Page images
PDF
EPUB

De advenis Diis (fays he) fibi facit objici Tullius, an non liceat acceptos a facerdotibus aut a patribus alienigenas Deos colere? Refpondet Cicero, licere, fi, prout hac cavebatur lege, publice fint adfciti, non privata patrum aut facerdotum auctoritate. Hic igitur verborum Tullii fenfus est, qui latet et lectores fugit, qui excidit interrogationis nota, loco fuo reftituenda et reponenda ad hunc modum. Suofque deos, aut novos aut alienigenas coli, confufionem babet religionum, et ignotas ceremonias. Non a facerdotibus, non a patribus acceptos deos? Ita placet coli, fi huic legi PARUERINT ipfi. But as plaufible as this appears, it cannot, I think, be the true interpretation. Cicero is made to object impertinently: for who, from the words neve novos, neve advenas, nifi publice adfcitos, privatim colunto, could form any fufpicion that, by this law, the gods received by the priests or their forefathers (which certainly had long enjoyed the public allowance) were forbid to be worshipped? And thofe not publicly allowed, were forbid, from whatever quarter they were brought in. On the other hand, the propriety of the fenfe, given above, is feen from hence: 1. That the observation is of the nature of an example to a precept. He delivers a law concerning the licenfing new religions by the Magistrate; and then takes notice that, had it been well obferved in Rome, it had prevented a great deal of fuperftition. 2. The frequent breach of this law in Rome was a notorious fact; as appears by the speech of Pofthumius in Livy, quoted above; and therefore very likely to be taken notice of by Tully, when he was upon this fubject. And what St. Auftin fays, in his fecond book of the City of God, concerning the actions told of the gods in their public worship at Rome, and the lubricity of that worship, fhews the feafonablenefs of this animadverfion. Further, as the general sense of the law juftifies the emendation in the Comment; fo the words, aut novos, aut alienigenas, in the Comment, confirm the correction in the law.-By, confufionem religionum, I suppose Tully meant, fuch a confufion of ceremonies, as would leave no diftinction between the established and the tolerated worship; and thereby reduce Religion to fo impotent a ftate, as to render it ufelefs to civil Society: And by, ignotas ceremonias, rites, which the Magiftrate, by reafon of their celebration in private conventicles, could not take cognizance of: which might hurt the morals of fociety, by their lewdness, as happened in the Bacchanals at Rome; or endanger its peace by cabals and factions, fupported and encouraged by the fecrecy of their celebration. In the remaining words, Cicero gives a plain intimation, that, had this law been

obferved,

obferved, many fuperftitions both in the established and tolerated religions had been avoided; which he hints had been introduced, without warrant from the State, by an interefted Priesthood and an ignorant Ancestry. To conclude, the neglect of this law in Rome was very notorious: and, probably, owing to their having no standing judicature, as at Athens, for that purpose.

P. 452. [YY]. An intelligent miffionary feemed to fee where the thing ftuck, when he fays, Pour ce qui eft des converfions, qu'on peut faire de ces gens-là touchant l'Evangile, on ne fauroit faire aucun fond fur eux. Ces sauvages, de même que tous ceux de l'Amerique, font fort peu disposez aux lumieres de la foi, parce qu'ils font brutaux et ftupides, et que leurs maurs font extremement corrompues, et oppofées au Chriftianifme. Nouvelle Decouv. dans l'Ameriq. Sept. par le R. P. Louis Hennepin Miffionaire Recollect et Notaire Apoftolique, à Utr. 1697. p. 221. The corrupt manners of the favages here complained of, as indifpofing them to the Gofpel, we find, from this writer and others, are of such a kind as arise only from the want of civil government; and which civil government every where rectifies; fuch as rapine, cruelty, and promiscuous mixtures. Hans Egede, a Danish miffionary, who had been five and twenty years in Greenland, in his description of that country, fpeaks to the fame effect: "It is a matter "which cannot be questioned (fays this fenfible writer) that, if you will "make a man a Chriftian out of a mere favage and wild man, you must "firft make him a reasonable man.-It would contribute a great deal to "forward their converfion, if they could, by degrees, be brought into a "fettled way of life," &c. p. 211, 212.

P. 453. [ZZ]. This juftice is due to the JESUITS, That they have been wifer in their attempts on PARAGUAY, and on the coaft of California; where they have brought the favage inhabitants to a love of agriculture and the mechanic arts. The miffion in California was founded at the expence of a certain marquis de Valero; for which the reverend perfon, whofe name was permitted to be put to the Account of Lord Anfon's Voyage Round the World, has fuffered the Marquis to be called a moft magnificent Bigot.

P. 453. [AAA]. This is the fyftem of Charlevoix in the following pasfage; which is well worth the reader's notice: After having spoken of the fhocking miferies attending the uncivilized condition of the Canadian favages, he goes on thus: Il faut néanmoins convenir que les chofes ont

un

un peu changé fur tous ces points, depuis notre arrivée en ce pays; J'en ai même vû chercher à fe procurer des commodités, dont ils auront peutêtre bientôt de la peine à fe paffer. Quelques-uns commencerent auffi à prendre un peu plus leurs précautions pour ne pas fe trouver au depourvû, quand la chaffe leur manquera; et parmi ceux, qui font domiciliés dans la colonie, il y a bien peu à ajouter pour les faire arriver au point d'avoir un néceffaire raisonnable. Mais qu'il eft à craindre que, quand ils en feront là, ils n'aillent bientôt plus loin, et ne donnent dans un fuperflu, qui les rende plus malheureux encore, qu'ils ne font prefentement dans le fein de la plus grand indigence. Ce ne fera pas au moins les missionnaires, qui les exposerent à ce danger; perfuadés qu'il eft moralement impoffible de bien prendre ce juste milieu, et de f'y borner, ils ont beaucoup mieux aimé partager avec. ces peuples ce qu'il y a de penible dans leur maniere de vivre, que de leur ouvrir les yeux fur les moyens d'y trouver des adoucissemens. Auffi ceuxmêmes, qui font tous les jours temoins de leurs fouffrances, ont-ils encore bien de la peine à comprendre comment ils y peuvent refifter, d'autant plus qu'elles font fans relâche, et que toutes les faifons ont leurs incommodités particulieres. Journal Hiftor. d'un Voyage dans l'Ameriq. Septent. vol. VI. p. 57, 58.

CON

« PreviousContinue »