V. “ Christus se dédit redemptionem seu pretium pro omnibus

sufficienter, quia sufficiens pretium obtulit ; non tamen pro omnibus omnino efïicienter, quia non omnibus applicatur ista redemptio.” Ib., III., xx., p. 162. Cf. A. Gazier’s édition of Racine’s Abrégé (1908), s.v. “ Propositions

P. 2, 1. 23. quelques. Cf. Haase, § 48, B. Moines (see critical note) had a touch of contempt which it did not seem necessary to press.

P. 2, 1. 34. ny si gros. Yet the Augustinus is a volume of 1073 folio pages in double column. Dr. Tristan (see above, note on 1. 13) mentions its accessibility, but not its size.

P. 2, 1. 40. se défier du contraire, trs. “ suspect the contrary ”. Cf. “ Une chose vous manque ; vous ne vous en défiez pas ” (La Bruyère).

P. 3, 1. 5. toute opposés. Cf. Haase, § 46.

P. 3, 1. 6. ne croit les choses, etc. This is the very spirit of Descartes f whose watchword was “ certainty Cf. his first rule : “Ne recevoir jamais aucune chose pour vraie, que je ne la connusse évidemment estre telle Discours de la Méthode, 2e partie.

P. 3, 1. 15. Que la grâce, etc. Again Pascal gives the sense, but not the exact words of Arnauld.

P. 3, 1. 19. efficace. See Introduction, p. xx.

P. 3, 1. 20. grand Théologien en peu de temps. Pascal’s opponeuts make great play with this admission, and entirely miss its irony. He was no doubt first and foremost a man of science, but he was better versed in theology than they thought or is generally supposed to-day. Cf. E. Jovy, Pascal Inédit , Vitry-le-François, 1908, t. 1, p. 6 fï.

P. 3, 1. 22. Docteur de Navarre. The Collège de Navarre, founded by Jeanne de Navarre, wife of Philippe le Bel, in 1304, was one of the residential colleges of the University of Paris. It stood on the site of the présent Ecole Polytechnique.

P. 3, 1. 34. Saint Augustin. Cf. Ep. 217, ad Vitalem , c. 5 ; a passage repeatedly quoted by Arnauld.

P. 4, 1. 2. Sorbonique. The Sorbonique was one of the theses which a candidate for the doctorate had to support before the Paculty of Theology.

P. 4, 1. 6. ce me dit-il. Cf. Haase, § 18, B.

P. 4, 1. 40. le fin, trs. “ the subtle point ”.

P. 5, 1. 6. prochain, “Pouvoir prochain,” “ proxima ” or “ expedita potestas ” = “ immédiate power,” is an orthodox catholic expression which Pascal himself adopts elsewhere. Cf. Lettre sur les commandemens de Dieu ( Œuvres de Pascal, t. xi., p. 157). What he protests against here is not so much the phrase itself as the dishonest agreement on the part of Molinists and Thomists to use it for the overthrow of Arnauld, although they understood by it two very different things. To the Thomists it meant an inhérent power which requires external help in order to pass into action : to the Molinists it meant a power which contains within itself ail that is necessary for action. For the Thomist and Neo-Thomist view of “ proxima potestas ” cf. St. Thomas, S. th. I, q. 83, art. 2, ad. 2, and Alvarez (the founder of the Neo- Thomists), De Auxiliis. lib XII., disp. CXVII., art. 11. Nicole, in his Latin translation of the Provinciales , published in 1658 under the pseudonym of Willelmius Wendrockius, devotes an elaborate note to the defence of Pascal’s rejection of the term.

P. 5, 1. 26. Je les luy offris tous ensemble, etc. Pascal is a little hasty. When we corne to Letters XVII. and XVIII. we shall find him disbinguishing bebween the different parties. And in any case M. le Moine, who appears in the next paragraph, was not an ordinary Molinist.

P. 5, 1. 26. ne faisans. Cf. Haase, § 91, A.

P. 6, 1. 2. une répugnance, trs. “ a diversity ”.

P. 6, 1. 6. Monsieur le Moine. Alphonse le Moine ( ob . 2 Aug., 1659), formerly curé of the Madeleine, Doctor and Professor of the Sorbonne and one of Nicole’s teachers there. “Ingenium inter mediocra optimum ” (cf. Hermant, Mëm. t. i., p. 172), he invented a compromise bebween the strict grâce-doctrine of St. Augustine and that of Molina, and secured a large following. He recognized the necessity of “ grâce efficace en elle-même,” but allowed in ail men a “grâce suffisante” of prayer, whereby the gift of “grâce suffisante” leading to “grâce efficace,” can be obtained. Nicole turned against his teacher in his 3rd note on the First Letter, where he exposes his false System of grâce, records its defeat at the hands of Nicole, and le Moine’s conséquent rancour.

P. 6, 1. 6. le Pere Nicolai. Jean Nicolai (1594-1673), the most prominent Dominican of his time.

NOTES

P. 6, 1. 11. nouveaux Thomistes. The name given by the Jansenists to the disciples of Diego Alvarez (1550-1635), Archbishop of Trani. Pascal’s attitude towards the Neo-Thomists here is very different from that which he takes up in Letter XVIII.

P. 6, 1. 18. pour la faire. Cf. Haase, § 48, C.

P. 6, 1. 26. sans quoy. Cf. Haase, § 34.

P. 6, 1. 40. Jacobins. I.e. the Dominicans, whose Paris home was in the rue St. Jacques, at the angle of the rue des Grès, parallel to the rue du Panthéon and looking east at St. Etienne du Mont.

P. 7, 1. 8. Oüy dea. “ Dea " = “ dà ”. A yet older form “ diva,” déclarés the most probable etymology of this emphatic particle, viz., the two impératives “ di ! ” (dis) and “ va ! ”

P. 7, 1. 34. arriva. Cf. Haase, § 65, Rem. I.

P. 8, 1. 5. Distinguo. This is a hit at M. le Moine who was notorious for his hair-splitting. Nicole says of him that no one ever invented so many distinctions, and that his object was rather to évadé the truth than to find it. Cf. his note IV. to Letter I.

P. 8, 1. 26. n'ayant point esté expliquées. Cf. Haase, § 95, B.

P. 9, 1. 8. Cordeliers , i.e. Franciscans, whose brown frock was girt by a thrice knotted cord.

Pascal here alludes to a passage between the Queen, Anne of Austria, and the Princesse de Guémené, a fervent partisan of Port-Royal. “Vos docteurs parlent trop,” said the Queen. To which Madame Guémené replied: “ Vous ne vous en souciez guère, Madame, car vous ferez venir tant de Cordeliers et de moines mendiants que vous en aurez de reste ”. Whereupon the Queen remarked, “ Nous en faisons venir encore tous les jours ”. Cf. Beaubrun, Mémoires, quoted in Œuvres de Pascal, t. iv., p. 110.

P. 9, 1. 23. l'Academie. The great Dictionary of the Academy, begun in R 38, was making slow progress. In 1651 it had got no further than the Letter “ I ”.

P. 9, 1. 24. ce mot barbare de Sorbonne qui. Cf. Haase, § 156, D.

P. 9, 1. 26. méprisable , trs. “négligeable”.

P. 9, 1. 30. mon prochain (see critical note). Pascal allowed his harmless pun (Daniel calls it a “ turlupinade ”) to be withdrawn. It was restored in 1659.