Pascal's Pensees by Blaise Pascal (ebook reader android .txt) đź“•
Now the great adversary against whom Pascal set himself, from the time of his first conversations with M. de Saci at Port-Royal, was Montaigne. One cannot destroy Pascal, certainly; but of all authors Montaigne is one of the least destructible. You could as well dissipate a fog by flinging hand-grenades into it. For Montaigne is a fog, a gas, a fluid, insidious element. He does not reason, he insinuates, charms, and influences; or if he reasons, you must be prepared for his having some other design upon you than to convince you by his argument.
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The heathen sages erected a structure equally fine outside, but upon a bad foundation; and the devil deceived men by this apparent resemblance based upon the most different foundation.
Man never had so good a cause as I; and others have never furnished so good a capture as you....
The more they point out weakness in my person, the more they authorise my cause.
You say that I am a heretic. Is that lawful? And if you do not fear that men do justice, do you not fear that God does justice?
You will feel the force of the truth, and you will yield to it ...
There is something supernatural in such a blindness. Digna necessitas.[380] Mentiris impudentissime ...
Doctrina sua noscitur vir ...
False piety, a double sin.
I am alone against thirty thousand. No. Protect, you, the court; protect, you, deception; let me protect the truth. It is all my strength. If I lose it, I am undone. I shall not lack accusations, and persecutions. But I possess the truth, and we shall see who will take it away.
I do not need to defend religion, but you do not need to defend error and injustice. Let God, out of His compassion, having no regard to the evil which is in me, and having regard to the good which is in you, grant us all grace that truth may not be overcome in my hands, and that falsehood ...
921Probable.—Let us see if we seek God sincerely, by comparison of the things which we love. It is probable that this food will not poison me. It is probable that I shall not lose my action by not prosecuting it ...
922It is not absolution only which remits sins by the sacrament of penance, but contrition, which is not real if it does not seek the sacrament.
923People who do not keep their word, without faith, without honour, without truth, deceitful in heart, deceitful in speech; for which that amphibious animal in fable was once reproached, which held itself in a doubtful position between the fish and the birds ...
It is important to kings and princes to be considered pious; and therefore they must confess themselves to you.
NOTESThe following brief notes are mainly based on those of M. Brunschvicg. But those of MM. Faugère, Molinier, and Havet have also been consulted. The biblical references are to the Authorised English Version. Those in the text are to the Vulgate, except where it has seemed advisable to alter the reference to the English Version.
[1] P. 1, l. 1. The difference between the mathematical and the intuitive mind.—Pascal is here distinguishing the logical or discursive type of mind, a good example of which is found in mathematical reasoning, and what we should call the intuitive type of mind, which sees everything at a glance. A practical man of sound judgment exemplifies the latter; for he is in fact guided by impressions of past experience, and does not consciously reason from general principles.
[2] P. 2, l. 34. There are different kinds, etc.—This is probably a subdivision of the discursive type of mind.
[3] P. 3, l. 31. By rule.—This is an emendation by M. Brunschvicg. The MS. has sans règle.
[4] P. 4, l. 3. I judge by my watch.—Pascal is said to have always carried a watch attached to his left wrist-band.
[5] P. 5, l. 21. Scaramouch.—A traditional character in Italian comedy.
[6] P. 5, l. 22. The doctor.—Also a traditional character in Italian comedy.
[7] P. 5, l. 24. Cleobuline.—Princess, and afterwards Queen of Corinth, figures in the romance of Mademoiselle de Scudéry, entitled Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus. She is enamoured of one of her subjects, Myrinthe. But she "loved him without thinking of love; and remained so long in that error, that this affection was no longer in a state to be overcome, when she became aware of it." The character is supposed to have been drawn from Christina of Sweden.
[8] P. 6, l. 21. Rivers are, etc.—Apparently suggested by a chapter in Rabelais: How we descended in the isle of Odes, in which the roads walk.
[9] P. 6, l. 30. Salomon de Tultie.—A pseudonym adopted by Pascal as the author of the Provincial Letters.
[10] P. 7, l. 7. Abstine et sustine.—A maxim of the Stoics.
[11] P. 7, l. 8. Follow nature.—The maxim in which the Stoics summed up their positive ethical teaching.
[12] P. 7, l. 9. As Plato.—Compare Montaigne, Essais, iii, 9.
[13] P. 9, l. 29. We call this jargon poetical beauty.—According to M. Havet, Pascal refers here to Malherbe and his school.
[14] P. 10, l. 23. Ne quid nimis.—Nothing in excess, a celebrated maxim in ancient Greek philosophy.
[15] P. 11, l. 26. That epigram about two one-eyed people.—M. Havet points out that this is not Martial's, but is to be found in Epigrammatum Delectus, published by Port-Royal in 1659.
Et potis est forma vincere uterque deos.
Blande puer, lumen quod habes concede parenti,
Sic tu cæcus Amor, sic erit ilia Venus.
[16] P. 11, l. 29. Ambitiosa recidet ornamenta.—Horace, De Arte Poetica, 447.
[17] P. 13, l. 2. Cartesian.—One who follows the philosophy of Descartes (1596-1650), "the father of modern philosophy."
[18] P. 13, l. 8. Le Maître.—A famous French advocate in Pascal's time. His Plaidoyers el Harangues appeared in 1657. Plaidoyer VI is entitled Pour un fils mis en religion par force, and on the first page occurs the word répandre: "Dieu qui répand des aveuglements et des ténèbres sur les passions illégitimes." Pascal's reference is probably to this passage.
[19] P. 13, l. 12. The Cardinal.—Mazarin. He was one of those statesmen who do not like condolences.
[20] P. 14, l. 12. Saint Thomas.—Thomas Aquinas (1223-74), one of the greatest scholastic philosophers.
[21] P. 14, l. 16. Charron.—A friend of Montaigne. His Traité de la Sagesse (1601), which is not a large book, contains 117 chapters, each of which is subdivided.
[22] P. 14, l. 17. Of the confusion of Montaigne.—The Essays of Montaigne follow each other without any kind of order.
[23] P. 14, l. 27. Mademoiselle de Gournay.—The adopted daughter of Montaigne. She published in 1595 an edition of his Essais, and, in a Preface (added later), she defends him on this point.
[24] P. 15, l. 1. People without eyes.—Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[25] P. 15, l. 1. Squaring the circle.—Ibid., ii, 14.
[26] P. 15, l. 1. A greater world.—Ibid., ii, 12.
[27] P. 15, l. 2. On suicide and on death.—Ibid., ii, 3.
[28] P. 15, l. 3. Without fear and without repentance.—Ibid., iii., 2.
[29] P. 15, l. 7. (730, 231).—These two references of Pascal are to the edition of the Essais of Montaigne, published in 1636.
[30] P. 16, l. 32. The centre which is everywhere, and the circumference nowhere.—M. Havet traces this saying to Empedocles. Pascal must have read it in Mlle de Gournay's preface to her edition of Montaigne's Essais.
[31] P. 18, l. 33. I will speak of the whole.—This saying of Democritus is quoted by Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[32] P. 18, l. 37. Principles of Philosophy.—The title of one of Descartes's philosophical writings, published in 1644. See note on p. 13, l. 8 above.
[33] P. 18, l. 39. De omni scibili.—The title under which Pico della Mirandola announced nine hundred propositions which he proposed to uphold publicly at Rome in 1486.
[34] P. 19, l. 26. Beneficia eo usque læta sunt.—Tacitus, Ann., lib. iv, c. xviii. Compare Montaigne, Essais, iii, 8.
[35] P. 21, l. 35. Modus quo, etc.—St. Augustine, De Civ. Dei, xxi, 10. Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[36] P. 22, l. 8. Felix qui, etc.—Virgil, Georgics, ii, 489, quoted by Montaigne, Essais, iii, 10.
[37] P. 22, l. 10. Nihil admirari, etc.—Horace, Epistles, I. vi. 1. Montaigne, Essais, ii, 10.
[38] P. 22, l. 19. 394.—A reference to Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[39] P. 22, l. 20. 395.—Ibid.
[40] P. 22, l. 22. 399.—Ibid.
[41] P. 22, l. 28. Harum sententiarum.—Cicero, Tusc., i, 11, Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[42] P. 22, l. 39. Felix qui, etc.—See above, notes on p. 22, l. 8 and l. 10.
[43] P. 22, l. 40. 280 kinds of sovereign good in Montaigne.—Essais, ii, 12.
[44] P. 23, l. 1. Part I, 1, 2, c. 1, section 4.—This reference is to Pascal's Traité du vide.
[45] P. 23, l. 25. How comes it, etc.—Montaigne, Essais, iii, 8.
[46] P. 23, l. 29. See Epictetus, Diss., iv, 6. He was a great Roman Stoic in the time of Domitian.
[47] P. 24, l. 9. It is natural, etc.—Compare Montaigne, Essais, i, 4.
[48] P. 24, l. 12. Imagination.—This fragment is suggestive of Montaigne. See Essais, iii, 8.
[49] P. 25, l. 16. If the greatest philosopher, etc. See Raymond Sebond's Apologie, from which Pascal has derived his illustrations.
[50] P. 26, l. 1. Furry cats.—Montaigne, Essais, ii, 8.
[51] P. 26, l. 31. Della opinione, etc.—No work is known under this name. It may refer to a treatise by Carlo Flori, which bears a title like this. But its date (1690) is after Pascal's death (1662), though there may have been earlier editions.
[52] P. 27, l. 12. Source of error in diseases.—Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[53] P. 27, l. 27. They rival each other, etc.—Ibid.
[54] P. 28, l. 31. Næ iste, etc.—Terence, Heaut., IV, i, 8. Montaigne, Essais, iii, 1.
[55] P. 28, l. 15. Quasi quidquam, etc.—Plin., ii, 7. Montaigne, ibid.
[56] P. 28, l. 29. Quod crebro, etc.—Cicero, De Divin., ii, 49.
[57] P. 29, l. 1. Spongia solis.—The spots on the sun. Pascal sees in them the beginning of the darkening of the sun, and thinks that there will therefore come a day when there will be no sun.
[58] P. 29, l. 15. Custom is a second nature, etc.—Montaigne, Essais, i, 22.
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