November 1, 2022 • 11 mins
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Section five. Happily, according tothese writers, there are some men termed
governors and legislators, upon whom Heavenhas bestowed opposite tendencies, not for their
own sake only, but for thesake of the rest of the world.
Whilst mankind tends to evil, theyincline to good. Whilst mankind is advancing
(00:20):
towards darkness, they are aspiring toenlightenment. Whilst mankind is drawn towards vice,
they are attracted by virtue, Andthis granted, they demand the assistance
of force, by means of whichthey are to substitute their own tendencies for
those of the human race. Itis only needful to open, almost at
random a book on philosophy, politics, or history to see how strongly this
(00:45):
idea, the child of classical studiesand the mother of socialism, is rooted
in our country. That mankind ismerely inert matter, receiving life, organization,
morality, and wealth from power,or rather, and still worse,
that mankind itself tends towards degradation,and is only arrested in its tendency by
the mysterious hand of the legislator.Classical conventionalism shows us everywhere behind passive society,
(01:11):
a hidden power under the names oflaw or legislator, or by a
mode of expression which refers to someperson or persons of undisputed weight and authority
but not named, which moves,animates, and riches and regenerates mankind.
We will give a quotation from boussuetquote. One of the things which was
(01:34):
the most strongly impressed by whom uponthe mind of the Egyptians was the love
of their country. Nobody was allowedto be useless to the state. The
law assigned to everyone his employment,which descended from father to son. No
one was permitted to have two professions, nor to adopt another end quote.
(01:56):
But there was one occupation which wasobliged to be common to all. This
was the study of the laws andof wisdom. Ignorance of religion and the
political regulations of the country was excusedin no condition of life. Moreover,
every profession had a district assigned toit by whom. Amongst good laws,
one of the best things was thateverybody was taught to observe them, by
(02:21):
whom Egypt abounded with wonderful inventions,and nothing was neglected which could render life
comfortable and tranquil. Thus, men, according to Busuiyt, derive nothing from
themselves. Patriotism, wealth, inventions, husbandry, science all come to them
by the operation of the laws orby kings. All they have to do
(02:43):
is to be passive. It ison this ground that Busuyt takes exception when
Diodorus accuses the Egyptians of rejecting wrestlingand music. How is that possible,
says he, since these arts wereinvented by Trismegistus. It is the same
with the Persians. Quote. Oneof the first cares of the prince was
(03:04):
to encourage agriculture. As there wereposts established for the regulation of the armies,
so there were offices for the superintendingof rural works end quote. The
respect with which the Persians were inspiredfor royal authority was excessive. The Greeks,
although full of mind, were noless strangers to their own responsibilities,
so much so that of themselves likedogs and horses, they would not have
(03:29):
ventured upon the most simple games.In a classical sense, it is an
undisputed thing that everything comes to thepeople from without quote. The Greeks,
naturally full of spirit and courage,had been early cultivated by kings and colonies
who had come from Egypt. Fromthem, they had learned the exercises of
the body, foot races, andhorse and chariot races. The best thing
(03:53):
that the Egyptians had taught them wasto become docile and to allow themselves to
be formed by the laws for thepublic good end quote. Phenelon. Reared
in the study and admiration of antiquityand a witness of the power of Louis
the fourteenth, Phenelon naturally adopted theidea that mankind should be passive, and
(04:14):
that its misfortunes and its prosperities,its virtues, and its vices are caused
by the external influence that is exercisedupon it by the law or by the
makers of the law. Thus,in his utopia of Silentum, he brings
the men, with their interests,their faculties, their desires, and their
possessions under the absolute direction of thelegislator. Whatever the subject may be,
(04:39):
They themselves have no voice in it. The Prince judges for them. The
nation is just a shapeless mass,of which the Prince is. The soul.
In him resides the thought, theforesight, the principle of all organization
of all progress on him therefore restsall the responsibility. In proof of this
assertion, I might trans describe thewhole of the Tenth Book of Telemachus.
(05:02):
I refer the reader to it,and shall content myself with quoting some passages
taken at random from this celebrated work, to which, in every other respect
I am the first to render justicewith the astonishing credulity that characterizes the classics.
Phanalon, against the authority of reasonand of facts, admits the general
felicity of the Egyptians and attributes itnot to their own wisdom, but to
(05:26):
that of their kings. Quote.We could not turn our eyes to the
two shores without perceiving rich towns andcountry seats, agreeably situated fields that were
covered every year without intermission, withgolden crops, meadows full of flocks,
laborers bending under the weight of fruitsthat the earth lavished on its cultivators,
and shepherds who made the echoes aroundrepeat the soft sounds of their pipes and
(05:49):
flutes. Happy, said mentor isthat people who is governed by a wise
king. Mentor afterwards desired me toremark the happiness and abundance that was spread
over all the country of Egypt,where twenty two thousand cities might be counted.
He admired the excellent police regulations ofthe cities, the justice administered in
(06:11):
favor of the poor against the rich, the good education of the children,
who were accustomed to obedience, laborand the love of arts and letters.
The exactness with which all the ceremoniesof religion were performed, the disinterestedness,
the desire of honor, the fidelityto men, and the fear of the
gods with which every father inspired hischildren. He could not sufficiently admire the
(06:32):
prosperous state of the country. Happy, said he is the people whom a
wise king rules in such a manner. End Quote Phenelon's idol on crete is
still more fascinating mentor is made tosay, quote all that you will see
in this wonderful island is the resultof the laws of minus. The education
(06:54):
that the children receive renders the bodyhealthy and robust. They are accustomed from
the first to a frugal and laboriouslife. It is supposed that all the
pleasures of sense enervate the body andthe mind. No other pleasure is presented
to them but that of being invincibleby virtue that of acquiring much glory.
There they punish three vices that gounpunished amongst other people, ingratitude, dissimulation,
(07:19):
and avarice. As to pomp anddissipation. There is no need to
punish these, for they are unknownin crete. No costly furniture, no
magnificent clothing, no delicious feasts,no gilded palaces are allowed. End quote.
It is thus that Mentor prepares hisscholar to mold and manipulate, doubtless
(07:41):
with the most philanthropic intentions, thepeople of Ithaca, and to confirm him
in these ideas, he gives himthe example of silentum. So we receive
our first political notions. We aretaught to treat men very much as Oliver
Desayers teaches farmers to manage and tomix the soil Montesquieu quote. To sustain
the spirit of commerce, it isnecessary that all the laws should favor it
(08:05):
that these same laws, by theirregulations, in dividing the fortunes in proportion
as commerce enlarges them, should placeevery poor citizen in sufficiently easy circumstances to
enable him to work like the others, and every rich citizen in such mediocrity
that he must work in order toretain or to acquire end quote. Thus
(08:26):
the laws are to dispose of allfortunes. Quote. Although in a democracy
real equality be the soul of thestate, yet it is so difficult to
establish that an extreme exactness in thismanner would not always be desirable. It
is sufficient that a census be establishedto reduce or fix the differences to a
certain point, after which it isfor particular laws to equalize, as it
(08:48):
were, the inequality by burdens imposedupon the rich and reliefs granted to the
poor end quote. Here again wesee the equalization of fortunes by law,
that is, by force. Quote. There were in Greece two kinds of
republics. One was military, asSparta, the other commercial, as Athens.
(09:09):
In though one it was wished bywhom that the citizens should be idle,
in the other the love of laborwas encouraged. It is worth our
while to pay a little attention tothe extent of genius required by these legislators,
that we may see how by confoundingall the virtues, they showed their
wisdom to the world. Lycurgus blendingtheft with the spirit of justice, the
(09:31):
hardest slavery, with extreme liberty,the most atrocious sentiments, with the greatest
moderation gave stability to his city.He seemed to deprive it of all its
resources, arts, commerce, money, and walls. There was ambition without
the hope of rising. There werenatural sentiments where the individual was neither child,
nor husband, nor father. Chastityeven was deprived of modesty. By
(09:56):
this road, Sparta was led onto grandeur and to glory. The phenomenon
that we observe in the institutions ofGreece has been seen in the midst of
the degeneracy and corruption of our moderntimes. An honest legislator has formed a
people where probity has appeared as naturalas bravery. Among the Spartans. Mister
Penn is a true Lycurgus, Andalthough the former had peace for his object
(10:18):
and the latter war, they resembleeach other in the singular path along which
they have led their people, intheir influence over free men, in the
prejudices which they have overcome, thepassions which they have subdued. Paraguay furnishes
us with another example. Society hasbeen accused of the crime of regarding the
pleasure of commanding as the only goodof life. But it will always be
(10:41):
a noble thing to govern men bymaking them happy. Those who desire to
form similar institutions will establish community ofproperty, as in the Republic of Plato,
the same reverence as he enjoined forthe gods separation from strangers for the
preservation of morality, and make thecity and not the citizens, create commerce.
(11:01):
They should give our arts without ourluxury, our wants, without our
desires. End quote. Vulgar infatuationmay exclaim, if it likes it is
Montesquieu magnificent, sublime. I amnot afraid to express my opinion and to
say, quote what you have thegall to call that fine, It is
(11:24):
frightful, it is abominable. Andthese extracts, which I might multiply,
show that, according to Montesquieu,the persons, the liberties, the property
mankind itself are nothing but grist forthe mill of the sagacity of lawgivers.
End quote end of section five
Section five. Happily, according tothese writers, there are some men termed
governors and legislators, upon whom Heavenhas bestowed opposite tendencies, not for their
own sake only, but for thesake of the rest of the world.
Whilst mankind tends to evil, theyincline to good. Whilst mankind is advancing
(00:20):
towards darkness, they are aspiring toenlightenment. Whilst mankind is drawn towards vice,
they are attracted by virtue, Andthis granted, they demand the assistance
of force, by means of whichthey are to substitute their own tendencies for
those of the human race. Itis only needful to open, almost at
random a book on philosophy, politics, or history to see how strongly this
(00:45):
idea, the child of classical studiesand the mother of socialism, is rooted
in our country. That mankind ismerely inert matter, receiving life, organization,
morality, and wealth from power,or rather, and still worse,
that mankind itself tends towards degradation,and is only arrested in its tendency by
the mysterious hand of the legislator.Classical conventionalism shows us everywhere behind passive society,
(01:11):
a hidden power under the names oflaw or legislator, or by a
mode of expression which refers to someperson or persons of undisputed weight and authority
but not named, which moves,animates, and riches and regenerates mankind.
We will give a quotation from boussuetquote. One of the things which was
(01:34):
the most strongly impressed by whom uponthe mind of the Egyptians was the love
of their country. Nobody was allowedto be useless to the state. The
law assigned to everyone his employment,which descended from father to son. No
one was permitted to have two professions, nor to adopt another end quote.
(01:56):
But there was one occupation which wasobliged to be common to all. This
was the study of the laws andof wisdom. Ignorance of religion and the
political regulations of the country was excusedin no condition of life. Moreover,
every profession had a district assigned toit by whom. Amongst good laws,
one of the best things was thateverybody was taught to observe them, by
(02:21):
whom Egypt abounded with wonderful inventions,and nothing was neglected which could render life
comfortable and tranquil. Thus, men, according to Busuiyt, derive nothing from
themselves. Patriotism, wealth, inventions, husbandry, science all come to them
by the operation of the laws orby kings. All they have to do
(02:43):
is to be passive. It ison this ground that Busuyt takes exception when
Diodorus accuses the Egyptians of rejecting wrestlingand music. How is that possible,
says he, since these arts wereinvented by Trismegistus. It is the same
with the Persians. Quote. Oneof the first cares of the prince was
(03:04):
to encourage agriculture. As there wereposts established for the regulation of the armies,
so there were offices for the superintendingof rural works end quote. The
respect with which the Persians were inspiredfor royal authority was excessive. The Greeks,
although full of mind, were noless strangers to their own responsibilities,
so much so that of themselves likedogs and horses, they would not have
(03:29):
ventured upon the most simple games.In a classical sense, it is an
undisputed thing that everything comes to thepeople from without quote. The Greeks,
naturally full of spirit and courage,had been early cultivated by kings and colonies
who had come from Egypt. Fromthem, they had learned the exercises of
the body, foot races, andhorse and chariot races. The best thing
(03:53):
that the Egyptians had taught them wasto become docile and to allow themselves to
be formed by the laws for thepublic good end quote. Phenelon. Reared
in the study and admiration of antiquityand a witness of the power of Louis
the fourteenth, Phenelon naturally adopted theidea that mankind should be passive, and
(04:14):
that its misfortunes and its prosperities,its virtues, and its vices are caused
by the external influence that is exercisedupon it by the law or by the
makers of the law. Thus,in his utopia of Silentum, he brings
the men, with their interests,their faculties, their desires, and their
possessions under the absolute direction of thelegislator. Whatever the subject may be,
(04:39):
They themselves have no voice in it. The Prince judges for them. The
nation is just a shapeless mass,of which the Prince is. The soul.
In him resides the thought, theforesight, the principle of all organization
of all progress on him therefore restsall the responsibility. In proof of this
assertion, I might trans describe thewhole of the Tenth Book of Telemachus.
(05:02):
I refer the reader to it,and shall content myself with quoting some passages
taken at random from this celebrated work, to which, in every other respect
I am the first to render justicewith the astonishing credulity that characterizes the classics.
Phanalon, against the authority of reasonand of facts, admits the general
felicity of the Egyptians and attributes itnot to their own wisdom, but to
(05:26):
that of their kings. Quote.We could not turn our eyes to the
two shores without perceiving rich towns andcountry seats, agreeably situated fields that were
covered every year without intermission, withgolden crops, meadows full of flocks,
laborers bending under the weight of fruitsthat the earth lavished on its cultivators,
and shepherds who made the echoes aroundrepeat the soft sounds of their pipes and
(05:49):
flutes. Happy, said mentor isthat people who is governed by a wise
king. Mentor afterwards desired me toremark the happiness and abundance that was spread
over all the country of Egypt,where twenty two thousand cities might be counted.
He admired the excellent police regulations ofthe cities, the justice administered in
(06:11):
favor of the poor against the rich, the good education of the children,
who were accustomed to obedience, laborand the love of arts and letters.
The exactness with which all the ceremoniesof religion were performed, the disinterestedness,
the desire of honor, the fidelityto men, and the fear of the
gods with which every father inspired hischildren. He could not sufficiently admire the
(06:32):
prosperous state of the country. Happy, said he is the people whom a
wise king rules in such a manner. End Quote Phenelon's idol on crete is
still more fascinating mentor is made tosay, quote all that you will see
in this wonderful island is the resultof the laws of minus. The education
(06:54):
that the children receive renders the bodyhealthy and robust. They are accustomed from
the first to a frugal and laboriouslife. It is supposed that all the
pleasures of sense enervate the body andthe mind. No other pleasure is presented
to them but that of being invincibleby virtue that of acquiring much glory.
There they punish three vices that gounpunished amongst other people, ingratitude, dissimulation,
(07:19):
and avarice. As to pomp anddissipation. There is no need to
punish these, for they are unknownin crete. No costly furniture, no
magnificent clothing, no delicious feasts,no gilded palaces are allowed. End quote.
It is thus that Mentor prepares hisscholar to mold and manipulate, doubtless
(07:41):
with the most philanthropic intentions, thepeople of Ithaca, and to confirm him
in these ideas, he gives himthe example of silentum. So we receive
our first political notions. We aretaught to treat men very much as Oliver
Desayers teaches farmers to manage and tomix the soil Montesquieu quote. To sustain
the spirit of commerce, it isnecessary that all the laws should favor it
(08:05):
that these same laws, by theirregulations, in dividing the fortunes in proportion
as commerce enlarges them, should placeevery poor citizen in sufficiently easy circumstances to
enable him to work like the others, and every rich citizen in such mediocrity
that he must work in order toretain or to acquire end quote. Thus
(08:26):
the laws are to dispose of allfortunes. Quote. Although in a democracy
real equality be the soul of thestate, yet it is so difficult to
establish that an extreme exactness in thismanner would not always be desirable. It
is sufficient that a census be establishedto reduce or fix the differences to a
certain point, after which it isfor particular laws to equalize, as it
(08:48):
were, the inequality by burdens imposedupon the rich and reliefs granted to the
poor end quote. Here again wesee the equalization of fortunes by law,
that is, by force. Quote. There were in Greece two kinds of
republics. One was military, asSparta, the other commercial, as Athens.
(09:09):
In though one it was wished bywhom that the citizens should be idle,
in the other the love of laborwas encouraged. It is worth our
while to pay a little attention tothe extent of genius required by these legislators,
that we may see how by confoundingall the virtues, they showed their
wisdom to the world. Lycurgus blendingtheft with the spirit of justice, the
(09:31):
hardest slavery, with extreme liberty,the most atrocious sentiments, with the greatest
moderation gave stability to his city.He seemed to deprive it of all its
resources, arts, commerce, money, and walls. There was ambition without
the hope of rising. There werenatural sentiments where the individual was neither child,
nor husband, nor father. Chastityeven was deprived of modesty. By
(09:56):
this road, Sparta was led onto grandeur and to glory. The phenomenon
that we observe in the institutions ofGreece has been seen in the midst of
the degeneracy and corruption of our moderntimes. An honest legislator has formed a
people where probity has appeared as naturalas bravery. Among the Spartans. Mister
Penn is a true Lycurgus, Andalthough the former had peace for his object
(10:18):
and the latter war, they resembleeach other in the singular path along which
they have led their people, intheir influence over free men, in the
prejudices which they have overcome, thepassions which they have subdued. Paraguay furnishes
us with another example. Society hasbeen accused of the crime of regarding the
pleasure of commanding as the only goodof life. But it will always be
(10:41):
a noble thing to govern men bymaking them happy. Those who desire to
form similar institutions will establish community ofproperty, as in the Republic of Plato,
the same reverence as he enjoined forthe gods separation from strangers for the
preservation of morality, and make thecity and not the citizens, create commerce.
(11:01):
They should give our arts without ourluxury, our wants, without our
desires. End quote. Vulgar infatuationmay exclaim, if it likes it is
Montesquieu magnificent, sublime. I amnot afraid to express my opinion and to
say, quote what you have thegall to call that fine, It is
(11:24):
frightful, it is abominable. Andthese extracts, which I might multiply,
show that, according to Montesquieu,the persons, the liberties, the property
mankind itself are nothing but grist forthe mill of the sagacity of lawgivers.
End quote end of section five
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