登陆注册
5410300000006

第6章 NOTE FOR WOMEN(5)

The first Romans ate pap; and these conquerors of so many nations never thought of either windmills or watermills.This truth seems at first to contradict the antiquity of the globe such as it is, or supposes terrible revolutions in this globe.The inundations of barbarians can hardly annihilate arts which have become necessary.I suppose that an army of negroes comes among us like locusts, from the mountains of Cobonas, through the Monomotapa, the Monoemugi, the Nosseguais, the Maracates; that they have traversed Abyssinia, Nubia, Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, the whole of our Europe; that they have overthrown everything, ransacked everything; there will still remain a few bakers, a few cobblers, a few tailors, a few carpenters: the necessary arts will survive; only luxury will be annihilated.It is what was seen at the fall of the Roman Empire; the art of writing even became very rare; almost all those which contributed to the comfort of life were reborn only long after.We invent new ones every day.

From all this one can at bottom conclude nothing against the antiquity of the globe.For, supposing even that an influx of barbarians had made us lose entirely all the arts even to the arts of writing and making bread;supposing, further, that for ten years past we had no bread, pens, ink and paper; the land which has been able to subsist for ten years without eating bread and without writing its thoughts, would be able to pass a century, and a hundred thousand centuries without these aids.

It is quite clear that man and the other animals can exist very well without bakers, without novelists, and without theologians, witness the whole of America, witness three quarters of our continent.

The newness of the arts among us does not therefore prove the newness of the globe, as was claimed by Epicurus, one of our predecessors in reverie, who supposed that by chance the eternal atoms in declining, had one day formed our earth.Pomponace said: " Se il mondo non e eterno, per tutti santi e molto vecchio."Philosophical Dictionary: Astrology ASTROLOGY Astrology may rest on better foundations than Magic.For if no one has seen either Goblins, or Lemures, or Dives, or Peris, or Demons, or Cacodemons, the predictions of astrologers have often been seen to succeed.

If of two astrologers consulted on the life of a child and on the weather, one says that the child will live to manhood, the other not; if one announces rain, and the other fine weather, it is clear that one of them will be a prophet.

The great misfortune of the astrologers is that the sky has changed since the rules of the art were established.The sun, which at the equinox was in Aries in the time of the Argonauts, is to-day in Taurus; and the astrologers, to the great ill-fortune of their art, to-day attribute to one house of the sun what belongs visibly to another.However, that is not a demonstrative reason against astrology.The masters of the art deceive themselves; but it is not demonstrated that the art cannot exist.

There is no absurdity in saying: Such and such a child is born in the waxing of the moon, during stormy weather, at the rising of such and such star; his constitution has been feeble, and his life unhappy and short;which is the ordinary lot of poor constitutions: this child, on the contrary, was born when the moon was full, the sun strong, the weather calm, at the rising of such and such star; his constitution has been good, his life long and happy.If these observations had been repeated, if they had been found accurate, experience would have been able after some thousands of years to form an art which it would have been difficult to doubt: one would have thought, with some likelihood, that men are like trees and vegetables which must be planted and sown only in certain seasons.It would have been of no avail against the astrologers to say: My son was born at a fortunate time, and nevertheless died in his cradle; the astrologer would have answered:

It often happens that trees planted in the proper season perish; I answered to you for the stars, but I did not answer for the flaw of conformation you communicated to your child.Astrology operates only when no cause opposes itself to the good the stars can do.

One would not have succeeded better in discrediting the astrologer by saying: Of two children who were born in the same minute, one has been king, the other has been only churchwarden of his parish; for the astrologer could very well have defended himself by pointing out that the peasant made his fortune when he became churchwarden, as the prince when he became king.

And if one alleged that a bandit whom Sixtus V.had hanged was born at the same time as Sixtus V., who from a pig-herd became Pope, the astrologers would say one had made a mistake of a few seconds, and that it is impossible, according to the rules, for the same star to give the triple crown and the gibbet.It is then only because a host of experiences belied the predictions, that men perceived at last that the art was illusory; but before being undeceived, they were long credulous.

One of the most famous mathematicians in Europe, named Stoffler, who flourished in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and who long worked at the reform of the calendar, proposed at the Council of Constance, foretold a universal flood for the year 1524.This flood was to arrive in the month of February, and nothing is more plausible; for Saturn, Jupiter and Mars were then in conjunction in the sign of Pisces.All the peoples of Europe, Asia and Africa, who heard speak of the prediction, were dismayed.Everyone expected the flood, despite the rainbow.Several contemporary authors record that the inhabitants of the maritime provinces of Germany hastened to sell their lands dirt cheap to those who had most money, and who were not so credulous as they.Everyone armed himself with a boat as with an ark.AToulouse doctor, named Auriol, had a great ark made for himself, his family and his friends; the same precautions were taken over a large part of Italy.

At last the month of February arrived, and not a drop of water fell: never was month more dry, and never were the astrologers more embarrassed.Nevertheless they were not discouraged, nor neglected among us; almost all princes continued to consult them.

I have not the honour of being a prince; but the celebrated Count of Boulainvilliers and an Italian, named Colonne, who had much prestige in Paris, both foretold that I should die infallibly at the age of thirty-two.

I have been so malicious as to deceive them already by nearly thirty years, wherefore I humbly beg their pardon.

同类推荐
  • 无根树词注解

    无根树词注解

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches

    The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 善俗要义

    善俗要义

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Passages from an Old Volume of Life

    Passages from an Old Volume of Life

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Apology

    Apology

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 武吞万界

    武吞万界

    没有系统?不要紧,我有玲珑玉璧!没有外挂?不要紧,我有玲珑玉璧!想要穿越,不要紧,玲珑依然会满足你!新书《学霸从睡神开始》请大家帮忙收藏支持一下。
  • 追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。
  • 大国仪兵

    大国仪兵

    辉煌时代传奇人生——他先后参加过迎接美国总统福特、南斯拉夫总统铁托、朝鲜主席金日成等一百多次迎接外宾的大型仪仗任务;他担负过审判“林彪、江青反革命集团”的法警任务;他亲历了1981年“802”演习阅兵、成都阅兵、新疆演习阅兵、在天安门广场举行的国庆35周年、50周年、60周年等大型阅兵活动,每次都担任空降兵方队的总教练工作;他组织了空军驻港部队的先期训练工作。他用传奇式的人生谱写出一个个大国仪兵的传奇故事!
  • 地球炼成笔记

    地球炼成笔记

    炼金术是对物质进行理解、分解和再构筑的科学。炼金术不能无中生有,要得到一种物质,必须付出与之相应的代价,这就是炼金术的基础——等价交换。因为他的到来,地球开启大炼金时代。
  • 追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。
  • 一卡在手

    一卡在手

    各位亲爱的对手,上辈子我用努力和天赋战胜了你们,我知道占尽先机的你们让我一路逆袭,心中肯定非常不爽,我保证这辈子再也不会了!这辈子我决定换一个姿势,全程躺赢你们!
  • 毛姆经典长篇套装

    毛姆经典长篇套装

    《毛姆经典三部曲》包含《月亮与六便士》《刀锋》《人性的枷锁》。《月亮与六便士》荣·获豆瓣9.4高分评论,一本好书 腾讯视频栏目推荐。毛姆写给千万文艺青年的梦想之书!多少人只是抬头胆怯地看一眼月亮,又继续低头追逐赖以温饱的六便士?《刀锋》牛津大学图书馆推荐阅读。毛姆写给千万文艺青年寻找自我的人生之书。据1944年英国经典版本完整翻译!生命只有一次,我们该怎样度过这来之不易的一生呢?《人性的枷锁》据1915年英国初版完整翻译,豆瓣高分推荐。马尔克斯、村上春树一致推荐。毛姆写给千万文艺青年的生活之书!无论我们做出怎样的努力和选择,回归平凡才是生活的真谛。
  • 别再为小事生气,小事永远只是小事

    别再为小事生气,小事永远只是小事

    学会看开、学会看淡、学会看远、学会看透、学会看准!运用你的智慧,以一种超脱的心境将万事看开。运用本书所提供的50个“智慧锦囊”,你会找到原本属于你的快乐,原本属于你的成功!
  • 魔法平行空间

    魔法平行空间

    魔法是能量守衡的破坏者,也是能量守衡的创造者,一本书改写一段人生,一段一人生成就一本好书。
  • 酒经(最新21世纪生活百科手册)

    酒经(最新21世纪生活百科手册)

    本文主要讲述的是酒的相关文化:酒品、酒道、酒礼、酒出趣事、酒出幽默、品酒个性等等。