:

theless mar.ifests in its languages, re- to lift, since every moment of ar almos ligions, literatures, philosophies, the infinite past has contributed to i creaso community of blood and of intellect it, and because, in order to raise the which to this day binds its offshoots scale, one must place in the opposite together. Different as they are, their scale a still greater number of actions parentage is not obliterated; barbarism, and sensations. Such is the first and culture and grafting, differences of sky richest source of these master-faculties and soil, fortunes good and bad, have from which historical events take their labored in vain: the great marks of rise ; and one sees at the cutset, har the original model have remained, and if it be powerful, it is because this is we find again the two or three princi- no simple spring, but a kind of lake, a pal lineaments of the primitive stamp deep reservoir wherein other spring anderneath the secondary imprints have, for a multitude of centuries, dis which time has laid upon them. There charged their several streams. is nothing astonishing in this extraordi- Having thus outlined the interior nary tenacity. Although the vastness structure of a race, we must consider of the distance lets us but half per- the surroundings in which it exists. ceive--and by a Joubtful light-the For man is not alone in the world ; na. origin of species,* the events of history ture surrounds him, and his fellow-men sufficiently illumine the events anterior surround him ; accidental and secon. to history, to explain the almost im- dary tendencies overlay his primitive movable steadfastness of the primordial tendencies, and physical or social cir. marks. When we meet with them, fifcumstances disturb or confirm the teen, twenty, thirty centuries before character committed to their charge. our era, in an Aryan, an Egyptian, a Sometimes the climate has had its Chinese, they represent the work of a effect. Though we can follow but great many ages, perhaps of several obscurely the Aryan peoples from their myriads of centuries. For as soon as common fatherland to their final settle. an animal begins to exist, it has to rec- ments, we can yet assert that the prooncile itself with its surroundings; it found differences which are manifest breathes and renews itself, is differ between the German races on the one ently affected according to the varia- side, and the Greek and Latin on the tions in air, food, temperature. Dif- other, arise for the most part from the ferent climate and situation bring it difference between the countries in various needs, and consequently a which they are settled : some in cold different course of activity, and this, moist lands, deep, in rugged marshy again, a different set of habits; and forests or on the shores of a wild ocean, still again, a different set of aptitudes beset by melancholy or violent sensaand instincts. Man, forced to accom- tions, prone to drunkenness and glutmodate himself to circumstances, con- tony, bent on a fighting, blood-spilling tracts a temperament and a character life ; others, again, within the loveliest corresponding to them; and his char- landscapes, on a bright and pleasant acter, like his temperament, is so much sea-coast, enticed to navigation and more stable, as the external impression commerce, exempt from gross cravings is made upon him by more numerous of the stomach, inclined from the be. repetitions, and is transmitted to his ginning to social ways, to a settled progeny by a more ancient descent. So organization of the state, to feelings that at any moment we may consider and dispositions such as develop the the character of a people as an abridg; art of oratory, the talent for enjoyinent, ment of all its preceding actions and the inventions of science, letters, arts. sensations ; that is, as a quantity and Sometimes the state policy has been at as a weight, not infinite,t since every work, as in the two Italian civilizations. thing in nature is finite, but dispropor- the first wholly turned to action, con: tioned to the rest, and almost impossible quest, government, legislation, on ac.

count of the original site of its city of • Darwin, The Origin of Species. Prosper refuge, its border-land emporium, its Lacas, de l' Héréditt.

armed aristocracy, who, by importing 1 Spicom, Ethics, Fart iv. axiom.

and drilling strangers and conquered created two hostile armies, having no a lurking cons; tacy of the national escape from its internal discords and instinct, was developed under heredi its greedy instincts but in systematic tary kings, ends in a sort of levelling warfare : the other, shut out from uni-republic, centralized, administrative, ty and any great political ambition by under dynasties exposed to revolution. the stability of its municipa character, These are the most efficacious of the the cosmopolitan position of its pope, visible causes which mould the primiand the military intervention of neigh- tive man: they are to nations what bcring nations, directed by the whole edu ration, career, condition, abode, are bant of its magnificent and harmonious to individuals; and they seem to comgenius towards the worship of pleasure prehend everything, since they comand beauty. Sometimes the social prehend all external powers which conditions have impressed their mark, mould human matter, and by which as eighteen centuries ago by Chris- the external acts on the internal. tianity, and twenty-five centuries ago by Buddhism, when around the Medi- There is yet a third rank of causes; terranean, as well as in Hindostan, for, with the forces within and withthe extreme results of Aryan conquest out, there is the work which they have and civilization induced intolerable op- already produced togethes, and this pression, the subjugation of the indi- work itself contributes to or since that vidual, utter despair, the thought that which follows. Beside the pennanent the world was cursed, with the devel. impulse and the given surroundings, opment of metaphysics and myth, so there is the acquired momentum. that man in this dungeon of misery, When the national character and sur. feeling his heart softened, begot the rounding circumstances operate, it is idea of abnegation, charity, tender not upon a tabula rasa, but on a ground love, gentleness, humility, brotherly on which marks are already impressed, love-there, in a notion of universal According as one takes the ground at nothingness, here under the Father one moment or another, the imprint is hood of God. Look around you upon different; and this is the cause that the regulating instincts and faculties the total effect is different. Consider, implanted in a race-in short, the mood for instance, two epochs of a literature of intelligence in which it thinks and or art,-French tragedy under Cor. acts at the present time : you will dis- neille and under Voltaire, the Greek cover most often the work of some drama under Æschylus and under one of these prolonged situations, Euripides, Italian painting under da these surrounding circumstances, per: Vinci and under Guido. Truly, at sistent and gigantic pressures, brought either of these two extreme points the to bear upon an aggregate of men who, general idea has not changed; it is singly and together, from generation always the same human type which is to generation, are continually moulded its subject of representation or paintand modelled by their action; in ing; the mould of verse, the structure Spain, a crusade against the Mussul- of the drama, the form of body has enmans which lasted eight centuries, pro- dured. But among several differences tracted even beyond and until the ex. there is this, that the one artist is the haustion of the nation by the expul- precursor, the other the successor ; the

; sion of the Moors, the spoliation of the first has no model, the second has; th. Jews, the establishment of the Inquisi- first sees objects face to face, the section, the Catholic wars; in England, a ond sees them through the first; that political establishment of eight centu- many great branches of art are lost. ties, which keeps a man erect and re- many details are perfected, that simspectful, in independence and obedi- plicity and grandeur of impression ence, and accustoms him to strive have diminished, pleasing and refined unitedly, under the authority of the forms have increased,-in short, that law; in France, a Latin organization, the first work has influenced the sec

" which, imposed first upon docile bar-ond. Thus it is with a people as with barians, then shattered in the universal a plant; the same sap, under the samo crash was reformed from within under temperature, and in the same soil, pro duces, at different steps of its progres. not have more, or { 'e inore, in respect sive developinent, different formations, of it, than a literary impression; wo buds, flowers, fruits, seed-vessels, in are limited to marking and quoting the such a manner that the one which fol- salient points by which it is manifested, lows must always be preceded by the and which indicate approximately and former, and must spring up from its roughly the part of the scale which is death. And if now you consider no its position. But though the means of longer a brief epoch, as our own time, notation are not the same in the moral hut one of those wide intervals which and physical sciences, yet as in both embrace one or more centuries, like the the matter is the same, equally made middle ages, or our last classic age, up of forces, magnitudes, and direc the conclusion will be similar. A cer- tions, we may say that in both the fnal tain dominant idea has had sway; men, result is produced after the same for two, for five hundred years, have method. It is great or small, as the taken to themselves a certain ideal fundamental forces are great or smal. model of man: in the middle ages, the and act more or less exactly in th: knight and the monk; in our classic same sense, according as the distinct age, the courtier, the man who speaks effects of race, circumstance, and epoch well. This creative and universal idea combine to add the one to the other, is displayed over the whole field of ac- or to annul one another.

Thus are tion and thought; and after covering explained the long impotences and the the world with its involuntarily syste- brilliant triumphs which make their apmatic works, it has faded, it has died pearance irregularly and without visible away, and lo, a new idea springs up, cause in the life of a people; they are destined to a like domination, and as caused by internal concords or contramanifold creations. And here remem- rieties. There was such a concord ber that the second depends in part when in the seventeenth century the upon the first, and that the first, uniting sociable character and the conversaits effect with those of national genius tional aptitude, innate in France, en. and surrounding circumstances,imposo countered the drawing-room manners on each new creation its bent and direc- and the epoch of oratorical analysis ; tion. The great historical currents are when in the nineteenth century the proformed after this law—the long domi- found and pliant genius of Germany nations of one intellectual pattern, or a encountered the age of philosophical master idea, such as the period of systems and of cosmopolitan criticism spontaneous creations called the Re. There was such a contrariety when in naissance, or the period of oratorical the seventeenth century the harsh and models called the Classical Age, or the lonely English genius tried blunderingly series of mystical systems called the to adopt a new-born politeness; when Alexandrian and Christian eras, or the in the sixteenth century the lucid and series of mythological efflorescences prosaic French spirit tried vainly to which we meet with the infancy , bring forth a living poetry. That hidof the German people, of the Indian den concord of creative forces produced and the Greek. Here as elsewhere we the finished urbanity and the noble and have but a mechanical problem ; the regular literature under Louis XIV. total effect is a result, depending en- and Bossuet, the grand metaphysics tirely on the magnitude and direction and broad critical sympathy of Hegel of the producing causes. The only and Goethe. That hidden contrariety difference which separates these moral of creative forces produced the imper problems from physical ones is, that fect literature, the scandalou: comedy, the magnitude and direction cannot be the abortive drama under Dryden and valued or computed in the first as in Wycherley, the feeble Greek importathe second. If a need or a faculty is tions, the groping elaborate efforts, the a quantity, capable of degrees, like a scant half-graces under Ronsard and pressure or a weight, shis quantity is the Pleiad. So much we can say with not measurable like the pressure or the confidence, that the unknown creations weight. We cannot define it in an ex- towards which the current of the cen act or approximative formula; we can- turies conducts us, will be raised uc

and regulated altogether by the three each of these, smaller territories, antii primordial forces; that if these forces we arrive at the numberless details of could be measured and computed, we life such as may be observed within might deduce from them as from a and around us every day. If now we formula the characteristics of future examine and compare these diverse civilization; and that if, in spite of the groups of facts, we find first of all that evident crudeness of our notations, and they are made up of parts, and that all the fundamental inexactness of our have parts in common. Let us take measures, we try now to form some first the three chief works of human idea of our general destiny, it is upon intelligence-religion, art, philosophy an examination of these forces that we What is a philosophy but a concep: must base our prophecy. For in tion of nature and its primordial enumerating them, we traverse the causes, under the form of abstraccomplete circle of the agencies; and tions and formulas ? What is there when we have considered RACE, SUR at the bottom of a religion u of an art ROUNDINGS, and EPOCH, which are the but a conception of this saine mature internal mainsprings, the external pres and of these same causes urser foım sure, and the acquired momentum, wel of symbols more or less Osecise, and have xhausted not only the whole of personages more or less ma ked; with the actual causes, but also the whole of this difference, tha: in the rst we be the possible causes of motion.

lieve that they exist, in the second we

believe that they do not ess: Let VI.

the reader consider a few of the great

creations It remains for us to examine how Scandinavia, Persia, Rom, Greece,

the intelligence in India, these causes, when applied to a nation and he will see that, throughout, art is or an age, produce their results. As a a kind of philosophy made sensible, spring, rising from a height and flowing religion a poem taken for trre, philosodownwards spreads its streams, accordophy an art and a religion dried

up, and ing to the depth of the descent, stage reduced to simple ideas. There is after stage, until it reaches the lowest therefore, at the core of each of these level of the soil, so the disposition of three groups, a common element, the inteliect or soul impressed on a peo- conception of the world and its principle by race, circumstance, or epoch, ples; and if they differ among themspreads in different proportions and by selves, it is because each combines with regular descents, down the diverse the common, a distinct element: 2ow orders of facts which make up its civil

. the power of abstraction, again the ization.* If we arrange the map of a country, starting from the watershed, finally the power to personify and not

power to personify and to believe, and we find that below this common point believe. Let us now take the two chief the streams are divided into five or six works of human association, the family principal basins, then each of these and the state. What forms the state into several secondary basins, and so but a sentiment of obedienice, by which on, until the whole country, with its the many unite under the authority of thousand details is included in the a chief? And what forms the family ramifications of this network.

but the sentiment of obediênce by we arrange the psychological map of which wife and children act under the the events and sensations of a human direction of a father and husband i civilization, we find first of all five or The family is a natural state, primitive six well-defined provinces-religion, art, and restra ped, as the state is an artifiphilosophy, the state, the family, the cial family ulterior and expanded ; and industries, then in each of these provo underneath the differences arising from inces natural departments; and in the number, origin, and condition of its

* For this scale of conrdinate effects, consult members, we discover in the small Renan, langues Sémit.ques, ch. i.; Mommsen, society as in the great, a like disposition Comtala sn between the Greek and Roman of the fundamental intelligence whicha Cirilissims, ch. ii. vol. i. 3d ed.; Tocque assimilates and unites them. Nom ville, quences de la Démocratie en

suppose that this element receives from

So, if

Amirin vol. iji,

circunstance, race, or epoch certain | as the products of the same climate special marks, it is clear that all the and the same intelligence Ii, on groups into which it enters will be the other hand, a man naturally staid modified proportionately. If the senti- and balanced in mind limits of his ment of obedience is merely fear,* you own accord the scope of his ideas, ir. will find, as in most Oriental states, a order the better to define their form, bruta. despotism, exagge ated punish- you will find, as in Greece, a theology ment, oppression of the subject, ser- of artists and tale-tellers; distinctive vilty of manners, insecurity of property, gods, soon considered distinct from impoverished production, the slavery things, and transformed, almost at the of women, and the customs of the outset, into recognized personages the barem If the sentiment of obedience sentiment of universal unity all but bas its root ir. tiie instinct of order, effaced, and barely preserved in the sociality, and honor, you will find, as vague notion of Destiny; a philosophy in France, a perfect military organiza rather close and delicate than grand tion, a fine administrative hierarchy, a and systematic, with shortcomings in want of public spirit with occasional 'higher metaphysics,* but incomparable jerks of patriotism, ready docility of the for logic, sophistry, and morals; poetry subject with a revolutionary impatience, and arts superior for clearness, artlessthe cringing courtier with the coun- ness, just proportions, truth, and beau. ter efforts of the high-bred man, the ty, to all that have ever been known. refined pleasure of conversation and If, once more, man, reduced to narrow society on the one hand, and the worry conceptions, and deprived of all specu at the fireside and among the family lative refinement, is at the same time on the other, the equality of husband altogether absorbed and straitened by and wife, the imperfection of the practical occupations, you will find, as married state, and consequently the in Rome, rudimentary deities, mere necessary constraint of the law. If, hollow names, serving to designate the again, the sentiment of obedience has trivial details of agriculture, generaits root in the instinct of subordination tion, household concerns, customs and the idea of duty, you will find, as about marriage, rural life, producing a among the Germans, security and hap- mythology, hence a philosophy, a piness in the household, a solid basis poetry, either worth nothing or borrow. of domestic life, a tardy and incomplete ed. Here, as everywhere, the law of development of social and conversa mutual dependence t comes into play. tional life, an innate respect for estab- A civilization forms a body, and its lished dignities, a superstitious rev- parts are connected with each other erence for the past, the keeping up of like the parts of an organic body. As social inequalities, natural and habitual in an animal, instincts, teeth, limbs, regard for the law. So in a race, ac- osseous structure, muscular envelope, cording as the aptitude for general arc mutually connected, so that a change ideas varies, religion, art, and philoso: in one produces a corresponding change phy vary. If man is naturally inclined in the rest, and a clever naturalist can by to the widest universal conceptions, a process of reasoning reconstruct out of and apt to disturb them at the same a few fragments almost the whole body; time by the nervous delicacy of his over- even so in a civilization, religion, phi sensitive organization, you will find, losophy, the organization of the family: us in India, an astonishing abundance literature, the arts, make up a system of gigantic religious creations, a glow-in which every local change induces a ing outgrowth of vast and transparent ».

* The Alexandrian philosophy had its birth epic poems, a strange tangle of subtle from the West. The metaphysical notions of and imaginative philosophies, all so Aristotle are isolated; moreover, with him as well interwoven, and so penetrated with Plato, they are but a sketch. By way of with a common essence, as to be in contrast consider the systematic vigor of Pic

tinus, Proclus, Schelling, and Hegel, or the stantly recognized, by their breadth, wonderful boldness of Brahminical and Budd their coloring, and their want of order, histic speculation.