LETTER XIII

Soptember, 1656, saw an attempt on tho part of the parish clergy to combat the lax morality revealed by the Lettres Provinciales. On the 13th tho curés of Paris, prompted by those of Rouen, summoned their brethren throughout the kingdom to bear their part. The Avis de Messieurs les Curez de Paris à Messieurs les Curez des autres Diocèses de France ; sur les mauvaises maximes de quelques nouveaux castiistes, 1656, has been attributed to Pascal himself ; but there is nothing in this Premier Avis that recalls the writer of the Provinciales, except its zeal. It was probably the work of the Curé of Saint-Roch. Meanwhile Nouet wrote a Response à la Douzième Lettre des Jansénistes and Nicole (?) answered by a Réfutation de la Réponse. This latter document, whose author admits that it is " fort éloignée de la beauté des autres," is often included with the Provinciales and appears as a note to Letter XII. in Nicole's (Wendrock) édition. Nicole is credited with having drawn up the plan of Letters XIII. and XIV.

P. 149, 1. 2. vostre dernier écrit, i.e. Deuxième Response ou les Impostures Provinciales du sieur de Montait^, secrétaire des Jansénistes, découvertes et refutées par un Père de la Compagnie de Jésus.

P. 149, 1. 3. jusqu'à la vingtième, i.e. up to but not including Imposture XX.

P. 149, 1. 4. la seconde, i.e. Seconde Partie des Impostures que les Jansénistes 2>ublient dans leurs Lettres contre les Jésuites.

P. 149, 1. 5. wie nouvelle manière. There is nothing new in Nouet's manner. He simply proceeds to show that the doctrines attacked by Pascal are " receuës dans l'Echoie, et approuvées par les plus célèbres Docteurs ".

P. 149, 1. 18. une lettre suivante, i.e. Letter XIV.

P. 150, 1. 3. Vostre qtiatrieme imposture, viz. " que les Jésuites favorisent les vengeances," answering Letter VII. ad fin.

P. 150, 1. 5. Lcssius. See above, note on p. 71, 11. 3 and 4. Pascal gives a rapid résumé of the Casuist's argument and slightly varies his translation of the Latin. His treatment of the whole topic is masterly and quite unanswerable, as a comparisou with the passages from Leys will show.

P. 150, 1. 6. d Vheure mesme. The Latin has " posse statim repercutere ".

P. 150, 1. 10. répugnance, " contradiction ".

P. 150,1. 11. Victoria. Francisco de Victoria (1480 ?-1546), Dominican, Professor at Salamanca. He printed nothing during his lifetime. His Theologicae Selectùmes were published posthumously in 1557.

P. 150, 1. 20. qui est Vaction. Cf. Haase, § 35, A.

P. 151, 1. 21. Vostre doctri^te des équivoques. See above, note on p. 101, 1. 23.

P. 151, 1. 35. vous ne l'eussiez pas, etc. Cf. Haase, § 154, C.

P. 151, 1. 42. Cette opinion, etc. " Ob has rationes haec sententia est

spéculative probabilis tamen in praxi non videtur facile permittenda. Primo ob periculum odii vindictae et excessus, secundo ob periculum pugnarum et caedum : unde qui tali casu occideretur puniretur in foro externo." As Havet remarks, it is curious that Pascal should bave omitted the last words, which tally so closely with those of Filliucci in Letter VII.

P. 152, 1. 34. soufflet de Compiegne. Nicole, in bis Latin translation, gives some détails : " Nostis (he makes Pascal say) ut Compendii nuper coquorum regionum praefecto nomine Guillio, Christine Suediae Reginae in collegio vestro Régis jussu prandium paranti, Pater Borinus ,violari aedes suas ratus gravem alapam infregerit ". In 1656, Christina, Queen of Sweden (who six years before had caused the death of Descartes by making him rise at 5 a.m. to give her lessons in philosophy), paid her first visit to France. She reached Paris on September 8, where she bad a sticcès de spectacle, went on to see the King at Compiegne three or four days later. Jacques Guille, whom Nicole désignâtes as chef, was a famous caterer, of the parish of Saint-Merry in Paris (see below, note on p. 192, 1. 5). Of P. Borin who slapped him, I know nothing.

P. 152, 1. 40. Officiers. . . . Hère probably in the technical sensé of butler, i.e. a functionary in charge of the off^ice or pantry in a great house. Cf. " Le cuisinier de M. le Cardinal de Retz ne le quitte point ri son officier," Mme. de Sévigné, 26 June, 1675. It bas been observed that Guille, not being of noble birth, did not corne within the scope of the doctrine laid down by Leys.

P. 163, 1. 30. vos Pères à Caen. See above, note on p. 142, 1. 10,

P. 153, 1. 32. l'homicide, etc. See oritical note. The book in question is the Response de l'Université de Paris à l'Apologie pour les Jésuites, for which see above, note on p. 75, 1. 21.

P. 155, 1. 8. la pratique extérieure. For a distinction between the "forum internum " and the "forum externum," see above, note on p. 142, 1. 22. Cf. ''Politique. Nous avons trouvé deux obstacles au dessein de soulager les hommes : l'un des lois intérieures de l'Evangile ; l'autre des lois extérieures de l'Esprit et de Religion. Les unes nous en sommes maistres : les autres, voici comme nous avons fait ; ampli anda, restingenda, a majori ad minus " (Pensées, No. 926).

P. 155, 1. 21. grande Théologie morale. See above, note on p. 146, 1. 31.

P. 155, 1. 30. in Prceloq., i.e. Prœloquium, cap. iii., "de problematibus seu de quaestionibus in utrumvis probabilibus ".

P. 156, 1. 18. une permission pareille, i.e. the same permission as is granted to murder for a blow.

P. 156, 1. 22. Qu'il n'y pas un Jésuite, etc. Cf. " J'assure donc tous les Catholiques, qu'il n'y a pas un Théologien ny Jésuite ny autre qui permette de tuer pour de simples médisances," XV' Imp.

P. 156, 1. 30. P. Hereau. See above, note on p. 75, 1. 21.

P. 156, 1. 31. le Roy le fit mettre en arrest. The words of the Order are "Ordonne que ledit P. Hereau demeure en avant en la maison

de leur collège de Clermont jusqu'à autrement par sa majesté sera ordonné ".

P. 166, 1. 36. P. UAmy. See above, note on p. 79, 1. 1.

P. 156, 1. 39. Père des Bois. He was denounced to the Archbishop of Rouen by 28 curés of that city who referred the case to his "promoteur" or procurator fiscal.

P. 157, 1. 4. L'affaire en est à VOfficialité, " the matter lies before the episcopal court ". What its fate was there is unknown.

P. 157, 1. 19. p. 28, l. 3, i.e. of the ZF"" Imposture.

P. 158, 1. 1. qtioy qu'il ne soit pas certain. Il replaces cela.

P. 159, 1. 80. daiM vos impostures. Cf. IV^'^" Imposture.

P. 161, 1. 8. de S. Ignace et de vos premiers généraux, i.e. Claudio Aquaviva, General from 1581 to 1615, and Muzio Vitelleschi, General from 1615 to 1645. See the foUowing note.

P. 161, 1. 10. je vous en parleray peutestre quelque jour. Pascal did not fulfil his threat. But there is a page in the manuscript of the Pensées containing références, apparently in the hand of Arnauld, to Letters addressed to the Provincials, Superiors, Fathers, and Brethren of the Company, by Aquaviva and Vitelleschi, together with brief notes in Pascal's own writing. Thèse Letters and others by St. Ignatius, Lainez, Borgia, and Mercurianus vrere coUected into a volume under the title Epistolae Praepositorum Oeneralium ad Patres et Fratres Societatis Jesu, and published at Antwerp in 1635. The passages which Pascal had in mind whcn he wrote the thirteenth Provinciale are: —

(a) " Quarto nonnullorum ex Societate sententiae, in rébus praesertim ad mores spectantibus, plus nimio libère, non modo periculum est ne ipsum evertant, sed ne ecclesiae etiam Dei universae insignia afferant detrimenta. Omni itaque studio perficiant ut qui docent scibuntve, minime hac régula et norma in delectu sententiarum utantur : Tueri quispotest: probabilis est ; auctore non caret : verum ad eassententias accédant, quae tutiores, quae graviores, majorisque nominis Doctorum sufïragiis sunt frequentatae, quae bonis moribus conducunt magis, quae denique pietatum alere, et prodesse quaerunt non vastare, non perdere." Vitelleschi, Epist. 2 (4 Jan., 1617). Upon which Pascal's remark is : " Probabilité. Tueri quis potost, probabilis est, auctore non caret."

(6) "atonim si altéra ex parte conjiciatur oculos in materiam ipsam ex qua corpus hoc constat, scilicet in personas tôt, tamque diversarum nationum, affectionum, morum, volentatum ; jure timendum est ne nostra culpa regularum sanctorum disrupta sepe, dicatur aliquando : Exterminavit eam aper de silva, etc. Atque utinam iste ex parte nihil jam detrimenti (societas) acceperit I " Vitelleschi, Epist. 3 (17 March, 1619). Pascal's note is " Que la société ne se gaste ". The Letters from which thèse passages are taken breathe a real love of soûls and a great zeal for the welfare of the Company. They are indeed a monument of fatherly wisdom. Vitelleschi is well aware of the dangers to which his brethren are exposed in the world. But while conscious of

3o6 LES LETTRES PROVINCIALES

the possibility of failure (cf. (6) ad fin.) he thanks God in the same Letter that the Body as a whole is sound : '* Grederim equidem, posse me vere affirmare quod non mediocri RR.VV. ac mihi pariter esse debeat consolationi universum hoc societatis corpus (Deo sint laudes) recte habere, vegetumque esse ac firmum in procuranda tum propria, tum proxima salute atque perfectione ". We may fairly suppose that the irregularities against which he raises bis voice of warning were sporadic and individual. It was inévitable that the lofty standard set by St. Ignatius and his lieutenants should not in ail cases hâve been maintained. The Lettres Provinciales provide us with plenty of instances. But there is no évidence of any change of policy in the conduct of the Company. And it is hère that Pascal, led by Arnauld, has gone wrong.

P. 161, 1. 27. que c'est une opinion payenne. . . . Nouet (IV"" Imposture) quotes from Yàsqu^z, De restitutione {Opwscuia Moralia), c. 2, dub. 9, n. 37.

P. 162, 1. 14. Vae duplici corde. Ecclus., ii. 14.