent earth- 
 quake with fire — but God was neither in the earthquake, nor 
 in the fire. Now there arose the soft breath and gentle 
 whistling of a tender air : in this, Elias recognised the imme- 
 diate presence of his God, and in awe and reverence he veiled 
 his face. Such was the origin of Christianity, as compared with 
 the all-subduing and world-convulsing sway of the conquering 
 nations of preceding ages. 
 
 In the last years of Augustus, the first deified emperor, 
 occurs the birth of our Saviour; in the time of Tiberius, the 
 foundation of the Christian religion; and in the reign of Nero, 
 the first perfectly authentic record of that great event in the 
 Roman History. There is, indeed, an account which says 
 that, previously, Tiberius, on the report of the Roman go- 
 vernor, Pontius Pilate, had received information of the new 
 religion, and had made a formal proposal to the senate to place 
 Christ among the gods, according to the Roman custom, and 
 to declare him worthy of divine honours. It is true, indeed, 
 that the single testimony of Tertullian, on which this account 
 rests, is not of such weight and historical importance as not to 
 be obnoxious to many serious doubts, which perhaps, however 
 have been carried somewhat too far. It still remains a clear 
 historical testimony on a matter of fact ; and as long as this is 
 susceptible 6*f a natural explanation, it argues a perverse spirit 
 of historical criticism, or rather a total absence of all criticism, 
 to be ever suspecting fabrications and supposititious writings. 
 That an account of this great event might, nay, must almost 
 necessarily, have been transmitted to Rome by the Roman 
 procurator of the province of Judea, is proved by the narrative 
 of Tacitus, who connects the name of this governor with the 
 first mention of the Christians. Such an account may have 
 
270 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 been easily sent even by the Roman captains, who were in 
 Palestine, and one of whom we know, as an eye-witness, gave 
 such a memorable testimony in favour of the Son of God, who 
 had died upon the cross ; for, according to the general tradi- 
 tion of the church, this man afterwards became a Christian. 
 There is, again, in the character of Tiberius, nothing at all at 
 variance with this account; for, however dark, and mistrustful, 
 and cruel, and corrupt might be the character of that emperor, 
 we cannot deny he was possessed of a powerful and pro- 
 found understanding. He was by no means unsusceptible of 
 religious impressions, nor indifferent on matters of religion; 
 but he followed therein his own peculiar views and opinions ; 
 and hence it is quite natural that his attention should be easily 
 drawn to any extraordinary religious event. He detested, and 
 even persecuted, the Egyptian idolatry and the Jewish worship, 
 and ordered that the sacerdotal robes and sacred vessels of their 
 priests should be burned. He had a strong faith in destiny, 
 was somewhat addicted to astrology, and dreaded signs in the 
 heavens. If his hostility towards the Jews, and his persecution 
 of that nation, be alleged as an objection to the truth of this 
 narrative (as if it were absolutely necessary that he should have 
 confounded the Christians with the Jews), we may reply that 
 this is a purely arbitrary hypothesis, and that it is far more 
 natural to conclude, that when Tiberius had received from 
 Pilate, or other Roman captains, certain intelligence of the life 
 and death of our Saviour, he was, no doubt, informed by these 
 eye-witnesses of the hatred and persecution which our Saviour 
 had sustained from the Jews. The single fact, indeed, that 
 Christianity was so much opposed to the pagan worship and the 
 political idolatry of the Romans — as, for instance, to the sacri- 
 fice before the image of the emperor — was in all probability 
 not stated nor clearly explained in this first account, composed 
 by persons very little acquainted with the true nature of the new 
 revelation. Otherwise such an account would have produced on 
 a man imbued with Roman prejudices, no other impression but 
 that of aversion and disgust. The idea and proposal itself, of 
 regarding an extraordinary man, endowed with wonderful and 
 divine power, as God. and as worthy of divine honours, has 
 nothing at all improbable in itself, or at all inconsistent with 
 Roman rites and usages, or with Roman opinions respecting 
 gods and deified men. The only thing really improbable in 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 271 
 
 the whole affair is, that the senate at that time should have 
 dared to oppose and contradict Tiberius in this matter. How- 
 ever, if the senate, as we may easily imagine, were hostile to 
 the proposal of Tiberius, it was easy for them to adopt some 
 evasive form, and indirectly to impede and set aside this mat- 
 ter, which, as it regarded old national rites, fell entirely within 
 their jurisdiction. But this circumstance, as we said before, is 
 the only thing which appears at all exaggerated in this ac- 
 count. It is easy to understand from this how the proposition 
 of Tiberius, which was never carried into execution, should 
 have fallen into complete oblivion, and should never have come 
 to the knowledge of Tacitus; as we may conclude, from his 
 account of the Christians, that he would not otherwise have suf- 
 fered this circumstance to pass unnoticed. Singular and re- 
 markable as this fact may be, it is of no importance in itself; it 
 forms only a single incident in the strange and contradictory 
 impressions which the new religion produced on the minds of 
 the Romans. A passage of Suetonius, in his history of Clau- 
 dius, would show that the Christians were confounded with the 
 Jews; for, speaking of that emperor, he says, "he expelled the 
 Jews from the capital, for, at the instigation of Chrestus, they 
 were ever exciting troubles in the state/ 9 Chrestus, in the Greek 
 pronunciation, has the same sound as Christus ; and we may 
 easily conceive, that what the Christians said of their invisible 
 Lord and Master, that he interdicted them such and such pagan 
 rites, may, in a matter so totally strange and unintelligible to 
 the Romans, have been easily misunderstood, as applying to a 
 chief and party leader actually in existence. In the same way, 
 by the troubles spoken of in the passage above-cited, may be 
 understood the accustomed and just refusal of the Christians to 
 comply with the illicit demands of the pagans. 
 
 A fuller light is thrown on this subject by the narrative of 
 Tacitus in his history of Nero ; and, however much the Chris- 
 tian religion may be misrepresented by the Roman historian, 
 his account has still a character thoroughly historical, and amidst 
 its very misrepresentations, is perfectly intelligible, if we take 
 care to distinguish the chief historical traits. When Nero, at 
 the height of his crimes and presumption, had set Rome on fire 
 in order to have a lively and dramatic spectacle of the burning 
 Troy, he afterwards strove to screen himself from the odium of 
 this misdeed, and to throw the blame entirely upon the Chris- 
 
272 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 tians, who must have been then tolerably numerous in Rome. 
 Tacitus thinks they were not the authors of the conflagration 
 laid to their charge ; and his feelings revolt at the inhuman 
 cruelties which JNero inflicted upon them ; but, he adds, many 
 horrible things were said of them, and that it was known in 
 particular they were animated by sentiments of hatred towards 
 the whole human race. That we are to understand by this 
 hatred towards the human race nothing more than that rigid 
 rejection by the Christians of all the idolatrous rites, maxims, 
 and doctrines of the heathen world, is perfectly evident of it- 
 self. Among the horrible things of which the Christians were 
 accused, we are in all probability to understand the repasts of 
 Thyestes, for their enemies make use of that very term in their 
 accusations ; — accusations which were received with eager cre- 
 dulity by a populace that held them in abhorrence. Although 
 this charge was no doubt afterwards the effect of malicious 
 calumny and deliberate falsehood, yet it is very possible that a 
 gross misconception may originally have given rise to it, and 
 that this accusation, egregiously false as it was, proceeded from 
 an obscure and confused knowledge of the mystery of the holy 
 sacrifice, and of the reception of the sacrament in that divine 
 feast of love solemnised in the Christian assemblies. 
 
 Even in the official report, which the better and well-meaning 
 younger Pliny transmitted to Trajan in the year 120, while he 
 was governor of Pontus and Bithynia, we can clearly discern 
 the embarrassment of the generous Roman, who was at a loss 
 how to consider the new religion, so perfectly mysterious 
 and totally inexplicable did it appear to him ; and who in 
 consequence was quite undetermined what he was to do, and 
 how he was to treat the matter. He writes that, according to 
 the confessions wrung from the Christians by torture, after the 
 Roman custom, they were found to entertain an excessive, 
 strange, heterogeneous, and very perverse, faith or superstition ; 
 but that in other respects they were people of irreproachable 
 morals, and who, on a certain day of the week, Sunday, assem- 
 bled in the morning to sing the praises of their God, Christ, and 
 to engage themselves to the fulfilment of the most important 
 precepts of virtue, and that they met again in the evening to 
 enjoy a simple and blameless repast. He adds that their num- 
 bers had already increased to such an extent that the altars of 
 paganism were nearly abandoned ; and that a great number of 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 273 
 
 women, boys, and children belonged to their sect. He is at a 
 loss to know, with respect to the latter, whether he should make 
 any difference in the degree of punishment which, it appears, 
 they have inevitably incurred under the old Romans laws against 
 all societies and fraternities not sanctioned by the state ; and 
 on this subject he demands further instructions from the 
 emperor, in this memorable official letter, which is still extant, 
 and contains the most ancient portrait of the Christians drawn 
 by a Roman hand. 
 
 Thus then, in this period of the world, in this decisive crisis 
 between ancient and modern times, in this great central point 
 of history, stood two powers opposed to each other. — On one 
 hand, we behold Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero, the earthly gods, 
 and absolute masters of the world, in all the pomp and splendour 
 of ancient paganism — standing, as it were, on the very summit 
 and verge of the old world, now tottering to its ruin : — and, on 
 the other hand, we trace the obscure rise of an almost imper- 
 ceptible point of light, from which the whole modern world was 
 to spring, and whose further progress and full development, 
 through all succeeding ages, constitutes the true purport of 
 modern history. 
 
 END OF LECTURE IX. 
 
 T 
 
274 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 LECTURE X. 
 
 On the Christian Point of View in the Philosophy of History. — The 
 Origin of Christianity, considered in reference to the Political World. 
 — Decline of the Roman Empire. 
 
 A regular history of the life of our Saviour, recounted like any 
 other historical occurrence, would, in my opinion, be out of place 
 in a philosophy of history. The subject is either too vast for 
 profane history, or in its first beginnings too obscure, whether 
 we consider its internal importance, or in a mere historical point 
 of. view, its outward appearance. A thinking, and in his way 
 well-thinking Roman, when he had obtained a more accu- 
 rate knowledge of the life of our Saviour from the accounts 
 of the Iloman procurator, or other Roman dignitaries in Pales- 
 tine, might have expressed himself respecting the whole trans- 
 action in the following terms : 1 4 This is a very extraordinary 
 man, endued with wonderful and divine power (for such vague 
 and general admiration might well be indulged in by a heathen, 
 who yet adhered to the fundamental doctrines of his ancestral 
 faith), a man who, he would continue to say, has produced a 
 great moral revolution in minds, and was, according to the most 
 credible testimony, of the purest character and most rigid morals, 
 who taught much that was sublime on the immortality of the 
 soul and the secrets of futurity ; but who was accused by his 
 enemies, and delivered over to death by his own people." Such, 
 perhaps, would have been the judgment of a Tacitus, had he 
 • drawn his information from better and less polluted sources. So 
 long, however, as all these transactions were confined to the 
 small province of Judea, the soundest and best constituted Roman 
 mind could have scarcely felt a more than passing regret at the 
 perpetration of so signal an act of private injustice, and would, 
 in other respects, have not regarded it as an event which could, 
 in a Roman point of view, be termed historical, or worthy to 
 occupy a place in the more extended circle of his own world. 
 It was only when Christianity had become a power in the 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 275 
 
 world — the principle of a new life, and of a new form of life 
 totally differing- from all preceding forms of existence, that it 
 began to attract the attention of the Romans, as a remarkable 
 historical occurrence. How perfectly unintelligible, strange, 
 and mysterious, this mighty event at its origin, and for a long 
 time afterwards, appeared to the Romans ; how erroneous and 
 absurd were their opinions and conduct in regard to the Chris- 
 tian religion, we have already shown by some characteristic 
 examples. 
 
 On the other hand, when we view the whole transaction with 
 the eye of faith — when we consider all that has since grown up 
 in the world out of beginnings apparently so small — the case 
 changes its aspect in our regard ; and we are then inclined to be- 
 lieve that the mysteries and miracles of our Saviour's life and 
 death — nay, the whole system of his doctrine, which is intimately 
 connected with those mysteries and miracles, and is itself the 
 greatest mystery and miracle, should be abandoned exclusively 
 to religion, and, as they transcend the ordinary sphere of history 
 would be misplaced in a work of this nature. I will, therefore, 
 pre-suppose a knowledge of these sacred mysteries, and, without 
 entering into any examination of them, will endeavour to de- 
 scribe the state of the world, and the aspect of society, when 
 the Christian religion first made its appearance. A notice of 
 some particular points of doctrine, connected with politics and 
 history, either in respect to the past or to the future, is by no 
 means incompatible with my plan ; but a complete examination 
 of the whole system of Christian doctrines, as of any other 
 great system of doctrine or philosophy, would, for the reason I 
 have alleged, be quite misplaced in a work of this description. 
 I will, in the next place, endeavour to show the historical 
 influence which this divine power has exerted, and point out 
 how, from its very origin, and still more in its progress, it 
 entirely renovated the face of the world. 
 
 Doubtless, the philosophy of history forms an essential part 
 of the science of divine and human things — things which in the 
 mode of conceiving or treating them, should be rarely and even 
 never entirely separated. For how is it possible to attain to a 
 just and correct knowledge of human things, in any department 
 of life and science, unless they be viewed in relation to, and con- 
 nexion with, the divine principle which animates or directs them? 
 
 A certain medium, however, is to be observed, and the limits 
 
 T 2 
 
276 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 must be clearly and accurately traced between divine and human 
 things, lest the one department should be confounded with the 
 other. For as it is very prejudicial to religion to make it merely 
 a matter of learned historical research ; so it is inconsistent with 
 the object of historical philosophy to transform it into a mere 
 series of religious meditations. Undoubtedly, historical philo- 
 sophy can, and ought, to assume the divine principle in man — the 
 divine image planted in the human breast — as the great pivot 
 of human destiny, the main and essential point in universal his- 
 tory, and the restoration of that image as the proper purpose of 
 mankind. 
 
 Thus the philosophic historian may endeavour, as I have 
 attempted, to point out the divine truth contained in the primi- 
 tive revelation, the original word which was current among the 
 nations of the primitive age, in the second period of the world — 
 the decisive crisis, between ancient and modern times — he will dis- 
 cover in the Christian religion, the sole principle of the subsequent 
 progress of mankind : and the distinctive character and intel- 
 lectual importance of the third or last epoch of the world, he will 
 find only in that light, which, emerging from the primitive revela- 
 tion, and the religion of love established by the Redeemer, has 
 shone ever clearer and brighter with the progress of ages, and has 
 changed and regenerated not only government and science, but 
 the whole system of human life. Here is the principle which 
 furnishes the plan of classification for all the great epochs of 
 history. From this philosophic survey of history, the historian, 
 in the accomplishment of his task, may, with great propriety, point 
 out and illustrate the ways and views of Divine Providence in 
 the conduct of particular nations and ages, and in the destiny 
 of remarkable personages, or historical characters, when those 
 views and ways are strikingly perceptible to our feelings. Yet 
 it is better that this train of observations should not be too sys- 
 " tematically prosecuted, but should be introduced occasionally 
 only, and as it were episodically, in those passages of history, 
 where such reflections naturally present themselves : and they 
 should ever be confined within the limits of a modest suggestion; 
 for all these reflections are only the esoteric spirit — the internal 
 religious idea of history. Otherwise, the historian will be ex- 
 posed to the danger of introducing a system of providential 
 designs prematurely formed according to human insight and 
 human sagacity, into the yet unfinished drama of the world's 
 history, whose comprehensive vastness and hidden mysteries, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 277 
 
 besides, far exceed the narrow limits of all that man can con- 
 ceive, judge, and know, with certainty. And this is a defect 
 which many writers have not entirely avoided in their otherwise 
 very religious meditations on universal history. So far, however, 
 as the historian confines his train of reflections within the modest 
 limits of a mere partial explanation, and does not prematurely 
 anticipate the general scheme of divine polity, or plunge too 
 deeply, and with presumptuous confidence, into its details ; he 
 will find much and obvious matter for such considerations, in 
 the visible selection of particular individuals, and particular 
 nations, and even ages, for the accomplishment of certain ends, 
 for the attainment on their part of prosperity, glory, or some 
 high object in some particular sphere. But this power thus 
 allotted to particular individuals or to particular nations, exerts 
 even at the time a general influence on the fate of mankind, and 
 evidently accomplishes the designs of Providence with regard to 
 the world at large, forms a point of transition from past ages, 
 or opens a passage to some manifestation of Divine Power, with 
 respect to the future. In the progress of human civilisation, 
 such designs are frequently manifest. Nay, on the great ques- 
 tion of the permission of evil, when it exerts a widely destructive 
 influence in the moral and physical world, and on the views of 
 God in that permission, the enlightened historian may some- 
 times succeed, if not in penetrating into the hidden decrees of 
 divine wisdom, yet at least in uplifting a corner of the mysterious 
 veil which covers them. In particular phenomena of history — 
 such, for example, as the destruction of a whole nation, the Jews 
 for instance; or in the overwhelming calamities, the general 
 miseries inflicted on a corrupt age, manifesting, clearly as they 
 do, the retributive justice of God — calamities which, when re- 
 garded from this point of view (and it is only from this point of 
 view they can be rightly judged), appear like a partial judgment 
 of the world — in all such historical phenomena, a modest refer- 
 ence to the final causes of such events may be exceedingly ap- 
 propriate. This idea of divine justice, and of God's judgments 
 on the world exemplified in history, belongs undoubtedly to the 
 province of historical philosophy ; and, as man's resemblance to 
 his Maker constitutes the first foundation-stone of history, this 
 more practical principle, relating as it does to real life and all 
 its mighty phenomena, forms the second. 
 
 But the mystery of grace in the divine redemption of mankind, * 
 
278 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 transcends the sphere of profane history. The Christian philo- 
 sophy of history must indeed tacitly pre -suppose the truth of 
 that mystery, and assume it as known, and indeed as self evident 
 to all well-thinking persons — it must even, under the inspira- 
 tion of this faith, refer it to very many, the greater part, indeed 
 almost all, of the facts and phenomena of history — but it should 
 forbear to introduce it into its own province, and should leave it 
 to the sanctuary of religion. In the same way, whenever philo- 
 sophy attempts to incorporate and rank this mystery with her 
 own speculative conceptions, the consequence must ever be hurt- 
 ful to religion ; for, as philosophy thus attempts to explain and, 
 as it were, deduce this mystery from her own speculations, the 
 mystery of redemption ceases to be a divine fact, and it is only 
 as such that it is, and can be, the true and eternal foundation of 
 religion. I wish here expressly to do away with an opinion 
 which is completely unhistorical, and even subversive of all his- 
 tory. I cannot more truly and succinctly designate this opinion, 
 than by stating it as follows: — Christ, to say it in one word was a 
 Jewish Socrates, and this purest, noblest, and sublimest of all 
 ethical teachers (according to the rationalists' interpretation of 
 his ^history) met with a fate no less deplorable for mankind than 
 that which befel the Athenian philosopher, and the wisest of all 
 the Grecian sages. In reply to this, one observation only need 
 be made — If Christ were not more than a Socrates, then a 
 Socrates he was not.* But this opinion is not only unhistorical, 
 or, to speak more properly, anti-historical, because it is in utter 
 opposition to all covenants, testimonies, authentic records, and 
 even Christ's express declarations ; but fully as much, and even 
 still more on this account, that if we once remove this divine 
 key- stone in the arch of universal history, the whole fabric of 
 
 * In confirmation of this pithy sentence of Schlegel's, I may cite a 
 remarkable passage from the celebrated Lessing, which, as coming from 
 an infidel, may perhaps have more weight with the Unitarian. " If 
 Christ," he says, "is not truly God, then Mohammedanism was an un- 
 doubted improvement on the Christian religion: Mahomet, on such a 
 supposition, would indisputably have been a greater man than Christ, 
 as he would have been far more veracious, more circumspect, and more 
 zealous for the honour of God, since Christ, by his expressions, would 
 have given dangerous occasion for idolatry; while, on the other hand, 
 not a single expression of the kind can be laid to the charge of Maho- 
 met." — Lessing } s Beitrage zur Geschichte und Litteratur. Vol. II. p. 41Q, 
 —Trans. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 279 
 
 the world's history falls to ruin — for its only foundation is this 
 new manifestation of God's power in the crisis of time — this 
 hope in God abiding unto the end. For, although I do not 
 consider a formal demonstration of the truth of the Christian 
 religion as falling within the province of profane history ; yet 
 the belief of its truth, a faith in its dogmas, is the only clue in 
 such investigations. Without this faith, the whole history of 
 the world would be nought else than an insoluble enigma — an 
 inextricable labyrinth — a huge pile of the blocks and fragments 
 of an unfinished edi6ce — and the great tragedy of humanity 
 would remain devoid of all proper result. 
 
 Confining myself within those limits which the very nature of 
 the subject, and the force of circumstances prescribe, and which 
 I have here thought it necessary to mark out with exactness, I 
 shall now, in order to see under what circumstances Christianity 
 first arose in the world, and appeared on the domain of history, 
 direct your attention more immediately to the Jewish state. 
 
 Dependent at first on the Grecian dynasty of Egypt, and at 
 a subsequent period subdued by the sovereigns of the new 
 Syrian monarchy, which sprang out of the dismemberment of 
 the Macedonian empire, the more virtuous portion of the Hebrew 
 people evinced, under the religious persecution they had to sus- 
 tain from the latter monarchs, much constancy in the old faith 
 of their fathers ; for which, indeed, several of the heroic family 
 of the Maccabees had the courage to lay down their lives. 
 From these rulers they were rescued by the Romans, who took 
 them under their powerful protection, which, with the Jews, as 
 with all other nations, was soon transformed into a systematic 
 and very oppressive domination. The Jewish people were so 
 far involved in the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, that 
 each party favoured that aspirant to the throne of Judea, most 
 favourable to its own designs. Under the monarchy of Augustus, 
 Herod, who was created tributary sovereign of Palestine about 
 forty years before the Christian era, was the last who had been 
 promoted to sovereignty amid this conflict of parties. The 
 temple of Jerusalem, that had been rebuilt with the permission 
 of Cyrus, still remained in all its pomp and grandeur. If a 
 profane curiosity had tempted Crassus and Pompey to intrude 
 within its sanctuary, on the other hand, the munificence of 
 Herod had added to its size and increased its decorations. Al- 
 though Herod ever retained a partiality for Roman customs, and 
 
280 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 still more for Grecian opinions, yet the temple of Jerusalem — con- 
 sidered, not as the august sanctuary of Heaven's revelations to 
 the chosen people, but as the centre of attraction for the Jewish 
 nation, situated as it was in the midst of a great commercial 
 city (one of the largest in all Western Asia), and forming at 
 once the treasury, and by its close proximity to the citadel, the 
 rampart of the city and of the state — must have been regarded 
 by Herod as the seat of his power, and the nearest object of his 
 ambition. There were at that period among the Jews two par- 
 ties, which, like those of the Patricians and Plebeians in the civil 
 wars of Rome, bear some resemblance to the parties that at 
 present divide the world: although in their relative position 
 towards each other, as well as in their internal character and 
 tendency, there are many important points which distinguish 
 them from the parties at present existing. Though from the 
 predominant spirit and peculiar constitution of the Jewish 
 people, the subjects of contention between the two parties 
 related chiefly or more immediately to matters of religion ; yet 
 politics were not entirely excluded from their disputes, which 
 embraced in general the whole of human life and its various 
 relations. The Pharisees were the chief scribes and doctors of 
 the law, and in the state, the honoured patricians of the Hebrews, 
 who sought to maintain the ancient faith and ancient constitution 
 of their country with its rights and jurisprudence adhering in- 
 deed with a rigid scrupulosity, and a contentious subtlety to the 
 letter of the old law, while they had long forgotten its divine 
 spirit, and were notorious for their attachment to their own in- 
 terests, their selfish feelings, and false and contracted views. As 
 they acknowledged, and respected with the most scrupulous 
 fidelity all existing laws, they sided, apparently at least, with 
 the Romans, though they never entertained a cordial attach- 
 ment for those conquerors, and indeed they ever cherished the 
 hope of being able to ensnare the great teacher, so beloved by 
 the Jewish people, into a declaration against the Roman rule, 
 as in their limited views they conceived he must, sooner or 
 later, be necessarily driven to that expedient, in order to sustain 
 his popularity. But it cannot be doubted that the cause which 
 the Pharisees defended was, on the whole, the legitimate cause of 
 the Hebrews of that period, since our Saviour himself expressly 
 acknowledged this, when he said of the Pharisees, — "They sit 
 in the chair of Moses, and whatsoever they command you, that 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 281 
 
 do ye." It was precisely because they had made the old law, 
 and the cause of God, their own cause, that so much was ex- 
 acted of them ; and that they were judged with so much seve- 
 rity by our Saviour ; apparently with greater severity than were 
 the Sadducees themselves, who by an Epicurean philosophy, and 
 a latitudinarian system of morals, had fallen almost entirely 
 from the faith, had affixed a mere human interpretation to 
 Scripture, and had even called in question the doctrine of the 
 immortality of the soul. If in this sect there were individuals 
 entertaining purer and more exalted notions of the truth, we 
 must regard them rather as happy and honourable exceptions. 
 We must not, besides, forget, that the severe judgments on the 
 Pharisees, which occur in Scripture, refer only to the more 
 degenerate among them — a great portion, doubtless, perhaps 
 the greater part ; but by no means include the whole sect or 
 body, among whom were many worthy individuals. 
 
 We ought also to recollect that the Apostle Paul was a 
 Pharisee, and though a well-intentioned, yet a very zealous one, 
 for all his writings show the man who had sat at the feet of 
 Gamaliel : the latter again was the grandson of the illustrious 
 Hellel, who is named as one of the last great doctors of the 
 Hebrews, who was profoundly versed in their sacred traditions, 
 and was, indeed, one of the last pillars of the synagogue. The 
 Jewish history or tradition mentions seven species of false 
 Pharisees, to whom all the reproaches of our Saviour are per- 
 fectly applicable. Many other Pharisees, besides the Apostle 
 Paul, are mentioned with honour in holy writ, as friends and 
 disciples of our Redeemer, though they had not the courage 
 openly to declare themselves his followers. 
 
 Whenever, in the history of mankind, we arrive at some 
 epoch of great crisis, or momentous collision, we find invariably, 
 and in all countries, two contending parties like these appear- 
 ing at once on the historical arena, though in forms or positions 
 variously modified. The party defending antiquity, often adheres 
 only to the dead letter of rigid law, forgetting its inward sense and 
 living spirit ; while the opposite party, which has a strong con- 
 viction that the world stands in need of a new legislation, and 
 that the epoch of a new legislation approaches, is not entirely 
 in the wrong. But when the members of the latter party have 
 lost all faith in the sacred traditions of the past, and have con- 
 sequently forgotten that the great work of regeneration can 
 
282 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 emanate from God only ; they conceive that it is in their power 
 to accomplish this work — nay, they fancy they have already suc- 
 ceeded in their enterprise, while all their futile attempts can 
 accomplish nought but a total revolution in the past — a revolu- 
 tion brought about either by external violence, or, in its best 
 and mildest form, by the internal ruin of moral principle and 
 feeling. Between these extreme and conflicting parties, indivi- 
 duals are often found who fly from the field of contention, and 
 seek out a higher asylum, at least for themselves. Such were 
 those small communities of holy contemplatives that then ex- 
 isted among the Jews, the Essenians in Palestine, and the The- 
 rapuntse in Egypt ; but these ascetics, limited in number, formed 
 a trifling exception by the side of the two great predominant 
 sects. It was between these two leading parties — on the one 
 hand, the narrow-minded and selfish Jewish legitimatists — stiff 
 adherents to the letter of the law; and, on the other hand, the 
 liberal illumines ; — between the old promises and expectations 
 of the Hebrews, and the Roman dominion, now become and 
 acknowledged to be legitimate, — that our Saviour had to steer ; 
 and it required a more than human prudence to traverse this 
 critical period, unaffected by the spirit of contending factions. 
 " Give unto Caesar what belongs to Csesar," was his simple 
 declaration, when men sought to entrap him by their worldly 
 cunning : and this declaration has remained a fundamental pre* 
 cept of Christianity, and will continue unchanged to the end of 
 time. And so will that other oracle, " Thou art a rock, and 
 upon this rock I will build my church f in this there is a clear 
 and distinct precept how Christians were to treat those pagan 
 pretensions of the Romans which regarded acts of political idol- 
 atry, such as the sacrifice before the image of the emperor, and 
 acts of a similar kind ; and how, as witnesses of the truth against 
 all the powers of earth, they were to seal their testimony with 
 their blood. The capital error of the Jews lay in this, that in 
 the Deliverer, promised to them of old, they now generally ex- 
 pected an earthly liberator destined to emancipate them from 
 the oppressive yoke of the Romans, and to restore their national 
 empire to its highest glory and splendour. And, indeed, had 
 they not carried their notions on this point to such extreme 
 lengths, and with such unyielding obstinacy, much might have 
 been alleged in their excuse. According to the usual character 
 of prophetic speech, the portrait of a spiritual Deliverer, invested 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 283 
 
 with real glory and pomp, had been drawn in such vivid colours 
 in those ancient prophecies, that the description might, in many 
 passages at least, be easily mistaken for one of an earthly 
 monarch. Or, to express my meaning with greater accuracy 
 and precision, as it is the peculiar character of sacred prophecy 
 to represent events about to follow, in immediate contact with 
 the ultimate objects to which they tend, there are often in those 
 prophetic descriptions of the future prosperity of the chosen 
 people, many passages on the remote period of the last ages of 
 the world, and on the universal triumph of Christianity through- 
 out the earth at the end of time ; there are often, we say, many 
 of those passages which also refer and indeed contain the closest 
 allusions to the commencement of the Christian redemption. 
 In the same way, although in a different sort of subject, we see 
 our Saviour himself foretell the impending ruin of Jerusalem 
 and of the Jewish nation, while his lamentations are closely 
 linked, and almost confounded with, prophetic warnings respect- 
 ing the awful and terrific scenes of latter times, and the ap- 
 proaching day of general account ; although both these events, 
 the ruin of the temporal Jerusalem, and the last glorious trans- 
 formation of nature, when creation shall be consummated, and a 
 new heaven and a new earth shall spring into existence, are to be 
 strictly regarded as real and historical. So close an attention, and 
 so great a power of discrimination are requisite to distinguish 
 between parts, to combine the whole, and place each particular 
 part in its proper point of view. But the best excuse that can 
 be offered for the Jews, in this respect, is the fact, as the Scrip- 
 ture clearly showeth, that all the followers of our Saviour, and 
 his most trusty disciples, were at first under the same delusion, 
 and for a long time believed that, though the right moment had 
 not yet arrived, still their master would certainly appear as the 
 earthly Deliverer and Monarch of his nation ; and indeed the 
 idea of his sufferings and death was so abhorrent to their feel- 
 ings that they even dared to express their disapprobation, and 
 upbraid their Saviour for entertaining such thoughts ; for it was 
 only at a much later period the bandage fell from their eyes. 
 And the great reproach which we are to make the Jews is that 
 they should have adhered with such obstinacy to an error, very 
 excusable under certain circumstances, and that after all they 
 had heard, seen, and experienced, they should have still closed 
 their eyes against the light. The conduct of our Saviour to- 
 
284 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 wards the Jews is often represented in a manner little conform- 
 able to historic truth, and to the spirit and character of this 
 mighty revolution, when it is said that he entirely abrogated the 
 whole system of the Mosaic law. The outward scaffolding was 
 indeed removed, when it had ceased to be necessary ; such were 
 all those laws which applied only to that state of strict separation 
 from heathen nations, which at an earlier period had been of 
 Such absolute importance. Very many things were still retained; 
 and all now received in the fulfilment a higher spiritual signifi- 
 cation ; and this was natural, when we consider that in Judaism 
 itself every thing which had not been designed merely for local 
 and temporary wants, from the very commencement of that dis- 
 pensation, was typical of Christianty. The twelve apostles, as 
 well as the first seventy-two disciples were taken exclusively 
 from the chosen people, and even, in this respect, the divine 
 promises were completely fulfilled, and> literally observed. The 
 constitution of the ancient hierarchy has very evidently furnished 
 the pattern for that of the Christian priesthood ; though this of 
 course has been adapted to the wider circle of a higher and 
 more spiritual system. The expression, "My kingdom is not 
 of this world," does not imply that it was not to be in this 
 world a real and effective power, with a form and organisation 
 clearly defined. Many have read so much, or inferred so much, 
 from this declaration, that they could not adopt an easier or 
 more polite method of shutting out this divine empire of truth 
 from the world. In the hours of the greatest solemnity, the 
 divine Master revealed to his disciples the hidden sense of the 
 ancient revelation in all the plentitude of its mysteries. As the 
 Saviour himself said that every word and syllable of the old 
 law must be literally fulfilled ; as in general the spiritual inter- 
 pretation of the divine oracles is by no means inconsistent with 
 their literal truth and inviolable sanctity; so the same remark 
 will apply to the new revelation, in which every word and every 
 syllable of prophecy will receive a full and practical accomplish- 
 ment before the consummation of time. Even in another point 
 of view particularly worthy the consideration of the historian, 
 Christianity must be regarded only as a divine continuation, a 
 higher and more expansive form, or spititual renovation, of the 
 Mosaic institution; and was so intended by its divine Founder; 
 namely, in those aspirations after futurity, which now so exclu- 
 sively directed the whole of human life, and its various views. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 285 
 
 The law of divine wisdom, by which earthly existence is to 
 be looked upon only as a state of expectation, of preparation, 
 and of struggle — a view of life alone accordant with human 
 nature — that law has retained its full force in the new covenant. 
 For the primitive Christians, death was what the Saviour said 
 of himself, a return, a passing unto the Father, but life was one 
 ceaseless struggle. For him who unto the end fought steadfast 
 in this struggle, the angel of death was divested of his terrors ; 
 he was a celestial messenger of peace, that brought to the 
 Christian the bright garland of victory, and the crown of 
 eternal life ; in this faith and in these sentiments, did the saints 
 live and the martyrs die. And as every human soul is con- 
 ducted to the realms above by the gentle hand of its divine 
 guardian ; so the Saviour himself has announced to all mankind, 
 in many prophetic passages, that when the period of the disso- 
 lution of the world shall approach, he himself will return to the 
 earth, will renovate the face of all things, and bring them to a 
 close. So lively an assurance had the first Christians of the 
 immediate presence of their invisible lord and guide, so vivid a 
 hope did they entertain of his speedy return to the earth ; that, 
 in order to check the aspirations of a zeal that would accelerate 
 the period of consummation so ardently desired, Divine Provi- 
 dence judged it necessary that the Prophet of the New Testa- 
 ment should close the volume of eternal revelation with that 
 long succession of ages that were to witness the progressive 
 struggle of humanity — all those centuries of Christianity that 
 mankind was yet to traverse, before the promise should be ful- 
 filled, and in the fulness of time the final and universal triumph 
 of Christianity throughout the earth should be accomplished, 
 for all mankind must be gathered into one fold, and under one 
 Shepherd. According to the spirit and precept of the Christian 
 religion, man must at every moment be prepared ; but he must 
 not, in a presumptuous ardour, accelerate the term of existence 
 fixed by the wisdom of Almighty God. Thus, all those Chris- 
 tians who, during the times of the most violent persecution of 
 the church under the Romans, courted the danger, and would 
 not await the honour of martyrdom, were warned that such 
 conduct was by no means conformable to the will of God ; as it 
 often happened that those who, by such an overweening confi- 
 dence in their own strength, had wantonly rushed to the field 
 of danger, succumbed under their torments, and fell from the 
 faith. 
 
286 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 Had the Jews but opened their eyes in the right time ; had 
 they acknowledged the divine fulfilment of ancient promises in 
 the mission of Christ, which was in fact far more exalted and 
 more splendid than any thing they had expected ; and had all, 
 or even the greater part, of the nation embraced Christianity ; 
 they would have become the mighty stem — the great founda- 
 tion — the central point of all modern history, and all modern 
 life. But as they did not correspond to this call of Divine Pro- 
 vidence, a call fully justified by their circumstances, their early 
 history, and the prerogatives which the Almighty had once ac- 
 corded to them above all other nations : the justice of God re- 
 quired that they should now receive a signal chastisement, that 
 they should be deprived of their national existence, dispersed 
 among all the nations of the earth ; and that, in this state of 
 ruin and dispersion, they should serve as a memorable example 
 to the world. But this humiliation of the Jews, which was cal- 
 culated to draw down the contempt of the heathen, who looked 
 only to outward things, should have never given rise to oppres- 
 sion or ill-treatment among Christian nations ; and the more so, 
 as it is still a problem whether any other people placed in a 
 similar situation, and warped by selfish prejudices, and old and 
 deep-rooted errors, would have done better ; or whether man- 
 kind in general, subjected to a similar trial, would have come 
 off more successfully, 
 
 The old temple of the holy city was not, like the idolatrous 
 temples of the heathens, a mere magnificent monument of 
 national glory, adorned with all the splendour of art ; but the 
 idea and plan of the whole structure, its minutest parts, every 
 stone, and every cipher, were clearly indicative and profoundly 
 symbolical of that invisible temple, that mighty city, that divine 
 kingdom of peace, which Christ was to establish on earth, and 
 which he had now at length come to establish. Even the name 
 of Jerusalem, according to the Hebrew signification of the word, 
 has the emblematic sense of revelation and foundation, or city 
 of peace, by which is understood not a mere earthly and tran- 
 sitory peace, but that higher and divine peace which forms the 
 subject of all the promises made unto the chosen people. This 
 prophetic sense and typical design of the holy city is so closely 
 connected with the origin and whole idea of the city, that in 
 some passages of the Old Testament such figurative expressions 
 are used, as if the whole business, nay the whole life, of man had 
 no other object "than to build up the walls of Jerusalem j" in 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 287 
 
 the same way as if a Christian moralist were to say, the proper 
 end and ultimate object of mankind, and of the history of all 
 nations and ages, is the kingdom of God, that is to say, the 
 ever wider diffusion and firmer consolidation of Christian truth 
 and Christian perfection throughout the world. When the spiritual 
 and internal sense of this mighty and historical hieroglyph of 
 the Jewish people was no longer understood ; when the mighty 
 truths which it embodied, at the very moment they were about 
 to receive their full explanation and perfect development, were 
 misunderstood and rejected ; what was more natural than that 
 the emblem, which had lost its meaning, should be effaced, the 
 temple destroyed, and the city itself levelled and razed by the 
 arm of divine justice ? This is the view which the Christian his- 
 torian must take of that mighty and fearful catastrophe which 
 now befell Jerusalem, and the whole Jewish people, under Ves- 
 pasian ; and indeed the impression which this event made on the 
 Jews, though somewhat diversified by national sentiments, is, in 
 all essential points, conformable to our own feelings. That in 
 every such widely destructive disaster, which by divine permission 
 may afflict any portion of the human race, the loving wisdom of 
 God will know how to take each individual soul under its special 
 protection, and will guard and spare it, at least, in its immortal 
 part, is a truth so evident to every religious mind, that it is unne- 
 nessary to enforce it at any length. If, as the Scripture saith, 
 " the hairs on a man's head are numbered," so will each day, nay 
 each hour, each pulsation of human existence, be counted ; yea, 
 every heartfelt tear the eye of sorrow shall shed, will be reckoned 
 by the guardian spirit of eternal love. But this religious regard 
 for the fate of individuals, and this humane sympathy with their 
 misfortunes, must be kept within its proper sphere in historical 
 disquisitions, where the principal design is to study and observe, 
 as far as the limited perception of man will permit, the mighty 
 course of divine justice, through all ages of the world. 
 
 When the Jews were disappointed in the hope they had en- 
 tertained of a liberator, who was to be sent from above armed 
 with divine power to deliver them from the stern yoke of Roman 
 domination; exasperated by the ever-increasing tyranny of their 
 masters, after several partial insurrections, the whole nation, 
 three-and-thirty years after the death of our Lord, broke out 
 into open rebellion ; and the whole country, torn by infuriated 
 factions, which fanatic hate inspired with the courage of despair, 
 exhibited all the horrors of the most terrific revolution. The 
 
288 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 savage warfare of the Romans in such a deadly struggle, we 
 have already learned from the example of Carthage ; for how- 
 ever mild and benevolent might be the personal character of 
 Titus, it was out of his power to introduce any change in the 
 system of war ; and the number of men that perished in the 
 siege and ravages of the holy city is estimated at 1,300,000 ; 
 including the small number that were led away captives, or re- 
 served to grace the triumph of the conqueror. The Emperor 
 Hadrian rebuilt the city, which had been totally destroyed, 
 under the new and pagan name of iElia Capitolina, and even 
 erected within it a temple to Jupiter : but no Jew was permitted 
 to enter within its walls. At a later period the Emperor Julian 
 had intended to re-establish the Jews in their ancient city, and 
 in all probability it was his hostility to Christianity which had 
 inspired him with the design ; but unexpected events and phy- 
 sical obstacles* opposed the execution of this plan. 
 
 The Jewish covenant and the old revelation of the Hebrews 
 formed the chief corner-stone on which Christianity was founded; 
 and the first apostles of the new religion were all chosen 
 from among that people. The Scriptures of the new covenant 
 were composed in the Greek tongue, and the first apologies, 
 and other expositions of faith, or books of instruction by the 
 primitive fathers, were mostly written in the same language. 
 We may therefore consider this language as forming the second 
 foundation-stone of the Christian edifice. Though the politi- 
 cal consequences of the Macedonian conquests in Asia were not 
 of any permanence, yet the influence which those conquests 
 have exerted on the intellectual character of nations, the as- 
 cendency which they gave to the Greeks over the whole civil- 
 ised world of that period, were by no means unimportant. It 
 was by means of these conquests that the philosophy and lite- 
 rature of the Greeks became, along with their language, pre- 
 dominant in Egypt and the western countries of Asia ; and 
 hence this language was adopted as the original tongue of 
 Christianity ; because no other at that period had attained such 
 intellectual refinement, or such general diffusion. As in human 
 society every class and condition of life, nay, every individual, 
 by the peculiar rights and advantages which each exclusively 
 enjoys, still serves the community, and contributes to the weal 
 of others, unconsciously and without precisely wishing it ; so 
 
 * By this expression, Schlegel does not mean to question the super- 
 natural agency that produced those obstacles. — Trans. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 289 
 
 in the history of the world, and in the progress of nations, all 
 things are closely interlinked, and one serves as the instru- 
 ment, auxiliary, or bond of union, to the other ; and it was not 
 one of the least important results of the Greek science and 
 language, that the two points wherein that nation had risen 
 to the greatest eminence, and was endowed with the greatest 
 power, should both have been so nearly allied with the cause of 
 Christianity, even from its origin. The Roman empire was 
 the third foundation-stone of the Christian religion ; for its 
 vast extent facilitated in a singular manner the early and very 
 rapid diffusion of Christianity, and formed, indeed, the ground- 
 work on which the fabric of the new church was first con- 
 structed. 
 
 In the history of the primitive church, historians are wont to 
 separate the different branches of their subject, which form so 
 many different parts of a single whole, and thus to describe 
 separately the dogmas and doctrines of the church, its holy 
 rites and sacraments, its liturgies and festivals, and next its 
 moral condition and external relations ; and this division of the 
 subject may, no doubt, very well answer the special design of 
 such ecclesiastical histories. But if we wish to take a more 
 general view of the subject, to seize the spirit of Christianity, 
 and form a just, true, and lively conception of the primitive 
 church, we must be particularly careful not to forget in the 
 investigation of those several heads, that they formed one un- 
 divided and living whole in the eyes of the first Christians, amid 
 the overflowing fulness of a new moral life ; and of this spirit 
 of unity, as well as of the wonderful energy of faith and love 
 which was its never-failing source, it is almost impossible for us 
 to form a full and adequate notion. Christianity, in its primitive 
 influence, was like an electric stroke, which traversed the world 
 with the rapidity of lightning — like a magnetic fluid of life, 
 which united even the most distant members of humanity in 
 one animating pulsation. Public prayer and the sacred mys- 
 teries formed a stronger and closer bond of love among men, 
 than the still sacred ties of kindred and earthly affection. Some 
 persons have affected to compare the secret assemblies of the 
 primitive Christians with the pagan mysteries ; and undoubtedly 
 it was only in secret, and in the retired and obscure oratory, 
 that the first followers of Christ could gather together amid 
 the fury of general persecution. But, from a competent 
 
 u 
 
290 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 knowledge which we possess of the import of those pagan mys- 
 teries, they had about as much resemblance to the religious 
 assemblies of the primitive Christians, as the divine sacrifice of 
 holy commemoration, and the chalice consecrated with the 
 blood of the eternal covenant, bore to the human sacrifices of 
 the Cainites. The Christians saw and felt the presence of 
 their invisible King and eternal Lord; and when their souls 
 overflowed with the plenitude of spiritual and heavenly life, 
 how could they value earthly existence, and how must they not 
 have been willing to sacrifice it in the struggle against the 
 powers of darkness ; for that struggle formed the whole and 
 proper business of their lives ? — Hence we can understand the 
 reason of the otherwise incredibly rapid diffusion of Christianity 
 through all the provinces, and even sometimes beyond the limits, 
 of the vast empire of Rome ; — like a heavenly flame, it ran 
 through all life, kindling, where it found congenial sympathy, 
 all that it touched into a kindred fervour. Hence, along with 
 that mighty spirit of love which produced so rapid a spread of 
 the Christian religion, and which united in the closest bonds 
 the first Christian communities, that energy of faith which 
 inspired such heroic fortitude under the dreadful and oft-renewed 
 persecutions of the Romans, The first persecution under Nero 
 was only a momentary freak of blood-thirsty tyranny — a pass- 
 ing trait of that monster's cruelty. The first regular edict 
 against the Christians in the Roman empire was passed by 
 Domitian in the 87th year of our era, and, according to a 
 custom which had been borrowed from the Jews, he assimilated 
 the offence of dissent from the national religion to the crime of 
 high treason. The better Nerva softened the rigour of this 
 law, and declared that the denunciations of slaves against their 
 masters were not to be received, but, on the contrary, such in- 
 formers were to be severely punished. Trajan also, on the 
 before-mentioned report of the younger Pliny, decided, in the 
 120th year of our era, that the Christians, who were then un- 
 commonly numerous, were not to be sought after, but that, 
 when denounced, they should be punished according to the law 
 existing against such religious associations and communities. 
 But notwithstanding all these apparent mitigations of severity 
 introduced by the better emperors, the criminal jurisprudence 
 of the Romans, like their foreign warfare, ever remained most 
 atrocious ; and in the passages and allusions which are to found 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 291 
 
 in ancient historians, concur with the general voice of Christian 
 tradition in stating the prodigious crueltie-s inflicted on the 
 Christians in those persecutions. In general Hadrian pursued 
 that milder and middle course of policy which Trajan had com- 
 menced before him ; he approved of legal and judicial perse- 
 cutions against the Christians, but he strictly prohibited those 
 tumultuary attacks which were the mere ebullitions of popular 
 hatred. With many vicissitudes, Christianity remained in this 
 state until the reign of Diocletian, who, pursuing a far more 
 systematic plan than most of his predecessors, attempted entirely 
 to root it out ; but this was no longer possible, and the growing 
 church received its first formal edict of pacification at the hands 
 of the emperor Constantine. The pagan enthusiast Julian 
 attempted a second time to subvert it, but it was now too late. 
 In the struggle against pagan cruelty and Roman persecution, 
 Christianity had come off victorious ; in bondage, and under 
 every species of suffering, it had proved the invincible might of 
 the divine arm ; — and, next to the apostles, the martyrs, so 
 highly revered by the gratitude of Christians, must occupy the 
 second place among those who were instrumental in bringing 
 about this mighty renovation of society, and who sealed their 
 efforts with their blood. But we must not imagine that 
 the martyrs, as mere men, and by their unassisted strength, 
 could have endured such dreadful torments with such unshaken 
 constancy ; or, again, that they were the mere unconscious 
 instruments of a divine fatality, without the co-operation of 
 their free, clear, and steadfast will. By the side of those who 
 were constant, many individuals were found that were not so, — 
 many, who, overcome by suffering, delivered up the holy Scrip- 
 tures, or entirely apostatised from the faith and sacrificed to 
 idols ; so that it was afterwards a matter of dispute, how far 
 the lapsed could be pardoned and received again into the 
 church. 
 
 After that period was past which had witnessed the reign of 
 those inhuman tyrants that immediately succeeded Augustus, 
 several of the more virtuous emperors sought by various expe- 
 dients to bring about the moral regeneration of the people and 
 empire of Rome. Trajan, who possessed much of the recti- 
 tude and old martial virtues that belonged to the elder and 
 better period of Rome, sought to introduce these again ; and, 
 though the effects of his policy were transient, they were still 
 
 u 2 
 
292 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 beneficial. Hadrian endeavoured to re-animate paganism, and 
 to make it once more the basis of the empire and of public 
 life ; for this purpose, he had recourse especially to the more 
 profound and austere theology of Egypt ; and that new- 
 Egyptian style which characterises the later monuments of 
 Roman art, was connected with the emperor's predilection for 
 the old religion of Egypt. But the healthy vigour, the moral 
 regeneration of public life, and of the empire itself, could not 
 now be obtained by the maintenance or firmer consolidation, 
 of the pagan religion ; on the contrary, it is in the erroneous 
 nature of the primitive paganism of Rome that we must seek 
 for the principal cause why, even in that elder period now so 
 highly extolled, and which certainly was at least better, a true, 
 pure, and stable system of morals and politics could never take 
 root and flourish. Under the two Antonines, the severe 
 morality of Stoicism was regarded as the vital principle of 
 moral regeneration and political reform, and a practical appli- 
 cation of its principles was sought for on all sides. And 
 certainly if the Stoical philosophy, with its mere dead letter of 
 rigid justice, and correct morality, unsupported by the divine 
 maxims of right faith, and that spirit of exalted love which 
 true faith alone can impart, could have accomplished this high 
 design ; — if it had possessed within itself this mighty source ; 
 this creative energy of moral and social life ; the serious deter- 
 mination and personal virtues of those imperial Stoics might 
 indeed have promised to the declining age of Rome the fulfil- 
 ment of the last hope to which paganism yet clung. But 
 that which does not rest on the basis of truth, can receive no 
 life from any external cause ; and it can impart no life to any 
 thing without, because it is decayed within, and when the 
 illusive bloom of first youth has fled, it sinks inevitably into 
 its native corruption. " When the Lord doth not build the 
 house," saith the Psalmist, " those who would build it labour in 
 vain." To the better times that had witnessed the rule of the 
 three or four great monarchs we have mentioned, the reign of 
 a Commodus succeeded ; and thus the empire, down to the 
 time of Diocletian, beheld a constant mutation of rulers, some- 
 times benevolent, or at least comparatively good, whose reigns 
 however were often but of short duration, sometimes weak and 
 spiritless, and sometimes again tyrants of the most abject and 
 atrocious cast. Among these latter sovereigns however, who 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 293 
 
 in cruelty and arbitrary caprice resembled the first successors of 
 Augustus, there were no characters possessed of that strong 
 Roman sense which distinguished Tiberius ; and the empire 
 in their hands assumed daily more and more a thoroughly 
 effeminate and Oriental complexion. 
 
 Nothing was more subject to chance than the right of suc- 
 cession in the Roman empire, where the arbitrary application 
 of the Roman principle of adoption opened a wide field to the 
 contention of parties ; without including the frequent recur- 
 rence of conspiracies in a military empire, which, as it was 
 formed by a military conspiracy, ever retained the stamp of its 
 origin. Augustus had employed his whole life, not without 
 apparent success, for a time at" least, in endeavouring to give 
 to authority, acquired by force of arms, the colour and forms 
 of legitimacy. But how could it ever be forgotten that 
 he, as well as Caesar, had been raised to the imperial throne 
 by the army, and amid the struggles of factions, conspiracies, 
 and civil wars. The soldiers knew this, and recollected but too 
 well the source whence the supreme power in the state had 
 emanated. The influence of the Praetorians, especially, was, 
 from their origin, very considerable, as they surrounded the 
 emperor, and formed his body-guard. By virtue of his office, 
 the leader of the Praetorians had a sort of negative and con- 
 trolling power, like that of the censor and popular tribune in 
 the ancient republic, except that this functionary wielded the 
 sword,— a power in some degree acknowledged by the emperor 
 himself, as it was accounted one of the highest merits of Trajan, 
 that to the chief of that troop which defended the person, and 
 often decided the fate of the emperor, he delivered the sword 
 with these words : "For me, if I govern well— against me, if 
 I should become a tyrant." 
 
 Thus the empire was entirely abandoned to chance and 
 caprice, and as its origin was military, it remained unto the 
 end essentially a military despotism. The more powerful 
 legions that were quartered in the most important provinces, 
 especially in those of the frontiers, soon began to feel that they 
 were far superior in numbers and strength to the effeminate 
 Praetorians of the capital. Several emperors were elected and 
 proclaimed by these legions ; and in the number, such even as 
 were not Romans, and were of barbarian extraction ; for it hap- 
 pened that, in the provincial legions, many foreigners, especially 
 
294 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 Germans, were engaged in the Roman service in the provinces 
 on the north-western frontier. Several of the emperors thus 
 chosen by the legions, continued to reside where the centre of 
 their power existed — in the station, or in some provincial 
 capital conveniently situated. The senate had long been but 
 a mere shadow of its former greatness ; even the capital began 
 to lose much of its importance. 
 
 At the same time the repeated incursions of the northern 
 nations ever rendered a general invasion more imminent, and 
 the disaster, which men had foreseen from afar, appeared ever 
 nearer its accomplishment. Already the first irruption of the 
 Cimbri and Teutones, when not merely an army for the sake 
 of booty, or to plant a military colony, but a whole tribe with 
 wives and children had migrated into the Roman territory, 
 threw Rome into consternation during the civil wars, when she 
 was at the very height of her military prowess. Caesar had 
 spared no exertion to reduce Gaul to complete subjection, and 
 this country had ever since adopted more and more the lan- 
 guage and customs of Rome. He experienced from no people 
 such vigorous resistance as from the Germanic tribes; and to 
 protect against these nations the safety of the empire, by 
 strongly fortifying the banks of the Rhine and Danube, con- 
 stituted afterwards the first concern of the Roman emperors. 
 What a shock Augustus received from the defeat of Varus, by 
 the German Arminius in his native woods! Even under the 
 martial Trajan, who was almost the last conqueror in the line 
 of Roman emperors, men began to entertain serious appre- 
 hensions of the invasion of the Germanic tribes. The first 
 great irruption was that of the Alemanni, who, under Marcus 
 Aurelius burst into the Rhaetian provinces, while similar move- 
 ments occurred in Noricum and eastward towards Pannonia. 
 However, Marcus Aurelius, by an energetic and successful re- 
 sistance, repelled this first attempt, and thus was the means of 
 deterring the barbarians for a long time from similar enter- 
 prises; and a hundred years elapsed before Aurelian drove 
 them again from Italy, over the Alps as far as the Lech. Among 
 the German nations, the Goths, who from the Scandinavian 
 isles had penetrated far into the interior of Germany, particu- 
 larly towards the eastern, as afterwards towards the western, 
 parts of that country, were pre-eminent in power. They could 
 not be prevented from obtaining a firm footing in the north- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 295 
 
 eastern provinces, by the Black Sea. The Emperor Decius 
 perished in the war against this people ; and the Romans were 
 obliged to surrender to them, by a formal treaty, the further 
 Dacia. Constantine, indeed, was victorious in the war he 
 waged against them; but he preferred to conclude an advan- 
 tageous peace, to gain their friendship, and enlist their youth 
 in the service of the Roman armies. Of the later reigns that 
 of Diocletian displayed the greatest energy ; but this cruel per- 
 secution of the Christians was, even to judge from the mere 
 external state of society, as little adapted to the spirit of the 
 age as it was reprehensible in itself, and hence his design re- 
 mained unaccomplished. Although, after his abdication, Dio- 
 cletian showed himself a thorough Roman in private life, yet, 
 while he swayed the sceptre, he deemed it expedient to sur- 
 round the throne with all the pomp and forms of Asiatic homage. 
 The division of the empire among several sovereigns appeared 
 then, as afterwards, under Constantine and his successors, an 
 unavoidable and necessary evil ; or, in other words, the several 
 parts and members of the vast body of the Roman Empire, 
 which approached nearer and nearer to its dissolution, began to 
 fall to pieces, and that division itself accelerated again the de- 
 struction of the state, as it became the occasion of internal 
 discord, and universal convulsion in the Roman world. The 
 revolution accomplished by Constantine, indeed, might have 
 become a real, and by far the most comprehensive regeneration 
 of the Roman state, as it substituted for its originally defective 
 and now completely rotten foundation of paganism, a new 
 principle of life, a higher and more potent energy of divine 
 truth and eternal justice. But Christianity had not yet near 
 become the universal religion of the people, and empire of 
 Rome — otherwise the great re-action, which took place under 
 Julian, had not been possible. The peasantry in particular, 
 continued for a long time yet attached to the old idolatry ; 
 and hence the name of pagans was derived.* Even Constan- 
 tine, though he publicly declared himself a convert to Chris- 
 tianity, still did not dare to receive baptism immediately, and 
 thus enter fully into the great community of Christians. The 
 administration of the Roman state was so completely inter- 
 woven with pagan rites and pagan doctrines, that, from an 
 
 * From the Latin word Pagus, a rural district. 
 
296 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 act of this public nature, dangerous collisions might have at 
 first easily ensued. On the whole, the old Roman maxims and 
 principles of state -policy continued to prevail, even for a long 
 time after the reign of Constantine ; and the period had not 
 yet arrived when Christianity was to work a fundamental re- 
 form throughout the whole political world, — and a Christian 
 government, if I may so speak, was to be established and or- 
 ganised on that eternal basis, and to strike deep root and grow 
 into the faith and life of the people, and into their habits and 
 their feelings ; but this great revolution was reserved for an- 
 other and a later period. 
 
 END OF LECTURE X, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 297 
 
 LECTURE XI. 
 
 Of the Ancient Germans, and of the Invasion of the Northern Tribes — 
 The March of Nature in the Historical Development of Nations — 
 Further Diffusion and Internal Consolidation of Christianity — Great 
 Corruption of the World — Rise of Mahometanism. 
 
 The idolatry of the ancient Germans, like the less poetical, less 
 artificial, and less elaborate paganism of all primitive nations, 
 consisted in a simple adoration of nature, such as existed among 
 the Persians, with whom they had a very close affinity in race 
 and in language. Thus the objects of their worship were the 
 stars, the sun, and the moon, the celestial spirits, the various 
 powers and elements of nature, and in particular the mother 
 earth, under the name of the goddess Hertha. In the German 
 and English names for the days of the week, the names of the 
 gods, Thun, Wodan, Thor, and Freya, are still preserved ; and 
 these in the Germanic mythology correspond to the planets, 
 most clearly visible from our globe — Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, 
 and Venus ; as it is also from these the Romanic languages 
 have taken the names of the week days. It does not appear, 
 indeed, that there existed in Germany quite so powerful, influ- 
 ential, and well -organised a body of priests, as the Druids com- 
 posed in Gaul ; and we can only discover the existence of cer- 
 tain secret rites and mysteries of a very primitive simplicity ; 
 as, for instance, the human sacrifice which was offered to the 
 lake Hertha, in the Isle of Rugen, when a young man and 
 maiden were thrown into its solitary waters. It was in the ob- 
 scurity of woods, under the sacred oak, or by the Linden, the 
 tree of northern enchantment, and on the mountain tops, they 
 celebrated their rites, festivals, and entertainments, or arranged 
 the Runic sticks to search into futurity ; and as, among the 
 Greeks, the Delphic oracle in moments of general danger was 
 consulted, and gave its advice on the most important concerns 
 of the nation ; so the prophetesses and sybils of the north, like 
 
298 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 the Velleda mentioned by the Romans, exerted a very decisive 
 influence on the public councils. Old poetical traditions of 
 gods, heroes, giants, and spirits (in many respects like those of 
 Persia), formed the key-stone of the sacred recollections and 
 national existence of the Germanic nations. 
 
 Their original descent from Asia remained ever strong and 
 lively in their remembrance, and allusions to it were interwoven 
 into the whole body of their traditionary poetry ; and as in the 
 Persian traditions, the Arii are celebrated as the most generous 
 and heroic nation of the primitive ages, so the Asae occupy the 
 most distinguished place in the northern mythology. In the 
 Scandinavian north, which remained pagan for many centuries 
 after Germany had become Christian, there are still extant 
 many monuments and songs of a similar purport and strain ; 
 and of these, indeed, abundant vestiges are to be found every- 
 where. Those old historical traditions and this hereditary 
 poetry had often a very powerful influence on real life, and on 
 the martial enterprises and achievements of the tribes ; and as 
 in the heroic ages of the Greeks, according to the Homeric de- 
 scription, so in those times the bard, proclaiming the history of 
 gods and heroes, and attending on the person of the prince or 
 general of the army, was by no means an unimportant per- 
 sonage. 
 
 A monarchy of such wide extent as the ancient kingdom of 
 Persia, did not exist in Germany. The constitution, if we can 
 apply such a term to the wild freedom of those early ages, was 
 more like that of Greece in the heroic times, when she was 
 governed by her noble families, and her territory was divided 
 into a number of petty kingdoms, which only rarely united in a 
 great league for a common enterprise. This primitive Germanic 
 constitution was a very simple and free aristocracy of nature. 
 The tribe that composed the nation was an union or confederacy 
 of freemen and nobles under an hereditary tribe -prince, or 
 chosen leader ; and it was only at a later period that among 
 some of the Germanic nations, this confederacy gave way to a 
 regular regal government. Every freeman, and every man hav- 
 ing a right to bear arms, was a member of the Hermannia, 
 which was afterwards called the arriere-ban ; and it was this 
 ancient Hermannia that gave rise to the Roman name for Ger- 
 many. The land was cultivated by bondsmen and slaves, who 
 had been either purchased, or taken prisoners in war, or were 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 299 
 
 the conquered remnant of the ancient inhabitants of the 
 country, or even men who for some crime had forfeited their 
 freedom and nobility. When the Romans became better ac- 
 quainted with the Germanic nations, the latter had partly 
 become an agricultural people ; and they observed that very 
 primitive custom of letting their fields lie alternately in fallow 
 —a custom which has been so long retained in the north of 
 Germany, under the name of dreyf elder -wirth-schaft. Pri- 
 yate property in land itself was not yet marked out nor enclosed 
 within any exact limits — there was still much common land, 
 and this was naturally an inducement for the different tribes, 
 whenever they had a favourable opportunity, to change their 
 abode and migrate. But this infant agriculture was still held 
 subordinate to the occupations of the chase and of the pastoral 
 life, which furnished the principal means of subsistence. The 
 different forests that still exist in Germany are merely the re- 
 maining fragments of the one, vast, boundless Hercynian fo- 
 rest, that once extended through the whole interior of the 
 country. From the quantity of wood that yet remained, the 
 soil of Germany was much more marshy, and its atmosphere 
 incomparably colder, than at the present day. The buffalo 
 and the elk, which at present are so very rarely to be met 
 with in Germany, were then animals indigenous to our country. 
 
 That this condition of the soil, and this unsettled mode of 
 life, in a growing population are circumstances quite sufficient 
 to account for a partial, though (without other co-operating 
 causes) not perhaps for the general emigration of a whole tribe, 
 must be evident to every person. Internal factions and wars 
 are quite adequate causes for the emigration of a whole tribe, 
 or, at least, of a considerable portion. In the early ages it 
 was customary, when the population became too numerous, 
 for the younger brothers, or a certain number of youths 
 chosen by lot, to quit their country under the guidance of a 
 leader of their choice, or of one marked out by fame, and, pro- 
 ceeding on an expedition of adventure, conquer other homes 
 for themselves, and seek out their fortunes towards the east, or 
 towards the west, or beneath the fairer sky of a southern 
 region. Even in a more advanced, nay, in the most ad- 
 vanced, stage of civilisation, every state and nation is neces- 
 sitated by nature, if I may so speak, to disburden itself of a 
 redundant population, and to extend itself in new settlements 
 
300 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 — in one word, to found colonies, and to possess colonies. 
 This is the standing law — the fundamental rule of health in 
 the progressive development of nations ; and where this neces- 
 sity does not exist in an equal degree, we must consider it 
 only a case of exception, and we shall be sure to find out that 
 some special cause precludes the operation of this principle for 
 a time: for, sooner or later, nature will force us to this ex- 
 pedient. The commercial colonies of the Phoenicians and 
 Greeks were in part founded, and certainly at least defended, 
 extended, and consolidated, by force of arms ; and it is only 
 by similar means, that in modern times, Mexico and Peru 
 have become colonies of Spain. 
 
 But in those early ages, and among those northern, warlike 
 children of nature, this natural necessity of emigration could 
 take no other course, nor have any other object but a military 
 settlement. Such was the result of the first irruption of the 
 northern nations, mentioned in history — the expedition of the 
 Gauls into Thrace, which was soon succeeded by a second of a 
 similar kind under Brennus ; when that Gallic general marched 
 at the head of his troops into Macedon and Greece, and be- 
 came master of the rich temple of Apollo at Delphi, and of 
 all its accumulated treasures. A remnant of these troops 
 finally fixed their abode in Asia Minor, and established a 
 Gallic settlement in a province which from them received 
 the name of Galatia. In this first great expedition, or irrup- 
 tion of the northern nations, the names of almost all the tribes 
 and their leaders are Celtic ; still some few German names are 
 found amongst them ; and this may be easily accounted for, 
 when we recollect that the Gauls, who were then widely 
 spread, and inhabited even the north of Italy, were un- 
 doubtedly in possession of most of the Alpine countries, and 
 thus may easily have engaged in their service some German 
 tribes. Who knows but what some marvellous tradition, and 
 fabulous account of the lovely climate and delicious fruits of 
 the southern regions, together with recollections of their 
 original descent from the southern nations of Asia, may have 
 contributed to bring the Cimbri and the Teutones from the 
 islands of Scandinavia to the plains of Italy? Had the Ro- 
 mans not dreaded the dangerous precedent, and had- they but 
 allotted lands to these nations, they might easily have kept terms 
 of peace with them, and enlisted their most valiant youth in 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 301 
 
 the service of their legions ; as, indeed, under the later em- 
 perors, the flower of their troops was selected from the Gothic 
 tribes. 
 
 But the case was widely different when the relations of 
 peace and war, the proximity of frontiers, and the occupation 
 of the German territory, brought the Romans in closer contact 
 with the Germanic nations ; as, for instance, in the campaigns 
 which Ca3sar conducted against the chief of the Suevi, Ario- 
 vistus ; Tiberius against Maroboduus, king of the Marcomanni ; 
 and the general of Augustus against the Saxon prince, Her- 
 mann. Here both parties diligently studied and observed 
 each other's excellences and defects, and mixed in the most 
 various intercourse. Thus Hermann's father lived among the 
 Romans; his brother bore a Roman name; and his nephew 
 was educated at Rome. Maroboduus himself repaired thither, 
 desirous, like a prudent foe, to examine with his own eyes 
 the capital of Roman greatness and power. Among the Ger- 
 man tribes and their leaders, factions were sometimes formed 
 even against Hermann and Maroboduus ; and, at a later period, 
 these divisions had no inconsiderable influence on the relations 
 of the Germanic nations with the Romans, and on their foreign 
 enterprises. The Roman frontier on the banks of the Rhine 
 and the Danube, fortified by a long line of castles, fortresses, 
 and cities, lay for the most part within the German territory, 
 and was inhabited by some German tribes, or German settlers 
 that had been attracted thither. Here the nations of Germany 
 saw their brethren of a kindred race, living, indeed, under 
 the control of Roman laws, which those who still retained 
 their freedom, sought to repel by force of arms ; but on the 
 other hand, they observed the high cultivation of a country, 
 blessed with all the advantages of civilisation, and adorned with 
 so many of the arts of life, with the culture of the vine, and a 
 variety of the most exquisite fruits. And when in the course 
 of the almost incessant wars waged on the frontier, they either 
 encountered a feeble resistance, or observed some defect in the 
 mode of Roman defence, the desire to prosecute their fortune, 
 and penetrate into those beautiful countries, must have con- 
 siderably augmented. As, three centuries ago, the fabulous 
 account of treasures of gold, and rich ores of silver, to be found in 
 America, drew hosts of Spanish and other European adventurers 
 over the Atlantic to the shores of the newly-discovered conti- 
 
302 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 nent ; so the charms of a southern sky, the rich fruits, the 
 vineyards, the blooming gardens of a warm, lovely, and highly- 
 cultivated region, wrought powerfully on the imaginations of 
 the northerns, and were often the motive of their expeditions 
 and armed migrations. 
 
 The first irruptions of the Alemanni in the reign of Marcus 
 Aurelius, and subsequent to it, appear to have arisen immedi- 
 ately and naturally, (as I have said,) out of the perpetual wars 
 waged on the frontier, on the first advantage which those bar- 
 barians obtained over the Romans, and on the first defect or 
 weakness which they espied in the defensive operations of their 
 enemies. That the warfare on the frontier was perpetuated 
 almost without intermission, it is the more natural to suppose, 
 since the Germanic nations, by two armed confederacies of their 
 tribes, had on their side opposed to the fortifications of the 
 Roman boundaries a living frontier-wall. The name of the 
 Marcomanni served to designate not a particular tribe, but an 
 armed confederation for the defence of the whole nation ; and 
 the same remark holds good of the Alemanni. In the de- 
 scriptions which the Romans have given of Germany, they were 
 occasionally led, by their ignorance of the language, to mistake 
 a league for a people, and to apply to a tribe the denomination 
 intended to denote a district or a custom. But in these 
 accounts it is very easy to trace the three or four leading 
 nations of Germany, that figure afterwards in its history, and 
 which, on the dissolution of the Roman empire, possessed them- 
 selves of its provinces, spread through the different Romanic 
 countries, and in the course of time became the founders of the 
 modern European states. 
 
 These three principal nations of Germany (and such they 
 were considered by the Romans,) were the Suevi, the Saxons, 
 and the Goths, who may be best distinguished by the course of 
 the rivers, which flowed through the countries they inhabited. 
 The whole of that extensive country, afterwards called Ancient 
 Saxony, and which lay along the course and embouchures of 
 the Elbe, the Eyder, the Ems, and the Weser, including the 
 whole sea- coast with Jutland and Denmark, all the Rhenish 
 Netherlands with the Batavian shores, was inhabited by the 
 Saxons ; a people (for it was only later their name was explained 
 from a peculiar national weapon, or species of sword,) attached 
 to the soil, and who were of all the Germanic tribes the least 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 303 
 
 prone to emigration; for, as mariners, they kept to the sea- 
 coasts, and the banks of rivers. It was only at the period when 
 the tide of emigration had reached its highest point that the 
 Saxons, issuing from their native seat, not only possessed them- 
 selves of, but as it were, peopled anew, the great British isle; 
 and it is very possible that this not widely-dispersed, but closely- 
 connected low- German race, then out-numbered all the other 
 nations of Germany. It was on the banks of the Upper Rhine 
 and the Upper Danube that lay the original seat of the Suevi, 
 a race perhaps more mixed, who occur in history under the name 
 of the Alemanni, and were distinguished for a restless spirit of 
 adventure and migratory enterprise. The name of the Franks, 
 a people occupying so important a place in later history, de- 
 noted originally rather a league than a particular nation ; and 
 as their geographical seat lay between those of the Suevi and 
 the Saxons, they were akin in character and descent to both 
 those nations. In their manners and mode of government they 
 resembled the Alemanni ; while in race and language they 
 were originally more nearly allied to the Saxons. If the 
 Franks are to be considered a distinct nation, it is the ancient 
 Catti or Hessians (who have ever been included among that 
 people) that we must regard as the main stock of the whole race. 
 
 But the second great primitive and leading race among the 
 Germanic nations were the Goths, a people whose territory 
 spread from the Scandinavian peninsula, and the shores of the 
 Baltic, along the whole course of the Vistula, as far as the 
 Black Sea. Their language, as it exists in the yet extant 
 Gothic Bible of Ulphilas, is what we would now call the high 
 Dutch dialect ; though its form is more ancient, and is distin- 
 guished for a certain purity of structure, not without its peculiar 
 charm. This Gothic dialect is, in tone and form, less akin to 
 the Saxon and Scandinavian languages, except in so far as the 
 branches of a stem, the nearer we approach the roots, reveal 
 more clearly their common origin. In the Scandinavian north, 
 the territories of these two principal Germanic races, the Goths 
 and the Saxons, were contiguous ; and, proceeding from this 
 common source, the two nations branched out into separate and 
 various streams. Of a similar, or at least of a kindred, race 
 to the Goths, were the Burgundians and Vandals, who after- 
 wards founded the kingdoms of that name in Gaul and Spain. 
 Hereditary monarchy attained to a more settled form among 
 
304 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 the Goths than among any other of the Germanic nations; 
 and, divided between two different dynasties, the Ostro- Goths 
 were subject to the heroic family of the Amah, and the Visi- 
 Goths to that of the Balti. The Roman historians of that 
 age often speak of their martial courage and magnanimity, as 
 well as of their lofty and commanding stature. 
 
 The real emigration of the northern tribes originated solely 
 and immediately with the Goths ; and, in the first period, was 
 not produced by any commotion among the Asiatic nations, as 
 was afterwards the case. As early as the third century, the 
 Goths took possession of the countries situated on the northern 
 coast of the Euxine, and penetrated into Greece as far as 
 Athens. The Emperor Decius fell in the war against them, 
 and in the peace which they concluded with Aurelian, they 
 retained the further Dacia which had been previously surren- 
 dered. They now became allies of the Romans, who were 
 happy enough to cultivate the relations of peace with them, 
 and to recruit their legions with the Gothic youth. A hundred 
 years later, the Goths, on the death of their king Hermanric, 
 were disturbed in their settlements near the Black Sea by 
 the Huns ; a people who, according to the Chinese annals, 
 originally inhabited the northern frontier of China towards 
 the eastern parts of the Middle Asia, and who afterwards, 
 bearing down westward, took up their abode for a long time on 
 the eastern shores of the Caspian, till at last they forced their 
 way into the Caucasian regions, and the territory of the Goths 
 on the borders of the Black Sea. 
 
 It was only now, when the minds of the German tribes of 
 the west were at the same time rising to a higher and higher 
 pitch of excitement, and the old empire of Rome was on every 
 side crumbling into ruins, that the tide of northern emigration 
 burst out in all its full and fearful violence. In the first irrup- 
 tions, the names of the different tribes, as well as of their 
 leaders, were almost all without exception German ; but now 
 we meet with many foreign names, which discover not only 
 the Asiatic Huns, but the Sclavonian, and even perhaps, occa- 
 sionally, the Finnish tribes, that were undoubtedly then inter- 
 mingled with the Goths in the vast empire of the latter. For 
 fifty years after the first invasion, the Huns remained at peace 
 in their new settlements between the Theiss and the Danube, 
 nor did they disturb the Roman empire till the time of Attila. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 305 
 
 The Goths offered to defend the frontier against these barba- 
 rians, and received in return the province to the south of the 
 Danube. 
 
 The Goths readily embraced Christianity ; but they received 
 it in the Arian form ; for at the time when religious instructors 
 and the Gothic bishop Ulphilas were sent from Constantinople, 
 the Arian party had the ascendency in that capital. This 
 circumstance had afterwards the most fatal influence on the 
 destinies of the Roman empire; for one of the chief causes of 
 its downfal was this new contest in religious matters. It was 
 on this very account the second conquest of Rome by the 
 Vandal King Genseric was attended with far more devastation 
 than the first under the Visi-Goth King Alaric ; for the former 
 persecuted the Catholic church with all the animosity of an 
 Arian. The Goths were not animated by feelings of hostility 
 towards the Romans ; but were rather disposed to admire tha 
 excellence and superiority of their civilisation. When the 
 Emperor Valens perished in the Gothic war, which Roman 
 treachery had occasioned, Theodosius contrived to conclude an 
 advantageous peace with this people, when they stood at the 
 very gates of Constantinople, took forty thousand of their 
 troops into his pay, and renewed the armed confederacy of the 
 Goths which Constantine had formed. When the Gothic 
 prince Athanaric had contemplated with astonishment the 
 pomp and splendour of Constantinople, and had conceived sen- 
 timents of respect for the personal character of Theodosius ; 
 the Goths, moved by the representations of their prince, de- 
 clared to Theodosius that as long as he lived, they wished to 
 have no other king but himself. But the case was altered 
 under the sons of Theodosius ; and, to defend themselves from 
 this people, these princes knew no other expedient than to let 
 loose on Italy these barbarians, and to divert and point the 
 storm of invasion towards that quarter. This policy produced 
 the expedition of the Visi-Goth King Alaric to Rome, and the 
 first conquest of the eternal and seven-hilled city. 
 
 The disputes between Rome and the new Byzantine court 
 did not a little contribute to the downfal of the Roman empire; 
 and the dexterity, or rather craftiness, which the politicians of 
 Constantinople displayed on this, as on many other occasions, 
 was often attended with consequences the most ruinous to 
 Italy. As the universal empire of Rome had grown out of 
 
 x 
 
306 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 civil war, so it was undermined and ruined more by internal 
 discord and corruption, than by the power of the Goths ; a 
 nation with whom the Romans might easily have contracted 
 relations of amity, and induced to fraternize, and become by 
 degrees one people with themselves; and indeed, at various 
 periods, the policy of the better emperors had prepared the 
 way for such an union. As, of all the Germanic nations, the 
 Goths were the most powerful ; and as their assistance would 
 have enabled the Romans to resist all the other tribes ; such an 
 alliance, as I here speak of, would have accomplished by pacific 
 means the purpose of the great northern migration, namely, 
 the union of the sound, vigorous, native spirit of the Germans 
 with the civilisation of the Romans (then, indeed, sunk to the 
 lowest state of debasement), and whose polity and public life 
 Christianity itself was unable totally to regenerate. And thus 
 a long intermediate period of conflict and confusion would have 
 been rendered unnecessary. 
 
 During the troubles which followed the first conquest of 
 Rome by Alaric, the Romans invoked from Africa the aid of 
 Genseric, King of the Vandals — a prince who, both as a war- 
 rior and as a ruler, was far more cruel than Alaric, and who 
 everywhere spread terror on his march. Jealous and suspi- 
 cious of the Goths, he invited into Italy Attila, with all the 
 nations which his martial prowess had subjected or attached to 
 his authority, and occasioned the expedition of the latter into 
 the west, where, in the great battle on the banks of the Marna, 
 the Goths constituted the main portion of both the contending 
 armies The Huns and some other of the invading nations 
 were still pagans ; and the history of that age amply demon- 
 strated that wars are ever more destructive in proportion as 
 the armies are more numerous, the throng of armed multitudes 
 more dense, and the nations composing them more various and 
 dissimilar. Still the general oppression, anarchy, desolation, 
 and misery in those times, are not to be traced solely to wars 
 and battles; for during the most flourishing and civilised ages 
 of ancient Rome, w r ars were almost perpetually waged, and 
 were generally more, and certainly not less, bloody and de- 
 structive than the present. The Bishop of Rome contrived to 
 avert the torrent of hostilities from his capital, and the city was 
 spared. On the death of Attila, the Huns ceased to be for- 
 midable; for the power of that prince, which depended far less 
 
HISTORY. 307 
 
 on their numbers, than on his own military prowess and glory, 
 perished at once with him. 
 
 Odoacer, Prince of the Heruli and Rugians (nations also 
 Gothic), was called to the empire of Rome from the banks of 
 the Danube. From his conquest dates the downfal of the 
 Western Empire, and the last Roman youth who was yet dig- 
 nified with the name of emperor, was called Romulus, 1228 
 years after the first Romulus—the founder of the eternal city— 
 a city which, after it had lost its outward and political power, 
 became the centre of a vast sacerdotal dominion, and again 
 occupied in succeeding times a mighty and important place in 
 history. ^ When the sway of the Heruli became an object of 
 detestation in Rome and Italy, the Greek emperor, Zeno, in a 
 formal document, conferred on the Ostro-Goth king, Theo- 
 doric, who had been educated at Constantinople, the dominion 
 of Italy; and the latter, after his victory over Odoacer, assumed 
 the Roman purple, in lieu of the Gothic dress. He was highly 
 esteemed in Rome, and by all the Germanic nations; his name, 
 like that of Charlemagne after him, was celebrated in the 
 heroic songs of the Germans, while political writers and histo- 
 rical critics commend alike his talents and his virtues. His 
 rule was generous and noble, he loved and honoured the arts 
 and sciences which his age still possessed, and the last of Roman 
 writers, Cassiodorius and Boethius, were the ornaments of his 
 reign. Factions which arose on the death of this great prince, 
 and a crime perpetrated on the relics of his house,* afforded the 
 active emperor of the east, Justinian, an opportunity to re- 
 establish the Greek sway in Italy, by means of his successful 
 general, Eehsarius. Military commanders like Belisarius, and 
 some worthier and more enterprising princes on the throne 
 of Byzantium, as well as that systematic course of policy I have 
 before described, maintained the Byzantine empire; while Rome 
 itsetf was ruined, and Italy fell under the dominion of the Lom- 
 bards, who succeeded the Goths, and were succeeded in their 
 turn by the Franks— under whom the Roman empire of Ger- 
 many was re-established, and Rome became, and continued, 
 united with that empire during the middle ages, though for the 
 most part only in name. 
 
 This rapid but faithful sketch of the migration of the 
 
 * Schlegel alludes to the murder of Amalasontha, daughter of Theo- 
 donc, and to the usurpation of Theodatus.— Trans 
 
 x 2 
 
308 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 northern nations, seemed necessary to enable us to form a right 
 opinion on this subject. For this period, which laid the mighty 
 foundation on which the whole Teutonico-Romanic structure of 
 the institutions, laws, manners, languages, opinions, and even 
 the peculiar imaginative character of modern European nations 
 has been raised, has not always been fully understood, or justly 
 appreciated by many writers, either led away by a partial en- 
 thusiasm for the antique, or enthralled by modern opinions and 
 prejudices — writers who wish to trace in all parts of creation, 
 and even in universal history, the same dead uniformity and 
 monotony of plan. It is by no means common to meet with 
 an historical inquirer, possessing a flexibility of fancy, a just- 
 ness of feeling, and a soundness and correctness of judgment, 
 capable of transporting him into the remote ages of history, 
 and the mythic antiquity of nations. But in the present 
 instance, and throughout the whole of this chaotic epoch, when 
 the old fictions of the Titanic wars appear to be actually 
 realised, and when the marvellous of events and sentiments is 
 to be found in the obscure and meagre chronicles of that age, 
 which often unite fragments of popular mythology and pagan 
 tradition, with real historic incidents ; it is perhaps still more 
 difficult to form an accurate judgment, and to discriminate 
 between the elements of truth and falsehood. As we cannot 
 figure to ourselves such a state of anarchy, we are unable to 
 comprehend it. We should bear in mind how often in nature 
 the fairest bloom of vegetation, and the richest fulness of 
 organic life, spring out of a state of confusion and chaos, when 
 the elemental powers, after a long strife and conflict, settle at 
 last into a state of harmonious equipoise, unite and fructify, 
 and in some creative moment, when the struggle of labour is 
 over, give birth to new and more beautiful forms of existence. 
 , Ancient Egypt was indebted for its fertility to the periodic 
 inundations of the Nile, which, had they not been provided 
 against by mounds and dams, would have occasioned the utmost 
 desolation. Nay, doth not this earth we inhabit, and which 
 nourishes us, with all that fair and blooming vegetation spread 
 over its surface, with all that boundless wealth and variety of 
 animal life, and with all the civilisation and refinement of man's 
 existence, whose abode it constitutes ; doth not this earth, I 
 say, teeming as it doth with fertility and life, rest on the 
 gigantic remains of a primitive world, submerged by the old 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 309 
 
 floods, and which was often torn, convulsed, and rent asunder 
 by the eruptions of subterraneous fire ? Well, the migration 
 of the northern nations brought about a sort of chaotic struggle 
 between the various elements of society — it was a new 
 Ogygean inundation of nations in the historical ages— but it 
 laid the fruitful soil — the historical foundation of a new moral 
 and intellectual form of life. This vast flux and reflux of 
 nations, rolling in incessant waves from the east to the west, 
 and from the north to the south, and back again to the east 
 and to the north, this emission of immense armies issuing in 
 all directions from a common centre, and returning again to 
 that centre from every side— all this vast movement must be 
 looked upon as a strife and contention between the elemental 
 powers of human society. The first effect, indeed, of such a 
 strife of nature's elements let loose, is to destroy, or at least, 
 to impair, all existing organic forms ; and it must be confessed' 
 this wild and protracted state of confusion and anarchy does 
 not present the most pleasing and auspicious aspect to the eye 
 of the historical observer. With respect to the latter circum- 
 stance, we must recollect that the extremely slow progress, and 
 often unexpected delays, in the advancement of human society, 
 correspond not always, and indeed rarely, to our wishes and 
 expectations ; while, on the other hand, there are epochs in 
 history, when we are amazed by the sudden out-burst of the 
 most extraordinary events, and when a great splendour of moral 
 and intellectual life surprises us of a sudden, like a bright 
 morning in spring. In other words, there is a strong, wise, 
 and fatherly hand which guides and conducts the destinies of 
 individuals, as well as the march of society, and the course of 
 ages ; or, as the Scripture with touching simplicity saith, " the 
 Father hath reserved times unto himself and time in his 
 march keepeth not pace with the rapidity of our desires, nor 
 moveth according to our views and hopes. But whatever may 
 be, if I may so speak, the fearful tardiness wherewith the views 
 of Providence over the destinies of the human race are accom- 
 plished a tardiness whereof man has to bear the greatest 
 blame ; or whatever may be, if I may so say, the long delays 
 of divine justice— the procrastination of the period of grace ; 
 —it cannot be doubted that the general result of the great 
 northern migration was most salutary, and that that mixture of 
 Germanic tribes with the degenerate population of Rome— that 
 
310 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 alliance between the healthy, vigorous, and native intellectual 
 energy of Germany, and the rapidly decaying civilisation of 
 Rome, were productive of the mightiest -and most beneficial 
 consequences. Whoever doubts the truth of this observation, 
 may cure his scepticism by comparing the splendour, activity, 
 and variety in the political and intellectual existence of the 
 modern European states, that have sprung out of this union 
 of the Germanic and Romanic nations, with the dull monotony, 
 the thorough moral and intellectual stupor which prevailed in 
 the later Byzantine empire. 
 
 But I have more than once observed that, independently of 
 that progressive power of reason, inherent in all the forms and 
 departments of human activity ; and independently of the ope- 
 rations of Divine Providence, which form that high mysterious 
 chain of unity which links together the different periods of man's 
 social progress ; independently, I say, of all these, there is a 
 law of nature — a high, and secret principle of nature, presiding 
 over the life and growth of human society — which, if kept in 
 due subordination to the higher principle of Providence, will not 
 be found incompatible with it. The prevalence of this law of 
 nature may be clearly traced in the history of mankind, and 
 even in that of particular nations, when their social progress is 
 not impeded or interrupted by violent or irregular causes. And 
 in following the current of events in history, the historical ob- 
 server can accurately distinguish the different periods of national 
 development — the first period of artless, yet marvellous, child- 
 hood — the next of the first bloom and flush of youth — later, 
 the maturer vigour and activity of manhood — and at last the 
 symptoms of approaching age, a state of general decay, and 
 second childishness. This energy of nature, which, together 
 with the other higher and divine principle of human destiny, 
 is inherent in mankind, displays itself even in the sphere of in- 
 tellect, and particularly in the flourishing eras of art and science. 
 It is even still more, or at least quite as, perceptible in those 
 creative moments already described, of a new, though perhaps, 
 at first, a chaotic epoch of human society ; so far, at least, as 
 those plastic, eventful moments are not the mere offspring and 
 counterfeit production of revolutionary violence — but have 
 issued from the very well-spring of nature. "When the latter is 
 the case, it will be found that the whole tendency of these 
 periods of extraordinary ferment in society is conducive to the 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 311 
 
 extension of the divine principle, and to the promotion of the 
 views of Providence, as was eminently the case in the era of the 
 great northern migrations; an era, when a catastrophe, at first 
 the most appalling, led to the further triumph of Christianity, 
 which conferred on those robust, northern children of nature, 
 the high consecration of an empire, which thereby, in its 
 ulterior progress, far outshone the Roman, or any other old 
 pagan dominion. But unquestionably the two conflicting 
 elements in that eventful period, which contained the first 
 germs of all modern civilisation — the free-born energy of Ger- 
 manic nature, and the Romanic refinement, science, and lan- 
 guage, were happily blended and harmonised by the Christian 
 religion only, which on that account must be regarded as the 
 all-connecting bond — the one all- animating principle of social 
 life in modern ages. But without that new lenient of vital 
 power furnished by the northern emigrations, Christianity alone 
 would not have regenerated the degraded people of Rome, nor 
 have restored its intellectual energy, then sunk to too low a 
 state of debasement. Above all, the primitive, innate, and 
 deeply-rooted corruption of the Roman government was beyond 
 the power of remedy, and could only be removed by time. The 
 evils of the age were, indeed, universal ; for, even in the bosom 
 of Christianity, discord had broken out; and where even faith 
 was preserved in its purity, there, to use the expression of Holy 
 Writ, " much of first love ,was gone." But for this, the in- 
 fluence of Christianity on the Roman empire, and the Roman 
 world, would have been far more extensive ; and a miraculous 
 cure would have been wrought on the moral distempers of 
 society, as on the physical diseases of individuals. And as holy 
 hermits were often able to command the elements of nature and 
 the savage beasts of the desert ; so a divine power, by its mild, 
 conciliating, prompt, and effective influence would, in the first 
 moment have allayed the wild jar and strife of the social 
 elements. But these effects were accomplished only by slow 
 degrees, by the soothing influence of time, and by the gradual 
 infusion of the spirit of Christianity into the human mind. 
 
 The progressive corruption and ever-growing disorders of the 
 Roman world were productive of consequences in some degree 
 important to Christianity, particularly in relation to after-ages. 
 To forsake and renounce that world of cruelty and vice, that 
 
312 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 kingdom of dissimulation, that age of confusion and barbarism, 
 and to seek by preference an abode and asylum in the wilder- 
 ness, in the neighbourhood of lions and other savage animals 
 of the desert, required no extraordinary impulse of Christian 
 feeling, and scarcely more than a high effort of human courage. 
 And thus in that convulsed period of the Roman empire, and 
 under the accursed domination of its last tyrants, Christian 
 anchorets peopled the solitudes of Thebais, — those solitudes 
 where the old pyramids and other monuments of hoar antiquity 
 still speak in mute signs to the traveller, their grave and earnest 
 language. Self-contemplation did not shut up these Christian 
 anchorites within a narrow and egotistical sphere of thought, as 
 is the case with the Indian recluse, who, to outward appearance, 
 leads the same mode of life. As the primitive Christians evinced 
 the power of faith and charity by deeds and in sufferings, in 
 words and in works of manifold kinds ; so prayer was to these 
 solitaries the inward porch of a new and invisible world — a real 
 business of life, and a bond of the closest and tenderest con- 
 nexion, whereby, though separated from the world, they 
 remained, even at the remotest distance, intimately united with 
 all who, like themselves, were firmly united to God. 
 
 Thus it was that the primitive Christians displayed the power 
 of divine Hope, and ardent Charity, not only in their heroic 
 constancy under assaults, persecutions, sufferings and torments 
 of all, even the most exquisite, kinds ; but in their renunciation 
 of society and of all earthly enjoyments, in their contempt and 
 abandonment of a world, which seemed in truth eternally dis- 
 tracted and irretrievably undone. In the eremitical life, a 
 simple handicraft was ordinarily coupled with the duty of 
 spiritual contemplation, These first Christian anchorites of 
 Egypt were the original and model of all later monastic insti- 
 tutes ; although, conformably to the living and quite practical 
 spirit of Christianity, these institutes have generally admitted 
 into their rules other useful and salutary exercises adapted 
 either to the general circumstances of the age, or to the wants 
 of individuals — such as the education of youth — the cultivation 
 of the sciences — the relief of the poor — the care of the infirm — 
 and the practice of other works of charity. The anchorites, 
 who lead a purely contemplative life, constitute a comparatively 
 small and rare exception in the Christian church ; and they are 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 313 
 
 tolerated only because the ways of human nature are so in- 
 finitely diversified, and often so strange and so singular. 
 
 To resist their internal foes, to withstand the assaults of the 
 fiend — the spirit of discord and corruption, and to preserve 
 inviolate the purity of morals, as well as of faith, the primitive 
 Christians as much needed the divine assistance, as to enable 
 them to endure outwardly the torments of martyrdom, or to 
 renounce in holy solitude the pleasures of the world. In this 
 respect three different kinds of heresy, which were so many 
 trials the Christian religion had to sustain, are well worthy of 
 our attention. From the very birth of Christianity, the Gnostics 
 gave loose to the ardour of an Oriental fancy, indulged in a 
 variety of Theosophistic speculations, and with their systems of 
 Divine Emanations, Eradiations, Incarnations, and Persons, 
 formed an almost mythological concatenation of ideas ; so that 
 had it been possible for this sect to become predominant, and 
 for Christianity to swerve into such a labyrinth of doctrines, our 
 divine religion would have degenerated into a system of meta- 
 physical fictions, not unlike the philosophic mythology and 
 poetical creed of India. Happily these sects of Gnostics were 
 not numerous, nor in general of long duration ; and they were 
 extremely divided among themselves ; for a truly inventive 
 fancy ever strikes out a path of inquiry for itself. But, when 
 considered in an intellectual point of view, these sectaries, amid 
 all their strange and whimsical errors, must ever command the 
 attention of mankind. It would seem from all appearance, (and 
 indeed the nature of things would sufficiently warrant the in- 
 ference) that many of these sects combined with their own 
 peculiar notions the opinions of other Oriental sects, totally 
 alien from Christianity. As the march of error is infinitely 
 progressive, and as, from its very nature, false opinion is sure to 
 branch out into a variety of ramifications, it is often difficult to 
 determine with exactness whether some of these Gnostic sects, 
 that spread through Central Asia, and were lost in a multitude 
 of others, were or not of a Christian origin. Of all the 
 sects belonging to the Gnostic family, the Manichaeans alone 
 appear to have had a longer existence ; and during the middle 
 ages, they secretly germinated in Europe. 
 
 The second corruption of Christianity was from Arianism, 
 which corresponds to what in modern times is termed Rationalism ; 
 though the former appeared in another and more Christian 
 
314 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 form. That the dispute with Arianism was no mere verbal 
 dispute — that it involved a capital article c r Mth — a question 
 of life or death for Christianity — a question uhether the real 
 Foundation — the essential Corner-stone — and Beginning of our 
 faith were really, truly, and in very deed divine, and from God, 
 and equal with God, or merely in a certain sense like to God — 
 (an opinion which the Platonic, or any other system of philo- 
 sophy might have included among his tenets) — that the dis- 
 pute with Arianism was no mere verbal dispute, must be evi- 
 dent to every upright, ingenuous, and unprejudiced mind. No 
 sect has ever been so widely diffused, nor has ever taken such 
 deep root ; and, by the arts and evasions of a prodigious sub- 
 tilty, it maintained its principles under the mask of apparent 
 submission. It was now that for the first time, the importance 
 and power of a general council became apparent, in order to 
 oppose to the many-shaped, subtle, and intangible spirit of 
 error, a brief, but clear, and definite formulary of that faith 
 which animated the bosom, and was rooted in the conviction of 
 every Christian. This destructive rationalism of the early ages 
 of Christianity was at last repressed, and became finally extinct ; 
 though the last ramifications of this sect have continued down 
 to our times among the Eutychians of Armenia, and the Nesto- 
 rians of Ethiopia. 
 
 How much the unhappy disputes of Ajianism contributed in 
 this period of general decline, towards the downfal of the Roman 
 empire, I have already had occasion to notice. But that pas- 
 sion for dispute, which, if not innate in man, has at least be- 
 come his second nature, and is, as it were, the original sin of 
 human intellect, displays itself in a more striking degree in 
 certain sects, that did not question any article of faith, but 
 merely some subordinate matters of opinion, or the rights of 
 ecclesiastical authority, and who conducted their disputes with 
 the most unyielding obstinacy — such a passion, I say, displays 
 itself more strikingly in these sects than in others, that called 
 in question points of faith, and who, so far as they were con- 
 scientious in their errors, appear entitled to our respect and 
 forbearance. Among the former class of disputants must be 
 ranked some of the smaller, less diffused, and obscurer sects of 
 the first ages of the church, like the Montanists and Donatists; 
 sects whose influence was on that account by no means unim- 
 portant, and who occupy no insignificant place in the history of 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 315 
 
 their times ; for their errors constitute the third form of devia- 
 tion from universal Christianity. In the same category must 
 we place the great schism of a later period, which severed the 
 Greek from the Western church ; for this unhappy separation, 
 as is well known, had no relation to any important dogma of 
 Christianity. 
 
 As the general councils of that period prove the self-preserving 
 and self-sustaining power of Christianity, so the energy of 
 Christian faith and Christian intellect displays its life, activity, 
 and scientific progress in the numberless and manifold produc- 
 tions of those first doctors of the church, so highly revered by 
 all succeeding ages. The style and language of these works 
 must be estimated by the standard of their age; and it would 
 be absurd to expect them to possess, in a like degree, the attic 
 simplicity of a Xenophon, or the full and elaborate periods of a 
 Livy. But with this single exception, these writings display 
 the most varied talents for oratory, and philosophy, united with 
 extensive learning, the purest feelings of religious love, and the 
 most correct views in religion. And, to cite but one or two 
 examples out of the multitude of ecclesiastical writers, St. 
 Augustine, by the extent of his historical information, by a phi- 
 losophy zealous in its inquiries after truth, but still irresolute, 
 presents the image of a Christian Cicero, in a language some- 
 what altered indeed, but distinguished for a similar employment 
 of rhetoric. Nor was this great man destitute of political dis- 
 cernment and penetration ; and he certainly possessed a much 
 more decided talent for speculative inquiry, than the old Roman 
 who flourished in the last age of the republic. There was next 
 that learned and holy recluse St. Jerome, who was as well versed 
 in classical literature as in the Oriental languages, and who was 
 gifted with a depth of critical discernment, and an original 
 power of thought and expression, equalled by very few orators 
 and thinkers in any a,ge. 
 
 The dread of a false Gnosis was at that period, as often in 
 subsequent ages, an obstacle to the progress of a profound 
 Christian philosophy. The leaning of the great ecclesiastical 
 writer Origen, particularly in his youth, to some opinions of the 
 Gnostics, excited long after his death many doubts and contro- 
 versies respecting some points of his belief, and tended at least 
 to impair the reverence with which his philosophical genius was 
 
316 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 otherwise regarded. This was particularly the case when the 
 Arians made use of some doubtful opinion of this great man for 
 the support of their system ; as indeed it often happens that an 
 elevated system of philosophy is not completed in its parts, or at 
 least that the individual errors it may contain are seized upon by 
 the dull, innovating spirit of a superficial, and half-doubting faith, 
 and debased to a quite alien and inferior sphere of speculation, 
 
 There is also another error, or rather illusion, which deserves 
 to be noticed, as it is a characteristic incident in the history of 
 those early ages of the church ; for it was no regular system of 
 error, nor did its partisans constitute a sect ; but it was merely 
 the exaggerated opinion of some individuals in the bosom of the 
 church, who were animated by no intentions hostile to Christi- 
 anity. I allude to the (so called) Millenarian doctrine, which, 
 as it refers to the future historical destiny of Christianity, pos- 
 sesses a high historical interest. Though the Prophet of the 
 New Testament marked out the period of a thousand years for 
 the duration of the triumph of the church, he expressly intima- 
 ted thereby that that period could not be discovered nor deter- 
 mined by human penetration, for, as the Scripture saith, "a thou- 
 sand years are as one day with the Lord, and one day, as 
 a thousand years and though the inspired writer expressly 
 added, that as the great combat, which man is doomed to on the 
 earth and in earthly life, can never be completely terminated, a 
 last combat awaited humanity at the close of those thousand 
 years; many virtuous and praiseworthy men were still fouud, 
 who depicted this kingdom of a thousand years in the most 
 sensual colours of earthly felicity, and thus destroyed all faith 
 in that prophetic warning, so necessary for man and for all ages 
 — all belief in the ideal conception of the kingdom of divine 
 truth : or, with reckless precipitancy equally misapplied the 
 words of the prophet, and (as has often been the case in suc- 
 ceeding times) very unseasonably alarmed themselves and others; 
 though that long series of ages marked out by the apostle for 
 the progress of Christianity might have opened their eyes, and 
 taught them differently. But the principal cause which op- 
 posed, and must ever oppose an insurmountable difficulty to the 
 Millenerian system of that and of all succeeding ages, is the 
 limit assigned to the judgment of Christians in all that relates 
 to the inscrutable decrees of Divine Providence; whether those 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 317 
 
 decrees regard individuals or mankind in general. Surely 
 nothing could be conceived more disquieting, more fatal to 
 human life, than for every individual to know before-hand with the 
 utmost certainty from his birth the day and hour of his death ; 
 and no greater calamity could happen to any man than a reve- 
 lation of such a kind. The same remark is equally applicable to 
 the world in general, where such fore-knowledge would only 
 produce the utmost disorder and confusion. As in the case of 
 a sick man reduced to imminent danger from the increasing 
 symptoms of dissolution ; though no man, not even the phy- 
 sican, can positively know and determine with certainty the 
 course of events, which is known to God alone, still every friend 
 would wish that the patient should examine his interior, unite 
 his thoughts to God, and set his house in order ; so cases may 
 be imagined, when this comparison would apply to mankind at 
 large. 
 
 Thus then on the Roman soil, and amid that world once so bril- 
 liant, Christianity had grown up, like a tender, luminous plant, 
 whose seed had come down from Heaven. For the further expan- 
 sion of that heavenly seed, for the formation of the Christian 
 state, and the political organisation of Christian nations, we must 
 allow that the all-wise and powerful Hand, which guides the 
 destinies of men and of nations, the march of ages, and the 
 course of events, found it necessary to employ at first very 
 violent, and (if we may borrow a term of the medical art) almost 
 heroic remedies. The cause of this undoudtedly must be sought 
 for m the fact, that although many great and holy men are to 
 be found in the first ages of the church, mankind on the whole 
 had very imperfectly corresponded to that mighty and divine 
 impulse which Christianity had imparted to the world ; and had 
 very soon and very quickly fallen into the most fearful dis- 
 putes.^ Scarce had that indundation of the northern nations 
 burst in upon the blooming garden of the Christian west, (and 
 beneficial to mankind as have been the remote consequences and 
 final results of that revolution, and defensible therefore as it may 
 be m a historical Theodicea, still we cannot deny that its im- 
 mediate effects were most terrible and destructive ;)— scarce, we 
 say, had this inundation of the northern nations occurred when, 
 m the opposite quarter of the east, there broke out among the 
 nations of Asia, that mighty Arabian conflagration, whose 
 flames were scattered over the terrified globe, by the sons of the 
 
318 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 desert, guided by their new prophet of unbelief, and animated 
 themselves with all the enthusiasm of destruction. 
 
 I am at a loss to conceive how some could have regarded it 
 as a peculiar merit of this religion of empty arrogance and 
 senseless pride, that it maintains and inculcates with purity a 
 belief in one Almighty Deity. This, as the Scripture say s, the 
 demons themselves, in their realms of eternal darkness, believe, 
 without being on that account at all the better; and it is only 
 a profound ignorance of the world and himself, that could ever 
 make man forget and obliterate from his bosom that first 
 foundation of all faith. All the elements of salvation, recon- 
 ciliation, mercy, love, and happiness for mankind, to be found 
 in eternal truth, and a belief in that truth, all these are want- 
 ing in the religion of Mahomet. There is not a more decided 
 contrast than that presented by the silent progress of the new 
 and divine light of truth in the primitive church, amid oppres- 
 sion and persecution, in meek submission to every existing law, 
 and, except in matters of faith, in a patient, unwearied, and 
 cheerful submission to the hostile, but still legitimate, powers 
 of the earth; and, on the other hand, that fanatic thirst of con- 
 quest inspired by Mahomet — that express precept to propagate 
 by fire and sword, throughout the four quarters of the globe, 
 the new Unitarian faith of Arabia. If some writers, instead 
 of studying the history of modern Europe, in order to deduce 
 from their researches new matter, and occasion for reviving the 
 old contests about the respective rights and limits of the secular 
 and ecclesiastical powers, would only examine with attention 
 the history of the ancient Caliphate, they -would soon satisfy 
 themselves of the fearful character of that institution, of the 
 infernal spirit that produced that anti- Christian combination of 
 spiritual and temporal authority, and of the horrible state of 
 moral degradation to which it has reduced mankind in every 
 country where it has prevailed. 
 
 It was with the rapidity of a destructive fire that this mighty 
 mischief spread over the countries of Asia, and a large portion 
 of Africa, till it soon menaced the southern extremities of Eu- 
 rope. When Mahomet died, he was master of Arabia, a 
 country that, from the earliest antiquity, had remained in a 
 state of absolute seclusion from the rest of the world; and con- 
 sequently, if this great revolution had remained confined within 
 the limits of this region, the religion of Mahomet would never 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 319 
 
 have exerted so mighty an historical influence on other nations 
 and kingdoms. But only a few score years from his decease, 
 and under his immediate successors, the whole Western Asia 
 between the Tigris and Euphrates, as far as the Mediterranean, 
 Syria, and Palestine, down to Mount Taurus and the frontiers 
 of Asia Minor, and soon again the whole northern coast of 
 Africa, down to the opposite shores of Spain, were subdued by 
 the disciples of the Koran; while at the same moment the 
 Roman west and the empire of Persia were menaced by the 
 arms of these formidable invaders. It was a general principle 
 with the Mahometan conquerors to extirpate all recollection of 
 antiquity in the countries which they subdued, to give them an 
 entirely new form and aspect — or, in other words, to destroy 
 and obliterate every vestige of the higher and better civilisation 
 that had adorned those once flourishing regions. 
 
 END OF LECTURE XI. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 LECTURE XII. 
 
 Sketch of Mahomet and his Religion— Establishment of the Saracenic 
 Empire — New Organisation of the European West, and Restoration 
 of the Christian Empire. 
 
 From the earliest period, the pastoral tribes of Arabia have 
 lived under their emirs, in all the wild independence of No- 
 made nations; they were not, however, without cities, as these 
 were created and rendered necessary by the trade of the cara- 
 van, which in its journeys through the wilderness, and in its 
 passage from one inhabited province to another, required these 
 points of rest. A few of the frontier districts and maritime 
 coasts were, indeed, possessed by some of the more ancient 
 Egyptian Pharaohs; but the entire country was never subdued 
 or conquered either by the Assyrians, the Persians, or the Ma- 
 cedonian conquerors. Nor were the Romans more successful ; 
 and it was only in the reign of Trajan, the last of Roman em- 
 perors, who meditated schemes of conquest, that a small frontier 
 tract of Arabia Petraea was taken possession of, and annexed to 
 the Roman empire. Immediately on the death of Trajan, the 
 Roman government recurred to the pacific policy of Augustus, 
 who had considered it dangerous to enlarge the empire by any 
 new conquests: and in consequence, this province of Arabia 
 was abandoned by the Romans, and left to the enjoyment of 
 its ancient freedom. 
 
 This long-establisned liberty and total independence of all 
 foreign conquerors and rulers has not a little contributed to 
 exalt among the Arabs a strong self-consciousness. Their 
 origin, which is very nearly akin to that of the Hebrews, they 
 deduce as descendants of Yoktan from Jleber, who was an 
 ancestor of Abraham, or from Xshmael, the son of Abraham, 
 that was born in the desert. Among these free and warlike 
 pastoral nations, the feelings of clanship, the pride of noble 
 descent, and the glory of an ancient and renowned race, and 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 321 
 
 again the mutual hostility of tribes transmitted from one gene- 
 ration to another, the never-to-he-cancelled debt of blood, 
 form the ruling and animating principle, nay the almost exclu- 
 sive purport of existence. This tribe-spirit of the Arabians 
 has had a mighty influence on the origin and first development 
 of the Mahometan religion, and has stamped on it a peculiar 
 character. And among the Nomade nations, in a similar stage 
 of social advancement, and who combine the freedom of the 
 pastoral life with the commerce of caravans, and are not total 
 strangers to the refinement of cities, the faith of Mahomet 
 has not only obtained the easiest access, but has struck the 
 deepest roots, and finds, as it were, its most natural disciples. 
 For the Tartar nations in the interior parts of Asia, and the 
 tribes of Berbers, who are the original inhabitants of the north 
 of Africa, lead the same mode of life, though they cannot 
 boast of the ancient origin and high descent ascribed to the 
 Arabs. Compared with Roman degeneracy, with the corrup- 
 tion of the Byzantine court, with Assyrian effeminacy, and the 
 immorality of the great Asiatic cities, this tribe-character of the 
 Arabians, as preserved in its purity during their ancient free- 
 dom, appears undoubtedly to be of a less corrupt, more moral, 
 and more generous nature. Doubtless the Arabs possessed in 
 the first ages of their history, a great moral energy of will 
 and strength of character, and even in the period of their de- 
 cline, these qualities are still perceptible. On the other hand 
 in this tribe character, and in those feelings of clanship, which 
 determine all the social relations among that people ; pride, 
 party- animosities, and the spirit of revenge, are the ruling ele- 
 ments of life, and the passions to which all things are made 
 subservient, or are sacrificed. The moral corruption of the 
 human race, the profound disorder of man's whole being, is 
 proved as well by the constant proneness of civilised nations 
 towards a soft voluptuousness of morals, or by the innate dis- 
 position of politer classes and ages to a spirit of speculative 
 contention, as by the rude pride and animosities of tribes, 
 which considered in a natural point of view, appear to be 
 purer and less corrupt in their morals, or to possess greater 
 strength and generosity of character. Those tribe-feelings 
 and passions of pride and hatred, anger and revenge, so pre- 
 valent among the Arabians, are displayed in their ancient 
 poetry, and even constitute its essential spirit and purport ; for 
 
 Y 
 
322 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 except those parables, riddles, and proverbial sayings in which 
 the Orientals so much delight, this poetry has no mythological 
 fictions, like that of the Indians and the Greeks, nor with the 
 exception of a certain enthusiasm of passion, does it evince any 
 truly fertile and inventive power of imagination. 
 
 The old Arabians never possessed, like the Indians, Egyp- 
 tians, and Greeks, a poetical, high- wrought, and scientifically 
 arranged system of polytheism. The historical traditions of 
 their different races had much analogy with those of the He- 
 brews, and coincided with them in a variety of points ; for as 
 they were of the Semitic race, they deduced their origin from 
 Abraham and the other holy patriarchs of the primitive world. 
 Hence the tradition of a purer faith, and the simple patriarchal 
 worship of the Deity appear to have never been totally extin- 
 guished among the Arabs ; though indeed the veracious Hero- 
 dotus asserts, that they adored the Assyrian Venus under the 
 name of Alilath. But such a mixture of religious doctrines 
 and practices is by no means incredible, when we reflect on 
 those periods in the history of the Hebrews, when though that 
 people were in possession of the Mosaic revelation and code of 
 laws, and though their whole arrangements of life were founded 
 thereon ; though mighty and zealous prophets perpetually 
 arose to warn them of their errors ; they still went after Baal, 
 and still sacrificed their children to Moloch. In the age of Ma- 
 homet, and shortly before his time, various kinds of idolatry 
 had found their way among the Arabs from the neighbouring 
 nations, who if not now, had formerly been plunged in the 
 errors of paganism. At the same time several Jewish tribes 
 existed in Arabia, and even some Christian communities, be- 
 longing mostly to the Oriental sects, mingled with the rest of 
 the population. The neighbouring Christian monarch, or 
 Negus of ^Ethiopia, also exerted considerable influence on the 
 different tribes and communities of Arabia. 
 
 Mahomet felt the most decided aversion to all pagan idolatry, 
 and even to all veneration of images ; and it is very possible, 
 according to the opinion of a great historian, who, on the 
 whole does not judge the Arabian prophet unfavourably, that 
 the expectation which the Jews still entertained of the future 
 coming of a Deliverer and Prophet, should have operated very 
 powerfully on the mind and imagination of Mahomet. In the 
 same way as the Jews, then incomparably more active than 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 323 
 
 afterwards, still expected Him who had long since come ; so 
 certain Christian sects, totally misundei standing the Scriptures 
 which they interpreted according to their own arbitrary sense, 
 believed that the Holy Ghost and the divine Paraclete whom 
 the Saviour had promised was yet to come ; although the 
 Saviour had promised that the Holy Spirit should come down 
 upon his disciples immediately after his ascension, and had 
 added, that the same spirit should for ever abide with them. 
 Now every one who professed himself a Christian, knew very 
 well from the Holy Scriptures, that a supernatural light had 
 descended on the apostles in the first assembly they held, and 
 when as they thought, their Lord and Master had abandoned 
 them ; and that this light had transformed the disciples, till 
 then weak, wavering, and trembling before the world, into 
 apostolic men filled with the spirit of God, into prophets of 
 eternal truth and divine love, humble, but energetic, and no less 
 heroic than enlightened. That Assister and Comforter, or that 
 guiding Paraclete promised by God to his disciples, which in the 
 apostles had proved itself a spirit of knowledge, of illumination, 
 and of insight into the mysteries of faith — in the martyrs, a 
 spirit of divine power and of heroic constancy under sufferings, 
 was now in the great doctors of the church, and in the general 
 councils, the guiding spirit of wisdom, rightly discerning and 
 steadfastly adhering to the truths of revelation. But this truth 
 did not prevent many leaders of those sects from regarding 
 themselves in their own conceit as the Comforter and the 
 Paraclete promised by God for the consolation of succeeding 
 ages, or even from permitting themselves to be so considered 
 by their own disciples. The supposition of the great historian 
 just now cited, that these Jud<eo- Christian expectations of the 
 future coming of an earthly Deliverer, Redeemer, and Teacher, 
 or Prophet of the world, may have exerted no inconsiderable 
 influence on the mind of Mahomet, and may have awakened 
 similar conceptions and imaginations on his own head, is con- 
 firmed by the fact, that the Koran itself contains no very obscure 
 allusions and references to the notions of the Paraclete, and to 
 a supernatural and divine power and force under the very 
 denomination used among the later Hebrews, and according to 
 thp very word sanctioned for that peculiar object. 
 
 In the time of Mahomet, and shortly before him, the Caaba 
 at Mecca constituted the great sanctuary of Arabian worship, 
 
 y2 
 
324 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 This, if we may so designate it, was a simple chapel of pagan 
 pilgrimage, which contained the black stone, the object of the 
 religious devotion of the Arabs from a very ancient period. 
 The idolatrous worship of such shapeless or conical blocks of 
 stone was by no means unknown to the wayward genius of 
 ancient polytheism. We meet with a similar form of idolatry 
 in the mythology of the Greeks, though set off and embellished 
 by the peculiar fancy of that people ; and instances of a like 
 kind were to be found in the worship which the neighbouring- 
 people of Syria paid to Belus or Baal. Those stones which 
 are frequently mentioned by ancient historians as having fallen 
 from heaven, may probably have given rise to this peculiar 
 species of idolatry ; and the fact itself (as now indeed is often 
 the case with the general traditions of antiquity) is sufficiently 
 proved by the existence of those well-known meteor stones, 
 whose origin, though they have undergone chemical analysis, 
 and mineralogical investigations, still remains, even in the 
 present advanced state of modern science, a problem of no 
 small difficulty. 
 
 The Arabian tribe from which Mahomet was sprung, had 
 long been intrusted with the care and custody of the Caaba 
 and the black stone, and placed its highest glory in this its 
 allotted dignity. According to the Arabian tradition, Abraham 
 had first erected the Caaba, and the Amalecites had afterwards 
 repaired it. When the tribe of Koreish, who were invested 
 with this high charge, had to rebuild this temple ; they were at 
 a loss to know how the sacred black stone should be fixed in 
 the walls, and what hand should touch the consecrated piece, 
 when quite unexpectedly, this honour fell to the lot of Mahomet, 
 than a stripling of fifteen. For this reason, we may well 
 suppose that this ancient seat of Arabian worship — the Caaba 
 — produced one of those youthful impressions that determined 
 the future destiny of this extraordinary man. Even in the 
 religious system which he afterwards founded, this ancient 
 sanctuary with its magical stone, has remained in every age a 
 high object of veneration ; and it is only in our times that the 
 temple of Mecca, has been exposed to the rage of the 
 TVechabites, who, though their religious fury has taken an 
 opposite course, exhibit the old Arabian character in all its 
 fanatical violence. But this old black stone -idol is a very re- 
 markable feature in the history of Mahomet and of his religion. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 325 
 
 In the holy temple of the Caaba, were kept and suspended the 
 seven most remarkable poems w hich had won the prize over the 
 other tribe-songs of the Arabs — a species of poetry peculiar to 
 this people, and breathing all the enthusiasm of pride and 
 hatred. In these compositions, Mahomet held a very distin- 
 guished rank, and long before he announced himself as a 
 prophet, his poetry which far outshone that of his competitors, 
 ^iad raised him to a high degree of honour and consideration. 
 It was only in the fortieth or forty-second year of his age, and 
 after a long and solitary abode in a cavern during what the 
 Mahometans term " the night of divine decrees," that Mahomet 
 formed the first determination, and thought he felt the first 
 inward calling to the mission of a prophet. The first person 
 that believed in this mission, and acknowledged him for a 
 prophet, was his own wife Cadijah, who, though a rich widow, 
 had bestowed her hand on Mahomet, when his sole patrimony 
 consisted of five camels and an Ethiopian maid- servant, and 
 had thus raised him to a station of wealth and independence. 
 It is worthy of notice, that it is only in the epileptic fits to 
 which he was subject, that he is represented as having myste- 
 rious colloquies with the angel Gabriel. Others represent him 
 as a lunatic ; and in connexion with this charge I may mention 
 the story, that he wished to pnss with his disciples as a person 
 transfigured in a supernatural light, and that the credulity of 
 his followers saw the moon, or the moon's light, descend upon 
 him, pierce his garments, and replenish him. That veneration 
 for the moon, which still forms a national or rather religious 
 characteristic of the Mahometans, may perhaps have its foun- 
 dation in the elder superstition, or pagan idolatry of the 
 Arabs. 
 
 Modern historians have often complained of the dihHculty of 
 ascertaining the precise truth in the history of Mahomet, from 
 the severity of his opponents on the one hand, and the enthusi- 
 astic admiration of his Eastern partisans, on the other. If we 
 think proper to follow those writers only, who, by their acquaint- 
 ance with the language, have copied from Arabic authorities, we 
 shall find that their narratives are much distorted by fanaticism, 
 and rendered almost unintelligible by an absurd exaggeration. 
 Independently of the evident traces in this religion of a demo- 
 niacal influence and operation ; undoubted historical farts will 
 furnish us with sufficient data for forming a clear and definitive 
 
326 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 opinion on the character of Mahomet and the nature of his 
 religion. Although the Arabs of that age, like other nations 
 of that time, and the ancient Hebrews, universally thought that 
 supernatural works were to be expected from a prophet ; and 
 that the high power of miracles was necessary to prove a divine 
 mission ; yet Mahomet found it more fitting or convenient to 
 declare, that he could dispense with the aid of miracles, as he 
 came not to found a new religion, but to restore the purity of 
 the old — the faith of Abraham, and the other patriarchs. 
 Even though we had not such clear and positive historical 
 proofs and testimonies, respecting the nature of that presentient 
 faith of Abraham, and the other patriarchs of the Old Testament 
 — a faith which pointed to all the mysteries of futurity — still to 
 suppose that the religion of those pious fathers of hoar antiquity, 
 were nothing more than that system of (so called) pure, but in 
 reality shallow, and meaningless, Theism, which the pretended 
 Arabian reformer has announced to the world, would be little 
 consonant with probability, and little conformable to the nature 
 and march of the human mind. Considered in its true internal 
 spirit, and divested of its outward garb of Oriental customs and 
 symbolical language, the religion of Mahomet, on a closer inves- 
 tigation, will be found rather to bear a stronger affinity to the 
 inane and superficial philosophy of the eighteenth century ; 
 and if that philosophy were honest and consistent, it would not 
 hesitate loudly to proclaim and openly to revere Mahomet, if 
 not as a prophet, still as a real reformer of mankind, the first 
 promulgator and mighty teacher of truth, and the founder of 
 the pure religion of reason. 
 
 Such a dead empty Theism, such a mere negative Unitarian 
 faith, is little adapted for the true purposes of a religion, though 
 it may form the basis of some scholastic system of Rationalist 
 theology. Regarded as a religious system, the creed of Ma- 
 homet is neither old or new ; but is in part perfectly void and 
 meaningless, and in part composed of very mixed materials. 
 The part in it which is new, is that fanatic spirit of conquest it 
 has inculcated and diffused through the world ; and that part 
 in it which is old, is copied from the Hebrew traditions and 
 the Christian revelation, or contains allusions to the one or to 
 the other, including some old Arabian customs and usages 
 which this religion has still retained. 
 
 In the first infancy of the Mahometan faith, and during the 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 327 
 
 first disputes and wars which occurred about that religion, a 
 number of Mahomet's followers were obliged to seek refuge in 
 ^Ethiopia, when the Christian monarch of that country asked 
 them whether they were Christians. They cited in reply se- 
 veral passages from the sayings and poems of their prophet, 
 relating to the Saviour, to his birth, and to the Virgin Mary. 
 In these the prophet spoke of the birth and origin of our 
 Saviour, as of a Gnostic eradiation or emanation of divine 
 power ; and though such language was by no means consonant 
 with the Christian doctrine of the divinity of Christ, yet it was 
 calculated to produce on the minds of some of the eastern sec- 
 taries a very false and deceitful impression. Favourable to 
 Christianity as some of these expressions might at first sight 
 appear to the ignorant, there was much again that betrayed 
 a spirit of the most decided hostility towards the Christian 
 religion. Even the prohibition of wine was perhaps not so 
 much intended for a moral precept, which considered in that 
 point of view, would be far too severe, as for answering a reli- 
 gious design of the founder ; for he might hope that the 
 express condemnation of a liquid which forms an essential 
 element of the Christian sacrifice, would necessarily recoil on 
 that sacrifice itself, and thus raise an insuperable barrier be- 
 tween his creed and the religion of Christ. The peculiar 
 spirit and true character of any religious system, must be 
 judged not so much by the letter of its professed doctrines, as 
 by its practice and prevailing usages. And thus that estab- 
 lished custom is extremely remarkable, which makes it impe- 
 rative on every Jew who may wish to become a Mahometan, 
 previously to receive the rite of baptism. Thus did Mahomet 
 think to stand upon the basis of Christianity; and while 
 addressing the Arabs, he appealed solely to the religion of their 
 first ancestor, and of the other patriarchs, he assigned in his 
 graduated scale of revelation, the first degree to Judaism, the 
 second to Christianity, and the third and highest to his own 
 Islam. That he was a mere fanatic, and entirely devoid of 
 all ambitious or political views, I cannot admit ; and although 
 he himself had even been more unconscious of a deliberate 
 hostility towards the mysteries of the true religion, another 
 may have inspired him with that subtle design. 
 
 Such then was this new, or, as the founder himself styled it, 
 this pure old doctrine of all-conquering Islam, and of all sur- 
 
328 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 passing faith, which this pretended restorer of the religion of 
 
 Abraham — this false Paraclete of misconceived promise and 
 idle phantasy, brought and announced to the world : — a pro- 
 phet without miracles — a faith without mysteries — and a 
 morality without love, which has encouraged the thirst of 
 blood, and which began and terminated in the most unbounded 
 sensuality. Supposing even, that one of the leading points in 
 this system of morals, the re-establishment of polygamy to 
 such a wide extent, and at a period of the world when this 
 institution was formally abolished among many nations, and 
 among others had fallen into disuse, could be in some measure 
 excused by the customs of Asia, the wants of climate, and 
 the general prejudices of the nation, or other like cause ; — 
 what must we think of a code of morals professing to be divine, 
 which in opposition to the Christian doctrine of pure happiness 
 enjoyed by the celestial spirits in the intuition of God, and to 
 which man must even in this life, aspire by vigilant preparation, 
 if he wishes to render himself worthy of that state — can form 
 no other ideal of supreme felicity — can devise no other expe- 
 dient to fill up the immense void which this religion has left 
 in the supernatural world, than a boundless Harem — a Paradise 
 of lust, portrayed in the most glowing colours of sensuality! 
 
 That part of the Mussulman morality relating to our fellow- 
 beings ; the precepts of alms-deeds which it prescribes, is the 
 only part entitled to praise, which we willingly accord; and 
 we sincerely trust that not merely the commandment, but 
 the custom and practice of charity among Christians may 
 never prove inferior. But in every other respect, this religion 
 permits not only hatred and vengeance, in opposition to that 
 Christian precept so repeatedly inculcated, and so deeply en- 
 graven on our minds — the pardon of our enemies ; but it 
 encourages, and even commands irreconcileable hostility, eternal 
 warfare, eternal slaughter, to propagate throughout the world 
 a belief in this blood-stained prophet of pride and lust. Perhaps 
 all the Heathen nations put together, in the long series of ages, 
 have not offered to their false gods so many human victims, 
 as in this new Arabian idolatry have been sacrificed to this 
 highly extolled an ti- Christian prophet. For the essence of 
 idolatry is not in names or in words, in rites or in sacrifices ; 
 but in the nature of things, in the actual transactions of life, 
 in un-Christian customs, and anti- Christian sentiments, and there 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 329 
 
 is even that old black stone -idol, of which I have said before in a 
 figurative sense, that it has ever remained firmly fixed in the 
 religion of Mahomet. The commencement of this religion 
 was not marked by any contest about mysteries of faith, or 
 points of doctrine ; but by combats of another kind more conge - 
 nial to the spirit of the Arabs, by a war which broke out between 
 the party of Mahomet, and the hostile tribe which refused to 
 acknowledge him for a prophet, and whose refusal occasioned 
 his flight from Mecca. In this contest he drew the sword, 
 fought courageously against the unbelievers, and by overpower- 
 ing by force of arms all who refused to recognise him as a 
 prophet, thought to prove his divine mission. He met, how- 
 ever, with much resistance, and had many factions to over- 
 come, before he succeeded in subduing the various tribes of 
 his nation. This contest lasted for ten years, up to the very 
 moment of his death, when he died master of all Arabia* 
 Shortly before that event, he wrote very insolent letters to 
 the Emperor Heraclius, and the great King of Persia, sum • 
 moning them to acknowledge him for a prophet, and to believe 
 in his mission. Both gave rather evasive replies, than positive 
 refusals ;— -so great was the terror which this new power of 
 Hell had already struck into the world. 
 
 Immediately on the death of Mahomet, a great contest arose 
 among his disciples. On one side Ali, his son-in-law by 
 marriage with his daughter Fatima, and on the other Abu- 
 beker, his father-in-law, whose daughter Ayesha was the 
 surviving widow of the prophet, and who was afterwards 
 succeeded by Omar, contended with all the might of their 
 respective adherents for superiority and dominion ; and this 
 bloody family-quarrel, which distracted the very infancy of the 
 Arabian empire, has produced among Mahometan nations a 
 long and protracted religious schism, which has continued 
 down to the present day. This was originally a mere per- 
 sonal dispute, and not a dogmatic controversy as among Chris- 
 tian sects ; for the religion of Mahomet furnishes no matter 
 for such controversies, as in reality it contains little of a doc- 
 trinal nature, and recognises no dogmas but the two contained 
 in the seven Arabic words of the well-known symbol of Islam : 
 — " There is no God but God, and Mahomet is the Apostle 
 of God." The one of these is a declaration of the self-evident 
 tenet of the unity of God, bub levelled indirectly against the 
 
330 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 Christian dogma of the Trinity; while the other expresses the 
 divine mission of Mahomet, and by calling forth a veneration 
 that leads to the contempt and rejection of all things besides, 
 has, in a practical point of view, really established a new 
 species of idolatry. Abubeker and Omar asserted that they 
 alone were the legitimate Caliphs and successors of Mahomet ; 
 and as the partisans of Ali rejected the supplement founded 
 on oral tradition, to the poems and maxims of the prophet, 
 they were stigmatised as schismatics by the opposite party. 
 In Persia, the sect of Ali has remained predominant down to 
 the present day; and as in that country, the ancient traditions 
 and old national poetry have been partly preserved, and have 
 been combined in a very peculiar manner with the tenets of 
 Mahometism, many bolder, freer, and less contracted notions 
 have found their way among this people. Hence it is very 
 possible that on a closer investigation, we could discover a 
 great difference in the intellectual character of these two sects, 
 not so much, perhaps, in religious doctrines, about which there 
 is here little room for inquiry, as in moral feelings and views of 
 life. 
 
 The progress of the Arabian conquests was not checked by 
 these internal disputes. Five years after the death of Mahomet, 
 and fifteen from the commencement of the Hegira, the city of 
 Jerusalem was conquered by the arms of the Arabs ; and in the 
 eighteenth year of the same era, Egypt became a Mussulman 
 province. The thirteenth year of the Hegira was not yet ter- 
 minated, before the whole empire of Persia was subdued, and 
 its last monarch of the race of Sassanides, Yezdegerd, had 
 perished in foreign parts, a suppliant and a fugitive. In the 
 fiftieth year of the Hegira, Arabian vessels menaced and be- 
 sieged Constantinople, which was indebted for its deliverance 
 chiefly to the use of the Greek fire. In the ninetieth year of: 
 the same era, while on one side the Arabs extended their 
 victorious arms over India, they subverted on the other the Vi- 
 si-Goth kingdom in Spain and Portugal, and became masters of 
 the whole Hesperian peninsula, as far as those inaccessible 
 mountains, in whose fastnesses a fugitive remnant of the ruling 
 Goths, and of the old inhabitants of the country had intrenched 
 themselves, thence to carry on that struggle for freedom, which 
 till the final conquest of Granada, and the complete expulsion 
 of the Moors from Spain, lasted for a period of eight hundred 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 331 
 
 ears. After the downfal of the first dynasty of Caliphs of the 
 ouse of Ommiyah, and the subsequent accession of the Ab- 
 bassides to the empire, a separate and independent Caliphate 
 was established in Mussulman Spain, and lasted there for 
 several ages. The Arabs had scarce achieved the conquest of 
 Spain, when they aspired to the possession of the Visi-Goth and 
 Burgundian provinces of France. But a term was at last put 
 to the progress of their arms, by the mighty victory which the 
 Frank hero, Charles Martel, gained between Tours and Poitiers, 
 over their general, Abderame, who fell on the field with the 
 flower of his troops, in the twentieth year after the conquest of 
 Spain, and in the hundred and tenth year of the Hegira. Thus 
 did the arm of Charles Martel save and deliver the Christian 
 nations of the West, from the deadly grasp of all-destroying 
 Islam. In Asia the universal dominion of the Arabs was more 
 and more firmly consolidated, and the second of the Abbassides, 
 Alniansor, erected the city of Bagdad, or the new Babylon, not 
 far from the country where the old was situated, and which was 
 thenceforth the vast metropolis of an immense empire.* 
 
 * It may not perhaps be uninteresting to the reader to compare 
 with Schlegel's account of Mohammedanism, an admirable though 
 briefer sketch of the same religion by the hand of another great master 
 — the illustrious Goerres. In the Synopsis which he has published of 
 the Lectures on Universal History, that he has been for several years 
 delivering at Munich, we find the following remarkable passage on the 
 Mohammedan religion. The author after speaking of the various trials 
 which the Christian church had to endure, says : " Hence the young 
 church must wrestle with all the forms of error in the Gnostic doctrines 
 and in the other heresies ; one after the other she remains the triumph- 
 ant conqueress over all, and maintains against every attack her well- 
 balanced equilibrium. At length, when the contest has raged for cen- 
 turies, the enemy combines in one focus all the scattered rays of error; 
 and the Prophet of Mecca knows how to balance himself therein. The 
 rigid Monotheism of his doctrine, which by denying the Trinity, and 
 with it all personal manifestation of the Deity, limits its idea to the 
 depths of eternity, without admitting any true or living communica- 
 tion of the Godhead with what appertains to time, naturally allures the 
 metaphysical pride which in this abstraction hath made itself its own 
 god. The ethical Pantheism which this religion professes, while it fur- 
 nishes a pretext, a motive, and a palliation to all the pretensions of the 
 mighty, to the ambition of usurpers, the violence of pride, and the arro- 
 gance of tyranny, and at the same time consoles and disarms the in- 
 jured and the oppressed, by the inevitableness of destiny, must draw to 
 its preacher the men of the sword, of violence, and of blood, and link 
 those once bound indissolubly to him. The sensual Eudaimonism, to 
 
332 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 The new religion and conquests of the Arabs may be con- 
 sidered in the light of a new migration of nations, as no in- 
 considerable portion of the Moorish population passed into 
 Spain ; and this Arabian migration has exerted in Asia and in 
 Africa, a far more extensive influence on empire, language, 
 manners, political institutions, and intellectual cultivation, than 
 the invasion of the Germanic tribes has exercised in Europe. 
 When we compare the emigrations of the Germanic tribes, 
 with those of the Arabs, and consider the violence which cha- 
 racterised the latter, the pernicious influence they have exerted 
 on the human mind, and on civilisation, and the despotism they 
 have invariably introduced into political and domestic society, 
 we may look upon the migrating tribes of Germany, almost as 
 colonies, which though originally they partook of a warlike cha- 
 racter, yet inclined more and more to a peaceful nature, and 
 ultimately assumed that spirit, when the tumult of intermediate 
 anarchy had subsided, and Christianity had more intimately 
 blended and finally incorporated the new settlers and the old 
 inhabitants. 
 
 As the divine author of Christianity had promised his disci- 
 ples, that the high power of God should ever abide with them, 
 should guide and defend them ; and that the assisting and coun- 
 selling Spirit of truth, of peaceful order, and of active zeal 
 should never be removed from them; the efficacy of this divine 
 promise was now manifested during this intermediate period of 
 anarchy ; and though in a different form from what it appeared in 
 the earlier ages of the church, yet was it perfectly adapted to the 
 exigencies of time. The great problem of the age was first in 
 this new agglomeration of nations, to endeavour to allay the 
 agitated elements of society, till after that agitation had sub- 
 sided, they should grow and strengthen into organic life and 
 
 which his creed opens so free a scope, both in this world and the next, 
 must rally round the apostle of lust, the multitude that burns with all 
 the passionate glow of that fervid zone, and place under his control 
 all the wild, fiery energies of that region. And thus do the cold doc- 
 trine, the cutting steel, and the destroying flame go before him as his 
 missionaries ; and the south and the east, and soon even a part of the 
 European west, are bowed under the yoke of his religion : and while in 
 the Caliphate he founds for it a new spiritual and secular empire, the 
 modern world between Christianity and Mohammedanism becomes 
 divided into night and day." — " Goerres Uber die Grundlage der Welt- 
 geschichte," page 99-100. Breslaw, 1830. — Trans. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 333 
 
 form ; and next, to preserve the heritage of European science 
 and letters, and thus sow the seeds of a richer and more flour- 
 islnng harvest for future ages. And to affect this by the mild 
 and genial influence of Christianity, was the object, the task, 
 and the work of the distinguished ecclesiastics, bishops, dignita- , 
 ries, and other apostolic men of those ages. The two great 
 popes, Leo and Gregory, shone conspicuous above all their con- 
 temporaries, and were in that period of anarchy, a pillar of 
 strength and a shield of safety to afflicted Rome and Italy — the 
 guardians of European society and of Christian science. Both 
 by their practical and instructive writings, are considered as the 
 last of the ancient fathers ; and Leo even is remarkable for 
 great purity of diction and force of eloquence. In point of 
 science and learning, the succeeding bishops and dignitaries of 
 the church cannot indeed be compared with the ancient fathers ; 
 but on the other hand, they united with a true Christian piety 
 a practical sense that never failed to discern everywhere what 
 was fitting for the emergency of the moment. The monastic 
 schools founded by St. Benedict were indeed of a very different 
 nature from the primitive eremitical institutes of Egypt ; and 
 entirely adapted to the exigencies of Europe in that age, they 
 were the asylums and seminaries of learning and philosophic 
 contemplation ; and while they promoted the interests of educa- 
 tion, they were equally conducive to the progress of agriculture. 
 A number of works have sufficiently shown how much the in- 
 fluence of the Benedictine order, which for many centuries 
 extended over all the countries of the West, has advanced the 
 intellectual civilisation of modern Europe, and indeed sown its 
 first seeds. 
 
 By Bishop Boniface the Christian religion was established 
 and widely diffused in the interior of Germany. At an earlier 
 period, other holy men animated with an apostolic zeal, forty 
 of whom were sent by Pope Gregory the Great, carried the 
 light of the Gospel into Britain; where it was received with 
 peculiar avidity by the Picts and Scots, and the old inhabitants 
 of Erin, as well as by the Anglo-Saxons. In true Christian 
 piety, and in such knowledge and science as the age possessed, 
 England during this Saxon period, prior and down to the reign 
 of Alfred, maintained nearly a pre-eminence above the other 
 kingdoms of the West. Even that apostle of the Germans, 
 Boniface, originally named Winfried, came from England ; and 
 
334 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 among the writers of the age, Alcuin asserted the intellectual 
 superiority of the Anglo-Saxon Christians. Limited as was 
 the knowledge of the western world in those ages, and narrow 
 the circle of European science and learning, still we find in 
 those times, but almost only in the West, writers of very 
 original powers, and peculiar turn of mind, whose writings, 
 composed either in a barbarous Latin, or in a half-formed Ro- 
 manic vernacular tongue, are the faithful and instructive mirrors 
 of the spirit of the times. On the other hand, the later 
 Byzantine writers, though they possessed incomparably greater 
 resources, and much more extensive philological acquirements, 
 have produced nothing but learned compilations. 
 
 Now there arose in the West, Christian kings, heroes, and 
 legislators, both among the Franks and the Saxons, such as 
 Charlemagne and Alfred, who as men were not indeed fault- 
 less, but who should be judged and appreciated according to 
 the character of their times ; a knowledge of which is neces- 
 sary for rightly understanding the spirit of these extraordinary 
 men. In peace and in war they endeavoured firmly to estab- 
 lish and new model society on Christian principles and maxims; 
 and they restored the western in the form of a great Christian 
 empire, destined to defend and protect all Christian states — 
 all the civilised nations of the European confederacy, against 
 barbarian invasion and internal anarchy. 
 
 If we compare these Frank and Saxon kings and emperors, 
 valiant and chivalrous as they were, thirsting for glory, yet 
 seeking and establishing peace, honouring justice, and founding 
 or restoring laws, on one hand with those Saracen rulers and 
 caliphs, ever burning with a rage for conquest and destruction, 
 and on the other hand, with that Byzantine court, presenting 
 almost always the uniform picture of corruption, and ruling 
 over an empire pining in hopeless decay — if we contrast those 
 flashes of genius which distinguished the writings of the 
 western nations, with the dead, spiritless monotony pervading 
 all the productions of the Byzantine intellect, superior as the 
 Greeks were to the rest of Europe in erudition, science, and 
 literary stores ; we shall find in this comparison, (taking into 
 consideration the imperfection of all human things, and actions, 
 and persons, for even in this period of the world, errors and 
 defects are to be found in the conduct of individuals mixed up 
 with the most praiseworthy qualities) we shall find, I say, in 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 335 
 
 this comparison, the best vindication and the highest eulo<num 
 of the Catholic West and its earlier history. The misrepre- 
 sentation of that history formerly so frequently made by the 
 passions, the exaggerations, and the prejudices of party, has 
 still an injurious influence, but is with us no longer in season ; 
 for the moment has arrived, when fixed in the right centre, we 
 must now begin to take a more complete and comprehensive 
 survey of the primitive world, and classical antiquity, next of 
 the history of the middle age, and of modern times, down to 
 the present day, and to that approaching futurity still in the 
 crisis of its formation ; and when we must judge them with 
 more correctness in all their details, and understand them 
 better by examining their relative position in the great plan of 
 history, and estimate them all by the standard given to us by 
 God, which is the only true one. Then we shall judge these 
 particulars without predilection, and without aversion, " sine 
 odio et sine dilectione," which is somewhat more than that 
 excellent and greatest of all ancient historians, who gwe 
 utterance to this saying, really accomplished, or was indeed in 
 his time and with his principles capable of accomplishing 
 For it is only the knowledge and complete comprehension of 
 the great scheme of history, which can enable us to rise above 
 the particular transactions of our own, or of a foreign nation, 
 of the present times or of past ages ; and it is this knowledge 
 which can alone clearly and safely determine the feeling with 
 which we should regard particular historical facts. But for 
 that end, the ancient historian, as well as all antiquity, wanted 
 the clue which Christianity alone has given us, to the internal 
 connexion of the world's history, and which they who seek for 
 it elsewhere but in this religion, will certainly seek in vain. 
 
 In this period of anarchy, and during the sway of the Lom- 
 bards, the circumstances of the times gave to the popes a para- 
 mount authority in the internal administration of the city and 
 district of Rome; as well as a general political influence over 
 all Italy ; an influence which was for the most part very salu- 
 tary, and tended effectually to insure the public peace and 
 prosperity. I must here observe that this political position and 
 power of the popes, so naturally adapted to the circumstances 
 ot the times, and to the general situation of the western 
 world, was first put in a clear and correct point of view by 
 writers not belonging to the Catholic church. For the poliri- 
 
336 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 cal historians on the Catholic side have, in almost every 
 country, retained too lively a recollection of the warm disputes 
 as to the respective limits and rights of the ecclesiastical and 
 secular power, not to be swayed by such feelings in their con- 
 ception and accounts of an age long gone by ; and this has 
 certainly weakened the impartiality becoming the tribunal of 
 history. 
 
 After the subversion of the Ostro-Goth dominion in Italy, 
 the disgrace or dissatisfaction of the Byzantine general, 
 Narses, provoked the incursion of the Lombards into Italy. 
 This people were not so exclusively devoted to the Arian party; 
 as a portion of them, and several among their kings professed 
 the Catholic religion ; but they were far from possessing the 
 mild, generous character of the Goths, and their sway often 
 proved oppressive in Italy. Yet every thing appeared more 
 desirable and more tolerable in the opinion of many other- 
 wise unprejudiced historians, than the impending danger of 
 Byzantine rule. When in the middle of the seventh century, 
 the Greek Emperor Constans II. waged war in Italy against 
 the Lombards, and in the course of the war conquered Rome, 
 the plunder, especially of the treasures of ancient art, was so 
 immense, that compared with these Greek devastations, all the 
 earlier and destructive ravages of the Goths appeared to be 
 nothing. The ships which were conveying to Constantinople 
 all these plundered treasures of art, fell into the hands of the 
 Arabs, and were destroyed, so that it was never known what be- 
 came of their valuable freight. So true it is, that Rome perished 
 solely and entirely by her own hand, by internal discord, and 
 the weight of her own corruption, and not by the hands of 
 Germans or of Goths. 
 
 When at the commencement of the eighth century, the do- 
 minion of the rude Lombards became oppressive, and the Greek 
 sway under the Iconoclast Leo was still more detested, and all 
 the cities and provinces of Italy had revolted against it ; Pope 
 Gregory II. without any previous concert, and by unanimous 
 consent, was placed at the head of the Italian league, and de- 
 clared its chief ; but he warned his countrymen against the 
 dangers of precipitation, exhorted them to the maintenance of 
 peace, and ever cherished the hope of obtaining a friendly 
 reconciliation with the Byzantine emperor. The rigid prohi- 
 bition of the religious use of images was proper in those cases 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 337 
 
 only, where the use of them was not confined to a mere devo- 
 tional respect, but was likely to degenerate into a real adoration 
 and idolatry, and where a strict separation from pagan nations 
 and their rites was a matter of primary importance, as was 
 the case in the Jewish dispensation of old. But now that the 
 Mahomedan proscription, and scornful rejection of all holy 
 emblems and images of devotion, arose from a decidedly anti- 
 Christian spirit, that displayed itself either in open violence or 
 secret machination against the Christian religion ; this By- 
 zantine attack on images, and this furious war against all 
 symbols of piety, which in its ulterior consequences might and 
 must have proceeded to much greater lengths, can be regarded 
 only as a mad contagion of the moral disease of the age. This 
 disorder and frenzy indeed subsided ; and the Greeks of the 
 Byzantine empire in their religious rites, as well as dogmas, 
 have remained Christians, and faithful to the old Christian 
 traditions. Yet this controversy on the use of images, and the 
 animosities and jealousies which it enkindled between the 
 Christians of the East and West, did not a little contribute to 
 that perfectly groundless, irrational, and unhappy schism which 
 has severed the Greeks from the universal church. 
 
 The protracted contest between the kings of Lombardy and 
 the Greek Exarchs of Ravenna, (during whose disputes the 
 popes felt the calling and inclination, but had not the power 
 to exercise the high functions of protectors to oppressed Italy, ) 
 naturally provoked the arbitration of the Franks, led to the 
 establishment of their protectorate over Italy, and was thus the 
 first occasion of the restoration of the Western Empire, and of 
 the foundation of the great Christian imperial monarchy. The 
 sublime idea of such an empire sprang solely and entirely 
 out of circumstances and events, as they arose, and had not by 
 any individual been fully anticipated, much less clearly under- 
 stood. Hence we cannot attribute to any persons the blame or 
 entire merit of events that really took place of themselves, by 
 the mere force of circumstances, the spirit of the times, and the 
 happy impulse of a lofty inspiration. Nor can we at this remote 
 distance of time, and under circumstances so totally dissimilar, 
 institute a formal discussion (in the manner of the Jurists) on 
 the lawfulness or unlawfulness of any particular measure in this 
 great series of public acts. No country besides was oppressed 
 by so many and such contending rulers, as that Italy which had 
 
 z 
 
S38 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 once bowed all nations beneath her yoke. Sicily, which had 
 been conquered by the Arabs, laboured under the most cruel 
 oppression ; and it was the tyrannical conduct of the Greek 
 governors that had paved the way for the conquest of that 
 island. In the third century, the Franks had already migrated 
 into Gaul; their rulers were from the origin of their empire 
 most devoted to Christianity ; and had besides in their conduct 
 towards kindred or neighbouring nations, evinced a more 
 judicious, prudent, and systematic policy, than had been shown 
 by any other Germanic or Gothic tribe, in the invasion and 
 subsequent government of the Roman provinces. This nation, 
 which from its origin had ever been warmly attached to the 
 Catholic church, which had subdued the Visi-Goth kingdom in 
 Gaul, had become masters of the Burgundian provinces, while 
 it perpetually strove to extend and consolidate its dominion in 
 the interior of Germany ; was now, after its splendid victory over 
 the Saracens, and the general protection which this victory had 
 insured to all Christendom, called into Italy, less by the pope and 
 the Romans, than by the state of affairs, and the urgency of times 
 and circumstances, there to terminate anarchy, and re-establish 
 the ancient order of things, or one better adapted to the exigencies 
 of the age. The empire of the Franks was henceforward the 
 most powerful state in the West, and was indeed the great 
 centre of the civilised world ; as afterwards became, though on 
 a higher and more extended scale, the great Christian empire 
 of the middle age in Germany and in Italy. Here we find that 
 high clue in human history to which we should ever adhere — 
 on one side, the luminous trace of the more immediate provi- 
 dence of God — and on the other, the gradual unfolding of the 
 human mind, evinced in science as in language, in feelings 
 as in modes of thinking — an intellectual development, which 
 though often concealed, and, as it were, buried beneath 
 the agitated surface of external events, forms (together with 
 the conduct of Divine Providence,) the real and essential 
 matter and purport in the history and progress of human 
 communities. In this respect, if we regard either of the 
 then two great rival powers in the East, we shall find that 
 neither the dead monotony of the Byzantine empire, sinking 
 ever lower in the scale of moral, political, and intellectual 
 degradation, nor the more hasty growth and the internal dis- 
 traction of the Saracenic empire, (presenting, as it does, in its 
 long series of political catastrophes, military revolutions, and 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 339 
 
 frequent changes of dynasty, the same tedious uniformity of 
 despotism), will furnish much matter of interest or of moment 
 to the philosophic historian. It is in this period of the world, 
 the gradual organisation of the Christian state, as in a later age, 
 the development of Christian science, which chiefly commands 
 our regard, naturally so curious after all that relates to the con- 
 cerns and destinies of mankind, and fixes our attention exclu- 
 sively, or more particularly, on that European West, where 
 all now displayed a fuller life, and a more constant movement 
 and activity. 
 
 The territorial partitions, and the various feuds and dissen- 
 sions which occurred between the Frank kings, possess but 
 little, or at best a subordinate interest, amid the great events of 
 the times — it is the leading idea of the age, the progressive 
 march of society at this period, which offers matter of instruc- 
 tion to the historian. Many faults and errors, however, stained 
 
 the first execution of this grand plan of a Christian empire ; 
 
 such, for instance, were those wars winch Charlemagne waged 
 against the Saxons, as well as similar wars under his prede- 
 cessors in the preceding age ; for the propagation of the Chris- 
 tian religion by such means of coercion, can scarcely ever be 
 excused, and in no case entirely justified. The best excuse is 
 perhaps in the fact, that all wars between tribes nearly allied, 
 are like family disputes, usually conducted with greater stub- 
 bornness and animosity. However, in the year 784, Charle- 
 magne concluded with the Saxons a peace which was very 
 advantageous to the latter ; and the extremely prosperous and 
 flourishing condition of the empire, and even of the countries 
 in the* north of Germany, under Henry, the first king of the 
 Saxon race, proves at least that the evil was confined within 
 veiy narrow limits, and had not been productive of such wide- 
 spread and protracted desolation. 
 
 In the transition from the Carlovingian to the Capctian dy- 
 nasty, we should not forget that the monarchy was not strictly 
 hereditary in any German state, but was for the most part 
 merely elective ; and it was only he, who had proved himself 
 a valiant, prudent, and powerful defender of his nation, that 
 became the man of the public choice. Royalty was then con- 
 sidered more in the light of an office, a charge, a peculiar call- 
 ing, than of an inheritance or patrimony. The gen eral idea 
 of the Christian empire, was a universal protectorate over all 
 
 z2 
 
340 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 Christian nations and countries — a mighty central dominion 
 founded on justice, while the great connecting and pervading 
 power of the whole system was supposed to reside in the perfect 
 unity of religious principles. When this religious unity was 
 destroyed, the whole political edifice fell to pieces ; and in the 
 struggles of later times, the artificial relations founded on a 
 mere mechanical balance of power, on a republican equality of 
 states, without the foundation of Christian or any other solid 
 principles, have furnished, as experience has shown, but a very 
 bad substitute for that old Christian brotherhood of the Euro- 
 pean states and nations ; and have in the general subversion of 
 Christian morality, produced a sort of polite disorder and re- 
 fined anarchy. 
 
 In the partition of the Carlovingian empire — a partition 
 which was only in accordance with those principles of descent 
 which regulated the inheritance of the great families — we can 
 trace an almost heroic, and if we might use the expression, a 
 naive patriarchical confidence in the duration of that religious 
 unity ; for it was only on such a basis that men deemed it 
 possible to combine the advantage of the domestic, internal 
 government of a country limited in extent, with the control 
 of one general superintending monarchy. When a man of 
 such consummate prudence, such long foresight, and powerful 
 understanding as Charlemagne, deemed such a scheme not im- 
 practicable, and thought it possible to maintain the political 
 unity of his empire, under the joint dominion of his sons, and 
 by their subordination to their eldest brother ; we should learn 
 not to judge the plan with too much precipitation, and accord- 
 ing to the notions of our times, and our present systems of 
 policy. This first partition which Charlemagne had designed, 
 w T as prevented by the hand of death. The entire division of 
 the whole Carlovingian empire into three distinct portions, 
 was first effected by Lewis the Pious ; but the perpetual family 
 dissensions which occurred under his successors, the weak- 
 ness or violence of their characters, and the various factions 
 which arose, rendered totally impossible the maintenance of 
 that union, which was originally sought to be perpetuated in 
 the empire, and led to the final dismemberment and total disso- 
 lution of the old empire of the Franks, when another dynasty 
 succeeded to the imperial crown. 
 
 In the primitive monarchy of the Germans, however, the 
 existence of the four great national dutchies, which were subor- 
 
HISTORY. 341 
 
 dmate to the imperial crown, far more happily accomplished 
 this union of a local, domestic, and paternal government with 
 the control of one powerful and superintending monarchy ; so 
 long at least as internal union subsisted, and discord had 'not 
 obtained the supremacy. There then existed, though mostly in 
 a different form than afterwards, a division of powers in the 
 state as well as in the church ; but unity in this division, or 
 with this division, was sought for only in Christian and national 
 sentiments ; and as long as these subsisted in their integrity, 
 the body politic remained unimpaired. At no time has a political 
 constitution or mode of government been devised, which could 
 permanently supply the place of principle. 
 
 In the national meetings of the great and smaller states 
 of that age, m their assembled councils of dukes and princes 
 bishops, counts and lords, nobles and freemen (to whom were 
 added the commons of the cities, when by their rights and 
 privileges they began to obtain importance), we must look for 
 the first germ of all the succeeding parliaments and States- 
 general of the European nations, and of the rights of the 
 different^ orders of society, and the privileges and corporate 
 immunities of the cities. All these rights and liberties were 
 purely local— they grew up on the root of national customs— 
 they were founded on no speculative theory of universal equality, 
 but on positive usage and special laws, the union and stability 
 ot an empire was then sought for not in the balance of artificial 
 torms, but in the holy heritage of ancient customs; in principle, 
 m short. r 1 ' 
 
 On this basis, first of Christian, then of national sentiments, 
 do all Christian states repose ; and when this foundation is 
 destroyed, those states are undone. Ecclesiastical power had 
 then a real and substantial weight, and a ver Y extended circle 
 ot operation; although its limits and relations with secular 
 authority were not so rigidly circumscribed as afterwards. To 
 be sensible that this division of power will not necessarily impair 
 the unity of strength and spirit in the social frame, as lone- as 
 principle remains pure, and religious concord is preserved ; we 
 need only call to our recollection the fact, that all Christian 
 states and kingdoms have sprung from this happy agreement 
 between secular and ecclesiastical authority, and that this union 
 was the sure foundation of their stability. And so long as both 
 powers remained in harmonious accord, the times were pros- 
 
342 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 perous, peace and justice ever increased, and the condition of 
 nations was flourishing and happy. Christianity, says a great 
 historian, who manifests a greater predilection for antiquity, and 
 even for the Oriental world, but whose comprehensive intellect 
 often rightly appreciates the benign influence of this religion, 
 which with us must have the priority ; Christianity was the 
 electric spark which first roused the warlike nations of the 
 north, rendered them susceptible of a higher civilisation, 
 stamped the peculiar character, and founded the political insti- 
 tutions of modern nations, which have sprung out of such 
 heterogeneous elements. And we may add, Christianity was 
 the connecting power which linked together the great com- 
 munity of European nations, not only in the moral and 
 political relations of life, but in science and modes of think- 
 ing. The church was like the all-embracing vault of 
 heaven, beneath whose kindly shelter, those warlike nations 
 began to settle in peace, and gradually to frame their laws and 
 institutions. Even the office of instruction, the heritage of 
 ancient knowledge, the promotion of science, and of all that 
 tended to advance the progress of the human mind, devolved to 
 the care of the church, and were exclusively confined to the 
 Christian schools. If science was then of a very limited range, 
 it was still quite proportioned to the exigencies and intellectual 
 cultivation of the age ; for mankind cannot transcend all the 
 degrees of civilisation by a single bound, but must mount slowly 
 and in succession its various grades ; and at any rate, science 
 was not at that time unprofitably buried in libraries and in the 
 closets of the learned, as was afterwards the case in Europe, 
 and even partly then among the Byzantines. The little know- 
 ledge which was then possessed, was by the more active spirit, 
 and the sound understanding and practical sense of the Euro- 
 pean nations, and their better priesthood, applied with general 
 advantage to the interests of society. Science was not then, as 
 in the later period of its proud ascendency, in open hostility 
 with the pure dictates of faith and the institutions of life. On 
 that world so variously excited in peace, as in war, and by the 
 different pursuits of art and industry, useful knowledge and whole- 
 some speculation descended, not like a violent flood, but like the 
 soft distillations of the refreshing dew, or the gentle drops of fer- 
 tilising rain , from the Heaven of faith which over-arched the whole. 
 
 END OF LECTURE XII. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 343 
 
 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 On the Formation and Consolidation of the Christian Government in 
 Modern Times — On the Principle which led to the Establishment of 
 the Old German Empire. 
 
 The first three centuries of the Christian era, and of modern 
 history, compose the epoch when, by a second fiat of creation, 
 the light of Christianity spread through the whole Roman 
 world, and when after undergoing long persecutions, the reli- 
 gion of Christ, under Constantine, came victorious out of the 
 struggle. The second epoch, or the succeeding five centuries 
 comprehend that chaotic and intermediate state in the history 
 of mankind, or the transition from declining antiquity to 
 modern times, growing out of the ruins of the ancient world — 
 the fermenting mixture of many and various elements of social 
 life. But when at last the tempest had disburdened itself of 
 its fury, the clouds had broken asunder, and the pure firmament 
 of Christian faith had stretched out its ample vault to shelter 
 the rise of new communities ; when the wild waters of that 
 mighty inundation of nations had begun gradually to flow off ; 
 then the Germanic tribes, incorporated with the Romanic 
 nations, laid the deep, firm soil on which modern European 
 society was to spring up and flourish. For it was Charlemagne 
 who laid the sure foundation for Christian government, and all 
 the improvements of its subsequent superstructure. On this 
 basis of Christian government, and Christian manners, and 
 under the cover and vivifying influence of the luminous firma- 
 ment of Christian faith, sprang human science out of the small 
 fragments of ancient art and learning, which had survived all 
 these mighty devastations ; till at last it expanded into a fuller 
 bloom, and grew into a more heavenly and Christian form. 
 This new progress of social man under the Christian form of 
 government, and this progress of the human mind in Christian 
 science, mark the third epoch of modern history, or the seven 
 centuries which elapsed from the reign of Charlemagne, to the 
 discovery of the New World, and the commencement of the Re- 
 
344 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 formation. It may naturally be supposed that these seven 
 centuries which witnessed the progressive civilisation of modern 
 nations, and the vigorous growth and wide spread of Christian 
 principles, were at the same time a period of struggle both in 
 the state and in science, and that in each of these departments, 
 the spirit of Christianity was intermixed with, and most inju- 
 riously and fatally thwarted and opposed by, many un- Christian 
 elements. And indeed, to discover and discriminate between 
 these conflicting elements, to comprehend and determine their 
 mutual bearings one towards the other, is the fit problem for 
 historical philosophy. The progress of the Christian state and 
 the advancement of Christian science, form during this period 
 the main subject of an universal history, when this is not a 
 mere collection of special or national histories, but truly uni- 
 versal, in the philosophic sense of the term ; treating solely of 
 those subjects common to all mankind; or which illustrate the 
 general march of humanity. Hence all other historical views, 
 dictated by a predilection for one's own country — inquiries into 
 the political institutions of one, or several, or all existing states 
 — a review of the circle of mercantile operations, and their gra- 
 dual extension, and of the progress of the mechanical arts — and 
 lastly, curious and erudite dissertations on literature, philology, 
 and the fine arts (however interesting, instructive, and in many 
 respects useful, such special dissertations may be in themselves) 
 — all these must be either entirely excluded from general history, 
 or must at least occupy a place very subordinate to, and are 
 deserving of notice only as far as they illustrate, what must ever 
 constitute, the main subject of the Philosophy of History. In 
 the first ages of the world, it is often difficult to obtain satis- 
 factory information, and a competent degree of certainty on the 
 subjects which are alone, or at least chiefly, worthy of attention. 
 But in modern times, it is a far more arduous task to select out 
 of the immense multitude and variety of facts susceptible of 
 historical proof, those which are of a general interest to mankind, 
 and amid the crowd of details steadily to preserve the general 
 outline of history. 
 
 It would be a great error to refer to the Christian constitu- 
 tion of the state and of science, every remarkable or important 
 incident in the history of government and of science, merely 
 because such incidents have occurred in the middle age, or 
 among Christian nations of later times. We must strive to 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 345 
 
 form a loftier idea of the Christian model both in science and in 
 government, so that the highest and noblest monuments in 
 either, should, from human infirmity, be considered but faint ap- 
 proximations, I do not say, to the unattainable standard of an 
 imaginary perfection, but to the sober reality of Christian truth. 
 Although it is not possible rigidly to separate public life from 
 public opinions, on account of the intimate union between both, 
 and the mutual influence which government and science exercise 
 over one another ; yet as the state is the groundwork for the 
 cultivation of science, and the former must precede the latter, I 
 shall follow this historical order, and commence with the con- 
 stitution of the Christian state. 
 
 As here the question is not as to the Beau Ideal of supreme 
 perfection, or as to a precise, rigid, and scientific theory of the 
 Christian state (for which here, at least, if not for the present 
 age, the time may not have arrived), but merely as to a 
 general outline of such a theory, I shall only observe, that the 
 Christian state must rest on the basis of religious feelings. 
 For, without feeling, its relation to religion cannot be con- 
 ceived — and such a mere relation, considered in itself, would 
 lose its religious character. But the government which is 
 founded on Christianity, is on that account limited, and is con- 
 sequently in its very nature abhorrent either from absolute 
 despotism, or the uncontrolled tyranny of popular factions. In 
 the next place, the government founded on religion, is one in 
 which sentiment, personal spirit, and personal character are 
 the primary and ruling elements, and not the dead letter, and 
 the written formula of a mere artificial constitution. In this 
 last respect one may say, that the Christian government in- 
 clines very strongly towards monarchy ; for, in monarchy, it is 
 the sacred person of the king, the character of the ruler, the 
 spirit of his administration, confidence in his person, and at- 
 tachment to the hereditary dynasty, which form the basis, the 
 animating spirit, and vivifying principle of the social system. 
 In a republic it is not the person, but the law which governs ; 
 nay, the written word of the law is there of the utmost im- 
 portance; and thus the dead letter of the constitution is in a 
 republic almost as sacred, as in a monarchy the person called 
 and consecrated to the functions of government by divine right. 
 But more than this we should not say — namely, that the 
 Christian government, founded as it is on personality and on 
 
346 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 sentiment, inclines, on the whole, strongly towards the mo- 
 narchical form — a leaning which is by no means incompatible 
 with many republican usages and republican institutions of a 
 subordinate kind. Still less should we exaggerate this idea so 
 far, as to maintain that the Christian government is entirely 
 and necessarily monarchical, even in its outward form; and that 
 a republic is objectionable at all times and under all circum- 
 stances without distinction. Such absolutism in the doctrines 
 of public law, and in the theory of government, is very remote 
 from true Christian principles. The unhistorical government 
 of mere reason — the destructive principle of revolution — is 
 indeed totally incompatible with Christianity ; principally be- 
 cause the Christian religion tolerates aud recognises all legal 
 institutions, such as they are, without inquiring into their 
 origin (as the gospel not only left inviolate, but even respected 
 the legality of the Roman dominion in the conquered and in- 
 corporated countries), and also because the Christian notion 
 of right, like the Christian system of government, is by no 
 means absolute, but is ever qualified by circumstances. A 
 republican government, which is founded not so much on the 
 abstract or rationalist principle of absolute freedom and equality, 
 but on ancient customs and hereditary rights, on freedom of 
 sentiment and generosity of character, consequently on per- 
 sonality, is by no means essentially opposed to the true spirit of 
 monarchy ; still less is it inconsistent with the Christian theory 
 of government. But a despotism, illegitimate, not perhaps in 
 its origin, but in its abuse of power, strikes at the first prin- 
 ciples of the Christian state, whose mild, temperate, and histo- 
 rical character is as abhorrent from absolutism, as from the 
 opposite principle of unqualified freedom and universal equality 
 — the revolutionary principle, which involves the overthrow of 
 all existing rights. 
 
 As in the Christian's estimation, the worth and excellence of 
 an individual is not to be judged by his outward appearance, 
 or by the observance of certain forms, but by the sincerity ot 
 his inward sentiments, so the same observation will apply to 
 states. It is the spirit and purpose of an action, the nature of 
 a deed, the personal conduct displayed in a public measure, 
 and not any outward form, which proves or determines the 
 good or evil tendency of any important act, which may be the 
 subject of history. That Christian tone and spirit which be- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 347 
 
 longs to the government of the illustrious, but not immaculate 
 Charlemagne, does not proceed from the circumstance, that he, 
 like Alfred after him, solicited the counsels and co-operation of 
 his bishops in framing laws for the various provinces of his 
 empire (for many of these laws contained moral injunctions), 
 or that at Rome the pope placed the imperial crown upon Ins 
 head. But the Christian spirit of his government is evinced 
 by that lofty idea which filled up the whole of his active life — 
 by his conception of the relations of church and state, and of 
 the utility of science for the civilisation of nations — by his pro- 
 ject of an universal empire, destined to embrace and protect 
 all civilised nations — the noble fabric of modem Christendom, 
 of which he laid the first foundation-stone, and which reveals 
 his enlarged views, comprehending alike his own age and suc- 
 ceeding times. 
 
 But whenever we meet in history with a government which, 
 independently of outward forms, is founded on the love of 
 divine justice — on a principle of self-devotion, whereby rulers 
 are ready to sacrifice their own interest, and even their own 
 existence, in the cause of justice and of social order — these, we 
 may be sure, are the certain and indubitable marks of the realisa- 
 tion of the Christian theory of law and government. On the other 
 hand, wherever we perceive despotism or violence, or what we feel 
 to be absolute wrong, though they be veiled under the sanction 
 of spiritual or temporal power, then we may be sure the whole 
 enterprise is un-Christian, as the principle is un-Chiistian. Of 
 all the different forms of this political disease, of the manifold 
 kinds of tyranny, whether ecclesiastical or secular, military or 
 commercial, domestic or municipal, academic or aristocratic, 
 the despotism of popular licentiousness is the most reprehen- 
 sible in principle, and the most destructive in its effects. 
 
 With the usages and institutions of the Germanic nations, 
 this peculiar temper of the Christian religion perfectly har- 
 monised ; incomparably better, at least, than with the arbitrary 
 government of the Roman state, which, even after the conver- 
 sion of Constantine, still retained in all essential points a 
 pagan character. In the old German states, the system of 
 hereditary monarchy mostly prevailed ; — but it was quite alien 
 from absolutism, and was intermixed with many republican 
 institutions, laws, and customs. The whole system of those 
 governments was founded on the historical basis of ancient 
 
348 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 usages — on the pure, free, and generous sentiment of honour — 
 on personal glory and personal character and talents. As soon 
 as this natural moral energy of the Germanic nations had 
 received a religious consecration from Christianity, and those 
 energetic, heroic souls had imbibed with fervour, simplicity, 
 and humility, the maxims of the religion of love ; all the ele- 
 ments of a truly Christian government, and Christian system 
 of policy were then offered to mankind. The political history 
 of those ancient times has been mostly represented in a too 
 systematic point of view, for the purpose of favouring some 
 particular object, or interest, or some favourite opinion of 
 modern times ; since historians employ all their ingenuity in 
 tracing, step by step, and disclosing to our view the first rise 
 and gradual growth of any particular form of government, or 
 principle of right — such as the establishment of royalty on the 
 one hand, and that of the constitution of the three orders on 
 the other. But they remain quite unconcerned about every 
 more exalted principle in society. To judge and appreciate 
 not according to the standard of our own or any other age, 
 but according to the dictates of eternal truth, the manners, 
 the modes of thinking, the tone of society, the spirit and views 
 which animated men, whatever was good or evil, Christian or 
 an ti- Christian in their sentiments, is with these writers a matter 
 of the utmost indifference. If there is any exception from the 
 truth of this remark, it is when they meet with some singular 
 trait of manners or character — some historical paradox calcu- 
 lated to stimulate interest, and which they then never fail to 
 sever from its general connexion with the age, to tear up from 
 its natural roots, and exhibit to the curiosity of the beholder. 
 And yet in such individual traits of character in the middle 
 age, though they be at first remarked only from their singu- 
 larity, and be not even fully understood, more traces of his- 
 torical life and truth are to be found, than in those systematic 
 representations of history, drawn up with some specific political 
 view, and which aim at an elaborate dissection and violent dis- 
 rupture of institutions, which in those early times, were inse- 
 parably united in the life of Christian nations. If the best 
 and most praiseworthy measures adopted in that first period of 
 Christian polity, for the settlement and further improvement 
 of the Christian state, and for the establishment and applica- 
 tion of Christian maxims and principles of government; were 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 349 
 
 nothing more than a generous effort, a good intention, a rude 
 design — a feeble, imperfect approximation towards a divine 
 term — yet we must consider them as peculiar historical phe- 
 nomena, leave them in their individual bearings, and not pre- 
 maturely force them into any systematic connexion, or attach 
 them to any fixed or formal principle of right ; for in the 
 Christian government, feeling and personality are the most 
 essential things. 
 
 If I could overstep the narrow limits of this work, confined 
 as it is to a rapid sketch of the main and essential facts in the 
 historical progress of mankind, I should prefer to draw a 
 portrait of the mode of government and prevalent opinions of 
 that age, out of the many characteristic traits in the lives of 
 its distinguished rulers, its great and virtuous kings and empe- 
 rors, knights, and heroes, such as that Charlemagne, who would 
 rightly open the series, that pious King Alfred, who in a 
 far more contracted sphere, was equally great, those first 
 Saxon kings and emperors of Germany — princes distinguished 
 for their religious and virtuous sentiments, their great and up- 
 right character, and whose reigns exhibiting as they do, the para- 
 mount influence of religion on public life, constitute the happiest 
 era, and the truly golden period of our annals. The peculiar 
 nature and constitution, the internal spirit and essence of the 
 Christian state, would be much more clearly and vividly repre- 
 sented by the examples of these great characters, who to the pure 
 will of their energetic, heroic souls, united a practical knowledge 
 of life, and a natural insight into the principles of Christian 
 policy. Such a course I would prefer to entangling myself 
 in the usual disputes about the respective relations of the 
 spiritual and temporal powers, and all the contentious points 
 involved in that matter ; or to entering upon any dissertation 
 respecting the decisive era in the development of royalty and 
 its rights, or in the progress of the constitution of the three 
 estates, and of various municipal corporations ; however use- 
 ful and instructive such inquiries may be in the special history 
 of particular countries. And even in the latter respect, those 
 glorious names form a mighty epoch ; and in the history of 
 almost all the great European countries, we meet with some 
 holy and magnanimous monarch, who laid the solid founda- 
 tions of his country's constitution, or introduced a higher 
 civility and refinement in life and manners. Such were in 
 Hungary the holy King Stephen, and in France, the great 
 
350 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 St Lewis; who in more unquiet times restored a better spirit, 
 and for a while retarded the progress of corruption. There 
 were also other kings, heroes, and emperors, like Rodolph ot 
 Hapsburgh, who, without being honoured with the title ol 
 saints, were truly pious, chivalrie, and equitable monarchs, and 
 may be esteemed and revered as the Christian regenerators ot 
 their age, and the founders of a true and religious system ot 
 government and manners. A lively sketch of such men and 
 rulers, who acted and governed well and greatly, according to 
 Christian principles and views, would, I think, furnish a tar 
 more complete idea of the true nature of the Christian state 
 in this its first period of development, than any laboured or 
 artificial definition. There are along with these individual 
 characters, individual and transient periods of prosperity, 
 which break out for one generation or more in the history ot 
 those early times ; periods which can only be considered as 
 historical exceptions from the general order of things. Even 
 those more comprehensive, and so far more general political 
 institutions, evidently peculiar to those Christian ages, and 
 nowhere else to be found— like the truce of God, which re- 
 pressed within certain limits the hereditary spirit ot teud— or 
 the spiritual chivalry in the orders of the Templars and of the 
 Kni Ats of St John, consecrated to warfare in the cause ot 
 God! and opening, as they did, in the time of the crusades, to 
 the same spirit of chivalrous feud a higher path and a more 
 noble oareer— all these political institutions, I say, springing 
 out of the nature and exigencies of their age, can be under- 
 stood only by a reference to the circumstances and prevailing 
 spirit of the times, and must therefore be judged as historical 
 peculiarities. As they often sprang up suddenly without a 
 visible or apparent cause, and is if from some high, mysterious 
 impulse, so they often sank again as rapidly ; and the pure 
 spirit, the true import of such institutions, appeared but tor a 
 moment like a silvery gleam ; then they degenerated, or were 
 transformed into something totally different. And we must not 
 be astonished at this, since what is best and noblest m man— 
 feeling and its divine quality, is most easily and rapidly 
 impaired, and may sometimes, indeed, preserve an external 
 vigour, when it has undergone an internal change, and as- 
 sumed a direction opposed to God and all goodness. There 
 were also particular rulers possessed of an energetic will and 
 a comprehensive understanding, who exercised a wide and 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 351 
 
 commanding, but pernicious influence on their age, and the 
 world ; and among these, the most noble were Barbarossa 
 and that secret friend of the Saracens, the Emperor Frederick 
 the Second; princes who with some others, must be regarded 
 as the first authors of the great dissension. After this dis- 
 sension had broken out in the fearful struggle of the Guelphs 
 and Ghibellines, and Christendom was divided into two parties, 
 discord be ame general, pursued its resistless course, and acting 
 in those distracted times like some new destroying law of 
 nature, absorbed all personality and its influence in the general 
 abyss of error, or made it at least less conspicuous. 
 
 I will now endeavour to give a short sketch of the general pro- 
 gress of European society in this its first period of development, 
 and to point out the then peculiar nature and constitution of the 
 Christian state ; — from that epoch when Charlemagne laid the 
 first solid foundation for a permanent system of Christian 
 government and Christian manners,, down to the moment when 
 an anti- Christian spirit of discord broke out with incurable 
 violence, and became universally predominant. I will at the 
 same time endeavour to take an historical survey of the whole 
 Christian West, as it has remained the theatre of the subse- 
 quent progress of society, and of the great transactions of the 
 world down to our times. 
 
 In the blame so commonly lavished, (and not unreasonably, 
 when we consider the historical consequences,) on the customary 
 divisions in the Frankish or Carlovingian empire, and the other 
 German states, men forget that according to the old Germanic 
 idea, a kingdom was nothing more than any other great family 
 estate, or princely inheritance, and governed, like these, by the 
 same law of descent. This was so from the earliest times among 
 both the principal races of the Germans. In this manner we find 
 the nation of the Goths divided into two kingdoms ; and as the 
 Saxons were with difficulty united under one head in their 
 own ancestral country on the northern coast of Germany ; so in 
 the England which they had conquered and newly peopled, we 
 find seven principalities or petty kingdoms of Anglo-Saxons co- 
 existent with one another ; and these were only by accident re- 
 duced to a less number, and but for a time blended into one 
 sovereignty. We often ascribe to the men, and to the spirit of 
 those times, pretensions quite inappropriate, inapplicable, and 
 perfectly modern. So possessed are we with the notion of our 
 
352 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 times as to the natural and eternal boundaries of this or that 
 country, of the predestination of a people to political unity ; or 
 of the necessary national unity of every state — notions or pre- 
 judices which are held as so many mathematical axioms, in which 
 we make the highest idea of policy to consist, to which we 
 ascribe an inviolable sanctity, and which in our reverence, and 
 in some cases, we might almost say — idolatry, we exalt above 
 every thing else, and would make every thing else subservient to. 
 To the simplicity of those ancient times, the excellence and ad- 
 vantages of a mild, domestic, paternal, national sovereignty for 
 the more convenient administration of smaller states, appeared 
 great, and superior to every other consideration. Thus those 
 who had to decide of themselves, and without the imperious call 
 of duty — without the feeling of a strong necessity for undertaking, 
 even at the sacrifice of a part, at least, of their own national 
 welfare, the heavy burden of the imperial office, in that Chris- 
 tian empire evidently established by Divine Providence for the 
 protection of the church, and all the nations belonging to it ; — 
 without this strong feeling of duty, I say, they never would 
 have deviated from the good old simple usage of dividing the 
 royal patrimony. The more so indeed as the glory they sought 
 was rather of a chivalrous kind, consequently purely personal ; 
 and that favourite idol of modern times — national vanity — was 
 perfectly unknown to them. Their institution, certainly, would 
 not be adapted to our times ; nor was it even suited to those 
 immediately succeeding ; but an age to be judged aright and 
 duly appreciated, must be estimated by its own standard, and 
 the opinions proper to it. That even a division of sovereignty 
 and partition of kingdoms is not incompatible with the external 
 union of the body politic for one general design, so long as the 
 potentates are animated by a Christian and brotherly feeling, 
 and a spirit of union as to this one object — the all-uniting bond 
 of confederacy ; is a truth which may be proved by many pleas- 
 ing and glorious examples from the history of the earlier middle 
 age, and from that of Germany especially. If, on the one hand, 
 we would lay it down as a general historical law, and axiom of 
 state, that separated or divided kingdoms and countries can 
 never combine for one common object, nor remain permanently 
 united in feeling or Christian equity — so, on the other hand, 
 we must remember that the division of nations according to cer- 
 tain natural boundaries, which we would fain regard as the only 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 353 
 
 perfect and absolutely right one, is like the quadrature of the 
 circle, a problem eluding all calculation, and remaining for ever 
 insoluble, since each one, according to his peculiar political 
 position, or national prejudices, views those eternal boundaries 
 in a different light, and determines them differently. Thus in 
 order to put an end to all discord and to the injurious system 
 of partition, nothing would remain but the vulgar resource of 
 a universal monarchy and military dominion— a resource 
 which as often as it has been tried, has been as little justified 
 or recommended by its historical results, as that custom of par- 
 tition which prevailed in the German ancestral kingdoms of 
 the earlier middle age. 
 
 The dangers of a bitter family feud, or of the mutual 
 jealousies of the heirs to the several kingdoms as to their 
 respective portions, when these grew to any considerable extent, 
 were early enough perceived. It is to be observed, that in the 
 first division of the great Carlovingian empire into three parts, 
 designed by Charlemagne himself, but accomplished only under 
 his feebler successor; the inheritance assigned to the eldest 
 and imperial brother— Lothaire, was together with Rome and 
 Italy, the Rhenish district situate between France on the one 
 side, and the interior of Germany on the other, and extending 
 from Switzerland to the sea— a district where the Romans had 
 planted many and most flourishing colonies, and which for 
 many ages back had been far superior in civilisation and 
 refinement to the countries on either side. With the same 
 prospective care, Charlemagne had already fixed his residence 
 at Aix-la-Chapelle, preferring the Rhenish province as the then 
 true seat of civilisation. But in the family quarrel and dis- 
 sensions which ensued, this measure of Charlemagne as far as 
 it was intended, had no other permanent effect than to cause, 
 amid the partitions of countries and changes of dynasty, the 
 continuance down to very modern times, of Lorraine as an 
 independent kingdom or dutchy. The Rhenish district loner 
 preserved its pre-eminence in refinement above the rest of 
 Germany ; and with some external changes, was long the seat 
 of empire. 
 
 In that dark old world of the north, on which Christianity 
 was just beginning to dawn, no monarch after Charlemagne 
 shone so conspicuously as the virtuous Alfred, King oAhe 
 West Saxons, m England. And the same remark is applicable 
 
354 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 not only to him, but to England in general, which, during this 
 first Christian period of modern history, far outshone all other 
 countries in literature and science, as well as in religion, piety, 
 and virtue. The great pope, St. Gregory, as I have already 
 mentioned, laid the foundations of Christianity and intellectual 
 refinement in England, whither he sent forty missionaries; 
 and so active was their zeal and efficacious their influence, that 
 in the succeeding age, this first school of Christianity in 
 England sent forth to other countries the most eminent men 
 of their time. Such were the German apostle and bishop, St. 
 Boniface, and Alcuin, the learned friend and confidant of 
 Charlemagne. Besides many Latin writers produced by this 
 yet flourishing English school, the great Christian philosopher, 
 Scotus Erigena, lived in England in the time of Alfred ; and 
 though this philosopher was perhaps not quite free from specu- 
 lative error, he was far superior to his own age, and in the 
 depth and originality of his conceptions, was not equalled, and 
 certainly not surpassed for many succeeding centuries. King 
 Alfred, who though a bard and a writer in his own native 
 speech, prized equally the Latin literature, and who defended 
 his country against the Danes with the most persevering 
 valour, was the first founder of the English constitution ; for 
 with the wisdom and pacific spirit of a lawgiver, he restored 
 the old Saxon rights and privileges, and the regulations relating 
 to the cities and the different orders of the state. It was his 
 virtuous courage, which in the most trying adversity, ever re- 
 mained cool and collected, that alone rescued the isle of free- 
 dom from the fierce, impetuous power of the Danes. 
 
 The successful naval expeditions of the Normans to all the 
 coasts of Europe, as far as Sicily and even beyond it, and the 
 incursion of the Magiars into Europe, where they received the 
 name of Hungarians, form in the ninth century the close, and 
 are, as it were, the last reverberation, of the great immigration 
 of the northern nations, and must on that account not be entirely 
 passed over in silence. This last maritime migration from the 
 north began with a powerful and enterprising ruler of Norway, 
 the fair-haired Harold; and these naval expeditions which were 
 undertaken, not merely from motives of vulgar piracy, or of 
 martial adventure, but for the foundation and permanent settle- 
 ment of new states, soon scoured all the coasts and regions of 
 the Northern ocean as well as of the Mediterranean sea. The 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 355 
 
 province in France which these freebooters conquered, the 
 French acknowledged by the title of duchy of Normandy ; and 
 they were glad enough thus to bind it to their king by the 
 homage of fealty, and attach, it to, if not incorporate it 
 with, their kingdom. Called to Naples and Sicily by the 
 Greeks, who demanded their aid against the Saracens, the Nor- 
 mans there founded for themselves a kingdom of long duration. 
 After Christianity had introduced into Denmark a better system 
 of government and legislation, the powerful Danish monarch, 
 Canute the Great, ruled over England during this period of the 
 Norman sway ; till at last, after a short interval of contest, 
 another Norman, William the Conqueror, issuing from France, 
 founded a new dynasty in England, and established on the basis 
 of the old free Saxon constitution, a high chivalrous aristocracy. 
 
 From the remotest part of Eastern Asia, situate between the 
 Uzi and the Patzinacites, an emigration of nations took a west- 
 ward course towards the country of the Chazars, and at last led 
 the nation of the Magiars from their original seat to Pannonia, 
 where, according to the testimony of contemporary writers, the 
 Avars, the descendants of the ancient Huns, still lived under 
 their Chagan. Once excited into tumultuous activity, these 
 Hungarians (who were still pagans) roved as far as the north 
 of Italy, and down to Thessalonica in Greece, and to the very 
 neighbourhood of Constantinople ; they then advanced west- 
 ward in large squadrons far into the interior of Germany, even 
 to Saxony. It was here that the noble King Henry the First, 
 opposed a vigorous resistance to their incursions, and Otho the 
 Great put a final term to the progress of their arms by the vic- 
 tory on the banks of the Lech. Christianity, which was intro- 
 duced into Hungary under Geisa, the father of King Stephen, 
 established a milder system of manners and legislation ; a system 
 which St. Stephen, by a close union with Germany, brought to 
 full maturity. At the same period, Poland under the happy 
 influence of the Christian religion, which introduced here a 
 better system of manners and legislation, was incorporated into 
 the civilised community of the European nations, and with 
 Germany in particular, formed a very close political connexion. 
 It is particularly pleasing to observe the very beneficial influ- 
 ence of Christianity in the promotion of agriculture, and in the 
 advancement of intellectual refinement in the northern valleys 
 of Sweden, during the reigns of Olaus and St. Eric ; when the 
 
 2 a2 
 
356 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 old hall of Odin at Upsal was finally destroyed, and the new 
 religion obtained the victory. 
 
 During the period of the Norman glory, the Russians (a 
 populous and widely-spread Sclavonian nation, inhabiting the 
 vast and ancient Sarniatia, formerly governed by the Goths^ 
 called to their assistance the Varangians, who established a new 
 dynasty at Novogorod. Either from this circumstance, or from 
 the former dominion of the Goths, the country was by the 
 neighbouring Finnish tribes afterwards called Gothland. Russia 
 received Christianity at the hands of the Byzantines — and thus 
 in its remote north, remained a stranger to the Catholic west — 
 the more so, indeed, as the country, invaded and desolated by 
 the Moguls, long groaned under the oppressive yoke of these 
 barbarians — till at length, in very recent times, and in the very 
 struggle of regeneration, it has grown up into a mighty power. 
 Thus the whole circuit of the Christian west, and all the king- 
 doms it included, was now tolerably well filled up ; and it then 
 consisted of ten principal countries or nations; but in forming 
 this estimate we must not attend to minuter subdivisions or 
 mere national varieties, or to the frequent partitions of king- 
 doms, and alterations of territory, amid various conflicting or 
 successive dynasties; but we should keep in view only the general 
 and permanent outline of the European states. Germany and 
 Italy, which were respectively the seats of the Christian em- 
 pire and the papal dignity, formed the centre of Europe. Along 
 with these two states, France and England were the most 
 active, the most powerful, and the most influential members of 
 the European commonwealth ; while Spain was principally oc- 
 cupied with her own domestic contests against the Saracens. 
 The Scandinavian countries were somewhat connected with the 
 Germanic empire, and Poland and Hungary, after they had 
 embraced Christianity, were united with that empire in the 
 closest bonds. Lastly, in the far northern and eastern extre- 
 mities of Europe, the Byzantine empire and the kingdom of the 
 Muscovites (closely connected by the ties of religion), formed 
 the, extreme and remotest members of the Christian republic. 
 Such was the geographical extent, and such the historical situa- 
 tion of Christendom at that period. 
 
 After the downfal of the Carlovingian family, the empire was 
 restored to its pristine vigour by the election of the noble Conrad, 
 Duke of theFranconians. This pious, chivalrous, wise, and valiant 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 357 
 
 monarch had to contend with many difficulties, and fortune did 
 not always smile upon his efforts. But he terminated his royal 
 career with a deed, which alone exalts him far above other cele- 
 brated conquerors and rulers, and was attended with more im- 
 portant consequences to after-times than have resulted from 
 many brilliant reigns ; and this single deed, which forms the 
 brightest jewel in the crown of glory that adorns those ages, so 
 clearly reveals the true nature of Christian principles of govern- 
 ment, and the Christian idea of political power, that I may 
 be permitted to notice it briefly. When he felt his end ap- 
 proaching, and perceived that of the four principal German 
 nations, the Saxons alone, by their superior power, were capable 
 of bringing to a successful issue the mighty struggle in which 
 all Europe was at that critical period involved, he bade his 
 brother carry to Henry, Duke of Saxony, hitherto the rival of 
 his house, and who was as magnanimous as fortunate, the holy 
 lance and consecrated sword of the ancient kings, with all the 
 other imperial insignia. He thus pointed him out as the suc- 
 cessor of his own choice, and in his regard for the general 
 weal, and in his anxiety to maintain a great pacific power 
 capable of defending the common interests of Christendom, 
 he disregarded the suggestions of national vanity, and sac- 
 rificed even the glory of his own house. So wise and judicious, 
 as well as heroic a sacrifice of all selfish glory, for what the 
 interests of society, and the necessities of the times evidently 
 demand, is that principle which forms the very foundation, 
 and constitutes the true spirit of all Christian government. 
 And by this very deed Conrad became, after Charlemagne, 
 the second restorer of the Western Empire, and the real 
 founder of the German nation ; for it was this noble resolve 
 of his great soul which alone saved the Germanic body from 
 a complete dismemberment. The event fully justified his 
 choice. The new King Henry, victorious on every side, 
 laboured to build a great number of cities, to restore the 
 reign of peace and justice, and to maintain the purity of Chris- 
 tian manners and Christian institutions ; and prepared for his 
 mightier son, the great Otho, the restoration of the Christian 
 empire in Italy, whither the latter was loudly and unanimously 
 called. This first age of the Saxon emperors was the happy 
 period wherein Germany possessed the greatest power and re- 
 sources, and enjoyed great internal peace and prosperity. 
 
358 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 It is in this period, too, that we trace the first beginnings of 
 mental refinement, in many excellent and remarkable produc- 
 tions of the Latin school, which were soon succeeded by the 
 successful cultivation of the vernacular tongue. Quite as un- 
 historical, and even still more absurd than the reproaches 
 urged against the Carlovingians for their impolitic partition 
 of the empire, are those repeated lamentations and eternal 
 regrets in which modern historians indulge, whenever they 
 have occasion to notice the frequent expeditions of the Ger- 
 man kings and emperors to Rome and Italy, and the con- 
 nexion which subsisted between the German nation and the 
 Christian Imperial Dignity — a connexion which these writers 
 consider a great misfortune. They do not enter into the true 
 idea of this dignity — they do not comprehend the urgent need 
 of those times for an universal protectorate, which might, like 
 a bulwark, defend Europe against internal anarchy, and the in- 
 vasions of barbarous nations ; and which might prevent the light 
 of Christianity from being perhaps extinguished in a second 
 night of universal barbarism. The modern critics of those an- 
 cient times cannot understand that high Christian feeling — that 
 exalted principle of self-devotion, whereby a nation from its in- 
 ternal strength and natural situation, was called by the general 
 voice to take on itself this burden for the common weal, and to 
 be the firm sustaining centre of the European system — a calling 
 which must necessarily occasion a mighty loss and heavy sacri- 
 fice of repose and prosperity to the nation so undertaking the 
 momentous charge. Without this firm central power, which 
 held together the European nations, they would, yielding at the 
 first shock, have succumbed under the attacks of the Mahome- 
 tans or Moguls. 
 
 Without this central power, Europe would have been broken 
 up into a multitude of petty states, and have sunk into eternal 
 and irremediable anarchy ; whereas now, great as might be at 
 times the confusion, and fearfully wild the spirit of warfare, 
 there was always a resource and a remedy against such calami- 
 ties. As the religious vow of the knight dignified his duties into 
 a sort of ecclesiastical welfare ; so the high functions of the 
 emperor were considered as partly ecclesiastical, and he was 
 looked on as the sworn liegeman of Almighty God, intrusted 
 with the high sword of universal justice. It was the exalted 
 idea of this arduous and momentous charge, far more than 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 359 
 
 schemes of selfish ambition and idle glory, that filled up the 
 lives of the most active and powerful of those ancient emperors. 
 Hence this common regard for the general welfare of Christen- 
 dom, which the obligations of their respective stations imposed 
 upon them, produced a very intimate union between the heads 
 of the spiritual and temporal authority in Europe, and placed 
 them in a state of mutual dependence. When the mighty 
 emperor, Otho the Great, had been called into Italy, and had wit- 
 nessed with his own eyes the state of general corruption and de- 
 generacy at Rome, where among the baronial factions which sur- 
 rounded the papal chair, one of the more powerful families sought 
 by the most culpable intrigues to obtain a lasting, and, as it were, 
 hereditary possession of the holy see ; he exerted his imperial 
 authority, and deposed the pope, who by means so unlawful had 
 obtained his dignity, and on whom the general voice of the age 
 had long pronounced a sentence of condemnation, causing a 
 worthier pontiff to be elected in his room. There still existed, 
 among those of the same mind in Christendom, an unerring feel- 
 ing whereby the righteousness or unrighteousness of any action, 
 its real spirit and purpose, were easily and promptly determined 
 without any anxious regard to mere outward forms. But when 
 that uniformity of feeling had disappeared, and with it feeling 
 itself had ceased to be a ruling principle of public and political 
 life, the standard of political estimation rested almost exclu- 
 sively on outward forms, and the contentious point of law in- 
 volved in those forms ; and as in every historical fact men saw 
 but a precedent fertile of application, or even dangerous in its 
 consequences, they no longer formed a pure historical judgment 
 on the general spirit of any great action, and they almost lost 
 the very notion of such a thing. The whole world at that time 
 was unanimous in justifying the conduct of the great Otho in 
 that affair. When, however, the clergy of Rome in their first 
 feelings of gratitude and admiration at their deliverance from 
 intolerable anarchy, and the toils of an unworthy family, con- 
 ferred on the emperor the future and permanent power of 
 choosing the pope, it might have been easily foreseen that so 
 extended a prerogative, little compatible as it was with the inde- 
 pendence of the church, would in the sequel provoke a strong 
 reaction. This accordingly took place about a hundred years 
 later, when a man of great energy of character, Pope Gregory 
 VII. arose to reform the church, and achieve its independence 
 
360 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 against the many unlawful encroachments of the secular power. 
 And when a prince, distinguished indeed for his warlike qualities, 
 but utterly characterless and animated with an unquiet spirit, 
 who, according to the unanimous testimony of his contempo- 
 raries,, had incurred many and most serious charges ; when 
 this prince first attacked and deposed the pope, and the latter 
 laid him under an excommunication, the conduct of the pontiff 
 was not only in strict accordance with the general opinion of 
 the age as to the mischievous rule of this secular potentate ; 
 but was quite conformable to the then prevailing doctrine of 
 public law, which sanctioned the responsibility and accountability 
 of the temporal power. Hence, Henry IV. found it more expe- 
 dient to loose himself from this excommunication by a feint 
 submission, than to impugn it by open force ; although he 
 never afterwards ceased persecuting the pope, whose constancy 
 was proved in adversity and persecution. In our own times, 
 justice has been at last rendered to the great qualities of this 
 pontiff, and it has been allowed he was perfectly free from all 
 selfish views, and that the austere and decisive energy of his 
 character sprang from no other motive than a burning zeal for 
 the reform of the church and of mankind. The German his- 
 torians in particular, and in truth, those on the Protestant side, 
 have been the first to perform this act of justice ; and the name 
 of Gregory VII., who lived in times so different from our own, 
 has long ceased to be with the Germans a watch-word for 
 party -strife. 
 
 But on the matter at issue, or rather on the opinion the world 
 then entertained respecting it, it will be necessary to say a few 
 words. That the sovereign is in no way responsible, seems in 
 modern times to be considered an immutable axiom, or rather 
 the first of all axioms in the science of government ; and 
 whenever a monarch in the history of the middle ages, how- 
 ever vicious he may be, and however forgetful of his dignity, 
 meets with the treatment of the Emperor Henry IV., political 
 indignation is raised to the highest pitch. No one can have 
 the slightest intention of questioning the perfect justness of the 
 above state-axiom under certain given circumstances. But, if 
 the question be a parallel between the middle ages and modern 
 times, we may oppose to the scandal of the ecclesiastical ex- 
 communication pronounced against this prince during the former 
 period, the still more fatal example which has occurred within 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 36i 
 
 the last three centuries, of the public execution or several 
 monarchs, and of the assassination of many others. Thus in 
 this respect, the history of the middle age stands purer ; and this 
 warns us to decide with less precipitancy on the superiority of our 
 own standard of political morality, and on the greater perfection 
 of modern principles of state-policy.* According to the feeling 
 
 * In confirmation of what Schlegel asserts in the text, I shall cite a 
 few passages from some distinguished Protestant historians of Ger- 
 many. To show my readers the enlarged, liberal, and enlightened views 
 taken by the Protestant writers of that country on the political influence 
 of the papacy in the middle age, and on the services which at that 
 momentous period the hierarchy rendered to the cause of social order, 
 liberty, and civilisation, it were easy to transcribe matter more than 
 sufficient to fill a volume. Let a few examples suffice. — " The northern 
 nations," says the celebrated historian of Switzerland, John Muller, 
 " rushing in upon the most beautiful countries of Europe, trampling 
 under foot, or disturbing and convulsing all social institutions, menaced 
 the whole western world with a barbarism similar to that which, under 
 the Ottoman sceptre, has obliterated every thing good, great, and beau- 
 tiful that ancient Greece and Asia had produced. Yet the bishops and 
 other dignitaries (Vorsteher) of the church, strong in their authority, 
 contrived to impose a restraint on those giants of the north who, as 
 regards intelligence, were but children. They would not have been 
 more successful than the Greek prelates, had they been subject to four 
 different patriarchs. The popes of Rome (whose primitive history is 
 as obscure and defective as that of the ancient Roman republic, since 
 we know little of the first popes, except that they devoted their lives 
 for the faith, as Decius had done for his country), the popes, we say, 
 employed their authority with the same address which we admire in 
 the ancient senate, to render their see independent, subject to its im- 
 mediate action the whole western hierarchy, and establish its sway, 
 far beyond the boundaries of the ancient empire, on the ruins of the 
 northern religions. Thus whoever refused to honour the Christ, 
 trembled before the pope; and one faith and one church were preserved 
 in Europe, amid the breaking up and subdivision of the newly -founded 
 kingdoms into a thousand petty principalities. We know what pope 
 made Charlemagne the first emperor; but who made the first pope? 
 The pope, they say, was only a bishop; yes, but at the same time, the 
 Holy Father, the Sovereign Pontiff, the great Caliph (as he was called 
 by Ho-Albufreda, Prince of Hamath), of all the kingdoms and princi- 
 palities, of all the lordships and cities of the West. It is he who con- 
 trolled, by the fear of God, the stormy youth of our modern states. At 
 present even, when his authority is no longer formidable, he is still 
 very puissant by the benedictions which he showers ; he is still an ob- 
 ject of veneration to innumerable hearts, honoured by the kings who 
 honour the nations, invested with a power, before which in the long 
 succession of ages, from the Caesars to the House of Hapsburg, a host 
 of nations and all their great names have vanished. 
 
 " We declaim against the pope ! as if it were such a misfortune that 
 
362 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 of right, and the prevailing maxims of public law in that age, a 
 mutual control and responsibility subsisted between church and 
 state, and between the heads of either. In the most esteemed 
 constitutions of modern states, there is also a mutual dependence 
 and possible control. Thus the prince may dissolve the par- 
 liament, or resist its enactments by his veto ; and, on the other 
 hand, the parliament, by witholding its sanction to the impo- 
 sition of taxes, or refusing the grant of subsidies, may weaken 
 the sinews of government, and summon, not indeed the king, 
 who seems to be regarded as a mere cipher, but the ministry to 
 a most severe reckoning. The government looses all stay and 
 support, when the opposition obtains a permanent and decided 
 majority. Whether this mutual dependence and control in the 
 modern theory of government be less dangerous than in the 
 ancient system, is a question which it is not so easy to decide. 
 As all the institutions of the middle age had a religious spirit 
 and character, it cannot excite our surprise that this opposition 
 
 there should exist an authority to superintend the practice of Christian 
 morality, and to say to ambition and to despotism, * Halt ! — so far, and 
 no further ! Bisher, und nicht wetter ! ' " So speaks the illustrious J ohn 
 Muller. The celebrated Herder allows " that without the hierarchy, 
 Europe in all probability had become the prey of tyrants, the theatre of 
 eternal wars; or even a desert" 
 
 " The hierarchy," says Beck, " opposed the progress of despotism in 
 Europe, preserved the elements of civilisation, and upheld in the recol- 
 lection of men what is so easily effaced — the ties which bind earth to 
 Heaven. Those ignorant men, as we affect to call them, have settled 
 almost all the countries of Europe. The fruits of that time are the 
 formation of the third estate, whence dates the true existence of nations 
 and the establishment of cities, wherein social life and true liberty were 
 developed." — Beck on the Middle Age, page 13. Leipzic, 1824. 
 
 " The weak," says Ruhs, in his Manual of the History of the Middle 
 Age, " then found in spiritual authority a better protection against the 
 encroachments of the powerful, than afterwards in the balance of power 
 — a system which, as it was a thing purely abstract, devoid of all external 
 guarantee, must soon have lost all influence. The pope was always 
 present to terminate the wars which had broken out among Christian 
 princes, and to protect the people against the injustice and tyranny of 
 their rulers. The clergy, therefore, everywhere showed themselves 
 opposed to the power of kings, when the latter wished to become per- 
 fectly absolute — they wished not to domineer over them, but confine 
 them within the legitimate bounds of their authority. The priesthood 
 was, consequently, always for princes, when powerful vassals attacked 
 the rights of the sovereign — they were the natural and constant guar- 
 dians of the rights and liberty of all classes." — Manual of the History of 
 the Middle Age, 1816.— Trans. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 363 
 
 between the spiritual and temporal power, and this mutual de- 
 pendence of the heads of church and state should have been 
 founded in religion, and in the religious character and purpose 
 of the imperial, as well as of the papal, dignity. It was only 
 by the excesses of passion and violence, by the exaggerated 
 proceedings of both the spiritual and temporal powers, as well 
 as by unfortunate accidents and a human imperfection, by no 
 means inherent in the nature of the thing itself, that the dispute 
 between church and state grew to such a fearful magnitude, 
 was so prolonged, and often became almost incurable. But how 
 easily, even then, peace might be restored between the spiritual 
 and temporal powers by the wisdom, the prudence, the good- 
 will, and conciliatory temper of both, is proved by the peace- 
 able termination of the quarrel respecting investiture under the 
 successor of Henry IV. In the sequel, indeed, the harsh, stern, 
 inflexible character of the Ghibelline emperors, especially Bar- 
 barossa, again perplexed this question ; when from the contest 
 growing more and more violent betwixt Guelfs and Ghibellines, 
 the political schism became wider and wider, and discord seemed 
 to be again the mistress of the world. 
 
 END OF LECTURE XtUL 
 
364 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 LECTURE XIV. 
 
 On the Struggles of the Guelfs and Ghibellines— Spirit of the Ghibel- 
 line Age — Origin of Romantic Poetry and Art — Character of the 
 Scholastic Science and the Old Jurisprudence —Anarchical State of 
 Western Europe. 
 
 The most rapid sketch of the history of the middle age, if it 
 contained but a few lively, characteristic, and faithful traits on 
 a subject inexhaustible in itself, would suffice to convince any 
 reasonable man that great characters (abounding almost more 
 than in any other period of history), important interests, 
 mighty motives, and lofty feelings and ideas, were there in 
 mutual collision; and that in what is called the anarchy of the 
 middle age, we find an active and stirring life, the most splendid 
 feats of heroism, and many luminous traces of a higher power. 
 The most careful consideration and profound investigation of 
 the history of those ages, invariably discovers, that all that was 
 then great and good in the state, as well as in the church, pro- 
 ceeded from Christianity, and from the wonderful efficacy of 
 religious principles. Whatever was imperfect, defective, and 
 hurtful, belonged not to that moral principle which animated 
 society, and which was itself the best s the noblest, and the 
 soundest; but was in '«;ne character of men, we might almost 
 say in the character of the age itselr, which, though perhaps 
 not originally and purposely selfish, had yet become so in the 
 violence of the conflict. And by selfishness, I do not precisely 
 understand a vulgar self-interest, or an ordinary ambition, but 
 that absolute will or conduct which springs from some unal- 
 terable resolution, which, hurrying from one extreme to an- 
 other, is sure to produce a perpetual alternation of extreme 
 measures. In some cases, this conduct proceeded from a want 
 of penetration, prudence, and steadiness, which did not always 
 accompany the deeds of heroic enthusiasm, the astonishing 
 energy of will and strength of character which distinguished 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 365 
 
 the men of those ages. The principle then really bad, the 
 principle hostile to good, must be ascribed to that inclination 
 to discord innate in man, or which, at least, has become his 
 second nature — an inclination which, when united with those 
 other mighty qualities of the age, assumed, indeed, the most 
 formidable shape. 
 
 The whole middle age, however, must not by any means be 
 depicted as a period of universal anarchy ; as, from the great 
 difference of times, and the fact that much in the manners and 
 political institutions of those ages is now scarcely intelligible, 
 modern writers are but too apt to indulge in this strain of cen- 
 sure. Above all, we must be careful to distinguish in the 
 history of the middle ages the variety of epochs. As long as 
 those religious principles on which church and state depended, 
 were maintained in their unity and integrity, the social stability 
 of that first and happier period is indeed remarkable, and forms 
 a striking contrast with the succeeding age. For private feuds, 
 restrained within certain bounds by the manners of chivalry and 
 the laws of honour, or the more protracted, and frequently re- 
 newed struggles of a warlike nation to repel the inroads of 
 barbarians, or the aggressions of turbulent neighbours, are no 
 adequate proofs of general anarchy. But a full knowledge and 
 just appreciation of the power of principle, which during that 
 better period was the Christian foundation of the state, is of so 
 much more importance to our age, as in these times when prin- 
 ciple has given way to the mutable opinion of the moment, and 
 the latter exerts so mighty an influence on public life ; though 
 men have the power to throw off this usurped dominion, they 
 will not return to that unity and stability of principle, however 
 etrongly they may feel the necessity of restoring its saving in- 
 fluence. No parallel could be more profitable and instructive 
 than the comparison between an age and a state, where principle 
 was predominant, and another where opinion was paramount. 
 
 All that was great and good in the history of the middle 
 age, as I observed at the commencement of this lecture, ex- 
 isted only in fragments, and this has very much contributed to 
 heighten the appearance of anarchy throughout the whole of 
 this great period of human history. Of this the blame must 
 be sought for in a combination of many injurious causes, and 
 in the resistance of many opposing elements. That wonderful 
 power of regeneration, by which the whole of western Chris- 
 
366 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 tendom, after every mighty destruction, and reign of confusion 
 in church and state, has, in a form somewhat modified, sprung 
 up anew, renovated and exalted, can be ascribed only to that 
 religion which was in Christian countries the first, and for so 
 many centuries the apparently almost indestructible support of 
 the social edifice. In many and memorable periods of regene- 
 ration, down to our own times, this truth has been repeatedly 
 manifested ; unless perhaps this self-renovating power con- 
 spicuous in the progress of Christian Europe, as well as of the ^ 
 particular nations composing it, languishing and decaying by 
 degrees, become at last utterly extinct. 
 
 Among the characteristic, remarkable, and peculiarly Chris- 
 tian institutions of the middle age, we ought especially to 
 mention that ecclesiastical truce, or peace of God, which, 
 towards the commencement of the eleventh century, opposed a 
 powerful barrier to the growing and restless spirit of private 
 warfare. Without its being possible to specify exactly how or 
 where this institution first arose, it was at once proclaimed in 
 several places, and generally received with pious faith, as a 
 voice of reconciliation from above, an immediate revelation and 
 benign dispensation of divine Providence ; and every week the 
 tolling of the bell announced the sacred truce from Wednesday 
 evening to Monday morning, during which time all feuds were 
 to subside, and all hostilities to cease. It may indeed here be 
 asked in the spirit of modern times, why were only four, and 
 not the whole seven days of the week fixed upon, for the ces- 
 sation of disorder? And it may be further said that a severe 
 criminal code, and a prompt, vigorous, and enlightened adminis- 
 tration of the law, would have rendered such expedients 
 unnecessary. And it is thus that men speak and reason with- 
 out any knowledge of that age ; for many feuds, troubles, and 
 contests then existed, as in all ages have existed and still exist, 
 which no criminal legislation can reach: and who will not 
 deem it the part of prudence and a real gain, when peace is 
 not attainable, to obtain at least a safe and honourable armis- 
 tice, or to subtract from the principle of war four-sevenths of 
 its baneful influence and actual duration? And how happy 
 would men have accounted themselves, if, in other and later 
 times of disorder, when nought was reverenced or respected, 
 and every thing sacred was an object of hatred and persecu- 
 tion, they could, amid the general confusion, have found shelter 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 367 
 
 under such a wall of safety, or been blessed with such a holiday 
 of peace, though only at particular times of the week » We 
 should rather admire the power of religion, whereby such a 
 prohibition without the aid of external force, or secular au- 
 thority, and running directly counter to the ruling passion of 
 the age, was received with such pious faith, and followed with 
 such humble docility. 
 
 In the first crusade, religious feeling and enthusiasm was 
 the great spring of action ; and in the outset, at least, it was 
 tar more the glowing eloquence of Peter the Hermit, his affect- 
 ing description of the Holy Land, and of the holy places Groan- 
 ing under the Saracen yoke, which contributed to bring about 
 this memorable expedition, than the pretended policy of the 
 popes for causing the depression of regal power, and the pro- 
 motion of popular freedom. These mighty consequences, 
 though m fact historically true, became apparent only at a much 
 later period, and so far from being preconcerted, were then 
 not even foreseen As the first crusade occurred in the most 
 bn bant period of Norman glory, the Norman heroes, espe- 
 cially those from France, took a very active and prominent 
 part m it. The warfare which the Saracens waged against 
 Christendom, was considered (and then, perhaps, not without 
 reason,) as a state of permanent and universal hostility. The 
 chivalrous and defensive wars of Christian nations against the 
 unbelievers, were looked upon in the same light ; and if we may 
 judge from posterior events, Jerusalem and Egypt, in that 
 long and memorable contest between Europe and Asia, could 
 very well be regarded, both in a military and political point 
 of view, as the bulwarks of Christendom. Feats of prodigious, 
 and almost incredible, heroism were achieved in the Holy 
 Land ; and at the close of the eleventh century, the victorious 
 cross was planted m the holy city, and the pious Christian 
 hero, Godfrey, proclaimed King of Jerusalem, though this title, 
 as suited only to the divine Son of David, he with all hu- 
 mility renounced. 
 
 In this holy city the first two spiritual orders of chivalry 
 sprang up; the knights of St. John, who took up arms for 
 the defence of pilgrimage, and in their vows combined the 
 care of the sick pilgrims with the management of the 
 sword; and the Templars, so called after the Temple of So- 
 lomon, and from a recollection of the remarkable secrets con- 
 
368 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 nected with that edifice. Chivalrous institutions of this kind, 
 wherein Christianity contrived to blend the most opposite 
 qualities and inclinations of human nature, could not have 
 sprung up under a mathematical government of reason, or in 
 a state where every thing is reduced to the level of a dead 
 uniformity, and general equality, and where all feeling and 
 personality are effaced. But the voice of ages has decided 
 completely in favour of these marvellous institutes, and even 
 in our own times, amid all the changes and fluctuations of 
 opinion, they have preserved the respect, and obtained the 
 forbearance, of mankind. 
 
 Even in the second crusade which took place about fifty 
 years later, when the new progress of the Saracen arms appeared 
 to threaten the safety of the holy city, it was far more the pious 
 eloquence of St. Bernard than any scheme or calculation of 
 policy, which set the whole European world in motion. The 
 number of warriors and armed pilgrims who, under the guidance 
 of the Emperor Conrad, and the King of France, poured in 
 upon the Holy Land, is computed at more than half a million. 
 The religious enthusiasm and chivalric heroism which formed 
 the sole and animating principle of the whole enterprise, were 
 not always accompanied with sufficient prudence, wisdom, and 
 circumspection. The want of these qualities at least, as re- 
 garded the influences of climate, the physical wants of so vast 
 an army, and a geographical knowledge of localities ; is too 
 often apparent ; and in default of this necessary foresight and 
 preparatory information, many thousands perished in the second 
 as well as in the first crusade ; a fate which indeed is not un- 
 frequent in wars, where great bodies of people are exposed to 
 toil and hardship in a foreign climate. These expeditions were 
 indeed like new migrations of nations, which took an opposite 
 direction from the first, and rolled backward from Europe 
 towards ancient Asia. The great multitude of men engaged, 
 would sufficiently account for these memorable expeditions, as 
 it proves the redundance of population in Europe, which sought 
 on this occasion, and by means of this kind, to disburden itself 
 of its surplus numbers. And if this numerous population may 
 have given rise to, or afforded materials for, turbulence and 
 anarchy, still, on the other hand, it furnishes a proof that that 
 anarchy was not of so destructive and depopulating a nature, as 
 the descriptions of modern historians would sometimes lead 
 us to suppose. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 369 
 
 The real point of transition in German history from good to 
 evil, — from those Christian principles which were ever predo- 
 minant in the earlier peirod, to the unappeasable contests of the 
 Guelfs and Ghibellines in the later middle age, must be fixed in 
 the reign of the Emperor Frederick the First. The hostile 
 treatment of the old Saxon race, the destruction of that first and 
 greatest of the old national dutchies of the Germans, was occa- 
 sioned by the jealousy of the East Franconians under the 
 dynasty of that race ; and this measure, begun during the 
 reign, (in every respect so mischievous) of Henry the Fourth, 
 who thus became chargeable with this mighty injustice towards 
 the whole German nation, was now brought to a head by the 
 Emperor Barbarossa. And thus, with the most signal ingrati- 
 tude, was cut off by the root that noble stem whence German 
 glory and German power had sprung ; for the reigns of the 
 great Saxon emperors form precisely the most prosperous and 
 most brilliant period of German history, such indeed as has never 
 been again witnessed. With the same unrelenting severity and 
 atrocious cruelties, this Ghibelline emperor destroyed the con- 
 federate cities of Lombardy, and with them crushed the fair 
 plant of Italian civilisation just then beginning to blossom. 
 
 These two great historical parties — the Guelfs and Ghibel- 
 lines, are the same which we meet with in other periods of 
 history, and even in our own times, though under other names, 
 often in a form very different from that of the present day, and 
 not always in the same relative position towards each other ; 
 but in the middle age they appeared in the larger and more 
 gigantic proportions of the vigorous, heroic character belonging 
 to that epoch. There is ever the one party aspiring after 
 greater freedom, and the other immovably attached to the 
 ancient faith, and to the principles it inculcates. That the 
 liberal principles of innovation should, according to the peculiar 
 complexion which these opinions take in every age, have ema- 
 nated even from imperial power, and should have sought to 
 establish their dominion in the world by force of arms, is not 
 improbable in itself ; and examples of a like kind are not 
 wanting in history. And in this shape we find these prin- 
 ciples in the middle age, where for a long while they exerted 
 the greatest influence, and at last became almost predominant. 
 On the other hand the legitimate attachment to the old per- 
 manent principle of faith appeared here in the form of an 
 
 2b 
 
370 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 ecclesiastical opposition to secular ascendency. But in the time 
 of Barbarossa, the solemn reconciliation which took place be- 
 tween this emperor and the pope, restored harmony between 
 the heads of church and state, and at last composed the long 
 feud. This powerful emperor, accompanied by the king of 
 France, and the lion-hearted Richard, undertook a new crusade, 
 in order to deliver Jerusalem which had been wrested from the 
 Christians by Saladin ; but before he could accomplish his 
 design, death terminated his active career. 
 
 Although the last Ghibelline emperor, Frederick the Second, 
 had been educated by Pope Innocent III., a pontiff distinguished 
 by his enlarged views, and great intellectual endowments, and 
 who had undertaken the care and guardianship of the emperor's 
 childhood ; yet the old dispute broke out again under this 
 monarch with more violence and more implacable animosity 
 than ever. This quarrel was never more appeased, at least 
 during the sway of Frederick II. and his family ; and it termi- 
 nated only with the downfall of the Hohenstaufen, the most 
 powerful of all the princely houses of the middle age. Yet the 
 Ghibelline name, heretofore stamped in characters of blood upon 
 the earth, subsisted a long while yet ; and for ages after, the 
 Ghibelline spirit continued to be the prevailing one in Europe. 
 Although the later Swabian princes and emperors of this 
 house, such as Henry VI. and others, were the patrons of 
 poetry, and of the Provencal minstrels and German Minnesin- 
 gers ; yet they all resembled one another in an unbending 
 sternness of character. Henry VI. perpetrated the most enor- 
 mous cruelties at Naples; the blood-thirsty Ezzelin, while 
 governor of Lombardy, under Frederick the Second, has left 
 behind him so fearful a recollection in Italy, such a character 
 in the pages of history, that his very name need only be men- 
 tioned, and will dispense with all minuter historical details. 
 The last of this family, Conradin, was an innocent victim of 
 the public hatred borne to his ancestors, and he perished on a 
 scaffold at Naples by the hands of Charles of Anjou, the brother 
 of St. Lewis, who had seized on the kingdom of the Two Sici- 
 lies, the lawful patrimony of the royal youth. The Emperor 
 Frederick the Second — a prince who for his times had received 
 a most polite education, and was endowed with the greatest 
 and most original powers of mind — was not only accused by 
 the pope in the excommunication he pronounced against him 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 371 
 
 of a secret but decided enmity to the Christian religion ; but 
 in the general opinion of the world, laboured under the same 
 suspicion. However, by a prudent peace, which this prince 
 concluded with the Sultan of Egypt, he terminated his crusade 
 more successfully than his grandfather had done his own ; for 
 by this he won back the holy places, and placed the crown of 
 Jerusalem on his head. He was the first who brought into 
 Europe the Arabic translation of Aristotle's works ; and as at 
 this period a mighty change took place in the science and phi- 
 losophy of the middle age, and as even the art and poetry of 
 European nations began to display new life and energy, it may 
 not be amiss to give here a rapid sketch of these important 
 changes, as they serve to characterise the times. 
 
 Chivalry was in itself the poetry of life ; what wonder then 
 that that life of imagination, should have opened a new 
 fountain of poesy in the traditional songs, the fairy lays, the 
 varied minstrelsy, and knightly narratives of Germany and 
 France, Spain and England, since in these countries, chivalry 
 was the ruling element of society, and had made the greatest 
 progress ? — For the more immediate object of this Philosophy 
 of History, — and in order to contemplate the progress of man- 
 kind in matters more serious and important, I have thought 
 the moral principles of men in the middle age, and their 
 political doctrines, as they were founded on religion, or on the 
 system of opposition to religion, to be of far greater moment 
 and importance than the mere aesthetic part of those ages ; for 
 sentimentalists may indulge in a certain vague, superficial love 
 and predilection for the times chivalry, for the romantic spirit 
 of the chivalrous life, and of the chivalrous poetry, and of the 
 whole system of modern art which has thence emanated ; and 
 nevertheless, all the deeper problems of life involved in that 
 momentous epoch may remain unexamined, unsolved, or even 
 misunderstood. 
 
 On the nature of this romantic tendency, inasmuch as it 
 exerted a mighty influence on life, and was a motive of vast 
 and undoubted weight in many of the most important histo- 
 rical events of those ages, I shall merely say a word by way of 
 psychological illustration; for this is applicable to the prevail- 
 ing forms of mind, the peculiar intellectual bearings of whole 
 nations and ages, as to those of individuals. As where opinion 
 is the ruling principle of life — it is very soon broken, divided, 
 
 2 b 2 
 
372 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 parcelled out, and lost in a chaos of heterogeneous theories, 
 and the age, the world, life itself, are involved in interminable 
 disputes; so, when religious feeling constitutes the primary 
 principle of life, and it hath been dismembered, and torn from 
 its right centre, been driven to some extreme, and opinions 
 flowing from this source have been carried into action, then 
 all the great transactions of public life exhibit that overruling 
 influence of imagination, perceptible not in the earlier, but in 
 the later periods of the middle age, especially from the great 
 epoch of the Crusades. Although these and other like great 
 historical events of that period bear many noble traces of the 
 high religious source whence they sprang, yet such a para- 
 mount influence of imagination over real life, must in this 
 partial excess be regarded as the consequence of the dismem- 
 berment of man's psychological powers — a symptom of the 
 dissolution of that internal harmony which can never subsist 
 in society, unless it be previously established in consciousness. 
 The radical vice of the middle age — that is to say, the one 
 most prevalent in its later period from the time of the Ghibel- 
 lines, if one may venture to characterise it with such psycho- 
 logical generality, is discernible in the productions of the 
 poetry, art, and science of that age. And the relations which 
 these bore to society — the distinctive character, the peculiar 
 spirit of this critical period in the progress of Christian nations, 
 are matters of the highest interest and greatest moment. This 
 vice consisted in that disposition to extremes, that leaning 
 towards the absolute I have already spoken of, as manifested 
 in will, in determination, in rule, or in science, speculation, and 
 poetry. The first germ, or at least the first disposition to 
 this fault, lies in the very origin of modern nations, especially 
 those five whose political existence sprang out of the union of 
 the Germanic constitution, manners, and character, with the 
 Latin civilisation, literature, and language in the Romanic 
 countries; or which, at least, were formed by a very strong 
 infusion of the Roman spirit — I mean the German and Eng- 
 lish, the French, Spanish, and Italian nations. Where the 
 character of the German tribes, the free, heroic energy of Ger- 
 manic nature, was blended and incorporated with the strong 
 worldly sense of the Romans by the influence of Christian 
 principles and religious love; there sprang out of that happy 
 union those great and mild characters to which I have already 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 873 
 
 drawn your attention, and which flourished during the first 
 period of the German empire, and of the middle age. But as 
 soon as the influence of the Christian religion began to decline, 
 and its power was enfeebled, clouded, or obscured, the two 
 elements, which had been united in the human race, fell 
 asunder; and on one side was to be seen nothing but mere 
 Roman astuteness (as is often enough the case in the later his- 
 tory of France and Italy), and on the side of the Germanic na- 
 tions, nothing but a rude martial impetuosity and chivalric pride, 
 uncontrolled and unsoftened by the principle of religion. Or 
 when, again, the rigid principles of that old worldly sense and 
 instinct of dominion, which belonged to the Romans, were con- 
 joined with the heroic energy of the north, without, however, 
 the healing and conciliatory influence of the religion of love; 
 this combination, which is conspicuous in the vehement, but 
 fearful characters engaged in the Ghibelline contests, was, in- 
 deed the most unfortunate of all. 
 
 How the tendency towards the absolute — that abyss to man- 
 kind, which, along with love, confounds and swallows up all life 
 — then hurried the political world from one extreme to another, 
 we have already mentioned, so far as was necessary for our 
 object. 
 
 But even in the art and poetry, as well as the science of the 
 middle age, this leaning towards the absolute is equally apparent, 
 and the more so, as both reached their full maturity at that 
 period only when this had become the ruling spirit of the age. 
 As, on one hand, the chivalrous poetry, especially in its origin, 
 was excessively fantastical, until later it was fashioned into a 
 form of milder symmetry, and made to pour forth the touching, 
 heart-felt tones of romantic art ; so, on the other hand, the scho- 
 lastic philosophy was bewildered in a maze of subtleties not so 
 much metaphysical as merely logical, and often quite destitute 
 of sense. The singular manner, indeed, in which the Italian 
 poet Dante, has in his mighty poem of visions, wherein he dis- 
 plays the most masterly and classical condensation of language, 
 and the profoundest poetical art, contrived to sustain in his pro- 
 gress through the three regions of the invisible world, that fan- 
 tastic spirit (which was not confined to the chivalrous poetry, 
 but was common to every department of imagination in that age), 
 next the stern maxim of the Ghibelline state policy, and a con- 
 genial worship of Roman antiquity, and has managed to unite 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 all these qualities with the subtle distinctions of the scholastic 
 philosophy ; this singular manner, indeed, has never been an 
 object of general imitation, nor has it opened a path to the sub- 
 sequent labours of art. But this work will ever remain an ex- 
 traordinary, wonderful, and characteristic monument, wherein 
 the peculiar spirit of this first scholastico-romantic epoch of 
 European art and science is displayed in a most remarkable 
 manner. In this spirit there were many heterogeneous elements, 
 not confined to their separate and distinct spheres, but often 
 in the strangest juxta-position, or rather confusion. And thus 
 a regular scholastic science of love, with all the borrowed forms 
 of the philosophy of the day, formed often the purport of the 
 most tender romantic lays or devices ; and logical antitheses, 
 syllogisms, and subtleties, were solved in rhyme and verse, with 
 a most charming play of fancy. It is these vagaries (and so 
 they are in many respects) which so captivate our feelings m the 
 poetry of Petrarch— one of the restorers of ancient literature 
 and of modem learning. , . , ? 
 
 More strongly still than in its poetry, the richness ot an in- 
 ventive imagination displayed itself in the wonderful architecture 
 of the middle age, as so many splendid monuments in Germany, 
 England, a part of France, and in the north of Italy and Venice 
 can attest. The style of the Byzantine churches was the first and 
 principal model of this Gothic architecture, though a fantastic 
 monument of Arabic architecture may here and there perhaps 
 have had some influence in its formation. The elaborate and 
 ornate style, and the fantastic singularity of this architecture, 
 breathe the true spirit of the German middle age. At this 
 time, painting, too, began to make some progress in Italy and 
 Germany; though its progress was incomparably slower than 
 that of architecture, and the art reached its perfection only m 
 the fifteenth century; but devoted entirely to religious subjects 
 and consecrated to the use of churches or private devotion, 
 painting remained, down to the time of Raphael, an art 
 peculiarly Christian, and displayed the profoundest import and 
 the most masterly power. From this period, renouncing, for 
 the most part, the religious character of the elder Christian 
 painting, art began to be affected by that enthusiasm for the 
 pagan antique, which indeed was not limited to the fine arts, 
 but was the prevailing character of literature and science m this 
 second period of European culture. And I have made these tew 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 375 
 
 remarks, not so much for the sake of art itself, which would re- 
 quire a separate investigation, but as tending to elucidate the 
 various epochs and stages in the progress of modern civilisation. 
 
 It was an ill-boding gift that the GhibelHne emperor made 
 to Europe when he brought from the East the works of Aris- 
 totle, translated, or rather burlesqued, into Arabic, and thence 
 turned again into Latin, till at last they became often perfectly 
 unintelligible. The elder Christian philosophers belonging to the 
 first period of the middle age ? such as in England (which still 
 retained a high pre-eminence in Latin literature and Christian 
 science), a Scotus Erigena, the contemporary of Alfred, — a St. 
 Anselm, so highly revered in theology, — and afterwards in France, 
 an Abelard, and also a St. Bernard, in whose eloquence there 
 runs so pure a vein of piety — and so charming a mysticism of 
 feeling — all these elder Christian philosophers, both in thought 
 and language were incomparably clearer and more precise than 
 the schoolmen of succeeding times, and were for the most part 
 entirely free from that interminable play of an idle logic, and 
 those empty metaphysical subtleties. The natural sciences 
 were then in too low and feeble a state to form any distinct 
 branch of human inquiry ; and this very circumstance contri- 
 buted, as was then indeed perfectly natural, to knit closer the 
 ties which connected philosophy with theology. But indepen- 
 dently of the peculiar circumstances of those times, it is evident 
 that Christian philosophy can be founded on religion only, and 
 not on any theory, wherein nature occupies the first and highest 
 place — not on any doctrine, which contains the germ of a 
 pagan worship of nature, renewed under a scientific form. As 
 little can a Christian philosophy rest on the principle of indi- 
 vidualism — a reason which submits not humbly to God and his 
 revelation, but which, all concentrated in itself, aspires to be 
 all- sufficing and all-creative. In either respect, the Stagyrite, 
 when studied even in the original, and thoroughly understood, 
 would have been a guide very unsafe, very likely to mislead, as 
 well in natural philosophy as in the higher problems of meta- 
 physics. The best and most instructive of his writings, his 
 ethical or political works, could not even be understood by 
 those scholastic admirers of the Grecian sage ; for the profound 
 allusions they contained to the customs and political history of 
 Greece made the knowledge of these, and a complete investi- 
 gation of the original sources of information, absolutely neces- 
 
376 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 sary to their comprehension. Even his logical and rhetorical 
 books derive their chief and liveliest interest from the fact that 
 they were intended to remedy the dialectic malady of Grecian 
 intellect, and to oppose the all-usurping influence of a false 
 rhetoric among the Greeks. Lastly, to comprehend fully, 
 rightly appreciate, and turn to advantage, as our times are 
 enabled to do, the most solid works of the profound ancient — 
 those on mixed physics and natural history, the schoolmen were 
 entirely destitute of the necessary aids and preparatory infor- 
 mation. 
 
 If the Christian philosophers of the middle age, instead of 
 adopting the Aristotelian system, had built and improved on 
 the philosophy of those first great original thinkers of Christian 
 Europe already mentioned, or on the philosophy of the primi- 
 tive fathers, even those of the Latin church, for by them also 
 the Platonic doctrines (the only doctrines of antiquity at all 
 reconcileable with a philosophy of revelation) had long been 
 planted and naturalised on the Christian soil ; — if this had been 
 the case, the edifice of Christian philosophy would have been 
 raised with far greater ease and rapidity, and been wrought 
 into a much more beautiful structure. Or if even the Greek 
 originals had been deemed absolutely indispensable towards 
 such an object, it had been better that, instead of waiting till 
 the destruction of Constantinople, the powerful emperors and 
 potentates, who patronised art and sicience, had, during the 
 short duration of the Latin empire at Constantinople, brought 
 away with them those philological treasures, instead of the 
 works of Aristotle so absurdly disfigured in the Arabic, and in 
 the still more unintelligible Latin version. It was, on one 
 hand, the inclination of the age to absolute modes of thinking, 
 to the art of logical tournaments, and on the other, a hope, 
 secretly entertained, that by the pretended magical power of 
 these logical devices, one might learn and obtain the mastery 
 of many profound secrets of nature (which by the way should 
 have been sought anywhere but in the real Aristotle) ; finally, 
 the unquenchable thirst after a fruit of knowledge, deemed 
 forbidden — it was all these circumstances which created now 
 that universal and irresistible rage for Aristotle, reputed as he 
 was to contain the very essence of all liberal science and phi- 
 losophy. 
 
 The whole foundation of the scholastic philosophy was 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 377 
 
 thoroughly and essentially false ; and it had the most prejudi- 
 cial and injurious influence, not only on theology, but on the 
 whole spirit and modes of thinking of this age. When, how- 
 ever, the evil appeared nearly incurable, and the false current 
 of opinion was too strong to be resisted, a mighty service was 
 rendered to mankind, when acute and sagacious theologians, 
 endowed with philosophical talents and discernment, like a St. 
 Thomas Aquinas, adopting the common, but erroneous, basis 
 of this old Aristotelian rationalism, founded on it a system in 
 which they attempted to reconcile this philosophy with the 
 dictates of faith, and thus, in this respect at least, avert from 
 their age the dangerous consequences of this false direction of 
 the human mind. Yet, on the whole, this was but an appa- 
 rent reconciliation ; and the scholastic philosophy, or in other 
 words, the rationalism of the middle age, broke out often 
 afterwards into a haughty and violent opposition to the doc- 
 trines of revelation. 
 
 This scholastic spirit of the now degenerate middle age 
 exerted its pernicious influence on life itself, and on the sciences 
 more immediately connected with life, particularly jurispru- 
 dence. For when the first Ghibelline Frederick, on the plains 
 of Roncaglia, gave his solemn sanction to the Roman law, and 
 to all those absolute rights and prerogatives of the crown 
 which were thence to be deduced, he thereby opened a door to 
 an intricate scholastic jurisprudence, to all the learned subtlety 
 of processes, and the interminable logic of law ; and conferred 
 on mankind a boon as little propitious as the Arabic Aristotle, 
 which his descendant, the second Frederick, afterwards brought 
 into Europe. The vast pandects of Justinian were already the 
 recognised code of laws, under the Eastern Franconian empe- 
 rors, long before the German jurist, Irnerius, opened his school 
 of civil law in the University of Bologna. Those old Roman 
 formulas of universal dominion which are occasionally to be 
 found in the " Corpus Juris," suited perfectly the spirit and policy 
 of the Ghibelline emperors, who, in, particular cases, alleged 
 them against the Greek emperors and other potentates, as clear 
 proofs of the universal monarchy which appertained to them. 
 But it was particularly from the Ghibelline period that the 
 Roman law became a favourite science, and its study a new 
 mania among the European nations, especially on account of 
 
378 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 the leaning to absolute principles in that system of jurispru- 
 dence, whose artificial forms of rigid law were indeed little 
 congenial to the spirit of Christianity, to modern society, and 
 German manners. 
 
 The true problem for the legal science of Christian Europe 
 to solve would have been this — to adopt the forms of the old 
 Roman jurisprudence, so highly wrought and finished in its 
 way, and to reform its spirit by the doctrines and principles of 
 Christian justice ; and at the same time to employ the many 
 excellent materials to be found in the native laws of European 
 nations, and in all the old Germanic codes. These laws were 
 indeed of a very local nature, adapted mostly to infant com- 
 munities and the simple manners of warlike tribes, and by no 
 means appropriate to a more advanced stage of civilisation; 
 yet they contained the solid substance of genuine freedom and 
 exalted equity. But this task ought to have been accom- 
 plished in that earlier period when Christianity, which had 
 united and harmonised so many discordant elements, had still 
 retained all its influence — an influence which was afterwards 
 wanting. Those ages, however, which were so thoroughly 
 Christian, and on that very account of such political import- 
 ance, were deficient in science ; and hence, as I have already 
 observed, it was not so much deliberate selfishness, or hostile 
 opposition, but the real want of knowledge and foresight 
 which occasioned the civil and political institutions of Christian 
 states to be left imperfect. It is only in very recent times 
 that an attempt has been made to solve problem which earlier 
 ages had left unexecuted, or to supply this old deficiency of 
 a Christian system of jurisprudence. And if hitherto this 
 task has never been adequately, or completely, accomplished, 
 though all the conditions have long existed for the solution of 
 this necessary problem of European society ; it would not be 
 right to defer again the execution of the work, and thus lose 
 once more the seasonable moment. 
 
 How, after the struggle of parties had become more general, 
 and an absolute mode of thinking the ruling character of the 
 age, the violent contests between church and state, between the 
 secular and ecclesiastical authorities tended to promote their 
 mutual injury and destruction, I shall now endeavour briefly to 
 state. After the last excommunication pronounced against 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 379 
 
 Frederick II., one anti-emperor had followed another in suc- 
 cession ; and German princes, a prince of the royal household 
 of England, and a king of Castile, had filled successively the 
 imperial throne ; none were generally and legally recognised, 
 and it was the reign of universal anarchy and savage club-law. 
 It was a dark interregnum in social order, as if the sun of 
 justice and of peace had withdrawn its light from a world of 
 corruption and irreconcilable hate ; and for a whole genera- 
 tion this state of wild disorder, and fear of still greater 
 calamities, lasted. The loss of Jerusalem and all the Holy 
 Land to the Christians, which now took place, added to the 
 general gloom of the times. 
 
 In vain had St. Lewis in his last crusade against Egypt, 
 once more exerted all his energies for the deliverance and pre- 
 servation of the Christian possessions in the East ; possessions, 
 which had they been retained, might in the end have formed a 
 rampart and a barrier against the inroads of the Mussulman 
 power into the adjoining provinces of Europe. Still the danger 
 from this quarter was not so imminent ; for it was not till a 
 hundred years later that the Turks burst from Asia Minor into 
 Europe, conquered the northern provinces of the Byzantine 
 empire, and began to menace the Christian kingdoms of the 
 West. But there was a nearer and mightier danger rolling on 
 against Europe — the formidable power of the Moguls, which 
 surprised it in this period of the great interregnum. As if the 
 hostile spirit of destruction had anticipated or known that the 
 power of Christendom could be subverted only by internal dis- 
 cord ; an old sage or priest of the still pagan Moguls, had, 
 about a generation before, announced to the youth, who was 
 afterwards called Zingis Khan, (that is to say, Lord of the World, 
 and who is known by this name in history,) that in a vision, 
 he had seen the Great Spirit, seated on his flaming throne, 
 judge the nations of the earth, and that by his decision, the domi- 
 nion of the world had been allotted to the young Khan of the 
 Moguls. Filled with this spirit, Zingis traversed the world 
 with his countless hosts ; conquered China, Thibet, and Japan, 
 subdued the Mussulman empire of Carizme, and penetrated as 
 far as the Caspian Sea. The conqueror's four sons continued the 
 work which he had commenced, and divided the earth into four 
 parts for their task of desolation. The one to whom was as- 
 
380 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OP 
 
 signed the western portion of the earth invaded Christendom 
 with his innumerable squadrons ; the throne of Rurick, the 
 greatest Christian potentate in the north, was overturned ; and 
 for several centuries, Russia, incorporated with the government 
 of Kipzak, groaned under the oppressive yoke of the Mogul 
 sway. Poland was overrun by the all-wasting host of Moguls ; 
 the King of Hungary was defeated, and forced to flee his coun- 
 try ; Silesia was laid waste, and the bloody discomfiture of the 
 Christian army at Lignitz filled the whole western world with 
 consternation. Happily the destroyers penetrated no further 
 into Europe ; and the stream of their conquests, as if diverted 
 by a protecting hand, took its course first towards the Arabian 
 Caliphate of Bagdad, which they put an end to ; and afterwards 
 towards India, and other Asiastic and Mahometan countries. 
 This was a passing, but awful, warning to Christendom, how 
 much she needed the strong arm of a powerful protector, 
 and that union alone would enable her to resist the assaults and 
 inroads of barbarous nations. It was the strong feeling of such 
 a necessity which had first inspired the idea of the Western 
 Empire. 
 
 In the German empire, order was first restored by Rodolph 
 of Hapsburgh, who, notwithstanding his earldom of Alsace and 
 his other hereditary demesnes in the Alps, had not yet so much 
 power as many other aspirants to the imperial crown ; but his 
 chivalrous virtues ranking him high in the estimation of many 
 of the princes. A happy and singular coincidence of accidental 
 circumstances occasioned his unexpected election to the empire, 
 which appeared to him, as to many others, a calling from above. 
 Being on the most peaceful understanding with the pope, he 
 yet abandoned his expedition to Rome ; for he was, above all 
 things, anxious to put an end to anarchy, to establish the public 
 tranquillity on a solid basis, and, as far as was then possible, to 
 restore the reign of justice. The high services which by this 
 he rendered to his country in those distracted times, history has 
 not been backward to acknowledge ; and, as the patriarch of 
 the imperial house of Hapsburgh. he has beer, the founder of 
 a power which, in succeeding ages, has ever proved a pillar of 
 strength and security to Germany and even Europe. But often 
 again did anarchy rear her head, and often did disorder obtain 
 tne ascendant in Germany, as well as in other European 
 
381 
 
 States. Nations felt the want of one mighty, independent, and 
 protecting power— they lamented the decline of those Christian 
 principles which had knit so closely all the ties of public and 
 private life ; and they saw with regret the gradual approach of 
 the general dissolution and mighty ruin of European society. 
 Under Rodolph's successors, down to Maximilian and Charles 
 the Fifth, the emperors were confined in their sphere of action 
 to Germany and its internal affairs, which do not here imme- 
 diately concern us. The expeditions to Rome tended, indeed, 
 to keep alive the remembrance of the old imperial rights and 
 claims ; but they were productive of no permanent advantage, 
 nor real extension of power. It was only in the summoning of 
 general councils (the want of which was soon so urgently felt 
 for the well-being of the church and of Christendom), that the 
 imperial power was really exerted in favour of the general 
 interest in Europe. 
 
 But the evils which ensued to the church and its head, from 
 its unhappy conflict with the temporal power, were far more 
 extensive and fatal in their consequences. Iu the mighty contests 
 between the popes and emperors, it was actual right which was 
 the subject of dispute ; and, in truth, the first basis and highest 
 principle of all right in Christian states, and indeed in all 
 human society ; and however much of error the exaggerations 
 of later times may have infused into these disputes, it was a 
 sublime idea which animated either party. In France, which 
 now took up that attitude of hostility towards the head of the 
 church which the emperors had once assumed, an entirely new 
 era in European policy, which had now ceased to be Christian, 
 commenced with the reign of Philip-le-Bel. In the place of those 
 great motives and lofty ideas which animated a Gregory VIL, 
 on the one hand, and a Conrad or Barbarossa, on the other, we 
 meet with a vulgar policy, a selfish cupidity, and an unworthy 
 cunning. In every point of view, Philip the Fair may be con- 
 sidered as the worthy predecessor of Louis XL Even his con- 
 duct towards the whole order of Templars, their execution, or 
 rather judicial murder, for the purpose of confiscation, was a 
 deed of violence which nothing could justify ; even had the 
 suspicion entertained against the more corrupt portion of the 
 order, of having introduced from the East certain un-Christian 
 tenets, rights, and practices, been not entirely destitute of foun- 
 
382 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 datlon. But yet this suspicion did not affect the whole body, 
 nor even the then worthy grand-master, as was shortly after- 
 wards acknowledged by the King of Portugal and the pope 
 himself ; and, in any case, an ecclesiastical affair of so much 
 importance ought to have been investigated and determined by 
 a mode of procedure very different from this arbitrary and 
 despotic course. 
 
 The untimely exaggerations and absolute pretension of Bo- 
 niface VIIL, which, though papal, may almost be termed Ghi- 
 belline (in the same sense that we have applied that term to the 
 acts of preceding emperors), must have proved very welcome to 
 Philip the Fair. He found in the conduct of the pope, a pre- 
 text for enticing him into France, in order, on the first vacancy 
 in the Holy See, to promote the election of a pope favourable 
 to his views, and fix him at Avignon. It was a deep-laid plan 
 of policy on his part, to fix the residence of the popes for ever 
 within his territories, in order more easily to extort their con- 
 sent to all his selfish projects, as in the case of the Templars ; 
 a policy by which the popes, during seventy years, were kept 
 in a state of absolute dependence on the court of France. And 
 when at last one of the popes succeeded in rescuing the chair 
 of St. Peter from this Babylonish captivity, and placing it again 
 at Rome, popes were elected one against the other at Rome and 
 Avignon ; and a schism broke out in the church which lasted 
 for forty years, till it was finally quelled by the general council 
 of Constance. A deeper wound could not have been inflicted 
 on Christianity than this division in the church, which led 
 minds astray, and introduced an indescribable confusion in all 
 the relations of public and private life. As, without the all- 
 protecting and all- connecting authority of the first Christian 
 emperors, Europe in general, and Germany in particular, 
 would much sooner have been split and dismembered, and been 
 deprived of all power of permanent resistance against foreign 
 aggression, and barbarian inroads ; so, without the papal 
 power, which was founded on, and adapted for, unity, and 
 which held together the fabric of the church, Christianity would 
 very soon have been lost and extinguished in a multitude of 
 particular sects, petty congregations, aud opposite parties, even 
 where totally dissimilar systems of religion did not spring up. 
 The maintenance of orthodoxy in the Greek church, where the 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 383 
 
 patriarch does not possess the same spiritual power, nor the same 
 extensive influence on society, as the pope during the middle 
 ages, cannot be fairly adduced as an objection to the truth of 
 this observation. For it would be absurd to expect from the 
 active, stirring, restless, and animated spirit of the western 
 nations, moving on as they did through a series of rapid, inces- 
 sant, and progressive changes, that innate monotony of thought 
 even in faith, which was natural to the dead, torpid Byzantine 
 mind. When the Western church had been weakened and 
 convulsed by the conflict with the secular power, the preju- 
 dicial and fatal effects of this contest became apparent in 
 religion itself and the internal region of faith. At first, indeed, 
 there arose a mighty moral power of resistance against the 
 growing corruption and the impending evil — a great spiritual 
 remedy, which sprang out of religion, and was perfectly con- 
 formable to its spirit. It was here again apparent how that 
 strengthening Spirit of aid and counsel — that Paraclete pro- 
 mised to the church by its divine Founder, knows at every 
 period, and on every new occurrence of danger, to employ the 
 remedies the best and most fitting for the exigencies of the 
 time ; remedies of which the high origin is clearly discernible, 
 though in the hands of men they no longer retain their primi- 
 tive character, and do not accomplish all the good they 
 might have effected, or even become at last more and more 
 perverted. 
 
 The great wealth of the church was not the sole, but one 
 of the principal subjects of dispute with the secular power, and 
 was even a stumbling-block to many, especially among the 
 people. It was this wealth, indeed, which had furnished the 
 means of cultivating and fertilising the soil of Europe, and 
 sowing the seeds of science on the soil of human intellect ; 
 for the existence of the clergy had been founded on landed pro- 
 perty, and by this means they had become naturalised and 
 domiciliated in the state, and among the nation ; till the 
 splendid endowments which they received from the liberality of 
 religious zeal, made the abbots, bishops, and the whole of the 
 higher clergy, wealthy lords, senators, and princes. This 
 wealth and this power, the clergy, especially in the earlier 
 times, generally employed in a manner the most praiseworthy, 
 and the most conducive to the welfare of the community. 
 
384 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 The annals of modern Europe, and the history of every great 
 and petty state within it, are full of the high political services 
 which the excellent churchmen of the middle age rendered to 
 the public weal. This was universally acknowledged, and any 
 sudden separation of the higher clergy from the state — any 
 degradation of that body from the exalted station which they 
 occupied therein, would have been a most serious loss to society. 
 In the contests of the emperors and other princes with the 
 church at its head, the immediate and original object of dis- 
 pute was not ecclesiastical property, which no one ever dreamed 
 of attacking ; but the jurisdiction over that property, and the 
 acknowledgment of that jurisdiction. It is easy to conceive 
 that all the members of the higher clergy had not rendered 
 services equally eminent, and that the employment of their 
 riches had not been equally laudable and blameless. But, 
 independently of individual abuses and scandals, the great 
 wealth of the dignified clergy, the eminent and splendid rank 
 they occupied in the state and in society, were ever a stumb- 
 ling-block to the people, and even to some ecclesiastics, and 
 seemed in contradiction with the original rule and evangelical 
 poverty of the primitive Christians. This was the first cause, 
 the principal subject, and, as it were, the favourite text of that 
 popular opposition which now, after the example had been set 
 by princes and potentates, began to unfurl its banners against 
 the church. 
 
 Nothing, therefore, could be better adapted to the exigencies 
 of the age than that, in opposition to the too great worldly pomp 
 of many of the high though meritorious and virtuous digni- 
 taries of that time, communities of men, animated by the 
 sincerest piety, and the most austere spirit of humility and self- 
 denial, should have risen to make themselves all in all to 
 the people, and set the example of perfect evangelical po- 
 verty; or to devote their undivided zeal to popular instruc- 
 tion and the office of preaching. Men of real sanctity, and 
 the most humble piety, and gifted with wonderful powers, en- 
 tered on this new path of religious zeal ; and many amongst 
 them, with a truly high-minded freedom, reprehended the 
 abuses and the moral corruption then existing in church and 
 state, and among all orders of society. They met with 
 contradiction and opposition, and even at an early period 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 385 
 
 incurred much blame ; but here we must be careful to dis- 
 tinguish human infirmity and partial degeneracy from the 
 holy origin of those establishments — from that spark of 
 divine inspiration which called these, and all other ecclesi- 
 astical institutes, into existence. And thus that tide of 
 popular opposition to the church, which had received its 
 first impulse from the secular power, and the contests of 
 the Ghibelline Emperors, rolled on with an ever-increasing 
 force, swell, and violence. Scarce had the Waldenses dis- 
 appeared, when a religious sect still more numerous, the 
 Albigenses, broke out in the South of France, and not 
 content with displaying the usual popular opposition to the 
 riches and real abuses of the church, broached many errors 
 and doctrines of the Eastern sects, which during the Cru- 
 sades may have found their way into that country. For this 
 Reason it was thought justifiable to proclaim against them a 
 formal Crusade, and, by a most atrocious war of extermina- 
 tion, wherein the remedy appears no less reprehensible than 
 the evil itself, princes put down this popular sect, which they 
 regarded as rebellious not only against the church, but the 
 state itself. 
 
 Wickliffe in England was the first single bold Reformer 
 that appeared, and he was succeeded soon afterwards by an 
 Innovator, whose enterprise was attended with far more 
 important consequences — John Huss in Bohemia. Their 
 writings, abounding not only in the wonted condemnation of 
 real abuses, but in many fanciful doctrines, unfounded asser- 
 tions, and germs of heresy, their cause as well as the general 
 state of affairs, and the problem of the age, became more 
 complicated and perilous. 
 
 John Huss was summoned before the council of Constance, 
 which had terminated so successfully the schism in the Pa- 
 pacy ; but there, without any regard to the imperial safe- 
 conduct which he had received, he was condemned, and 
 delivered over to capital punishment. As one injustice, 
 one act of bloody severity, is sure to bring on another, a 
 few years afterwards the Senators of Prague were preci- 
 pitated from a window. This was the signal for a general 
 rising of the people ; Ziska, at the head of his infuriated 
 troops, ravaged Bohemia, burst into the neighbouring pro- 
 vinces of Germany, and, with a Hussite army of seventy 
 
 2 c 
 
386 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 thousand men, spread terror every where on his march. 
 This insurrection was indeed suppressed, but Europe grew 
 every day more and more ripe for a Revolution. 
 
 A new and pressing danger, which had been long fore- 
 seen, now threatened Europe from an opposite quarter. 
 The Turks, who for almost a century had been in possession 
 of the Northern provinces of the Byzantine Empire, became 
 now masters of Constantinople, and the old church of St. 
 Sophia was converted into a Mosque. That portion of 
 Europe which stood in most immediate danger, — Germany, 
 Austria, Hungary, and Poland — was now compelled to make, 
 for the space of more than two centuries, resistance to the 
 progress of the Turkish power the object of its most assidu- 
 ous attention ; and this was a circumstance which tended 
 to impede the emperors in all their other enterprises, to 
 divert their efforts, and consume their best energies, and 
 so far, in the then existing embarrassments in church and 
 state, exerted a very fatal influence on the whole system of 
 European society. 
 
 The immediate effects of the siege and fall of Constanti- 
 nople were highly favourable to literature and science in 
 the last half of the fifteenth century ; when the Greek fugi- 
 tives, by the rich and long-lost treasures of classical know- 
 ledge which they brought, created a new and brilliant era 
 in letters and science ; in Italy in the first instance, then 
 in Germany (at that time so closely connected with Italy), 
 and lastly in the rest of Europe. The knowledge of their 
 classical tongue and ancient literature had never been totally 
 extinguished among the Greek scholars and ecclesiastics; 
 but in their hands this knowledge remained a mere dead 
 treasure, which was only afterwards turned to profitable 
 account, and to the service of society, by the more active 
 spirit of the Europeans. 
 
 The better of the late Byzantine emperors, particularly 
 some of the Palaeologi, had cultivated the sciences, and, by 
 their love and encouragement of learning, had given a new 
 life to literature. Even in the period immediately preceding 
 the fall and conquest of Constantinople, many Greeks had 
 taken refuge in Italy, particularly during the various at- 
 tempts made to bring about the re-union of the Greek with 
 the Roman Church; — attempts, however, which with the 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 387 
 
 exception of a small number of individuals who went over to 
 the Catholic Church, were not attended with any general 
 success. In Italy the Greek fugitives established schools for 
 their own language and literature, and founded libraries; 
 and if in the time of Petrarch few Italians could be named 
 that were conversant with that language and literature (and 
 among these zealous promoters of Greek learning, Boccaccio 
 must be included with himself,) Florence now under the 
 Medici, the first Cosmo, and Lorenzo the Great, became a 
 flourishing seminary of Grecian letters and erudition ; and 
 at Rome also, the house of Cardinal Bessarion was a true 
 Platonic academy of science. Even the study of the ancient 
 Roman writers received a new stimulus, and was prose- 
 cuted with a more classical taste and spirit. Courtly lite- 
 rati, and Latin poets formed on the old classical models — 
 political writers in the Latin tongue, which was still the 
 language of diplomacy — statesmen and politicians of the 
 greatest influence, trained up in the school of Greek and 
 Roman history and politics — and polite dilettanti of Pagan 
 antiquity, — all now gave the tone to this new and second 
 epoch in the intellectual culture of Europe. But the ruling 
 spirit and tone of the" age proceeded mainly from the revival 
 of the ancient literature and learning of the Greeks. Natural 
 philosophy, whatever extension it may have received from 
 the improvements in astronomy, and a more comprehensive 
 knowledge of the globe obtained by the discovery of the 
 New World, had not yet been wrought into a scientific form, 
 capable of exerting, as it did afterwards, an effective influ- 
 ence on the European mind, or of giving it a new direction. 
 In this period of the restoration of science, some individuals, 
 like Picus Mirandola, and above all, the German Reuchlin, 
 followed a Platonic track in search of a more profound phi- 
 losophy ; or, like Bessarion, Marsilius Ficinus, and others, 
 illustrated and diffused the philosophy of Plato. But these 
 were partial exceptions, and these first attempts w r ere not al- 
 ways faultless. Yet it must ever be a matter of regret that 
 the beginning then made towards a better and more pro- 
 found philosophy should have been left unfinished. To this 
 the old scholastic philosophy was then a powerful obstacle, 
 and the spirit of anarchy, which the religious contests of the 
 following age called into existence, struck at the root of all 
 
 2 c 2 
 
388 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 lofty speculation ; and even in the flourishing age of the 
 Medici, it was the aesthetic part of ancient literature, and 
 the political application of classical knowledge, which formed 
 the main and almost exclusive object of pursuit. 
 
 Thus this regeneration, as it was called, was very imper- 
 fect and incomplete ; and, in a general v sense, was really not 
 such ; — even in science itself, the advantages which mankind 
 had obtained, and which they were so eager to display, were 
 more like a passing blossom than a sound and vigorous root. 
 Many of those classical spirits were more conversant and 
 more at home in ancient Rome and Athens — in the manners, 
 history, politics of antiquity, or even in its mythology (then 
 investigated with peculiar fondness and enthusiasm) than in 
 their own age, in the existing relations of society, or in the 
 doctrines and principles of Christianity. 
 
 The prevailing character of this new epoch of intellectual 
 cultivation, which succeeded to the scholastico- romantic 
 period of European art and science, was, by those modes of 
 thinking and those modes of life which, with more or less 
 modification and variety, it diffused over all the European 
 countries, at the best a very partial enthusiasm for Pagan 
 antiquity, not merely in the department of art, but in the 
 whole compass of literature; nay, even in history, politics, 
 and morals also. If we compare with the fearful commo- 
 tions of the following age this classical enthusiasm, often so 
 ill suited to the existing relations of society, its influence on 
 the world will appear like an enchanting draught, which in- 
 toxicated for a while the European nations, drew them after 
 objects totally foreign, made them forget themselves in an 
 illusive consciousness of their intellectual refinement; and, 
 lulling them into a false security, blinded them to their own 
 corruption, and the greatness of the impending danger — the 
 yawning abyss on whose verge they then stood. 
 
 END OF LECTURE XIV. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 339 
 
 LECTURE XV. 
 
 General observations on the Philosophy of History. — On the corrupt state 
 of society in the fifteenth century. — Origin of Protestantism, and cha- 
 racter of the times of the Reformation. 
 
 The Philosophy of History — that is to say, the right compre- 
 hension of its wonderful course, the solution and illustration 
 of its mighty problems, and of the complex enigmas of 
 humanity, and its destiny in the lapse of ages — is not to be 
 found in isolated events, or detached historical facts, but in 
 the principles of social progress. Historical particulars can 
 only serve to characterize the inward motives, the prevailing 
 opinions, the decisive moments, the critical points in the 
 progress of human society ; and thus place more vividly 
 before our eyes the peculiar character of every age — each 
 step of mankind in intellectual refinement and moral im- 
 provement. To this end, historical details are indispensable : 
 for the ruling principles of social development are of a 
 more exalted kind, and not mere organic laws of nature, 
 from which, as in physiology, when the first principle of the 
 disorder is well understood, we can accurately deduce, and 
 partly at least determine beforehand, the nature of the 
 different phenomena and symptoms, the rule of health, the 
 diagnostic of the disease, as well as the method of cure, the 
 approach of the crisis, and its natural declension, without 
 being obliged to go through the labyrinth of all the different 
 cases that may have ever existed. Again, it is not in the 
 history of man, as in natural history, where the structure of 
 the various plants and animals forms by close analogy one con- 
 nected system of species and genera ; and where the growth, 
 bloom, decay, and extinction of individuals follow in an uni- 
 form order, like day and night, or like the change of the 
 seasons. But in the sphere of human freedom ; as man is a na- 
 tural creature, but a natural creature endowed with free-will, 
 
390 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 that is to say, with the faculty of moral determination between 
 the good or heavenly impulse, and the wicked or hostile prin- 
 ciple ; all these organic laws of nature form only the physical 
 basis of his progress and history. And hardly do they form 
 this — but rather a mere disposition of which the direction de- 
 pends on man, or on the use he makes of his own freedom. It 
 is only when that higher principle of man's free-will has been 
 weakened, debased, obscured, extinguished, and utterly con- 
 founded, that those laws of nature can hold good in history. 
 Then, indeed, the symptoms of a diseased age, the organic 
 vices of a nation, the prognostics of a general crisis of the 
 world, may be determined to a certain extent with the pre- 
 cision of medical science. Though the general feelings of 
 mankind clearly declare the soul to be endowed with the 
 faculty of free-will ; yet to reason, this freedom is an almost 
 inextricable enigma, the solution of which must be fur- 
 nished by faith. Or rather, this is a mystery, of which the 
 key and explanation must be sought for in God and his 
 Revelation ; and the same will apply to every higher 
 principle, that transcends nature, and nature's laws. 
 
 Along with the principle of man's free-will, which rises 
 above necessity, that law of nature — there is another higher 
 and divine principle in the historical progress of nations ; 
 and this is the visible guidance of an all-loving and all-ruling 
 Providence displayed in the course of history and the march 
 of human destiny, whether in things great or small. But 
 the power of evil is something more than a mere power of 
 nature, and in comparison with this, it is a power of a higher 
 and more spiritual kind. It is that power whose influence 
 is not only felt in the sensual inclinations of nature, but 
 which, under the mask of a false liberty, unceasingly labours 
 to rob man of his true freedom. Thus Providence is not 
 a mere vague notion, a formula of belief, or a feeling of 
 virtuous anticipation — a mere pious conjecture — but it is 
 the real, effective, historical, redeeming power of God, which 
 restores to man and the whole human race their lost 
 freedom, and with it the effectual power of good. The 
 problem of human existence consists in this, that man in 
 the great stage of history, as in the little details of private 
 iife, has to choose and determine between a true heavenly 
 freedom, ever faithful and stedfast to God, and the false, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 391 
 
 rebellious freedom of a will separated from God. The mere 
 license of passion or of sensual appetite is no liberty, but 
 a stern bondage under the yoke of nature. But as that 
 false and criminal freedom is spiritual, so it is superior to 
 nature ; and it is strictly conformable to truth, to regard 
 him as the first author of this false liberty whom revelation 
 represents as the mightiest, the most potent, and the most 
 intellectual egotist among all created beings either in the 
 visible or invisible world. 
 
 Without this freedom of choice innate in man or imparted 
 to him, — this faculty of determining between the divine 
 impulse and the suggestions of the spirit of evil, there would 
 be no history, and without a faith in such a principle there 
 could be no Philosophy of History. If free-will were a 
 mere psychological illusion ; if consequently man were in- 
 capable of sentiment or deliberate action ; if all in life were 
 predetermined by necessity, and subject, like nature, to a 
 blind, immutable destiny ; in that case, what we call his- 
 tory, or the description of mankind, would merely constitute 
 a branch of natural science. But such notions are utterly 
 repugnant to the general belief and the most intimate 
 feelings of mankind, according to which, it is precisely the 
 conflict between the good or divine principle on the one 
 hand, and the evil or adverse principle on the other, which 
 forms the purport of human life and human history, from 
 the beginning to the end of time. Without the idea of 
 a God-head regulating the course of human destiny, of an 
 all-ruling Providence, and the saving and redeeming power 
 of God, the history of the world would be a labyrinth with- 
 out an outlet — a confused pile of ages buried upon ages — a 
 mighty tragedy without a right beginning, or a proper 
 ending ; and this melancholy and tragical impression is 
 produced on our minds by several of the great ancient 
 historians, particularly the profoundest of them all, Tacitus, 
 who, towards the close of antiquity, glances so dark a 
 retrospect upon the past. 
 
 But the greatest historical mystery — the deepest and 
 most complicated enigma of the world, is the permission of 
 evil on the part of God, which can find its explanation and 
 solution only in the unfettered freedom of man, in the 
 destination of the latter for a state of struggle, exposed to 
 
392 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 the influences of two contending powers, and which com- 
 mences with the first earthly mission of Adam. This is 
 nothing else but the real and entire exercise, — the divinely 
 ordained trial of the faculty of freedom, imparted to the 
 firstling of the new creation, — the image of God, in the con- 
 flict and the victory over temptation, and all hostile spirits. 
 That man only who recognises the permission of God given 
 to evil in its at first inconceivably wide extent — the whole 
 magnitude of the power permitted to the wicked principle, 
 according to the inscrutable decrees of God, from the curse 
 of Cain — and the sign of that curse — its unimpeded trans- 
 mission through all the labyrinths of error, and truth grossly 
 disfigured — through all the false religions of Heathenism, — 
 all the ages of extreme moral corruption, and eternally 
 repeated, and ever increasing crime, down to the period 
 when the anti-christian principle — the spirit of evil, shall 
 usurp entire dominion of the world ; when mankind, suffi- 
 ciently prepared, shall be summoned to the last decisive trial 
 — the last great conflict with the enemy in all the fulness 
 of his power : — that man only, we say, is capable of under- 
 standing the great phenomena of universal history in their 
 often strange and dark complexity, as far at least as human 
 eye can penetrate into those hidden and mysterious ways of 
 Providence. But he who regards every thing in humanity, 
 and the progress of humanity, in a mere natural or rationalist 
 point of view, and will explain everything by such views; 
 who though perhaps not without a certain instinctive feeling 
 of an all-ruling Providence — a certain pious deference for its 
 secret ways and high designs, yet is devoid of a full know- 
 ledge of, and deep insight into, the conduct of Providence — 
 he to whom the power of evil is not clear, evident, and fully 
 intelligible ; he will ever rest on the surface of events and 
 historical facts, and satisfied with the outward appearance of 
 things, neither comprehend the meaning of the whole, nor 
 understand the import of any part. But the matter of 
 greatest moment is to watch the Spirit of God, revealing 
 itself in history, enlightening and directing the judgments of 
 men, saving and conducting mankind, and even here below 
 admonishing, judging, and chastising nations and gener- 
 ations ; to watch this Spirit in its progress through all ages, 
 and discern the fiery marks and traces of its footsteps. This 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 393 
 
 threefold law of the world, these three mighty principles in 
 the historical progress of mankind — the hidden ways of 
 a Providence delivering and emancipating the human race — 
 next, the free-will of man, doomed to a decisive choice in the 
 struggle of life, and every action and sentiment springing 
 from that freedom — lastly, the power permitted by God to 
 the evil principle, cannot be deduced as things absolutely 
 necessary, like the phenomena of nature, or the laws of 
 human reason. Such a general deduction would by no 
 means answer the object intended ; but it is in the character- 
 istic marks of particular events and historical facts, that 
 the visible traces of invisible power and design, or of high 
 and hidden wisdom, must be sought for. And hence the 
 Philosophy of History is not a theory standing apart and 
 separated from history, but its results must be drawn out of 
 the multitude of historical facts — from the faithful records 
 of ages, and must spring up, as it were, of themselves, 
 from bare observation. And here an unprejudiced mind 
 will discern the motive, and also the justification, of the 
 course we have pursued ; for in the Philosophy of History 
 we have not to do with any system — any series of abstract 
 notions, positions, and conclusions, as in the construction of a 
 mere theory — but with the general principles only of histori- 
 cal investigation and historical judgment. 
 
 In the multitude, however, of historical phenomena, all 
 things, especially in times of great party-conflicts, are of a 
 mixed nature, where, in the selection of characteristic traits, 
 we should rather avoid than seek for any rude and violent 
 contrasts. For while, on the one hand, in any great historical 
 contest, we are bound to recognize the full justice of the true 
 cause, yet on the other, we shall often find some flaw — some 
 stain — some weak point connected with that cause — not 
 inherent in the cause itself, but chargeable solely on human 
 infirmity. Or when we must condemn the Revolution of 
 any period, as pernicious in its general relations, and repre- 
 hensible in itself, we shall often , see some motive lie con- 
 cealed in its origin — in its first proceedings, which taken 
 in itself, and abstractedly of subsequent errors, and the false 
 consequences thence deduced, comprises some important 
 indications of right — some lofty aspirations after truth. Every 
 general assertion must be restricted by exceptions, and 
 
394 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 qualified by various modifications ; and as in historical events, 
 so in historical narration and speculation, nothing is so hurt- 
 ful and unprofitable as an absolute mode of reflection, in- 
 quiry, and decision. This remark we may apply by antici- 
 pation to the whole period of latter ages, and as inculcating 
 the necessity of that conciliatory spirit which true philosophy 
 cannot fail of adopting for its rule. It is only, when we 
 have gone very deeply into the varied and complex nature 
 of the circumstances of any age, and examined in their 
 manifold bearings those historical phenomena which attend 
 or produce the critical turning-points, the decisive eras of 
 history, that we can clearly discover the spiritual elements — 
 the great ideas which lie at the bottom of a mighty revo- 
 lution in society. In every other abstract science, an ex- 
 ception from the rule appears a contradiction ; but in the 
 science of history, every real exception serves but the better 
 to make us comprehend and judge the rest. 
 
 Such an exception I have now to point out in reference 
 to my remarks on the intellectual progress of Europe, in 
 those two epochs of its mental cultivation, one of which 
 I designated as the scholastico-romantic era, the other as 
 the era of enthusiasm for the Pagan antique ; the former 
 being inadequate to the wants of that age, as well as of 
 posterity, and the other secretly destructive of the old 
 Christian order of things. But on the whole, from the tone 
 prevalent in either period, I do not know I could have other- 
 wise characterized the spirit peculiar to those two epochs. 
 Yet even in those periods, and in the sphere of philosophic 
 and religious meditation, the spirit of Christianity shewed 
 itself independent of? and superior to, the temper of the 
 times ; and between these opposite eras, we meet with works 
 displaying a clear and beautiful simplicity of expression, 
 united with the utmost purity and depth of ascetic feelings. 
 Among several others, I need only cite the German Thomas 
 a Kempis, whose most celebrated work has become a manual 
 of devotion for all the European nations, while those who 
 know the philosophic spirit which reigns in his other writ- 
 ings can well recognize in this the same clear masterly 
 mind, which, throwing off the abstruse forms of the school, 
 pours itself forth in a most lovely simplicity of diction. 
 
 I may be permitted to cite this glorious exception of a 
 
HISTORY, 
 
 395 
 
 mind that, amid the degenerate science of that age, rose 
 into the pure atmosphere of Christian philosophy, inasmuch 
 as it serves to throw a light on the general spirit of the 
 times. Had that mild light of moral truth and divine charity 
 not been then so rare an exception; had that spirit of 
 Christian morality been somewhat more widely diffused; 
 the violent commotions in the following generation would 
 not have occurred ; for they would have had no motive, 
 nor object, nor any possible source of existence. But in 
 direct opposition to that pious Fleming, there was a great 
 Italian writer, who gave the tone to the moral and political 
 opinions of his age, and exerted the mightiest influence on 
 his times, both as a moralist and as a politician. I allude 
 to Machiavelli, who may serve as a proof, that the maxims 
 and principles of Pagan antiquity, with which the scholars of 
 that age were imbued, were not confined to the departments 
 of art and of imagination, or of mere erudition, but had a very 
 powerful influence on politics : and however much one may 
 attempt to excuse or explain away the design of one of his 
 works,* still all his other political writings clearly and evi- 
 dently shew that he was actuated by no other maxims of 
 state-policy than the old Roman and Pagan principle, of 
 grasping, inexorable, and selfish cunning. This writer an- 
 nounced only with greater clearness and precision what were 
 already the prevailing principles of his times, and was thus 
 the means of bringing those principles to fulness and maturity. 
 
 When the Christian bond of union between the European 
 states and nations had been so completely dissevered, policy, 
 together with all moral principle, became for the most part 
 Pagan, came to consider all means as lawful for its ends, 
 respected not the sacredness of any institution, and was 
 guided in all its projects by selfishness, cupidity, or ambition. 
 Animated with this spirit, and guided by these views, Lewis 
 XI. consolidated the absolute authority of the crown in the 
 interior of his dominions, with the same inflexible persever- 
 ance of character, and the same consummate political art, 
 which, in his endeavours to maintain his power against the 
 Duke of Burgundy and other neighbours, characterized 
 his foreign policy. In Ferdinand the CathoHc, King of 
 Spain, who permanently united the two kingdoms of Arra- 
 * The Prince. 
 
396 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 gon and Castile, put an end to the Arab dominion by the 
 conquest of Granada, and came into possession of the golden 
 mines of America, the arbitrary principles of policy and of 
 government, which were then so generally prevalent, are 
 particularly perceptible. The barbarous persecution and 
 the expulsion of the Jews from Spain was certainly pre- 
 judicial to the welfare of the country, was in itself an act 
 of reprehensible severity, and was, above all, a dangerous 
 precedent for the further extension and application of the 
 same oppressive policy towards the Arabian population (still 
 very numerous in many provinces of Spain), and towards 
 the peaceable descendants of the old Mahomedan conquerors. 
 From the contests carried on in Spain itself with the Maho- 
 medans for the space of eight centuries, a religious war 
 almost entered into the system of national policy. The 
 wisdom of a great and lenient monarch, like Charles the 
 Fifth, might, indeed, mitigate the evils of the times, and as 
 long as he lived, and as far as circumstances permitted, 
 might oppose a check to the torrent of the new opinions 
 in Germany. But with all his pacific endeavours he was 
 unable either to prevent the rupture and separation of a 
 part of Germany, or to stop the progress of arbitrary prin- 
 ciples of government, which, under his successor on the 
 Spanish throne, became perfectly irresistible. The inter- 
 mixture of political and ecclesiastical affairs and institutions 
 existed more or less everywhere, and in truth had a deep 
 historical foundation in the peculiar circumstances of place ; 
 and unless we deeply investigate all the particulars of those 
 local circumstances, and accurately discriminate their several 
 peculiarities, it would be difficult, and indeed rash, to pro- 
 nounce a general opinion respecting them — as so sweeping 
 a judgment would give a false and erroneous turn to a cen- 
 sure apparently well founded, and often just in itself. The 
 Inquisition in Spain, for instance, was, from the very pecu- 
 liar character which it took in that country, far more a 
 political than an ecclesiastical institute. If the secular 
 power had been guilty of arbitrary and violent encroach- 
 ments on ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical power in 
 its turn had, from the spirit of the times, become in many 
 respects too secular. 
 
 When the Popes had returned to Rome from the captivity 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 397 
 
 of Avignon, experience taught them how necessary to their 
 dignity and independence was the possession of a sovereign 
 principality, which, however inconsiderable, should be at 
 least free from foreign control. Nay, since the German 
 Empire had become really extinct, or existed only in name, 
 it was the interest of the secular powers themselves, that 
 the political authority of the Pope within the ecclesiastical 
 states should rest on a firm and secure foundation, and 
 should thus afford them a guarantee that the sovereign Pon- 
 tiff would not again be in a state of exclusive dependence 
 on any one of the different powers — divided as they now 
 all were in interests, and animated by mutual jealousy. 
 Without taking into account the personal scandals of Alex- 
 ander VI., the mode in which some Popes, especially of 
 the Borgia family, sought to consolidate their power within 
 the ecclesiastical territory, must have appeared very re- 
 volting in the spiritual heads of Christendom. And al- 
 though Julius II. possessed many great and princely quali- 
 ties, still an injurious impression must have been produced 
 on the public and popular mind, when the chief ecclesiastic, 
 and a prince of peace, girded on the sword, and put on the 
 martial cuirass. The name of the Medicean Pope, Leo X., is 
 one celebrated in the history of art and science, and serves to 
 denote its most brilliant era ; he possessed perhaps all the 
 qualities most calculated to shed lustre round the throne 
 of a secular monarch ; but he was not the Pontiff to dis- 
 cern the fearful dangers and urgent necessities of the church 
 in that age, to avert those dangers by his foresight, or to 
 surmount them by conciliation. 
 
 A succession of such Pontiffs immediately prior to the 
 breaking out of the Reformation is of no slight historical 
 importance. It would really appear as if the church were 
 destined, by the losses it experienced, to learn the greatness 
 of the danger to which its too worldly policy exposed it, 
 and to be brought back by misfortune to its true, proper, 
 and essential destination. Indeed, at that time, the materials 
 of political combustion were by no means wanting in Italy. 
 Even in the absence of the Popes, a political fanatic, Rienzi, 
 had excited a Revolution for the purpose of restoring the 
 ancient republic ; and the internal feuds and civil wars of 
 Florence were the effects of factions, almost inseparable from 
 
398 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 a state constituted like the Florentine Republic. In the last 
 period of civil disorder, shortly after Lorenzo's death, a reli- 
 gious fanatic, the Dominican Savanarola, appeared at the 
 head of a political Revolution ; and his revolutionary prin- 
 ciples were strangely mixed up with his religious tenets. 
 Here evidently is a fact not undeserving of attention, if 
 we would wish to form a right estimate of the state and 
 circumstances of that age: it is, that the very origin of 
 this new species of fanaticism or heresy, and not its ulterior 
 progress (as in the case of the Hussites), was marked and 
 accompanied by political commotions, and crimes against 
 the state. 
 
 When that bond of religious unity — that high fellowship 
 of Christian feeling which had united the various states of 
 Christendom, was in a great measure dissolved, the different 
 powers of Europe (as is usually the case among' neighbour- 
 ing independent nations, when directed by separate views of 
 policy) — the different powers of Europe engaged in a system 
 of alliances, subject to various fluctuations, but all formed on 
 the principle of a mere dynamical equilibrium — just as if 
 government and social power, even under the influence of 
 Christianity, were nought but a mere material weight — a 
 mere lever of physical force. Ever since the expedition of 
 Charles VIII. into Italy had provoked resistance and occa- 
 sioned a reaction, the dominion of that country, for which 
 Spain and France contended with all their might, was a pe- 
 culiar subject of jealousy between those states, and gave rise 
 to many wars. The other powers that took an active part 
 in this game of political alliances — this system of the balance 
 of power — were Venice, the Emperor Maximilian, and the 
 Pope. How very much an active participation in affairs of 
 so worldly a nature was unbefitting the last-named poten- 
 tate, I need not stop to observe. That conduct gave occa- 
 sion afterwards to a great public scandal. For instance, 
 when the Pope had formed an alliance with the King of 
 France against Charles V. ; and to resent this, the Emperor's 
 German army (among whom were a great many entertain- 
 ing the opinions of Luther) had proceeded to the conquest 
 of Rome ; this was a fresh and mighty source of scandal at 
 that momentous epoch. Nay, the great dissatisfaction of the 
 Emperor with the conduct of some Popes (though this re- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 399 
 
 ferred merely to their political acts), when coupled with his 
 conciliatory conduct towards the German Protestants, in- 
 duced many to question the sincerity of his attachment to 
 the Catholic faith. However false and unfounded such a 
 surmise might be, still all things contributed to foster the 
 belief, and on all sides there was a concurrence of circum- 
 stances to lead the public mind more and more astray. 
 
 The good and high-minded Emperor, Maximilian, who 
 had meditated, and might have accomplished, many other 
 noble projects and important enterprises, was compelled to 
 labour during his whole life, though in vain, to discover, in the 
 total absence of all physical resources, some counterpoise to 
 the power of France, and some barrier and security against 
 the encroachments of Turkish ambition. But when fortune 
 had placed on the head of Charles V. the united crowns of 
 Spain and Burgundy, the necessity of choosing an em- 
 peror, who, like those of earlier ages, might be capable of 
 coping with all the dangers of the times, was universally 
 felt ; and this feeling led to the election of Charles. But for 
 this choice, the system of European states would have fallen 
 to pieces, and Christendom become a prey as well to foreign 
 conquests as to internal anarchy. The mind of Charles was 
 entirely occupied with the old idea of a universal Christian 
 empire, and a religious feeling was at the bottom of all his po- 
 litical schemes and enterprises. But whatever might be the 
 extent of the countries over which he feigned, and whatever 
 the apparent greatness of his power, yet amid the various 
 designs he had to prosecute, and in the struggle he had to 
 maintain against the combined array of so many hostile ele- 
 ments, he felt the want of those real resources which are to 
 be found in a compact and well-united monarchy. To the 
 Spanish crown he imparted great splendour, and even in Italy 
 remained the master; but he met with very imperfect suc- 
 cess in his efforts against Mahomed an power — a power from 
 whose oppressions, and still further encroachments, it was 
 the first duty of the emperor, as the armed protector of 
 Christendom, to defend the European states. His concili- 
 atory policy towards the German Protestants did not attain its 
 object, for amid the general ferment of the age, the torrent 
 of religious opinions bore down all before it. His wish to 
 re-establish order in church and state by means of a gene- 
 
400 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 ral council, and thereby to consolidate anew the old founda- 
 tions of faith, was fully accomplished only after his death. 
 
 In all that regards the origin and first breaking out of the 
 Reformation, I wish to premise, that all controversy on points 
 of dogma, all controversy on the merits or demerits of indi- 
 viduals, the worthiness or unworthiness of persons, does not 
 enter into the plan of this work. My object is particularly 
 to describe the various manner in which the religious revo- 
 lution commenced in the three or four countries over which 
 it exerted the most remarkable influence ; as well as the dis- 
 similar form which it finally assumed in each of those coun- 
 tries. I wish particularly to trace the influence of the Re- 
 formation on the progress of Christian states, and on Eu- 
 ropean literature and science; two things which consti- 
 tute the main subject of the last chapters of this Philosophy 
 of History. But we must notice briefly, and as far as is ne- 
 cessary to the elucidation of the subject, the point of con- 
 nexion existing between persons and doctrines, and the his- 
 torical event which alone is the subject of our inquiries. 
 In the first place, it is evident of itself, that a man who ac- 
 complished so mighty a revolution in the human mind, and 
 in his age, could have been endowed with no common 
 powers of intellect, and no ordinary strength of character. 
 Even his writings display an astonishing boldness and energy 
 of thought and language, united with a spirit of impetuous, 
 passionate, and convulsive enthusiasm. The latter qualities 
 are not, indeed, very compatible with a prudent, enlightened, 
 and dispassionate judgment. The opinion as to the use which 
 was made of those high powers of genius must of course 
 vary with the religious principles of each individual ; but 
 the extent of those intellectual endowments themselves, and 
 the strength and perseverance of character with which they 
 were united, must be universally admitted. Many who did 
 not adhere afterwards to the new opinions, still thought, at 
 the commencement of the Reformation, that Luther was the 
 real man for his age, who had received a high vocation to 
 accomplish the great work of regeneration, the strong neces- 
 sity of which was then universally felt : for no well-thinking 
 man then dreamed of a subversion of the ancient faith. If, at 
 this great distance of time, we pick out of the writings of this 
 individual many very harsh expressions, nay, particular words 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 401 
 
 which are not only coarse but absolutely gross, nothing of 
 any moment can be proved or determined by such selec- 
 tions. Indeed, the age in general, not only in Germany, but 
 in other very highly civilised countries, was characterised by 
 a certain coarseness in manners and language, and by a total 
 absence. of all excessive polish and over- refinement of cha- 
 racter. But this coarseness would have been productive of 
 no very destructive effects; for intelligent men well knew 
 that the wounds of old abuses lay deep, and were ulcerated 
 in their very roots ; and no one was therefore shocked if the 
 knife, destined to amputate abuses, cut somewhat deep. 
 Luther acquired, too, the respect of princes, even of those 
 opposed to him. Thus when, shortly after the commence- 
 ment of the Reformation, a general insurrection of peasants 
 broke out, which renewed all the excesses of the Hussites, 
 Luther, so far from exciting the rebels, like some of the new 
 Gospellers, opposed them with all the powers of his command- 
 ing eloquence, and all the weight of his high authority ; for he 
 was by no means in politics an advocate for democracy, like 
 Zuinglius and Calvin, but he asserted the absolute power of 
 princes, though he made his advocacy subservient to his own 
 religious views and projects. It was by such conduct, and 
 the influence which he thereby acquired, as well as by the 
 sanction of the civil power, that the Reformation was pro- 
 moted and consolidated. Without this, Protestantism would 
 have sunk into the lawless anarchy which marked the pro- 
 ceedings of the Hussites, and to which the war of the pea- 
 sants rapidly tended ; and it would inevitably have been sup- 
 pressed, like all the earlier popular commotions, — for under 
 the latter form, Protestantism may be said to have sprung 
 up several centuries before. And besides, none of the other 
 heads and leaders of the new religious party had the power, 
 or were in a situation to uphold the Protestant religion — 
 its present existence is solely and entirely the work and the 
 deed of one man, unique in his way, and who holds unques- 
 tionably a conspicuous place in the history of the world. 
 Much was staked on the soul of that man, and this was in 
 every respect a mighty and critical moment in the annals of 
 mankind and the march of time. The real problem for the 
 age would have been to terminate this unhappy confusion of 
 doctrines, that is to say, that disorder and not unfrequent 
 
 2 D 
 
402 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 confusion in the relations of the ecclesiastical and civil 
 powers (occasioned by the general state of things in Europe, 
 and by the circumstances which first promoted the political 
 and intellectual civilisation of the West) — in a word, to 
 compose the whole dispute between church and state, and 
 bring it to a just Christian settlement by a peaceful and 
 amicable arrangement. Then the many existing, though 
 scattered, rays of true Christian piety, humility, and self- 
 denial, as well as the new discoveries in science, would have 
 acquired a more intense and more extended power — an event 
 which was now entirely prevented by a great civil war be- 
 tween two religious parties, and was not brought to a full 
 accomplishment till a much later period. But the total re- 
 jection of the traditions of the past (and here was the capi- 
 tal vice and error of this Revolution) rendered the evil in- 
 curable ; and even for biblical learning and philology, now so 
 highly valued, the true key of interpretation, which sacred 
 tradition alone can furnish, was irretrievably lost, as the se- 
 quel has but too well proved. And even if this were not the 
 case, how could mere learned institutes of biblical philo- 
 logy, united with popular schools of morality, constitute the 
 spirit and essence of a religion ? This is no where so fully 
 understood, and so deeply felt, as in Protestant Germany at 
 the present day — Germany, where lies the root of Protes- 
 tantism, its mighty centre, its all-ruling spirit, its vital power, 
 and its life-blood — Germany, where to supply the want of 
 the true spirit of religion, a remedy is sought sometimes in 
 the external forms of liturgy,* sometimes in the pompous 
 apparatus of biblical philology and research, destitute of the 
 true key of interpretation,-!- sometimes in the empty philoso- 
 phy of Rationalism, and sometimes in the mazes of a mere 
 interior Pietism. 
 
 Undoubtedly even within the pale of Catholicism we meet 
 occasionally with individuals who adopt the same, or at least 
 very similar systems, who either give in to the principle of 
 
 * Schlegel here alludes to the Ordinances promulgated a few years ago 
 by the King of Prussia, for the reform of the Protestant Liturgy. 
 
 f The author here refers to that mania for Biblical criticism, long pre- 
 valent in Protestant Germany, and which, however it may inform our rea- 
 son, and gratify a laudable curiosity, is in itself no guide to the knowledge 
 of religious truth. — Trans. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 403 
 
 Rationalism, or to a false theological illuminism (as in the 
 recent period of Neology), or like some of the Jansenists, 
 indulge in the unsafe and illusive suggestions of a sentimen- 
 tal mysticism. For the contests of two hostile parties will 
 not always prevent the imitation of defects, and the conta- 
 gion of errors ; and this is only an additional reason why, in a 
 work of this kind, we should abstain from entering more 
 closely and minutely into the nature of these controversies. 
 In contemplating the first steps of this great Revolution, 
 in considering the circumstances of that period, we experience 
 a feeling of regret, that the great problem of that age, the 
 arduous task which devolved on it, of accomplishing an uni- 
 versal regeneration and real Reformation of the world, should 
 have remained unexecuted, from the very revolutionary turn 
 which affairs took — nay, that this task should not even have 
 been understood or felt by any of the leading characters 
 of the time. The earlier disputes between the spiritual and 
 temporal powers had related to the dominion over certain 
 territories, or over Ecclesiastical property in general, and 
 especially to the jurisdiction of the state over the latter 
 species of property. The allurements which the confiscation 
 of church property held out to cupidity must be ranked 
 among the main causes which contributed to the diffusion of 
 Protestantism. Thus, for instance, Prussia, the country of 
 the Teutonic order, was now converted into a secular 
 duchy ; and in the interior of Germany, a celebrated 
 knight,* led away by the spirit of that age of feud, invaded 
 one of the Ecclesiastical electorates, thinking, no doubt, that 
 that state, like every other Ecclesiastical domain, was the 
 lawful booty of the first comer. But independently of these 
 partial changes and minor transactions, (and in many Pro- 
 testant countries, such as England and Sweden, church 
 property remained inviolate, and even episcopacy was re- 
 tained,) the hostility of the German Reformers to the church 
 was of a different and more spiritual nature ; and it was 
 the religious dignity of the priesthood which was more 
 especially the object of their destructive efforts. And this 
 is the point where doctrinal controversy enters within the 
 province of history ; for the priesthood stands or falls 
 with faith in the sacred mysteries. The rejection of these 
 
 * Schlegel hef e alludes to Prince Albert of Brandenburgh. 
 2 d 2 
 
404 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 mysteries by one half of the Protestant body in Switzerland, 
 France, England, and the Netherlands, Luther not only 
 discountenanced, but strenuously reprobated ; yet it was 
 only by a subtle distinction he attempted to separate those 
 mysteries from the functions of the priesthood ; and it was 
 not difficult to foresee that together with faith in the sacred 
 mysteries, respect for the clergy must sooner or later be 
 destroyed, as indeed experience has sufficiently demonstrated. 
 For that great mystery of religion, on which the whole 
 dignity of the Christian priesthood depends, forms the sim- 
 ple, but very deep internal keystone of all Christian doc- 
 trines ; and thus the rejection, or even the infringement of 
 this dogma, shakes the foundations of religion, and leads to 
 its total overthrow. The pacific conferences of learned and 
 well-meaning men of both parties, though often renewed, 
 were not attended with real and ultimate success ; although 
 sometimes, in looking at the language of such a man as the 
 mild Melancthon, we are almost perplexed to discover the 
 few points which do not coincide with the old Catholic 
 doctrines — so nearly akin, and almost identical, do the two 
 religious systems appear, when we merely consider their 
 separate parts. Equally fruitless were all those honest at- 
 tempts at pacification incessantly made by the Emperor 
 Charles, who sought by his interim to create delay, while 
 he indulged a secret hope, that the agitated waves of anar- 
 chy, all that mighty tempest of opinion, would be allayed 
 by time, and would finally be stilled. But that interim has 
 been of longer duration than was at first calculated, and 
 it still awaits the judgment of God for its great day of 
 termination. 
 
 When we consider Luther's original powers of mind, in- 
 dependently of the use and employment which he made of 
 those extraordinary powers, (for even the greatest comet, 
 though it should cover half the heavens with the splendour 
 of its light, can never possess, or be supposed to possess, the 
 sun's genial warmth,) — when, I say, we consider the intellec- 
 tual endowments of this extraordinary man solely in them- 
 selves ; the boldness of his speculations and the vigour of 
 his eloquence will be found to form an epoch, not only (as 
 is universally acknowledged) in the history of the German 
 language, but in the progress of European science and 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 405 
 
 European culture. After the first period in the intellec- 
 tual history of Europe, which I denominated the scholastico- 
 romantic epoch, and after the second, which I termed the 
 epoch of enthusiasm for Pagan Antiquity, and in which a 
 Christian simplicity of eloquence and a depth of scientific 
 inquiry appear as only happy and occasional exceptions, — a 
 third epoch now arose, which, from the general spirit of the 
 age, and the tone of the writings which exerted a command- 
 ing influence over the times, cannot be otherwise designated 
 than as the era of a polemico-barbarous eloquence. This 
 rude polemic spirit, which had its origin in the Reformation, 
 and in that concussion of faith, and consequently of all 
 thought and all science, which Protestantism occasioned, 
 continued, down to the end of the seventeenth century, to 
 prevail in the controversial writings and philosophic specula- 
 tions both of Germany and England. This spirit was not 
 incompatible with a sort of deep mystical sensibility, and a 
 certain original boldness of thought and expression, such, for 
 instance, as Luther's writings display; yet we cannot at all 
 regard in a favourable light the general spirit of that intel- 
 lectual epoch, or consider it as one by any means adapted to 
 the intellectual exigencies of that age. But with respect to 
 the language and literature of Germany, so far as these are 
 of general interest, I should wish to make one observation. 
 Besides Thomas a Kempis, whom I have already mentioned, 
 I might cite several other religious writers of the fifteenth 
 century, and even of an earlier period, who, though less 
 known, were distinguished by a similar spirit, partly among 
 those who made use of the Latin language, then universally 
 current, and partly among those who, like Taulerus, for exam- 
 ple, made the German the vehicle of their thoughts. And 
 indeed, were we to compare the gentle simplicity, the charm- 
 ing clearness of thought and expression, which reign in the 
 works of these writers, with the productions of the following 
 age of barbarous polemic strife, we should then be furnished 
 with the best criterion for duly appreciating the earlier and 
 the later period. 
 
 With respect to those institutes of the church, which 
 had early devoted themselves to the task of the propaga- 
 tion of the gospel, or of the defence and support of religion, 
 and made this spiritual conflict and holy engagement the 
 
406 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 business of their lives ; it now happened, as it had often 
 occurred before, that the proper defenders of the church 
 arose at that moment, and adopted that course and mode of 
 defence which the circumstances of the church precisely 
 required. The powerful prelates of the old Episcopal sees, 
 who had rendered such high and imperishable services to the 
 cause of European civilization, though they might not be 
 unfaithful to the original spirit of their calling, and might be 
 no strangers to science, were, however, much too dependent 
 on government, and mixed up in affairs of state. The more 
 popular and mendicant orders, from their very nature and 
 character, and their peculiar habits of life and modes of 
 speech, were not always calculated to exert due influence on 
 government and the upper classes of society, while their 
 ardent zeal, unmindful of times and circumstances, often 
 transgressed the bounds of moderation. The great want of 
 the age was a religious order which, established in opposition 
 to Protestantism, should not be dependent on the state, but 
 devoted exclusively to the interests of the church : a reli- 
 gious order which, well equipped with modern learning, 
 science, and accomplishment, possessing a knowledge of the 
 world, acquainted with the spirit of the times, and pursuing 
 the course which expediency dictated, with prudence and 
 circumspection, should undertake the defence of the Catholic 
 religion, and the propagation of the gospel in foreign coun- 
 tries, and worthily and successfully prosecute this twofold 
 object. Such an order was the society of the Jesuits in its 
 first institution ; and that among the founders and first mem- 
 bers of this order there were men of undoubted piety and 
 eminent sanctity, men animated by the sublimest principles 
 of Christian self-denial, possessed of great intellectual endow- 
 ments, and favoured by God with high preternatural powers, 
 no unprejudiced historical inquirer will deny. Whether the 
 reproaches which have been made to many members of this 
 order, of having exerted an undue political influence, and 
 displayed a spirit of intrigue and ambition in the history of 
 this period, be well founded or not, I shall not stop to 
 inquire ; because such charges at best can affect individuals 
 only, and not the society, whose very name, indeed, has 
 become in our times the watchword of party strife and con- 
 tention. The severest condemnation of the Jesuits proceeds 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 407 
 
 from a quarter where we clearly discern the most implacable 
 hostility to Christianity and to all religion ; and this circum- 
 stance ought to furnish the Jesuits with an additional claim 
 to our good opinion ; but any judgment on the merits of this 
 society, as this is a question which more immediately regards 
 the present age, is quite foreign to the purpose of the present 
 work. If some members of the order adopted at this period 
 those absolute maxims and principles of policy and govern- 
 ment which in general characterized that age ; and if the 
 writings of others were distinguished by that rude polemic 
 tone and spirit spoken of above, and which was equally 
 characteristic of those times ; it would be unjust to lay to 
 the charge of the order, or even of particular members, 
 failings and defects which were common to the age, and a 
 perfect exemption from which is the most rare of human 
 excellencies. 
 
 A violent insurrection can be put clown only by forcible 
 means ; but every system of terror, of whatsoever nature, is 
 sure to provoke, sooner or later, a reaction equally terrible. 
 And if the dangerous disease be checked by means merely 
 external, and no healing remedy be applied to the root and 
 principle of the disorder, nor used to renovate the impaired 
 organs of life — if the fire be smothered in its own flames — 
 it will lie concealed beneath the ashes, and will burn in se- 
 cret, till the first casual and unlucky spark shall kindle it 
 anew into a fiercer blaze. Such, in my opinion, are the plain 
 and obvious principles which the historian should bear in 
 mind while passing in review periods of revolution like the 
 one under consideration ; principles which, even now, are 
 susceptible of no very remote application. 
 
 In that first period of ferment which marked the birth of 
 the Reformation, the revolt of the peasants had been put down 
 with amazing promptitude and vigour. It was but ten years 
 later when, in the north of Germany, a new insurrection 
 broke out, which, from its religious complexion, seemed still 
 more revolting, whose adherents sought to establish on earth 
 the invisible empire of God by fire and sword, and whose 
 new spiritual monarch, John of Leyden, made his triumphant 
 entry into Munster amid many and dreadful excesses ; till at 
 last this savage fanaticism was crushed, and, as invariably 
 happens in similar cases, met with a bloody end. 
 
403 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OK 
 
 But the most singular phenomenon at this momentous 
 epoch was Henry VIII. of England — a prince who, while he 
 adhered to the Catholic doctrines, and zealously asserted them 
 against Luther, yet severed his kingdom from the church, 
 declared himself its spiritual head, and by that monstrous 
 and unchristian combination of the two powers, appeared in 
 the midst of Christendom like the Caliph of England. When, 
 too, we take into consideration the private life of this prince 
 — his endless series of divorces, and the execution of his 
 queens — his conduct was a greater scandal to his contem- 
 poraries, and fixes a deeper stain on the history of his age, 
 than any other earlier example in Italy or elsewhere, several 
 of which have been already mentioned. The executions on 
 account of religion which took place under Henry, and which, 
 as he was opposed to both Catholics and Protestants, affected 
 the two parties alike, were of a peculiarly odious and blood- 
 thirsty character. On this subject I wish to make one ob- 
 servation. From the connexion which then subsisted be- 
 tween church and state, a case might easily arise where a 
 religious error would become a political crime. When an 
 insurrection originating in a religious cause breaks out, and 
 threatens the peace of society, like the religious war of the 
 Hussites, and the revolt of the German peasants, no other 
 resource remains but to put down force by force. But when 
 the first violence has subsided, another, and a better, and a 
 truly moral remedy should, if possible, be applied to the evil; 
 and this remedy was not always administered in a right, be- 
 nign, and truly Christian form. Strange and fanciful have 
 been, in all times and places, the offsprings of human error. 
 Thus, even in the most modern times, and in a peaceful and 
 civilised country, examples still occur, where religious errors 
 lead their unhappy dupes to violent attempts on their own 
 lives, or the lives of others ; and a wise legislation and hu- 
 mane judicature should rather treat these errors as mental 
 diseases than judge them according to the rigid letter of 
 criminal law. How much more should not this be the case 
 when religious error is confined to the sphere of speculation, 
 and is not attended with any practical consequences. It is 
 often, perhaps, not easy to draw the line of demarcation be- 
 tween measures of wise precaution against the assaults of a 
 dangerous fanaticism, and unchristian modes of punishment. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 409 
 
 But certainly the criminal process of ecclesiastical tribunals 
 at that period was not only opposed to the spirit of Chris- 
 tianity, but at utter variance with the express and ancient 
 canons of the church and urgent admonitions of the Fathers, 
 that the church should strenuously avoid the shedding of 
 blood. Men sought to evade this wise and beautiful law by 
 abandoning all executions to the secular arm ; but except in 
 the punishment of actual crimes, and in the necessary de- 
 fence against open insurrection, we must admit that the spirit 
 of this law was grievously violated. A vindictive criminal 
 jurisprudence, which was then dictated by the mutual rage 
 of contending parties, and which was made still more revolt- 
 ing to Christian feelings by the religious colouring it assumed, 
 remains a stigma on that age ; for it was the work not of 
 one, but of both religious parties; or, to speak more properly, 
 of members of both parties. The commencement, indeed, of 
 this great disorder — of this great departure from the law of 
 love — is to be found in the middle age, during the strife of 
 exasperated factions ; but how small are those beginnings, 
 when compared with the excesses of subsequent times ! 
 When we hear the middle age called barbarous, we should 
 remember that that epithet applies with far greater force to 
 the truly barbarous era of the Reformation, and of the reli- 
 gious wars which that event produced, and which continued 
 down to the period when a sort of moral and political paci- 
 fication was re-established, apparently at least in society and 
 in the human mind. 
 
 ENP OF LECTURE XV* 
 
410 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 Further development and extension of Protestantism, in the period of the 
 religious wars, and subsequently thereto. — On the different results of 
 those wars in the principal European countries. 
 
 The true Reformation, loudly demanded in the fifteenth 
 century as the most urgent want of the times, not only by 
 the capricious voice of the multitude, but by the first and 
 most legitimate organs of opinion in church and state, and 
 the nature of which had been long before clearly stated, and 
 fully and generally understood, ought to have been a divine 
 Reformation : then would it have carried with it its own high 
 sanction — it would have proved it by the fact; and at no 
 time, and under no condition, would it have severed itself 
 from the sacred centre and venerable basis of Christian tra- 
 dition, in order — reckless of all legitimate decisions, pre- 
 ceding as well as actual — to perpetuate discord, and seek in 
 negation itself a new and peculiar basis for the edifice of 
 schismatic opinion. Such a vast, extensive, deep, and ef- 
 fectual reform, which, while it kept within the limit?; of an- 
 cient faith, and steadily adhered to its divine centre, would 
 at the same time renovate and revivify the Church, was not 
 then accomplished. The disciplinary canons of the Council 
 of Trent undoubtedly contained many wise, excellent, and 
 wholesome regulations, whose efficacy has been proved by 
 the experience of the different Catholic countries, and whose 
 reception has been determined by tne local circumstances of 
 each ; for these regulations, intended for the correction and 
 removal of abuses, and for the revival of ancient discipline, 
 were not adopted without modification, nor received to a like 
 extent, in all Catholic countries. On the other hand, with 
 respect to the Protestants, the decrees of the Council of 
 Trent, from the very nature of things, could be only of a 
 defensive character. Instead of the desired Reformation, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 411 
 
 Protestantism early enough announced itself as a new and 
 peculiar religion, and still more was it constituted as such ; 
 but the rupture was already consummated — the evil had be- 
 come incurable before the remedy was applied. Protestant- 
 ism was the work of man ; and it appears in no other light 
 even in the history which its own disciples have drawn of its 
 origin. The partisans of the Reformation proclaimed, in- 
 deed, at the outset, that if it were more than a human work, 
 it would endure, and that its duration would serve as a proof 
 of its divine origin. But surely no one will consider this an 
 adequate proof, when he reflects that the great Mohammedan 
 heresy, which, more than any other, destroys and obliterates 
 the divine image stamped on the human soul, has stood its 
 ground for full twelve hundred years ; though this religion, 
 if it proceed from no worse source, is at best a human 
 work. But even as the mere work of man, the Reformation 
 was unquestionably a mighty, extraordinary, and momentous 
 revolution, which, when once it had been outwardly esta- 
 blished in the world (though inwardly it remained in a state 
 of perpetual agitation), has thenceforward mostly directed 
 the march of modern times, influenced the legislation and 
 policy of the European states, and stamped the character of 
 modern science down to our own days, when, though its in- 
 fluence has not been so exclusive and undivided as at an 
 earlier period, it has been still the main and stirring cause of 
 all the great political changes, and all the new and astonish- 
 ing events, of our age. We must endeavour to view this 
 great Revolution with the impartial eye of the historian, and 
 labour duly to comprehend and judge it in all its manifold 
 bearings, and in all its remote consequences ; and if we 
 should feel inclined to lament and deplore the long continu- 
 ance of this unhappy division in the great European family, 
 we should remember, that such a feeling of regret, however 
 innocent and natural in our own bosoms and in our own con- 
 viction, can furnish no adequate criterion for an historical 
 decision. At any rate, we should in no case immoderately 
 repine at such an event, and murmur against Destiny — that 
 is to say, the ruling Providence which permits the occurrence 
 of such evils. The permission by God of a mere human, un- 
 sanctioned enterprise, nay, of a mighty, general, protracted, 
 and incurable division among mankind — a system of opposi- 
 
412 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 tion, with all its unhappy consequences, its moral impedi- 
 ments, and its political disasters ; such a permission forms, 
 as I have already observed, the great enigma of history — the 
 wonderful secret of the divine decrees in the conduct of man- 
 kind, as well as in the conduct of individuals. Perhaps this 
 great enigma will then only be perfectly unravelled, and the 
 mystery which hangs over this subject then only be perfectly 
 dispelled, when this mighty Revolution shall have been ter- 
 minated and brought to a close. Even now, the experience 
 we have acquired, however imperfect and limited it may be, 
 makes one thing evident ; namely, that the influence of Pro- 
 testantism has not been confined to those states and countries 
 where it became predominant, and where it received a public 
 and legal establishment. Far greater was the danger, far 
 more fatal were the consequences, when an open rupture, a 
 formal separation from the church did not take place, or had, 
 if a temporary, at least no permanent existence — but where 
 Protestantism, that is to say, the spirit of Protestantism, a 
 like or a kindred set of opinions, was infused into the moral 
 system of countries externally Catholic, and secretly instilled 
 into the veins of the body politic, gradually corroded its 
 vitals ; till at last, amid a false and apparent repose, the long- 
 suppressed element of revolutionary innovation infected with 
 its deadly virus opinion, science, and lastly, government and 
 society. The conscience in its inquiries after religious truth, 
 to whatever decision it may come, only looks to the deter- 
 mination of a point of faith as the sole clue of its investiga- 
 tions. But in historical inquiries, this rigid intersecting line 
 of faith forms no adequate rule of judgment. The experi- 
 ence of our own times, or that of the last generation, has 
 proved that innovations in faith, politics, and philosophy, 
 ingrafted on a Catholic nation, are far more fatal to its re- 
 pose, and that of its neighbours, than a system of Protest- 
 antism which has settled into a state of permanent peace and 
 stability. Hence, for instance, the policy and political in- 
 terests of England, which is a state more than any other es- 
 sentially Protestant, have often been in perfect accordance 
 with the political system of an old leading Catholic power. 
 And, I would ask, has the Atheism of the eighteenth century 
 been productive of fewer commotions and less convulsion 
 in the world than Protestantism in the first period of its ex- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 413 
 
 istence, or in the era of religious wars? although the infidel 
 party in the last century by no means constituted a distinct 
 and separate sect; but was like a deadly contagion of the 
 spirit of the times, infecting all beside and around, above 
 and below it, whithersoever the wind of chance or the breath 
 of fanatic zeal might carry it. 
 
 According to my own personal conviction, the theolo- 
 gical point of view is to be preferred in historical inquiries 
 as the best and final rule of investigation. But in these 
 latter times, when religious opinion is so divided, and where 
 the juridical view of things, in which each party struggles 
 to make out a favourable case for itself, leads only to 
 endless disputes, the historian is compelled to view the 
 diseased state of society with the eye of a pathologist. In 
 medicine it is considered far better and more advantageous 
 that a dangerous disease should be got rid of in a decisive 
 but happily terminated struggle for life or death, than that 
 by any sudden check given to the crisis the disorder should 
 fall on any internal part, and thus attack and corrode the 
 vital powers. This principle, which the history of parti- 
 cular countries has shewn to be equally applicable to man's 
 moral existence, may be applied to the general state of 
 Europe at that period. If Protestantism had then been 
 outwardly suppressed and put down, would it not have 
 raged inwardly, that is to say, would not the most essential 
 part of Protestantism, the spirit of revolutionary innovation, 
 the spirit of destructive negation— rationalism, in a word- 
 have secretly remained? And may we not conclude from 
 the examples of a partial experiei ce, that that secret and 
 inward working of the disease would have been far more 
 dangerous and fatal? I should wish that these and other 
 like expressions before made use of should not be taken as 
 so many categorical assertions; for the question of doctrine, 
 lying as it does beyond the reach of doubt, does not fall 
 within the limits of my plan, and the perfect reconciliation 
 of minds is not in the power of man, but can come only 
 from God. But these expressions are merely meant to 
 convey a conciliatory view of things in history, and (as is 
 the proper duty of the philosophic historian) to vindicate 
 the ways of Providence. Undoubtedly this great religious 
 contest, this long-protracted struggle, *h as tended to e xcite 
 
414 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 the emulation of both parties in the pursuits of learning and 
 the labours of science, to stir up a mutual vigilance in the 
 moral conduct of individuals as well as in the administration 
 of states, and thus to keep both parties in a state of salutary 
 watchfulness and activity. Even from the collision of these 
 two conflicting elements there has sprung up in some coun- 
 tries a new and third element, which, though not such as 
 could be desired, nor entirely conformable to Christianity, 
 has still been productive of important and remarkable con- 
 sequences. Of the eight or nine countries in which Pro- 
 testantism has obtained a firm footing, and acquired a per- 
 manent existence, there are three in particular where it has 
 been attended with mighty historical effects, and where the 
 originally destructive conflict of hostile elements has given 
 birth to three new and momentous phenomena in the history 
 of mankind. These are, in Germany, the religious pacifi- 
 cation, which forms the basis of her future prosperity, 
 stamps the peculiar character of the German nation, and 
 designates its future moral destiny ; in England, the highly- 
 valued, or, as it is there called, the glorious Constitution 
 of 1688, whose mere outward form, or dead letter, has been 
 an object of desire to so many other nations ; lastly, in 
 France, the revolution in philosophy produced by the in- 
 direct influence of Protestantism, and the combination of 
 so many Protestant or semi-Protestant elements, and which 
 gave birth to a frightful political revolution, which, after a 
 short intervenient period of military despotism, has been 
 succeeded in its turn by a mighty epoch of moral and social 
 regeneration — a regeneration which indeed has not yet been 
 consummated, which is still in a state of precarious and 
 convulsive labour, but is even on that account the more en- 
 titled to the historian's attention. 
 
 Of the countries immediately contiguous to Germany, 
 the home and cradle of Protestantism, Switzerland was, at 
 the commencement of the Reformation, the theatre of a 
 fierce civil war, in which the Swiss reformer fell fighting on 
 the field of battle. But the strong federal spirit of the 
 Swiss, the necessity of mutual defence, and the nearly equal 
 numbers and strength of both religious parties, produced 
 at an early period a religious pacification. The indirect 
 Protestant influence which French Switzerland has exerted 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 415 
 
 over France has continued very great and powerful from 
 Calvin to Rousseau. After the German treaty of West- 
 phalia, the Austrian emperors established in Hungary, which 
 was already half subdued by the Turks, and still more 
 exposed to their ravages, the principle of religious tolera- 
 tion — a principle that became a received maxim of state, 
 and was incorporated into the very constitution of the 
 country. In the last half of the sixteenth century there 
 penetrated into Poland the sect of Socinus, which professed 
 tenets distinct from those of the primitive Reformers, and 
 which, with the usually rapid march of religious innovation 
 and schismatic dissent, had now rejected, along with the great 
 mystery of devotion, the fundamental article of Christian 
 theology, the doctrine of the Trinity. As long as the Soci- 
 nians formed a distinct and separate body of religionists, 
 they were not very numerous in Poland or elsewhere ; but 
 during the prevailing infidelity of the eighteenth century 
 they acquired many more disciples, and in many countries 
 have become almost the predominant sect. How Prussia, 
 the land of the Teutonic order, was transformed into a 
 secular duchy, which for about a century remained con- 
 nected with Poland, I have already had occasion to observe. 
 Into no country of Europe was Christianity introduced so 
 late as into Lithuania, where the faith was planted only to- 
 wards the end of the fourteenth century. In the ancient 
 Russian provinces of Poland, as well as in Hungary ano\ 
 other neighbouring countries, a large portion of the popu- 
 lation belonged to the Greek church. In the great struggle 
 of the following age, and in the perpetual wars which Poland 
 had to sustain against Turkey, Sweden, and Russia, all 
 these hostile and heterogeneous elements of which I have 
 spoken, and to which may be added the real or apparent 
 attachment of the religious dissenters to Sweden, increased 
 the general ferment and confusion in the Polish state down 
 to the final dissolution and dismemberment of the kingdom. 
 Russia, which, towards the end of the fifteenth century, had 
 been restored to a high degree of power and splendour by 
 Wassili Ivanowitch (who entertained the most friendly rela- 
 tions with the Emperor Maximilian, and who had established 
 in his empire the German Hanseatic league) — Russia still 
 remained totally separated from the European community, 
 
416 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 and was exempt from the influence of Protestantism, like 
 Spain and Italy, at the opposite extremity of Europe. The 
 Scandinavian countries, at the commencement of the fifteenth 
 century, had been incorporated into one state, and considered 
 merely in a geographical point of view, they might have formed 
 a great and lasting power in the north ; and, under many 
 vicissitudes, they remained united till the sixteenth century. 
 Yet the voice and feelings of the two nations were against 
 the union ; and Gustavus Vasa effected at once the total 
 and definitive separation of Sweden from Denmark, the 
 establishment of his own monarchical sway in the former 
 country, and the introduction of Protestantism, which was 
 brought into Sweden, not as in other countries, by the 
 torrent of popular opinion, but by the arm of power — by 
 the authority of a sovereign who knew how to conduct the 
 enterprise with steady perseverance, and slow, patient, and 
 consummate skill. In Sweden, however, Episcopacy was 
 retained. By its situation betwixt Prussia and Poland, and 
 by the Protestant influence in Germany, Sweden became for 
 a time, in the seventeenth century, a great European power ; 
 and to this political eminence the personal qualities of 
 Gustavus Adolphus, as well as of several other Swedish 
 monarchs, principally contributed. In Sweden, Protestantism 
 did not give rise to any events of a new and peculiar cha- 
 racter, or of great historical moment, as in England and 
 Germany. The Reformation was established in Denmark 
 chiefly, though not exclusively, as in Sweden, by sovereign 
 power; in Iceland its establishment was almost the work 
 of violence. In those still regions of the north the real 
 abuses and scandals existing in the Catholic church were 
 neither so great nor numerous as in the southern coun 
 tries. There was greater simplicity of manners; and cor- 
 ruption was much less diffused, much less generally known, 
 than even in Germany ; and thus the ancient faith had 
 struck deeper roots in the minds of men, and could not be 
 eradicated but with difficulty. To that old revolutionary 
 spirit of the Swedes which, in their earlier history, had 
 often displayed itself in the party-contests of their high 
 aristocracy, a wider field was now opened by the Reforma- 
 tion introduced by the court ; and, armed in the Protestant 
 cause, this spirit found fuller scope in the troubles of Poland, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 417 
 
 in its connexion with Prussia and other states, and, above 
 all, in the great religious war of Germany. When at a later 
 period, and after the Swedish ascendancy in Europe had 
 passed away, this spirit became compressed within narrower 
 limits, and was thrown back upon itself, it then broke out 
 into many violent internal commotions. 
 
 It was only under the successor of the despotic Henry 
 that Protestantism was really introduced into England ; but 
 it there appeared under two different forms, and with two 
 parties in a state of mutual and violent hostility. In England 
 Episcopacy was retained ; but in Scotland, the Puritans, the 
 Methodists of those days, had the ascendant. But, under 
 Queen Mary, the wife of Philip II., King of Spain, a Ca- 
 tholic reaction took place ; and this again was succeeded 
 by a Protestant reaction under Elizabeth, whose steady and 
 inflexible policy alone consolidated the establishment of 
 Protestantism — a policy at whose shrine the head of the 
 unhappy Mary Stuart fell a sacrifice. Thus things pro- 
 ceeded from one extremity to another — from the execution 
 of King Charles L to the establishment of a Republic, and 
 the absolute sway of a Protector — till amid the various 
 disputes of the Scotch and English Protestants, and the 
 various struggles of national rivalry, the court fell back 
 upon Catholicism. At last King William, from Holland, 
 a century before the breaking out of the French revolution, 
 gave the final triumph to Protestantism, and brought to 
 maturity the glorious constitution of that island, which has 
 been so repeatedly transplanted, imitated, and modified, on 
 the continent and in other parts of the world. On this basis 
 a thorough Protestant policy was established, which affected 
 even the public and international law of Europe — a policy 
 which has so eminently characterised England in modern 
 times, particularly during the period of her great power, 
 and which was followed, or even accompanied, by a Protest- 
 ant philosophy. I should premise that this Protestantism in 
 philosophy should not by any means be confounded with, 
 but should carefully be distinguished from, the revolutionary 
 philosophy — from an unbridled anarchy in science and spe- 
 culation, though the former, in its corruption, may easily 
 degenerate into the latter. For the modern Paganism — 
 the avowed Atheism of the eighteenth century — acquired 
 
 2 E 
 
418 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 many more partisans, and assumed a far bolder attitude, on 
 the continent than in the constitutional island, which, even 
 in philosophy, oscillates in a sort of artificial equipoise 
 between truth and error. 
 
 In the Netherlands, Protestantism was indeed a strong 
 co-operative cause, but not the only cause of the rupture 
 with Spain ; for even in earlier times the Burgundian spirit 
 had been prone to turbulence, and the arbitrary rule of 
 the Spaniards had excited in other countries also general 
 dissatisfaction, aversion, and resistance. When the Pro- 
 testant half of the Netherlands had separated from Spain, 
 and had established the sovereign and independent state of 
 Holland, the latter ever exerted a powerful influence on 
 England in all religious and political matters, in the same 
 way as Belgium has ever exercised a marked influence 
 over France. But in Holland, Protestantism did not give 
 rise, as in Germany and England, to any events of a new 
 and peculiar character, if we except the general toleration 
 of religious sects, which was there carried to a further ex- 
 tent than in any other state. 
 
 In her own interior, Spain had an arduous problem to 
 solve — she had to overcome the old energetic resistance 
 of a whole people, — the tolerably numerous descendants of 
 the former lords and conquerors of the country, who still 
 adhered to the Arabian manners and language, and even 
 in part professed the doctrines of Mohammedanism. This 
 struggle, which commenced under Philip II. by very severe 
 laws against the Moriscoes, terminated, under Philip the 
 Third, with the barbarous expulsion of the whole Moorish 
 population to the coasts of Africa. That from the intimate 
 and manifold relations which existed between Spain and 
 Germany under Charles V., the armies of the Emperor may 
 have introduced into Spain the opinions of the new German 
 Gospellers to a greater extent perhaps than can be now 
 stated with certainty, or than is now susceptible of minute 
 and accurate proof, is by no means improbable ; and this 
 fact would serve to explain, though not entirely to justify, 
 many acts of the Spanish government. At any rate, the 
 Spanish mind and character, in other respects so generous 
 and upright, so little prone to selfish cunning or fickle frivo- 
 lity, became, in the long strife and animosities of a fierce 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 419 
 
 religious war, more and more partial and exclusive, arbitrary 
 and violent. There yet lingered, however, many chivalrous 
 virtues peculiar to this high-minded nation — many extra- 
 ordinary and lofty effusions of religious genius, such as are 
 displayed in the wonderful writings of St. Theresa, whose 
 holy meditations are couched in language of such inimitable 
 beauty. Among no other people did the spirit and character 
 of the middle age, in its most beautiful and dignified form, 
 so long % continue and survive in manners, ways of thinking, 
 intellectual culture, and works of imagination and poetry, 
 as among the Spaniards ; and it is not the mere effect of 
 chance, but it is a very remarkable and characteristic fact, 
 that in Spain alone the peculiar poetry of the middle age 
 attained to its utmost perfection, and reached its last ex- 
 quisite bloom. 
 
 In Italy, too, art and poetry flourished in her beautiful 
 language ; and classical erudition made considerable pro- 
 gress, and even arrived to a very advanced state, during 
 that troubled period when the rest of Europe was involved 
 in religious disputes and civil wars. But the fair and flou- 
 rishing Italian literature of that age may be compared to a 
 blooming garden, situated on a volcanic soil. No immediate 
 danger then threatened Italy, though we are not to estimate 
 private opinions by the standard of those which publicly 
 prevailed ; there were at least no public examples of that 
 excessive partiality and passionate enthusiasm for Pagan 
 antiquity, which occurred in that earlier and brilliant period 
 of moral ferment and false security — the fifteenth century. 
 On the contrary, in some individual instances the real pro- 
 gress of science was impeded, and on the whole its march 
 retarded, by a dread of the danger of its abuse ; and hence 
 the old scholasticism remained longer than was right in 
 hereditary possession of its exclusive empire, although that 
 contentious and partly negative Rationalism of the middle 
 age was ill calculated to supply the place of a truly Christian 
 philosophy, which the circumstances of the church then so 
 imperiously demanded. It should then have been borne in 
 mind, that every new error — every new shape which the old 
 Proteus may assume in the changing spirit of time, requires, 
 not indeed a new philosophy (for philosophy itself, which is, 
 as the ancients said, the science of divine and human things, 
 
 2 e 2 
 
420 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 is in the sanctuary of its highest subjects and problems an 
 edifice unchangeable through all ages, and built on the ever- 
 lasting foundation of divine truth), but a new form and di- 
 rection given to philosophy, a new resuscitation of its powers. 
 Indeed, the venerable bishop and holy man of God, St. 
 Charles Borromeo, had in his Manual of Religion furnished 
 an example, in which we see the utmost profundity of as- 
 cetic science united with a beautiful lucidness of expres- 
 sion, and the greatest simplicity and purity of taste. But 
 the regular philosophy of the schools remained for a long 
 time yet much too scholastic ; and it was prejudicial, or at 
 least disadvantageous, to the Catholic cause, that the first 
 foundations of a better philosophy, of one at least more 
 faithful to its high vocation, and of an enlarged and im- 
 proved science, should have been laid by men, like Bacon 
 and Leibnitz, who belonged to the opposite party. 
 
 Protestantism had penetrated into France from French 
 Switzerland, as the very name of Hugonots indicates. The 
 religious wars in France broke out much later than in Ger- 
 many ; and the religious disputes in that country had this 
 distinctive character; that the princes and noble leaders 
 of the opposition, the factious among the high aristocracy, 
 and the contending parties at court, made the Protestants 
 (who formed, indeed, only the minority among the people, 
 and still more in the state, but yet a very important and 
 powerful minority), the tools and instruments of their own 
 political designs and intrigues. It is this peculiar combina- 
 tion of circumstances which has stamped the character of the 
 French religious wars, and which distinguishes them from 
 those of Germany. The religious wars in the former country 
 were not of such long and uninterrupted duration, nor were 
 they of so destructive and desolating a character as the thirty 
 years' war. On the other hand, the treaties of religious 
 pacification were of much shorter duration, and were re- 
 newed even five or six times, for they were ever followed 
 by new insurrections. Even the edict of Nantes, which was 
 destined to terminate this long anarchy, did not prevent the 
 recurrence of troubles after the assassination of Henry IV., 
 and was itself totally repealed at a subsequent period. The 
 various political intrigues of discontented nobles, and of 
 factious leaders of the Opposition, gave a very hateful com- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 421 
 
 plexion to the religious wars in France ; and that disposition 
 to vindictive retaliation, which swayed parties in the various 
 alternations of power, presented formidable and almost in- 
 surmountable obstacles to the establishment of a permanent 
 religious peace. That odious character in the religious wars 
 of France appears in England under equally revolting co- 
 lours in the despotism of the eighth Henry, in the crafty 
 policy of Elizabeth, in the great anarchical and regicide re- 
 bellion, and in the tyranny of Cromwell, and has been often 
 and strongly portrayed by the national historians. It is 
 extremely worthy of remark, as the fact serves to explain 
 many posterior events in history, that the struggle in France 
 remained undecided, partook from first to last of an uncer- 
 tain and fluctuating character, and led neither to the esta- 
 blishment of a free Constitution, as in England, nor to the 
 foundation of a firm, lasting, and irrevocable religious pacifi- 
 cation, as in Germany. But this struggle remained an un- 
 solved problem of state-policy, like the religious dispute 
 itself — a dispute whose contagion infected the Catholics 
 themselves, inoculated that portion of the population, and 
 continued to rage among their descendants. In France, 
 the Protestants were in a decided minority, and it was by 
 other and subordinate causes that they acquired a temporary 
 power and importance in the first religious wars ; but in 
 England they probably became the majority at a very early 
 period, though not such an overwhelming majority as they 
 form at the present day. 
 
 The Catholic and Protestant parties then divided Ger- 
 many into two nearly equal portions, as in point of numbers 
 they do at the present day ; and although political power 
 does not depend on numbers, particularly when, as was at 
 that time the case, so many heterogeneous elements were 
 combined, yet both the contending parties were sufficiently 
 strong not to succumb easily in the contest. It is this fact 
 which ultimately established the necessity of a cordial and 
 permanent religious peace, and caused that necessity to be so 
 universally acknowledged. But this very equality of num- 
 bers, and still more the active interference of almost all 
 the great continental powers in the contest, rendered it 
 at first more obstinate and lasting. Never was there a 
 religious war so widely extended and so complicated in its 
 
422 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 operations, so protracted in duration, and entailing misery 
 on so many generations. That period of thirty years' havoc, 
 in which the early civilisation and the noblest energies of 
 Germany were destroyed, forms in history the great wall 
 of separation between the ancient Germany, which in the 
 middle age was the most powerful, flourishing, and wealthy 
 country in Europe, and the new Germany of recent and 
 happier times, which is now gradually recovering from her 
 long exhaustion and general desolation, and rising again 
 into light and life from the sepulchral darkness — the night 
 of death, to which her ancient disputes had consigned her. 
 
 We can be little astonished at the origin of this war — 
 indeed, it is almost a matter of surprise that hostilities did not 
 break out sooner; and the very fact that external warfare 
 was so long suppressed may account for the violence and 
 animosity of the first conflict. The first religious peace was 
 in reality a mere truce — another prolonged interim, which 
 still left many debateable points, that with the most honest 
 intentions in both parties it was extremely difficult, and almost 
 impossible, to settle by a peaceful and equitable adjustment. 
 Where so much combustible matter existed, the merest acci- 
 dent might enkindle a conflagration. This first occurred in 
 Bohemia, where the old insurrection of the Hussites had 
 been put down by force, (the only way in which, on its first 
 outbreak, it could have been suppressed), but where as it 
 now appeared that no vital remedy had been applied to 
 the roots of the disorder, much diseased and inflammable 
 matter yet remained. Still the revolt of Bohemia was not 
 the only cause or subject of a war, which some historians 
 have considered rather as a complicated series of wars, par- 
 tially varying in their object. The whole country — the 
 age itself seemed involved in warfare ; and war appeared 
 as the permanent policy, the ruling spirit, the inveterate 
 habit, and natural necessity of mankind. As a masterly 
 hand* has seized and portrayed many events and inci- 
 dents — many scenes and acts of this great tragedy — the 
 religious feelings, and stedfast and inflexible character of 
 the Emperor Ferdinand II., the high military glory and 
 conquests of the Swedish monarch Gustavus Adolphus, 
 and the genius -and disastrous fate of the General Wallen- 
 * The author here alludes to the Thirty years ' war by Schiller. — Trans. 
 
HISTORY, 
 
 423 
 
 stein, it is unnecessary to dwell at any length on these 
 great historical recollections, though the subject is inex- 
 haustible in itself. The peace which was the fruit of a 
 high and imperious necessity is, in the point of view we 
 here take, of far greater interest. 
 
 With respect to indemnities, the treaty of Westphalia 
 did not differ from any other treaty of general peace in 
 which lands and parcels of land are to be allotted, and even 
 secularized, but where the number of claimants exceeds the 
 portions of allotment. Considered, too, as a treaty which 
 restored, and fixed on a firm basis, the peace of the German 
 empire, the treaty of Westphalia did not depend in this, as 
 in other respects, on the force of its own articles, but on the 
 general system of European policy — on the principle of the ba- 
 lance of power which regulated that policy — a principle which 
 then, and still more in later times, this treaty has much contri- 
 buted to diffuse and extend. But it is as a solemn pact of reli- 
 gious peace that I wish here particularly to consider the treaty 
 of Westphalia — as the final conclusion of all religious wars 
 (and in this respect it has never been materially violated) — as 
 a lasting covenant of religious freedom, whose main principle 
 continues deeply implanted in the German mind, while the 
 two other relations in which this treaty remained so incom- 
 plete have for the most part lost their practical interest. 
 When we contemplate, too, this treaty as a noble labour of 
 equity, the successful work of unwearied industry, it has no 
 parallel among preceding treaties of peace ; and hence it has 
 become the basis of the international law of Europe, and the 
 text-book of diplomatic science in modern times even down 
 to our own days. Hence its long, undisturbed duration. 
 The nations, the age itself, blessed it as the termination of 
 their long calamities ; but far greater has been its influence 
 on after-times. The religious peace which it established 
 has become in modern times a national habitude — a second 
 nature to the German people ; for here and no where else 
 must we look for its high historical destination. It may be 
 said that this, like every other peace where the question of 
 right remains the subject of dispute, is only a truce — another 
 mere interim ; but it is a sacred and eternal truce — a divine 
 interim — that is to say, an intermediate state of peace to 
 last till God shall pronounce his final and unfailing award. 
 
424 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 Of little moment to the philosopher, who considers this reli- 
 gious peace in its vast bearings on the past, the present, and 
 the momentous future, is the reflection of the jurist, how far 
 and under what restrictions this treaty, in the altered circum- 
 stances of recent times, can be considered as really valid and 
 politically binding. For more than any other treaty has 
 this solemn pact of religious peace been interwoven with life, 
 and become a reality. And when we take a wide survey of 
 the world, and include the future in our prospective ken, we 
 may say, that now that most of the separate articles of this 
 treaty have lost their value, and are no longer susceptible of 
 execution, the general spirit and object — the high import of 
 this religious peace are much nearer their fulfilment than 
 formerly, when the practical application of this treaty to 
 particular cases was solely considered. For that outward 
 but lasting covenant of religious peace — that holy truce and 
 interim forms the prelude and introduction to another, higher, 
 far more comprehensive, spiritual and divine peace, for which 
 our age — the epoch of a mighty regeneration — is irrevocably 
 destined. For how can Christianity, that is to say, eternal 
 truth itself, be for ever torn by divisions ? The solution of 
 the great problem of the last three hundred years is by no 
 means complicated, if we understand it in this sense, but ex- 
 tremely simple. For if, as it is the object of all true and 
 elevated philosophy to prove, faith and science are really 
 and essentially one, faith will be restored to its former unity, 
 and then the schism between faith and science will cease. 
 
 Even as regards the political relations of the present 
 times, this great, fundamental treaty of peace has become a 
 new Christian basis of international law; for the spirit of 
 Christianity requires that where absolute justice, which is 
 rarely attainable, cannot be found, a system of peaceable 
 and equitable compromise should before all things be pre- 
 ferred. And hence this treaty has, for all succeeding times, 
 stamped the pacific and conservative policy of the great 
 German power of Austria. In France and England, indeed, 
 religious wars afterwards occurred ; but they were merely 
 the last agitations — the after-pains of that fearful period 
 of convulsive labour. These commotions were soon allayed ; 
 and the example and precedent of this great religious pacifi- 
 cation in Germany, highly and universally admired as it was, 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 425 
 
 caused the principle of religious toleration to be tacitly- 
 acknowledged as one which religion and necessity alike 
 prescribed for the imitation of all Europe. 
 
 Among the last and most frightful consequences of the 
 general revolution in the church was the calamitous execu- 
 tion of King Charles the First, which, for the sake of order, 
 I have previously adverted to, and which took place a year 
 after the establishment of the great religious peace in Ger- 
 many, and was followed forty years afterwards by the great 
 national peace of England — the final settlement of the British 
 constitution. Among the lamentable events which occurred 
 at that period in France was the revocation of the Edict of 
 Nantes, the last and, comparatively speaking, the most solid 
 and durable of the treaties of religious peace made in that 
 country — a revocation which can by no means astonish us, 
 since this edict, destitute of all internal and external guaran- 
 tees, and which emanated solely from absolute power, could 
 not offer the same security, nor possess the same durability, as 
 the great, fundamental treaty of Westphalia. Yet both in 
 France and abroad, this measure, so appalling to the whole 
 European world, was, after so long an interval, extremely un- 
 expected. One of the effects of this measure was a cruel 
 war of extermination carried on in the mountains of the 
 Cevennes against the Protestants, who appear to have there 
 derived a part of their tenets from some of the earlier sects 
 of the middle age. With respect to the revocation of the 
 Edict of Nantes, considering it merely as an act of authority, 
 and independently of the blow which it gave to the establish- 
 ment of a permanent religious peace, we can only say that 
 such an abuse of power on the part of the majority (and 
 it is to the influence of a preponderant majority this act was 
 ascribed by public opinion) — such an abuse of power was 
 a very dangerous precedent in the native land of all violent 
 reactions ; and thus in our days the emigration of the French 
 nobility has been the great historical counter-blow to the 
 banishment of the Hugonots. 
 
 This violent expulsion of the Protestants could not even 
 accomplish the immediate object of its authors; for the spirit 
 of Protestantism had struck much too deep roots in France, 
 and the evil could not be removed by mere physical force, 
 and without the application of a moral remedy. The Pro- 
 
426 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 testant influence of French Switzerland was not destroyed, 
 and indeed it became still more powerful in the sequel ; while 
 a far deeper wound was inflicted on the Catholic cause in 
 France by the spread of Jansenistical principles from the 
 Netherlands, which, supported as those principles were by 
 great literary talents, exerted then a mighty influence over 
 the French nation. The essence of Jansenism was the Ra- 
 tionalism of Calvin, combined with feelings of pietism, and 
 covered over with a deep varnish of Catholicism. It was not 
 the small party of the Jansenists of Utrecht, excluded as they 
 were from the Church, and completely separated from the 
 two great religious parties of Europe, that could injure the 
 Catholic cause in France ; but it was that modified or dis- 
 guised Jansenism which had crept into the very bosom of 
 the Gallican Church, and there grew up in secret, that was 
 most to be feared. All these partial or disguised influences 
 of the spirit of Protestantism derived their full sanction from 
 the theory of the Gallican Church, such as it was proclaimed 
 by the supreme authority in the state. In the Protestant 
 constitution of England, indeed, the principle of a national 
 Church, like the Anglican (however such a principle may 
 be opposed to the very essence and fundamental maxims of 
 Christianity), is not inconsistent with the origin aud general 
 doctrines of that Church. But in the Catholic Church, 
 where the principle of national dissent is not admissible to a 
 like extent, such a system is perfectly absurd, and carries 
 with it its own refutation. The older theory of a Germanic 
 Church cannot be here adduced as an historical precedent 
 for that theory was started with a view to regulate the ex- 
 ternal relations of the Church, or to fix with more precision 
 the limits of the Papal and Imperial power ; but did not refer 
 to matters of doctrine, or to the internal discipline of the 
 Church. Yet with this system of a Germanic Church, in the 
 period of the Ghibelline ascendancy, many errors were mixed 
 up — the first germs of the schism afterwards consummated. 
 But this disguised half-schism of the Galilean Church, not 
 less fatal in its historical effects than the open schism of the 
 Greeks, has contributed very materially towards the decline 
 of religion in France, down to the period of the Restoration. 
 It was not only the dispute with Rome, which Louis XIV. 
 carried to such fearful extremes, but the alliances he so fre- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 427 
 
 quently renewed with the Swedish conqueror and with the 
 Turkish power (still so formidable to the whole of Christen- 
 dom), which must, as coming from a Catholic quarter, have 
 given much scandal to the age ; and we must at least allow, 
 that the foreign policy of Louis XIV. was scarcely in any 
 respect Christian, and that it prepared the way for that re- 
 laxation of moral and religious principles which took place 
 in France under his feebler successors. Louis XIV. un- 
 doubtedly well knew how to strengthen his regal prerogative, 
 and render it more absolute ; and in this work, like several 
 of his predecessors, evinced the most systematic art, and the 
 greatest determination of character. But all the great pro- 
 blems of that age — all the religious questions which then 
 divided the world, which, forming as they did the highest 
 object of all practical reflection and conduct, were then so 
 warmly agitated — could not be brought to a permanent, 
 adequate, and generally satisfactory solution by the capricious 
 mandates of power, or the partial adjudications of regal au- 
 thority. And if in this establishment of absolute power in 
 the interior no regard is paid to the lawful rights either of 
 foreign nations or of the people at home, what security is 
 there that such a system will or can endure ? 
 
 The splendour of the then French literature is one of the 
 main pillars on which the glory of that reign and century 
 depends — this literature, which attained so high a degree of 
 perfection, contains, however, to some extent, the germs of 
 that political scepticism, and those religious errors, which led 
 to the disasters of subsequent times. An ^Esthetic criticism 
 of pure art falls not within the limits of the plan I have traced 
 out to myself ; and I can notice subjects of this nature only 
 inasmuch as they serve to denote the character of particular 
 ages and nations. As in no country was the spirit of the 
 middle age — the scholastico-romantic character of the first 
 period of European cultivation, both in the tone of feeling 
 and the mode of expression, so long preserved, nor raised to 
 such a state of high refinement and beautiful perfection as in 
 Spain ; so we may say that the peculiar characteristic of the 
 French mind in the age of Louis XIV. consisted in a studious 
 and minute avoidance of the two principal defects in the in- 
 tellectual productions of the middle age — the scholastic 
 vagueness and obscurity in works of speculation on the one 
 
428 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 hand, and the fantastic wildness in works of imagination on 
 the other. That choice and exquisite taste which prevails 
 in all tkose models of secular and clerical, historical, poetical, 
 and philosophic eloquence, which that age produced in such 
 abundance, originated in this species of precision, averse from 
 all excess and obscurity. And it was by the clearness and 
 lightness it owed to this principle that the French language 
 became, in the eighteenth century, the universal model and 
 most convenient medium, not only of conversation, but of 
 epistolary communication, among the polite classes of all 
 European nations. But in a comprehensive survey of general 
 literature, this standard of a pleasing style must not be con- 
 sidered as universally applicable, or higher than any other ; 
 and without wishing to compare objects totally dissimilar in 
 themselves, I may observe, that although among all the clas- 
 sical writers and orators of that age, Bossuet is the greatest 
 in point of style, and at the same time the most solid and 
 intellectual, yet the naive loquacity and infantine simplicity 
 which distinguish the incorrect old French diction of St. 
 Francis of Sales are peculiarly graceful and attractive in 
 themselves ; while in the depth and clearness of the ascetic 
 spirit, the saint far surpasses the former writer more cele- 
 brated in the world. 
 
 In the regular philosophy of the schools, the Latin was 
 mostly the prevailing language during the seventeenth cen- 
 tury. In this the system of Descartes then formed an epoch, 
 or at least obtained very general credit. His fanciful vor- 
 tices in nature, as well as his rigid demonstration by reason, 
 of that principle which is exalted above all reason, comprise 
 rather the first germ of the various errors in the physics and 
 metaphysics of the succeeding age, than a sound basis of 
 true science, and a Christian philosophy of the human mind. 
 Spinoza was the immediate disciple of Descartes ; but it is 
 in Germany alone that his rationalist system of pantheism, 
 expressed as it is in the forms of mathematical demonstra- 
 tion, and embellished by a morality pure and noble, (at least 
 in appearance and in its general outline,) has been justly ap- 
 preciated in its true metaphysical import, and has found 
 philosophic critics and imitators. But in its negative bear- 
 ings, the philosophy of Spinoza, together with other writings 
 by that inquirer and others on and against revelation, had a 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 429 
 
 very extensive influence in those times ; and that philosophy 
 forms the notable point of transition to the metaphysical 
 speculations of our own age. Socinus had directed his at- 
 tacks against the great mystery in the existence of the living 
 God — the Christian dogma of the Trinity. In the system 
 of Spinoza, philosophic Protestantism, or the progressive 
 spirit of negation, advanced one step further ; for he denied 
 the personal existence or the living personality of God, and 
 endeavoured to substitute for the notion of the Godhead the 
 empty idea of the Infinite. 
 
 On the other hand, the systems of Bacon and Leibnitz were 
 two different foundations laid in that age for a higher and a 
 better philosophy — systems which by a more extensive de- 
 velopment and harmonious combination of their parts might 
 have been moulded into a frame of philosophy thoroughly 
 Christian. Almost all the scientific labours of Leibnitz were 
 directed to this point, namely, the demonstration, confirma- 
 tion, and exemplification of the truths of Christianity, by the 
 aid of science. The vast system of spiritualism, exalted far 
 above all ideas of nature, which was propounded, or rather 
 sketched out, by Leibnitz (with the exception of some pecu- 
 liar opinions and mere hypotheses), agrees perfectly with 
 that purer Platonism which all the Christian writers and fa- 
 thers of the first ages inculcated. And the fundamental 
 principles of such a philosophy, if exposed in their native 
 clearness and simplicity, and without adventitious alloy, are 
 the same which in their general spirit are to be clearly 
 traced, or are tacitly implied, in the sacred Scriptures, whose 
 lofty purposes, however, rise far above the narrow forms and 
 limited sphere of philosophic investigation. How well Leib- 
 nitz understood and appreciated, and how far he subscribed 
 to the truth of the Catholic religion, has been brought to 
 light in a singular manner in our own days;* and if we 
 except some oversights, very pardonable under all circum- 
 stances, his philosophic sketch of the Catholic system of the- 
 ology is, in its masterly brevity, one of the boldest and hap- 
 piest expositions of that religion, at least for the general 
 
 * The author alludes to the Systerna Theologicum of Leibnitz, first 
 published in Paris in the year 1819, from the manuscript sent by the 
 court of Prussia to that of France. It was published by the Abbe Emery, 
 who accompanied the Latin original with a French translation. — Tram. 
 
430 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 purposes of the world. The other great celebrated philo- 
 sophical system of modern times was based in the principles 
 of the philosophy of experience — a system which has tended 
 to enlarge almost immeasurably the field of natural disco- 
 veries. As the founder of the philosophy of experience, 
 Bacon, had conceived it, that philosophy, if we except some 
 particular defects and individual errors, is by no means at 
 variance with the Christian philosophy of revelation ; for the 
 latter is in itself a philosophy of experience, though of an- 
 other, higher, and spiritual kind. And it is the more neces- 
 sary to keep this in view, as otherwise the ordinary abyss of 
 Rationalism can scarcely be avoided. The case is widely dif- 
 ferent when the principles of the empirical philosophy, as in 
 Locke and his followers, are directed against everything ex- 
 alted, supernatural, and spiritual in man and his conscious- 
 ness. By this important distinction, Bacon is an European 
 philosopher, like Leibnitz ; but Locke is a mere English 
 philosopher, as it was in England this Protestant philosophy 
 sprang up, and kept pace with the Protestantism of state 
 engendered and nurtured by the constitution of 1688. How- 
 ever, in England, the Protestant philosophy, true to its cha- 
 racter, kept within the limits of a mitigated scepticism, and 
 did not plunge into the same wild, revolutionary excesses as 
 the French philosophy of the eighteenth century, that started 
 with the same principles. 
 
 The high intellectual cultivation of the English is by no 
 means confined to this negative philosophy, but is of a very 
 peculiar character, and, like, the British constitution, combines 
 in the most singular manner the most heterogeneous elements. 
 For although the British constitution is generally considered 
 as the fashionable model for our times, and in one respect 
 may indeed be so considered ; yet a powerful aristocracy and 
 many parts of the feudal constitution of the middle age are 
 there established in a sort of harmony, or at least permanent 
 equipoise, with the more modern elements of commerce and 
 democracy. The heroic spirit of chivalry, and the whole 
 moral character of the middle age, were long paramount in 
 England ; and hence in the poetry of no country, if we ex- 
 cept the Spanish, is that spirit so conspicuous. The struggles 
 between the houses of York and Lancaster during the fifteenth 
 century, which, in the rugged and almost savage sternness of 
 
HI ST OUST. 
 
 431 
 
 those heroic characters, bear no little resemblance to the 
 contests of the Guelfs and Ghibellines, form the heroic and 
 traditionary, though not very remote era of British history — 
 an era which witnessed, too, the high military glory that 
 England acquired in the many battles and chivalrous engage- 
 ments fought on the French soil. The great national poet of 
 England, who has taken the subject of many of his dramas 
 from that glorious period of his country's annals, maintains a 
 sort of sceptical medium — a kind of poetical balance between 
 the romantic enthusiasm of elder times, and the clear-sighted 
 penetration of modern ; and it is in this peculiar combination 
 of qualities that the originality of his genius, his unfathom- 
 able depth and high intellectual charm, partly consist. As 
 the constitution of England — that is, the balance of her social 
 institutions — sprang out of the old and mighty struggles 
 which had convulsed that country, we must not be surprised 
 at finding in her higher poetry, which is only the image and 
 reflection of life, the same artificial union and combination of 
 the conflicting elements existing in her political organisation. 
 A profound analysis of art, conducted exclusively with this 
 view, and towards which the German mind has a strong and 
 perhaps excessive inclination, would be foreign to my present 
 plan. To point out the traits of analogy existing between 
 the productions of intellect and the ages and nations to which 
 they severally belong, may serve to throw a clearer and more 
 vivid light on important periods and momentous epochs of 
 history ; and it is with this view I have indulged now, as 
 formerly, in short parallels of this kind. Down to the most 
 recent times, this marked predilection for the romantic world 
 of the middle ages and the chivalrous days, as well as the 
 bold genius of poets bursting through all vulgar trammels, 
 have been the distinctive character of English poetry, and 
 have partly tended to make it so great a favourite with all 
 the nations of Europe. 
 
 On the other hand, the negative philosophy of the English 
 remains true to its character, in as far as, carefully shunning 
 all objects of a higher nature, it has for the most part made 
 it a principle to limit its views entirely to man, without 
 attempting to dive and penetrate into the profound mysteries 
 of the Deity, or into the internal secrets of nature. To this 
 a high philosophy will object, man is no isolated being ; but 
 
432 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 as he was originally placed by his Creator in nature, it is only 
 in that connexion with God and nature that the mysteries of 
 his inward being, and the history of his outward progress, 
 can be fully understood and explained. In historical re- 
 searches and narrations, when these are confined to special 
 subjects and particular eras, and do not attempt the more 
 comprehensive plan of the Philosophy of History, that con- 
 fined spirit of philosophic investigation which limits its views 
 exclusively to man is not prejudicial ; for, on the other hand, 
 the flexible powers of poetical genius (unless their activity be 
 cramped by the sceptical influence of a Protestant philo- 
 sophy), keep the mind alive to all high and generous qualities, 
 characteristic peculiarities, and original greatness in men and 
 events. Hence that department of British literature which 
 embraces historic research and narrative is peculiarly fertile, 
 and has met with a general and European success. 
 
 The Protestantism of state, which was brought to maturity 
 by the English constitution, was during the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, when England held generally the foremost rank among 
 the nations, extended and applied in the system of the balance 
 of power to the whole continent of Europe. But the Pro- 
 testantism of science which originated there, formed, together 
 with the system of religious peace, the first foundation of 
 Illuminism ; and denotes the whole period of its history from 
 the commencement of the eighteenth century down to the 
 French Revolution. 
 
 END Ot LKCTUJIF XVI* 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 433 
 
 LECTURE XVII. 
 
 Parallel between the religious peace of Germany and that of the other 
 countries of Europe. — The political system of the Balance of Power, 
 and the principle of false Illuminism prevalent in the eighteenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 The great benefits of the religious peace of Germany, which, 
 founded upon and springing out of a great historical neces- 
 sity, has struck such deep roots in the public mind, and at last 
 become a second nature to the Germans, may be best appre- 
 ciated by a comparison with the state of religious liberty such 
 as it now exists, or did recently exist, among other nations — 
 and those, in truth, which are in every other respect the most 
 civilised of modern Europe. In Germany, indeed, the strict 
 and vigilant maintenance of that religious peace on which 
 her whole political existence depends, and without which she 
 would fall into an anarchic struggle of parties, has received 
 in recent times a new confirmation ; and this religious peace, 
 which has been revived, not indeed in its old forms, but in 
 its general spirit and essential import, has become only the 
 more necessary, as, by the recent partitions of territories, a 
 great intermixture of religions has been introduced into states 
 where formerly one religion only prevailed. Thus in that 
 state,* which was originally the greatest of all the Protestant 
 states of Germany, and is now even still more powerful than 
 formerly, a full half of the population is Catholic. Nearly 
 to the same extent the same observation will apply, though 
 inversely, to that Catholic statef in Germany which, next to 
 the Imperial state itself, is the greatest. So strongly has this 
 Magna ChartaJ of the religious liberty of Germany (which 
 scarcely needs any external securities, now that most of those 
 securities no longer exist, or at least have been very materially 
 altered in the forms under which they formerly existed in the 
 
 * Prussia. f Bavaria. + The Treaty of Westphalia. 
 
434 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 Confederation and in the Imperial courts of Judicature) — so 
 strongly, I say, has this Magna Charta taken root both in the 
 public mind and state-policy of Germany, that the principle 
 of religious freedom no longer depends on the degree of po- 
 pulation, or the relation of numbers. Thus, for example, in 
 the German Catholic provinces of the Austrian Empire, the 
 Protestants, though compared with the rest of the popula- 
 tion form so very small a minority, have been long in posses- 
 sion of the most unlimited religious freedom ; and in the 
 country* which was the very cradle of Protestantism, the fact 
 that the royal dynasty and a very small minority of the nation 
 profess the Catholic religion has been no obstacle to the most 
 cordial, deep, and solid attachment on the part of the people 
 to their old hereditary rulers — an attachment which has been 
 evinced in the most unequivocal and affecting manner by all 
 classes of the nation at every period of misfortune. If now 
 we look to the other great states and civilised countries of 
 Europe, w r hich like Germany were involved for a century and 
 more in the turmoil of religious wars, and consider what issue 
 these wars have had, what results they have produced, we 
 shall find that in England civil war indeed no longer rages. 
 But how the relations between the Anglican church, on the 
 one hand, which force alone maintains in its political privi- 
 leges and ascendancy, and the Protestant dissenters (who have 
 a different character from those in Germany, or elsewhere, 
 and are distinguished by a very violent sectarian spirit) and 
 the Catholic population of Ireland, on the other, — how T these 
 relations, I say, can be said to exhibit a state of religious 
 peace, I am at a loss to understand ; for at no very remote 
 period the latter country was the theatre of a bloody civil 
 war. We must at least allow that a solid and permanent 
 internal peace, a perfect conciliation of minds, and an equita- 
 ble adjustment of the respective rights and claims of both 
 parties, have apparently not yet been brought to a quiet and 
 satisfactory issue. Nay, to judge from those great parlia- 
 mentary discussions in England, wherein not unfrequently, 
 and from passages the most obscure, and the least observed 
 by the superficial eye, the most secret motives, the deepest 
 springs of policy, and the most hidden thoughts and disquie- 
 tudes of the statesman come to light in that wonderful stage 
 
 * Saxony, 
 
HISTORY. 435 
 
 of public life, it would appear that great self-apprehension 
 reigned in the minds of English politicians ; a fear which is 
 the more likely to arise on every serious retrospect that 
 people take of the old abyss of their civil contests ; for. more 
 than any other nation, they are conversant with their own 
 annals, and have them ever before their eyes, and live in the 
 past with all the intense feelings of the present. Hence every 
 individual among them knows full well that the fearful and 
 fermenting elements of their great old civil commotion have 
 never been perfectly appeased, and finally allayed, but have 
 been merely repressed from time to time, and prevented from 
 breaking out anew, by means of a constitution, which on that 
 account is reputed glorious. And must not every English- 
 man ask himself the peremptory question, how a country can 
 be, or be termed, free, when its Catholic inhabitants, amount- 
 ing to a third part of its entire population, are doomed to 
 undergo indescribable tyranny, and are, in fact, treated like a 
 conquered nation ?* 
 
 In France there prevails on matters of religion an indiffer- 
 ence of feeling rather than any party contentions or violent 
 animosities, at least among the greater part of the nation ; 
 and so long as the matter is not mixed up with political con- 
 siderations, this feeling of indifference will bend to one 
 opinion or to the other. Even in former times the religious 
 wars, though violent enough, were not of so long and unin- 
 terrupted a duration and so widely destructive a nature as in 
 Germany, and, comparatively speaking at least, were not at- 
 tended with such frightful circumstances as in England. 
 But, on the other hand, they did not lead to those mighty, 
 definite, and permanent results, such as in Germany, a reli- 
 gious pacification — and in England, the establishment of a 
 free constitution. And in the revocation of the edict of 
 Nantes, accomplished in defiance of all antecedent promises, 
 stipulations, and rights, the victory of the Catholic majority 
 of the nation, unjust in itself, was merely apparent and illu- 
 sive, for all the great problems of moral life remained un- 
 solved, and the hostile and fermenting elements of Protes- 
 tantism, or a species of semi -Protestantism, retained their full 
 force ; till, a hundred years after this arbitrary proceeding, an 
 
 * The passing of the Catholic Relief Bill has happily rendered this ob- 
 servation obsolete.— Trans. 
 
 2 f 2 
 
436 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 immense and formidable reaction occurred in the breaking 
 out of the great Revolution. That grand conflict of the 
 European nations which sprang out of this revolution, and 
 attended its whole course, must be looked upon in no other 
 light than as a religious war ; for a formal separation, not 
 only from the church, but from all Christianity — a total 
 abolition of the Christian religion — was an object of this 
 revolution, which lasted nine years before a sort of religious 
 peace was established, by which it seemed to be acknow- 
 ledged that religion, for a time at least, was not an absolutely 
 superfluous want of the people ; for the attempt of theophi- 
 lanthropy, or the public and legal establishment of a pure 
 rationalist religion, had no success. But as respected per- 
 sons, this peace was not of long duration, as was but too 
 soon apparent in the ill-treatment and imprisonment of the 
 head of the church. The drama of the old Ghibelline times 
 was renewed, and Ghibelline principles and maxims of policy 
 were openly avowed. If the military success of the French 
 had been of longer continuance, these principles would have 
 made incomparably greater progress, and would have been 
 more clearly unfolded, as there was a secret inclination to a 
 certain Mahometan junction of civil and ecclesiastical power 
 in the hands of the same person. It could not, however, 
 have escaped the keen perception of Buonaparte how much 
 the feelings and opinions of Europe (whatever indifference it 
 may manifest about religion, and however easily it may give 
 its sanction to encroachments on spiritual power, from want, 
 of knowledge or of interest in those matters) are ever adverse 
 to a complete and anti-Christian fusion of secular and eccle- 
 siastical authority. That fanatic and destructive character 
 which distinguished the revolutionary struggle in its origin 
 remained the same, though somewhat modified in its form, 
 during the time of the Imperial conquests ; and the general 
 resistance of the nations of Europe, down to the final tri- 
 umph of the allies, retained to the last the character of a 
 religious war, carried on in defence of all that was most 
 sacred to humanity. Thus that great struggle must be con- 
 sidered as a five-and-twenty years' religious war, or rather 
 perhaps in its origin a war of irreligion, though it is not 
 worth while to dispute about a word. For this reason, in 
 the country where this mighty revolution had its birth, the 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 437 
 
 restoration of monarchy is inseparably connected with that 
 of religion ; and it is by a religious regeneration that the 
 statesmen of that kingdom, who are well-wishers to their 
 country, and have in view its permanent well-being, and not 
 the idle and transient splendour of military glory, should 
 endeavour to secure the future destinies of France. 
 
 This universal and convulsive crisis of the world in latter 
 times, now that it has happily and entirely passed by, has 
 created a mighty chasm, and thrown up a wall of separation 
 between the present age and the eighteenth century. Now 
 that the conflict is over, and all the illusions incident to that 
 state of struggle have passed away, the eighteenth century, 
 which bore that great revolution in its womb, and at last 
 brought it into life, can be judged with greater impartiality 
 and historic freedom, and better understood and more duly 
 appreciated in all its comprehensive bearings. For during 
 the existence of any struggle, it is apparently given to few 
 mortals to form respecting passing events a judgment which 
 can be truly termed historical ; as in general a certain 
 distance of time is requisite to the formation of just and 
 accurate opinions. In this last section of universal history 
 it would be idle and superfluous to enter into a minute detail 
 of facts so generally known. It is on that account the more 
 important for the due illustration and philosophic investigation 
 of a period so near to us, briefly to point out, amid the multi- 
 tude of well-known facts, the leading and determining causes 
 of all the events which occurred. The leading and stirring 
 principles of all occurrences and enterprises in the eighteenth 
 century, as the history of that age abundantly proves, may be 
 traced, on the one hand, to the system of the balance of 
 power in the internal government and outward relations of 
 states ; and on the other, to the principle of illuminism in the 
 department of morals, though this principle was not confined 
 to the sphere of mind, but exerted a great practical influence 
 on real life, and finally brought about a total revolution in 
 the state. Both these principles — the system of the balance 
 of power, which was the protestantism of state — and the 
 principle of illuminism, which, from its negative character, 
 agreed in the main with the protestantism of philosophy, and 
 was only a natural consequence of that philosophy, — had 
 their origin chiefly in England, and there first, or more than 
 
438 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 elsewhere, reached their development. For from the com- 
 mencement of the eighteenth century down to the mighty 
 Revolution which closed it, England was the state that took 
 the lead in every occurrence and transaction, gave the tone to 
 the age, and formed the strong central lever to the system of 
 the balance of power. The plan of such a system had 
 indeed been openly avowed several centuries before, and had 
 been acted upon as a principle in many political enterprises 
 and negotiations; but the then existing circumstances of 
 the world, which required and admitted of a far higher law 
 of adjudication, confined the operation of this principle within 
 very narrow limits. Thus it was a far higher principle of 
 Christian equity which constituted the basis of the holy 
 Roman Empire of Germany in the middle age ; and it was 
 only when that empire had been weakened and undermined 
 by various shocks, external and internal, that the system 
 of the balance of power began, towards the latter part of the 
 fifteenth century, to exert a commanding influence. Italy 
 was in general the theatre and arena for the workings of that 
 policy; Spain, France, and Austria, next Venice, the Pope, and 
 Switzerland, the active agents in that changeful struggle ; 
 and Naples and Lombardy, the subject of dispute and the 
 prize of contention. But when the progress and success of 
 the Turkish arms from without, and the formidable, growing, 
 and fermenting elements of religious strife from within, had 
 threatened Europe with total ruin, or at least with the most 
 formidable danger, the new inferior principle of policy was 
 compelled to yield to the urgent necessities of the times, and 
 to old opinions not yet totally extinct. Men felt the absolute 
 want of an emperor and general protector of Christendom, 
 invested, as in ancient times, with power really adequate to 
 his dignity ; and this was the motive which led to the election 
 of the Emperor Charles V. The extent of his empire, how- 
 ever, made his power appear greater than it was in reality. 
 If a decided and formidable preponderance of power existed 
 anywhere, we must look for it on the side of the Turks, 
 whose triumphant arms brought them ever nearer towards 
 Europe, and whose progress Charles was little able to arrest. 
 France, situated as she was in the centre of Europe, had 
 nothing to apprehend from the Turks, while she was suffi- 
 ciently strong and powerful to disregard danger from any 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 439 
 
 quarter. Her rivalry with Spain, and her perpetual wars 
 with the Emperor, were exceedingly injurious to Europe, as 
 they cramped and impeded all the operations of the Emperor 
 in behalf of Christendom, and all his exertions for providing 
 for its external and internal security. But to no country 
 were those wars more hurtful than to France herself, which 
 had need of all her energies for the maintenance of internal 
 tranquillity, in order, by her undivided activity, to be able to 
 allay and settle the various elements of religious strife, which 
 afterwards broke out with such fearful violence. At that 
 period, and even during the seventeenth century, the wars of 
 Turkey were generally considered as religious wars, partly 
 from the dreadful consequences which ensued to the Christian 
 religion in the conquered countries, where, if it were not 
 entirely extirpated, it was at least doomed to the severest 
 oppression ; and partly from the fanatic and sanguinary 
 character of those wars themselves. The alliances which 
 France, during the religious wars of the seventeenth century, 
 and contrary to the interests of her own creed, entered into 
 with Sweden and Turkey, under pretence of maintaining the 
 balance of power, were more than anything else prejudicial 
 to the Catholic cause, inflicted a deep wound on Christian 
 principles, and contributed much to mislead the opinion of 
 the age. The final result of this policy was the establish- 
 ment of a decided preponderance on the part of France 
 towards the end of the seventeenth century — a preponder- 
 ance which then at least must be ascribed to Louis XIV. only. 
 
 Now that the religious wars were terminated, this appeared 
 the period proper for the establishment of the system of the 
 balance of power — a system which must ever be called into 
 action when every higher principle of international adjudi- 
 cation has ceased to be applicable ; and which, as it was the 
 source whence had emanated the whole moral and intellec- 
 tual culture of the eighteenth century, attained now a more 
 systematic form, and held a more brilliant and dignified 
 place, than at any former period of history. England was 
 the strong, central prop of the great lever for the European 
 balance of power ; while Austria, which in every age has 
 been true to a pacific system of policy (although her moral 
 existence depended on far higher principles of religion), 
 formed on the Continent the other main stay to the system 
 
440 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 of the balance of power, now become the universal principle 
 of international policy. And this firm alliance between the 
 two powers was in general the external basis of this system, 
 independently of the many fluctuations which were inherent 
 to its very nature. We must not, however, confound this 
 principle of policy with a conservative and pacific system, 
 acting according to existing and acknowledged rights ; for 
 although the former system be much akin to the latter, and 
 both may easily and naturally co-operate in a common resist- 
 ance to an overgrown power regardless of all right, still 
 they are far from being one and the same, and differ widely 
 in many characteristic properties, nay, in their very nature. 
 The fundamental law of the conservative and pacific policy 
 is right — not an abstract notion and pure ideal of absolute 
 justice, by which the international policy of states is to be 
 fashioned and regulated ; but rather (if for the sake of 
 greater clearness I may be allowed the use of a mathematical 
 phrase) an applied right, that is to say, an existing and ac- 
 knowledged right. For if we seek the first origin and ulti- 
 mate foundation of all right and all justice, we must seek it 
 in God alone, who is the eternal arbiter of the world, of 
 states and nations as well as of individuals, and who well 
 knows how to requite every great political injustice on his 
 appointed day of retribution, to visit it with unexpected pun- 
 ishment, and to reduce it to its own nothingness by an often 
 fearful award. But so soon as man, or any earthly power, pre- 
 sumes to lay its hand upon this work — to propose to itself ab- 
 solute justice, to judge and regulate all things by that stand- 
 ard, and to model the world in conformity to it — the conse- 
 quence is a total revolution in all the relations of society — 
 an entire subversion of all existing order ; and it is this false 
 idea which is the principle or the pretext of all those fanatic 
 attempts at universal conquest, and of every revolution not 
 directed to the attainment of specific rights, but aiming at 
 sweeping, unqualified, and universal change. It is only when 
 in the general system of existing and positive international 
 rights some occurrence has produced a chasm — some inter- 
 stice appears — some particular question remains, or becomes 
 anew, open and debateable ground — that a pacific policy, act- 
 ing on the principle I have mentioned, can and will in such 
 special cases revert to the original, pure, and eternal justice 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 441 
 
 of God. But in the material system of the balance of 
 power, right and wrong are not the ultimate object, nor the 
 sole criterion .of political estimation, nor the sole rule of poli- 
 tical negotiations ; but the great object is the prevention or 
 removal of any ascendancy which endangers or even threatens 
 danger to the general interests of the powers. Both systems 
 of policy may very well concur in their effects, and in most 
 cases really do concur ; for the establishment of political as- 
 cendancy is generally founded on the violation of existing 
 rights, or may easily lead thereto. But this is not absolutely 
 necessary ; cases may easily be conceived where right is 
 clearly on the side of ascendant might, as was once the case 
 in the middle of the eighteenth century, and as happened in 
 another way towards the beginning of the same age, when 
 the cause of justice was espoused by preponderate power 
 only. And in such cases, with a total disregard to justice, 
 this system of the material balance of power will fling its 
 weight into the opposing scale, in order to impede the pro- 
 gress of overgrown dominion. In another respect also the 
 character and ordinar y tendency of this system differ widely 
 from that pacific policy which aims at the preservation of all 
 existing and acknowledged rights. In the latter system, it is 
 only the actual disturbance and real violation of the general 
 peace of nations which can lead to the declaration of war. 
 But, on the contrary, in the former system it is merely 
 a formidable preponderance of power — a mere possibility of 
 its abuse — a dread of future danger, which is deemed a suffi- 
 cient motive for engaging in hostilities — a motive by which a 
 state, where this is the exclusive principle of policy, is un- 
 doubtedly, as has often been objected to England, more 
 easily and more quickly determined than any other : and 
 such a motive may operate the more easily in a country like 
 England, where those inducements for entering into war 
 with more haste than is expedient or desirable are strength- 
 ened by the fact, that an insular and naval state, concen- 
 trated within itself, can carry on hostilities with all the 
 advantages of peace and with the wonted activity of trade. 
 England, (luring the eighteenth century, acquired the highest 
 glory, and in general made a very beneficial use of her great 
 power, in contributing to the general aid, security, and free- 
 dom of Europe ; and in what is here said it is by no means 
 
442 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 intended to cast a slur on or to undervalue the old and well- 
 acquired power of Great Britain, as such a censure would be 
 futile in itself and extremely misplaced here. But, for the 
 right understanding of the peculiar political character and 
 tendencies of an age like the eighteenth century, so near to 
 our own times, it is necessary to observe, that the system 
 of the balance of power is either merely the substitute for a 
 higher principle, where the latter is no longer susceptible of 
 application, or, in those cases where the latter hath really 
 force, the system of the balance of power must be considered 
 a mere supplement — a subordinate auxiliary for the settle- 
 ment of incidental questions. But, with the great revolution 
 which closed the eighteenth century there commenced an 
 epoch of intellectual as well as political barbarism and deso- 
 lation, to which the mere negative principle of an equilibrium 
 of power, however it might be adequate to the ordinary re- 
 lations of civilised states, was no longer applicable ; for now 
 a higher principle of moral and social reparation was needed. 
 In no department of human activity can the positive power 
 of evil be overcome by a mere negative principle of resist- 
 ance, but solely by a principle of a homogeneous though 
 loftier nature — a divine power acting within the same circle. 
 A mighty religious war, which has shaken all moral existence 
 to its centre, and convulsed it in all its depths, can be com- 
 pletely terminated only by a true religious peace. But such 
 a peace depends on the moral force of principle, and not on 
 the exact measurement of any physical equilibrium. As 
 during the late frightful revolution the political relations of 
 every state have been changed, and the whole balance of 
 power in Europe been disturbed, no force can now easily 
 alter or replace what has thus been established. Of this 
 England herself may afford us an example. Certainly that 
 great country in Southern Asia — the richest of all the 
 countries in the world — and which Great Britain has an- 
 nexed to her sway by means of a navy that gives her the 
 empire of the seas, and whose population five or six times 
 exceeds that of the ocean-queen, and equals in numbers the 
 best half of Europe, has brought an accession of strength to 
 England which cannot possibly be measured, judged, or 
 condemned according to the old narrow rules of the system 
 of the balance of power ; since so many vast and important 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 443 
 
 results have accrued, and in all probability will yet accrue, 
 to Europe and India herself from this most singular, and, 
 in the history of the world, quite unprecedented connexion ; 
 and since, in other respects, not only the internal administra- 
 tion of Hindostan, but the entire conoVict of the English in 
 those transactions, has been at once so wise and glorious. 
 As the shallow superficial notion of illuminism, which, during 
 the greater part of the eighteenth century, was considered 
 the all-ruling principle and highest object of all science and 
 speculation, is no longer adequate to the present views of 
 philosophy ; in like manner the system of the balance of 
 power has ceased to be any longer applicable to the state of 
 Europe in the late general warfare, or to that state of things 
 which it has given rise to ; and it is not from this system we 
 can expect the final settlement and adjustment of things, 
 and the solution of the Gordian knot — the great enigma of 
 the world in our times. 
 
 After the system of the balance of power, the next leading 
 and characteristic principle in the history of the eighteenth 
 century is the notion of illuminism, which exercised on the 
 internal civilisation of all European nations the same influ- 
 ence which the former system exerted on their external re- 
 lations. People are so accustomed to confound the prin- 
 ciple of enlightenment w r ith the abuse and false application 
 made of it during the last century, that in order to represent 
 this great epoch in all its historical bearings, I shall endea- 
 vour to shew that, to an impartial judge and observer, it 
 offers many and diverse points for consideration ; for we 
 must remember that there was a true enlightenment by the 
 side of a false one, and that enlightenment was not every- 
 where of a negative character, precipitate in its progress, 
 and destructive in its effects. In its first obscure beginnings 
 it had a solid, irreproachable, and very beneficial character 
 and tendency. During the public calamities and general 
 anarchy of the seventeenth century, the natural sciences in 
 all their various branches made silent but very extraordinary 
 progress ; and numberless were the advantages of these new 
 discoveries to all the useful arts and sciences, especially in 
 those commercial and maritime states where such knowledge 
 was mostly needed. A bold enterprising genius,* heir to 
 * Peter the Great. 
 
444 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 the most splendid throne in the north, had, as an apprentice 
 and artisan, appropriated on the spot all these advantages of 
 modern civilisation, and turned them to full account in navi- 
 gation, in the various mechanic arts, in the foundation of 
 cities, and in the general civilisation of his subjects; and 
 thus he became the founder of the present greatness of 
 Russia — a greatness which is built on a species of enlighten- 
 ment, that so far from being of a futile and rash nature, and 
 of a destructive tendency, has exerted a gradual but benefi- 
 cial influence over the whole extent of an empire which 
 stretches far into two continents of the globe. It was only 
 by that true and genuine improvement and civilisation which 
 commenced under Peter the Great that Russia acquired the 
 knowledge and mastery of her own resources, and thus rose 
 to a high and permanent grade in the scale of nations. 
 
 The separation of the Russian church from the authority 
 of the Greek patriarch, who had now fallen under Turkish 
 dependence, appeared a necessary condition for opening a 
 door in Russia to the moral and intellectual civilisation of 
 Europe ; nor when we consider that such a step was but the 
 continuation of an original schism, can we deem it a subject 
 of blame. It does not appear, however, that the system of a 
 national church, which has sprung out of this separation, has 
 been here as much abused as in the Anglican church, or in 
 that system of antipapal opposition nearly akin to it adopted 
 in one or more Catholic countries of Europe. The very 
 system, however, of an exclusively national religion must 
 ever be an object of the greatest solicitude ; for it is but too 
 easily susceptible of an extension most fatal to Christian 
 government, which nothing so much impairs and undermines 
 as any leaning to the Mahometan confusion of spiritual and 
 temporal power in the hands of the same person. 
 
 Men have often blamed that harsh junction of opposites 
 observable in the sudden and artificial civilisation of Russia ; 
 that is to say, the contrast which there exists between the 
 highest intellectual luxury, and the most exquisite and 
 fashionable refinement in thought and manners among the 
 higher classes, at the court and in the capital, and the very 
 low grade of civilisation, the state of utter or at least semi- 
 barbarism, to which so large sl portion of the population are 
 reduced. But no very prejudicial effects have resulted to 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 445 
 
 society in Russia from this conjunction of elements, and from 
 the obstacles which so many vast masses have opposed to the 
 progress of civilisation ; and even that hurry and precipitancy 
 in the career of enlightenment, which was the great fault of 
 almost all other European countries, was by this means 
 avoided, or rather prevented by the very nature of things. The 
 only thing here to be apprehended and guarded against was 
 this, that in copying the civilisation of Europe, Russia should 
 not introduce along with it those negative and destructive 
 principles — those maxims of liberalism and irreligion, which 
 were almost exclusively prevalent in European literature and 
 science during the eighteenth century ; in a word, that Pro- 
 testantism (in the wide and comprehensive signification of 
 that term) should not become too predominant in the public 
 mind. 
 
 The first groundwork of the modern civilisation of Russia, 
 as laid down by Peter the Great, was of a thoroughly prac- 
 tical nature, directed in part to objects of commercial utility, 
 after the manner of the Dutch and English. The moral 
 corruption occasioned by the French philosophy introduced 
 under Catherine II. was confined to a small circle ; and in 
 the course of succeeding times, this philosophy came to be 
 considered as an exotic element of destruction, which, so far 
 from being adequate to the exigencies of the age, struck at 
 the very root of society. In a more recent period, liberal 
 and revolutionary theories of government, copied from 
 constitutional countries, may at most have led to a criminal 
 enterprise ; but have not exercised any the least permanent 
 influence on the bulk of the nation. But the great and essen- 
 tial point for this European and Asiatic Empire, — the seat of 
 a progressive enlightenment, — as well as for the rest of Europe, 
 is still this — that this enlightenment, which is the basis on 
 which this empire is founded, should never take an irreligious 
 course, but should ever maintain a decidedly religious cha- 
 racter. And in this respect more than any other, a generous 
 monarch* who became great in the school of adversity, must 
 be considered as the second founder of Russian greatness, 
 because he has stamped on this empire a strong, permanent 
 religious impress. I do not allude here of course to any 
 fanatic measure of coercion, but to the moral influence of re- 
 * The late Emperor Alexander. 
 
446 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 ligion — to its firm establishment as the general principle ot 
 European government in the present times. 
 
 The principle of illuminism, when properly conceived, has 
 nothing at all reprehensible in itself, or at variance with the 
 Christian religion. In the same way that Christianity, if not 
 only its dogmas were developed, but its general influence 
 extended, and made triumphant in the world, would soon 
 supplant the existing human reformation, and be the true, 
 the divine reformation of mankind, of the world, and even of 
 the visible creation ; so it is itself the true illumination, 
 whereof Holy Writ speaketh : it is that light of eternal light, 
 which was in the beginning, and which was the life of men, 
 (as the words from the mouth of eternal Truth declare,) and 
 in which men are once more to find their life. But to de- 
 scend from this lofty idea into the world of historical expe- 
 rience, we should carefully distinguish between a true, lasting, 
 and vivifying illumination, and a false, mimic, and illusive 
 species of enlightenment. One thing is the warm, genial 
 light of the sun returning to the new-born spring, or the fresh 
 glow of morning after the lengthened night — and another the 
 transient glimmer of a bonfire, which after exciting a false 
 alarm, sinks rapidly again into darkness. One thing is the 
 solitary midnight lamp of silent meditation — and another the 
 lightning which flashes athwart the gloomy heavens, or the 
 dark lantern of the murderer stealing his way along in the 
 night, or the torchlight in the robbers' cave, where the spoil 
 is divided, and new misdeeds are concerted. 
 
 For all these various significations of true and false illumi- 
 nation, the eighteenth century in its real or pretended 
 enlightenment may furnish us with historical proofs. Thus 
 without misapprehending or disowning that true and divine 
 light visible even in the progress of science, or without reject- 
 ing or contracting in too narrow bounds the salutary and 
 necessary light of human reason, still we must be careful to 
 distinguish from the former the light which is illusive or 
 changeable, as well as that which is spurious, and counter- 
 feited by the powers of darkness. 
 
 In this consists the sign of a false enlightenment — if not 
 merely in its origin, and in its outward effects, but in its own 
 nature as well as undeviating course, it retains a negative 
 character, and is therefore hollow and superficial. But any 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 447 
 
 system which is originally destitute of a firm and solid foun- 
 dation may easily be driven into an irregular and devious, 
 and ultimately into a most fatal, course. This is, in short, the 
 essential distinction observable in the progress of a genuine 
 and a spurious species of enlightenment. This illuminism 
 exercised so general an influence in the eighteenth century 
 on church and state, on science and on social life, on the re- 
 lations of policy and the course of public events, that even 
 Spain and the Papal territories were not exempt from its 
 influence — an influence which was perceptible, on the one 
 hand, in many useful reforms in the internal administration 
 of those states — and on the other hand, in the expulsion of 
 the Jesuits, which was first commenced by Portugal and 
 Spain, and to which the jealousy of other religious orders 
 had contributed. But the whole transaction must be ascribed 
 to a destructive party of illuminati, that had secretly grown 
 up in those countries, and now expanded to public view, and 
 appeared in full power. To such a party those religious 
 orders which had fallen into a state of real degeneracy, inac- 
 tivity, and ignorance, so far from being objects of hatred, 
 were exceedingly welcome for the promotion of their secret 
 views. But not so an order which was distinguished for its 
 zeal and activity, its devotion to the interests of the church, 
 its scientific acquirements, and knowledge of the world. A 
 critical inquiry into the truth or falsehood of the several 
 charges and accusations against the Jesuits must be reserved 
 to a special history of those countries I have named, or to a 
 particular history of the order. But their expulsion is here 
 mentioned, as it is a very characteristic circumstance in the 
 history of that age of pretended illumination. It may be 
 generally thought that the determination which Pope Ganga- 
 nelli at last came to for the suppression of the order was 
 extorted from him by the overruling influence of the secular 
 powers. But if such a supposition be really admissible, it is 
 evident, on the other hand, that the restoration of the order 
 was effected by the virtuous Pontiff who ruled the church in 
 the late period of oppression, at the very moment when the 
 iron yoke of military despotism weighed heaviest on the 
 nations of Europe. 
 
 The true progress of Christian enlightenment in the pur- 
 suits of philosophy and science I shall have occasion to 
 
448 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 mention afterwards. The principle of toleration, which was 
 solidly established by the German treaty of religious peace, 
 became an essential element of social illumination. By de- 
 grees this principle was admitted throughout almost all 
 Europe — yet we must observe that its adoption cannot be 
 determined by one uniform invariable rule in all countries, 
 but that local circumstances, respecting which it is often 
 difficult for the distant observer to come to a right judgment, 
 must and ought to produce numerous modifications in the 
 application of the principle. That wide toleration which in 
 Holland and North America has for a long time incorporated 
 into the state a multitude of petty sects, would not be prac- 
 ticable or expedient in other countries. The religious liberty 
 which in the Russian Empire is extended even to Mahome- 
 tans, and to certain tribes of Buddhists and Pagans, would 
 not apply to the circumstances of most other civilised coun- 
 tries. There are in the deep-rooted habits of nations, and in 
 the constitution of individual states, very peculiar, and often 
 apparently singular, circumstances and combinations, which 
 no man should judge of hastily, and according to abstract 
 principles, until he has obtained a close, accurate, and deep 
 insight into the historical condition and situation of a country. 
 Thus while England is intolerant in her constitution at home, 
 she gives the fullest latitude in Canada to the North Ameri- 
 can principle of religious freedom ; and the whole British 
 Empire in India is founded on toleration — that is to say, on 
 the principle of governing the Indians according to their own 
 laws, manners, customs, and opinions. By this policy the 
 English have become almost complete masters of this great 
 and fertile country ; and their enlightened rule forms a strong 
 contrast to the earlier tyranny of the Mahometans, who hold 
 the Indian idolatry in the utmost abhorrence ; although that 
 idolatry, amid a chaos of errors and fables, contains many 
 better and higher vestiges of ancient truth than the mere 
 negative and fanatic superstition of Mahomet. Even the 
 French, when they had a firm footing in India, committed 
 a capital fault in forming alliances more with the Maho- 
 metans than with the native Indian powers. 
 
 In Europe, Norway alone, among the Protestant states, 
 has maintained down to our times laws of severe exclusion 
 against every religion differing from the established one — an 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 449 
 
 exclusion which extends as well to Jews as to Catholics; 
 while Spain and Portugal only, among Catholic countries, 
 offer an example of similar intolerance. To abolish suddenly, 
 without urgent and overpowering reasons, or some new histo- 
 rical emergency, laws which have thus grown out of the 
 general circumstances of a country, which have existed for 
 ages, and have taken deep root in the manners and habits of 
 life, provokes suspicion, and may occasion danger. But we 
 must not suppose that a severe and exclusive system of 
 legislation, like that existing in Spain, can always counteract 
 the occult and far more dangerous opposition of secret sects 
 and societies. This might be proved, or rendered probable, 
 by many facts in the history of those countries during the 
 eighteenth century. In Italy this rigid and exclusive legis- 
 lation was never carried to the same unqualified extent. 
 Intolerance there never extended to the Jews, nor to the 
 Greek schismatics, and in recent times it does not, as 
 formerly, affect the Protestants. In Germany, toleration 
 was legally established by the treaty of Westphalia, and 
 there the cause of toleration stood in no need of the modern 
 principle of illuminism — the all-stirring and animating prin- 
 ciple of the eighteenth century. But here illuminism in its 
 first negative period was directed against prejudices and 
 abuses of another kind. In certain Protestant countries in 
 the north of Germany, this period of illumination dates from 
 the abolition of trials for witchcraft. And against so modest 
 a beginning not the slightest objection could be tirged ; for 
 in general the criminal law which the later and already 
 degenerate middle age bequeathed to modern times afforded 
 ample scope for amelioration, and contained many barbarous 
 edicts that deserved to be abolished. The use of torture, 
 and of unchristian and excruciating modes of execution, were 
 next the objects of reform. The total abolition of capital 
 punishment, which this legal reform soon aimed at in its 
 ulterior progress, the experience of mankind has not yet 
 found to be either possible or practicable. Who will be 
 disposed to deny that the many abuses which were now 
 corrected, and the many vulgar prejudices which were re- 
 futed or done away with, were, especially at the outset, in a 
 great measure such as were truly deserving of that name, 
 and that very many of those reforms were useful and neces- 
 
 2 G 
 
450 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 sary, just and wholesome ? It appears, however, sometimes, 
 that barbarous abuses thus hastily and precipitately removed 
 soon re-appear under other forms and denominations. This 
 may easily be the case, where those useful and necessary 
 reforms are confined to the outward surface, and do not 
 penetrate to the roots and internal essence of things. It is 
 worthy of remark, that in the absence of solid and positive 
 principles, the mere removal of abuses — a mere negative 
 course of conduct — will never alone attain the desired end, 
 nor is it in itself always safe and certain. Soon a rash and 
 passionate precipitancy will be apparent in the conduct of 
 affairs — the standard and real term of our exertions will be 
 lost sight of, and things will fall into a ruinous course ; and 
 such is the character of that period of transition from the 
 age of illuminism to the time of the French Revolution. 
 Was there a single object, not only in the questions relating 
 to humanity, but in the whole department of public life and 
 general belief, in religion and in government, which was not 
 soon regarded as a prejudice or an abuse ? 
 
 In Germany, when the Empress Maria Theresa ascended 
 the imperial throne, the long-established peace of the empire, 
 which it had once cost such efforts to secure and preserve, 
 appeared to the new school of philosophy a ridiculous pre- 
 judice of unenlightened pedantic burghers of state. But 
 fifty years afterwards, during the atheistic and revolutionary 
 period of the French philosophy, immediately prior to the 
 French Revolution, as well as at its commencement, Chris- 
 tianity, and in fact all religion, was considered as a mere 
 prejudice of the infancy of the human mind, totally destitute 
 of foundation in truth, and no longer adapted to the spirit of 
 the age ; monarchy and the whole civilisation of modern 
 Europe as abuses no longer to be tolerated. It was only 
 when men had reached this extreme term of their boasted 
 enlightenment that a re-action took place. But prior to 
 this, towards the middle of the eighteenth century, and in 
 the ten years immediately subsequent, the spirit of the age 
 bore all before it in its irresistible progress. As in ancient 
 times monarchs had competed for the title of Most Christian 
 or Most Catholic, so now the potentates pre-eminent for 
 power and understanding were flattered by the title of enlight- 
 ened. It is not without a great shock to our feelings we 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 451 
 
 contemplate the close intimacy which subsisted between a 
 monarch grown grey in the toils of war and the cares of state, 
 a powerful empress of a northern court, and the most de- 
 praved champions of French infidelity. With respect to the 
 third of those eminent potentates of the age of illuminism, 
 Joseph II., it has never been denied by those most competent 
 to form a correct opinion on this subject, that among the 
 various measures and regulations passed in the short reign of 
 that active emperor, although some are not entitled to the 
 same praise, yet many were really adapted to the exigencies 
 of the age, and have been attended with the most beneficial 
 consequences to industry and to intellectual cultivation. But 
 the serious turn which things afterwards took, the universal 
 convulsion, and remodelling of the world, have long fully 
 demonstrated that not one or two only, but many of the most 
 active and enlightened sovereigns of that age yielded far too 
 much to the prevailing principles of the time, and followed 
 too readily the spirit of that age in its wild, rapid, and all- 
 destructive career. 
 
 To the many elements of internal ferment already existing 
 in France, the imitation of English manners under the regent, 
 which was soon succeeded by an imitation of English litera- 
 ture and philosophy, added a source of equal danger. For to 
 maintain within certain prescribed limits this English philo- 
 sophy that reduces everything to the experience of sensation, 
 the French wanted that sense of equilibrium innate in the 
 English, and which their constitution had rendered almost 
 instinctive to them ; and by means of which in philosophy, 
 as in their internal government, and in their relations with 
 foreign states, they can keep within bounds ; and with them 
 a philosophy, however unspiritual and ungodly, does not so 
 rapidly rush into a headlong and destructive course as it did 
 in France and in Europe during the atheistical and revolu- 
 tionary period of literature and science ; for the deadly influ- 
 ence of this spirit was not confined to France — the land of 
 its birth — but spread over every country. This is the im- 
 portant and essential distinction between the philosophy of 
 Locke or of Hume, for example, which I before designated 
 as the protestantism of philosophy, in opposition to the 
 thoroughly revolutionary philosophy of French atheism — for 
 though the former, by its opposition to all spiritual ideas, is of 
 
 2 g2 
 
452 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 a negative character, yet most of its partisans and champions 
 contrive to make some sort of capitulation with divine faith, 
 and to preserve a kind of belief in moral feeling. The 
 French philosophy was, in fact, a new pagan idolatry of 
 nature, and even the most splendid discoveries of natural 
 science, which might and ought to have pointed to a higher 
 principle, were not contemplated in their true spirit, nor 
 employed to proper advantage, but were even made the 
 instruments of a fanatic hostility towards the Deity. Even 
 among the comparatively better natural philosophers of 
 France, materialism was too generally the basis of their 
 science, and a sensual enthusiasm for nature too much the 
 prevailing tone of their writings. 
 
 The more brilliant the talents which led the way in this 
 new impious and revolutionary career of the European mind, 
 the more generally pernicious was the result. Such was the 
 case with that scoffer whose genius could adapt itself to all 
 the forms, moods, and styles of the old French literature, and 
 who wielding, as he did, with so masterly a hand the weapon 
 of a lawless wit, directed it without intermission during his 
 whole life against everything holy and venerable, of what 
 nature and kind soever. As those errors are the most 
 dangerous which, as containing a portion of truth, carry 
 with them a greater power of conviction ; so Rousseau has 
 perhaps exercised a more fatal influence than that other spirit, 
 who with his mockery polluted all things. We cannot pre- 
 cisely term him unchristian — at least, such an epithet cannot 
 be applied to him in the same unqualified and universal 
 extent ; and when compared with the Atomical philosophy 
 and the Atheistical idolatry of nature, his fanatic worship of 
 nature will be found of a more spiritual cast. The great 
 eloquence of this man entitles him perhaps as clearly to the 
 first rank among the orators of his nation during the 
 eighteenth century, as Bossuet with very different religious 
 principles holds in his own age. Eloquence less powerful 
 than Rousseau's could not well have sufficed to draw his age 
 into an admiration for that savage equality which he preached 
 up — to have excited its enthusiasm for the state of the Cari- 
 bees and the Iroquois, which, looking back with regret to 
 man's original happiness in the pure freedom of nature, he 
 represented as his proper destiny, utterly marred as he was 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 453 
 
 by European civilisation. This was not a mere idle freak of 
 imagination, such as any false enchantment of romance might 
 display — but Rousseau endeavoured to demonstrate, with all 
 the rigid deductions of mathematical proof, the happy equality 
 of the savage state ; and, with the most earnest conviction and 
 blind fanaticism, his system was applied to the actual relations 
 of life. The result was that period of godless freedom — 
 freedom separated from God and from every divine principle, 
 whether of conduct or belief, and which, as usual, was soon 
 succeeded by the false unity of a crushing despotism, equally 
 hostile to every heavenly and exalted motive of human action. 
 But such has been the frightfully accelerated march of events 
 in these latter times, that the former stages of the revolu- 
 tionary course in ancient Rome — the attempt of the elder 
 Brutus — the establishment of a republic — the wars with the 
 rival Carthage — the rapid career of military conquests — and 
 the transition to despotism, down to Tiberius or Dioclesian — 
 have been here traversed in the short period of scarcely one 
 generation. It would be unjust always to term this the 
 French Revolution, or to consider it exclusively as such ; it 
 was a general political malady — an universal epidemic of the 
 age. In Holland and Belgium a revolution had previously 
 broken out — the Polish Revolution occurred about the same 
 time ; but though the Belgian, and more particularly the 
 Polish Revolutions, were of a totally different character from 
 the French, they still presented to the turbulent spirit of the 
 age one example more of political commotion. But North 
 America had been to France and the rest of Europe the real 
 school and nursery of all these revolutionary principles. Natu- 
 ral contagion, or wilful propagation, spread this disorder over 
 many other countries; but France continued to be the centre 
 and general focus of revolution. 
 
 Even when the whole power of the revolution had been 
 concentrated in the person of a single man, its general march 
 was not materially changed. With respect to foreign states 
 and countries, the French Revolution produced a protracted 
 religious war of twenty-one years ; for it was such not only 
 from its origin, but from its revolutionary and destructive 
 character, and from its fanatic opposition to everything 
 holy. There was a fixed principle at the bottom of this 
 modern Paganism. It was political idolatry — and it matters 
 
454 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 little what may be the immediate object of this idolatry — 
 what the idol of the day, whether a republic and the goddess 
 of reason — the grande nation — or the lust of conquest and the 
 glory of arms. It is still the same demon of political de- 
 struction — the same anti-christian spirit of government, which 
 wishes to mislead the age, and control the world. The great 
 religious war, which has desolated all Europe, can be finally 
 terminated only by a new and general religious peace ; but 
 the great gulf of perdition to our age is that political 
 idolatry, whatever shape it may assume — whatever name it 
 may bear. Until that idolatry be abolished, until that abyss 
 of ruin be closed up, the house of the Lord, where peace and 
 righteousness embrace each other, can never be founded on a 
 renovated earth. 
 
 END OF LECTURE XVII. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 455 
 
 LECTURE XVIII. 
 
 On the General Spirit of the Age, and on the Universal Regeneration of 
 Society. 
 
 M I come soon, and will renew all things/' 
 
 There are, in the history of the eighteenth century, many 
 phenomena which occurred so suddenly, so instantaneously, 
 so contrary to all expectation, that although on deeper con- 
 sideration we may discover their efficient causes in the past, 
 in the natural state of things, and in the general situation of 
 the world, yet are there many circumstances which prove 
 that there was a deliberate, though secret, preparation of 
 events, as, indeed, in many instances has been actually de- 
 monstrated. I must now say a few words on this secret and 
 mysterious branch of illuminism, and on the progress it made 
 during the period of its sway, in order to complete the sketch 
 of that period, and to shew the influence of this principle, 
 both in regard to the origin and general spirit of the revolu- 
 tion (which in its fanaticism believed itself a regeneration of 
 the world), and in regard to the true restoration of society 
 founded on the basis of Christian justice. But there is this 
 peculiar circumstance in this historical inquiry, that those 
 who as eye-witnesses could best speak from their personal 
 experience, cannot always be considered the most credible 
 vouchers ; for we never know, or can know, what their par- 
 ticular views and interests may lead them to say or conceal, 
 to suppress wholly or in part. However, it has so happened, 
 that, in the universal convulsion and overthrow of society, 
 many things have come to light on this mysterious and eso- 
 teric clue in modern history — things which when combined 
 together furnish us with a not incorrect, and a tolerably 
 complete, idea of this mighty element of the Revolution, and 
 of illuminism both true and false, which has exercised so 
 evident and various an influence on the world. And it is 
 
456 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 only on such historical grounds (which are quite sufficient 
 for our purpose, and can alone be made the matter of consi- 
 deration here), I am at all competent to pronounce an 
 opinion on this subject, or, as I should rather say, to give an 
 account of this event; and it is from historical sources, re- 
 ferences, and facts alone, that the following sketch has been 
 taken. 
 
 As to the origin of this esoteric influence, the impartial histo- 
 rical inquirer cannot doubt (whatever motives or views some 
 may have to deny the fact, or throw doubt on its authenticity) 
 that the order of Templars was the channel by which this 
 society in its ancient and long-preserved form was introduced 
 into the West. Tiie religious Masonic symbols may be ac- 
 counted for by the Solomonian traditions connected with the 
 very foundation of the order of Templars ; and indeed the 
 occasion of these symbols may be traced in other passages of 
 Holy Writ, and in other parts of sacred history, and they 
 may very well admit of a Christian interpretation. Traces 
 of these symbols may be found in the monuments of the old 
 German architecture of the middle age. Any secret spiritual 
 association, however, diffused at once among Christians and 
 Mahometans, cannot be of a very Christian nature, nor long 
 continue so. Nay, the very idea of an esoteric society for 
 the propagation of any secret doctrines is not compatible 
 with the very principle of Christianity itself ; for Christianity 
 is a divine mystery, which, according to the intention of its 
 divine Founder, lies open to all, and is daily exposed on 
 every altar. For this reason, in a Revelation imparted to all 
 alike, there can be no secrecy, as in the Pagan mysteries, 
 where, by the side of the popular mythology and the public 
 religion of the state, certain esoteric doctrines were incul- 
 cated to the initiated only. This would be to constitute a 
 church within a church — a measure to be as little tolerated 
 or justified as an imperium in imperio ; and in an age where 
 worldly interests and public or secret views of policy have 
 far greater ascendancy than religious opinions or sentiments, 
 such a secret parasitical church would unquestionably, as 
 experience has already proved, be very soon transformed into 
 a secret directory for political changes and revolutions. That 
 in this society the unchristian principles of a negative illu- 
 minism, veiled as they often were in sentiments of universal 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 457 
 
 philanthropy, were of a date tolerably modern, all historical 
 analogies would lead us to suppose. On the other hand, the 
 Christian opinions which survived in this order (though in 
 our times, amid the innumerable factions which have agi- 
 tated this society by their contests, the adherents to Christian 
 principles form a small minority of its members) — the Christian 
 opinions surviving in this order partook, conformably to the 
 historical origin I have assigned, more of an oriental and 
 Gnostic character. The great, or at least not inconsiderable, 
 influence which this society exercises in politics, we may 
 discover in those revolutions which, after having convulsed 
 our quarter of the globe, have rolled onwards to the new 
 world, where the two principal revolutionary factions in one 
 of those South American states, whose troubles are not yet 
 terminated, are called the Scots and the Yorkists, from the 
 two parties which divide the English Masonic lodges. Who 
 does not know, or who does not remember, that the ruler of 
 the world in the period just passed made use of this vehicle 
 in all the countries he conquered, to delude and deceive the 
 nations with false hopes ? And on this account he was styled 
 by his partisans the man of his age, and, in fact, he was a 
 slave to the spirit of his age. A society from whose bosom, 
 as from the secret laboratory of Revolution, the Illumines, 
 the Jacobins, and the Carbonari have successively pro- 
 ceeded, cannot possibly be termed, or be in fact, very benefi- 
 cial to mankind, politically sound, or truly Christian in its 
 views and tendency. Still 1 must here observe, that it has 
 been the fate of the oldest of all secret societies, that its ve- 
 nerable forms, which are known to all the initiated, should 
 serve as a cloak to every new conspiracy. In the next place, 
 we must not forget that this order itself appears to be split 
 and divided into a multitude of different sects and factions ; 
 and that on this account we must not suppose that all those 
 fearful aberrations and wild excesses of impiety, all those | 
 openly destructive or secretly undermining principles of £ 
 volution, were universally approved of by this society. Gi 
 the contrary, such a supposition would be utterly false, 'or at 
 least very exaggerated. The mere notice of all the highly 
 estimable characters, mistaken but on this point — of most 
 distinguished and illustrious personages in the eighteenth 
 century, members of this association — would suffice to annul, 
 
458 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 or at least materially modify, this sweeping censure. From 
 many indications, we may consider it certain, or at least ex- 
 tremely probable, that in no country did this esoteric society 
 so well harmonise with the state and the whole established 
 order of things as in that country where all the conflicting 
 elements of morals and society are brought into a sort of 
 strange and artificial equipoise — I mean, England. If now 
 we turn our view to the continent of Europe, and even to 
 those countries which were the chief theatre of the revolu- 
 tion, we shall see that there, among many other factions, a 
 Christian party had sprung up in this society — a party 
 which, though it formed a very small minority in point of 
 numbers, possessed, by its profounder doctrines and the in- 
 teresting fragments of ancient tradition it had preserved, a 
 great moral ascendancy ; and this, many historical facts, and 
 many written documents, which have since obtained publi- 
 city, place beyond the shadow of a doubt. Instead of bring- 
 ing forward the names of some German writers less generally 
 known, I prefer to allege, in confirmation of what I have 
 said, the example of a French writer, who well denotes the 
 internal and more hidden character of the revolution. The 
 Christian theosophist, St. Martin, who was a disciple of this 
 school, stands in his age quite apart from the other organs of 
 the then prevailing atheistical philosophy. He was, however, 
 a most decided revolutionist (but a disinterested fanatic, 
 guided entirely in his conduct by high and moral motives), 
 from his utter contempt and abhorrence for the whole moral 
 and political system of Europe, as it then stood — a contempt 
 in which, if we cannot entirely agree with him, we cannot in 
 many instances withhold from him at least a sort of negative 
 approbation; and, secondly, he was a revolutionist by his 
 enthusiastic hope of a complete Christian regeneration of 
 society, conceived indeed according to his own views, or the 
 views of his party. Among the French writers of the resto- 
 ration, none have so thoroughly understood this remarkable 
 philosopher, and so well known how to appreciate him in all 
 the depths of his errors, as well as in the many excellent 
 things which his writings contain, and to apply to him the 
 necessary corrections, as Count Maistre. 
 
 This secret clue in the history of the revolution must not 
 be overlooked, if we would wish to form a due estimate of 
 
HISTORY. 459 
 
 its character; for it greatly contributed to the illusion of 
 many by no means ill-intentioned persons, who saw, or 
 wished to see, in the revolution but the inevitable, neces- 
 sary, though in its origin harsh and severe, regeneration of 
 Christian states and nations, then so widely gone off from 
 their original destination. This illusive notion of a false re- 
 storation of society was particularly prevalent during the 
 imperial sway of that extraordinary man, whose true biogra- 
 phy — I mean, the high moral law of his destiny, or the theo- 
 logical key to his life — seems still to exceed the critical 
 powers of our age. Seven years were allotted him for the 
 growth of his power — for fourteen years the world was de- 
 livered over into his hands ; and seven years were left him 
 for solitary reflection, the first of which he misemployed in 
 embroiling the world anew. On the use he made of the ex- 
 traordinary power that had been imparted to him — of that 
 formidable dominion which had fallen to his lot, history has 
 long pronounced her sentence. Never is such power per- 
 mitted but in the period of, and with a view to, some 
 awful reckoning, and a still more fearful probation of man- 
 kind. But if his restoration — that is to say, the restoration 
 which his infatuated partisans attributed to him — was most 
 certainly a false one, the question naturally occurs, whether 
 the restoration attempted by his successors has been perfectly 
 sound, or at least quite complete ; and what may be the de- 
 fects in the new system, and how they may be supplied ? 
 
 A mere treaty of territorial arrangements could not and 
 can never constitute a great religious and international paci- 
 fication for the whole of Europe. The re-establishment of 
 subverted thrones — the restoration of exiled sovereigns and 
 dynasties, will not in themselves have any security nor per- 
 manence, unless based on moral principles and maxims. 
 After the severe unexpected lesson again inflicted on Europe, 
 religion was at last made the basis of European policy ; and 
 we must not make it a matter of reproach that this principle 
 still retained so indefinite a character ; for this was necessary 
 at the beginning at least, in order to remove any misconcep- 
 tion, or any possible suspicion of interested views. And not 
 only doth the stability and future existence of the whole 
 Christian and civilised world depend on this bond of religi- 
 ous confederacy — which we can only hope may be ever more 
 
460 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 and more firmly knit — but every great power in particular is 
 more especially called upon to take a part therein. That the 
 moral strength and stability of the Russian empire mainly 
 depends on religion — that every departure from its sacred 
 spirit must have the most fatal effects on its whole system, 
 has already been declared by her late monarch, distinguished 
 alike in adverse and in prosperous fortune, an axiom of state- 
 policy, and can scarcely ever be again forgotten. But in 
 that country, where the elements of Protestantism (to use 
 that word in its most comprehensive signification) obtained 
 such weight in the outset of its literary refinement, and are 
 so incorporated with the whole political system of the state, 
 the toleration extended to every form of worship should not 
 be withheld from that church, which is the mother-church of 
 the rest of Europe, and of Poland inclusively ;* nor should 
 the religious liberty of individuals be in that respect at all 
 restricted. 
 
 It is equally evident that in that country of Europe where 
 monarchy has been restored, the restoration of religion must 
 go hand in hand with that of monarchy, and that the latter 
 would lose all security were the former removed. In the 
 pacific monarchy,f unchangeably attached as she is to her 
 ancient principles, religion has ever been, more than any 
 other principle, the recognised basis of her existence. As to 
 the fifth;): Germanico-European monarchy recently created, 
 the solid maintenance of religion is the only means to allay 
 the disquiet incident to such a state, and to secure its future 
 existence. Any act of even indirect hostility towards the 
 Catholic body — one half of the nation§ — any infringement 
 on the liberty of individuals in that sacred concern — a liberty 
 which must be guaranteed not only by the letter of the law, 
 but by real, effective, and practical measures — w r ould not 
 only be in utter opposition to those religious principles, 
 rapidly spreading as they are in all Europe, and particularly 
 in Germany, but would violate and render insecure the great 
 fundamental and long-established principle of toleration, as 
 
 * What a melancholy foreboding is contained in these words ! — Trans, 
 
 f Austria. % Prussia. 
 
 § Schlegel here conveys an indirect censure on the Prussian govern- 
 ment, for some acts of an intolerant nature towards its Catholic subjects. 
 — Trans. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 461 
 
 has hitherto been acknowledged. It is only in England 
 that Anglicanism has raised her doubts as to the utility of a 
 religious fraternity among the Christian states and nations — 
 doubts which are connected with the still exclusively Protes- 
 tant character of the English constitution, and which on 
 many occasions may lead England to a sort of schismatical 
 rupture with the rest of Europe. On several occasions we 
 must contemplate with regret how that mighty England, in 
 the eighteenth century so brilliant and so powerful by the 
 sway she exerted over the whole European mind, no longer 
 seems to feel herself at home in the nineteenth century, nor 
 to know where to find her place in the new order of things. 
 
 But as respects Europe at large, the maxims and principles 
 of liberalism are only a partial return to the revolution — 
 they can have no other tendency but to revolution. Libe- 
 ralism will never obtain a majority among the well-thinking 
 persons of any of the European states, except by some gross 
 error — some singular degeneracy in that party, which really 
 does not constitute a party, and ought not to be called such 
 — I mean, the men who in politics are attached to monarchy, 
 and in religion to Christianity. 
 
 The mere principle of a mechanical balance of power to 
 serve as a negative check on overgrown dominion — a system 
 which emanated from England, and was in the eighteenth 
 century universally received — has ceased to be applicable or 
 to be of service to the existing state of things in Europe ; for 
 all the remedies which it can offer tend only to aggravate the 
 evil when it has once occurred. In religion alone are to 
 be found the remedies and the safeguards, the emancipation 
 and consolidation, of the whole civilised world, as well as of 
 every particular state. The most imminent danger to our 
 age, and the possible abuse of religion itself, are the excesses 
 of the absolute. Great is the danger when, in a vindictive 
 spirit of reaction, a revolutionary conduct is adopted by the 
 party of legitimacy ; when passion itself is consecrated into a 
 maxim of reason, and held up as the only valid and just mode 
 of proceeding ; and when the sacredness of religion itself is 
 hawked about as some fashionable opinion ; as if the world- 
 redeeming power of faith and truth consisted in the mere 
 dead letter and in the recited formula. True life can spring 
 only from the vivifying spirit of eternal truth. In science, 
 
462 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 the absolute is the abyss which swallows up the living truth, 
 and leaves behind only the hollow idea and the dead formula. 
 In the political world, the absolute in conduct and speculation 
 is that false spirit of time, opposed to all good and to the 
 fulness of divine truth, which in a great measure rules the 
 world, and may entirely rule it, and lead it for ever to its 
 final ruin. As errors would not be dangerous or deceptive, 
 and would have little effect, unless they contained a portion 
 or appearance of truth, this false spirit of time, which suc- 
 cessively assumes all forms of destruction since it has aban- 
 doned the path of eternal truth, consists in this : it withdraws 
 particular facts from their historical connexion, and holds 
 them up as the centre and term of a system, without any 
 limitation, and without any regard to historical circumstances. 
 The true foundation, and the right term of things, in the 
 history of society as in the lives of individuals, cannot be 
 thus severed from their historical connexion and their place 
 in the natural order of events. In any speculation or enter- 
 prise conducted by this passionate spirit of exaggeration, the 
 living spirit must evaporate, and only the dead and deadening 
 formula survive. What idols may successively be worship- 
 ped by the changing spirit of time, which easily bounds from 
 one extreme to another, cannot be determined beforehand. 
 It is even possible that for a while eternal truth itself may be 
 profaned and perverted to such an idol of the day — I mean, 
 the counterfeit form of truth ; for the spirit of time, however 
 it may assume the garb, can never attain the inward essence 
 and living energy of truth. Whatever may be the alternate 
 idol, and the reigning object of its worship, or of its passion- 
 ate rhetoric, it still remains essentially the same — that is to 
 say, the absolute, alike deadening to intellect and destructive 
 to life. In science, the absolute is the idol of vain and 
 empty systems, of dead and abstract reason. 
 
 The Christian faith has the living God and his revelation 
 for its object, and is itself that revelation ; hence every doc- 
 trine taken from this source is something real and positive. 
 The defence of truth against error will then only be attended 
 with permanent success when the divine doctrine, in what- 
 ever department it may be, is represented with intellectual 
 energy as a living principle, and at the same time placed in 
 its historical connexion with a due regard to every other his- 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 463 
 
 torical reality. This calm, historical judgment of things — 
 this acute insight into subjects, whether they be real facts or 
 intellectual phenomena — is the invariable concomitant of 
 truth, and the indispensable condition to the full knowledge 
 of truth. This is the more so, indeed, as religion, which 
 forms the basis of all truth and of all knowledge, naturally 
 traces with attentive eye the mysterious clue of divine Pro- 
 vidence and divine permission through the long labyrinth of 
 human errors and human follies, be they of a practical or a 
 speculative nature. Error, on the other hand, is always un- 
 historical ; the spirit of time almost always passionate ; and 
 both consequently untrue. The conflict against error can- 
 not be brought to a prompter and more successful issue than 
 by separating, in every system of moral and speculative error, 
 and according to the standard of divine truth, the absolute, 
 which is the basis of such systems, into its two component 
 parts of truth and falsehood. For when we acknowledge 
 and point out the truth to be found in those systems, there 
 only remains error, whose inanity it requires little labour, 
 little cost of talent or time, to expose and make evident to 
 every eye. But in real life the struggle of parties often 
 ceases to be purely intellectual — their physical energy is 
 displayed in violent commotions ; and in proportion as all 
 parties become absolute, so their struggle becomes one of 
 violent and mutual destruction — a circumstance which most 
 fatally impedes the great work of religious regeneration — 
 the mighty problem of our age, which, so far from being 
 brought to a satisfactory termination, is not yet even solved. 
 In this respect it is no doubt a critical fact, that in certain 
 quarters of European life, nay, even in some entire countries, 
 parties and governments should be more and more carried 
 away by the spirit of absolutism. For this is not a question 
 of names, and it is very evident that not those parties which 
 are called, or call themselves, absolute, are the most so in 
 reality ; since now, as in all periods of violent party struggles, 
 a whimsical mistake in names, a great disorder of ideas, and 
 a Babel confusion of tongues, occur even in those languages 
 otherwise distinguished for their clearness and precision. 
 
 Fixedness of principle, consistency in reasoning, firmness 
 of character,, and the severe dogmatic precision of faith, as 
 these are the qualities which form the best test of man in 
 
464 
 
 PHILOSOFHY OF 
 
 the intercourse of life, so they ought by no means to be con- 
 founded with absolutism either in conduct or speculation ; 
 for all these qualities are very compatible with the calm his- 
 torical judgment of things, and a conscientious regard for all 
 historical circumstances. Among the French writers of re- 
 cent times who have devoted themselves to the task of the 
 religious regeneration of the public mind, no one possesses 
 the above-named qualities in a higher or in so remarkable a 
 degree as Count Maistre ; and yet of all the writers of this 
 class he is the least open to the charge of promoting a pas- 
 sionate spirit of reaction ; and in my own opinion he must be 
 entirely acquitted of such an imputation. Some more rhe- 
 torical defenders, however, of religion in France cannot cer- 
 tainly be entirely absolved from the charge of favouring this 
 absolute and exaggerated spirit of reaction ; and so they un- 
 questionably, even more than their opponents, injure the 
 cause which they wish to defend. But many imputations of 
 this sort, which party spirit has alleged, are entirely without 
 foundation ; as, when the opposition in the country I speak 
 of extends to the government, and to all the different minis- 
 tries since the restoration, the charge of political absolutism 
 and of a spirit of reaction ; every one must clearly see that 
 no cause has really been given for such imputations. And 
 that in a country where the most hostile parties and all con- 
 ceivable opinions are tolerated, a small number of Jesuits 
 should partake of the general toleration, is a circumstance 
 that can excite blame, jealousy, and hypocritical alarm only 
 in the breasts of men animated by the unjust and vindictive 
 spirit of faction. To the distant and impartial observer, the 
 greatest and most imminent danger to France appears to be 
 a relapse to revolution by means of liberalism.* 
 
 The dogmatic decision and definiteness of Catholic faith 
 on the one hand, and the firmly rooted private convictions of 
 Protestantism on the other, are very compatible with an his- 
 torical judgment of historical events. Difficult as this may 
 appear to the absolute spirit of our age, it is this very his- 
 torical impartiality which must prepare the way for the 
 complete triumph of truth and the consummate glory of 
 Christianity. And it is in this consists the great distinction 
 
 * This was spoken exactly two years before the French Revolution of 
 July 1830.— Trans. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 465 
 
 between true toleration and the fatal indifferentism of our 
 age and of the age immediately preceding. True toleration 
 is founded on the humble and consequently religious princi- 
 ple and firm hope, that while one leaves in quiet what has 
 already an historical existence, God will conduct and arrange 
 all things, and bring them to their appointed end. This is 
 widely remote from that pretended equality of all religions, 
 provided they inculcate but a good morality — a system 
 which strikes at the root of all religion. Intolerance, on the 
 other hand, is grounded in the proud, and therefore impious, 
 opinion, that it can mould all things to what it fancies they 
 ought to be, without any regard to the limits of human weak- 
 ness ; and without reflecting that what is put down by out- 
 ward force not unfrequently grows up in secret in an altered 
 though still more dangerous form. Of this truth it would 
 not be difficult to adduce many historical proofs. 
 
 In the absolute spirit of our age, and in the absolute cha- 
 racter of its factions, there is a deep-rooted intellectual pride, 
 which is not so much personal or individual, as social, for it 
 refers to the historical destiny of mankind, and of this age in 
 particular. Actuated by this pride, a spirit exalted by moral 
 energy, or invested with external power, fancies it can give a 
 real existence to that which can only be the work of God ; 
 as from him alone proceed all those mighty and real regenera- 
 tions of the world, among which Christianity — a revolution 
 in the high and divine sense of the word — occupies the first 
 place ; and in these plastic moments, every thing is possible 
 that man can wish or dare to hope, if in what he adds on his 
 own part, he mars not much rn what the bounteous monarch 
 of the universe, from the overflowings of his ineffable love, 
 outpours upon his earth. For the last three hundred years 
 this human pride has been at work — a pride that wishes to 
 originate events, instead of humbly awaiting them, and of 
 resting contented with the place assigned to it among those 
 events, and of making the best and most charitable use of 
 those circumstances which Providence has decreed. 
 
 What I said before with regard to the Reformation may 
 be equally applied to the principle and period of Illuminism. 
 The idea itself is perfectly blameless, and it is unfair to pro- 
 nounce on it an indiscriminate censure, and to treat it as an 
 unqualified abuse. It was indeed but a very small portion of 
 
 2 H 
 
466 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 this illuminism of the eighteenth century that was really de- 
 rived from the truths of Christianity and the pure light of 
 Revelation. The rest was the mere work of man, con- 
 sequently vain and empty, or at least defective, corrupt in 
 parts, and, on the whole, destitute of a solid foundation, and 
 therefore devoid of all permanent strength and duration. 
 
 But when once, after the complete victory of truth, the 
 divine Reformation shall appear, then that human Re- 
 formation, which till now hath existed, will sink to the 
 ground, and disappear from the world. Then by the universal 
 triumph of Christianity, and the thorough religious regenera- 
 tion of the age, of the world, and of governments themselves, 
 will dawn the era of a true Christian Illuminism. This period 
 is not perhaps so remote from our own as the natural indo- 
 lence of the human mind, which after every great occurrence 
 loves to sink again into the death-sleep of ordinary life, would 
 be disposed to believe. Yet must this exalted religious hope, 
 this high historical expectation, be coupled with great 
 apprehension, as to the full display of divine justice in the 
 world. For how is such a religious regeneration possible, 
 until every species, form, and denomination of political idol- 
 atry be eradicated, and entirely extirpated from the earth ? 
 
 Never was there a period that pointed so strongly, so 
 clearly, so generally towards the future, as our own. On 
 this account we should endeavour clearly and accurately to 
 distinguish between what, on the one hand, man may by slow, 
 progressive, but unwearied exertions — by the pacific adjust- 
 ment of all disputed points — and by the cultivation of his 
 intellectual qualities, contribute towards the great work of 
 the religious regeneration of government and science — and 
 what, on the other hand, he should look for in silent awe from 
 a higher Providence — from the new creative fiat of a last 
 period of consummation, unable as he is to produce or call it 
 forth. We are directed much more towards the future than 
 towards the past ; — but in order to comprehend in all its 
 magnitude the problem of our age, it sufficeth not that we 
 should seek this social regeneration in the eighteenth century 
 — an age in no respect entitled to praise — or in the reign of 
 Lewis the Fourteenth, and his times of false national glory. 
 The birth of Christianity must be the great point of survey 
 to which we must recur, not to bring back or counterfeit the 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 467 
 
 forms of ages past, which are no longer applicable to our 
 own ; but clearly to examine what has remained incomplete, 
 what has not yet been attained. For unquestionably, all 
 that has been neglected in the earlier periods and stages of 
 Christian civilisation must be made good in this true, con- 
 summate regeneration of society. If truth is to obtain a com- 
 plete victory — if Christianity is really to triumph on the 
 earth — then must the state become Christian, and science 
 become Christian. But these two objects have never been 
 generally, nor completely realised ; although during the 
 many ages mankind have been Christian, they have struggled 
 for the attainment of both, and though this political struggle 
 and this intellectual aspiration form the purport of modern 
 history. The Roman empire, even after the true religion 
 had become predominant, was too thoroughly and radically 
 corrupt ever to form a truly Christian state. The sound, 
 unvitiated natural energy of the Germanic nations seemed 
 far better fitted for such a destiny, after they had received 
 from Christianity a high religious consecration for this pur- 
 pose. There was, if we may so speak, in the interior of each 
 state, as well as in the general system of Christendom, a 
 most magnificent foundation laid for a truly Christian struc- 
 ture of government. But this groundwork remained unfi- 
 nished, after the internal divisions in the state, then the divi- 
 sions between church and state, and lastly the divisions in the 
 church and in religion itself, had interrupted the successful 
 beginnings of a most glorious work. 
 
 The ecclesiastical writers of the first ages furnish a solid 
 foundation for all the future labours of Christian science; 
 but their science does not comprehend all the branches of 
 human knowledge. In the middle age, undoubtedly, this 
 foundation of a Christian science, laid down by the early 
 fathers, was slowly prosecuted and in detail; but on the 
 whole, many hurtful influences of the time had reduced 
 science and speculation to a very low ebb, when suddenly in 
 the fifteenth century all the literary treasures of ancient 
 Greece, and all the new discoveries in geography and physics, 
 were offered to philosophy. Scarcely had philosophy begun 
 to examine these mighty stores of ancient and modern science, 
 in order to give them a Christian form, and to appropriate 
 them to the use of religion and modern society, when the 
 
 2 h 2 
 
468 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 world again broke out into disputes ; and this noble begin- 
 ning of a Christian philosophy was interrupted, and has since 
 remained an unfinished fragment for a later and a happier 
 period. Such, then, is the twofold problem of a real and 
 complete regeneration which our age is called upon to solve ; 
 — on one hand, the further extension of Christian govern- 
 ment, and of Catholic principles of legislation, in opposition 
 to the revolutionary spirit of the age, and to the anti-Christian 
 principle of government hitherto so exclusively prevalent ; 
 and on the other hand, the establishment of a Christian philo- 
 sophy, or Catholic science. As I before characterised the 
 political spirit of the eighteenth century by the term Pro- 
 testantism of state (taking that word in a purely philosophic 
 sense, and not as a religious designation), a system which 
 found its one main support in an old Catholic empire;* and 
 as I characterised the intellectual spirit of the same age by 
 the term Protestantism of science, a science which made the 
 greatest progress and exerted the widest influence in another f 
 great Catholic country ; systems in which nothing irreligious 
 was originally intended, but which became so by their too 
 exclusive or negative bearing : so I may here permit myself 
 to say, in like manner, that the destiny of this age, the 
 peculiar want of the nineteenth century, is the establishment 
 of those Catholic principles of government, and the general 
 construction of a Catholic system of science. This expression 
 is used in a mere scientific sense, and refers to all that is 
 positively and completely religious in thought and feeling. 
 In the certain conviction that this cannot be misunderstood 
 in an exclusive or polemical sense, I will expressly add, that 
 this foundation of Catholic legislation for the future political 
 existence of Europe may be laid by one, or more than one, 
 non-catholic power ; and that I even cherish the hope, that it 
 is our own Germany, one half whereof is Protestant, which 
 more than any other country is destined to complete the 
 fabric of Catholic science and of a true Christian philosophy 
 in all the departments of human knowledge. 
 
 The religious hope of a true and complete regeneration of 
 the age, by a Christian system of government and a Christian 
 system of science, forms the conclusion to this Philosophy of 
 History. The bond of a religious union between all the 
 * Austria. t France. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 469 
 
 European states will be more closely knit, and be more com- 
 prehensive, in proportion as each nation advances in the work 
 of its own religious regeneration, and carefully avoids all 
 relapse to the old revolutionary spirit — all worship of the 
 false idols of mistaken freedom or illusive glory, and rejects 
 every other new form or species of political idolatry. For it 
 is the very nature of political idolatry to lead to the mutual 
 destruction of parties, and consequently it can never possess 
 the elements of stability. 
 
 Philosophy, as it is the vivifying centre of all other sciences, 
 must be the principal concern and the highest object of the 
 labours of Christian science. Yet history, which is so closely 
 and so variously connected with religion, must by no means 
 be forgotten, nor must historical research be separated from 
 philosophic speculation. On the contrary, it is the religious 
 spirit and views already pervading the combined efforts of 
 historical learning and philosophic speculation, that chiefly 
 distinguish this new era of a better intellectual culture, or as 
 I should rather express myself, this first stage of a return to 
 the great religious restoration. And I may venture to assert 
 that this spirit, at least in the present century, has become 
 ever more and more the prevailing characteristic of German 
 science, and on this science, in its relation to the moral wants 
 and spiritual calling of the nineteenth century, I have now a 
 few observations to make. Like an image reflected in a 
 mirror, or like those symptoms which precede and announce 
 a crisis in human events, the centre-point of all government, 
 or the religious basis of legislation, is sure to be reflected in 
 the whole mental culture, or in the most remarkable intel- 
 lectual productions of a nation. In England, the equilibrium 
 of a constitution that combines in itself so many conflicting 
 elements is reflected in its philosophy. The revolutionary 
 spirit was prevalent in the French literature of the eighteenth 
 century long before it broke out in real life; and the struggle 
 is still very animated between the intellectual defenders and 
 champions of the monarchical and religious Restoration, and 
 of the newly awakened liberal opposition. In like manner, 
 as the German people were, and still are, half Catholic and 
 half Protestant, it is religious peace which in all literature, 
 and particularly in philosophy, forms the basis of their 
 modern intellectual culture. The mere aesthetic part of 
 
470 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 German letters, as regards art and poetry, — that artist-like 
 enthusiasm peculiar to our nation — the struggles which con- 
 vulsed the infancy of our literature — the successive imitation 
 and rejection of the French and English models — the very 
 general diffusion of classical learning — the newly enkindled 
 love for our native speech, and for the early history of our 
 country, and its elder monuments of art — all these are sub- 
 jects of minor interest in the European point of view we here 
 take, and form but the prelude and introduction to that 
 higher German science and philosophy w r hich is now more 
 immediately the subject of our inquiries. Historical research 
 should never be separated from any philosophy, still less 
 from the German ; as historical erudition is the most effectual 
 counterpoise to that absolute spirit, so prevalent in German 
 science and German speculation. 
 
 Art and poetry constitute that department of intellect 
 wherein every nation should mostly follow the impulse of its 
 own spirit, its own feelings, and its own turn of fancy ; and 
 we must regard it as an exception when the poetry of any 
 particular nation (such, for instance, as that of the English 
 at the present day) is felt and received by other nations as 
 an European poetry. On the other hand, history is a sort of 
 intellectual common open to all European nations. The 
 English, who in this department were ever so active and dis- 
 tinguished, have, in very recent times, produced works on 
 their own national history which really merit the name of 
 classical monuments of the new religious restoration. Science 
 in general, and philosophy in particular, should never be ex- 
 clusive or national — should never be called English or Ger- 
 man — but should be general and European. And if this is 
 not so entirely the case as in the nature of things it ought to 
 be, we must ascribe it to the defects of particular forms. Of 
 this truth the example of the French language may convince 
 lis; for no one will deny the metaphysical profundity of 
 Count Maistre, or the dialectic perspicacity of the Viscount 
 De Bonald. Although those absolute principles which ap- 
 pear to characterise the European nations at this time have 
 much less influence on real life and on the social relations in 
 Germany than in any other country ; yet the false spirit of 
 the absolute seems to be quite native to German science and 
 philosophy, and for a long period has been the principal 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 471 
 
 cause which has cramped the religious spirit and feelings so 
 natural to the German character, or at least has given them a 
 false direction. 
 
 With regard to religious opinions, Protestantism in Germany- 
 has not been split into a multitude of new, various, and jar- 
 ring sects, as in other countries, such as England, Holland, 
 and North America, where it was exclusively or for the most 
 part predominant ; for even the Hernhutters were not pro- 
 perly a sect. It is only very recently the Pietists have formed 
 themselves into a party opposed to the Rationalists— but their 
 doctrines are not sufficiently precise and determinate to con- 
 stitute them a sect, according to the proper signification of 
 that word. Pietism consists rather in a deep, though vague, 
 sentiment of religion, and in a fusion of various and opposite 
 religious views and doctrines. Undoubtedly this moral fusion of 
 opinions, as well as that outward complication of the interests 
 and doctrines of Catholicism and Protestantism, and of so many 
 private views in matters of religion, produced many wild and 
 fanciful abortions peculiar to the age ; many pure idiosyncra- 
 sies among the Protestants, whether they made half advances 
 towards the Catholic church, or pursued the opposite path of 
 absolute individualism ; or among the Catholics still more 
 monstrous amalgamations — Protestant or semi-Protestant 
 innovations in doctrine aimed at by individuals — innovations 
 which originated in the principles of Illuminism, and were 
 countenanced by the well-known policy of certain sovereigns. 
 Much as we may feel disposed, or are even bound, to oppose 
 with all our might such moral abortions, when the question 
 regards their practical operation — yet I do not think we 
 ought to pronounce an absolutely unfavourable judgment on 
 their general intellectual tendency. The real primary evil of 
 the eighteenth century — an utter indifference for all religious 
 doctrines and concerns, — the dangerous spirit of complete 
 indifferentism, from whose contagion many purely Catholic 
 countries did not escape, took less strong hold in Germany 
 and obtained less general diffusion, than in any other country. 
 A deep, indelible religious feeling still continued to charac- 
 terise the German nation, and to give a tone to its philoso- 
 phical speculations. We should not pay too much attention 
 to some transient and partial paradoxes : — I well recollect the 
 words of an old, very experienced, pious, and enlightened 
 
472 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 ecclesiastic, who well understood the German character, and 
 who used to say, ie If we don't give a religion to the Ger- 
 mans, they will make one out for themselves." 
 
 Even in the greatest errors of their philosophy, a certain 
 religious bearing and tendency can easily be pointed out. 
 However, in a country like Germany, where religious opinions 
 and interests are so various and so intermixed, a long time 
 must elapse before a profound philosophy, which would 
 satisfy these yearnings of religious desire, can attain its full 
 moral development, or assume a clear outward tangible form. 
 If I before said of the English, in reference to the struggle 
 going on between the conflicting elements of their govern- 
 ment — a struggle which in one form or other every great 
 European nation has to settle in its own interior, and to bring 
 to a successful issue — that it would appear by many expressions 
 in their parliamentary proceedings, from those in particular 
 at the head of affairs, and who are best acquainted with them, 
 that a secret self-apprehension besets the minds of English 
 politicians ; so I may now say of our German nation, among 
 whom the conflict lies principally, or more immediately, in 
 the sphere of religion and philosophy, that more than all 
 other nations the Germans are destitute of self-knowledge and 
 of mutual concord; and the cause of this must be sought for 
 in the unfulfilment of their religious and philosophical des- 
 tiny, and in the yet unallayed discord between opposite 
 elements of faith and various systems of science. 
 
 In the first period of] German literature, the Protestants 
 had quite the preponderance ; but since then the balance, at 
 least in science, has been completely restored. I speak here 
 of internal religious principles, and not of outward confessions 
 of faith, which cannot be made the criterion for a philosophic 
 classification. For otherwise, by descending into details, I 
 might cite, among the few quite irreligious organs of German 
 philosophy, some writers (happily rare exceptions) who be- 
 longed to Catholic Germany ; and on the other hand, among 
 those foremost and most distinguished in reviving the pure 
 Platonic philosophy, and whose profound religious concep- 
 tions have given quite a Christian form to natural philosophy 
 itself, I might adduce the names of men who were members 
 of the Protestant church. Philosophy itself has not to de- 
 termine nor to illustrate religious dogmas, nor does it stand 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 473 
 
 in immediate connexion with them. The main point to 
 which I wish to direct attention, and which is necessary to 
 render philosophy Christian, is, that an internal harmony or 
 unison should be preserved between faith and science ; next, 
 that the principle of divine revelation should be regarded as 
 the basis, not only of theology, but of every other science ; 
 and lastly, that even nature herself should be studied and 
 investigated by this high religious light, and thus made to 
 receive from science a new and transparent lustre. The 
 modern German philosophy even in its infancy, when it was 
 yet pretty closely allied to the English school, and mostly 
 started with the same problems (though it gave to these a 
 deeper and a wider solution), aimed at this harmony between 
 faith and science. It understood both, indeed, in the very 
 limited sense of a mere faith of reason and science of reason, 
 influenced as it was by the Rationalism then so generally dif- 
 fused, not only in Protestant but even in Catholic countries, 
 and notably in Catholic Germany. But at the same time 
 other profound thinkers sought another and higher foundation 
 for philosophy in the idea of revelation — a revelation which 
 some understood in a mere general and speculative, though 
 not irreligious, sense; and others in the Christian sense of 
 positive faith and pious feeling. The capital vice of German 
 philosophy is the absolute, the philosophic reflection of the 
 general vice of the spirit of the age, which exerts an absolute 
 influence on life itself — whether this vice of German philo- 
 sophy assume the form of the absolute ego>* or that of the 
 pantheistic naturalism,! or that of absolute reason. \ It is 
 this which originally gave to the natural philosophy of the 
 Germans a false pantheistic direction, for the real materialism 
 which has found so many advocates among the French natu- 
 ralists has, from the very ideal tendency of the German 
 mind, experienced little favour in Germany. Yet this foreign 
 influence was not of long continuance ; German physics be- 
 came deeply imbued with a religious spirit, and the German 
 
 * Schlegel alludes to the philosophy of Fichte, which was an ideal 
 subjective Pantheism. 
 
 f The author here alludes to the philosophy of Schelling, which was 
 more a material and objective Pantheism, not unlike the system of Spinoza. 
 
 X This last expression contains, I believe, an allusion to the philosophy 
 of Hegel. — Trans. 
 
474 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 natural philosophy is now in the hands of its first representa- 
 tives decidedly Christian. And this progress in the great 
 work of the religious regeneration of science I must consider 
 as the noblest triumph of genius, for it is precisely in the 
 department of physics the problem was the most difficult; 
 and all that rich and boundless treasure of new discoveries 
 in nature, which are ever better understood when viewed in 
 connexion with the high truths of religion, must be looked 
 upon as the property of Christian science. The various 
 systems of philosophic Rationalism, mutually subversive as 
 they are of each other, will fall to the ground, and the vulgar 
 Rationalism, which is but an emanation of the higher, and 
 which still prevails in some particular schools, and in many 
 of the lower walks of German literature, will finally dis- 
 appear, in proportion as German philosophy becomes imbued 
 with the spirit of religion, and German science becomes 
 thoroughly Christian, or Catholic. In the firm hope that 
 this will certainly happen, I have given publicity to these 
 first essays of a philosophy I had long in secret prepared, 
 and of which the first part, " The Philosophy of Life/' treats 
 of consciousness, or of the inward man ; the second, this 
 " Philosophy of History/' which I now have here brought to 
 a close, considers the outward man, or the progress of states 
 and nations through all ages of the world. 
 
 That in this progress of mankind, a divine Hand and con- 
 ducting Providence are clearly discernible ; that earthly and 
 visible power has not alone co-operated in this progress, and 
 in the opposition which has impeded it, but that the struggle 
 has been in part carried on under divine, and against invisible 
 might, — is a truth, I trust, which, if not proved to mathe- 
 matical evidence (an evidence here neither appropriate nor 
 applicable), has still been substantiated on firm and solid 
 grounds. We may conclude our work by a retrospective 
 view of society, considered in reference to that invisible 
 world and higher region, from which the operations of this 
 visible world proceed, in which its great destinies have their 
 root, and which is the ultimate and highest term of all its 
 movements. 
 
 Christianity is the emancipation of the human race from 
 the bondage of that inimical spirit who denies God, and, as 
 far as in him lies, leads all created intelligences astray* 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 475 
 
 Hence the Scripture styles him, " the prince of this world ; " 
 and so he was in fact, but in ancient history only, when 
 among all the nations of the earth, and amid the pomp of 
 martial glory, and the splendour of Pagan life, he had es- 
 tablished the throne of his domination. Since this divine era 
 in the history of man, since the commencement of his eman- 
 cipation in modern times, this spirit can no longer be called 
 the prince of this world, but the spirit of time, the spirit 
 opposed to divine influence, and to the Christian religion, 
 apparent in those who consider and estimate time and all 
 things temporal, not by the law and feeling of eternity, but 
 for temporal interests, or from temporal motives, change, or 
 undervalue, and forget the thoughts and faith of eternity. 
 
 In the first ages of the Christian church, this spirit of time 
 appeared as a beguiling sectarian spirit. This spirit obtained 
 its highest triumph in the new and false faith of a fanatic 
 Unitarianism, utterly opposed to the religion of love, and 
 which severed from Christianity so large a portion of the 
 Eastern church, and whole regions of Asia. In the middle 
 ages this spirit displayed itself, not so much in hostile sects, 
 as in scholastic disputes, in divisions between church and 
 state, and in the internal disorders of both. At the com- 
 mencement of the new era of the world, the spirit of time 
 claimed as an urgent want of mankind, full freedom of faith ; 
 a claim of which the immediate consequence was only a 
 bloody warfare, and a fatal struggle of life and death, pro- 
 tracted beyond a century. When this struggle was terminated, 
 or rather appeased, it was succeeded by an utter indifference 
 for all religions, provided only their morality were good; and 
 the spirit of time proclaimed religious indifferentism as the 
 order of the day. This apparent calm was followed by the 
 revolutionary tempest; and now that this has passed away, the 
 spirit of time has in our days become absolute — that is to say, 
 it has perverted reason to party — passion, or exalted passion 
 to the place of reason : and this is the existing form and last 
 metamorphosis of the old evil spirit of time. 
 
 Turning now to that Divine aid which has supported man- 
 kind in their ever-enduring struggle against their own infir- 
 mities, against all the obstacles of nature and natural circum- 
 stances, and against the opposition of the evil spirit ; I have 
 endeavoured to shew, that in the first thousand years of 
 
476 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY. 
 
 Primitive History, Divine Revelation, although preserved in 
 its native purity but in the one original source, still flowed in 
 copious streams through the religious traditions of the other 
 great nations of that pristine epoch ; and that troubled as the 
 current might be by the admixture of many errors, yet was 
 it easy to trace it, in the midst of this slime and pollution, to 
 its pure and sacred source. And with such a belief must 
 commence every religious view of universal history. And it 
 is only with this religious belief, and perception of the traces 
 of divine revelation, we can rightly comprehend and judge 
 this primitive epoch of history. We shall prize with deeper, 
 more earnest, and more solid affection the great and divine 
 era of man's redemption and emancipation (occurring as it 
 does in the middle-point of human history) the more ac- 
 curately we discriminate between what is essentially divine 
 and unchangeably eternal in this revelation of love, and the 
 elements of destruction which man has opposed thereto or 
 intermingled therewith. And it is only in the spirit of love 
 the history of Christian times can be rightly understood and 
 accurately judged. In later ages, when the spirit of discord 
 has triumphed over love, historical hope is our only remaining 
 clue in the labyrinth of history. It is only with sentiments 
 of grateful admiration, of amazement, and awe, we trace in 
 the special dispensations of providence, for the advancement 
 of Christianity and the progress of modern society, the 
 wonderful concurrence of events towards the single object of 
 divine love, or the unexpected exercise of divine justice long 
 delayed ; such as I have in the proper places endeavoured to 
 point out. With this faith in Primitive Revelation, and in 
 the glorious consummation of Christian love, I cannot better 
 conclude this " Philosophy of History" than with the religious 
 hope I have more than once expressed, and which is more 
 particularly applicable to these times — the dawn of an ap- 
 proaching era, — that by the thorough religious regeneration 
 of the state, and of science, the cause of God and Christianity 
 may obtain a complete triumph on the earth. 
 
ANALYTICAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Absolute spirit, its excesses . 461 
 its intellectual pride . .465 
 the greatest evil of Germany . 473 
 Adam, gives his birthright to Seth 151 
 the wisest of all men . .152 
 JEschylus, his elevation . . 240 
 Africa, but little connected with 
 
 the civilised world . .108 
 Ages, different as laid down by 
 
 the Greek sagas . . 98 
 Agriculture, honoured by the 
 
 Romans .... 254 
 pursued by the Germans . 299 
 Alaric, conquest of Rome . 305 
 Albigenses, crusade against . 385 
 Alemanni, their first irruptions . 302 
 same as the Suevi . . . 303 
 Alexander the Great, conquest 
 
 of Persia . , . .226 
 his Oriental spirit . . 227 
 Alexander, Emperor, the second 
 
 founder of Russian greatness 445 
 Alfred, king of the West Saxons 353 
 America, in modern times . 109 
 its population . . .110 
 inferiority of its aboriginal na- 
 tives . . . .110 
 American tribes apparently dis- 
 tinct from other men . 92 
 Anarchy of the middle age . 379 
 Anaxagoras, expounded the na- 
 ture of the Deity . . 242 
 his doctrine a system of 
 dualism .... 243 
 Anchorites, Christian „ .312 
 Animal life, its preservation in 
 
 India . . . .189 
 sacrificed for departed souls . 1 90 
 Antiochus, conquered by the 
 
 Romans . . . .257 
 Antonines, stoicism during their 
 
 reign . . . .292 
 Arabia, hieroglyphics foundthere 220 
 never subdued . . .320 
 distracted by the quarrel in 
 Mahomet's family . . 329 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Arabic language, similar to the 
 
 Hebrew . . . .195 
 Arabs, their relation to the Jews 320 
 their tribe spirit . . .321 
 compared with other nations . 321 
 their historical traditions like 
 
 the Hebrews . . .322 
 their idolatry . . .322 
 their worship at the Caaba . 323 
 progress of their conquests in 
 
 India and Spain . .330 
 conquered by Charles Martel 331 
 their influence in Asia and 
 Africa . . . .332 
 Architecture, religious, of the 
 
 Indians . . . .178 
 of the middle age . . .374 
 Arianism, a corruption of Chris- 
 tianity .... 313 
 contributed to the downfal of 
 Rome . . . .314 
 Aristotle equal to Alexander the 
 
 Great .... 69 
 his philosophy . . . 245 
 an Arabic translation brought 
 
 to Europe by Frederick II. 371 
 study of his works in the mid- 
 dle age . . 375 
 Art, its national character . 470 
 Asia, man's primitive dwelling- 
 place in the central region 81, 83 
 disparity between the Mosaic de- 
 scription and its present state 84 
 most ancient city there . . 95 
 remains of primitive mining . 95 
 Northern, almost newly disco- 
 vered . . . .109 
 intellectual opposition between 
 
 the East and South . .164 
 its civilisation all derived from 
 
 Western Asia . . .177 
 Western, its four great king- 
 doms. . . . .232 
 A ssyrio- Babylonian empire . 223 
 a distinct dynasty of the Asi- 
 atic empire . . . 223 
 
478 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 the ancient seat of conquest . 223 
 Atheistical doctrines in China . 131 
 Atheism considered . . .101 
 in France . . . .451 
 Athens, rival of Sparta . . 236 
 its government . . .231 
 Athenians, hated all their great 
 
 men 231 
 
 their manners introduced by 
 Cecrops » . . .233 
 Atlantis, island of . . .81 
 Attila, first king of the Huns 
 who attacked the Roman 
 empire .... 304 
 his death . . . .306 
 Augustan age, the . . . 263 
 Augustine, St., his writings . 315 
 Austria, present state of learn- 
 ing there . . . .33 
 Babylon, its vast size and wealth 224 
 Bacon, his philosophy . . 430 
 Balance of power, leading events 
 of the eighteenth century 
 traced to it . . .437 
 its political system . .439 
 no longer applicable to Eu- 
 rope . . . 443-461 
 Bamyan, ruins in its neighbour- 
 hood . . . .177 
 Belus, Temple of . 223 
 Benedict, St., founds monastic 
 
 schools . . . .333 
 Black Sea, its irruption into the 
 Thracian Bosphorus, con- 
 sidered perfectly historical 79 
 Bombay, its monumental edifices 178 
 Boniface, established Christi- 
 anity in Germany . .333 
 Boniface VIII., his exaggera- 
 tions and pretensions . 382 
 Borromeo, St. Charles, his Ma- 
 nual of Religion . . 420 
 Bossuet, greatest French writer 428 
 Brahma, his attributes . . 154 
 Brahmins, their privileges par- 
 ticipated in by women . 145 
 attained their preponderance 
 
 by degrees . . .147 
 their battles with the Cstratri- 
 
 yas 147 I 
 
 strictly theologians . 148 
 
 lawyers and physicians . .149 
 connected with Seth . .152 
 styled Toija . . .156 
 marriage indispensable to them 190 
 their flower offerings . . 200 
 
 Brass, age of . . . .99 
 
 Brachmans . . . .138 
 
 Buddha, his priests mere jugglers 138 
 changed by the Chinese to Fo 139 
 his real name Gautama . 139 
 
 Buddhism, introduced in China 125 
 resembles Christianity . .134 
 inferior to Mahomedanism 135 
 sanctions polyandry . .135 
 praised by Remusat . .135 
 confusion and prolixity of its 
 
 system . . . .135 
 false philosophy . . .136 
 imitation of Christianity . 136 
 existed in Egypt . . .134 
 opposed to the Vedanta philo- 
 sophy .... 187 
 
 Buddhists, same as Samaneans 138 
 still bear the name of Scha- 
 
 mans .... 138 
 numerous in the time of Alex- 
 ander .... 140 
 possession of Eastern Asia . 140 
 
 Buffon, his hypothesis of a vast 
 
 central fire . . .76 
 
 Bonaparte . . . .436 
 moral law of his destiny . 459 
 
 Byron, Schlegel's opinion of . 29 
 
 Caaba, at Mecca, sanctuary of 
 
 Arabian worship . .323 
 erected by Abraham . .324 
 seven Arab poems kept there 325 
 
 Cadmus introduced the alphabet 233 
 
 Caesar, Julius, his conquest of 
 
 Gaul .. . . .261 
 war with Pompey . . 262 
 his assassination . . . 262 
 his Commentaries . . 263 
 
 Csesar, Augustus, the first Ro- 
 man emperor . . . 262 
 golden age of literature . 263 
 his power .... 266 
 extension of the empire under 
 him . . . .267 
 
 Cain, his fratricide the first event 
 
 in history . . . .95 
 
INDEX. 
 
 479 
 
 an inverted history of him 
 
 found among the Irhudes . 95 
 versed in metals, and addicted 
 
 to war . . . .96 
 father of the giants . .96 
 Calidas, the Indian poet . .180 
 extract from his drama of Sa- 
 
 contala . . . .185 
 compared with Sophocles . 191 
 Cabiyug, fourth age of misery . 179 
 commenced 1000 years before 
 Christ . . . .180 
 Canals, great objects of solici- 
 tude in China . . .122 
 Capital punishments, their aboli- 
 tion aimed at . . .449 
 Carlovingian Empire, its divi- 
 sion into three parts 340, 353 
 Carthaginians, their conquest of 
 
 Thebes . . . .220 
 the first Punic war . .255 
 the second Punic war . .256 
 Castes, rejected by the Buddhists 
 
 and Jains . . .140 
 preservation of, in India . 142 
 spoken of in contempt by some 
 
 modern writers . .142 
 their institution the leading 
 
 point in India . . . 144 
 connected with the transmi- 
 gration of souls . 144-156 
 their rights participated in by 
 
 women .... 145 
 their moral effects . .145 
 reckoned by the Greeks . 146 
 difference of physiognomy . 146 
 their rigid separation unac- 
 countable . . .148 
 Caste of warriors in India, not 
 
 unlike the German nobility 143 
 easily accounted for . .148 
 existence among the Cainites 149 
 Catholics of Germany, account 
 
 of 14 
 
 Catholicism, embraced by Schle- 
 
 gel . . ♦ . . 12 
 an hostility to it injurious to 
 
 the peace of Europe . .466 
 its decision and definiteness 464 
 the principal want of this 
 age 468 
 
 Cecrops, founder of Athenian 
 
 manners . . . .235 
 Celtic dialects . . . .197 
 Censor, his authority . . 253 
 Ceylon, its temples . . .178 
 Cham, race of, in Africa . .206 
 Charlemagne, his peace with the 
 
 Saxons . . . 339 
 
 laid the foundation of Christian 
 
 government . . . 343 
 division of the Carlovingian 
 empire .... 353 
 Charles V. unable to prevent the 
 
 rupture of Germany . .396 
 his idea of a universal Chris- 
 tian empire . . .399 
 imperfect success against the 
 
 Mahommedan powers . 399 
 reasons of his election to the 
 crown .... 438 
 Charles I., of England, his exe- 
 cution . . . .425 
 Charvaca philosophy . .188 
 Chi-hoangti, emperor of China, 
 built the great wall, and 
 burned the books . ,123 
 patron of Taosse . . .176 
 China, its locality . . .115 
 its extent and population . 116 
 compared with Spain, Eng- 
 land, and Russia . .116 
 Lord Macartney's document 
 
 concerning its population 116 
 compared with India . .117 
 deserves notice only in regard 
 
 to civilisation . . .118 
 never figured in history . .119 
 no conquerors ever marched 
 
 from it . . . .119 
 invaded by Tartary . .119 
 famous for the cultivation of 
 
 silk and tea . . .119 
 external civilisation . .122 
 fertility of its soil . . .122 
 numerous canals and rivers . 122 
 its great wail . . .122 
 originally divided into princi- 
 palities . . . .123 
 formed into a monarchy . 123 
 Japan became a colony of it . 123 
 divided into two kingdoms . 124 
 
480 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 its conquerors invariably adopt 
 its manners, laws, and lan- 
 guage .... 124 
 its monarchy absolute . .124 
 its history nothing but sedi- 
 tions, &c 124 
 
 violent persecution of men of 
 
 letters . . . .124 
 new system of writing intro- 
 duced . . . .125 
 introduction of Buddhism . 125 
 conquered by Zingis Khan . 125 
 restored by Chow . . .125 
 its customs and institutions 
 preserved by the emperors 
 of the Mautchon Tartar dy- 
 nasty .... 125 
 no hereditary nobility . .133 
 holds a distinguished place in 
 primitive antiquity . .137 
 Chinese, their high degree of ci- 
 vilisation . . . .119 
 printing, gunpowder, and the 
 
 magnet known to them . .120 
 remarkable for polished man- 
 ners 120 
 
 their manners not to be over- 
 looked . . . .120 
 their native dynasties furnish 
 few data of their intellectual 
 progress . • . .123 
 no sacerdotal class . .124 
 their philosophy . . .128 
 call their country the Celestial 
 
 Empire . . . .133 
 their idolatry of the state . 134 
 their gross idolatries . .134 
 their religion . . .137 
 purity of their ancient man- 
 ners 165 
 
 designation of the Supreme 
 
 Being .... 165 
 their early worship . .176 
 persecution of their ancient 
 
 doctrines . . . .176 
 ancient inhabitants . .177 
 Chinese language, difficulties at- 
 tending its study . .121 
 its symbolical character . 125 
 the absence of grammar . 150 
 its primitive character . .194 
 
 Chinese writing constitutes their 
 
 scientific education . .121 
 in the primitive ages . .126 
 found amongst the Mexicans 126 
 Remusat's opinions concern- 
 ing it . . . . 126 
 poverty of its first symbols . 126 
 their coarseness and vul- 
 garity . . . .127 
 inferiority to the Egyptian 
 
 hieroglyphics . . .127 
 
 the scientific symbols . .127 
 
 their primary lines . .128 
 
 opinion concerning them . 1 28 
 
 their high antiquity . .128 
 
 ascribed to Fohi . . .129 
 theory concerning them, and 
 
 an outline . . . . 1 29 
 
 Chinese history, epochs of .131 
 
 commences with Chow . .123 
 
 not disfigured by fictions . 132 
 bears a strong resemblance to 
 
 Mosaic revelation . .132 
 
 a continued series of revolu- 
 tions .... 134 
 proves the original eminence 
 of the people . . .137 
 Chivalry, its nature . . .371 
 its poetry .... 373 
 Chow, founder of a new Chinese 
 
 dynasty . . . .125 
 Christ, his birth . . .269 
 desired by Tiberius to be 
 
 placed amongst the gods . 269 
 his life to be viewed with faith 275 
 a Jewish Socrates . . .278 
 judged the Pharisees . .281 
 foretold the fall of Jerusalem 283 
 his conduct to the Jews . 283 
 fulfilled the law . . .284 
 Christians, confounded with Jews 271 
 firing of Rome ascribed to 
 
 them . . . .271 
 repasts of Thyestes ascribed to 
 
 them . . . .272 
 Pliny's character of . . 272 
 their thoughts on life and death 285 
 their ideas of futurity . . 285 
 their anchorites . . .312 
 model of monastic institutions 312 
 their faith and intellect . .315 
 
INDEX. 
 
 481 
 
 Christianity, a ruling power in 
 
 the world .... 263 
 first promulgation of . . 268 
 attracted the notice of the Ro- 
 mans .... 275 
 its influence on the progress of 
 
 mankind .... 276 
 its connexion with the philo- 
 sophy of history . . 275 
 necessary to the understanding 
 
 of history . . . .279 
 a continuation of the Mosaic 
 
 institution . . . .284 
 Hebrew revelation, its corner- 
 stone 288 
 
 Greek language, its second 
 
 foundation-stone . .288 
 Roman empire, its third foun- 
 dation-stone . . . 289 
 its spirit, how to seize it . 289 
 reasons of its rapid diffusion 290 
 attempted to be subverted by 
 
 the Roman emperors . . 290 
 embraced by Constantine . 295 
 embraced by the Goths . .305 
 could not alone have regene- 
 rated Rome . . .311 
 its discords injure its influence 311 
 its heresies and corruptions . 313 
 its character at that period . 315 
 Christianity, foundation of all 
 
 Christian states . .341 
 its influence on European na- 
 tions . . . .342 
 introduced in Germany by 
 
 Boniface . . . .333 
 introduced in Britain . . 333 
 introduced in Denmark . 355 
 introduced in Hungary . . 355 
 its influence in Sweden . 355 
 its power of renovation . 366 
 its institutions in the middle age 366 
 began to decline . . .373 
 would have been lost but for 
 
 the papal power . . 380 
 its unity dissolved . .398 
 its doctrines real and positive 462 
 its birth the great point of 
 
 survey . . . .466 
 philosophy its principal con- 
 cern .. 469 
 o 
 
 Christianity, the emancipation 
 
 of the human race . . 474 
 Christian love .... 268 
 Christian philosophy of the 
 
 middle age . . .375 
 
 evil of adopting the Aristo- 
 telian system . . .376 
 its interruptions . . .468 
 Christian state, error to refer 
 
 everything to it . . 344 
 its constitution and govern- 
 ment .... 345 
 its tone and spirit . . 346 
 how to discover it . . 347 
 harmonises with the German 
 
 usages .... 347 
 its nature illustrated by Char- 
 lemagne and Alfred . . 349 
 its political institutions . 350 
 its early times in Europe . 351 
 foundedin England by Gregory 354 
 Christendom, divided into two 
 
 sects . . . .351 
 Chronology, ancient, fabulous . 179 
 when commences in India . 180 
 Church, Western, weakened by 
 the contest between the two 
 Popes .... 383 
 its wealth a great stumbling- 
 block .... 383 
 struggles for the jurisdiction 
 of its property . . .384 
 Cicero, his writings . . . 263 
 Civilisation, Indian, whence 
 
 derived .... 177 
 designs of Providence mani- 
 fest in it . . . f . 277 
 Classics, their revival in the 
 
 middle age . . . 38S 
 Classical historical works of in- 
 estimable advantage . . 6T 
 Climate, its revolutions and 
 
 changes .... 75 
 Leibnitz's conjectures on it . 75 
 how to explain it . . .76 
 Codrus, his memory cherished 
 
 by the Athenians . .231 
 Colchis, an Egyptian colony 
 
 there . . . .220 
 Colebrooke, his censures on the 
 
 Sanchya philosophy . .183 
 
 I 
 
482 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Colebrooke sees an affinity be- 
 tween that and Buddhism 186 
 opinion on Nyaya philosophy 187 
 on Charvaca philosophy . 1 88 
 translation from the Vedas . 190 
 Condorcet, his theory of man . 208 
 Confucius, 460 of his followers 
 
 burnt . • . . .124 
 philosophy of . . .131 
 excited the admiration of Eu- 
 ropean scholars . .131 
 his book of sacred songs . 132 
 Conrad the second restorer of 
 
 Germany .... 357 
 Constans II., the Greek Em- 
 peror, his plunder of Rome 336 
 Constantine, embraced Chris- 
 tianity . . . .295 
 Constantinople, ruinous to Italy 305 
 taken by the Turks . . 386 
 fall of, favourable to litera- 
 ture and science . .386 
 Corinth, destruction of . . 258 
 Creation of the earth . .82 
 Crusade, the first . . 367 
 
 the second . . . .368 
 the last, against Egypt . .379 
 Cshatrivas, landed proprietors 
 
 in India .... 146 
 their war with the Brahmins 147 
 of foreign extraction . .147 
 Cyrus, his conquests . .219 
 empire founded by him . 224 
 instituted the Magi . . 224 
 Dante, his poem of visions . 373 
 D'Echstein, his account of a 
 
 literary association . .50 
 Decius the Emperor, slain by 
 
 the Goths . . .304 
 De Luc's hypothesis concern- 
 ing the deluge . . .81 
 cannot be reconciled with 
 Holy Writ ... 82 
 Deluge, vestiges of . . 74-79 
 an example pointing out those 
 of its remains which are of 
 most moment to the his- 
 torian . . . .74 
 all great changes not neces- 
 sarily to be ascribed to it . 79 
 De Luc's hypothesis of .81 
 
 Deluge, more than one . . 82 
 
 Depravity of mankind . . 99 
 
 progressive . . . .100 
 
 Descartes, his philosophy . 428 
 
 Deucalion, ancestor of the Hel- 
 lenes . . . .234 
 Dictatorship, its institution . 253 
 Divisions among mankind, cause 
 
 of 162 
 
 Earth, geographical survey . 108 
 difference between the eastern 
 
 and western hemispheres . 109 
 theory of its original state . Ill 
 Ecclesiastical tribunals, their 
 criminal process opposed to 
 Christianity . . . 409 
 writers of the past age, a foun- 
 dation for Christian science 467 
 Eden, expulsion of man from, 
 
 causes of, discussed . .84 
 Egypt, compared with India . 198 
 not known to us as a conquer- 
 ing power . . . 220 
 conquered by the shepherd 
 
 kings . . . .221 
 conflict of interests between 
 
 Upper and Lower . . 222 
 disaffection of its nobility . 222 
 unchanged by persecution . 226 
 Egyptians, held the doctrine of 
 
 transmigration of souls . 157 
 their ideas on the metempsy- 
 chosis . . . .159 
 their scientific profundity . 166 
 masters of the Greeks . .166 
 chief seat of mysteries . .167 
 leaning to magic . . .199 
 their science not exempt from 
 
 error .... 216 
 their conquests . . .219 
 their pictures of war- scenes . 221 
 their colonies . . .221 
 war with the Ethiopians . 220 
 Egyptian hieroglyphics superior 
 
 to the Chinese . . .127 
 philologists contribute to a 
 knowledge of all languages 197 
 Elias, quoted . . . .269 
 Ellore, monumental edifices . 177 
 Emigration of the ancient Ger- 
 mans «... 299 
 
INDEX. 
 
 483 
 
 Emigration, a rule of health in 
 
 nations .... 300 
 of the Saxons . . .303 
 of the Goths . . .304 
 England, Alfred, king of the 
 
 West Saxons . . .353 
 Christianity founded there . 354 
 new dynasty by William the 
 
 Conqueror . . . 355 
 its thoroughly Protestant po- 
 licy 417 
 
 its national church . .426 
 its constitution . . .431 
 
 English, their ascendancy in 
 
 India . . . .143 
 their enlightened policy there 143 
 their high intellectual cultiva- 
 tion 430 
 
 struggles between York and 
 
 Lancaster . . . 430 
 their negative philosophy . 431 
 fertile in historic research . 432 
 more than any other nation 
 conversant with their own 
 annals .... 435 
 Enoch, his longevity . .103 
 Ethiopians, war with the Egyp- 
 tians . . . .220 
 Europe favourable to settlement 
 
 from its configuration . 112 
 early intercourse with Africa 113 
 its pre-eminence . . .213 
 its early writers . . .334 
 its early kings and heroes . 334 
 its peace not to be established 
 by territorial arrangements 459 
 European powers engaged in al- 
 liances . . . .398 
 Evil, the greatest historical mys- 
 tery 391 
 
 Ferdinand, king of Spain, impo- 
 licy of his persecution of 
 the Jews .... 396 
 Fetish worship . . .199 
 Fire-worship . . . .174 
 Floods, extensive . . .79 
 Fohi, patriarch of the Chinese . 128 
 inventor of Chinese letters . 129 
 worshipped as an incarnate 
 deity . . . . 135 
 Fossil remains of man, not to be 
 
 found . . . .78 
 2 
 
 Fossil remains of the primitive 
 
 world .... 104 
 France, its religious wars . .420 
 Franks, their ancient territories 3.03 
 resemble the Alemanni . 303 
 their empire the most powerful 
 
 state of the west . .338 
 their wars .... 339 
 Frederick of Spain, his policy . 396 
 Frederick II., of Germany, ex- 
 communicated . . .370 
 king of Jerusalem . .371 
 French, their indifference on 
 
 matters of religion . .435 
 their perpetual wars with the 
 
 emperor of Germany . . 439 
 alliances with Turkey, &c. . 439 
 preponderance at the end of 
 
 the seventeenth century . 439 
 imitation of English manners 451 
 their philosophy . . .452 
 language, its popularity in the 
 
 eighteenth century . . 428 
 literature, its splendour in the 
 
 reign of Louis XIV. . . 427 
 mind, in the reign of Louis 
 XIV. . . . .427 
 Ganganelli, cause'of his suppres- 
 sion of the Jesuits . . 447 
 Ganges, was not reached by 
 
 Alexander . . .138 
 Gauls, their expedition to Greece 300 
 attracted to Italy . . . 300 
 Oenseric, his aid invoked by the 
 
 Romans . . . .306 
 Germans, their ancient idolatry 297 
 their human sacrifices . . 297 
 their prophetesses and sibyls 297 
 their poetry and traditions . 298 
 an agricultural people . . 299 
 their emigrations accounted for 299 
 their connexion with the Ro- 
 mans .... 301 
 their first irruption . .304 
 Germany, its constitution . . 298 
 its three principal nations . 302 
 consequences of their migra- 
 tion 309 
 
 salutary to Rome . 309 
 unity of its government . 341 
 its usages harmonise with 
 Christianity . . .347 
 
 I 2 
 
484 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Germany, its early kingdoms . 351 
 the election of Conrad . .356 
 Henry of Saxony appointed 
 
 emperor . . . .357 
 its power under the Saxon 
 
 emperors . . . .357 
 its central power the preser- 
 vation of Europe . . 358 
 restored to order by Rodolph 
 
 of Hapsburgh . . .380 
 the root of Protestantism . 402 
 divided by the Catholics and 
 
 Protestants . . .421 
 the thirty years' war and its 
 
 origin .... 422 
 strict maintenance of its reli- * 
 gious peace . . .433 
 compared with other Euro- 
 pean nations . . . 434 
 during the reign of Maria 
 
 Theresa . . . .450 
 prior to the French revolu- 
 tion . . . . 450 
 the absolute principle less in- 
 fluence there . . 470 
 division of its Protestantism 47 1 
 Germanic tribes, their migra- 
 
 tions to Rome . . . 294 
 
 their frequent repulses . . 294 
 
 German Empire, divided . . 397 
 
 German philosophy, its errors . 471 
 
 its religious character . .472 
 
 its infancy . . . .473 
 
 absolutism its capital vice . 473 
 
 German language, example of its 
 
 affinity to the Sanscrit . 192 
 Ghibelline spirit continued to 
 
 prevail in Europe . .370 
 
 Giants descended from Cain . 96 
 
 proud and wicked . .97 
 
 their lordly violence . .99 
 
 their large stature . .103 
 
 attested by sacred writ . .104 
 individually appear in the age 
 
 of David . . . .105 
 
 their monuments . . . 106 
 
 Gigantic animals . . .104 
 
 Gnostic heresy . . .313 
 
 God, whether all things are to be 
 deduced from Him or from 
 Nature . . . .88 
 
 God, mostly decided by the will 89 
 His image stamped on man's 
 
 soul .... 209 
 not utterly defaced . . 209 
 not an isolated thought . .211 
 images of in Holy Writ . 217 
 His permission of evil . .391 
 His Spirit revealed in his- 
 tory .... 392 
 Godfrey, King of Jerusalem . 367 
 Goerres, notice of . . .48 
 Goethe, Schlegel's Essay on . 23 
 Gold, age of . . . . 98 
 Goths, their country and lan- 
 guage .... 303 
 their hereditary government 304 
 their various emigrations . 304 
 embrace Christianity . . 305 
 war with the Romans . .305 
 Gracchus, Tiberius, occasioned 
 
 the first civil war in Rome 258 
 Caius, the troubles he occa- 
 sioned . . . .259 
 Greece, Egyptian colonies there 221 
 its locality and colonies . 229 
 its ancient appearance . . 235 
 its political history . .236 
 Greeks, their enumeration of 
 
 castes in India . . .146 
 their mythology . . .153 
 temples destroyed by Xerxes 174 
 their inventive genius . .213 
 gathered the symbolism of na- 
 ture from the Egyptians . 218 
 employed by Psammetichus . 222 
 their settlements in Lower 
 
 Egypt .... 222 
 their conquest of Persia . 226 
 variety in their life and ha- 
 bits 228 
 
 distribution into hostile tribes 228 
 their mythology in a state of 
 
 continual change . . 229 
 their traditions a labyrinth of 
 
 poetry and history . . 229 
 their navigation and trade . 229 
 their architecture and sculp- 
 ture 230 
 
 looked on war as a trade . 230 
 employed by foreign states . 230 
 their government • . . 230 
 
INDEX. 
 
 485 
 
 Greeks, tlieir employment of 
 slaves .... 232 
 aristocracy well constituted . 232 
 their commerce and priest- 
 hood . . . .232 
 their mysteries . . .233 
 their games and festivals . 233 
 nearly allied to the north . 233 
 of very-yarious extraction . 234? 
 classification of them . . 234 
 rude and barbarous in early 
 
 times .... 235 
 their character, life, and intel- 
 lect 237 
 
 their mythology . . .237 
 their poetry, its characteristic 
 
 excellence . . .238 
 interwoven with their games 238 
 their narrow education . .239 
 the Hellenic confederacy pre- 
 served .... 239 
 their odes .... 240 
 their poets unequalled . . 240 
 their sensual idolatry of nature 240 
 their sciences . . .241 
 their philosophy and philoso- 
 phers . . . .242 
 their power in an intellectual 
 
 sphere .... 246 
 originators of the historical art 246 
 their political rationalism . 247 
 established schools in Italy . 387 
 languages, foundation-stone of 
 
 Christianity . . .288 
 literature, its revival in the 
 
 middle ages . . .387 
 philosophers, their doctrines . 242 
 lived in retirement . . 244 
 predilections for an aristocracy 244 
 philosophy studied by the 
 
 Romans . . . 264 
 
 sagas, their account of the pri- 
 mitive world . . .98 
 states, long since disappeared 246 
 Gregory VII. rose to reform the 
 
 Church . . . .359 
 excommunicated Henry IV. . 360 
 his great qualities . . .360 
 Guelfs and Ghibellines, their 
 
 contests .... 369 
 Gunpowder known to the Chinese 120 
 
 Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem . 28S 
 desired to reanimate Pagan 
 
 ism .... 
 Hannibal, his war with the Ro 
 
 mans 
 
 Heathenism, its origin among 
 the Indians 
 ancient, had a foundation in 
 truth 
 
 Hebrews, inferior to the Egyp' 
 
 tians 
 their will and faith 
 their character often misun 
 
 derstood . 
 their existence confined 
 
 within one epoch 
 primitive traditions . 
 prophetic character 
 their religion the preparation 
 
 for Christianity 
 their preparation for a futu 
 
 rity .... 
 political constitution . 
 their desire for a king 
 kindred with the Phoenicians 205 
 their constancy in their faith 279 
 involved in the wars of Caesar 
 
 and Pompey . 
 two parties amongst them , 
 their error respecting a Deli- 
 verer 
 excuse for it 
 
 consequences if they had em- 
 braced Christianity . 
 rebelled against the Romans 287 
 overcome by Titus . .288 
 their expectations of a Deli- 
 verer affected Mahomet 
 Hebrew alphabet, fixed and 
 
 regulated by Moses . 
 Hebrew language, similarity 
 with the Arabic 
 its adaptation to the He- 
 brews 
 
 not the source of all lan- 
 guages ... 
 Hellenes, a Caucasian race 
 
 Deucalion, their ancestor 
 
 dispossessed the Pelasgi 
 Helots of Sparta 
 Henry IV., of Germany, ex 
 
 292 
 
 256 
 
 176 
 
 214 
 
 167 
 169 
 
 171 
 
 171 
 171 
 172 
 
 175 
 
 202 
 202 
 203 
 
 279 
 280 
 
 282 
 283 
 
 286 
 
 322 
 
 168 
 
 195 
 
 195 
 
 204 
 234 
 234 
 234 
 232 
 
486 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 communicated by Gregory 
 
 VII 360 
 
 Henry of Saxony, appointed 
 
 Emperor of Germany . 357 
 Henry VIII., of England, his 
 singular conduct on the 
 Reformation . . . 408 
 his executions . . . 408 
 Heraclitus, his doctrine of pri- 
 mary powers . . . 242 
 Herod, King of Palestine .279 
 decorated the Jewish temple 279 
 Herodotus, description of India 141 
 remarks on the Ionians .235 
 the father of History . . 246 
 Hieroglyphics, no variety of 
 
 epochs .... 218 
 their existence in Arabia . 220 
 Hindoo. (See Indian.) 
 Hindoos, preserved their insti- 
 tutions unchanged . .142 
 Hippocrates, greatest master of 
 
 medicine .... 240 
 Historical investigation, its fun- 
 damental rule . . .69 
 an example of how to pro- 
 ceed in it . . .73 
 originated by the Greeks . 246 
 Historical details indispensable 389 
 History, introduction to the 
 
 Philosophy of . . .65 
 from whence deduced and 
 . what it must be . .65 
 how to seize and comprehend 
 
 its general outline . .66 
 political events form but a 
 
 part of it . . .68 
 internal development of the 
 mind belongs to it as much 
 as politics . . .68 
 distinction between particu- 
 lar and universal . .68 
 importance of its elements 69 
 its lessons must vary with 
 each one's calling and pur- 
 suits . . . .69 
 more advantageous to inves- 
 tigate some particular 
 branch of it . . .70 
 rules for treating it gene- 
 rally „ . . .71 
 
 History, extremely hazardous 
 is the desire to fill up its 
 gaps . . . .71 
 example of these hypotheses 72 
 where history begins . . 73 
 not to reject as impossible 
 what appears marvellous 
 in it . . . .94 
 commences with Cain . .94 
 derived from tradition . .97 
 only certain nations con- 
 nected with it . . .108 
 their number . . .111 
 their classification . .112 
 no history among the In- 
 dians .... 150 
 its legitimate philosophy .210 
 superiority of the Romans .263 
 a labyrinth without a belief 
 
 in Christianity . .279 
 its philosophy not to be 
 
 found in isolated events . 389 
 should never be national . 470 
 Homer, unequalled . . . 240 
 Homeric Poetry, origin of all 
 
 arts 237 
 
 its characteristic excellence 238 
 Horace, his beautiful diction . 263 
 Horse, sacrifice of . . . 200 
 Human sacrifices widely dif- 
 fused . . . .200 
 in the Druidical North . .201 
 amongst the Germans . .297 
 Humboldt's, exposition of the 
 
 Maha-Barata . . .181 
 Huns, the .... 304 
 did not attack the Roman 
 Empire before the time of 
 Attila . . . .304 
 Hungarians, their migrations . 355 
 Christianity introduced 
 amongst them . . . 355 
 Huss, John, reformer in Bo- 
 hemia .... 385 
 Hussites ; their excesses . .401 
 Hyperboreans . . . .81 
 Idolatry, varieties in . . 198 
 Greek, its influence on morals 24 1 
 condemned by Christ . . 283 
 Illuminism, foundation of . 432 
 its effects .... 437 
 
INDEX. 
 
 487 
 
 Illuminism, its influence on the 
 
 civilisation of Europe . 443 
 not at variance with Chris- 
 tianity . . . . 446 
 its various significations . 446 
 occasions the expulsion of 
 
 the Jesuits from Spain . 447 
 an element of the revolution 455 
 its origin .... 456 
 Christian, when it will dawn 466 
 Illumines, sprung from the 
 
 Masons . . . .457 
 Image worship, contest on . 337 
 Imagination, what it is . .164 
 predominates in the Indian . 165 
 evinced in their architecture 
 and poetry . . .165 
 India, in the time of Alexander 
 
 the Great . . .138 
 variety in its moral and po- 
 litical aspect . . .141 
 split into a multitude of sects 141 
 its foreign conquerors . .141 
 parcelled out into kingdoms 142 
 no republican states . .142 
 its municipal institutions 
 
 much admired . . .143 
 superiority of the English 
 
 government there . .143 
 its leading point the institu- 
 tion of castes . . . 1 44 
 its princes originally posses- 
 sed greater weight . .147 
 compared with Egypt . .198 
 Indians, Scklegel's work on . 18 
 form a striking contrast to 
 
 the Chinese . . .141 
 their castes unchanged . 142 
 a republican tendency in 
 
 their system . . .142 
 have no regular histories . 150 
 their enthusiasm and idolatry 
 
 of nature . . .155 
 their belief in the transmi- 
 gration of souls . .156 
 their philosophy applied to 
 the deliverance of the soul 
 from transmigration . . 160 
 their imagination. . .165 
 tradition of their descent . 177 
 their architectural remains . 177 
 
 Indians, want of political his- 
 tory . . . .179 
 their age of poetry . .180 
 Indian jurisprudence . .143 
 Indian language, where spoken 140 
 Indian mythology, its peculiar 
 
 character. . . . 154 
 its coincidence with our doc- 
 trines not to be admitted 
 too quickly . • .154 
 obscured by truth . .155 
 Indian philosophy, its object . 160 
 ancient, composed in metre . 181 
 more interesting than Indian 
 
 poetry . . . .182 
 six systems reduced to three 182 
 their classifications . .183 
 Indian poetry, bears a strong 
 resemblance to the Ho- 
 meric . . . .191 
 may be compared to the best 
 Christian poesy . .191 
 Indian researches began by 
 
 European scholars . .143 
 Indian sagas, representation of 
 
 the primitive world . . 99 
 Indian traditions acknowledge 
 
 the patriarchs . . .150 
 Indo-Germanic languages, their 
 
 artificial grammar . .194 
 Infants, sacrifice of . .201 
 Innocent HI., Pope, educated 
 
 Frederic II. of Germany .370 
 Ionian philosophers opposed by 
 
 Parmenides . . .243 
 Inquisition in Spain more poli- 
 tical than ecclesiastical . 396 
 Intellect, the perfection of 
 modern, the result of the 
 union of the Germanic 
 nations with the Roman 
 empire . . . .309 
 Irhudes, their inverted history 
 
 of Cain . . . .95 
 inhabit a metallic mountain . 95 
 Iron, age of . . .99 
 
 unknown to the Titanic age 99 
 Israelites, connected with the 
 
 shepherd kings . .221 
 Italy, merged gradually into 
 Rome . . . 250 
 
488 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Italy, its various nations .250 
 fell under the Lombards . 307 
 its state at the reforma- 
 tion 419 
 
 not so intolerant as Spain . 449 
 Jains, a religious sect in India . 140 
 
 their philosophy . . .188 
 Jansenism, its injury to the 
 
 Catholic cause . . .426 
 Japan, a colony of China . 123 
 Japhet, race of in Northern 
 
 Asia .... 206 
 Jerome, his learning . .315 
 Jerusalem, its temple . .286 
 rebuilt by Hadrian . .288 
 siege of, by Titus . .288 
 
 Jethro, his daughter married 
 
 by Moses . . .168 
 Jesuits, their first institution . 406 
 claims to our good opinion . 407 
 expelled from Spain . . 447 
 Jewish covenant, corner-stone 
 
 of Christianity . . 288 
 kingdom, shared the fate of 
 
 other petty states . .203 
 swallowed up in the Roman 
 empire . . . .203 
 Jews, their expulsion from 
 
 Spain — see Hebrews. . 396 
 John of Ley den, his entry into 
 
 Munster . . . .407 
 Jones, Sir W., his studies in 
 
 Indian literature . . 8 
 Julian, Emperor, sought to re- 
 vive human sacrifices . 202 
 attempted to re-establish the 
 Jews . . . .288 
 Jurisprudence of the middle 
 
 a^e 377 
 
 Kempis, Thomas a, his work .394 
 Kingdoms, their partition not 
 
 incompatible with unity . 352 
 Knights of St. John . . 367 
 Konas, the Chinese, described . 128 
 signification of . . .128 
 origin of ... 129 
 
 Lamech, the founder of human 
 
 sacrifices . . .201 
 Language, its first diversity . 91 
 cause of . . .94 
 
 Language, distinguishing cha- 
 racteristics of . . .193 
 affinity of . . .194 
 
 the Semitic . . .195 
 the Indo-Persic . . .194 
 the Graeco-Latin . . .194 
 the Gothico-Teutonic . .194 
 the American . • .197 
 the Celtic . . . .197 
 the Magiar . . .197 
 Lao-tseu, Chinese philosopher 131 
 degeneracy of his disciples 131 
 Lectonia, tradition of . .235 
 Leibnitz, his prediction con- 
 cerning language . .19 
 his conjectures concerning 
 
 the climate of the earth . 75 
 opinion on Atheism . .101 
 on Chinese primary lines . 128 
 his philosophy, character of 429 
 Leo X., character of . .397 
 Lessing on the transmigration 
 
 of souls . . . .157 
 Lewis XL of Trance, consoli- 
 dated the absolute autho- 
 rity of his crown . .395 
 Lewis, St., his last crusade 
 
 against Egypt . .379 
 Liberalism can never obtain a 
 
 majority in Europe . ,461 
 Life, how its evils are to be 
 
 overcome . . .170 
 Light, system of, corrupted by 
 
 the Guebers . . .225 
 Literature, lectures on, by 
 
 Schlegel . . . .25 
 of the Romans . . .263 
 Livy, equal to the Greeks . 263 
 Locke, a mere English philoso- 
 pher .... 430 
 Lombards, their incursion in 
 
 Italy .... 336 
 contest between their kings 
 and the Greek Exarchs of 
 Ravenna . . . .337 
 Longevity . . . .101 
 its causes . . . .102 
 found in various countries . 102 
 not to be doubted . .105 
 Louis XIV., his foreign policy 
 unchristian . . .427 
 
INDEX. 
 
 489 
 
 Louis XIV. strengthened his 
 
 regal prerogative . .427 
 Luther, Martin, his writings . 400 
 opposed to the excesses of 
 
 the Hussites . . .401 
 reprobated the rejection of 
 
 the sacred mysteries . 404 
 his original powers of mind 404 
 Maccabees, laid down their 
 
 lives for their faith . .279 
 Macartney's (Lord) document 
 concerning the population 
 ofChina . . . .116 
 fixes the commencement of 
 Chinese history in the dy- 
 dasty of Chow . .123 
 Macedon, its ascendency over 
 
 Greece . . . .231 
 Macedonian conquests in Asia, 
 
 their influence . .288 
 Machiavelli, his acute perspi- 
 cacity and delicate discri- 
 mination . . . .67 
 opposed to Thomas a Kem- 
 
 pis 395 
 
 Magi, instituted by Cyrus . 224 
 Magiar language . . .197 
 Magic, practice of by primi- 
 tive Cainites . . .98 
 of the Egyptians . .199 
 its" association with mys- 
 teries .... 215 
 Magnet, known to the Chinese 120 
 Maha - Barata, great Indian 
 
 epic poem . . .181 
 sets forth the Vedanta phy- 
 losophy . . . .181 
 Mahomet, his aversion to idol- 
 atry .... 322 
 affected by the expectation 
 
 of a Deliverer . . 822 
 chosen to touch the Caaba 324 
 his poetry . . . .325 
 acknowledged a prophet by 
 
 his wife Cadijah . .325 
 difficulty of ascertaining his 
 
 real history . . .325 
 his religious system . .326 
 his prohibition of wine . 327 
 his system of morals . .328 
 his flight to Mecca . . 329 
 
 Mabomet, his death . .329 
 contest among his disciples . 329 
 Mahommedans in India . .140 
 Mahommedanism contrasted 
 
 with Christianity . .318 
 its proscription of images . 337 
 Mahometism, unitarianism of 318 
 fanatism of, its rapid propa- 
 gation of . . . . 318 
 sketch of . . 320—330 
 influence of tribe-spirit on .321 
 sketch of, by Goerres . .331 
 Maistre, his appreciation of St. 
 
 Martin .... 458 
 his firmness of character, &c. 468 
 Malays, their language differ- 
 ent from the Indian . .141 
 Mammoth remains . . .104 
 Man, his primitive dwelling- 
 place in the central region 
 of Western Asia . . 83 
 traditions of various nations 
 
 concerning it . . .83 
 disparity between the Mosaic 
 description and the pre- 
 sent conformation of those 
 regions . . . .84 
 his relation on earth . .85 
 his affinity to the lower 
 
 animals . . . .85 
 designed to be the lord of 
 
 creation . . . .86 
 speech his distinguishing 
 
 characteristic . . .86 
 not to be viewed with the 
 
 eye of a naturalist . .89 
 created free . . . .89 
 endowed with two wills . 89 
 division into nations . .91 
 identity of origin . .91 
 falls into a state of conflict 
 
 and confusion . . .91 
 diversity of races . .91 
 tbeir analogy . . .92 
 his second fall . . .93 
 received much from sacred 
 
 tradition . . .96 
 
 separation of into tribes . 97 
 
 golden age . . . .98 
 
 in two great parties . .98 
 
 silver age . . . .99 
 
490 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Man, brazen age . 99 
 iron age . . . .99 
 all degenerated . . .99 
 gradual declination . .100 
 in the present period divided 
 
 into two hostile divisions . 101 
 his primitive gigantic stature 
 
 and longevity . . .103 
 union of the two races . .104 
 became more disfigured with 
 
 increasing degeneracy . 152 
 his individual unity broken . 162 
 object of his intellectual and 
 
 moral exertions . .162 
 his moral being . . .163 
 his four primary faculties . 1 63 
 his likeness to his creator . 207 
 considered merely as an ani- 
 mal 207 
 
 his internal life . . .211 
 his progressive and social 
 
 development . . .212 
 his immediate insight into 
 
 nature .... 214 
 his free will . . .389 
 Marius, his victories . .260 
 Marriages, in India, unlawful 
 between persons of different 
 
 caste 145 
 
 indispensable to the Brah- 
 mins .... 190 
 Mars, progenitor of the Ro- 
 mans .... 251 
 Martel, Charles, conquered the 
 
 Arabs . . . .331 
 Martin, St., a Christian Theo- 
 
 sophist .... 458 
 Masonic Societies, their Sym- 
 bols 456 
 
 their influence . . .457 
 societies proceeding from 
 
 them .... 457 
 harmonised with the English 
 
 state .... 458 
 Christian'party sprung up in 
 them . . . .458 
 Maximilian, his alliance with 
 
 the pope . . .898 
 Medici, Cosmo and Lorenzo, 
 encouraged classical litera- 
 ture . 387 
 
 Melancthon, his opinions akin 
 
 to Catholic doctrines . 404 
 Men of Letters persecuted in 
 
 • China .... 124 
 Middle age, not a period of 
 
 anarchy .... 365 
 its radical vice . . .372 
 its art and poetry . .373 
 its architecture and painting 374 
 its Christian philosophers . 375 
 its scholastic philosophy . 376 
 its jurisprudence . .377 
 Military service in India . .148 
 Millenarian doctrine . .316 
 Mimansa philosophy . . 188 
 Mind, its internal develop- 
 ment belongs as much to 
 history as politics . . 68 
 Mining, primitive . . .95 
 Mino, a Chinese race . .177 
 Mithridates, war with the Ro- 
 mans .... 260 
 Modern history, Schlegel's Lec- 
 tures on . . . .22 
 Moguls, their great power in 
 the Middle Ages . .379 
 overthrew Russia, Poland, 
 
 and Silesia . . . 380 
 empire, not so important as 
 the Roman . . .118 
 Moloch, sacrifices to . . 200 
 Monarchy, its foundations . 248 
 Monumental remains . . 105 
 Mosaic account corroborated 
 by other nations . . 94 
 ascribes the origin of here- 
 ditary trade to the Cainites 149 
 represents the corruption of 
 the world . . .130 
 Mosaic history, its brevity . 172 
 its explanations of science .216 
 Mosaic genealogy, very clear . 206 
 Moses, versed in Egyptian sci- 
 ence .... 167 
 his precepts conformable to 
 
 Egyptian usages . .167 
 rejected all that was corrupt 
 
 in them . . . .168 
 not disconcerted by Egyp- 
 tian sorcerers . . .168 
 no more priest than king . 202 
 
INDEX, 
 
 491 
 
 Moses, his doctrine of man's 
 
 likeness to God . .210 
 Music, primitive . . .95 
 of the Cainites . . .149 
 chiefly consecrated . .149 
 Mysteries, their associations .215 
 Mysticism, better understood 
 
 by Europeans . . .160 
 Mythology of Greece, repub- 
 lican . . . .229 
 of the Hindoos . . .153 
 Nantes, Edict of, lamentable 
 
 effects of its revocation . 425 
 Nations, their divisions . 91 
 
 only a few really historical 108 
 their number . . .111 
 their classification . .112 
 their early intercourse .219 
 Napoleon, character of . . 459 
 Nature, her mute language and 
 
 symbolical writing . .87 
 adored by the Indians . 155 
 its sensual idolatry, the fun- 
 damental error of pagan- 
 ism .... 215 
 its pure and simple venera- 
 tion . . . .217 
 its pure symbolism . .218 
 worshipped by the Greeks . 240 
 law of, traced in the history 
 of mankind . . .310 
 Nero, sets Rome on fire . .271 
 threw the blame upon the 
 Christians . . .272 
 Newspapers, their power . 70 
 Nobility, hereditary, does not 
 
 exist in China . . .133 
 Normans, their naval expedi- 
 tions .... 354 
 assisted the Greeks against 
 
 the Saracens . . .355 
 their part in the first crusade 367 
 North Pole, eulogised in tradi- 
 tion . . . .79 
 in what it differs from the 
 
 South .... 80 
 earliest abode of the human 
 race . . . .81 
 North, occasions which led to 
 
 its early colonisation . 80 
 Northern Firmament possesses 
 
 the most brilliant constel- 
 lations . . . .80 
 Norway, its intolerance . . 448 
 Nyaya philosophy, like Buddh- 
 ism 139 
 
 founded by Gautama . .186 
 embraces logic . . .186 
 discussed by the Indians with 
 
 great copiousness . .187 
 its tendency ideal . .187 
 Odoacer, called to the Eoman 
 
 empire .... 307 
 conquered by Theodoric . 307 
 Olympic and Isthmian games . 233 
 Origen, his leaning to the 
 
 Gnostics . . . .315 
 Orpheus, founder of the Greek 
 
 Mysteries . . . 233 
 Osiris, his conquests . . 220 
 Osymandas, his expedition to 
 
 Bactriana . . .220 
 Otho, Emperor of Germany, 
 
 deposed the Pope . . 359 
 power of choosing the Pope . 359 
 Ovid, inferior to the Greeks . 263 
 Paganism, how to be classed . 199 
 not to be considered as mere 
 
 poetry .... 200 
 its fundamental error . .215 
 its mysteries . . .215 
 Pahlavas, their origin . .100 
 Painting, its progress in Italy 
 and Germany in the mid- 
 dle age .... 374 
 Paris, Schlegel's visit to . .9 
 Parmenides, his doctrines . 243 
 Patagonians of America . . 105 
 Patriarchs, descended from 
 
 Seth .... 96 
 a peaceful race . . .96 
 their longevity . . .103 
 recognised by the Indians . 150 
 care for their race . .151 
 Patricians and plebeians of 
 Rome .... 252 
 their mutual interest . . 253 
 their wars conducted by Ma- 
 rius and Sylla . • . 259 
 Paul, St., a Pharisee . .281 
 Peace, nothing but war kept 
 under by human dexterity 67 
 
492 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Pelasgi, the aborigines of 
 
 Greece . . . .234 
 Pelasgic remains in Italy . 250 
 Perfectibility.progressive, often 
 
 contrary to history . .208 
 Persians, form a point of tran- 
 sition . . , .173 
 their universal conquest .173 
 resemblance to the Indians 
 
 and Hebrews . . .173 
 connexion with the Chinese 
 
 and Egyptians . . .173 
 hatred for idolatry . .174 
 fire-worship . . .174 
 their conquests . . .219 
 empire founded by Cyrus . 224 
 their ancient energy . .213 
 purity of their ancient reli- 
 gion .... 217 
 ascendency of their priests . 225 
 education of their nobility . 225 
 causes of their decline and fall 226 
 Persian language spoken in 
 
 India . . . .140 
 its affinity to the Sanscrit . 193 
 Peter the Hermit . . .367 
 Peter the Great, founder of 
 the present greatness of 
 Eussia .... 444 
 Pharaohs, their conquests .219 
 Pharisees, patricians of the 
 
 state .... 280 
 judged by Jesus Christ . 281 
 seven species of them . .281 
 Philip the Fair, of France, his 
 conduct towards the Tem- 
 plars .... 381 
 fixes the pope at Avignon . 382 
 Philosophy of History, defi- 
 nition of . . . .65 
 an essential part of divinity .275 
 right comprehension of . 389 
 Philosophy of Life, Schlegel's 
 
 lectures on . . .51 
 Phoenicians, cause of their 
 
 migrations . . .80 
 religion of . . . .173 
 their sacrifice to Moloch . 200 
 their kindred with the He- 
 brews .... 205 
 Pindar, his odes . . .240 
 
 Pisistratus, hated by the Athe- 
 nians .... 231 
 Plato, his luminous manner . 153 
 derived his doctrine from the 
 
 Egyptians . . .166 
 his inquiries an exception to 
 
 Greek intellect . . 242 
 his notion of reminiscence . 243 
 opinion of the Sophists . 244 
 Pliny, the younger, his report 
 
 of the Christians to Trajan 272 
 Poetry oiten nearer the truth 
 
 than vulgar analogies . 100 
 of the Hindoos . . .191 
 its characteristics . .191 
 Persian .... 239 
 of the middle age . . 373 
 its national character . .470 
 Poland, incorporated with 
 
 other European nations .355 
 penetrated by the Socinians. 415 
 Political events form but a part 
 
 of history. . . .68 
 knowledge of, not a complete 
 
 science . . . .68 
 idolatry of their state the 
 fundamental error of the 
 Romans . . . .266 
 Poly-andry, prevails in Buddh- 
 ist nations . . .135 
 not known in China . .135 
 Polygamy, injurious effect in 
 
 Mahommedan nations . 135 
 in India, mitigated . . 145 
 Polynesia, not to be considered 
 
 a subject for history . 109 
 Polytheism of the Greeks and 
 
 Indians . . . .153 
 Pompey, his war with Caesar . 262 
 Popes, superiority of Leo and 
 
 Gregory .... 833 
 their influence in Italy . 335 
 their contests with the Em- 
 perors of Germany . .381 
 their residence at Avignon . 382 
 two elected . . . .382 
 immediately prior to the Re- 
 formation . . .397 
 Portuguese poetry . . .10 
 Power, cause of the system of 
 the balance of . . . 438 
 
INDEX. 
 
 493 
 
 Pracrit language, compared 
 
 with the Sanscrit . .140 
 Praetorians, their influence . 293 
 Pre-existence of the soul . 243 
 Priests in India, hereditary . 148 
 Printing, known to the Chi- 
 nese 120 
 
 Protestantism, the work of man 411 
 its duration no proof of its 
 
 divine origin . . .411 
 its spirit .... 412 
 its mighty historical effects 414 
 established in Scandinavia . 416 
 introduced in England .417 
 its final triumph there .417 
 its influence in Holland and 
 
 the Netherlands . .418 
 penetrated France . .420 
 its divisions in Germany . 47 1 
 period of its preponderance 
 there . . . .472 
 Providence, his visible guid- 
 ance 390 
 
 Prussia, converted to a secular 
 
 duchy . . . .403 
 Psammetichus, dissaffection in 
 
 his reign .... 222 
 employed Greek soldiers . 222 
 Pythagoreans, their design . 154 
 derived their doctrine from 
 
 the Egyptians . . .166 
 their doctrine similar to 
 Plato's . . . .244 
 Ramayana, great Indian epic 
 
 poem .... 180 
 Rationalism amongst Catho- 
 lics 403 
 
 political, defined . . 247 
 Reason, what it is . . ,164 
 predominates in the Chinese 165 
 Reformation, its commence- 
 ment .... 384 
 how promoted . . . 40 1 
 its total rejection of tradi- 
 
 dition .... 402 
 its revolutionary turn . . 403 
 a barbarous era . . . 409 
 ought to have been a divine 
 
 one .... 410 
 m extraordinary reyolution 411 
 
 I Regeneration of society . . 468 
 how to be effected . . 468 
 Religion, the only safeguard of 
 
 the civilised world . .461 
 Remusat, translation of a Chi- 
 nese novel . . .120 
 infused new life into the 
 
 study of Chinese literature 126 
 opinions of Chinese writ- 
 ing 126 
 
 literal Chinese translation . 130 
 praises the Buddhist Moguls 135 
 proves the false philosophy 
 of the Buddhists . .136 
 Republics, kindred with mo- 
 narchy .... 248 
 Revelation, no secrecy in it .456 
 Revolutions in Germany . 35 
 in France .... 436 
 conflict of European nations 
 
 which sprang out of it . 436 
 looked upon as a religious 
 
 war .... 436 
 created a chasm . . .437 
 extended throughout Europe 453 
 produced a war of twenty- 
 one years . . . 453 
 Rhode's Primitive History, 
 
 Schlegel's review of . . 35 
 Rodolph of Hapsburgh, restored 
 order to the German em- 
 pire . . . .380 
 his election to the crown . 380 
 Romans, their mythology, 
 
 rude and simple . .251 
 their titular deities . .251 
 their reverence for their 
 
 city 251 
 
 their character . . . 252 
 their hatred to kings . .252 
 their ideas of government . 253 
 their early simplicity . .253 
 their fondness for agricul- 
 ture .... 254 
 their unshaken constancy . 254 
 their gradual conquests .255 
 wars with Carthage, &c. .255 
 give freedom to the Greeks . 257 
 their footing in Asia . .257 
 the third Punic war . .258 
 
494 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Romans, their civil wars . 258 
 war with Mithridates . . 260 
 games of the circus . .260 
 their energy in conquest .261 
 licentiousness of their man- 
 ners . . . .261 
 their poetry . . .263 
 superiority of their historic 
 
 writings . . . .263 
 their study of Greek philo- 
 sophy .... 264 
 their jurisprudence . .264 
 their fundamental error . .266 
 their connexion with the 
 
 Germans . . .301 
 their descriptions of Ger- 
 many .... 302 
 invoked the aid of Genseric 
 against Alaric . . 306 
 Roman empire, its extension 
 under Augustus . .267 
 third foundation stone of 
 
 Christianity . . .289 
 commencement of its de- 
 cline .... 293 
 right of succession to it . 293 
 excursions of the northern 
 
 tribes .... 294 
 its gradual dissolution . 295 
 ruined by internal discord . 306 
 its later governors . . 307 
 its corruptions irremediable . 311 
 important to Christianity .311 
 could never have become a 
 Christian state . .467 
 Rome, the seven pledges of its 
 
 duration . . . .251 
 deified by the Romans . .251 
 a school of war . . .254 
 its disputes with the new By- 
 zantine court . . . 305 
 Rousseau, his opinion on 
 
 savages . . . .93 
 his eloquence . . .452 
 Ms philosophy . . . 453 
 Russia not comparable with 
 
 China . . . .116 
 received Christianity from 
 
 the Byzantines . . .356 
 exempt from the influence of 
 Protestantism . . .416 
 
 Russia under Peter the Great . 444 
 its artificial civilisation . 444 
 groundwork of its modern 
 
 civilisation . . . 445 
 extension of its religious 
 
 liberty . . . .448 
 its strength dependent on its 
 religion . . . .460 
 Russian Church, its separation 
 
 from the Greek Patriarch . 444 
 Sacontala, drama of . .185 
 translated by Sir W. Jones . 185 
 Sacrifices, human . . .95 
 of the Phoenicians . . 200 
 of the Druids . . .201 
 Salsette and Elephanta, tem- 
 ples of . . . .178 
 Sanchya philosophy . .182 
 censured as atheistical . .183 
 a system of dualism . .183 
 its second part, the Yoga 
 philosophy . . .184 
 Sanscrit literature ... 7 
 society for its investigation . 8 
 its connexion with the Bible 8 
 studied by Schlegel . . 9 
 classical ianguage of India . 1 40 
 spoken in the Upper Ganges 141 
 similar to Greek and Latin . 19 1 
 aflinity to the German and 
 Persian languages . .191 
 Saracens, their war with 
 
 Christendom . . . 367 
 Savages, example drawn from . 72 
 many of them superior . 93 
 Rousseau's opinion . . 93 
 Savage state, not the original 
 
 state of man . . .88 
 Savanarola, headed a political 
 
 revolution . . .398 
 Saxon emperors, their first age 
 
 a happy one . . . 357 
 their excursions to Rome and 
 Italy . . . .358 
 Saxons, their ancient terri- 
 
 tories .... 302 
 their emigrations . . 303 
 Schamous . . . .138 
 Schelling's philosophy of na- 
 ture . . . 130 
 philosophy . . .171 
 
INDEX. 
 
 495 
 
 Schiller, character of his 
 
 " Thirty Years' War" . 422 
 Sehlegel's (A. W.), exposition 
 of the Maha-Barata . .181 
 comparison of words . . 192 
 (W.) his birth ... 2 
 on the Austrian s . . .34 
 (C. A.) studies in Sanscrit . 2 
 Schlegel, Frederick von, family 
 
 of 2 
 
 his birth and education . 2 
 his visit to Dresden . . 3 
 his fondness for the Olympic 
 
 marbles .... 3 
 commenced his literary ca- 
 reer 3 
 
 essay on Greek poetry . 3 
 two treatises on Grecian wo- 
 men .... 4 
 on Caesar and Alexander . 4 
 his works on the Greeks and 
 
 Komans .... 5 
 history of Greek poetry . 5 
 resolves to study Sanscrit . 9 
 repairs to Paris ... 9 
 studies under De Langles 
 
 and Chezy ... 9 
 lectures on metaphysics, &c. 9 
 writes on the Portuguese and 
 
 Provencal poetry . .10 
 his letters on Christian paint- 
 ing .... 10 
 letters on Gothic architec- 
 ture . . . .12 
 embraces Catholicism . .12 
 his conversion hailed with 
 
 enthusiasm . . .14 
 attacked by Voss . .17 
 his work on the Indians and 
 
 an analysis . . .18 
 his lectures on modern his- 
 tory at Vienna . .22 
 contributor to periodicals . 23 
 his literary essays . .23 
 his poetry and translations . 24 
 compared with his brother . 25 
 his lectures on literature at 
 
 Vienna . . . .25 
 critique on De la Martine 
 
 and Byron . . .29 
 closes his literary career . 29 
 
 I Schlegel, secretary to the 
 
 Archduke Charles . . 30 
 founds the Austrian Ob- 
 server . . . .30 
 his political views . . 30 
 opposed to the Austrian Go- 
 vernment . . .32 
 representative at the Diet . 34 
 review of Rhode's primitive 
 
 history . . .35 
 
 established the Concordia . 37 
 analysis of his work on the 
 
 characteristics of the age 37 
 published a new edition of his 
 
 works . . . .49 
 analysis of Ins philosophy of 
 
 life 51 
 
 Scholastic philosophy of the 
 
 middle age, essentially false 377 
 its pernicious influence . 377 
 Schubert, his opinion on a 
 
 newly-discovered cavern . 75 
 Science, monarchical in India 
 but republican in Greece . 228 
 physical, created by the 
 Greeks . . . .241 
 Scipio, his conquest of Car- 
 thage 258 
 
 his assassination . . . 259 
 Sclavonic languages . .196 
 Seas originally must have 
 stretched much further 
 over the earth . . .79 
 Secret societies, their origin 
 
 and influence . . .456 
 Semitic languages . . .195 
 race in Central Asia . . 206 
 Sesostris, his conquests . .219 
 not destitute of historic 
 foundation . . .221 
 Seth, father of the patriarchs . 96 
 monuments and traditions of 96 
 his high pre-eminence . .151 
 Shakespeare, originality of Ins 
 
 genius . . . .431 
 Shepherd kings conquered 
 Egypt . . . .221 
 expelled by Amenophis . .221 
 Shishak,mentioned in Scripture 22 1 
 Silk cultivated by the Chinese . 119 
 Siva, worshippers of, retain 
 
496 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 traditions of the early 
 Cainites . . .98 
 
 his attributes . . .155 
 Slaves, no distinct class in 
 
 India .... 144 
 employed by the Greeks . 232 
 Societies, secret, origin and 
 
 effects of . . 457—458 
 Socinians penetrated Poland .415 
 Socrates, his range of specula- 
 tion 243 
 
 Sophia, St., converted into a 
 
 mosque .... 386 
 Sophocles, his noble beauty . 240 
 Soul, its transmigration . .156 
 its immortality . . .156 
 Spain, its state at the refor- 
 mation . . . .418 
 its intolerance . . . 449 
 Sparta, kingly dignity there .231 
 led the Doric confederacy . 236 
 Speech, the distinguishing cha- 
 racteristic of man . .86 
 includes a living, working 
 
 power . . . .87 
 communicated to man . .88 
 Spinoza, his pantheism . . 428 
 its extensive influence . .428 
 Spiritual life, how to be 
 
 restored to man . .211 
 Stoicism, under the Antonines . 292 
 Stolberg, his conversion to 
 
 Catholicism . . .15 
 attacked by Voss . .17 
 Sudras, their hereditary rights 144 
 difference in their bodily 
 structure . . . .146 
 Suetonius, confounded the 
 
 Christians with the Jews 271 
 Suevi, their original seat . . 303 
 Switzerland, Protestant influ- 
 ence there . . .414 
 Sword, discovered . . .95 
 Sylla, his conquests. . .260 
 lays down the dictatorship . 260 
 Symbols of the Chinese . .127 
 Symbolical error produced 
 
 mythology . . .214 
 the most excusable error .215 
 Tacitus, his history . . 263 
 
 Tacitus, his misrepresentation 
 
 of the Christians . .271 
 Taossi, or disciples of reason . 176 
 their persecutions of the old 
 Chinese morals . .176 
 Tartars, invaded China . .119 
 conformed to the habits of 
 
 the Chinese . . .119 
 famous for their attachment 
 to Chinese customs and 
 institutions . . .125 
 Taylor, Dr., confounds Nyaya 
 philosophy with Buddh- 
 ism 186 
 
 Templars, origin of their name 367 
 introduced illuminism . .456 
 
 Terence 263 
 
 Tertullian, his testimony con- 
 cerning Jesus Christ . 269 
 Thebais, its monuments . .220 
 Thebes, conquered by the Car- 
 
 thagenians . . . 220 
 Themistocles, sacrificed three 
 
 youths . . . .202 
 Theodoric, conquers Odoacer . 307 
 esteemed by the Romans . 307 
 Theresa, St., beauty of her 
 
 writings . . . .419 
 Thracians, their northern de- 
 scent .... 234 
 Thucydides, his mighty intellect 66 
 Tiberius, Christianity founded 
 
 in his reign . . . 269 
 proposes to enrol our Saviour 
 
 among the gods . .269 
 his hostility against the gods 270 
 Time, the spirit of . . .475 
 its triumphs and different 
 appearances . . .475 
 Titans, their turbulence , . 99 
 their arms . . , .99 
 iron unknown to them . 99 
 Tirhaka, King of Ethiopia his 
 
 conquests . . . 220 
 Toleration established in Ger- 
 many .... 448 
 admitted through all Europe 448 
 Tower of Babel . . .223 
 Tradition the foundation of 
 history . . . . - 73 
 
INDEX. 
 
 497 
 
 Tradition revealed to man . 96 
 sacred, discussed . 11'5 — 132 
 Chinese corroborate Holy 
 Writ .... 132 
 Traditions of Greece, their cha- 
 racter .... 229 
 of the Indians . . .150 
 Trajan, decision concerning 
 
 Christians . . . 290 
 desired to restore old Roman 
 virtues . . . ,291 
 Transmigration of souls, be- 
 lieved in by the Indians . 156 
 connected with castes . .156 
 held by the Egyptians . . 157 
 mixed with primitive faith . 157 
 Lessing's adoption of it . 157 
 differently received by the 
 Egyptians and Indians . 159 
 Trent, council of, nature of its 
 
 decrees .... 410 
 Tribunate, the Roman idea ot 252 
 Trinity, the Hindoo notion of, 
 compared with the Chris- 
 tian doctrine . . .134 
 Truth identical with God .170 
 consequences of deviation 
 from . . . .216 
 Turkey, its wars considered to 
 
 be religious . . . 439 
 Turks, took Constantinople . 386 
 Tutelar deities of Italy . .251 
 Understanding denned . .165 
 not the principal organ . 170 
 of man's perception . 163 — 164 
 Valmiki, author of the Rama- 
 
 yana .... 180 
 Vandals, kindred race to the 
 
 Goths . . .303 
 become the allies of Rome . 306 
 Vasa, Gustavus, separates 
 
 Sweden from Denmark . 416 
 Vedanta philosophy, set forth 
 
 in the Maha-Barata . 181 
 explains the Vedas . .188 
 a system of Pantheism . 189 
 Vedas, only read by the Brah- 
 mins .... 149 
 explained by the Vedanta 
 
 philosophy . . .188 
 passage translated . .190 
 2 K 
 
 Vikramaditya, his reign in 
 
 India . . . .180 
 age of poetry and literature 180 
 Virgil, poetry of . . .263 
 Vishnoo, his attributes . .155 
 Voss, attacks Schlegel and 
 
 Stolberg . . . .17 
 his jealousy of Schlegel . 18 
 Vyasa, author of the Maha- 
 Barata .... 181 
 founder of the Vedanta phi- 
 losophy . . . .181 
 Waldenses, their opposition to 
 
 the church . . .385 
 War, ancient . 
 may degenerate into a savage 
 
 ferocity . . . .93 
 first war between the two great 
 
 divisions of primitive man 97 
 a struggle between two reli- 
 gious parties 9S 
 Warriors in India, origin of 
 
 their caste . . .148 
 Westphalia, the treaty of, con- 
 sidered . . . .423 
 the magna charta of reli- 
 gious liberty . . .433 
 toleration established by it . 44 9 
 Wicklifie, the English reformer 3 8 5 
 Will, must decide between God 
 
 and nature . . .89 
 man endowed with two wills 89 
 the divine and natural . 90 
 cause of constant struggle . 90 
 man's principal organ . .170 
 Wine, prohibited by Mahomet 
 out of a spirit of hostility 
 to Christianity . .327 
 Women in India, participate in 
 
 the rights of caste . .145 
 superior moral condition . 145 
 reverenced by the Indians . 190 
 Xenophon, his sketch of Per- 
 sian education . .225 
 Xerxes, destroyed the Grecian 
 
 temples . . . .174 
 his expedition in Greece .226 
 Yoga philosophy . . . 1 84 
 Yogi hermits, description from 
 
 the Sacontala . . .185 
 known by the Greeks . .185 
 
498 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Yorkshire, cave discovered in 75 
 Schubert's opinion concern- 
 ing it . . . .75 
 Youths, sacrifice of . .201 
 Zingis Khan, conquers China 125 
 his conquests . .379 
 
 Ziska, ravaged Bohemia . 385 
 Zoroaster, his denomination of 
 
 India . . . .141 
 alteration of the system of 
 
 light .... 225 
 
 THE END. 
 
 C. WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STRAND. 
 
A