LETTER VII

The Seventh Letter continues the thème of Letter VI. and is in some ways complementary to it. Pascal has already dealt with assassins : he now cornes to gentleman murderers. He makes large use of the Requête of the University of Paris against the teaching of Père Héreau (1643), and Hermant's reply (1644) to the Apology put forth by Caussin.

P. 68, 1. 7. ce point dlionneur. The majority of the Casuists v?ith whom Pascal deals are Spanish Jesuits. Spain was the land where the point of honour was most sedulously observed, and where " it exercised a sway even more potent than that of religion " (Tilley, op. cit., p. 233).

P. 68, 1. 26. La loy de VEvangile. Cf. Rom. xii. 17, 19, referring to Matt. V. 38.

Molinier, the most acute and balanced of Pascal's editors, remarks that the teaching of Christ has not prevented men from continuing to shed torrents of human blood, and he reproaches Pascal for taking as reality what has never been anything but a sublime idéal. This is unfair both to Pascal and to Christianity. Pascal seeks to enforce the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount, whose object was not to give rules for social conduct, but to purify the heart, in the case before us by

NOTES 27s

Btifling the instinct of revenge. In proportion as tiie principles laid down by Christ are adopted social oonduct improves. It may be remarked that the Casuists by the distinction which they admitted between getis d'honneur et le bas peuple surrendered the moral progresa achieved by Christianity, or indeed by the Decalogue. It was not Moses but Hammurabi who distinguished between injury done to a peasant and to a gentleman.

P. 6'J, 1. 15. nostre grande méthode de diriger l'intention, i.e. to set before the will, contemplating an action, aome object différent from the obvious one.

On this point Pascal will probably command the assent of ail rightthinking persons. There can only be one intention in any act. To substitute another for it is only to practise self-deceit, and absolution obtained for a wrong action where such substitution has been made, is obtained under false pretences.

Pascal 's opponents went off on a side issue, and in the XXIV* Imposture they laboured to prove the importance of the intention in every human action — which nobody would deny. Nicole in a note to this Letter shows the impertinence of this attempt.

P. 70, 1. 5. nous purifions . . . l'intentiofi, etc. The Casuist answer to Pascal is that while no intention can justify a bad action, i.e. one which is mortally sinful, yet there may be éléments of venial sin in an action which can be rectified by purity of intention. But Pascal had on his side both Molière and popular feeling.

Cf. •* Selon divers besoins, il est une science D'étendre les liens de notre conscience, Et de rectifier le mal de l'action.

Avec la pureté de notre intention."

{Le Tartufe, Act IV., se. 6)

and a popular song (1652) set to a well-known tune —

" Le péché n'est plus qu'une fable, Escobar en est caution.

Et l'on prend pour dupe le diable En dirigeant l'intention."

P. 70, 1. 31. Eccl. = Ecclesiasticus xxviii. 1.

P. 70, 1. 39. sur l'Jieure. This is the condition upon which Regnault lays stress. The rétribution, which he classes as self defence, must be made immediately after the offence, and not upon reflection. This no doubt lessens to some extent the enormity of his opinion, but it doea not bring it any doser to the teaching of Christ.

P. 71, I. 8. Lessius. Léonard Leys (1554-1623), professer in the Jesuit Collège at Louvain, and a great opponent of Baianism. Hia book hère quoted. De Justitia et Jure actionum humanarum (Paris, 1605), was much esteemed by St. François de Sales.

P. 71, 1. 4. Celuy qui a reçu, etc. The opinion quoted is not that of

Leys himself, but of the Dominican Victoria. Nicole makes this clear in his translation: "Vide enim quid référât et probet ex Victoria Lessius".

P. 71, 1. 16. Hurtado de Mendoza. Pedro Hurtado (1578-1651),

P. 71, 1. 18. De Spe = De spe et charitate (Salamanca, 1630).

P. 71, 1. 24. le Bréviaire. Maynard rightly points ont that the Breviary contains many Psalms which breathe the spirit of vengeance. And thèse are a source of diflficulty to many Christians. But the Church has always emphasized the fact that those whose death the Psalmist desires were God's enemies. The real danger is lest revenge be acted under the pretence of piety.

P. 71, 1. 26. Gaspard Hurtado. G. Hurtado, Jesuit, f 1647, author of De sacramentis. ib., De Sub. Pecc. = De Subjecto peccatorura.

P. 71, 1. 27. cité par Diana. The éditera of the Letters in Œuvres de Pascal, say they hâve been unable to find this passage in Diana. But it is there. See tom. i., tr. 7, res. 100, of the édition of 1667 (Diana coordinatus), which has a table justifying the rearrangement of topics. AU that Pascal has done is to put the beneficiary before the son. It is not clear from the text of Diana whether the instances of the beneficiary and the son are adduced by Hurtado or by himself : but the principle governing the opinion is attributed by him to Hurtado, and it is this. The wickedness of an ineffective bad désire, unlike that of an effective bad désire is derived not from the object of désire, but from the manner or motive with which the object is regarded.

Maynard maintains that there is some force in the distinction, but he admits that précision in such a case being impossible this kind of proposition deserves the condemnation it has received, e.g. by Innocent XI. in his decree of 1679.

P. 71, 1. 39. se battre en duel. AU through the sixteenth and at intervais during the seventeenth century, duelling flourished exceedingly in France and was a véritable plague. Th. Rainaudo (see note on p. 52, 1. 13) says that within the space of thirty years more men of rank were slain in duels than would hâve been needed to make up a whole army. The Council of Trent had pronounced excommunication against Emperors, Kings, nobles, and ail and sundry who sanctioned duelling. Such an encroachment of the spiritual upon the temporal power was doubtless one reason why France declined to receive the decrees of the Council. But the Church having spoken, kings foUowed her example. From the time of Henri II. onwards, ordinances and royal edicts against duels were multiplied : but they were not strictly applied, and duelUng went on until at length Louis XIV., prompted and supported by the Compagnie du Saint Sacrement, succeeded in checking (1641) and finally in almost abolishing the practice. It was a topic in the first speech which he made on assuming the reins of government. But it broke out again with renewed virulence after Louis's death.

Benedict XIV., in the Bull " Detestabilem " (1752), condemned propositions conceming duelling similar to those which Pascal cites.

P. 71, 1. 89. nostre grand Hurtado. Pedro Hurtado. If Pascal had . read further in Diana he would hâve seen that Hurtado regarded the opinion which he set forth at immense length as difficult in practice thongh prohable in spéculation, and therefore to be avoided.

P. 72, 1. 8. toute indifférente. Cf. Haase, § 46.

P. 72, 1. 9. Car qttel mal y a-t-il d'aller dans un champ, etc. Cf. *' Vous savez que je ne manque point de cœur, et que je sais me servir de mon épée quand il le faut. Je m'en vais passer tout à l'heure dans cette petite rue écartée qui mène au grand convent ; mais je vous déclare, pour moi, que ce n'est point moi qui me veux battre ; le Ciel m'en défend la ponséo : et si vous m'attaquez, nous verrons ce qui en arrivera" (Molière, Don Juan, Act V,, se. 3).

P. 72, 1. 22. nostre Père Layman. In Theol. Moral.

P. 72, 1. 36. la piété du Roy. See above, note on p. 71, 1. 39, and cf. Allier, La Cabale des Dévots, ch. xiv., and Rapin, Mém., t. ii., p. 146.

P. 72, 1. 41. SancJiez. Tomâs Sanchez in his Opus Morale.

P. 73, 1. 12. Navarrus. Not the N. of p. 49. but Pedro de Navarra (?author of De ablatorum restitutionc . . ., lib. iv, 1594).

P. 73, 1. 26. Apprenez d'Esœbar. Pascal hère retums to the question of homicide raised in Letter VI.

P. 74, 1. 5. Molina. Cf. De justitia et jure, where he maintains that you are justified in getting in your blow first against a man who haa not yet altacked your life, but means to do so.

P. 74, 1. 10. s'il est de leur intelligence. " If he acts in concert with them." For leur intelligence, cf. Haase, § 16, Rem. II.

P. 74, 1. 11. Voicy ses mots, i.e. Tanner's in Univ. theol. scholastica, tom. iii. (not tractatus 3 as the early éditions hâve it).

P. 74, 1. 15. au moins pour ce qui touche la conscience. They cannot escape the law, if they are caught. But their conscience is clear.

P. 74, 1. 32, avec quelle mesure. " How far he may go."

P. 74, 1. 34. Henriquez. Enrique Henriquez (1552-1J608), professor of theology at Cordova and Salamanca. He left the Company in 1593, because he could not bear to cancel a page at the bidding of Aquaviva. But he returned to the Jesuits before his death.

P. 74, 1. 35. d'autres de nos Pères, i.e. Leys.

P. 75, 1. 11. Azar. Juan Azor (ob. 1603), professor at Alcalâ and afterwards at Rome, where he died. Inst. Mor. = Institutiones morales, 3 parts (Rome, Paris, Lyons, 16C0, 1606, 1611). Maynard pleads that the question raised by Azor is a common-place of the schools. This only strengthens Pascal's attack on casuistry, tliough it weakcns his attack on the Jesuits as the sole offenders.

P. 75, 1. 18. quand on ne peut l'éviter autrement. Azor counsela flight when possible. This is always possible for a cleric or an inferior, who are not bound by the ordinary code of gentlemanlike honour,

P. 75, 1. 21. Le P. Hereau. The " affaire Héreau " which Hermant calls " une des plus grandes do nostre siècle à l'égard des Jésuites " was as follows : Père Héreau (Hérault or Ayrault), lecturer on moral theology

in the Collège de Clermont, delivered himself in the course of the years 1642, 1643, of certain opinions concerning revenge for calumny, duelling, procuring of abortion, etc., which were delated to the University. That body presented a request to the Parlement for the gênerai prohibition of Jesuit teaching. The " Requeste " and " Procez-verbaux," together with two pamphlets ^ on the subject, were printed and are the source of our knowledge of Héreau's teaching, as also of Pères Plahaut and le Court, professors at the Collège de Gaen. Judgment was passed, not by the Parlement, but by the Conseil du Roi in May, 1644. The Jesuits were forbidden to teach the incriminated doctrines, and Héreau was confined to his Collège until further orders. Cf. Hermaut, Méni., t. i., p. 256 ff.

P. 75, 1. 22. Hurtado, quoted by Diana, Bes. Mor., p. 5, tr. 14, res. 99.

P. 75, 1. 23. Becan. Martinus Becanus (1561-1624), an indefatigable controversialist, who engaged in turn almost ail the Protestant champions, including Lancelot Andrewes. Somm. is the Collection of his treatises collected as Sunima theol. schol. (Mainz, 1680).

P. 75, 1. 28. See critical note. The corrections introduced by C were necessitated by Pascal's mistake in attributing this opinion to Leys instead of to Pedro de Navarra. He was led astray by Hermant, who in his Besponse to Caussin's apology omits Pedro's name. As a matter of fact, Leys says a little later that the opinion in question is not to be followed.

P. 76, 1. 1. Baldelle. Nicole Baldelli (1573-1655). Taught at Rome for sixteen years.

P. 76, 1. 31. on peut tuer le monde, " Mil people".

P. 77, 1. 18. C'est qu'on serait puni, etc. Pascal imporfcs his own meaning into Filiucci's dry statement " unde etiam in foro externo talis puniretur ", Thèse words do not forbid the act for fear of punishment, but simply announce that it is a breach of social order and as such is open to punishment.

P. 77, 1. 35. encore que l'on ne craigne plus, etc. This passage has no right to be printed as a quotation. It is Pascal's summary. What Azor says in the text of his Instit. Moral, is that you may only kill a thief if the theft is of your necessary goods which cannot be recovered otherwise.

P. 78, 1. 18. à 6 ou 7 ducats. What Molina says is that you must not kill a thief for a matter of 4 or 5 ducats. Pascal leaps to the conclusion which is justified by the passage quoted next " Then you may kill him for 6 or 7 ". A gold ducat = ca. 10 fr., an écu = 8 to 6 fr.

P. 78, 1. 15. t. 4, tr. 3, etc., i.e. of Dejustitia et jure (1597).

^ (a) " Advertisement contre une doctrine préjudiciable à la vie de tous les hommes et particulièrement des roys et princes souverains, enseignée à Paris au collège de Clermont, occupé par les Jésuites."

(h) "Second Advertisement contre une doctrine, etc." (1644). Titles as in Hennant, loc. cit.

P. 78, 1. 17. condamner d'aucun péché. Note de used to dénote a cause when a periphrasis would now be preferred.

Âpart frora tlie un-Christian character of their décisions, the Casuista hâve committed the logical fault of confounding defence of the person with defence of property.

P. 79, 1. 1. P. L'Amy. Prancesco Amico (1678-1651), professer of theology first in Italy and then in Austria.

P. 79, 1. 5. t. 5, disp. 36, n. 118, i.e. of Cursus Théologiens juxta scholasticatn hujus tem2)oris societatis Jcsu methoduvi, Vienna, 1630. This proposition was given in tlie first édition only, and waa withdrawn before its condemnation by Alexaiider VII. Amico states that he only put it forward disputandi gratia. But it was playing with fire.

P. 79, 1. 7. publier des crimes scandaleux. This is a mistranslation of "gravia crimina spargere" which moans ''to spread grave accusations ".

P. 79, 1. 17. elle ne permet pas seulement aux juges ecclésiastiques d'assister, etc. Cf. Council of Toledo (675), Canon 6 ; Synod of London (1102), Canon 8 ; Lateran Council (1215), Canon 18. The ecclesiastical judges kept the letter of the decrees of thèse Councils by passing on the case to lay judges for the pronouncement and exécution of sentence.

P. 79, 1. 21. Caramoilel. See above, note on p. 59, 1. 29. Notice that Caramuel is a defender, but not a member of the Jesuit Order.

P. 79, 1. 30. Sçavoir si les Jésuites, etc. Pascal affects to take seriously what is really a pièce of grim humour.

P. 80, 1. 4. tuables : the word was admitted by the Dict. of the Academy in 1672.

P. 80, 1. 28. n'en tirast de vos principes. En refers to " leurs paroles ". de vos principes = selon vos principes.

P. 80, 1. 28. qîielque méchante conclusion, i.e. a conclusion that might prove fatal to me.