Part 43 (1/2)
Another advantage their education possessed over ours was that it never could be effaced by contrary impressions. Epaminondas, the last year of his life, said, heard, beheld, and performed the very same things as at the age in which he received the first principles of his education.
In our days we receive three different or contrary educations, namely, of our parents, of our masters, and of the world. What we learn in the latter effaces all the ideas of the former. This, in some measure, arises from the contrast we experience between our religious and worldly engagements,6 a thing unknown to the ancients.
5.-Of Education in a Republican Government It is in a republican government that the whole power of education is required. The fear of despotic governments naturally arises of itself amidst threats and punishments; the honor of monarchies is favored by the pa.s.sions, and favors them in its turn; but virtue is a self-renunciation,7 which is ever arduous and painful.
This virtue may be defined as the love of the laws and of our country. As such love requires a constant preference of public to private interest, it is the source of all private virtues; for they are nothing more than this very preference itself.
This love is peculiar to democracies. In these alone the government is intrusted to private citizens. Now, a government is like every thing else: to preserve it we must love it.
Has it ever been known that kings were not fond of monarchy, or that despotic princes hated arbitrary power?
Every thing, therefore, depends on establis.h.i.+ng this love in a republic; and to inspire it ought to be the princ.i.p.al business of education: but the surest way of instilling it into children is for parents to set them an example.
People have it generally in their power to communicate their ideas to their children; but they are still better able to transfuse their pa.s.sions.
If it happens otherwise, it is because the impressions made at home are effaced by those they have received abroad.
It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of maturer age are already sunk into corruption.
6.-Of some Inst.i.tutions among the Greeks The ancient Greeks, convinced of the necessity that people who live under a popular government should be trained up to virtue, made very singular inst.i.tutions in order to inspire it. Upon seeing in the life of Lycurgus the laws that legislator gave to the Lacedaemonians, I imagine I am reading the history of the Sevarambes.8 The laws of Crete were the model of those of Sparta; and those of Plato reformed them.
Let us reflect here a little on the extensive genius with which those legislators must have been endowed, to perceive that by striking at received customs, and by confounding all manner of virtues,9 they should display their wisdom to the universe. Lycurgus, by blending theft with the spirit of justice, the hardest servitude with excess of liberty, the most rigid sentiments with the greatest moderation, gave stability to his city. He seemed to deprive her of all resources, such as arts, commerce, money, and walls; ambition prevailed among the citizens without hopes of improving their fortune; they had natural sentiments without the tie of a son, husband, or father; and chast.i.ty was stripped even of modesty and shame. This was the road that led Sparta to grandeur and glory; and so infallible were these inst.i.tutions, that it signified nothing to gain a victory over that republic without subverting her polity.10 By these laws Crete and Laconia were governed. Sparta was the last that fell a prey to the Macedonians, and Crete to the Romans.11 The Samnites had the same inst.i.tutions, which furnished those very Romans with the subject of four-and-twenty triumphs.12 A character so extraordinary in the inst.i.tutions of Greece has shown itself lately in the dregs and corruptions of modern times.13 A very honest legislator has formed a people to whom probity seems as natural as bravery to the Spartans. Mr. Penn is a real Lycurgus: and though the former made peace his princ.i.p.al aim, as the latter did war, yet they resemble one another in the singular way of living to which they reduced their people, in the ascendant they had over free men, in the prejudices they overcame, and in the pa.s.sions which they subdued.
Another example we have from Paraguay. This has been the subject of an invidious charge against a society that considers the pleasure of commanding as the only happiness in life: but it will be ever a glorious undertaking to render a government subservient to human happiness.14 It is glorious indeed for this society to have been the first in pointing out to those countries the idea of religion joined with that of humanity. By repairing the devastations of the Spaniards, she has begun to heal one of the most dangerous wounds that the human species ever received.
An exquisite sensibility to whatever she distinguishes by the name of honor, joined to her zeal for a religion which is far more humbling in respect to those who receive than to those who preach its doctrines, has set her upon vast undertakings, which she has accomplished with success. She has drawn wild people from their woods, secured them a maintenance, and clothed their nakedness; and had she only by this step improved the industry of mankind, it would have been sufficient to eternize her fame.
They who shall attempt hereafter to introduce like inst.i.tutions must establish the community of goods as prescribed in Plato's republic; that high respect he required for the G.o.ds; that separation from strangers, for the preservation of morals; and an extensive commerce carried on by the community, and not by private citizens: they must give our arts without our luxury, and our wants without our desires.
They must proscribe money, the effects of which are to swell people's fortunes beyond the bounds prescribed by nature; to learn to preserve for no purpose what has been idly h.o.a.rded up; to multiply without end our desires; and to supply the sterility of nature, from whom we have received very scanty means of inflaming our pa.s.sions, and of corrupting each other.
”The Epid.a.m.nians,15 perceiving their morals depraved by conversing with barbarians, chose a magistrate for making all contracts and sales in the name and behalf of the city.” Commerce then does not corrupt the const.i.tution, and the const.i.tution does not deprive society of the advantages of commerce.16 7.-In what Cases these singular Inst.i.tutions may be of Service Inst.i.tutions of this kind may be proper in republics, because they have virtue for their principle; but to excite men to honor in monarchies, or to inspire fear in despotic governments, less trouble is necessary.
Besides, they can take place but in a small state,17 in which there is a possibility of general education, and of training up the body of the people like a single family.
The laws of Minos, of Lycurgus, and of Plato suppose a particular attention and care, which the citizens ought to have over one another's conduct. But an attention of this kind cannot be expected in the confusion and mult.i.tude of affairs in which a large nation is entangled.
In inst.i.tutions of this kind, money, as we have above observed, must be banished. But in great societies, the multiplicity, variety, embarra.s.sment, and importance of affairs, as well as the facility of purchasing, and the slowness of exchange, require a common measure. In order to support or extend our power, we must be possessed of the means to which, by the unanimous consent of mankind, this power is annexed.
8.-Explanation of a Paradox of the Ancients in respect to Manners That judicious writer, Polybius, informs us18 that music was necessary to soften the manners of the Arcadians, who lived in a cold, gloomy country; that the inhabitants of Cynete, who slighted music, were the cruellest of all the Greeks, and that no other town was so immersed in luxury and debauchery. Plato19 is not afraid to affirm that there is no possibility of making a change in music without altering the frame of government. Aristotle, who seems to have written his ”Politics” only in order to contradict Plato, agrees with him, notwithstanding, in regard to the power and influence of music over the manners of the people.20 This was also the opinion of Theophrastus, of Plutarch,21 and of all the ancients-an opinion grounded on mature reflection; being one of the principles of their polity.22 Thus it was they enacted laws, and thus they required that cities should be governed.
This I fancy must be explained in the following manner. It is observable that in the cities of Greece, especially those whose princ.i.p.al object was war, all lucrative arts and professions were considered unworthy of a freeman. ”Most arts,” says Xenophon,23 ”corrupt and enervate the bodies of those that exercise them; they oblige them to sit in the shade, or near the fire. They can find no leisure, either for their friends or for the republic.” It was only by the corruption of some democracies that artisans became freemen. This we learn from Aristotle,24 who maintains that a well-regulated republic will never give them the right and freedom of the city.25 Agriculture was likewise a servile profession, and generally practised by the inhabitants of conquered countries, such as the Helotes among the Lacedaemonians, the Periecians among the Cretans, the Penestes among the Thessalians, and other conquered26 people in other republics.
In fine, every kind of low commerce27 was infamous among the Greeks; as it obliged a citizen to serve and wait on a slave, on a lodger, or a stranger. This was a notion that clashed with the spirit of Greek liberty; hence Plato28 in his laws orders a citizen to be punished if he attempts to concern himself with trade.
Thus in the Greek republics the magistrates were extremely embarra.s.sed. They would not have the citizens apply themselves to trade, to agriculture, or to the arts, and yet they would not have them idle.29 They found, therefore, employment for them in gymnic and military exercises; and none else were allowed by their inst.i.tution.30 Hence the Greeks must be considered as a society of wrestlers and boxers. Now, these exercises having a natural tendency to render people hardy and fierce, there was a necessity for tempering them with others that might soften their manners.31 For this purpose, music, which influences the mind by means of the corporeal organs, was extremely proper. It is a kind of medium between manly exercises, which harden the body, and speculative sciences, which are apt to render us unsociable and sour. It cannot be said that music inspired virtue, for this would be inconceivable: but it prevented the effects of a savage inst.i.tution, and enabled the soul to have such a share in the education as it could never have had without the a.s.sistance of harmony.
Let us suppose among ourselves a society of men so pa.s.sionately fond of hunting as to make it their sole employment; they would doubtless contract thereby a kind of rusticity and fierceness. But if they happen to imbibe a taste for music, we should quickly perceive a sensible difference in their customs and manners. In short, the exercises used by the Greeks could raise but one kind of pa.s.sions, viz., fierceness, indignation, and cruelty. But music excites all these; and is likewise able to inspire the soul with a sense of pity, lenity, tenderness, and love. Our moral writers, who declaim so vehemently against the stage, sufficiently demonstrate the power of music over the mind.
If the society above mentioned were to have no other music than that of drums, and the sound of the trumpet, would it not be more difficult to accomplish this end than by the more melting tones of softer harmony? The ancients were, therefore, in the right when, under particular circ.u.mstances, they preferred one mode to another in regard to manners.
But some will ask, why should music be pitched upon as preferable to any other entertainment? It is because of all sensible pleasures there is none that less corrupts the soul. We blush to read in Plutarch32 that the Thebans, in order to soften the manners of their youth, authorized by law a pa.s.sion which ought to be proscribed by all nations.
1 See D'Aubigny's ”History.”
2 We mention here what actually is, and not what ought to be; honor is a prejudice, which religion sometimes endeavors to remove, and at other times to regulate.
3 By excessive obedience, Montesquieu intends blind obedience.-De Dupin.
4 ”Polit.” lib. I.
5 How can this be, asks one, when slaves have no will?-Ed.
6 The Christian religion forbids vengeance and prescribes humility; this is perhaps the point of contrast which the author notes. But these precepts have not made of Europe a world of poltroons. It is well known that officers most attached to the laws of this religion are commonly the most exact in fulfilling the duties of their state, and the most intrepid in danger.-D.
7 This virtue, which Montesquieu defines as ”love of country,” is not self-renunciation; far from urging man to abnegation of his interests, it permits him to see the state flouris.h.i.+ng and tranquil. In this public prosperity the citizen often finds his own peace of mind and independence, the peaceable possession and enjoyment of his property, the hope of increasing it by liberty of commerce, and of being raised to posts of dignity.-D.
8 See Vaira.s.se d'Allais in his ”Voyages Imaginaires,” vol. v.-Ed.
9 The author intends that the Lacedaemonians confounded their virtues and vices.-D.
10 Philopmen obliged the Lacedaemonians to change their manner of educating their children, being convinced that if he did not take this measure they would always be noted for their magnanimity.-Plutarch, ”Life of the Philopmen.” See Livy, book x.x.xVIII.
11 She defended her laws and liberty for the s.p.a.ce of three years. See the 98th, 99th, and 100th books of Livy, in Florus's epitome. She made a braver resistance than the greatest kings.
12 Florus, lib. I., cap. xvi.
13 In ”faece Romuli.”-Cicero.
14 The Indians of Paraguay do not depend on any particular lord; they pay only a fifth of the taxes, and are allowed the use of firearms to defend themselves.
15 Plutarch in his ”Questions concerning the Greek affairs.” The Epid.a.m.nians were the inhabitants of Dyrrachium, now Durazzo.-Ed.
16 But it does away with compet.i.tion, and thus ruins commerce.-Anon. Ed. 1764.
17 Such as were formerly the cities of Greece.
18 ”Hist.” iv. 20 and 2I.
19 ”De Repub.” lib. IV.
20 Lib. VIII. cap. v.
21 ”Life of Pelopidas.”
22 Plato, in his fourth book of laws, says that the prefectures of music and gymnic exercises are the most important employments in the city; and, in his”Republic,” book III., Damon will tell you, says he, what sounds are capable of corrupting the mind with base sentiments, or of inspiring the contrary virtues.