^$ / . ft. ii » Here, said T, here once flourished an opulent city, here was the seat of a powerful empire.— CA. // VOLNEY'S RUINS; .1 OR, MEDITATION ON THE REVOLUTIONS OF EMPIRES. TRANSLATED UNDER THE IMMEDIATE INSPECTION OF THE AUTHOR l ROM THE SIXTH PARIS EDITION. TO WHICH IS ADDED, THE LAW OF NATURE, AND A SHORT BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE, BY COUNT DARU : ALSO, THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN DR. PRIESTLY AND VOLNBY. I will go into the desert, and dwell among ruins; I will interrogate an- cient monuments on the wisdom of past times.'— Chap. iv. p. 30. BOSTON : PUBLISHED BY CHARLES GAYLORD. 1840'. LC Control Number 2004 354428 I ii J)/G n GIFT ADVERTISEMENT. VOLNEY'S RUINS; OR, MEDITATION ON THE REVOLUTIONS OF EMPIRES The superior merits of this work are too well known to require commendation ; but as it is not generally known that there are in circulation three English translations of it, varying very ma- terially in regard to faithfulness and elegance of diction, the publishers of the present edition insert the following extracts for the information of purchasers and readers : PARIS TRANSLATION. J\roio first Published in this Country by Dixon and Sickels in duodecimo and octavo, INVOCATION. Hail solitary ruins ! holy sepulchres, and silent walls ! you I invoke ;. to you I address my prayer. While your aspect averts, with secret terror, the vulgar regard, it excites in my heart, the charm of delicious sentiments, sublime contemplations. What useful lessons \ what affecting and profound reflections you suggest to him who knows how to consult you. When the whole earth, in chains and silence, bowed the neck before its tyrants, you had already proclaimed the truths which they abhor, and confounding the dust of the king with that of the meanest slave, had announced to man the sacred dogma of Equality ! Within your pale, in solitary adoration of Liberty, I saw her Genius arise from the mansions of the dead; not such as she is painted by the impassioned multitude, armed with fire and sword, but under the august aspect of Justice, poising in her hand the sacred balance, v>^herein are weighed the actions of men at the gates of eternity. 1* b ADVERTISEMENT. O Tombs ! what virtues are yours ! you appal the tyrant's heart, and poison with secret alarm his impious joys ; he flies, with coward step, your incorruptible aspect, and erects afar his throne of insolence. LO]\DON TRANSLATION. INVOCATION. bolitary ruins, sacred tombs, ye mouldering and silent walls, all hail ! To you I address my Invocation. While the vul- gar shrinlc from your aspect with secret teiTor, my heart finds in the contemplation a thousand delicious sentiments, a thousand admirable recollections. Pregnant, I may truly call you, with useful lessons, with pathetic and irresistible advice to the man who knows how to consult you. Awhile ago, the whple world bowed the neck in silence before the tyrants that oppressed it; and yet in that hopeless moment you already proclaimed the truths that tyrants hold in abhorrence : mixing the dust of the proudest kmgs with that of the meanest slaves, you called upon us to contemplate this example of Equality. From your cav- erns, whither the musing and anxious love of Liberty led me, . I saw escape its venerable shade, and with unexpected felicity, direct its flight and marshal nty steps the way to renovated France. Tombs ! what virtues and potency do you exhibit ! Tyrants tremble at your aspect — you poison with secret alarm their im- pious pleasures — they*turn from you with impatience, and, cow- ard like, endeavour to forget you amid the sumptuousness of their palaces. PHILADELPHIA TRANSLATION. INVOCATION. Hail, ye solitary ruins, ye sacred tombs, and silent walls ! 'Tis your auspicious aid that I invoke, 'tis to you my soul, wrap- ped in meditation, pours forth its prayer ! What though the profane and vulgar mind shrinks with dismay from your august and awe-inspiring aspect, to me ye unfold the sublimest charms of contemplation and sentiment, and offer to my senses the lux- ury of a thousand delicious and enchanting thoughts ! How sumptuous the feast to a being that has a taste to relish, and an understanding to consult you ! What rich and noble admoni- tions, what exquisite and pathetic lessons do you read to a heart that is susceptible of exalted feelings ! When oppressed hu- ADVERTISEMENT. 7 manhy bsiit in timid silence throughout the globe beneath the galling yoke of slavery, it was you that proclaimed aloud the birthright of those trutlis which, tyrants tremble at while they de- tect, and which by sinking the loftiest head of the proudest potentate, with all his boasted pageantry, to the level of mor- tality with his meanest slave, confirmed and ratified by your un- erring testimony the sacred and immortal doctrine of Equality. Musing within the precincts of your inviting scenes of philo- sophic solitude, whither the insatiate love of trueborn Liberty had led me, I beheld her genius ascending, not in the spurious character and habit of a bloodthirsty Fury armed with daggci-s and instruments of raurdei-, and followed by a frantic and intoxi- cated multitude, but under the placid and chaste aspect of jus- tice, holding with a pure and unsullied hand the sacred scales in which the actions of mortals ai-e weighed on the brink of eternity. O ye tombs and emblematic images of death ! How super- lative is your pow^er, how irresistible your influence ! Your presence appals and chills the souls of tyrants with electric hor- ror and remorse : the very remembrance of you haunts their minds like a ghastly spectre in the midst of then- voluptuous en- joyments, and the terror you inspire plants thorns in all their thoughts, and poisons their impious pleasures into pains. The first translation was made and published in London spon after the appearance of the work in French, and by a late edi- tion, is still adopted without alteration. Mr. Volney, when in this country, in 1797, expressed his disapprobation of this trans- lation, alleging that the translator must have been overawed by the government or clergy from rendering his ideas faithfully! and accordmgly ,an English gentleman then in Philadelphia, vol- unteered to correct this edition. But by his endeavours to give the true and full meaning of the author with great precision, he has so overloaded his composition with an exuberance of words, as in a great measure to dissipate the simple elegance and sub- limity of the criginal. Mr. Volney, when he became better ac- quainted with the English language, perceived this defect ; and, with the aid of our countryman, Joel Barlow, made and publLsh- ed in Paris, a new, correct, and elegant translation, of which tlio present edition is a faithful and correct copy CONTENTS. Invocation. - - - . . -11 The Life of Volney. - - - - 13 I. The Joiirney. - _ - « 21 II. Meditation. - - - - - 23 III. The Apparition. - - - - 26 IV. The Exposition. - - - 30 V. Condition of Man in the Universe. - - - 34 VI. The Primitive State of Man. - - 36 VII. Principles of Society. - - ' - 37 VIII. Source of the Evils of Societies. - 3S IX. Origin of Governments and Laws. - - 40 X. General Causes of the Prosperity of Ancient States. 42 XI. General Causes of the Revolutions and Rnin of An- cient States, - - - - - 45 XII. Lessons of Times Past Repeated on the Present. 52 XIII. Will the Human Race Improve ? - - 62 XIV. The Great Obstacle to Improvement, t - 68 XV. The New Age. - - - - 71 XVI. A Free and Legislative People. - - 76 XVII. Universal Basis of all Right and all Law." - 77 XVIII. Consternation and Conspiracy of Tyrants. 79 XIX. General Assembly of the Nations. - - 81 XX. The Search of Truth. - - - - 84 XXI. Problem of Religious Contradictions. - 93 XXII. Origin and Filiation of Religious Ideas. - 113 § I Origin of the Idea of God : Worship of the Ele- ments and of the Physical Powers of Nature. 117 § II. Second System. Worship of the Stars or Sabeism. 120 § III. Third System. Worship of Symbois, or Idola- ' try. - - - - - 123 § IV. Fourth System. Worship of two Principles, or Dualism. . _ - - - 132 § V. Moral and Mystical Worship, or System of a Fu- ture State. , _ - - 137 10 CONTENTS. § VI. Sixth System. The Animated World, or Worship of the Universe under divers Emblems. - 141 § VII. Seventh System. Worship of the Soul of the World, that is to say, the Element of Fire, Vi- tal Principle of the Universe. _ _ _ 144 § VIII. Eighth System. The World Machme : Worehip of the demi-Ourgos or Grand Artificer. 145 § IX. Religion of Moses, or Worship of the Soul of the WoFld (You-piter.) - - - 149 § X. K el igion of Zoroaster. - - - 151 § XI. Brahmism, or Indian System. - - 152 § XH. Boudhism, or Mystical Systems. - - 152 § XIII. Christianity, or the Allegorical Worship of the Sun under the Cabalistical Names of Chris-en or Christ, and Yesus or Jesus. - - - 153 XXIII. The Object of all Religions identical. 161 XXIV. Solution of the Preblem of Contradictions. - 170 THE LAW OF NATURE. I. Of the Law of Nature. - - - - 176 II. Characters of the Law of Nature. - - 177 III. Principles of the Law of Nature with Relation to Man. - - - - - - 181 rV. Basis of Morality: of Good, of Evil, of Sin, of Crime, of Vice and of Virtue. - - - 184 V. Of Individual Virtues. - - - - 186 VI. On Temperance, - - - - 188 VII. On Continence. - - - - 190 VIII. On Courage and Activity. - - - 192 IX. On Cleanliness. _ _ . . 195 X. On Domestic Virtues. - - - - 196 XI. Of (he Social Virtues ; of Justice. - - 199 XII. Dovelopement of the Social Virtues. - 201 Volney's Answkr to Db. Prixstlt. - 207 INVOCATION. Haii. solitary ruins, holy sepulciires and silent walls ! you I invoke ; to you I address my prayer. While your aspect averts, with secret terror, the vulgar regard, it excites, in my heart, the charm of delicious sentiments, sublime contemplations. Wliat useful lessons, what affecting and profound reflections you sug- gest to him who knows how to consult you ! When the whole earth, in chains and silence, bowed the neck before its tyrants, you had already proclaimed the truths which they abhor; and, confounding th^ dust of the king with that of the meanest slave, had announced'to man the sacred dogma of Equality. Within your pale, in solitary adoration of Liberty, I saw her Genius arise from the mansions of the dead ; no' such as she is painted by the impassioned multitude, armed with fire and sword, but under the august aspect of Justice, poising in her hand the sacred balance, wherein are weighed the actions of men at the gates of eternity. O Tombs ! what virtues are yours ! you appal the tyrant's heart, and poison with secret alarm his impious joys ; he flies, with coward step, your incorruptible aspect, and erects afar his throne of insolence. You punish the powerful oppressor; you wrest from avarice and extortion their ill gotten gold, and you avenge the feeble whom they have despoiled; you compensate the miseries of the poor by the anxieties of the rich ; you console the wretched, by opening to him a last asylum from distress, and you give to the soul that just equipoise of strength and sen- sibility which constitutes wisdom, the true science of life. Aware that all must return t(s you, the wise man loadeth not himself with the burdens of grandeur and of useless wealth : he restrains Ws desires within the limits of justice ; yet, knowing 12 INVOCATION. that he must run his destined course cf life, he fills with employ- ment all its hours, and enjoys the comforts that fortune has allotted him. You thus impose on the impetuous sallies of cu- pidity a salutary rein ! you calm the feverish ardor of enjoyments which disturb the senses ; you free the soul from the fatiguing conflict of the passions ; elevate it above the paltry interests which torment the crowd ; and surveying from your commanding position, the expanse of ages and nations, the mind is only ac- cessible to the great affections, to the solid ideas of virtue and of glory. Ah ! when the dream of life is over, what will then avail all its agitations, if not one trace of utility remains be- hind ? O Ruins ! to your school I will return ! I will seek again the calm of your solitudes ; and there, far from the afflicting spec- tacle of the passions, I will cherish in remembrance the love of man, I will employ myself on the means of effecting good for him, and build my owti happiness on the promotion of his. THE LIFE OF VOLNEY, BY COUNT DARU. CoNSTANTiNE Francis Chassebeuf de Volney was bom in 1757 at Craon, in that intermediate condition of life, which is of all the happiest, since it is disinherited only of fortune's too danger- ous favors, and can aspire at the social and intellectual advantages reserved for a laudable ambition. From his earliest youtli, he devoted himself to the search after Truth, without being disheartened by the serious studies which alone can initiate us into her secrets. After having become acquainted with the ancient languages, the natural science? and history, and be- ing admitted into the society of the most eminent literary characters, he submitted, at the age of twenty, to an illustrious academy, the so- lution of one of tlie most difficult problems that the history of antiqui- ty has left open to discussion. This attempt received no encourage- ment from the learned men who were appointed his judges j the author's only appeal from their sentence was to his courage and his efforts. Soon after, a small inheritance having fallen to his lot, the difficulty was how to spend it (these are his own words.) He resolved to employ it in acquiring, by a long voyage, a new fund of information, and determined to visit Egypt and Syria. But these countries could not be explored to advantage without a knowledge of the language. Our young traveller was not to be discouraged by this difficulty : in- stead of learning Arabic in Europe, he withdrew to a convent of 2 14 LIFE OF VOLNEY. Copts, until he had made himself master of an idiom which Is spoken by so many nations of the east. This resolution already betrayed one of tljose undamited spirits that remain unshaken amidst the trials of life. Although, like other travellers, he might have amused us with the account of his hardships and the perils siu-mounted by his courage, he overcame the temptation of interrupting his narrative by personal adventures. He disdained the beaten t)-ack ; he does not tell us the road he took, the accidents he met with, or tlje impressions he re- ceived. He carefully avoids appearing upon the stage; he is an in* habitant of the country, who has long and well observed it, and who describes its physical, political and moral state. The illusion would be entire, if an old Arab could be supposed to posses,s all the erudition, all the European philosophy, which are found united and^ in their ma- turity in a traveller of twenty-five. But. though a master in all those artifices by which a narration is rejidered interesting, the young man is not to be discerned in the pomp of labored descriptions ; altliough possessed of a lively and brilliant imagination, he is never found unwaiily explaining by conjectural systems the physical or moral phenomena which he describes. In his observations he unites prudence Avith science; with these two guides he judges with circumspection, and sometimes confesses him- self unable to account for the effects he ha? made known to us. Thus his account has all the qualities that persuade, accuracy and candor : and when, ten years later, a vast military enterprise trans- ported forty thousand travellers to the classic ground, which he .had trod unattended, unarmed and unprotected, they all recognised a sure guide and an enlightened obsei'ver in the writer who seemed to have preceded tliem, only to remove or point out a. part of the difficulties af the way. The unanirtious testimony of all parties proved the accuracy of his account and the justness of liis observation ; and his Travels in Egypt and Syria were recommended by universal suffrage to the gratitude and tiie confidence of the public Before it had undergone this trial, the work had obtamea in tne learned world such a rapid and general success, that it found its way into Russia. The empress then upon the throne (in 1787) spnt the author a medal, which he received with respect, as a mark of esteem for his talents, and with gratitude, as a proof of the approbation given to his principles. But when the empress declare.. 1 against France, LIFE OF VOINEY. 15 Voluey sent back the honorable present, saying ; If I obtained it from her esteem, I can only preserve her esteem by returning it. The revolution of 1789, which had drawn upon France the mena- ces of Catharine, had opened to Volney a political career. As deputy in the assembly of the states-general, the first words he uttered there were in favor of tlie publicity of their deliberations. He also sup- ported the organization of the national guards and tliat of the com- munes and departments. At the period when the question of the sale of the domain lands was agitated (in 1790^) he published an essay in which he lays ''.own the following principles : " The force of a State is in proportion to its population ; population is in proportion to plenty ; plenty is in proportion to tillage, and tillage, to personal and immediate interest, tJiat is to tlie spirit of property. Whence it follows that the nearer tlie cultivator approaches the passive condition of a mercenaiy, the less industry and activity are to be expected from him ; and, on the other hand, the nearer he is to the condition of a free and entire pro- prietor, the more extension he gives to his own forces, to the produce of his lands, and to tlie general prosperity of the State." Tlie author draws this conclusion, that a State is so much the more powerful as it includes a greater number of proprietors, tliat Is, a g«-eater division of property. Conducted into Corsica, by that spirit of observation, which belongs only to men whose information is varied and extensive, he perceived at the first glance all that could be done for the impi'ovement of agri- culture in that comitry, but he knew tliat for a people firmly attached to ancient customs, there can exist no other demonstration or means of persuasion dian example. He purchased a considerable estate, and made experiments on all the kinds of tillage that he hoped to naturalize in that climate : the sugar-cane, cotton, indigo and coftee soon demonstrated the success of his efforts. This success dre^v*up- on him the notice of the government, he was appointed director of agriculture and commerce in that island, where, through ignorance, all new methods are introduced with such difficulty. It is impossible to calculate all the good tl:at might have resulted from this peaceable magistracy ; and we know tliat neither instruc- tion, zeal nor a persevering courage were wanting to him who had undertaken it : of this he had given convincing proofs. It was in obedience to another sentiment no less respectable, tliat he voluntarily interrupted the course of his labors. AVhen his fellow citizens of 16 LIFE OF VOLNEY. Angers appointed him their deputy in the constituent assembly, he resigned tlie emplojnnent he heI3 under government, upon the princi- ple, that no man can represent the nation and be dependent for a sal- ary upon those by whom it is administered. Through respect for the independence of his legislative functions, he had ceased to occupy the place he possessed in Corsica before hig election ; but he had not ceased to be the benefactor of that country He returned thither after the session of the constituent assembly. Invited into that island by the principal inliabitants who were anx- ious to pat in practice his lessons, he spent there a part of the years 1792 and 1793. On his return he published a work entitled : An account of the present state of Corsica. This was an act of courage ; for it was not a physical description, but a political review of the condition of a population divided into several factions and distracted by violent ' anineosities. Volney unreservedly revealed the abuses, solicited the interest of France in favor of the Corsicans, without flattering them, and boldly denounced their defects 'and vices; so that the philosopher obtained tlie only recompense he could expect from his sincerity ; he was accused by the Corsicans of heresy. To. prove that he had not merited tliis reproach, he soon after pub- lished a short treatise entitled : The law of nature, or physical prin- ciples of morality. He was soon exposed to a much more dangerous charge, and this, it must be confessed, he did merit. This philosopher, this worthy citizen, who in our first National assembly, had seconded witli his wishes and his talents the establishment of an order of things which he considered favorable to the happiness of his country, was accused of not being sincerely attached to that liberty for which he had con- tended ; that is to say, of being averse to anarchy. An imprisonment of ten months, which only ended after the 9di of Thermidor, was a new trial reserved for his courage. Ilie moment at which he recovered his liberty was that, when the horror inspired by criminal excesses recalled men to those noble sen- timents which fortunately are one of the first necessaries of civilized life. They sought for consolations in study and literature, after so many crimes and misfortunes, and organized a plan of public in- struction. It was in the first place necessary to ensure the aptitude of those lo whom education should be confided ; but as the systems were vari- LIFE OP VOLNET. 17 6US, the best methods and an unity of doctrine were to be determined. It was not enough to interrogate the masters, tliey were to be formed, new ones were to be created, and for that purpose, a sciiool was opened in 1794, wherein the celebrity of the professors promised new instruction even to the best informed. This was not, as was object- ed, beginning the edifice by tlie roof, but creating architects, who were to superintend all the arts requisite for the construction of the building. The more difficult their functions were, the greater care was to be taken in tlie choice of the professors; but France, though then accu- sed of being plunged in' barbarism, possessed men of ti-anscendent talents, already enjoying the esteem of all Europe, and we ija^y be lx)ld to say, that by their labors, our literary glory bad likewise ex- tended its conquests. Their names were proclaimed by tlie public voice, and Volney's was associated with tliose of the men most il- lusti-ious rn science and in literature.* This institution however did not answer the expectations tliathad been formed of it, because the two tliousand students that assembled from all parts of France were not equally prepared to receive these transcendent lessons, and because it had not been sufficiently ascei-- tained how far the theorj' of education should be kept distinct from education itself. Volney's lectures on history, which were attended by an immense concourse of auditors, became one of his chief claims to literary glory. When forced to interrupt them, by the suppression of the Normal school, he might have reasonably expected to enjoy, in his retirement, that consideration which his recent functions had added to his name. But, disgusted with the scenes he had witnessed in his native land, he felt that passion revive Avithin him, which, in his yoiith, had led him to visit Africa and Asia. America, civilized within a centuiT, and free only within a few years, fixed his atten- tion. There everything was new, tlie inhabitants, the constitution, the earth itself: these were objects worthy of 1ms observation. When embarking however for this voyage, he ieit emotions very different from those which formerly accompanied hi-m-into Turkey. Then in the prime of life, he joyfully bid adieu to a land where peace and plenty reigned, to travel amongst Babarians; now, mature in- years, * Lagrange, Laplace, Berthollet. Garat, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Daubenton, Hauy, Volnev, Picard, Monge, Tt)onin, La Harpe, Buache,. Mentelle. 2* 18 LIFE OF VOLNEY but dismayed at the spectacle and experience of injustice and perse- cution, it was with diffidence, as we learn from himself, that he went to implore from a free people an asylum for a sincere friend of tliat liberty that had been so profaned. Oui- traveller had gone to seek for repose beyond the seas ; he there found himself exposed to aggression from a celebrated philosopher. Doctor Priestly. Although the subject of this discussion was confined to the investigation of some speculative opinions, published by the French writer in his work entitled The Ruins, the naturalist in this attack employed a degree of violence which added nothing to the force of his arguments, and an acrimony of expression not to be ex- pected from a philosopher. M. Volney, though accused of hottentot- ism and ignorance, preserved in his defence, all the advantages that the sciurility of his adversary gave over aim : he repHed in English, and Priestly's countrymen could only recognise the Fi-euchman in the refinement and politeness of his answer. Whilst M. Volney was travelling in America, there had been formed in France a literary body, which, under the name of Institute, had attained in a very few years a distinguished rank amongst the learned societies of Europe. The name of the illustrious traveller was inscribed in it at its formation, and he acquired new rights to the academical honors conferred on him dwing his absence, by the publication of his observations on the United States. These rights were further augmented by the historical and physio- logical labors of the Academician : an examination and justification of Herodctus's chronology, with numerous and profound researches on the history of the most ancient nations, occupied for a long time him who had observed their monuments and traces in the countries they inhabited. The trial he had made of the utility of the Oriental lan- guages inspired him with an ardent desire to propagate the know- ledge of them, and to be propagated, he felt how necessai-y it was to render it less difficult. In this view he conceived the project of ap- plying to the study of tlie idioms of Asia, a part of the grammatical notions we possess concerning the languages of Europe. It only appertains to those conversant with their relations of dissimilitude or conformity to appreciate tl>e possibility of realizing this system ; but already tlie author has received the most flattering encourage- ment and the most uneciuivocal suffrage, by the inscription of his name amoniifst the members of the learned aud illustrious society 1o;!m !,^d by English commerce in the Indian peninsula. LIFE OF VOLNEY. 19 M. Volney developed his system in three works,* which prove that this idea of lining nations separated by immense distances and such various idioms, had never ceased to occupy him for twenty-five years. Lest tliose essays, of the utility of which he was persuaded, should be interrupted by his death, with the clay-cold hand that corrected his last work, he di-ew up a will which institutes a premium for the prosecution of his labors. Thus he prolonged, beyond the term of a life entirely devoted to letters, the glorious services he had rendered tliem. This is not the place, nor does it belong to me to appreciate the merit of the wi'itings which render Volney's name illustrious : his name had been inscribed in the list of the Senate and afterwards of tlie House of Peers. The philosopher who had travelled in the four quarters of the world, and observed their social state, had other titles to his admission into this body, |^an his literary glory. His public life, his conduct in the constituent assembly, his independent princi- ples, the nobleness of his sentiments, the wisdom and fixity of his. opinions, had gained him the esteem of those who can be depended upon, and with whom it is so agreeable to discuss political interests. Although no man had a better right to have an opinion, no one was more tolerant for the opinions of others. In State assemblies as well as in Academical meetings, the man whose counsels were so wise voted according to his conscience, which notliing could bias ; but the philosopher forgot his superioritj^ to hear, to oppose with moderation, and to doubt sometimes. The extent and variety of his information, the force of his reason, the austerity of his manners, and the noble simplicity of his character, had procured him illustrious friends in both hemispheres ; and now that this vast erudition is ex- tinct in tlie tomb,t we may be allowed at least to predict that he was one of the very few whose memory snail never die. A List of the Works Published by Count Volney. Travels in Egypt and Syria during the years 1783, 1784, and 1785; 2 volumes in 8vo. 1787. * Ou the simplification of the Oriental languages, 1795. The European alphabet applied to the languages of Asia, 1819 Hebrew simplified, 1820. t He died in Paris on the 20th of April, 1820. 20 LIST OF WORKS. Chronology of the Twelve Centuries tliat preceded the entrance of Xerxes into Greece. ^ Considerations on the Turkish War, in 1788. The Ruins, or Meditation on the Revohitions of Empires, 1791 Account of the Present State of Corsica, 1793. The Law of Nature, or Physical Principles of Morality, 1793 ■ On the Simplification of Oriental Languages, 1795. A Letter to Doctor Priestly, 1797. Lectures on History delivered at the Normal school in the year 3, 1600. On the Climate and Soil of the United States of America, to which is added an account of Florida, of the French colony of Scioto, of some Canadian colonies and of the savages, 1803. Report made to the Celtic Academy on the Russian Work of Professor Pallas, entitled, A comparative vo- cabulary of all the languages in the world. The Chronology of Herodotus conformable with his text, 1808 and 1809. New Researches on Ancient History, 3v. inSvo. 1814. The European Alphabet, applied to the languages of Asia, 1819. A History of Samuel, 1819 Hebreav Simplified, 1820. THE RUINS, &c. CHAPTER I. THE JOURNEY. In the eleventli year of the reign of Abd-ul-Hamid, son of Ahmed., emperor of the Tyrks ;. when tlie victorious Russians seized on the Krimea, and planted their standards on the shore that leads to Con« stantinople ; I was travelling in the empire of the Ottomans, and through those provinces which were anciently the kingdoms of Egypt and Syria. My whole attention bent on whatever concerns the happiness of man in a social state, I visited cities and studied the manners of their inhabitants ; entered palaces, and observed the conduct of those who govern ; wandered over tlie fields, and examined the condition of those who cultivate tliem ; and nowhere perceiving aught but rob- bery and devastatio», tyranny and wretchedness, my heart was op- pressed with sorrow and indignation. I saw daily on my road fields abandoned, villages deserted, and cities in ruin. Often I me^ with ancient monuments, wrecks of temples, palaces and fortresses; columns, aqueducts, and tomfes; and tliis spectacle led me to meditate on times past, and filled my mind with serious and profound contemplations. Arrived at Hems, on the banks of the Orontes, and being at no great distance from Palmyra of- the desert, I resolved to see its celebrated monuments ; after three days travelling tlirough an arid wilderness, having traversed tlie valley of caves and sepulchres, on 22 THE RUINS. issuing into the piain, I was suddenly struck with a scene of the most stupendous ruins : a countless multitude of superb columns, gtretching in avenues beyond the reach of sigiit. Among them were magnificent edifices, some entire, others in ruins. The ground was covered on all sides with freigments of cornices, capitals, shafts,, en- tablatures, pilasters, all of white marble, and of the mos.t excjulsite workmanship. After a walk of three quarters of an hour along these ruins, I entered the enclosure of a vast edifice, formerly a tem- ple dedicated to the sun, a»d accepting the hospitality of seme poor Arabian peasants, who had built their huts on the area of tlie temple, I resolved to stay some days to contemplate, at leisure, the beauty of so many Dtupendous works. Every day I visited some of the monuments which covered the plain; and one evening, absorbed in reflection, I had advanced to the valley of sepulchres; I ascended the heights which surround it, and from whence the eye commands tlie whole group of ruins and the immensity of the desf?rt. — ^The sun had just simk below the hori- zon : a red border of light still marked his track behind the distant mountains of Syria : the full-moon was rising in t!«e east on a blue ground over the plains of the Euphrates ; the sky was clear, the air calm and serene; the dying lamp of day still softened the horrors of approaching darkness; the refreshing breeze of night attempered the sultry emanations froin the heated earth ; the herdsmen had led the camels to their stalls ; the eye perceived no motion on the dusky and uniform plain; profound silence rested on the desert; the bowlings only of tiie jackal,* and the solemn notes of the bird of night were heard at distant intervals. Darkness now increased, and already, .hrough the dusk, I could distinguish nothing moi'e than the pale phantasies of columns and walls. The solitude of the place, the tranquillity of the hour, tlie majesty of the scene, impressed on my *ii!iii a religious pensiveness. The aspect of a great city deserted, he memory of times past, compared with its present state, all eleva- ted my mind to high contemplations. I«sat on the shaft of a coliunu : nd tliere, my elbow reposing on my knee, and head reclining on my and, my eyes fixed, sometimes on tlie desert, sometimes on the ruins, fell into a profound revery. * A kind of foy that roves only during the night THE nuiNs. 23 CHAPTER II. MEDITATION. Here, «aid I, here once flourished an opulent city j here was the seat of a powerful empire. Yes ! these places now so desert, were once animated by a living multitude ; a busy crowd circulated in these streets now so solitary'. Within these walls, where a mournfui silence reigns, the noise of the arts and shouts of joy and festivity incessantly resounded : these piles of marble were regular palaces ; these prostrate pillars adorned the majesty of temples ; tliese rumed galleries surrounded public places. Here a numerous people assem- bled for tlie sacred duties of religion, or the anxious cai-es of their subsistence : here industry, parent of enjoyments, collected the rich- es of all climates, and the purple of Tyre >vas exchanged for the precious thread of Serica ;* the soft tissues wf Kachemire for the sumptuous tapestry of Lydia ; the amber of the Baltic for the pearls and perfumes of Arabia ; the gold of Ophir for the tin of Thule. And now a mournful skeleton is all that subsists of this powerful city ! nought remains of its vast domination, but a doubtful and emp ty remembrance ! To the tumultuous throng which crowded under tliese porticoes has succeeded the solitude of death. The silence of the tomb is substituted for the bustle of public places. The opulence of a commercial city is changed into hideous poverty. The palaoes of kings are become a den of wild beasts ; flocks fold on the area of the temple, and unclean reptiles inhabit the sanctuary of the godsl — Ah ! Iiow has so much glory been eclipsed 1 — How have so many labors been annihilated 1 — Thus perish the works of men, and thus • do empires and nations disappear ! And the history of former times revived in my mind ; I recollected those distant ages when many illustrious nations inhabi4;ed these countries ; I figured to myself the Assyrian on the banks of the Ti- * " Thread of Serica." — That is the silk, originally derived from the mountainous country where the great wall terminates, and which ap- pears to have been the cradle of the Chinese empire, known to the Lat- ins under the name of Regio Serarum, Serica. " The tissues of Kachemire."— The shawls which Ezekiel seems to have described, five centuries before our era, under tlie appellation o Clioud-Choud. 24 . THE RUINS. gris, the Kaldean on those of the Euyhrates, the Persian reigning from the Indus to the Mediterranean. I enumerated the kingdoms of Damascus and Idumea, of Jerusalem and Samaria, tlie warlike states of the Philistines, and the commercial republics of Phoenicia- This Syria, said I, now so depopulated, then contained a hundred flourishing cities ; and abounded with towns, villages and hamlets.* Everywhertt M'ere seen cultivated fields, frequented roads, and ci-owd- ed habitations. — ^Ah ! what are become of those ages of abundance and of life 1 How have so many brilliant creations of human industry vanished 1 Where are tliose ramparts of Nineveh, those walls of Babylon, those palaces of Persepolis, tliose temples of Bal- beck and of Jerusalem'? Whei-e are tliose fleets of Tyre, those dock-yards of Arad, those work -shops of Sidon, and that multitude of sailors, of pilots, of merchants, and of soldiers 1 Where those husbandmen, those harvests, those flocks, and all the createon of liv- ing beings in which the face of tlie earth rejoiced 1 Alas ! I have passed over this desolate land ! I have visited the palaces once the theatre of so much splendor, and I beheld nothing but solitude and desolation. — I sought tlie ancient inhabitants and their works, and could only find a faint trace, like that of the foot of a traveller over the sand. The temples are fallen, the palaces overthrown, the ports filled up, the cities destroyed, and the eartli, sti-ipped of inhabitants, seems a dreary burying-place. — Great God ! whence proceed such fatal revolutions '? What causes have so altered tlie fortunes of these countries 1 Why are so many cities destroyed 1 Why has not this ancient population been reproduced and perpetuated 1 Thus absorbed in contemplation, a crowd of new reflections con- tinually poured in upon my mind. Everything, continued I, con- founds my reason, and fills my heart with trouble and uncertainty. When these countries enjoyed what constitutes the glory and happi- ness of man, they were inhabited by an infidel people ; it was the Phoenician, that homicide sacrificer to Molock, who gathered into his stores the riches of aH climates ; it was the Kaldekn prostrate before a serpent,t who subjugated opulent cities, and despoiled the palaces of kings, and the temples of the gods ; it was tlie Persian, adorer of fiie, who received tlie tribute of a hundred nations ; it was the inhabitant of this very city, worshipper of the sun and stars, who * According to the calculations of Josephus and Strabo, Syria must have contained ten millions of inhabitants ; there are not two at the present day. [The dragon Bel. THE RUINS. 25 erected so many mouuments of prosperity and lirxury. — Nnmerous liocks, fertile fields, abundant harvests, whatsoever should he the re- ward of piety, was in the hands of these idolaters : and now when a people of saints and believers occupy these fields, all is become ster- ility and solitude. Tlie eardi under these holy hands, produces only tliorns and briars. Man sows in anguish, and I'eaps only vexation and tears ; war, famine, pestilence, assail him in turn. — Yet, are not these the children of tlie prophets 1 the Mussulman, Christian, Jew, are they not the elect children of God, loaded with favors and miracles 1 Why then do' these privileged races no longer enjoy the same advantages 1 Why are these fields, sanctified by the blood of martyrs, deprived of their ancient benefits 1 Why have those bless- ings been banished hence and transferred for so many ages to other nations and different climes 1 v At these words, revolving in my mind the course of vicissitudes which have transmitted the sceptre of the world successively to peo- ple so different in religion and manners, fronl those of ancient Asia, to the most recent of Europe, this name of a ^atal land revived in me the sentiment of my country : and turning my eyes towards her, 1 began to reflect on the situation in which I left her.* I called to mind her fields so richly cultivated, her roads so sump- tuously constructed, her cities inhabited by a countless people, her fleets spread over every sea, her ports filled with the produce of eitlier India : and comparing with the activity of her comraei-ce, the extent of her navigation, the magnificence of her monuments, the arts and industry of her inhabitants, what Egypt and Syria had once possessed, I was gratified to find in modern Europe tlie departed splendor of Asia : but the charm of my revery was soon dissolved by a last term of comparison. Reflecting that such had once been the activity of the places I was then contemplating : Who knows, said I, but such may one day be the abandonment of oiu- countries 1 Who knows if on the banks of the Seine, the Thames, or the Zuy- der-Zee, where now, in the tumult of so many enjoyments, the heart and the eye suffice not for the multitude of sensations : wh* knows if some traveller, like myself, shall not one day sit on their silent ruins and weep in solitude over the ashes of their inhabitants, and the memory of their greatness 1 At these words, my eyes filled with tears : and covering my head with the fold of my garment, I sunk into gloomy meditations on hu- * In 1789, at the close of the American war, 3 26 THE RUINS. man affairs. Ah ! hapless man, said I, in my grief, a blind fatality sports Avilh thy destiny ! A fatal necessity rules with the hand of chance the lot of mortals. But no : it is the justice of heaven fulfil- ling its decrees I A mysterious God exercising his incomprehensible judgments ! Doubtless he has pronounced a secret anathema against this land : blasting with maledictions the present for tlie sins of the past generations. Oh ! who shall dare to fatliom the deptlis of the Divinity 1 * And I remained motionless, plunged in profound melancholv CHAPTER III , THE APP^ITION. Meanwhile a noise struck my ear : like to the agitation of a flowing robe, or of slow footsteps on dry and rustling grass. Start- led, I opened my mantle, and casting around a timid glance, sudden- ly on my left, by the glimmering light of the moon, through the columns and ruins of a neighbouring temple, I thought I saw a p,ale apparition, clothed in large and flowing robes, as spectres are repre- sented rising from their tombs. I shuddered : and while agitated ^nd hesitating whether to fly or to ascertain the object, a deep voice, in solemn accents, pronounced these words ; " How long will man importune heaven with unjust complaint 1 How long, with vain clamors, will he accuse Fate as the author of his calamities 7 Will he then never open his eyes to the ligbt, and his heart to the insinuations of truth and reason 1 The light of truth meets him everywhere ; yet he sees it not ! The voice of reason strikes liis ear, and he hears it not ! Unjust man ! if for a moment you can suspend the delusion which fascinates your senses, if your heart can comprehend the language of reason, mterrogate these ruins ! Read the lessons which they present to you ! — And you, wit- * Fatality is the u-niversal and rooted prejudice of the East: "It was written," is there the answer tc everything, — hence result an unconcern and apathy, the most powerful impediments to instruction and civilisa- tion. THE RUINS. 27 nesses of twenty different centuries, holy temples ! venerable tombs ! walls once so glorious, appear in the cause of nature herself! Ap- proach the tribunal of sound reason, and bear testimony against unjust accusations ! come and confound the declamations of a false wisdom or hypocritical piety, and avenge the heavens and tlie eardi of man who calumniates them ! " What is that blind fatality, which without order and without lavv, sports with the destiny of mortals 1 What is tliat unjust neces- sity, which confounds the effect of actions, whedier of wisdom or of folly 1 in what consist those anadiemas of heaven over tliis land 1 Where is that divine malediction which perpetuates the abandonment of these fields 1 Say, monuments of past ages ! have tke heavens changed tlieir laws and the earth its motion 1 are the fires of tlie sun extmct in the regions of space 1 do the seas no longer emit their va • pors 1 are die rains and the dews suspended in the air 1 do the moun- tains widiliold their springs 1 are tlie streams dried up 1 and do die plants no longer bear fruit and seed 1 Answer, generation of farlse- hood and iniquity, has God deranged the primitive and settled order of things which he himself assigned to nature 1 Has heaven denied to earth, and earth to its inhabitants, die blessings which once they proffered 1 If nodiing has changed in the creation, if die same means exist now which existed before, why dien are not the present what former generations were 1 Ah 1 it is falsely that you accuse fate and heaven I it is injuriously that you refer to God the cause of your evils ! Say, perverse and hypocritical race ! if these places are des- olate, if powerful cities are reduced to solitude, is it God who has caused their ruin 1 Is it his hand which has overthrown these walls, destroyed these temples, mutilated these columns, or is it the hand of man 1 Is it the arm of God which has canned the sword into your cities, and fire into your fields, which has slaughtered the peo- ple, burned die har\'ests, rooted up trees, and ravaged the pastures, or is it the hand of man 1 And when, after the destruction of crops, famine has ensued, is it the vengeance of God which has produced it, or the mad fury of mortals 1 When, sinking under famine, the peo- ple have fed on impure aliments, if pestilence ensues, is it the wrath of God which sends it, or the folly of man 1 When war, famine, and pestilence, have swept away die inhabitants, if the eardi remains a desert, is it God who has depopulated it 1 Is it his rapacity which robs the luisbandman, ravages die fruitful fields, and wastes the earth, or is it the rapacity of those who govern 1 Is it his pride which ex- 28 THE RUINS. cites murderous wars, or the pride of kings and their ministers 1 Is it the venality of his decisions which overthrows the fortunes of fam- ilies, or the corruption of the organs of the law 1 Are tliey his passions which, under a thousand forms, torment individuals and nations, or are they tlie passions of man 1 And if, in the anguish of th^.ir miseries, tliey see not tlie remedies, is it the ignorance of God which is to blame, or their ignorance 1 Cease then mortals, to ac- cuse the decrees of Fate, or tlie judgments of tlie Divinity ! If God is good, will he be the author of your misery "? if he is just, will he be the accomplice of your crimes 1 No, the caprice of which man complains is not the caprice of destiny ; tlie darkness that misleads his reason is not the darkness of God ; die source df his calamities is not in the distant heavens, it is beside him on the eartli; it is. not concealed in tlie bosom of the divinity ; it resides in man himself, he bears it in his owti heart. " You murmur and say, Ho-w have an infidel people enjoyed the blessings of heaven and earth 1 Why is a holy and chosen race less fortunate than impious generations 1 Deluded man ! where tlien is the contradiction which offends you 1 Where is the inconsistency Avhich you impute to the justice of heaven 1 Take into your own hands the balance of rewards and punishments, of causes and effects. Say : when those infidels observed the laws of the heavens and of the earth, when tliey regulated their intelligent labors by the order of the seasons and course of the stars, ought God to have troubled the equilibrium of the universe to defeat tlieir pmdence 1 When their hands cultivated these fields with toil and care, should he have divert- ed the course of the rains, suspended the fertilizing dews, and caused thorns to spring up 1 When, to render these arid fields productive, their industry constructed acjueducts, dug canals, and led the distant waters across tlie desert, should he have dried up their sources in the mountains '{ Should he have blasted the harvests which art had cre- ated, wasted the plains which peace had peopled, overthrown cities which labor caused to flourish, disturbed in fine, tlie order establish- ed by the wisdom of man 1 And what is that infidelity which found- ed empires by prudence, defended them by valor, and strengthened them by justice ; which erected powerful cities, formed capacious ports, drained pestilential marshes, covered the sea witli ships, the earth with inhabitants ; and, like tlie creative spirit, diffused life and motion through the world 1 If such be infidelity, what then is the true faith 1 Does sanctity consist in destruction 1 The God who THE RUINS. 29 peoples the air with birds, the eartli with animals, the waters with fishes; the God who animates all nature, is he tlien a God of ruins and tombs 1 Does he ask devastation for homage, and conflagratiop for sacwfice 1 Requires he groans for hymns, murderers for votaries, a ravaged and desert eaitli for liis temple 1 Yet such, holy and be- lieving people, are j'our works I These are the firuits of your piety ! You have massacred the people, burnt their cities, destroyed cultiva- tion, reduced the earth to a solitude ; and you ask ll\e reward of your works ! Miracles then must be performed, tlie laborers whom you cut off must be recalled to life, the walls reedified which you have overthrown, the harvests reproduced which you have destroyed, the waters gathered together which you have dispersed ; the laws, in fine, of heaven and eartli reversed ; those laws, established by God himself, in demonstration of his magnificence and wisdom; those eternal laws anterior to all codes, to all the prophets ; those immutaiile laws, which neither the passions, aor the ign.orance of man can pervert ; but that passion, which mistakes, that ignorance which observes not causes, and predicts no effect, has said m the folly of her heart : * Everything comes from chance ; a blind fatality dispenses goqd and evil on the earth, so that prudence and wisdom cannot guard against it.' Or else, assuming the language of hypocrisy, she has said : * All things are from God ; he takes pleasure in deceiving wisdom, and confounding reason ; ' and ignorance, applaud- ing herself in her malice, has said : ' Thus I shall not be inferior to that science which I detest : I will render useless that prudence which fatigues and torments me ;' and cupidity has added : ' I will oppress the weak and devour the fruits of his laboi^s ; and I will say : It is God who decreed and fate who ordained it so.* — But I ! I swear by tlie laws of heaven and earth, and by the law which is written in tlie heart of man, the hypocrite shall be deceived in his guile, the op- pressor in his rapacity ; the sun shall ch