Since then we have done better, we have invented the mysteries; the guilty might there receive their absolution by undergoing painful ordeals, and by swearing that they would lead a new life.It is from this oath that the new members were called among all nations by a name which corresponds to initiates, qui ineunt vitam novam , who began a new career, who entered into the path of virtue.
The Christian catechumens were called initiates only when they were baptised.
It is undoubted that in these mysteries one was washed of one's faults only by the oath to be virtuous; that is so true that the hierophant in all the Greek mysteries, in sending away the assembly, pronounced these two Egyptian words--" Koth, ompheth, watch, be pure "; which is a proof at once that the mysteries came originally from Egypt, and that they were invented only to make men better.
The sages in all times did what they could, therefore, to inspire virtue, and not to reduce human frailty to despair; but also there are crimes so horrible that no mystery accorded expiation for them.Nero, for all that he was emperor, could not get himself initiated into the mysteries of Ceres.
Constantine, on the Report of Zosimus, could not obtain pardon for his crimes: he was stained with the blood of his wife, his son and all his kindred.It was in the interest of the human race that such great transgressions should remain without expiation, in order that absolution should not invite their committal; and that universal horror might sometimes stop the villains.
The Roman Catholics have expiations which are called "penitences."By the laws of the barbarians who destroyed the Roman Empire, crimes were expiated with money.That was called compounding, componat cum decem, viginti, triginta solidis.It cost two hundred sous of that time to kill a priest, and four hundred for killing a bishop; so that a bishop was worth precisely two priests.
Having thus compounded with men, one compounded with God, when confession was generally established.Finally, Pope John XXII., who made money out of every thing, prepared a tariff of sins.
The absolution of an incest, four turonenses for a layman; ab incestu pro laico in foro conscientiae turonenses quatuor.For the man and the woman who have committed incest, eighteen turonenses four ducats and nine carlins.That is not just; if one person pays only four turonenses, the two owed only eight turonenses.
Sodomy and bestiality are put at the same rate, with the inhibitory clause to title XLIII: that amounts to ninety turonenses twelve ducats and six carlins: cum inhibitione turonenses 90, ducatos 12, carlinos 6, etc.
It is very difficult to believe that Leo X.was so imprudent as to have this impost printed in 1514, as is asserted; but it must be considered that no spark appeared at that time of the conflagration which reformers kindled later, that the court of Rome slumbered on the people's credulity, and neglected to cover its exactions with the lightest veil.The public sale of indulgences, which followed soon after, makes it clear that this court took no precaution to hide the turpitudes to which so many nations were accustomed.As soon as complaints against the Church's abuses burst forth, the court did what it could to suppress the book; but it could not succeed.
If I dare give my opinion of this impost, I think that the various editions are not reliable; the prices are not at all proportionate: these prices do not agree with those which are alleged by d'Aubigne, grandfather of Madame de Maintenon, in the "Confession de Sanci"; he rates virginity at six gros , and incest with his mother and sister at five gros ;this account is ridiculous.I think that there was in fact a tariff established in the datary's office, for those who came to Rome to be absolved, or to bargain for dispensations; but that the enemies of Rome added much to it in order to render it more odious.
What is quite certain is that these imposts were never authorized by any council; that it was an enormous abuse invented by avarice, and respected by those whose interest it was not to abolish it.The buyers and the sellers were equally satisfied: thus, barely anybody protested, until the troubles of the reformation.It must be admitted that an exact note of all these imposts would be of great service to the history of the human mind.Philosophical Dictionary: Extreme EXTREME WE shall try to extract from this word extreme a notion which may be useful.
One disputes every day if, in war, luck or leadership produces successes.
If, in disease, nature acts more than medicine for curing or killing.
If, in jurisprudence, it is not very advantageous to come to terms when one is in the right, and to plead when one is in the wrong.
If literature contributes to the glory of a nation or to its decadence.
If one should or should not make the people superstitious.
If there is anything true in metaphysics, history and moral philosophy.
If taste is arbitrary, and if there is in fact good taste and bad taste, etc., etc.
To decide all these questions right away, take an example of what is the most extreme in each; compare the two opposed extremes, and you will at once discover which is true.
You wish to know if leadership can infallibly determine the success of the war; look at the most extreme case, the most opposed situations, in which leadership alone will infallibly triumph.The enemy's army is forced to pass through a deep mountain gorge; your general knows it: he makes a forced march, he takes possession of the heights, he holds the enemy shut in a pass; they must either die or surrender.In this extreme case, luck cannot have any part in the victory.It is therefore demonstrated that skill can determine the success of a campaign; from that alone is it proved that war is an art.
