Fall 2020, Kumhera

Table of Contents

Year Author and Title Page ca.1780 BCE Hammurabi’s Code of Laws………………………………………………. 3 ca.2300 BCE The Epic of Gilgamesh, selections………………………………………..... 8 ca.1950 BCE The Book of the Dead, “Judgment of the Dead”…………………………… 19 ca.950 BCE Selections from the Book of Genesis………………………………………..26 950-450 BCE Selections from Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy……..……………….35 600-550 BCE Selections from the First Book of Kings…………………………………… 42 750-700 BCE Homer, excerpts from the Odyssey, Book 11……………………………….48 ca.700 BCE Hesiod, selections from Works and Days……………………………….…..50 ca.650 BCE Tyrtaeus, Selection of Lyric Poems…………………………………………55 ca.380 BCE Xenophon, Constitution of the Lacedaemonians, Book 1…………………. 58 ca.100 CE Plutarch, selections from the Life of Lycurgus…………………………….. 60 ca.411 BCE Thucydides, “Pericles’ Funeral Oration” from The History of the Peloponnesian War………………………………………………… 63 ca.440 BCE Sophocles, Antigone……………………………………………………….. 68 ca.360 BCE Plato, selection from the Phaedo ………………………………………….. 93 ca.385 BCE Plato, selection from the Symposium………………………………………. 98 ca.340 BCE Aristotle, selection from The Politics…………………………………….... 102 ca.130 CE Arrian, selections from History of Alexander the Great……………………108 ca.146 BCE Polybius, “Analysis of Roman Government” from History……………….. 113 14 CE Augustus, The Deeds of the Divine Augustus……………………………… 118 ca.75 CE Pliny the Elder, selection from Natural History………………………….... 123 ca.100 CE Juvenal, Satire 6…………………………………………….……………... 125 2 CE Ovid, selections from The Art of Love…………………………………….. 128 18BCE-9 CE Augustus’ Marriage Legislation…………………………………………….136 ca.70 CE Selections from the Gospel according to Matthew ……………………….. 139 ca.90 CE Selections from the Gospel according to John…………………………….. 148 ca.56 CE Selections from the Letters of Paul………………………………………… 152 325 CE Nicene Creed………………………………………………………………. 158 ca.339 CE Eusebius, Life of Constantine……………………………………………….159 ca.100 CE Tacitus, selections from Germania………………………………………….165 ca.500 CE The Salic Law…..…………………………………………………………...168 529 CE Selections from The Rule of St. Benedict………………………………….. 175 ca.650 CE Selections from The Qu’ran……………………………………………….. 187 ca.800 CE The Pact of Umar………………………………………………………….. 195 ca.1000 CE Yakut, Selection from Geographical Encyclopedia………………………. 197 ca.1022 CE Ibn Hazm, Selection from Ring of the Dove………………………………. 199 ca.800 CE Frankish Royal Blessing…………………………………………………… 201 (continued on page 2)

1 Table of Contents, continued Year Author and Title Page ca.826 CE Einhard, Life of Charlemagne……………………………………………… 202 ca.1108 CE Baldric of Dol, “Speech of Urban II at Clermont”………………………… 211 ca.1178 CE Chretien de Troyes, Excerpts from The Knight of the Cart……………….. 215 ca.1188 CE Andreas Capellanus, The Art of Courtly Love………………………………227 1309 CE Selection of Statutes from Siena…………………………………………… 229 1320-45 CE Selection of Criminal Justice Documents from Siena……………………... 233 ca.1314 CE Dante Alighieri, selections from The Inferno……………………………… 240 ca.1460 CE Leonbattista Alberti, Autobiography………………………………………. 252 ca.1425 CE Leonardo Bruni, selection from On Studies and Letters…………………... 254 1528 CE Baldassare Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier (selections)….………… 257 1516 CE Erasmus, The Education of a Christian Prince (Chp1, selections)………... 265 1516 CE Niccolo Machiavelli, selections from The Prince…………………………. 269 1505 CE Amerigo Vespucci, Account of His First Voyage ………………………… 274 1520 CE Martin Luther, selection from On the Freedom of a Christian……………..282 1527 CE Michael Sattler, The Schleitheim Articles ………………………………… 286 1588 CE Michel de Montaigne, Of Cannibals ……………………………………… 290 1620 CE Francis Bacon, Preface to The Great Instauration …………………………298

A few notes on the form of these readings:

Each reading begins with an introduction in italics. This is my introduction (unless marked as someone else’s in the opening footnote) to help you place the reading in context and understand some of the background. The actual text of the reading begins after the italicized paragraph or paragraphs.

All readings below are available online. I frequently, however, modernized the nineteenth- century language (including spelling and the use of commas), so the text here will appear slightly different than the online version. My guiding principle in making the changes was to make the text more accessible to a modern reader. On occasion, I also compared recent translations for sentences in which the original had been unclear or the original version has since been shown to be incorrect or misleading. In most cases I edited the original author’s footnotes, leaving in only those relevant to you in this class and I often added notes to help explain background important to understanding the text. If you find other areas that need notes, let me know so that I may add them for future students of the text.

Please read the introductions and the footnotes with each reading. They are there to help you place readings in context and understand necessary background. Those sections in italics are my own notes and not part of the original text.

Glenn Kumhera ([email protected])

2 Selections from Hammurabi’s Code of Laws (ca. 1780 BCE)1

The Code of Laws issued by Hammurabi, King of Babylon, in the 18th century BCE is the oldest surviving complete law code, but it was not the first ever written (parts of three others from before the time of Hammurabi survive). Its complexity hints at how developed the law had already become and much of what you read below probably evolved over several centuries in different cities of Mesopotamia. What do the laws indicate about what the ruler hopes to achieve with the law? What do they reveal about women and marriage in Mesopotamia? How do they seek to resolve disputes? What does the epilogue reveal about the gods and their role in the success of a state or ruler? Transmission of the text: The text of the Laws comes from an almost completely intact stele (carved pillar) It is likely that it was originally placed at the site of Sippar (in Iraq), a city sacred to Shamash around 1780 BCE. It was taken by conquerors 600 years later to Susa (in Iran) and displayed with other conquered sculpture. It was found in three pieces by a French mining engineer on an archaeological expedition in 1901. It is currently housed at the Louvre in Paris. 3. If anyone brings an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death. 6. If anyone steals the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death. 21. If anyone breaks a hole into a house (break in to steal), he shall be put to death before that hole and be buried. 22. If anyone is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death. 25. If fire break out in a house, and someone who comes to put it out cast his eye upon the property of the owner of the house, and take the property of the master of the house, he shall be thrown into that self-same fire. 53. If anyone is too lazy to keep his dam in proper condition, and does not so keep it; if then the dam breaks and all the fields are flooded, then shall he in whose dam the break occurred is to be sold for money, and the money shall replace the grain which he has caused to be ruined. 108. If a tavern-keeper (feminine) does not accept grain according to gross weight in payment of drink, but takes money, and the price of the drink is less than that of the grain, she shall be convicted and thrown into the water. 109. If conspirators meet in the house of a tavern-keeper, and these conspirators are not captured and delivered to the court, the tavern-keeper shall be put to death.

1 Full text available at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/hamcode.asp

127. If anyone slanders a priestess or the wife of any one and cannot prove it, this man shall be taken before the judges and his brow shall be marked (by cutting the skin, or perhaps hair.) 128. If a man takes a woman to wife, but does not intercourse with her, this woman is no wife to him. 129. If a man's wife is surprised having intercourse with another man, both shall be tied and thrown into the water, but the husband may pardon his wife. 130. If a man violates the wife (or betrothed) of another man, who has never known a man, and still lives in her father's house, and sleep with her and be surprised, this man shall be put to death, but the wife is blameless. 131. If a man bring a charge against one's wife, but she is not surprised with another man, she must take an oath and then may return to her house. 137. If a man wishes to separate from a woman who has borne him children, or from his wife who has borne him children: then he shall give that wife her dowry, and a part of the usufruct of field, garden, and property, so that she can rear her children. When she has brought up her children, a portion of all that is given to the children, equal as that of one son, shall be given to her. She may then marry the man of her heart. 138. If a man wishes to separate from his wife who has borne him no children, he shall give her the amount of her dowry which she brought from her father's house, and let her go. 141. If a man's wife, who lives in his house, wishes to leave it, plunges into debt, tries to ruin her house, neglects her husband, and is judicially convicted: if her husband offers her release, she may go on her way, and he gives her nothing as a gift of release. If her husband does not wish to release her, and if he takes another wife, she shall remain as servant in her husband's house. 142. If a woman quarrels with her husband, and says: "You are not congenial to me," the reasons for her prejudice must be presented. If she is guiltless, and there is no fault on her part, but he leaves and neglects her, then no guilt attaches to this woman, she shall take her dowry and go back to her father's house. 143. If she is not innocent, but leaves her husband, and ruins her house, neglecting her husband, this woman shall be cast into the water. 144. If a man takes a wife and this woman gives her husband a maid-servant, and she bears him children, but this man wishes to take another wife, this shall not be permitted to him; he shall not take a second wife. 145. If a man takes a wife, and she bears him no children, and he intends to take another wife: if he takes this second wife, and brings her into the house, this second wife shall not be allowed equality with his wife. 146. If a man takes a wife and she gives this man a maid-servant as wife and she bears him children, and then this maid assumes equality with the wife: because she has borne him children her master shall not sell her for money, but he may keep her as a slave, reckoning her among the maid-servants.

147. If she has not borne him children, then her mistress may sell her for money. 153. If the wife of one man on account of another man has their spouses (her husband and the other man's wife) murdered, both of them shall be impaled. 154. If a man is guilty of incest with his daughter, he shall be driven from the place (exiled). 155. If a man betroths a girl to his son, and his son has intercourse with her, but he (the father) afterward defiles her, and is caught, then he shall be bound and cast into the water (drowned). 156. If a man betroths a girl to his son, but his son has not known her, and if then he defile her, he shall pay her half a gold mina, and compensate her for all that she brought out of her father's house. She may marry the man of her heart. 157. If anyone is guilty of incest with his mother, both shall be burned. 177. If a widow, whose children are not grown, wishes to enter another house (remarry), she shall not enter it without the knowledge of the judge. If she enters another house the judge shall examine the state of the house of her first husband. Then the house of her first husband shall be entrusted to the second husband and the woman herself as managers. And a record must be made thereof. She shall keep the house in order, bring up the children, and not sell the house-hold utensils. He who buys the utensils of the children of a widow shall lose his money, and the goods shall return to their owners. 179. If a "sister of a god," or a prostitute, receive a gift from her father, and a deed in which it has been explicitly stated that she may dispose of it as she pleases, and give her complete disposition thereof: if then her father dies, then she may leave her property to whomsoever she pleases. Her brothers can raise no claim against it. 195. If a son strikes his father, his hands shall be hewn off. 196. If a man puts out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. 197. If he breaks another man's bone, his bone shall be broken. 209. If a man strikes a free-born woman so that she lose her unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss. 210. If the woman dies, his daughter shall be put to death. 229 If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death. 230. If it kills the son of the owner, then the son of that builder shall be put to death. 231. If it kills a slave of the owner, then he shall pay slave for slave to the owner of the house.

Epilogue: …I am Hammurabi, the king of misharum (putting things right), on whom Shamash has conferred kittum (the fixed body of truth). My words are well considered; my deeds are

5 unequaled: to bring low those that were high, to humble the proud, and to expel insolence. If a later ruler considers my words, which I have written in this my inscription, and he does not annul my law, nor corrupt my words, nor change my monument, then may Shamash lengthen that king's reign…. If this ruler does not esteem my words, which I have written in my inscription, if he despises my curses, and fears not the curse of God, if he destroys the law which I have given, corrupts my words, changes my monument, effaces my name, writes his name there, or on account of the curses commissions another to do so, that man, whether king or ruler or commoner, no matter what he be, may the great God (Anu), the Father of the gods, who has ordered my rule, withdraw from him the glory of royalty, break his scepter, curse his destiny. May Bel, the lord who fixes destiny, whose command cannot be altered, who has made my kingdom great, order a rebellion which his hand cannot control; may he let the wind to overturn his house blow, may he ordain the years of his rule in groaning, years of scarcity, years of famine, darkness without light, death with seeing eyes be fated to him; may he (Bel) order with his potent mouth the destruction of his city, the dispersion of his subjects, the cutting off of his rule, the removal of his name and memory from the land. May Belit, the great Mother, whose command is potent in E-Kur (the Babylonian Olympus, where the gods reside), the Mistress, who harkens graciously to my petitions, in the seat of judgment and decision (where Bel fixes destiny), turn his affairs evil before Bel, and put the devastation of his land, the destruction of his subjects, the pouring out of his life like water into the mouth of King Bel. May Ea, the great ruler, whose fated decrees come to pass, the thinker of the gods, the omniscient, who makes long the days of my life, withdraw understanding and wisdom from him, lead him to forgetfulness, shut up his rivers at their sources, and not allow grain or sustenance for man to grow in his land. May Shamash, the great Judge of heaven and earth, who supports all means of livelihood, Lord of life-courage, shatter his dominion, annul his law, destroy his way, make vain the march of his troops, send him in his visions forecasts of the uprooting of the foundations of his throne and of the destruction of his land. May the condemnation of Shamash overtake him soon; may he be deprived of water above among the living, and his spirit below in the earth. May Sin (the Moon-god), the Lord of Heaven, the divine father, whose crescent gives light among the gods, take away the crown and regal throne from him; may he put upon him heavy guilt, great decay, that nothing may be lower than he. May he destine him as fated, days, months and years of dominion filled with sighing and tears, increase of the burden of dominion, a life that is like unto death. May Adad, the lord of fruitfulness, ruler of heaven and earth, my helper, withhold from him rain from heaven, and the flood of water from the springs, destroying his land by famine and want; may he rage mightily over his city, and make his land into flood-hills (heaps of ruined cities). May Zamama, the great warrior, the first-born son of E-Kur, who goes at my right hand, shatter his weapons on the field of battle, turn day into night for him, and let his foe triumph over him.

May Ishtar, the goddess of fighting and war, who unfetters my weapons, my gracious protecting spirit, who loves my dominion, curse his kingdom in her angry heart; in her great wrath, change his grace into evil, and shatter his weapons on the place of fighting and war. May she create disorder and sedition for him, strike down his warriors so that the earth may drink their blood, and throw down the piles of corpses of his warriors on the field; may she not grant him a life of mercy, deliver him into the hands of his enemies, and imprison him in the land of his enemies. May Nergal, the might among the gods, whose contest is irresistible, who grants me victory, in his great might burn up his subjects like a slender reedstalk, cut off his limbs with his mighty weapons, and shatter him like an earthen image. May Nin-tu, the sublime mistress of the lands, the fruitful mother, deny him a son, vouchsafe him no name, give him no successor among men. May Nin-karak, the daughter of Anu, who adjudges grace to me, cause to come upon his members high fever, severe wounds that cannot be healed, whose nature the physician does not understand, which he cannot treat with dressing, which, like the bite of death, cannot be removed, until they have sapped away his life.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, selections1

The different episodes in the adventures of the mythical Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, survive on baked clay tablets (written in cuneiform) created over a 1500 year period. Originally a Sumerian story, it was translated, retained, and retold by subsequent Mesopotamian peoples. In its original form it is a poem, translated into prose here to be easier to follow.

I will proclaim to the world the deeds of Gilgamesh. This was the man to whom all things were known; this was the king who knew the countries of the world. He was wise, he saw mysteries and knew secret things, he brought us a tale of the days before the flood. He went on a long journey, was weary, worn-out with labor, returning he rested, he engraved on a stone the whole story. When the gods created Gilgamesh they gave him a perfect body. Shamash, the glorious sun, endowed him with beauty, Adad, the god of the storm, endowed him with courage; the great gods made his beauty perfect, surpassing all others, terrifying like a great wild bull. Two thirds they made him god and one third man. In Uruk he built walls, a great rampart, and the temple district for the god of the firmament Anu, and for Ishtar the goddess of love. Look at it still today: the outer wall where the cornice runs, it shines with the brilliance of copper; and the inner wall, it has no equal. Touch the threshold, it is ancient. Approach the dwelling of Ishtar, our lady of love and war, the like of which no latter-day king, no man alive can equal. Climb upon the wall of Uruk; walk along it, I say; regard the foundation terrace and examine the masonry: is it not burnt brick and good? The seven sages laid the foundations. Gilgamesh went abroad in the world, but he met with none who could withstand his arms till be came to Uruk. But the men of Uruk muttered in their houses, ‘Gilgamesh sounds the tocsin (warning bell) for his amusement, his arrogance has no bounds by day or night. No son is left with his father, for Gilgamesh takes them all, even the children; yet the king should be a shepherd to his people. His lust leaves no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior's daughter nor the wife of the noble; yet this is the shepherd of the city, wise, comely, and resolute.' The gods heard their lament, the gods of heaven cried to the Lord of Uruk, to Anu the god of Uruk: ‘A goddess made him, strong as a savage bull, none can withstand his arms. No son is left with his father, for Gilgamesh takes them all; and is this the king, the shepherd of his people? His lust leaves no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior's daughter nor the wife of the noble. When Anu had heard their lamentation the gods cried to Aruru, the goddess of creation, ‘You made him, O Aruru; now create his equal; let it be as like him as his own reflection, his second self; stormy heart for stormy heart. Let them contend together and leave Uruk in quiet.' So the goddess conceived an image in her mind, and it was of the stuff of Anu of the firmament. She dipped her hands in water and pinched off clay, she let it fall in the wilderness, and noble Enkidu was created. There was virtue in him of the god of war, of Ninurta himself. His body was rough, he had long hair like a woman's; it waved like the hair of Nisaba, the goddess of grain. His body was covered with matted hair like Samugan's, the god of cattle. He was innocent of mankind; he knew nothing of the cultivated land.

1 Full text available from the Assyrian International News Agency Books Online (http://www.aina.org/books/eog/eog.pdf).

Enkidu ate grass in the hills with the gazelle and lurked with wild beasts at the water- holes; he had joy of the water with the herds of wild game. But there was a trapper who met him one day face to face at the drinking-hole, for the wild game had entered his territory. On three days he met him face to face, and the trapper was frozen with fear. He went back to his house with the game that he had caught, and he was dumb, benumbed with terror. His face was altered like that of one who has made a long journey. With awe in his heart he spoke to his father: ‘Father, there is a man, unlike any other, who comes down from the hills. He is the strongest in the world, he is like an immortal from heaven. He ranges over the hills with wild beasts and eats grass; the ranges through your land and comes down to the wells. I am afraid and dare not go near him. He fills in the pits which I dig and tears up-my traps set for the game; he helps the beasts to escape and now they slip through my fingers.' His father opened his mouth and said to the trapper, ‘My son, in Uruk lives Gilgamesh; no one has ever prevailed against him, he is strong as a star from heaven. Go to Uruk, find Gilgamesh, extoll the strength of this wild man. Ask him to give you a harlot, a prostitute from the temple of love; return with her, and let her woman's power overpower this man. When next he comes down to drink at the wells she will be there, stripped naked; and when he sees her beckoning he will embrace her, and then the wild beasts will reject him.' So the trapper set out on his journey to Uruk and addressed himself to Gilgamesh saying, ‘A man unlike any other is roaming now in the pastures; he is as strong as a star from heaven and I am afraid to approach him. He helps the wild game to escape; he fills in my pits and pulls up my traps.' Gilgamesh said, ‘Trapper, go back, take with you a harlot, a child of pleasure. At the drinking hole she will strip, and when, he sees her beckoning he will embrace her and the game of the wilderness will surely reject him.' Now the trapper returned, taking the harlot with him. After a three days' journey they came to the drinking hole, and there they sat down; the harlot and the trapper sat facing one another and waited for the game to come. For the first day and for the second day the two sat waiting, but on the third day the herds came; they came down to drink and Enkidu was with them. The small wild creatures of the plains were glad of the water, and Enkidu with them, who ate grass with the gazelle and was born in the hills; and she saw him, the savage man, come from far-off in the hills. The trapper spoke to her: ‘There he is. Now, woman, make your breasts bare, have no shame, do not delay but welcome his love. Let him see you naked, let him possess your body. When he comes near uncover yourself and lie with him; teach him, the savage man, your woman's art, for when he murmurs love to you the wild beasts that shared his life in the hills will reject him.' She was not ashamed to take him, she made herself naked and welcomed his eagerness; as he lay on her murmuring love she taught him the woman's art. For six days and seven nights they lay together, for Enkidu had forgotten his home in the hills; but when he was satisfied he went back to the wild beasts. Then, when the gazelle saw him, they bolted away; when the wild creatures saw him they fled. Enkidu would have followed, but his body was bound as though with a cord, his knees gave way when he started to run, his swiftness was gone. And now the wild creatures had all fled away; Enkidu was grown weak, for wisdom was in him, and the thoughts of a man were in his heart. So he returned and sat down at the woman's feet, and listened intently to what she said. ‘You are wise, Enkidu, and now you have become like a god. Why do you want to run wild with the beasts in the hills? Come with me. I will take you to strong-walled Uruk, to the blessed temple of Ishtar and of Anu, of love and of heaven there Gilgamesh lives, who is very strong, and like a wild bull he lords it over men.'

When she had spoken Enkidu was pleased; he longed for a comrade, for one who would understand his heart. ‘Come, woman, and take me to that holy temple, to the house of Anu and of Ishtar, and to the place where Gilgamesh lords it over the people. I will challenge him boldly, I will cry out aloud in Uruk, "I am the strongest here, I have come to change the old order, I am he who was born in the hills, I am he who is strongest of all."' She said, ‘Let us go, and let him see your face. I know very well where Gilgamesh is in great Uruk. O Enkidu, there all the people are dressed in their gorgeous robes, every day is holiday, the young men and the girls are wonderful to see. How sweet they smell! All the great ones are roused from their beds. O Enkidu, you who love life, I will show you Gilgamesh, a man of many moods; you shall look at him well in his radiant manhood. His body is perfect in strength and maturity; he never rests by night or day. He is stronger than you, so leave your boasting. Shamash the glorious sun has given favors to Gilgamesh, and Anu of the heavens, and Enlil, and Ea the wise has given him deep understanding. I tell you, even before you have left the wilderness, Gilgamesh will know in his dreams that you are coming.' …And now she said to Enkidu, ‘When I look at you you have become like a god. Why do you yearn to run wild again with the beasts in the hills? Get up from the ground, the bed of a shepherd.' He listened to her words with care. It was good advice that she gave. She divided her clothing in two and with the one half she clothed him and with the other herself, and holding his hand she led him like a child to the sheepfolds, into the shepherds' tents. There all the shepherds crowded round to see him, they put down bread in front of him, but Enkidu could only suck the milk of wild animals. He fumbled and gaped, at a loss what to do or how he should eat the bread and drink the strong wine. Then the woman said, 'Enkidu, eat bread, it is the staff of life; drink the wine, it is the custom of the land.' So he ate till he was full and drank strong wine, seven goblets. He became merry, his heart exulted and his face shone. He rubbed down the matted hair of his body and anointed himself with oil. Enkidu had become a man; but when he had put on man's clothing he appeared like a bridegroom. He took arms to hunt the lion so that the shepherds could rest at night. He caught wolves and lions and the herdsmen lay down in peace; for Enkidu was their watchman, that strong man who had no rival. He was merry living with the shepherds, till one day lifting his eyes he saw a man approaching. He said to the harlot, ‘Woman, fetch that man here. Why has he come? I wish to know his name.' She went and called the man saying, ‘Sir, where are you going on this weary journey?' The man answered, saying to Enkidu, ‘Gilgamesh has gone into the marriage-house and shut out the people. He does strange things in Uruk, the city of great streets. At the roll of the drum work begins for the men, and work for the women. Gilgamesh the king is about to celebrate marriage with the Queen of Love, and he still demands to be first with the bride, the king to be first and the husband to follow, for that was ordained by the gods from his birth, from the time the umbilical cord was cut. But now the drums roll for the choice of the bride and the city groans.' At these words Enkidu turned white in the face. ‘I will go to the place where Gilgamesh lords it over the people, I will challenge him boldly, and I will cry aloud in Uruk, "I have come to change the old order, for I am the strongest here." Now Enkidu strode in front and the woman followed behind. He entered Uruk, that great market, and all the folk thronged round him where he stood in the street in strong-walled Uruk. The people jostled; speaking of him they said, ‘He is the spit of Gilgamesh. ‘He is shorter.’ ‘He is bigger of bone.’ This is the one who was reared on the milk of wild beasts. His is the greatest strength.' The men rejoiced: ‘Now Gilgamesh has met his match. This great-one, this hero whose beauty is like a god, he is a match even for Gilgamesh.’

In Uruk the bridal bed was made, fit for the goddess of love. The bride waited for the bridegroom, but in the night Gilgamesh got up and came to the house. Then Enkidu stepped out, he stood in the street and blocked the way. Mighty Gilgamesh came on and Enkidu met him at the gate. He put out his foot and prevented Gilgamesh from entering the house, so they grappled, holding each other like bulls. They broke the doorposts and the walls shook, they snorted like bulls locked together. They shattered the doorposts and the walls shook. Gilgamesh bent his knee with his foot planted on the ground and with a turn Enkidu was thrown. Then immediately his fury died. When Enkidu was thrown he said to Gilgamesh, ‘There is not another like you in the world. Ninsun, who is as strong as a wild ox in the byre, she was the mother who bore you, and now you are raised above all men, and Enlil has given you the kingship, for your strength surpasses the strength of men.’ So Enkidu and Gilgamesh embraced and their friendship was sealed.

On other clay tablets, the next episode in the story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu covers their journey in the forest to kill the giant creature Humbaba (literally “Hugeness”), guardian of the forest (placed there by the god Enlil). Gilgamesh pushed Enkidu to go on this quest in order to do something no one else had ever done. They made sacrifices to gain Shamash’s favor and the god supplied them with the winds (which they used to hold the creature long enough to kill it).

Gilgamesh washed out his long locks and cleaned his weapons; he flung back his hair from his shoulders; he threw off his stained clothes and changed them for new. He put on his royal robes and made them fast. When Gilgamesh had put on the crown, glorious Ishtar lifted her eyes, seeing the beauty of Gilgamesh. She said, ‘Come to me Gilgamesh, and be my bridegroom; grant me seed of your body, let me be your bride and you shall be my husband. I will harness for you a chariot of lapis lazuli and of gold, with wheels of gold and horns of copper; and you shall have mighty demons of the storm for draft mules. When you enter our house in the fragrance of cedar-wood, threshold and throne will kiss your feet. Kings, rulers, and princes will bow down before you; they shall bring you tribute from the mountains and the plain. Your ewes shall drop twins and your goats triplets; your pack-ass shall outrun mules; your oxen shall have no rivals, and your chariot horses shall be famous far-off for their swiftness.' Gilgamesh opened his mouth and answered glorious Ishtar, ‘If I take you in marriage, what gifts can I give in return? What ointments and clothing for your body? I would gladly give you bread and all sorts of food fit for a god. I would give you wine to drink fit for a queen. I would pour out barley to stuff your granary; but as for making you my wife - that I will not. How would it go with me? Your lovers have found you like a brazier which smoulders in the cold, a backdoor which keeps out neither squall of wind nor storm, a castle which crushes the garrison, pitch that blackens the bearer, a water-skin that chafes the carrier, a stone which falls from the parapet, a battering-ram turned back from the enemy, a sandal that trips the wearer. Which of your lovers did you ever love forever? What shepherd of yours has pleased you for all time? Listen to me while I tell the tale of your lovers. There was Tammuz, the lover of your youth, for him you decreed wailing, year after year. You loved the many colored roller, but still you struck and broke his wing; now in the grove he sits and cries, "kappi, kappi, my wing, my wing." You have loved the lion tremendous in strength: seven pits you dug for him, and seven. You have loved the stallion magnificent in battle, and for him you decreed whip and spur and a thong, to gallop seven leagues by force and to muddy the water before he drinks. You have loved the shepherd of the flock; he made meal-cake for you day after day, he killed kids for your sake. You struck and turned him into a wolf, now his own herd-boys chase him away, his own hounds

11 worry his flanks. And did you not love Ishullanu, the gardener of your father's palm grove? He brought you baskets filled with dates without end; every day he loaded your table. Then you turned your eyes on him and said, "Dearest Ishullanu, come here to me, let us enjoy your manhood, come forward and take me, I am yours.' Ishullanu answered, "What are you asking from me? My mother has baked and I have eaten; why should I come to such as you for food that is tainted and rotten? For when was a screen of rushes sufficient protection from frosts?" But when you had heard his answer you struck him. He was changed to a blind mole deep in the earth, one whose desire is always beyond his reach. And if you and I should be lovers, should not I be served in the same fashion as all these others whom you loved once?’ When Ishtar heard this she fell into a bitter rage, she went up to high heaven. Her tears poured down in front of her father Anu, and Antum her mother. She said, ‘My father, Gilgamesh has heaped insults on me, he has told over all my abominable behavior, my foul and hideous acts.' Anu opened his mouth and said, ‘Are you a father of gods? Did not you quarrel with Gilgamesh the king, so now he has related your abominable behavior, your foul and hideous acts.' Ishtar opened her mouth and said again, ‘My father, give me the Bull of Heaven to destroy Gilgamesh. Fill Gilgamesh, I say, with arrogance to his destruction; but if you refuse to give me the Bull of Heaven I will break in the doors of the underworld and smash the bolts; there will be confusion of people, those above with those from the lower depths. I shall bring up the dead to eat food like the living; and the hosts of dead will outnumber the living.' Anusa said to great Ishtar, ‘If I do what you desire there will be seven years of drought throughout Uruk when corn will be seedless husks. Have you saved grain enough for the people and grass for the cattle? Ishtar replied. ‘I have saved grain for the people, grass for the cattle; for seven years of seedless husks, there is grain and there is grass enough.' When Anu heard what Ishtar had said he gave her the Bull of Heaven to lead by the halter down to Uruk: When they reached the gates of Uruk the Bull went to the river; with his first snort cracks opened in the earth and, a hundred young men fell down to death. With his second snort cracks opened and two hundred fell down to death. With his third snort cracks opened, Enkidu doubled over but instantly recovered, he dodged aside and leapt on the Bull and seized it by the horns. The Bull of Heaven foamed in his face, it brushed him with the thick of its tail. Enkidu cried to Gilgamesh, 'my friend, we boasted that we would leave enduring names behind us. Now thrust in your sword between the nape and the horns.' So Gilgamesh followed the Bull, he seized the thick of its tail, he thrust the sword between the nape and the horns and slew the Bull. When they had killed the Bull of Heaven they cut out its heart and gave it to Shamash, and the brothers rested. But Ishtar rose tip and mounted the great wall of Uruk; she sprang on to the tower and uttered a curse: ‘Woe to Gilgamesh, for he has scorned me in killing the Bull of Heaven.' When Enkidu heard these words he tore out the Bull's right thigh and tossed it in her face saying, ‘If I could lay my hands on you, it is this I should do to you, and lash the entrails to your side.' Then Ishtar called together her people, the dancing and singing girls, the prostitutes of the temple, the courtesans. Over the thigh of the Bull of Heaven she set up lamentation…. When the daylight came Enkidu got up and cried to Gilgamesh, ‘O my brother, such a dream I had last night. Anu, Enlil, Ea and heavenly Shamash took counsel together, and Anu said to Enlil, "Because they have killed the Bull of Heaven, and because they have killed Humbaba who guarded the Cedar Mountain one of the two must die." Then glorious Shamash answered the hero Enlil, "It was by your command they killed the Bull of Heaven, and killed Humbaba, and

must Enkidu die although innocent?" Enlil flung round in rage at glorious Shamash, "You dare to say this, you who went about with them every day like one of themselves!” So Enkidu lay stretched out before Gilgamesh; his tears ran down in streams and he said to Gilgamesh, ' O my brother, so dear as you are to me, brother, yet they will take me from you.' Again he said, ‘I must sit down on the threshold of the dead and never again will I see my dear brother with my eyes.' …With the first brightening of dawn Enkidu raised his head and wept before the Sun God, in the brilliance of the sunlight his tears streamed down. ‘Sun God, I beseech you, about that vile Trapper, that Trapper of nothing because of whom I was to catch less than my comrade; let him catch least, make his game scarce, make him feeble, taking the smaller of every share, let his quarry escape from his nets.' When he had cursed the Trapper to his heart's content he turned on the harlot. He was roused to curse her also. ‘As for you, woman, with a great curse I curse you! I will promise you a destiny to all eternity. My curse shall come on you soon and sudden. You shall be without a roof for your commerce, for you shall not keep house with other girls in the tavern, but do your business in places fouled by the vomit of the drunkard. Your hire will be potter's earth, your thievings will be flung into the hovel, you will sit at the cross-roads in the dust of the potter's quarter, you will make your bed on the dunghill at night, and by day take your stand in the wall's shadow. Brambles and thorns will tear your feet, the drunk and the dry will strike your cheek and your mouth will ache. Let you be stripped of your purple dyes, for I too once in the wilderness with my wife had all the treasure I wished.' When Shamash heard the words of Enkidu he called to him from heaven: ‘Enkidu, why are you cursing the woman, the mistress who taught you to eat bread fit for gods and drink wine of kings? She who put upon you a ‘magnificent garment, did she not give you glorious Gilgamesh for your companion, and has not Gilgamesh, your own brother, made you rest on a 'royal bed and recline on a couch at his left hand? He has made the princes of the earth kiss your feet, and now all the people of Uruk lament and wail over you. When you are dead he will let his hair grow long for your sake, he will wear a lion's pelt and wander through the desert.' When Enkidu heard glorious Shamash his angry heart grew quiet, he called back the curse and said, ‘Woman, I promise you another destiny. The mouth which cursed you shall bless you! Kings, princes and nobles shall adore you. On your account a man though twelve miles off will clap his hand to his thigh and his hair will twitch. For you he will undo his belt and open his treasure and you shall have your desire; lapis lazuli, gold and' carnelian from the heap in the treasury. A ring for your hand and a robe shall be yours. The priest will lead you into the presence of the gods. On your account a wife, a mother of seven, was forsaken.' As Enkidu slept alone in his sickness, in bitterness of spirit he poured out his heart to his friend. 'It was I who cut down the cedar, I who leveled the forest, I who slew Humbaba and now see what has become of me. Listen, my friend, this is the dream I dreamed last night. The heavens roared, and earth rumbled back an answer; between them stood I before an awful being, the somber-faced man-bird; he had directed on me his purpose. His was a vampire face, his foot was a lion's foot, his hand was an eagle's talon. He fell on me and his claws were in my hair, he held me fast and I smothered; then he transformed me so that my arms became wings covered with feathers. He turned his stare towards me, and he led me away to the palace of Irkalla, the Queen of Darkness, to the house from which none who enters ever returns, down the road from which there is no coming back.

‘There is the house whose people sit in darkness; dust is their food and clay their meat. They are clothed like birds with wings for covering, they see no light, they sit in darkness. I entered the house of dust and I saw the kings of the earth, their crowns put away forever; rulers and princes, all those who once wore kingly crowns and ruled the world in the days of old. They who had stood in the place of the gods like Anu and Enlil stood now like servants to fetch baked meats in the house of dust, to carry cooked meat and cold water from the water-skin. In the house of dust which I entered were high priests and acolytes, priests of the incantation and of ecstasy; there were servers of the temple, and there was Etana, that king of Dish whom the eagle carried to heaven in the days of old. I saw also Samuqan, god of cattle, and there was Ereshkigal the Queen of the Underworld; and Befit-Sheri squatted in front of her, she who is recorder of the gods and keeps the book of death. She held a tablet from which she read. She raised her head, she saw me and spoke:" Who has brought this one here?" Then I awoke like a man drained of blood who wanders alone in a waste of rashes; like one whom the bailiff has seized and his heart pounds with terror.'

Gilgamesh, distraught at his friend’s death and suddenly concerned for his own mortality, abandons his search for fame and becomes obsessed with finding immortality. To find it, he goes looking for the only man ever to become immortal, Utnapishtim, who lived in the far away land of Dilmun. To get there, Gilgamesh travels through the land where it was dark while the sun was up in Mesopotamia (i.e. the other side of the world) to reach Dilmun. There he meets Siduri, the wine-maker of the gods, and explains to her his quest.

‘My friend who was very dear to me and who endured dangers beside me, Enkidu my brother, whom I loved, the end of mortality has overtaken him. I wept for him seven days and nights till the worm fastened on him. Because of my brother I am afraid of death, because of my brother I stray through the wilderness and cannot rest. But now, young woman, maker of wine, since I have seen your face do not let me see the face of death which I dread so much.’ She answered, ‘Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to? You will never find that life for which you are looking. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping. As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man.' But Gilgamesh said to Siduri, the young woman, ‘How can I be silent, how can I rest, when Enkidu whom I love is dust, and I too shall die and be laid in the earth. You live by the sea-shore and look into the heart of it; young woman, tell me now, which is the way to Utnapishtim?

Gilgamesh then proceeds to cross the waters of death with the help of the divine ferryman. There Gilgamesh meets Utnapishtim and his wife. Utnapishtim then explains the origin of his immortality.

‘You know the city Shurrupak, it stands on the banks of Euphrates? That city grew old and the gods that were in it were old. There was Anu,-lord of the firmament, their father, and warrior Enlil their counsellor, Ninurta the helper, and Ennugi watcher over canals; and with them also was Ea. In those days the world teemed, the people multiplied, the world bellowed like a

wild bull, and the great god was aroused by the clamor. Enlil heard the clamor and he said to the gods in council, "The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel." So the gods agreed to exterminate mankind. Enlil did this, but Ea because of his oath warned me in a dream. He whispered their words to my house of reeds, "Reed-house, reed- house! Wall, O wall, hearken reed-house, wall reflect; O man of Shurrupak, son of Ubara-Tutu; tear down your house and build a boat, abandon possessions and look for life, despise worldly goods and save your soul alive. Tear down your house, I say, and build a boat. These are the measurements as you shall build her: let hex beam equal her length, let her deck be roofed like the vault that covers the abyss; then take up into the boat the seed of all living creatures." ‘When I had understood I said to my lord, "Behold, what you have commanded I will honor and perform, but how shall I answer the people, the city, the elders?" Then Ea opened his mouth and said to me, his servant, "Tell them this: I have learnt that Enlil is wrathful against me, I dare no longer walk in his land nor live in his city; I will go down to the Gulf to dwell with Ea my lord. But on you he will rain down abundance, rare fish and shy wild-fowl, a rich harvest- tide. In the evening the rider of the storm will bring you wheat in torrents." ‘In the first light of dawn all my household gathered round me, the children brought pitch and the men whatever was necessary. On the fifth day I laid the keel and the ribs, then I made fast the planking. The ground-space was one acre, each side of the deck measured one hundred and twenty cubits, making a square. I built six decks below, seven in all, I divided them into nine sections with bulkheads between. I drove in wedges where needed, I saw to the punt poles, and laid in supplies. The carriers brought oil in baskets, I poured pitch into the furnace and asphalt and oil; more oil was consumed in caulking, and more again the master of the boat took into his stores. I slaughtered bullocks for the people and every day I killed sheep. I gave the shipwrights wine to drink as though it were river water, raw wine and red wine and oil and white wine. There was feasting then as there is at the time of the New Year's festival; I myself anointed my head. On the seventh day the boat was complete. ‘Then was the launching full of difficulty; there was shifting of ballast above and below till two thirds was submerged. I loaded into her all that 1 had of gold and of living things, my family, my kin, the beast of the field both wild and tame, and all the craftsmen. I sent them on board, for the time that Shamash had ordained was already fulfilled when he said, "in the evening, when the rider of the storm sends down the destroying rain, enter the boat and batten her down." The time was fulfilled, the evening came, the rider of the storm sent down the rain. I looked out at the weather and it was terrible, so I too boarded the boat and battened her down. All was now complete, the battening and the caulking; so I handed the tiller to Puzur-Amurri the steersman, with the navigation and the care of the whole boat. ‘With the first light of dawn a black cloud came from the horizon; it thundered within where Adad, lord of the storm was riding. In front over hill and plain Shullat and Hanish, heralds of the storm, led on. Then the gods of the abyss rose up; Nergal pulled out the dams of the nether waters, Ninurta the war-lord threw down the dykes, and the seven judges of hell, the Annunaki, raised their torches, lighting the land with their livid flame. A stupor of despair went up to heaven when the god of the storm turned daylight to darkness, when he smashed the land like a cup. One whole day the tempest raged, gathering fury as it went, it poured over the people like the tides of battle; a man could not see his brother nor could the people be seen from heaven. Even the gods were terrified at the flood, they fled to the highest heaven, the firmament of Anu; they crouched against the walls, cowering like curs. Then Ishtar the sweet-voiced Queen of Heaven cried out like a woman in travail: "Alas the days of old are turned to dust because I commanded evil; why did I command thus evil in the

15 council of all the gods? I commanded wars to destroy the people, but are they not my people, for I brought them forth? Now like the spawn of fish they float in the ocean." The great gods of heaven and of hell wept, they covered their mouths. ‘For six days and six nights the winds blew, torrent and tempest and flood overwhelmed the world, tempest and flood raged together like warring hosts. When the seventh day dawned the storm from the south subsided, the sea grew calm, the, flood was stilled; I looked at the face of the world and there was silence, all mankind was turned to clay. The surface of the sea stretched as flat as a roof-top; I opened a hatch and the light fell on my face. Then I bowed low, I sat down and I wept, the tears streamed down my face, for on every side was the waste of water. I looked for land in vain, but fourteen leagues distant there appeared a mountain, and there the boat grounded; on the mountain of Nisir the boat held fast, she held fast and did not budge. One day she held, and a second day on the mountain of Nisir she held fast and did not budge. A third day, and a fourth day she held fast on the mountain and did not budge; a fifth day and a sixth day she held fast on the mountain. When the seventh day dawned I loosed a dove and let her go. She flew away, but finding no resting-place she returned. Then I loosed a swallow, and she flew away but finding no resting-place she returned. I loosed a raven, she saw that the waters had retreated, she ate, she flew around, she cawed, and she did not come back. Then I threw everything open to the four winds, I made a sacrifice and poured out a libation on the mountain top. Seven and again seven cauldrons I set up on their stands, I heaped up wood and cane and cedar and myrtle. When the gods smelled the sweet savor, they gathered like flies over the sacrifice. Then, at last, Ishtar also came, she lifted her necklace with the jewels of heaven that once Anu had made to please her. "O you gods here present, by the lapis lazuli round my neck I shall remember these days as I remember the jewels of my throat; these last days I shall not forget. Let all the gods gather round the sacrifice, except Enlil. He shall not approach this offering, for without reflection he brought the flood; he consigned my people to destruction." ‘When Enlil had come, when he saw the boat, he was wrath and swelled with anger at the gods, the host of heaven, "Has any of these mortals escaped? Not one was to have survived the destruction." Then the god of the wells and canals Ninurta opened his mouth and said to the warrior Enlil, "Who is there of the gods that can devise without Ea? It is Ea alone who knows all things." Then Ea opened his mouth and spoke to warrior Enlil, "Wisest of gods, hero Enlil, how could you so senselessly bring down the flood? Lay upon the sinner his sin, Lay upon the transgressor his transgression, Punish him a little when he breaks loose, Do not drive him too hard or he perishes, Would that a lion had ravaged mankind Rather than the flood, Would that a wolf had ravaged mankind Rather than the flood, Would that famine had wasted the world Rather than the flood, Would that pestilence had wasted mankind Rather than the flood. It was not I that revealed the secret of the gods; the wise man learned it in a dream. Now take your counsel what shall be done with him."

‘Then Enlil went up into the boat, he took me by the hand and my wife and made us enter the boat and kneel down on either side, he standing between us. He touched our foreheads to bless us saying, "In time past Utnapishtim was a mortal man; henceforth he and his wife shall live in the distance at the mouth of the rivers." Thus it was that the gods took me and placed me here to live in the distance, at the mouth of the rivers.' Utnapishtim said, “As for you, Gilgamesh, who will assemble the gods for your sake, so that you may find that life for which you are searching? But if you wish, come and put it to the test: only prevail against sleep for six days and seven nights.” But while Gilgamesh sat there resting on his haunches, a mist of sleep like soft wool teased from the fleece drifted over him, and Utnapishtim said to his wife, “Look at him now, the strong man who would have everlasting life, even now the mists of sleep are drifting over him.” His wife replied, “Touch the man to wake him, so that he may return to his own land in peace, going back through the gate by which he came.” Utnapishtim said to his wife, “All men are deceivers, even you he will attempt to deceive; therefore bake loaves of bread, each day one loaf, and put it beside his head; and make a mark on the wall to number the days he has slept.” So she baked loaves of bread, each day one loaf, and put it beside his head, and she marked on the wall the days that he slept; and there came a day when the first loaf was hard, the second loaf was like leather, the third was soggy, the crust of the fourth had mold, the fifth was mildewed, the sixth was fresh, and the seventh was still on the embers. Then Utnapishtim touched him and he woke. Gilgamesh said to Utnapishtim the Faraway, ‘I hardly slept when you touched and roused me.' But Utnapishtim said, ‘Count these loaves and learn how many days you slept, for your first is hard, your second like leather, your third is soggy, the crust of your fourth has mold, your fifth is mildewed, your sixth is fresh and your seventh was still over the glowing embers when I touched and woke you.' Gilgamesh said, ‘What shall I do, O Utnapishtim, where shall I go? Already the thief in the night has hold of my limbs, death inhabits my room; wherever my foot rests, there I find death.' …Then Gilgamesh and Urshanabi (the ferryman) launched the boat on to the water and boarded it, and they made ready to sail away; but the wife of Utnapishtim the Faraway said to him, “Gilgamesh came here wearied out, he is worn out; what will you give him to carry him back to his own country?” So Utnapishtim spoke, and Gilgamesh took a pole and brought the boat in to the bank. “Gilgamesh, you came here a man wearied out, you have worn yourself out; what shall I give you to carry you back to your own country? Gilgamesh, I shall reveal a secret thing, it is a mystery of the gods that I am telling you. There is a plant that grows under the water, it has a prickle like a thorn, like a rose; it will wound your hands, but if you succeed in taking it, then your hands will hold that which restores his lost youth to a man” When Gilgamesh heard this he opened the sluices so that a sweet water current might carry him out to the deepest channel; he tied heavy stones to his feet and they dragged him down to the water’s bed. There he saw the plant growing. Although it pricked him he took it in his hands; then he cut the heavy stones from his feet, and the sea carried him and threw him on to the shore. Gilgamesh said to Urshanabi the ferryman, “Come here, and see this marvelous plant. By its virtue a man may win back all his former strength. I will take it to Uruk of the strong walls; there I will give it to the old men to eat. Its name shall be ‘The Old Men Are Young Again’; and at last I shall eat it myself and have back all my lost youth.” So Gilgamesh returned by the gate through which he had come, Gilgamesh and Urshanabi went together. They travelled their twenty leagues and then they broke their fast; after thirty leagues they stopped for the night.

Gilgamesh saw a well of cool water and he went down and bathed; but deep in the pool there was lying a serpent, and the serpent sensed the sweetness of the flower. It rose out of the water and snatched it away, and immediately it sloughed its skin and returned to the well. Then Gilgamesh sat down and wept, the tears ran down his face, and he took the hand of Urshanabi; ‘O Urshanabi, was it for this that I toiled with my hands, is it for this I have wrung out my heart's blood? For myself I have gained nothing; not I, but the beast of the earth has joy of it now. Already the stream has carried it twenty leagues back to the channels where I found it. I found a sign and now I have lost it. Let us leave the boat on the bank and go.' After twenty leagues they broke their fast, after thirty leagues they stopped for the night; in three days they had walked as much as a journey of a month and fifteen days. When the journey was accomplished they arrived at Uruk, the strong-walled city. Gilgamesh spoke to him, to Urshanabi the ferryman, “Urshanabi, climb up on to the wall of Uruk, inspect its foundation terrace, and examine well the brickwork; see if it is not of burnt bricks; and did not the seven wise men lay these foundations? One third of the whole is city, one third is garden, and one third is field, with the precinct of the goddess Ishtar. These parts and the precinct are all Uruk.” This too was the work of Gilgamesh, the king, who knew the countries of the world. He was wise he saw mysteries and knew secret things, he brought us a tale of the days before the flood. He went a long journey, was weary, worn out with labor, and returning engraved on a stone the whole story.

The later versions of the Epic concluded with a short section on the death of Gilgamesh, emphasizing that immortality was not his destiny.

The Book of the Dead: “The Judgment of the Dead”1

The Book of the Dead, or rather Books, since there was not just one version, was a guidebook to help the dead in the afterlife. It contained spells, charms, directions and answers to necessary questions. Text from the Book of the Dead, was placed in the tomb as a papyrus scroll or inscribed on the walls of the tomb, and even inside of sarcophagi from around 2400 BCE all the way into the first centuries of the Common Era. This section on the judgment of the dead was among the most frequently used parts of the book. It instructed the dead what to do and say when they entered the Hall of Two Truths. Here they stood before a jury of gods, while their life’s deeds were read out and their heart was weighed (literally) on a scale against the feather of truth. If the heart was too weighed down by guilt, the dead would be devoured by the demon Ammit, who had the body parts of a lion, hippopotamus and crocodile. This is illustrated in a Book of the Dead from ca. 1375 BCE (The Papyrus of the scribe Hunefer, in the British Museum).

[The dead will say:] Homage to you, Great God, the Lord of the double Maat (Truth)!2 I have come to you, my Lord, I have brought myself here to behold your beauty. I know you, and I know your name, And I know the names of the forty-two gods, Who live with you in the Hall of the Two Truths Who imprison the evildoers, and feed upon their blood,

1 The full text is available at http://public.wsu.edu/~dee/EGYPT/BOD125.HTM. 2 This word, Truth, is the Egyptian word maat (here it is doubled: maat maat). It means more than just truth; among other meanings are "justice," "purity," "balance," and "order." All these senses apply here and in every other use of the word. The translation does not translate this word when it occurs. Probably the best translation for "The Two Truths" is "Truth and Righteousness." All the meanings of maat are personified by the goddess Maat.

On the day when the lives of men are judged in the presence of Osiris.3 In truth, you are "The Twin Sisters with Two Eyes [of Maat]," and "The Daughters of the Two Truths." In truth, I now come to you, and I have brought Maat to you, And I have destroyed wickedness for you. I have committed no evil upon men. I have not oppressed the members of my family. I have not wrought evil in the place of right and truth. I have had no knowledge of what should not be known. I have brought about no evil. I did not rise in the morning and expect more than was due to me. I have not brought my name forward to be praised. I have not oppressed servants. I have not scorned any god. I have not defrauded the poor of their property. I have not done what the gods abhor. I have not caused harm to be done to a servant by his master. I have not caused pain. I have caused no man to hunger. I have made no one weep. I have not killed. I have not given the order to kill. I have not inflicted pain on anyone. I have not stolen the drink left for the gods in the temples. I have not stolen the cakes left for the gods in the temples. I have not stolen the cakes left for the dead in the temples. I have not fornicated. I have not polluted myself. I have not diminished the bushel when I've sold it. I have not added to or stolen land. I have not encroached on the land of others. I have not added weights to the scales to cheat buyers. I have not misread the scales to cheat buyers. I have not stolen milk from the mouths of children. I have not driven cattle from their pastures. I have not captured the birds of the preserves of the gods. I have not caught fish in their ponds. I have not held back the water when it should flow. I have not diverted the running water in a canal. I have not put out a fire when it should burn. I have not violated the times when meat should be offered to the gods.

3 One of the chief Egyptian gods, Osiris was the god of the dead and of immortality.

I have not driven off the cattle from the property of the gods. I have not stopped a god in his procession through the temple.4 I am pure, I am pure, I am pure, I am pure! *** Therefore, let no evil befall me in this land In this Hall of the Two Truths, Because I know the names of all the gods within it, And all the followers of the great God.

Hail, Long-Strider who comes from Heliopolis, I have not done iniquity. Hail, Embraced-by Fire who comes from Kher-aha, I have not robbed with violence. Hail, Divine-Nose who comes from Khemmenu, I have not done violence to another man. Hail, Shade-Eater who comes from the caverns which produce the Nile, I have not committed theft. Hail, Neha-hau who comes from Re-stau, I have not killed man or woman. Hail, double Lion God who comes from heaven, I have not lightened the bushel. Hail, Flint-Eyes who comes from Sekhem, I have not acted deceitfully. Hail, Flame who comes backwards, I have not stolen what belongs to the gods. Hail, Bone-Crusher who comes from Heracleopolis, I have not lied. Hail, Flame-Grower who comes from Memphis, I have not carried away food. Hail, Qerti5 who comes from the west, I have not uttered evil words. Hail, Shining-Tooth who comes from Ta-She, I have attacked no man. Hail, Blood-Consumer who comes from the house of slaughter, I have not slaughtered sacred cattle. Hail, Entrail-Consumer who comes from the mabet chamber, I have not cheated. Hail, God of Maat who comes from the city of the twin Maati, I have not laid waste lands which have been ploughed. Hail, Backward-Walker who comes from Bubastis, I have not pried mischievously into others' affairs. Hail, Aati who comes from Heliopolis, I have not foolishly set my mouth in motion against another man. Hail, doubly evil who comes from Ati, I have not given way to wrath without cause. Hail, serpent Amenti who comes from the house of slaughter, I have not defiled the wife of another man. Hail, you who look at what is brought to you who comes from the Temple of Amsu, I have not pollluted myself. Hail, Chief of the Princes who comes from Nehatu, I have not terrified any man. Hail, Destroyer who comes from the Lake of Kaui, I have not trespassed sacred grounds. Hail, Speech-Orderer who comes from the Urit, I have not been angry. Hail, Child who comes from the Lake of Heqat, I have not made myself deaf to Maat. Hail, Disposer-of-Speech who comes from Unes, I have not stirred up strife. Hail, Basti who comes from the Secret City, I have made no one to weep.

4 Images of the gods would "process" through the temples, around the outside of a temple, and even the streets. The gods were thought to be present in these statues. During these processions, worshippers would ask questions of the god as it passed. It would then answer those questions by leaning in one direction or the other. 5 The caverns that were thought to be the source of the Nile at the time.

Hail, Backwards-Face who comes from the Dwelling, I have committed no acts of impurity nor have I had sexual intercourse with a man. Hail, Leg-of-Fire who comes from the Akheku, I have not lost my temper [literally “I have not eaten my heart”]. Hail, Kenemti who comes from Kenemet, I have not abused anyone. Hail, Offering-Bringer who comes from Sais, I have not acted with violence. Hail, Lord-of-Faces who comes from Tchefet, I have not judged hastily. Hail, Giver-of-Knowledge who comes from Unth, I have not taken vengeance on a god. Hail, Lord-of-Two-Horns who comes from Satiu, I have not spoken too much. Hail, Nefer-Tem who comes from Memphis, I have not acted with deceit nor have I performed wickedness. Hail, Tem-Sep who comes from Tattu, I have not cursed the king. Hail, Heart-Laborer who comes from Tebti, I have not polluted the water. Hail, Ahi-of-the-water who comes from Nu, I have not been haughty. Hail, Man-Commander, who comes from Sau, I have not cursed the god. Hail, Neheb-nefert who comes from the Lake of Nefer, I have not been insolent. Hail, Neheb-kau who comes from your city, I have not sought distinctions. Hail, Holy-Head who comes from your dwelling, I have not increased my wealth, except with such things as were mine. Hail, Arm-Bringer who comes from the Underworld, I have not scorned the god of my city.

Hail, gods, who dwell in the house of the Two Truths. I know you and I know your names. Let me not fall under your slaughter-knives, And do not bring my wickedness to Osiris, the god you serve. Let no evil come to me from you. Declare me right and true in the presence of Osiris, Because I have done what is right and true in Egypt. I have not cursed a god. I have not suffered evil through the king who ruled my day.

Hail, gods who dwell in the Hall of the Two Truths, Who have no evil in your bodies, who live upon maat , Who feed upon maat in the presence of Horus, Who lives within his divine disk [the sun]. Deliver me from the god Baba, Who lives on the entrails of the mighty ones on the day of the great judgment. Grant that I may come to you, For I have committed no faults, I have not sinned, I have not done evil, I have not lied, Therefore let nothing evil happen to me. I live on maat , and I feed on maat, I have performed what has been asked of me and the things pleasing to the gods, I have made the god to be at peace with me,

I have acted according to his will. I have given bread to the hungry man, and water to the thirsty man, And clothes to the naked man, and a boat to the boatless. I have made holy offerings to the gods, and meals for the dead. Deliver me, protect me, accuse me not in the presence of Osiris. I am pure of mouth and pure of hands, Therefore, let all who see me welcome me, For I have heard the mighty word which the spiritual bodies spoke to the Cat, In the House of Hapt-Re, the Open-Mouthed; I gave testimony before the god Hra-f-ha-f, the Backwards-Face, I have the branching out of the ished-tree in Re-stau.6 I have offered prayers to the gods and I know their persons. I have come and I have advanced to declare maat, And to set the balance upon what supports it in the Underworld. Hail, you who are exalted upon your standard, Lord of the Atefu crown, Whose name is "God of Breath" [Osiris], deliver me from your divine messengers, Who cause fearful deeds, and calamities, Who are without coverings for their faces, For I have done maat for the Lord of maat. I have purified myself and my breast, my lower parts, with the things which make clean. My inner parts have been in the Pool of maat. I have been purified in the Pool of the south, And I have rested in the northern city which is in the Field of the Grasshoppers,7 Where the sacred sailors of Ra bathe at the second hour of the night and third hour of the day. And the hearts of the gods are pleased after they have passed through it, Whether by day or by night.

First Examination

The gods then say, "Come forward. They say, "Who are you," They say, "What is your name?" "I am the he who is equipped under the flowers, the-dweller-in-the-moringa is my name."8 They say, "Where have you passed?" "I have passed by the town north of the moringa." They say, "What did you see there?" "The Leg and the Thigh." They say, "What then did you say to them?"

6 These are all religious mysteries which reveal the knowledge of the gods to living humans. 7 These are parts of the journey to the underworld the dead had already completed. 8 Another name for Osiris. The dead man is here identifying himself with the chief god and the chief god of judgment. The purpose of the examinations here is to pass by first the forty-two gods and demons by telling them the itinerary of the dead man's journey after death. Identifying himself with Osiris indicates that he is not to be judged by the forty-two gods at this juncture. The later examinations are conducted by the parts of the doorway and the hall itself, and finally, by Thoth, who records all the deeds of humans and gods.

"Let me see rejoicings in the lands of the Fenkhu."9 "What did they give you?" "A flame of fire and a tablet of crystal." "What did you do with them?" "I buried them by the furrow of Maaty as things for the night." "What did you find there by the furrow of Maaty?" "A scepter of flint, the name of which is "Giver of Breath.'" "What did you do to the flame of fire and the tablet of crystal after you buried them?" "I uttered words over them in the furrow, and I dug them up; I extinguished the fire, and I broke the tablet, and I threw it in the pool of Maaty." "Come, then, and enter in the door of this Hall of the Two Truths, for you know us."

Second Examination

"We will not let you enter in through us," says the bolts of the door, "unless you tell us our names." "'Tongue-of-the-Balance-of-the-Place-of-Truth' is your name." "I will not let you enter in by me," says the right side of this door, "unless you tell me my name." "'Valance-of-the-Support-of-Maat' is your name." "I will not let you enter in by me," says the left side of the door, "unless you tell me my name." "'Balance-of-Wine' is your name." "I will not let you pass over me," says the threshold of this door, "unless you tell me my name." "'Ox-of-God-Seb' is your name." "I will not open for you," says the fastening of this door, "unless you tell me my name." "'Flesh-of-his-Mother' is your name." "I will not open for you," says the socket of the fastening of this door, "unless you tell me my name." "'Living-Eye-of-the-Crocodile-God-Lord-of-Bakhau' is your name." "I will not open for you, and I will not let you enter in by me," says the guardian of this door, "unless you tell me my name." "'Elbow-of-the-God-Shu-that-protecs-Osiris' is your name." "We will not let you enter in by us," say the posts of this door, "unless you tell us our name." "'Children-of-the-Cobra-Goddess' is your name." "You know us, therefore, pass by us."

Third Examination

"I will not let you tread upon me," says the floor of this hall of the Two Truths, "Because I am silent and I am holy and do not know the names of your two feet, Therefore, tell me their names." "'Traveller-of-the-God-Khas' is the name of my right foot, "'Staff-of-the-Goddess-Hathor' is the name of my left foot." "You know me, therefore pass over me." "I will not announce you," says the guardian of this door of this Hall of the Two Truths, "unless you tell me my name."

9 The Fenkhu were a people living on the north-east frontier of Egypt.

"'Discerner-of-Hearts and Searcher-of-the-Reins' is your name." "Now I will announce you, but who is the god that dwells in this hour?" "The-Keeper-of-the-Record-of-the-Two-Lands." "Who then is The-Keeper-of-the-Record-of-the-Two-Lands?" "It is Thoth."10

Fourth Examination

"Come," says Thoth, "why have you come?" "I have come and I press forward so that I may be announced." "What now is your condition?" "I am purified from evil things, I am protected from the evil deeds of those who live in their days: I am not among them." "Now I will announce you. But who is he whose heaven is fire, whose walls are cobras, and whose floor is a stream of water? Who is he, I say?" "He is Osiris." "Come forward, then, you will be announced to him. Your cakes will come from the Eye of Ra,11 your beer from the Eye, your meals of the dead from the Eye. This has been decreed for the Osiris the overseer of the house of the overseer of the seal, Nu, triumphant."

This shall be said by the deceased after he has been cleaned and purified, and when he is arrayed in apparel, and is shod with white leather sandals, and his eyes have been painted with antimony, and his body has been anointed with oil, and when he offers oxen, and birds, and incense, and cakes, and beer, and garden herbs. Behold, you will draw a representation of this in color upon a new tile molded from earth upon which neither a pig nor other animals have stepped. And if you do this book on it, the deceased shall flourish, and his children shall flourish, and his name shall never fall into oblivion, and he shall be as one who fills the heart of the king and his princes. And bread, and cakes, and sweetmeats, and wine, and pieces of flesh shall be given to him upon the altar of the great god; and he shall not be turned back at any door in the Underworld, and he shall be brought in along with the kings of Upper and Lower Egypt, and he shall be in the train of Osiris, continually and forever.

Effective a million times.

10 The God of Writing, inventor of hieroglyphics, Thoth, who records the deeds of humans and their judgement. The Two Lands are the land of the living and the land of the dead. 11 The Eye of Horus or Ra, which represents knowledge of things human and divine, as well as knowledge of maat.

The Book of Genesis1

The Torah (often called the Pentateuch) is the name given to five books that make up the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). These books both outline God’s commands and tell the history of his relationship with the Hebrews through the death of Moses (though starting with his relationship to all things and all people). These accounts began to be written down during the period of the Kings, ca. 950 BCE. Several parts, however, reflect much older oral traditions (particularly in the case of Genesis, where we find two differing traditions of creation placed side-by-side in Genesis 1 and 2).

Transmission Note: In terms of transmission of these texts, the oldest pieces of Hebrew Scripture (and the Christian Old Testament) were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (written from ca.250 BCE-70CE; discovered in caves only in 1947). The Dead Sea Scrolls contain all of the first five books of Hebrew Scripture. The oldest surviving complete copy of the Hebrew Scriptures comes from the 10th century CE.

Genesis 1

1In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6And God said, "Let there be an expanse [or canopy] in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." 7And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8And God called the expanse Heaven [or sky]. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

9And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. 10God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, small plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so. 12The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

1 The translations here are taken from the English Standard Version. This and many other translations are available at http://www.biblegateway.com. Possible alternate translations of certain words are indicated in brackets and italicized.

14And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. 16And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

20And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." 21So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." 23And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. 25And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26Then God said, "Let us make man2 in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

28And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." 29And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 2

1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

2 The Hebrew word for man (adam) is the generic term for mankind and becomes the proper name Adam.

5When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

18Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." 19 Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23Then the man said,

"This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."3

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Genesis 3

1Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

3 The Hebrew words for woman (ishshah) and man (ish) sound alike.

He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" 2And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise [or give insight], she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

8And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" 10And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." 11He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" 12The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." 13Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

14The LORD God said to the serpent,

"Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

16To the woman he said,

"I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."

17And to Adam he said,

"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,'

cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

20The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.4 21And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

22Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—" 23therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

***

Genesis 5

1This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. 3When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.

6When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. 7Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.

9When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. 10Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.

12When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. 13Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.

4 Eve sounds like the Hebrew for life-giver and resembles the word for living.

30 15When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. 16Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.

18When Jared had lived 162 years he fathered Enoch. 19Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.

21When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

25When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech. 26Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.

28When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son 29and called his name Noah, saying, "Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed this one shall bring us relief5 from our work and from the painful toil of our hands." 30Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.

32After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 6

1When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years." 4The Nephilim [giants] were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." 8But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

9These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13And God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15This is how you

5 Noah sounds like the Hebrew for rest.

31 are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits,6 its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. 16Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 20Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. 21Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them." 22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

Genesis 7

1Then the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. 2Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground." 5 And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.

6Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. 7And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. 10And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

11In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 12And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 14they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. 15They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in.

17The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 21And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23He blotted out every living thing

6 A cubit is about 18 inches.

that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

Genesis 8

1But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, 3and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, 4and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

6At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made 7and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. 9But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. 10He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 12Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.

13In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. 15Then God said to Noah, 16"Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." 18So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.

20Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."

Genesis 9

1And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea.

Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

7And you, be fruitful and multiply, teem on the earth and multiply in it."

8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9"Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." 17God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."

*** Genesis 17

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”

3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—

those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” The Book of Exodus1

Exodus describes the Hebrews’ escape from slavery in Egypt and the beginning of the wandering in the desert before reaching the promised land of Canaan (which the rest of the Pentateuch completes). It is here that the basic laws that appear in Genesis are expanded in great detail. This section follows Moses’ ascent up Mount Sinai. There is no corresponding Egyptian evidence for these events, so the dating of them is widely debated. Differing lines of evidence make the most likely period for the events 1350-1200 BCE. The version of Exodus that survived was composed and edited from the 10th century BCE into possibly as late as the 5th century BCE by the priests who were arguing for strict monotheism.

Exodus 20

1 And God spoke all these words, saying,

2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 "You shall have no other gods before [or besides] me.

4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

13 "You shall not murder.2

14 "You shall not commit adultery.

15 "You shall not steal.

16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 "You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s."…

Exodus 21

1"Now these are the rules that you shall set before them. 2 When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. 3If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone. 5But if the slave plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,' 6then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

7"When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8If she does not please her master, so that he has not designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her. 9If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. 10If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. 11And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

12 "Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. 13 But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. 14But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.

15"Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

16 "Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.

2 The Hebrew word also covers causing human death through carelessness or negligence.

17 "Whoever curses [or dishonors] his father or his mother shall be put to death.

18"When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but takes to his bed, 19then if the man rises again and walks outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall have him thoroughly healed.

20"When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. 21But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.

22"When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

26"When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. 27If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth…

Exodus 22

1"If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. 2If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, 3but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double…

16 "If a man seduces a virgin [or woman of marriageable age] who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price for her and make her his wife. 17If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride-price for virgins.

18 "You shall not permit a sorceress to live.

19 "Whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death.

20 "Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the LORD alone, shall be devoted to destruction.

21 "You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 23If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless…

Exodus 23

1 "You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. 2You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, 3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.

4 "If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. 5If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.

6 "You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. 7 Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked. 8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right…

10 "For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard…

18 "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning.

19"The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

20 "Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. 22But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 23 When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, 24you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. 25You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. 26 None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. 27I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. 31 And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 33They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."

The Book of Leviticus

Leviticus continues the narrative from Exodus and was edited and composed over the same long period as Exodus was. The excerpts below cover part of the laws on diet and on sexual practices.

Leviticus 11

1And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 2"Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. 3Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. 4Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. 5And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. 6And the hare, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. 7And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. 8You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.

9"These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. 10But anything in the seas or the rivers that has not fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is detestable to you. 11You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses. 12Everything in the waters that has not fins and scales is detestable to you…

Leviticus 18

1And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. 3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. 5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.

6"None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness.3 I am the LORD. 7 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. 9 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home. 10You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. 11You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, brought up in your father’s family, since she is your sister. 12You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s relative. 13You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s relative. 14You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, that is, you

3 “To uncover nakedness” is used here as a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. 15 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. 17You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity. 18And you shall not take a woman as a rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still alive.

19 "You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. 20 And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her. 21You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech,4 and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. 22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.

24 "Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you 27(for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), 28lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. 30 So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God." The Book of Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy concludes the Torah and largely consists of the speeches of Moses to the Hebrews about how they should behave and live in Canaan. The text also retells parts of the previous books and at times expands in detail upon laws mentioned quickly elsewhere. Deuteronomy is widely thought to have been composed in the 7th century BCE, but again parts of it probably originate from much older texts.

Deuteronomy 22

13"If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then hates her 14and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her, saying, 'I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,' 15then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. 16And the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter to this man to marry, and he hates her; 17and behold, he has accused her of misconduct, saying, "I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity." And yet this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.' And they shall spread the cloak before the elders of the city. 18Then the elders of that city shall take the man and

4 For human sacrifice.

whip him, 19and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver [about 40 oz.] and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife. He may not divorce her all his days. 20But if the thing is true, that evidence of virginity was not found in the young woman, 21then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father’s house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

22 "If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

23"If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, 24then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

25"But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. 26But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no offense punishable by death. For this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor, 27because he met her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her.

28 "If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found, 29then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her. He may not divorce her all his days…

Deuteronomy 23

17"None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, and none of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute. 18You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog [or male prostitute] into the house of the LORD your God in payment for any vow, for both of these are an abomination to the LORD your God.

19 "You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. 20 You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest, that the LORD your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it…

The First Book of Kings The Books of Kings continue the events from the books of Samuel, together creating a narrative account of the period from the Judges to the Exile (11th to 6th centuries BCE). In their current form the books were collected from earlier written sources (“The Book of the Acts of Solomon,” “the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel,” “the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah” and others are mentioned by name—possibly even archival sources were used) during the period after the defeat of the kingdom of Israel (certainly after 609 BCE) and then edited further around 550 BCE, after the fall of Judah and the destruction of the Temple.

1 Kings 3 Solomon Asks for Wisdom 1 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the LORD. 3 Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places. 4 The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you." 6 Solomon answered, "You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. 7 "Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?" 10 The LORD was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for--both riches and honor--so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. 14 And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life." 15 Then Solomon awoke--and he realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the LORD's covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he gave a feast for all his court.

A Wise Ruling 16 Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 One of them said, "My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me. 18 The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us. 19 "During the night this woman's son died because she lay on him.

20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. 21 The next morning, I got up to nurse my son--and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn't the son I had borne." 22 The other woman said, "No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours." But the first one insisted, "No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine." And so they argued before the king. 23 The king said, "This one says, 'My son is alive and your son is dead,' while that one says, 'No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.' " 24 Then the king said, "Bring me a sword." So they brought a sword for the king. 25 He then gave an order: "Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other." 26 The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, "Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don't kill him!" But the other said, "Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!" 27 Then the king gave his ruling: "Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother." 28 When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice…

1 Kings 4 20 The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy. 21 And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon's subjects all his life. 22 Solomon's daily provisions were thirty cors of fine flour and sixty cors of meal, 23 ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl. 24 For he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and had peace on all sides. 25 During Solomon's lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, each man under his own vine and fig tree. 26 Solomon had four thousand stalls for chariot horses, and twelve thousand horses. 27 The district officers, each in his month, supplied provisions for King Solomon and all who came to the king's table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking. 28 They also brought to the proper place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and the other horses…

1 Kings 6 Solomon Builds the Temple [1 Kings 6, 7 and the first half of 8 recount the building of Solomon’s Temple and palace over 13 years, the elaborate gold and silver furnishings of the Temple and the placing of the ark of the Covenant in it. At the time this work was composed the Temple had recently been destroyed by the Babylonians, so the vast amount of detail was also meant to preserve the memory of the Temple’s grandeur.]

1 Kings 8 Solomon's Prayer of Dedication 22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven 23 and said: "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below--you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. 24 You have kept your promise to your servant David

43 my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it--as it is today. 25 "Now LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, 'You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to walk before me as you have done.' 26 And now, O God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true. 27 "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 28 Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. 29 May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, 'My Name shall be there,' so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 30 Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. 31 "When a man wrongs his neighbor and is required to take an oath and he comes and swears the oath before your altar in this temple, 32 then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on his own head what he has done. Declare the innocent not guilty, and so establish his innocence. 33 "When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and confess your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple, 34 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their fathers. 35 "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, 36 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance. 37 "When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, 38 and when a prayer or plea is made by any of your people Israel- -each one aware of the afflictions of his own heart, and spreading out his hands toward this temple-- 39 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of all men), 40 so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our fathers. 41 "As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name-- 42 for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm--when he comes and prays toward this temple, 43 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name. 44 "When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the LORD toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, 45 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. 46 "When they sin against you--for there is no one who does not sin--and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near; 47 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly'; 48 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; 49 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold

their cause. 50 And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their conquerors to show them mercy; 51 for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace. 52 "May your eyes be open to your servant's plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you. 53 For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, O Sovereign LORD, brought our fathers out of Egypt." 54 When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. 55 He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying: 56 "Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. 57 May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us. 58 May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations he gave our fathers. 59 And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day's need, 60 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other. 61 But your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time."

1 Kings 9: The LORD Appears to Solomon 1 When Solomon had finished building the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, 2 the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The LORD said to him: "I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 4 "As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, 5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.' 6 "But if you or your sons turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 8 And though this temple is now imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, 'Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?' 9 People will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them--that is why the LORD brought all this disaster on them.' "

1 Kings 11: Solomon's Wives 1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter--Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess

45 of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. 7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods. 9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD's command. 11 So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."

Homer, selection from Book 11 of the Odyssey1

The Iliad and Odyssey are set in the last year of the Trojan War and through the ten year journey of Odysseus to get home to his wife and son. In Book 11, Odysseus goes down to the Underworld (Hades) to speak with the dead prophet Tieresias, and learn what exactly he needs to do to get home. He attracts the dead spirits with a sacrifice of blood, but bars them from drinking it until he gets to speak with who he needs to. At first he sees a series of women, but then he gets to the section below, which includes his meeting with his friends, the two powerful (and competing) Greek leaders in the Trojan War, Agamemnon and Achilles.

Now then, no sooner had Queen Persephone (wife of the god Hades) driven off the ghosts of lovely women, scattering left and right, than forward marched the shade of Atreus’ son Agamemnon, fraught with grief and flanked by all his comrades, troops of his men-at-arms who died beside him, who met their fate in lord Aegisthus’ halls. He knew me at once, as soon as he drank the blood, and wailed out, shrilly; tears sprang to his eyes, he thrust his arms toward me, keen to embrace me there— no use—the great force was gone, the strength lost forever, now, that filled his rippling limbs in the old days. I wept at the sight, my heart went out to the man, my words too, in a winging flight of pity: ‘Famous Atrides, lord of men Agamemnon! What fatal stroke of destiny brought you down? Wrecked in the ships when lord Poseidon [god of the sea] roused some punishing blast of stormwinds, gust on gust? Or did ranks of enemies mow you down on land as you tried to raid and cut off herds and flocks or fought to win their city, take their women?’ The field marshal’s ghost replied at once: ‘Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, mastermind of war, I was not wrecked in the ships when lord Poseidon roused some punishing blast of stormwinds, gust on gust, nor did ranks of enemies mow me down on land— Aegisthus2 hatched my doom and my destruction, he killed me, he with my own accursed wife … he invited me to his palace, sat me down to feast then cut me down as a man cuts down some ox at the trough! So I died—a wretched, ignominious death—and round me all my comrades killed, no mercy, one after another, just like white-tusked boars butchered in some rich lord of power’s halls for a wedding, banquet or groaning public feast. You in your day have witnessed hundreds slaughtered, killed in single combat or killed in pitched battle, true, but if you’d laid eyes on this it would have wrenched your heart how we sprawled by the mixing-bowl and loaded tables there, throughout the palace, the whole floor awash with blood. But the death-shriek of Cassandra, King Priam of Troy’s daughter [whom Agamemnon brought back as a lover/slave]— most pitiful thing I heard! My treacherous queen, Clytemnestra, killed her over my body, yes, and I, lifting my fists, beat them down on the ground, dying, dying, writhing around the sword. But she, that whore, she turned her back on me, well on my way to Death—she even lacked the heart to seal my eyes with her hand or close my jaws. So, there’s nothing more deadly, bestial than a woman set on works like these—what a monstrous thing she plotted, slaughtered her own lawful husband! Why, I expected, at least, some welcome home from all my children, all my household slaves when I came sailing back again … But she— the queen hell-bent on outrage—bathes in shame not only herself but the whole breed of womankind, even the honest ones to come, forever down the years!’ So he declared and I cried out, ‘How terrible! Zeus from the very start, the

1 This is from Robert Fagles’ Translation. 2 Aegisthus was Agamemnon’s cousin, who took over Mycenae from him and became the lover of Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife, while Agamemnon was fighting at Troy.

thunder king has hated the race of Atreus [Agamemnon’s father] with a vengeance— his trustiest weapon women’s twisted wiles. What armies of us died for the sake of Helen3 … Clytemnestra schemed your death while you were worlds away!’ ‘True, true,’ Agamemnon’s ghost kept pressing on, ‘so even your own wife—never indulge her too far. Never reveal the whole truth, whatever you may know; just tell her a part of it, be sure to hide the rest. Not that you, Odysseus, will be murdered by your wife. She’s much too steady, her feelings run too deep, Icarius’ daughter Penelope, that wise woman. She was a young bride, I well remember … we left her behind when we went off to war, with an infant boy she nestled at her breast. That boy must sit and be counted with the men now— happy man! His beloved father will come sailing home and see his son, and he will embrace his father, that is only right. But my wife—she never even let me feast my eyes on my own son; she killed me first, his father! I tell you this—bear it in mind, you must— when you reach your homeland steer your ship into port in secret, never out in the open … the time for trusting women’s gone forever! Enough. Come, tell me this, and be precise. Have you heard news of my son? Where’s he living now? Perhaps in Orchomenos, perhaps in sandy Pylos or off in the Spartan plains with Menelaus? He’s not dead yet, my Prince Orestes, no, he’s somewhere on the earth.’ So he probed but I cut it short: ‘Atrides, why ask me that? I know nothing, whether he’s dead or alive. It’s wrong to lead you on with idle words.’ So we stood there, trading heartsick stories, deep in grief, as the tears streamed down our faces.

But now there came the ghosts of Peleus’ son Achilles, Patroclus, fearless Antilochus—and Great Ajax too, the first in stature, first in build and bearing of all the Argives after Peleus’ matchless son. The ghost of the splendid runner knew me at once and hailed me with a flight of mournful questions: ‘Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, man of tactics, reckless friend, what next? What greater feat can that cunning head contrive? What daring brought you down to the House of Death?— where the senseless, burnt-out wraiths of mortals make their home.’ The voice of his spirit paused, and I was quick to answer: ‘Achilles, son of Peleus, greatest of the Achaeans, I had to consult Tiresias, driven here by hopes he would help me journey home to rocky Ithaca. Never yet have I neared Achaea, never once set foot on native ground … my life is endless trouble. But you, Achilles, there’s not a man in the world more blest than you— there never has been, never will be one. Time was, when you were alive, we Argives honored you as a god, and now down here, I see, you lord it over the dead in all your power. So grieve no more at dying, great Achilles.’ I reassured the ghost, but he broke out, protesting, ‘No winning words about death to me, shining Odysseus! By god, I’d rather slave on earth for another man— some dirt- poor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive— than rule down here over all the breathless dead. But come, tell me the news about my gallant son. Did he make his way to the wars, did the boy become a champion—yes or no? Tell me of noble Peleus [Achilles’ father], any word you’ve heard— still holding pride of place among his Myrmidon hordes, or do they despise the man in Hellas and in Phthia because old age has lamed his arms and legs? For I no longer stand in the light of day— the man I was—comrade-in-arms to help my father as once I helped our armies, killing the best fighters Troy could field in the wide world up there … Oh to arrive at father’s house—the man I was, for one brief day—I’d make my fury and my hands, invincible hands, a thing of terror to all those men who abuse the king with force and wrest away his honor!’

3 The abduction of Helen (Agamemnon’s sister-in-law) by Prince Paris of Troy was considered the reason the war began.

So he grieved but I tried to lend him heart: ‘About noble Peleus I can tell you nothing, but about your own dear son, Neoptolemus, I can report the whole story, as you wish. I myself, in my trim ship, I brought him out of Scyros to join the Argives under arms.And dug in around Troy, debating battle-tactics, he always spoke up first, and always on the mark—godlike Nestor and I alone excelled the boy. Yes, and when our armies fought on the plain of Troy he’d never hang back with the main force of men—he’d always charge ahead, giving ground to no one in his fury, and scores of men he killed in bloody combat. How could I list them all, name them all, now, the fighting ranks he leveled, battling for the Argives? But what a soldier he laid low with a bronze sword: the hero Eurypylus, Telephus’ son, and round him troops of his own Cetean comrades slaughtered…

And I saw Minos there, illustrious son of Zeus, firmly enthroned, holding his golden scepter, judging all the dead … Some on their feet, some seated, all clustering round the king of justice, pleading for his verdicts reached in the House of Death with its all-embracing gates. I next caught sight of Orion, that huge hunter, rounding up on the fields of asphodel4 those wild beasts the man in life cut down on the lonely mountain-slopes, brandishing in his hands the bronze- studded club that time can never shatter. I saw Tityus too, son of the mighty goddess Earth— sprawling there on the ground, spread over nine acres—two vultures hunched on either side of him, digging into his liver, beaking deep in the blood-sac, and he with his frantic hands could never beat them off, for he had once dragged off the famous consort of Zeus in all her glory, Leto. And I saw Tantalus too, bearing endless torture. He stood erect in a pool as the water lapped his chin— parched, he burned to drink, but he could not reach the surface, no, time and again the old man stooped, craving a sip, time and again the water vanished, swallowed down, laying bare the caked black earth at his feet— some spirit drank it dry. And over his head leafy trees dangled their fruit from high aloft, pomegranates and pears, and apples glowing red, succulent figs and olives swelling sleek and dark, but soon as the old man would strain to clutch them fast a gust would toss them up to the lowering dark clouds. And I saw Sisyphus too, bound to his own torture, grappling his monstrous boulder with both arms working, heaving, hands struggling, legs driving, he kept on thrusting the rock uphill toward the brink, but just as it teetered, set to topple over— time and again the immense weight of the thing would wheel it back and the ruthless boulder would bound and tumble down to the plain again— so once again he would heave, would struggle to thrust it up, sweat drenching his body, dust swirling above his head.

4 Asphodel is a ghostly white plant that the Greeks considered ugly. The spirits of Hades mostly live in the Field of Asphodel.

Hesiod, Selections from Works and Days5

Hesiod wrote Works and Days (and his other work, the Theogony, which narrates the birth of the gods) around 700 BCE. Unlike the heroic epics of Homer, Hesiod’s Works and Days is set in his own time and features the ordinary people of farming communities. Hesiod writes as if he were giving advice to his brother, Perses, who had come to him to borrow money for food. Most scholars now believe that the scenario was not autobiographical, but rather a fictional encounter created by Hesiod in order to write a work of advice literature.

The gods keep hidden from men the means of life, or else you would easily do work enough in a day to supply you for a full year even without working. Soon you would put away your ploughshare over the smoke, and the fields worked by ox and sturdy mule would run to waste. But Zeus in the anger of his heart hid it, because Prometheus the crafty deceived him [by giving humans fire]. Therefore, he planned sorrow and mischief against men. He hid fire, but that the noble son of Iapetus [Prometheus] stole again for men from Zeus the counsellor in a hollow fennel-stalk, so that Zeus who delights in thunder did not see it. But afterwards Zeus who gathers the clouds said to him in anger:

“Son of Iapetus, surpassing all in cunning, you are glad that you have outwitted me and stolen fire -- a great plague to you yourself and to men that fire shall be. I will give men as the price for fire an evil thing in which they may all be glad of heart while they embrace their own destruction.”

So said the father of men and gods, laughing aloud. And he ordered famous Hephaestus [the smith of the gods] to mix earth with water and to put in it the voice and strength of humankind, and fashion a sweet, lovely maiden-shape, like to the immortal goddesses in face. And he told Athena to teach her needlework and the weaving of the varied web, and golden Aphrodite to shed grace upon her head and cruel longing and cares that weary the limbs. And he charged Hermes the guide, the Slayer of Argus, to put in her a bitchy mind and a cheating heart.

So he ordered. And they obeyed the lord Zeus. Hephaestus molded clay in the likeness of a shy virgin, as the son of Cronos [Zeus] wanted. And the goddess bright-eyed Athena girded and clothed her, and the divine Graces and queenly Persuasion put necklaces of gold upon her, and the rich-haired Hours crowned her head with spring flowers. And Pallas Athena bedecked her form with all manners of finery. Also the Guide, the Slayer of Argus, contrived within her lies and crafty words and a deceitful nature at the will of loud thundering Zeus, and the Herald of the gods put speech in her. And he called this woman Pandora (All Endowed), because all they who dwelt on Olympus gave each a gift, a plague to all men.

But when he had finished the sheer, hopeless snare, the Father sent glorious Argus-Slayer, the swift messenger of the gods, to take it to Epimetheus (brother of Prometheus] as a gift. And Epimetheus did not think on what Prometheus had said to him, bidding him never take a gift of

5 This is a modernized version of Hugh G. Evelyn-White’s translation (from 1914), available in many places, including https://people.sc.fsu.edu/~dduke/lectures/hesiod1.pdf

Olympian Zeus, but to send it back for fear it might prove to be something harmful to men. But he took the gift, and afterwards, when the evil thing was already his, he understood.

Before this the tribes of men lived on earth free from ills and hard toil and heavy sickness which bring the Fates upon men (for in misery men age quickly). But the woman took off the great lid of the jar with her hands and scattered all these and her thought caused sorrow and mischief to men. Only Hope remained there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar and did not fly out at the door, because the lid of the jar stopped her, by the will of Aegis-holding Zeus who gathers the clouds. But the rest, countless plagues, wander among men. Earth is full of evils and so’s the sea. Of themselves diseases come upon men continually by day and by night, bringing mischief to mortals silently, for wise Zeus took away speech from them. So is there no way to escape the will of Zeus…

But you, Perses, listen to right and do not foster violence, for violence is bad for a poor man. Even the prosperous cannot easily bear its burden, but he is weighed down under it when he has fallen into delusion. The better path is to go by on the other side towards justice because Justice beats Outrage when she finally arrives at the end of the race. But only when he has suffered does the fool learn this. For Oath keeps pace with wrong judgements. There is a noise when Justice is being dragged in the way where those who devour bribes and give sentence with crooked judgements take her. And she, wrapped in mist, follows to the city and haunts of the people, weeping, and bringing mischief to men, even to such as have driven her forth in that they did not deal straightly with her.

But they who give straight judgements to strangers and to the men of the land, and go not aside from what is just, their city flourishes, and the people prosper in it. Peace, the nurse of children, is abroad in their land, and all-seeing Zeus never decrees cruel war against them. Neither famine nor disaster ever haunt men who do true justice; but light-heartedly they tend the fields which are all their care. The earth bears them plenty of food, and on the mountains the oak bears acorns upon the top and bees in the midst. Their woolly sheep are laden with fleeces; their women bear children like their parents. They flourish continually with good things, and do not travel on ships, for the grain-giving earth bears them fruit.

But for those who practice violence and cruel deeds Zeus ordains a punishment. Often even a whole city suffers for a bad man who sins and devises presumptuous deeds, and the son of Cronos lays great trouble upon the people, famine and plague together, so that the men perish away, and their women do not bear children, and their houses become few, through the contriving of Olympian Zeus. And again, at another time, the son of Cronos either destroys their wide army, or their walls, or else makes an end of their ships on the sea.

Lords and rulers beware. For the deathless gods are near among men and mark all those who oppress their fellows with crooked judgments. For upon the earth Zeus has thirty thousand spirits, watchers of mortal men, and these keep watch on unjust judgments and deeds as they roam, clothed in mist, all over the earth. And there is virgin Justice, the daughter of Zeus, who is honored and reverenced among the gods who dwell on Olympus, and whenever anyone hurts her with lying slander, she sits beside her father, Zeus, and tells him of men's wicked hearts, until the

51 people pay for the mad folly of their princes who, evilly minded, pervert judgment and give sentences crookedly. Keep watch against this, you lords, and make straight your judgments, you who devour bribes; put crooked judgements altogether from your thoughts.

He does mischief to himself who does mischief to another, and evil planned harms the plotter most…

But you, Perses, lay up these things within your heart and listen now to justice, ceasing altogether to think of violence. For the son of Cronos has ordained this law for men, that fishes and beasts and winged fowls should devour one another, for justice is not in them; but to mankind he gave justice which proves far the best. For whoever knows justice and is ready to speak it, far-seeing Zeus gives him prosperity. But whoever deliberately lies in his witness and forswears himself, and so hurts Justice and sins beyond repair, that man's descendants are left obscure thereafter. But the kinsfolk of the man who swears truly is better from then on…

That man is altogether best who considers all things himself and marks what will be better at the end; and he, again, is good who listens to a good adviser; but whoever neither thinks for himself nor keeps in mind what another tells him, he is an unprofitable man. But do you at any rate, always remembering my charge, work so that Hunger may hate you, and venerable Demeter richly crowned may love you and fill your barn with food; for Hunger is altogether a fine comrade for the lazy. Both gods and men are angry with a man who lives idle, for in nature he is like the stingless drones who waste the labor of the bees, eating without working; but let it be your care to order your work properly, that in the right season your barns may be full of victual. Through work men grow rich in flocks and substance, and working they are much better loved by the immortals. Work is no disgrace: it is idleness which is a disgrace. But if you work, the idle will soon envy you as you grow rich, for fame and renown attend on wealth. And whatever be your lot, work is best for you, if you turn your misguided mind away from other men's property to your work and attend to your livelihood as I bid you. An evil shame is the needy man's companion, shame which both greatly harms and prospers men: shame is with poverty, but confidence with wealth.

Wealth should not be seized: god-given wealth is much better; for if a man take great wealth violently and perforce, or if he steal it through his tongue, as often happens when gain deceives men's sense and dishonor tramples down honor, the gods soon blot him out and make that man's house low, and wealth attends him only for a little time. Alike with him who does wrong to a suppliant or a guest, or who goes up to his brother's bed and commits unnatural sin in lying with his wife, or who offends against orphans [literally fatherless children], or who abuses his old father at the cheerless threshold of old age and attacks him with harsh words. Truly Zeus himself is angry, and at the last lays on him a heavy requittal for his evil doing. But do you turn your foolish heart altogether away from these things, and, as far as you are able, sacrifice to the deathless gods purely and cleanly, and burn rich meats also, and at other times propitiate them with libations and incense, both when you go to bed and when the holy light has come back, that they may be gracious to you in heart and spirit, and so you may buy another's holding and not another yours.

Call your friend to a feast; but leave your enemy alone; and especially call him who lives near you: for if any emergencies happen in the place, neighbors come will show up even if partly clothed, but kinsmen take the time to dress themselves. A bad neighbor is as great a plague as a good one is a great blessing; he who enjoys a good neighbor has a precious possession. Not even an ox would die but for a bad neighbor. Take fair measure from your neighbor and pay him back fairly with the same measure, or better, if you can; so that if you are in need afterwards, you may find him sure…

Let the wage promised to a friend be fixed; even with your brother smile -- and get a witness; for trust and mistrust, alike ruin men.

Do not let a flaunting woman coax and cozen and deceive you: she is after your barn. The man who trusts womankind trust deceivers.

There should be an only son to feed his father's house, for so wealth will increase in the home. If you leave a second son you should die old. Yet Zeus can easily give great wealth to a greater number. More hands mean more work and more increase.

If your heart within you desires wealth, do these things and work with work upon work.

Nay, I bid you find a way to pay your debts and avoid hunger.

First of all, get a house, and a woman and an ox for the plough -- a slave woman and not a wife, to follow the oxen as well -- and make everything ready at home, so that you may not have to ask of another, and he refuses you, and so, because you are in lack, the season pass by and your work come to nothing. Do not put your work off till tomorrow and the day after…

Bring home a wife to your house when you are of the right age, while you are not far short of thirty years nor much above; this is the right age for marriage. Let your wife have been grown up four years (after puberty begins) and marry her in the fifth. Marry a virgin, so that you can teach her careful ways, and especially marry one who lives near you, but look well about you and see that your marriage will not be a joke to your neighbors. For a man gets nothing better than a good wife, and nothing worse than a bad one, a greedy soul who roasts her man without fire, strong though he may be, and brings him to a raw old age.

Be careful to avoid the anger of the deathless gods. Do not make a friend equal to a brother; but if you do, do not wrong him first, and do not lie to please the tongue. But if he wrongs you first, offending either in word or in deed, remember to repay him double. If he asks you to be his friend again and is ready to give you satisfaction, welcome him. He is a worthless man who makes now one and now another his friend; but as for you, do not let your face put your heart to shame.

Do not get a name either as lavish or as churlish; as a friend of rogues or as a slanderer of good men.

Do not be boorish at a common [public] feast where there are many guests; the pleasure is greatest and the expense is least.

Never pour a libation of sparkling wine to Zeus after dawn with unwashed hands, nor to others of the deathless gods; else they do not hear your prayers but spit them back.

Do not stand upright facing the sun when you piss. But at night, remember don’t piss while travelling on the road or just off the road, and do not uncover yourself: the nights belong to the blessed gods. A careful man sits down or goes to the wall of an enclosed court.

Do not beget children when you come back from a funeral, but after a festival of the gods.

Take nothing to eat or to wash with from uncharmed pots, for in them there is trouble.

Do not let a boy of twelve years sit on things which may not be moved, for that is bad, and makes a man unmanly; nor yet a child of twelve months, for that has the same effect. A man should not clean his body with water in which a woman has washed, for there is bitter vengeance in it. When you come upon a burning sacrifice, do not make a mock a poor fire, for the gods anger at this also.

Tyrtaeus, Selection of Lyric Poems (ca. 650 BCE)

Tyrtaeus was a lyric poet writing in Sparta in the middle of the seventh century BCE (before Sparta de-emphasized poetry and literature). Little else is known about him. His poetry praises Sparta and concentrates on military themes, mixing the experience-oriented aspect of lyric poetry with the heroic aspects of the Homeric epic.

Courage For no man ever proves himself a good man in war unless he can endure to face the blood and the slaughter, go close against the enemy and fight with his hands.

Here is courage, mankind's finest possession, here is the noblest prize that a young man can endeavor to win, and it is a good thing his city and all the people share with him when a man plants his feet and stands in the foremost spears relentlessly, all thought of foul flight completely forgotten, and has well trained his heart to be steadfast and to endure, and with words encourages the man who is stationed beside him.

Here is a man who proves himself to be valiant in war. With a sudden rush he turns to flight the rugged battalions of the enemy, and sustains the beating waves of assault. And he who so falls among the champions and loses his sweet life, so blessing with honor his city, his father, and all his people, with wounds in his chest, where the spear that he was facing has transfixed that massive guard of his shield, and gone through his breastplate as well, why, such a man is lamented alike by the young and the elders, and all his city goes into mourning and grieves for his loss. His tomb is pointed to with pride, and so are his children, and his children's children, and afterward all the race that is his.

His shining glory is never forgotten, his name is remembered, and he becomes an immortal, though he lies under the ground, when one who was a brave man has been killed by the furious War God standing his ground and fighting hard for his children and land.

But if he escapes the doom of death, the destroyer of bodies, and wins his battle, and bright renown for the work of his spear, all men give place to him like, the youth and the elders, and much joy comes his way before he goes down to the dead.

Aging, he has reputation among his citizens. No one tries to interfere with his honors or all he deserves; all men withdraw before his presence, and yield their seats to him, the youth, and the men his age, and even those older than he.

Thus a man should endeavor to reach this high place of courage with all his heart, and, so trying, never be backward in war.

To the Soldiers; after a defeat Now, since you are the seed of Heracles the invincible, courage! Zeus has not yet turned away from us. Do not fear the multitude of their men, nor run away from them. Each man should bear his shield straight at the foremost ranks and make his heart a thing full of hate, and hold the black flying spirits of death as dear as he holds the flash of the sun.

You know what havoc is the work of the painful War God, you have learned well how things go in exhausting war, for you have been with those who ran and with the pursuers, O young men, you have had as much of both as you want.

Those who, standing their ground and closing their ranks together, endure the onset at close quarters and fight in the front, they lose fewer men. They also protect the army behind them. Once they flinch, the spirit of the whole army falls apart. And no man could count over and tell all the number of evils, all that can come to a man, once he gives way to disgrace. For once a man reverses and runs in the terror of battle, he offers his back, a tempting mark to spear from behind, and it is a shameful sight when a dead man lies in the dust there, driven through from behind by the stroke of an enemy spear.

No, no, let him take a wide stance and stand up strongly against them, digging both heels in the ground, biting his lip with his teeth, covering thighs and legs beneath, his chest and his shoulders under the hollowed-out protection of his broad shield, while in his right hand he brandishes the powerful war-spear, and shakes terribly the crest high above his helm. Our man should be disciplined in the work of the heavy fighter, and not stand out from the missiles when he carries a shield, but go right up and fight at close quarters and, with his long spear or short sword, thrust home and strike his enemy down. Let him fight toe to toe and shield against shield hard driven, crest against crest and helmet on helmet, chest against chest; let him close hard and fight it out with his opposite foeman, holding tight to the hilt of his sword, or to his long spear. And you, O light-armed fighters, from shield to shield of your fellows, dodge for protection and keep steadily throwing great stones, and keep on pelting the enemy with your javelins, only remember always to stand near your own heavy-armed men.

Spartan Soldier It is beautiful when a brave man of the front ranks, falls and dies, battling for his homeland, and ghastly when a man flees planted fields and city and wanders begging with his dear mother, aging father, little children and true wife. He will be scorned in every new village, reduced to want and loathsome poverty; and shame will brand his family line, his noble figure. Derision and disaster will hound him. A turncoat gets no respect or pity; so let us battle for our country and freely give our lives to save our darling children.

Young men, fight shield to shield and never succumb to panic or miserable flight, but steel the heart in your chests with magnificence and courage. Forget your own life when you grapple with the enemy. Never run and let an old soldier collapse whose legs have lost their power. It is shocking when an old man lies on the front line before a youth: an old warrior whose head is white and beard gray, exhaling his strong soul into the dust, clutching his bloody genitals into his hands: an abominable vision, foul to see: his flesh naked. But in a young man all is beautiful when he still possesses the shining flower of lovely youth. Alive he is adored by men, desired by women, and finest to look upon when he falls dead in the forward clash.

Let each man spread his legs, rooting them in the ground, bite his teeth into his lips, and hold.

Frontiers You should reach the limits of virtue before you cross the border of death.

Xenophon, Constitution of the Lacedaemonians6 Xenophon, though he was an Athenian, spent many years of his adult life in Sparta. Considering how little writing survives from the Spartans [the Lacedaemonians], his view of Spartan life and education is extremely valuable.

Book I I recall the astonishment with which I first noted the unique position of Sparta amongst the states of Hellas [Greece], the relatively sparse population, and at the same time the extraordinary power and prestige of the community. I was puzzled to account for the fact. It was only when I came to consider the peculiar institutions of the Spartans that my wonderment ceased. Or rather, it is transferred to the legislator who gave them those laws, obedience to which has been the secret of their prosperity. This legislator, Lycurgus, I must admire and hold him to have been one of the wisest of mankind. Certainly he was no servile imitator of other states. It was by a stroke of invention rather, and on a pattern much in opposition to the commonly-accepted one, that he brought his fatherland to this pinnacle of prosperity. Take for example—and it is well to begin at the beginning—the whole topic of the begetting and rearing of children. Throughout the rest of the world the young girl, who will one day become a mother (and I speak of those who may be held to be well brought up), is nurtured on the plainest food attainable, with the scantiest addition of meat or other condiments and as to wine they train them either to total abstinence or to take it highly diluted with water. And in imitation, as it were, of the handicraft type, since the majority of artificers are sedentary, we, the rest of the Hellenes, are content that our girls should sit quietly and work wools. That is all we demand of them. But how are we to expect that women nurtured in this fashion should produce a splendid offspring? Lycurgus pursued a different path. Clothes were things, he held, the furnishing of which might well enough be left to female slaves. And, believing that the highest function of a free woman was the bearing of children, in the first place he insisted on the training of the body as incumbent no less on the female than the male; and in pursuit of the same idea instituted rival contests in running and feats of strength for women as for men. His belief was that where both parents were strong their progeny would be found to be more vigorous. And so again after marriage. In view of the fact that immoderate intercourse is elsewhere permitted during the earlier period of matrimony, he adopted a principle directly opposite. He laid it down as an ordinance that a man should be ashamed to be seen visiting the chamber of his wife, whether going in or coming out. When they did meet under such restraint the mutual longing of these lovers could not but be increased, and the offspring from such intercourse would tend to be more robust than if the couple were tired of each other. By a farther step in the same direction he refused to allow marriages to be contracted at any period of life according to the fancy of the parties concerned. Marriage, as he ordained it, must only take place in the prime of bodily vigor, this too being, as he believed, a condition conducive to the production of healthy offspring. Or again, to meet the case which might occur of an old man wedded to a young wife.

6 Source: Xenophon, The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians, trans. H. G. Dakyns. Full text available at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1178/1178-h/1178-h.htm

Considering the jealous watch which such husbands are apt to keep over their wives, he introduced a directly opposite custom; that is to say, he made it incumbent on the aged husband to introduce someone whose qualities, physical and moral, he admired, to play the husband's part and to beget him children. Or again, in the case of a man who might not desire to live with a wife permanently, but yet might still be anxious to have children of his own worthy the name, the lawgiver laid down a law in his behalf. Such a one might select some woman, the wife of some man, well born herself and blessed with fair offspring, and, the sanction and consent of her husband first obtained, raise up children for himself through her. These and many other adaptations of a like sort the lawgiver sanctioned. As, for instance, at Sparta a wife will not object to bear the burden of two households, or a husband to adopt sons as foster-brothers of his own children, with a full share in his family and position, but possessing no claim to his wealth and property. So opposed to those of the rest of the world are the principles which Lycurgus devised in reference to the production of children. Whether they enabled him to provide Sparta with a race of men superior to all in size and strength I leave to the judgment of whomsoever it may concern.

Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus1 Plutarch, a Greek writing in the Roman Empire around 100 CE, wrote a series of parallel Lives. These were biographies of the great men of Classical Greece (already centuries in the past for him) to “recent” great Romans. The section below deals with a similar subject as the Xenophon selection above. In this case, Plutarch is exploring what made Lycurgus, the traditional founder and law-giver of Sparta, great. Plutarch, despite living 500 years after Sparta’s decline, is an important source since he relied on several histories now lost that were written during the Spartans’ heyday.

Selections from Books 14, 15 and 16 (14.1) In the matter of education, which he regarded as the greatest and noblest task of the lawgiver, he began at the very source, by carefully regulating marriages and births. For it is not true that, as Aristotle says, he tried to bring the women under proper restraint, but gave up because he could not overcome the great license and power which the women enjoyed on account of the many military expeditions in which their husbands were engaged. During these the men were indeed obliged to leave their wives in sole control at home, and for this reason paid them greater deference than was their due, and gave them the title of Mistress. But even to the women Lycurgus paid all possible attention. (14.2) He made the maidens exercise their bodies in running, wrestling, casting the discus, and hurling the javelin, in order that the fruit of their wombs might have vigorous root in vigorous bodies and come to better maturity, and that they themselves might live long lives and struggle successfully and easily with the pangs of childbirth. He freed them from softness and delicacy and all effeminacy by accustoming the maidens no less than the youths to wear tunics only in processions, and at certain festivals to dance and sing when the young men were present as spectators. (14.3) There they sometimes even mocked and railed good-naturedly at any young man who had misbehaved himself. They would likewise sing the praises of those who had shown themselves worthy, and so inspire the young men with great ambition and ardor. For he who was thus extolled for his valor and held in honor among the maidens, went away exalted by their praises; while the sting of their playful raillery was no less sharp than that of serious admonitions, especially as the kings and senators, together with the rest of the citizens, were all present at the spectacle. (14.4) Nor was there anything disgraceful in this scant clothing of the maidens, for modesty attended them, and wantonness was banished; nay, rather, it produced in them habits of simplicity and an ardent desire for health and beauty of body. It gave also to woman-kind a taste of lofty sentiment, for they felt that they too had a place in the arena of bravery and ambition. Wherefore they were led to think and speak as Gorgo, the wife of Leonidas, is said to have done. When some foreign woman, as it would seem, said to her: "You Spartan women are the only ones who rule their men," she answered: "Yes, we are the only ones that give birth to men."

1 Source: Plutarch, The Parallel Lives (Loeb translation of 1914). Full text available at http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Lycurgus*.html.

(15.1) Moreover, there were incentives to marriage in these things, — I mean such things as the appearance of the maidens without much clothing in processions and athletic contests where young men were looking on, for these were drawn on by necessity, "not geometrical, but the sort of necessity which lovers know," as Plato says. Nor was this all; Lycurgus also put a kind of public stigma upon confirmed bachelors. They were excluded from the sight of the young men and maidens at their exercises, and in winter the magistrates ordered them to march round the market-place in their tunics only. *** (15.3) For their marriages the women were carried off by force, not when they were small and unfit for wedlock, but when they were in their prime. After the woman was thus carried off, the bride's-maid, so called, took her in charge, cut her hair off close to the head, put a man's cloak and sandals on her, and laid her down on a pallet, on the floor, alone, in the dark. Then the groom, not flown with wine nor enfeebled by excesses, but composed and sober, after eating with his barracks-mates at the mess hall as usual, slipped stealthily into the room where the bride lay and “removed her belt.”2 (15.4) Then, after spending a short time with his bride, he went away composedly to his usual quarters, there to sleep with the other young men. And so he continued to do from that time on, spending his days with his comrades, and sleeping with them at night, but visiting his bride by stealth and with every precaution, full of dread and fear lest any of her household should be aware of his visits, his bride also contriving and conspiring with him that they might have stolen interviews as occasion offered. (15.5) And this they did not for a short time only, but long enough for some of them to become fathers before they had looked upon their own wives by daylight. Such interviews not only brought into exercise self-restraint and moderation, but united husbands and wives when their bodies were full of creative energy and their affections new and fresh, not when they were satisfied and worn out by continual intercourse. And there was always left behind in their hearts some residual spark of longing and delight. *** (16.1) Offspring was not reared at the will of the father, but was taken and carried by him to a place called Lesche,3 where the elders of the tribes officially examined the infant, and if it was well-built and sturdy, they ordered the father to rear it, and assigned it one of the nine thousand lots of land; but if it was ill-born and deformed, they sent it to the so-called Apothetae, a chasm- like place at the foot of Mount Taygetus, (16.2) on the grounds that it was not profitable for it to live, either for itself or the state, if it was not healthy and strong from the start. On the same principle, the women used to bathe their new-born babes not with water, but with wine, thus making a sort of test of their constitutions. For it is said that epileptic and sickly infants are thrown into convulsions by the strong wine and lose their senses, while the healthy ones are rather tempered by it, like steel, and given a firm habit of body.

2 Removing a woman’s belt was a Greek euphemism for sexual intercourse that went back at least as far as Homer. 3 A public meeting-hall, probably the tribe’s headquarters.

(16.3) Their nurses, too, exercised great care and skill; they reared infants without swaddling- bands, and thus left their limbs and figures free to develop; besides, they taught them to be contented and happy, not dainty about their food, nor fearful of the dark, nor afraid to be left alone, nor given to contemptible peevishness and whimpering. This is the reason why foreigners sometimes brought Spartan nurses for their children. Amycla, for instance, the nurse of the Athenian Alcibiades, is said to have been a Spartan. *** (16.6) Of reading and writing, they learned only enough to serve their turn; all the rest of their training was calculated to make them obey commands well, endure hardships, and conquer in battle. Therefore, as they grew in age, their bodily exercise was increased; their heads were close-clipped, and they were accustomed to going bare-foot, and to playing for the most part without clothes. When they were twelve years old, they no longer had tunics to wear, received one cloak a year, had hard, dry flesh, and knew little of baths and ointments; only on certain days of the year, and few at that, did they indulge in such amenities.

Thucydides, “Pericles' Funeral Oration” from the Peloponnesian War (Book 2.34-46)1

Thucydides (ca.460-399 BCE) was an Athenian General who was exiled from Athens early in the Peloponnesian War (against Sparta) because of his failure to relieve an important port before it surrendered. Whether he did anything wrong or simply ended up as the scapegoat for the loss is impossible to know. He used his exile, however, to write an account of the war as seen from both sides. He was the first writer to attempt a history that removed the gods as causes and focused on the consequences of human decisions and behavior. Being an exile let him travel freely through Spartan (Lacedaemonian) cities and his Athenian connections kept him appraised of events there, so he is generally held to be quite reliable. Like all ancient writers, the speeches put into his subjects’ mouths are not word-for-word transcriptions, but either approximations or in many cases a summary of one side’s position rather than a recorded speech. The section given below is the speech given by the Athenian leader Pericles in the cemetery over the Athenian casualties after the first year of the Peloponnesian war.

In the same winter the Athenians gave a funeral at the public cost to those who had first fallen in this war. It was a custom of their ancestors, and the manner of it is as follows. Three days before the ceremony, the bones of the dead are laid out in a tent which has been erected and their friends bring to their relatives such offerings as they please. In the funeral procession cypress coffins are carried in wagons, one coffin for each tribe and the bones of the deceased being placed in the coffin of their tribe. Among these is carried one empty bier decked for the missing, that is, for those whose bodies could not be recovered. Any citizen or foreigner who pleases, joins in the procession and the female relatives are there to wail at the burial. The dead are laid in the public cemetery in the beautiful suburb of the city, in which those who fall in war are always buried; with the exception of those slain at Marathon,2 who for their singular and extraordinary valor were interred on the spot where they fell. After the bodies have been laid in the earth, a man chosen by the state, of approved wisdom and eminent reputation, pronounces over them an appropriate panegyric. Such is the manner of the burying; and throughout the whole of the war, whenever the occasion arose, the established custom was observed. Meanwhile these were the first that had fallen, and Pericles, son of Xanthippus, was chosen to pronounce their eulogium. When the proper time arrived, he advanced from the cemetery to an elevated platform in order to be heard by as many of the crowd as possible, and spoke as follows:

"Most of my predecessors in this place have commended the institution of this speech, telling us that it is an honor for those who fall in battle. For myself, I should have thought that the worth which had displayed itself in deeds would be sufficiently rewarded by honors also shown by deeds; such as you now see in this funeral prepared at the people's cost. And I could have wished that the reputations of many brave men were not to be imperiled in the mouth of a single individual, to stand or fall according as he spoke well or ill. For it is hard to speak properly upon a subject where it is even difficult to convince your hearers that you are speaking the truth. On

1 Available at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/pericles-funeralspeech.html. Text modernized here. 2Marathon was when a largely Athenian force defeated a much larger Persian force in 490 BCE, ending the first Persian invasion of Greece. The soldiers then ran approximately 26 miles back to Athens to protect it from the Persian navy.

the one hand, the friend who is familiar with every fact of the story may think that some point has not been set forth with that fullness which he wishes and knows it to deserve; on the other, he who is a stranger to the matter may be led by envy to suspect exaggeration if he hears anything above his own nature. For men can endure to hear others praised only so long as they can persuade themselves of their own ability to equal the actions recounted. When this point is passed, envy comes in and with it incredulity. However, since our ancestors have stamped this custom with their approval, it becomes my duty to obey the law and to try to satisfy your many wishes and opinions as best I may.

"I shall begin with our ancestors: it is both just and proper that they should have the honor of the first mention on an occasion like the present. They dwelt in the country without break in the succession from generation to generation, and handed it down free to the present time by their valor. And if our more remote ancestors deserve praise, much more do our own fathers, who added to their inheritance the empire which we now possess, and spared no pains to be able to leave their acquisitions to us of the present generation. Lastly, there are few parts of our dominions that have not been augmented by those of us here, who are still more or less in the vigor of life. The mother country has been furnished by us with everything that can enable her to depend on her own resources, whether for war or for peace. That part of our history which tells of the military achievements which gave us our several possessions, or of the ready valor with which either we or our fathers stemmed the tide of Hellenic [Greek] or foreign aggression, is a theme too familiar to my hearers for me to enlarge upon, and I shall therefore pass it by. But what was the road by which we reached our position, what the form of government under which our greatness grew, what the national habits out of which it sprang; these are questions which I may try to solve before I proceed to my panegyric upon these men, since I think this to be a subject upon which on the present occasion a speaker may properly dwell, and to which the whole assemblage, whether citizens or foreigners, may listen with advantage.

"Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern for others to copy than imitators ourselves. Our administration favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; class considerations are not allowed to interfere with merit, so social advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition. The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbor for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those injurious looks which still hurt people’s feelings, even if they do no real damage. But all this ease in our private relations does not make us lawless as citizens. Against this respect for the law is our chief safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws, particularly such as regard the protection of the injured, whether they are actually on the statute book, or belong to that code which, although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged disgrace.

"Further, we provide plenty of means for the mind to refresh itself from business. We celebrate games and sacrifices all the year round, and the elegance of our private homes forms a daily source of pleasure and helps to banish our cares. Meanwhile the greatness of our city draws the

64 produce of the world into our harbor, so that to the Athenian the fruits of other countries are as familiar a luxury as those of his own.

"If we turn to our military policy, there also we differ from our enemies. We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing, although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our liberality. This is because we trust not in some secret policy or weapon, but in the native spirit of our citizens. And in education, where our rivals seek after manliness from their very cradles by a painful discipline, at Athens we live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate danger. In proof of this it may be noticed that the Lacedaemonians [Spartans] do not invade our country alone, but bring with them all their allies; while we Athenians advance unsupported into the territory of a neighbor and, fighting upon a foreign soil, usually vanquish with ease men who are defending their homes. Our united force was never yet encountered by any enemy, because we have at once to attend to our navy and to dispatch our citizens by land upon a hundred different services. Whenever they engage with some such fraction of our strength, a success against a detachment is magnified into a victory over the nation, and a defeat into a reverse suffered at the hands of our entire people. There are advantages in meeting danger voluntarily out of courage instead of by hard training; we have the double advantage of escaping the experience of endless training in preparation for war and of facing danger in the hour of need as fearlessly as those who are never free from training.

"Nor are these the only points in which our city is worthy of admiration. We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without effeminacy. Wealth we employ more for use than for show, and place the real disgrace of poverty not in being poor but in declining the struggle to escape from it. Our public men have, besides politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of business, are still fair judges of public matters; for, unlike any other nation, we regard a man who minds only his own business as having no business in the state. Instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all. Again, in our enterprises we present the singular spectacle of daring and deliberation, each carried to its highest point, and both united in the same persons. The palm of courage will surely be granted most justly to those who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger. In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by conferring favors, not by receiving them…And it is only the Athenians, who, fearless of consequences, confer their benefits not from calculations of expediency, but in the confidence of liberality.

"In short, I say that as a city we are the school of Hellas [Greece]. I doubt if the world can produce a man who on his own is equal to so many emergencies and graced by so happy a versatility as the Athenian. And that this is no mere boast thrown out for this occasion, but plain matter of fact, is proved by the power of the state built by such men. For Athens alone of her contemporaries is found when tested to be greater than her reputation. Athens alone gives no occasion to her assailants to blush at the opponent who beat them. Athens alone gives no occasion to the cities of her empire to question her title by merit to rule. Rather, the admiration of the present and future will be ours, since we have not left our power without witness, but have shown it by mighty proofs. And far from needing a Homer to praise us or other authors whose

verses might charm for the moment, only for the impression to melt at the touch of fact, we have forced every sea and land to be the highway of our daring, and everywhere, whether for evil or for good, have left imperishable monuments behind us. Such is the Athens for which these men, in the assertion of their resolve not to lose her, nobly fought and died; and well may every one of their survivors be ready to suffer in her cause.

"Indeed if I have dwelt at some length upon the character of our country, it has been to show that our stake in the struggle is not the same as those who have no such blessings to lose, and also that the praise of the men over whom I am now speaking might be by definite proofs established. That panegyric is now in a great measure complete; for the Athens that I have celebrated is only what the heroism of these and their like have made her, men whose fame, unlike that of most Hellenes, will be found to be only commensurate with their deserts. And if a test of worth be wanted, it is to be found in their closing scene. Some of them had their faults, but it is their defense of country that should be remembered first. For there is truth in the claim that courage in his country's battles should be as a cloak to cover a man's other imperfections, since the good action has blotted out the bad and his merit as a citizen more than outweighed his demerits as an individual. But none of these men allowed either wealth with its prospect of future enjoyment to unnerve his spirit, or poverty with its hope of a day of freedom and riches to tempt him to shrink from danger. No, taking vengeance upon their enemies was more to be desired than any personal blessings and, reckoning this to be the most glorious of hazards, they joyfully determined to accept the risk, to make sure of their vengeance, and to let their own hopes wait. And while committing to hope the uncertainty of final success, in the business before them they thought fit to act boldly and trust in themselves. Thus choosing to die resisting, rather than to live submitting, they fled only from dishonor, but met danger face to face, and in one brief moment, the summit of their lives, in a culmination of glory, not of fear, were taken away from us.

"So died these men as was proper for Athenians. You, their survivors, must determine to have as unfaltering a resolution in the field, though you may pray that it may have a happier result… You must yourselves realize the power of Athens and feed your eyes upon her every day until love of her fills your hearts. Then, when all her greatness shall break upon you, you must reflect that it was by courage, sense of duty, and a keen feeling of honor in action that men were enabled to win all this…and they laid their lives at her feet as the most glorious contribution that they could offer. For this collective offering of their lives they each received that renown which never grows old. And for a tomb, not so much that in which their bones have been deposited, but that noblest of shrines wherein their glory is laid up to be eternally remembered upon every occasion on which deed or story shall call for its commemoration. For heroes have the whole earth for their tomb; and in lands far from their own, where the column with its epitaph declares it, there is enshrined in every breast a record unwritten with no tablet to preserve it, except that of the heart. Take these men as your model and, judging happiness to be the fruit of freedom and freedom of valor, never decline the dangers of war…

"Comfort, therefore, not condolence, is what I have to offer to the parents of the dead who may be here. Numberless are the chances to which, as they know, the life of man is subject. But fortunate indeed are they who draw for their lot a death so glorious as that which has caused your mourning, and to whom life has been so exactly measured as to terminate in the happiness in which it has been passed. Still I know that this is a hard saying, especially when you will

constantly be reminded by seeing in the homes of others blessings of which once you also boasted. Grief is felt not so much for the want of what we have never known, as for the loss of that to which we have been long accustomed. Yet you who are still of an age to beget children must bear up in the hope of having others in their stead. Not only will they help you to forget those whom you have lost, but will be to the state at once a reinforcement and a security; for never can a fair or just policy be expected of the citizen who does not, like his fellows, bring to the decision the interests and apprehensions of a father. While those of you who have passed your prime must congratulate yourselves with the thought that the best part of your life was fortunate, and that the brief span that remains will be cheered by the fame of the departed. For it is only the love of honor that never grows old; and honor it is, not gain, as some would have it, that cheers the heart of age and helplessness.

"Turning to the sons or brothers of the dead, I see an arduous struggle before you. When a man is gone, all are wont to praise him, and should your merit be ever so transcendent, you will still find it difficult not merely to overtake, but even to approach their renown. The living have envy to contend with, while those who are no longer in our path are honored with a goodwill into which rivalry does not enter. On the other hand, if I must say anything on the subject of female excellence to those of you who will now be in widowhood, it will be all comprised in this brief exhortation. Great will be your glory in not falling short of your natural character; and greatest will be hers who is least talked of among the men, whether for good or for bad.

"My task is now finished. I have performed it to the best of my ability, and in word, at least, the requirements of the law are now satisfied. If deeds be in question, those who are here interred have received part of their honors already, and for the rest, their children will be brought up till manhood at the public expense: the state thus offers a valuable prize, as the garland of victory in this race of valor, for the reward both of those who have fallen and their survivors. And where the rewards for merit are greatest, there are found the best citizens.

"And now that you have brought to a close your lamentations for your relatives, you may depart."

Sophocles, Antigone1

Sophocles’ Antigone was first performed between 442 and 438 BCE as part of a tragedy competition in Athens (which was also a religious festival to Dionysus). The major characters are relatives of Oedipus and Jocasta (Oedipus’ wife and mother), who are featured in two other Sophocles plays (though they were not constructed as a trilogy). All notes about movement of the actors and setting are in italics.

Main Characters: Antigone the title character, she is daughter of late Oedipus, niece of Creon Ismene sister of Antigone Creon new King of Thebes Haemon son of Creon, fiancé of Antigone Tiresias famous prophet who has saved Thebes in the past Euridice wife of Creon Chorus The elders of Thebes Choryphaeus Leader of the Chorus

Scene and Time: The area before the royal house of Thebes at the break of day.

Antigone2 O common one of the same womb, head of Ismene, do you know of any suffering of those from Oedipus that Zeus3 is yet to fulfill for us two yet living? Nothing painful, nothing †without ruin†,4 no disgrace, no dishonor exists that I have not seen among your evils and mine. And now, what is this proclamation they say the general just laid down for the whole city? Do you know, have you heard, or are you unaware that evils worthy of enemies are marching down on loved ones?

Ismene No word of love, Antigone, sweet or painful, has come to me since we two were deprived of our two brothers, each dead on one day by the other's hand. Since the Argive army left last night, I know nothing further whether I am fortunate or ruined more.

Antigone I thought as much. That is why I kept calling you outside the courtyard gates so you would be alone when you heard.

Ismene What is it? Clearly, you are deeply blue over some word.

1 Sophocles, Antigone, translated by Wm. Blake Tyrrell and Larry J. Bennett (1996). Available at http://www.stoa.org/diotima/anthology/ant/. Permission is granted to distribute for classroom use, provided that Larry J. Bennett, Wm. Blake Tyrrell, and Diotima are identified in any such use. 2 The actors were dressed in ankle-length robes brightly colored with patterns, soft boots of leather reaching to the calf, and a mask. The mask, constructed by a craftsman from linen, portrayed with realistic features the face and head of a young woman. The audience may have surmised that one of them is Antigone, since they knew the title of the play. 3 The chief god of the twelve Greek Olympians. Since the seventh century BCE Zeus had increasingly been considered a force for justice (and consequently also punishment and fate). 4 The daggers indicate that Greek text is corrupt and cannot be reconstructed. Translation of daggered words is approximate.

Antigone Why not? A tomb5--has not Creon honored one of our two brothers with one and dishonored the other without one? Eteocles, as they say, †with just use of justice† and custom, he has hidden beneath the earth, honored among the dead below.6 But as for the corpse of Polyneices who perished wretchedly, they say that proclamation has been sent forth to the citizens that no one cover it with a tomb or bewail it, but let it lie unmourned, unentombed, a sweet treasury for birds looking upon it for meat. Such proclamations they say the good Creon has decreed for you and me--me I say. He is coming here to proclaim this clearly to whoever does not know, and he considers it no small matter. For anyone who does any of these things, killing by public stoning in the city is ordained. Now, this is the way it is for you, and you will show quickly whether you are of noble birth or base born from good stock.

Ismene What can I do, wretched one, if things are in this state, by loosening or tightening the knot?7

Antigone See whether you will join in the toil and the deed with me.

Ismene What dangerous enterprise? Whatever are you thinking?

Antigone Whether you will lift the corpse with this hand?

Ismene What? Do you intend to perform rites for it, a thing forbidden the city?

Antigone For my brother, certainly, and yours, if you will not. I for one will not be caught betraying him.

Ismene Headstrong! When Creon has forbidden it?

Antigone He has no part in keeping me from what is mine.

Ismene Ah me! think, sister, how father, died on the two of us, hated and disgraced, when driven by self-discovered offenses, he pierced both his eyes with a self-inflicting hand. Then his mother and wife--a twofold name- mistreated her life with twisted nooses. And thirdly, two brothers in one day, the wretched pair, worked a common fate by killing themselves with hands turned upon one another. Now in turn, we two left all alone, consider how badly we will perish, if in violence of the law we transgress the decree and power of absolute rulers. No, we two women must keep in mind we were born women whose purpose is not to battle against men. Then, because we are ruled by those who are stronger, we must hear and obey this and things yet

5 Taphos (tomb) also designates "funeral rites," "funeral feast," and "the act of performing funeral rites." All of these meanings are present, with "tomb" being foremost because of the idea of "covering." 6 After Oedipus' death, Eteocles and Polyneices agree that they will each rule Thebes as its king in alternate years. During his time in exile, Polyneices marries Argeia, daughter of Adrastus, king of Argos. When after a year Eteocles refused to abdicate, Adrastus and Polyneices lead an army of Argives against Thebes. The brothers met at the seventh of Thebes' seven gates, Polyneices on the outside and Eteocles on the inside of the city; there they killed one another. 7 Ismene's question initiates the first stichomythia of the play. Stichomythia is an exchange between two actors of swiftly spoken, emotionally charged single lines that in tragedy often constitutes a contest for supremacy.

more painful. As for me, begging those below for pardon, since I am being forced in this, I will yield to those in authority, for acting in excess has no sense.

Antigone And I would not ask you, and if you wish in the future, you would not gladly do anything with me. No, be whatever seems best to you. That one I shall give rites. It is noble for me to die doing this. I shall lie with him, loved one with loved one, after I have done anything and everything holy, since far longer is the time I must please those below than those here. I shall lie there forever. You, if you think it best, hold in dishonor the honored things of the gods.

Ismene I am doing them no dishonor, but I am incapable by my nature of acting in violence of the citizens.

Antigone You can make excuses, but I shall go heap up a mound for a most loved brother.8

Ismene Ah me! Unhappy one, how I fear for you.

Antigone Do not be afraid for me. Set straight the course of your own fate.

Ismene Please, do not tell anyone what you are doing. Keep it secret, and I will do the same.

Antigone Ah me! Tell everybody. You will be more hostile if you keep silent and do not proclaim this to everyone.

Ismene You have a hot heart for cold things.

Antigone No, I know I am pleasing those I should most please.

Ismene If you can, but no, you lust for what is beyond your means.

Antigone Well, when my strength fails, I shall cease once for all.

Ismene From the outset, to hunt for what is beyond your means is not fitting.

Antigone If you say this, you will be hated by me and justly be deemed an enemy to the one dead. No, let me and the foolish counsel I offer suffer something dreadful, but I shall not suffer anything that will keep me from dying nobly.

[Antigone is exiting by the gangway leading to the country. Ismene calls after her.]

Ismene If it seems best, go, but know this: you go without sense but truly love for your loved ones.

[Ismene exits into the house]

8 The mound here refers to the mound of earth heaped over the burned corpse after a funeral pyre.

Skipped Section -- The Chorus here provides necessary background: After Oedipus' death, Eteocles and Polyneices agree that they will each rule Thebes as its king in alternate years. During his time in exile, Polyneices marries Argeia, daughter of Adrastus, king of Argos. When after a year Eteocles refused to abdicate, Adrastus and Polyneices lead an army of Argives against Thebes. The brothers met at the seventh of Thebes' seven gates, Polyneices on the outside and Eteocles on the inside of the city; there they killed one another.

[Enter Creon, attended by slaves]

Coryphaeus Here the king of the domain, †Creon, son of Menoeceus† . . . new [ruler] in the new chances of the gods, is coming. What cleverness is he rowing that, by common proclamation, he has set forth this special assembly of old men for discussion.

Creon Gentlemen, the gods who heaved and tossed the city on high seas have set its affairs straight again. You I have summoned by messengers apart from the rest because I know well that you always revered the power of Laius' throne, and again when Oedipus righted the city ...... and when he was destroyed, you still continued with steadfast thoughts toward their children.9 Since they perished in a twofold fate in one day, striking and being struck with murderous pollution among kinsmen, I hold all the power and throne according to nearness of kin to the dead.

Now, there is no way to learn thoroughly the essence of the whole man as well as his thought and judgment until he has been seen engaged in ruling and making laws. For, in my opinion, whoever, in guiding a whole city, does not adhere to the best counsels, but from fear of something keeps his tongue locked, that man seems to me now and before this to be most evil. Whoever deems a loved one more important than his fatherland, this man I say is nowhere. I for one--may Zeus who always sees all know this-- never would I keep silent on seeing ruin approaching the citizens instead of safety, neither would I ever regard as my loved one an enemy of the land, since I am aware that this land is the one who carries us safely and, while sailing upon her upright, we make our loved ones. By these laws do I enlarge the city.

Now, I have issued proclamations, brothers to these laws for the citizens concerning the children of Oedipus. Eteocles, who perished fighting for this city, fully proving his bravery in the spear battle, let them conceal him with a tomb and perform all the rites that go to the bravest dead below. The kindred blood of this man, Polyneices I mean, the exile who, on returning home, wanted to burn his fatherland and the temples of his family's gods from top to bottom with flames, and wanted to taste common blood, and lead the rest into slavery, this person, it has been proclaimed to the city that no one honor with a tomb or lament with cries, but let him lie unburied, his body devoured by birds and by dogs and mangled for the seeing. Such is my thought. Never by me, at any rate, will evil men have precedence of honor over just men. But whoever is well-disposed to this city, dead and alive, equally will be honored by me at any rate.

Coryphaeus These are what please you, son of Menoeceus, Creon, about the one hostile and the one friendly to this city. To use every law [and custom], I suppose, is within your power

9 That is, the grandsons of Laius and sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polyneices.

71 regarding the dead and us who are living.

Creon Take care that you be watchers of my orders.

Coryphaeus Set forth this task for a younger man to undertake.

Creon No, men to watch over the corpse are ready.

Coryphaeus Then, what other things would you enjoin upon me?

Creon Do not yield to those disobeying these things.

Coryphaeus There is no one so foolish that he lusts to die.

Creon That is truly the wage. But profit with its hopes often destroys men.

[A man enters by the ramp from the country.]

Watchman Lord, I cannot say that I arrive breathless from quickly lifting nimble feet. In fact, I stopped many times to think, whirling around on the roads to turn back. My spirit kept talking to me and saying: "Poor fool, why are you going to a place where you will pay the penalty when you arrive? Wretch, are you dawdling along again? If Creon learns about this from someone else, how then will you not feel pain?"As I rolled around such thoughts, I was gradually and slowly completing the journey, and so a short road became a long one. At last, coming here to you won out. Even if I am saying nothing, I will say this anyway. I come here, clinging to the hope that I will suffer nothing except what is fated.

Creon What has robbed you of your spirit?

Watchman First, I want to tell you this about me. I did not do the deed, and I do not know who was the doer, and it would not be right for me to get into any evil.

Creon You position yourself well in the ranks, drawing up fences around yourself against what is coming. Clearly you are going to mark something new and unheard of.

Watchman Yes, terrible things impose much hesitation.

Creon Will you say it, and then be off with you?

Watchman Well, then, I'm telling you. The corpse--someone has performed funeral rites for it and is gone, having scattered thirsty dust upon its flesh and completed the necessary purifications.

Creon What are you saying? What man was it who dared this?

Watchman I do not know, since there was no blow from a pickaxe, no dirt was dug up by a hoe. The ground was hard and dry, undisturbed and unscored by wagon wheels. The doer left no marks.

When the first watchman of the day showed us, a wonder hard to grasp came over all of us. You see, he had disappeared. He was not covered with a tomb, but a light dust was upon him as if from someone avoiding pollution. No marks appeared of a beast or dog that had come and torn him.

Bad words started howling at one another as guard reproached guard, and it would have ended in blows. No one was there to stop it. Each man was the one who did the deed, and none beyond doubt, and each was pleading, "I do not know." We were even prepared to take up hot ingots in our hands and walk through fire and swear an oath by the gods that we did not do the deed, or share in knowledge of it with the man who planned and accomplished it. At last, when nothing was left for us to look for, someone spoke out, and he turned every head to the ground in fear, for we could not answer him or see how, in doing so, we could prosper. His word was that this deed had to be reported to you and must not be hidden. This plan prevailed, and the lot condemned me, unlucky me, to take this good thing to you. I do not want to be here. Those here do not want me, I know. Nobody loves the messenger of bad news.

Coryphaeus Lord, deep and anxious thoughts have long been counseling, might not this deed be one driven by the gods.

Creon Stop, before your words fill me with rage, so you will not be discovered both senseless and old. You are saying what is intolerable when you say divinities have forethought for this corpse. While they were hiding him, were they honoring him as a benefactor, someone who came to fire their temples ringed with columns and offerings and to scatter their land and laws hither and yon? Or, do you see gods honoring evil men?

It cannot be. No, from the first men of the city, bearing these things with difficulty, have been howling at me in secret, shaking their heads and not keeping their necks rightly beneath the yoke so as to love and submit to me. Because of those men, I know well these men have done these things under the seduction of bribes. No base custom ever grew among men like silver. It sacks cities and uproots men from their homes. It teaches and perverts the useful minds of men so that they take up disgraceful endeavors. It showed men how to practice wickedness and to know impiety in every deed. Men who execute these actions in the pay of another, sooner or later bring about their own punishment.

[To the Watchman.]

But, if Zeus yet enjoys respect from me, know this well--I am speaking now on my oath--unless all of you find the perpetrator of this rite and produce him before my eyes, Hades10 alone will not be enough for you until, hung up alive, you reveal this outrage. This way you can go on stealing in the future with the knowledge of where profits must be made, having learned that you must not be enamored with profits from everywhere. From disgraceful gains, more men you could see

10 Hades is used for both the god of the underworld and the place itself where the dead go.

ruined than rescued.

Watchman Will you allow me to speak, or do I just turn around and go?

Creon Do you not know, even now, how annoying you sound?

Watchman Are you stung in your ears or to your very essence?

Creon Why do you score where I hurt?

Watchman The doer offends your mind, but I your ears.

Creon My, but you are a babbler.

Watchman That may be so, but not the one who did this deed.

Creon That too, while also forfeiting your very essence for silver.

Watchman Pah! It is terrible for one who supposes to suppose falsely.

Creon Go ahead, play around with suppositions, but if you do not show me what men did this, you are going to admit that terrible are those profits that bring pain.

[Watchman is exiting to the country.]

Watchman I really hope they find him, but whether he is caught or not (luck will decide), there is no way you will see me come back here. Now, saved beyond hope and judgment, I owe the gods a big debt of gratitude.

Chorus of Theban Elders Many things cause terror and wonder, yet nothing is more terrifying and wonderful than man. This thing goes across the gray sea on the blasts of winter storms, passing beneath waters towering 'round him. The Earth, eldest of the gods, unwithering and untiring, this thing wears down as his plows go back and forth year after year furrowing her with the issue of horses [i.e. mules].

This thing ensnares and carries off the tribe of light-minded birds, the companies of wild beasts, and the sea's marine life with coils of woven meshes--this keenly skilled man. He has power through his ways over the beast who traverses the mountains and haunts the open sky [i.e. wild goats]. The shaggy-maned horse he tames with yoke, and the untiring mountain bull.

Both language and thought swift as wind and impulses that govern cities, he has taught himself, as well as how to escape the shafts of rain while encamped beneath open skies. All resourceful, he approaches no future thing to come without resource. From Hades alone he will not contrive escape. Refuge from baffling diseases he has devised.

Possessing a means of invention, a skillfulness beyond expectation, now toward evil he moves, now toward good. By integrating the laws of the earth and justice under oath sworn to the gods, he is lofty of city. Citiless is the man with whom ignobility because of his daring dwells. May he never reside at my hearth or think like me, whoever does such things.

[The Watchman returns, leading Antigone and accompanied by at least one other watchman.]

Coryphaeus Concerning this divine portent, I am of two minds. How, when I know her, will I deny that this is the girl Antigone? O unhappy one, child of unhappy father, Oedipus, what does this mean? Surely they are not bringing you who are in disobedience of royal laws after they caught you in folly?

Watchman Here she is, that one who did the deed. We caught her performing rites. But where is Creon?

Coryphaeus Here he is, returning from the house just when we need him.

Creon What is it? What is happening? What am I in time for?

Watchman Lord, mortals should never swear oaths against doing anything, for second thoughts belie their intention. I could have sworn I would be slow coming here after the tempest of your threats I weathered last time. But the joy one prays for and receives beyond his hopes seems to reach out like no other pleasure. I swore an oath not to come here, but here I am, leading this girl who was apprehended paying due rites. We did not cast lots this time. This is my windfall and nobody else's. And now, lord, take her yourself, question and examine her as you wish. I am free and justly released from these evils.

Creon How did you catch her, and where do you bring her from?

Watchman This one was performing rites for the man. You know all.

Creon Do you really understand? Do you mean to say what you are saying?

Watchman Yes, I do, because I saw her performing rites for the corpse that you forbade. Is it not clear and plain what I am saying?

Creon How is she seen? How was she caught and seized?

Watchman What happened was like this. When we got back, still threatened by those terrible threats from you, we swept all the dust away that concealed the corpse, stripping the oozing body completely bare. We then sat on the hill tops, backs to the wind, delivered from being struck by the stench. Man was egging on man constantly with abusive taunts in case anyone might neglect this burden. So it went for some time, until the dazzling orb of the sun stood in the middle of the sky, and the heat was becoming intense. Then, suddenly, from the earth a whirlwind raised a column of dust, a pain from heaven. It filled the plain, mangling all the foliage of the trees on the plain. The great ether was full of dust. We closed our eyes and endured the divine sickness.

When it let off after a long time, the girl is seen. She wails a bitter bird's shrill sound as when it sees an empty bedding's bed orphaned of nestlings. So, too, when she sees a bare corpse, she groaned and began wailing and cursing evil curses upon the ones who did the deed. Immediately she brings thirsty dust in her hands and from a well-wrought bronze pitcher held up high, she encircles the corpse with three poured offerings.

We saw her and rushed at her, and immediately we caught our quarry who was without fear or fright. We examined her about the previous and the present doings. She did not try to deny anything, happily for me and at the same time sadly. That I have escaped these evils is very pleasant, but bringing loved ones into evil is painful. But everything else matters less for me to get--it is only natural--than my own salvation.

Creon You! you there, hanging your head to the ground, do you say you did these things, or do you deny them outright?

Antigone I say I acted. I do not deny acting.

Creon You may remove yourself wherever you wish, free of a heavy charge.

[Exit Watchman. To Antigone.]

Now you, tell me, not at length but concisely, did you know that these were forbidden by proclamation?

Antigone Yes. Why would I not? It was public.

Creon And you dared anyway to transgress these laws.

Antigone Yes, Zeus was not the one who issued these proclamations for me, nor did Justice, who dwells with the gods below, define such laws among mankind. I did not think your proclamations so strong that you, a mortal, could overstep gods' unwritten and unshakable traditions. Not today or yesterday but always they live, and no one knows when they appeared. I was not about to pay the penalty before gods for neglecting them out of fear for a man's thought. I knew very well that I would die (why not?), even if you had not issued your proclamations. But if I shall die before my time, I declare it a profit, for whoever lives beset, as I do, by many things evil, how does he not gain profit by dying? Thus for me, at least, to meet with this destiny is no pain at all. But had I let the one from my mother, who was dead, go without rites, over that I would feel pain. Over this, I feel no pain. If I seem now to be acting foolishly to you, it may be that I am being accused of foolishness by a fool.

Coryphaeus Clearly, the offspring is savage from the girl's savage father. She does not know how to yield to evils.

Creon Even so, know that thoughts that are too rigid are most prone to fall. The strongest iron, baked very hard by the fire, you could often see shivered and shattered into bits and pieces. I

know that spirited horses are brought to order by a tiny iron bit, since it is not allowed for someone who is the slave of those nearby to think big. This person knew how to commit outrage at that time by transgressing the laws that have been set forth. After she acted, this second outrage: she boasts about them and exults in having done them. In this case, I am not a man, but she is a man, if this victory will be hers without consequences.

Whether she may be a sister's child and closer in blood to us than the whole of Zeus of the Boundary,11 she and her kin blood will not escape a very bad fate. I charge that other one of equally planning this rite.

[Creon to slave attendants]

Summon her. I saw her inside just now, possessed by frenzy and not in possession of her senses. The spirit of those devising crooked schemes in the dark usually convicts itself in advance of being a thief. I hate it when someone, caught in ugliness, afterwards wants to make it look pretty.

Antigone Do you want anything more than to seize me and kill me?

Creon For myself, nothing. With this, I have everything.

Antigone Then, why are you waiting? As nothing in your words pleases me or could ever please me, so my words naturally displease you, too. And yet, where would I obtain a more renowned renown than by placing in a tomb one from the same womb? All these men here would agree with this, I would say, if fear were not locking up their tongues. But absolute rule is blest in many other ways, and, in particular, it has the power to do and say what it wishes.

Creon You alone of these Thebans see it this way.

Antigone These men of yours see it this way, but their lips cower before you.

Creon Are you not ashamed to think apart from these men?

Antigone No disgrace is involved in respecting your uterine kin.

Creon Was not the one who died opposing him of the same blood?

Antigone Of the same blood from one mother and the same father.

Creon How, when it is impious in his judgment, do you grant this kindness?

Antigone The dead corpse will not bear witness to that.

11 Zeus Herkeios (Zeus of the Fence) protected the boundary of every Greek household and the possessions enclosed within. His altar stood in the courtyard where the master of the house (kyrios) conducted sacrifice and the "rite of sprinkling" of family, slaves and guests with water, a ritual binding those present to one another. Creon may be imagined as having conducted this rite with Antigone and Ismene many times.

Creon He would, if you honor him equally with the impious one.

Antigone He was not a slave but a brother who died.

Creon Yes, while ravaging this land but the other while defending it.

Antigone Nevertheless, Hades longs for these traditional values.

Creon No, the good man does not long to obtain the same allotment as the evil.

Antigone Who knows whether that is revered below.

Creon Never is an enemy, not even when dead, a loved one.

Antigone It is not my nature to side with an enemy but with a loved one.

Creon Go below now, and if you must be a lover, be lover to them. While I am alive, no woman will rule me.

Coryphaeus Here is Ismene before the gates, shedding tears of sisterly love. A cloud above her brows mars her flushed face, moistening her comely cheeks.

Creon You sneaked about the house like a viper and sucked my blood when I was off guard. I did not realize I was feeding two ruins and subversions of my throne. Come, tell me, will you admit you shared in this rite, or will you swear you knew nothing about it?

Ismene I have done the deed, at least if she rows along with me. I both share in the charge and endure it with her.

Antigone No, justice will not allow you this, since you were not willing to do it, and I did not act in common with you.

Ismene But I am not ashamed amid your evils to make myself a fellow voyager in suffering.

Antigone To those whose deed this is, Hades and those below are witnesses. I do not cherish a loved one who is a loved one only in words.

Ismene Do not deprive me, sister, of dying with you and rendering the dead his due rites.

Antigone You, do not die a common death with me. What you did not touch, do try to make your own. I will be enough by dying--I myself.

Ismene And what life is happy for me bereft of you?

Antigone Go, ask Creon. It is he you care for.

Ismene Why do you cause me pain this way, when it does not help you?

Antigone Yes, I am in pain, if I am mocking you, when I mock you.

Ismene What help even now could I give you--I myself?

Antigone Save yourself. I do not begrudge your escaping out from under this.

Ismene O poor me, am I to fail in sharing your fate?

Antigone Yes, you chose to live, I to die.

Ismene But, at least, not without my words going unsaid.

Antigone Nobly you seemed to some, and I to others, to think.

Ismene And yet the error is the same for the both of us.

Antigone Gather your strength. You are living, while my life perished long ago so as that I could help the dead.

Creon I say that both of these children seem senseless, the one just now and the other from when she was first born.

Ismene The sense that grows within, lord, does not remain with those who are doing badly, but it departs.

Creon In your case, at any rate, when you chose to do bad things with bad people.

Ismene Of course I chose. What life is there for me, alone without this one?

Creon This one--do not speak of her, for she is no longer.

Ismene But in that case you will kill your own son's nuptial rites?

Creon Yes, the fields of others are fit for the plow.

Ismene No, not in the way they have been fit together, this one to him.

Creon I loathe evil wives for sons.

Ismene O most loved Haemon, how your father dishonors you.

Creon You and your marriage bed cause too much grief.

Ismene Will you really deprive your own son of this one?

Creon Hades will be the one to stop this marriage for me.

Ismene It is settled, so it seems, that this one dies.

Creon Yes, for you and for me. No more delays. Take them inside, slave women. From now on they must be women and not let loose. Even bold men flee when they see Hades already near their lives.

[Exit Antigone, Ismene and Creon's attendants. Creon remains on stage.]

Skipped Section: The Chorus recounts how the gods have battered the family of Oedipus and how anyone who pretends to be ignorant of fate will be burned by it, including the statement that “Evil seems a good to one whose mind the god is leading to ruin.”

[Haemon enters from the city.]

Coryphaeus Here is Haemon, last born of your children. Does he come tormented over the fate of his betrothed Antigone, with whom he intended to marry, anguishing over the deception of his marriage bed?

Creon We will quickly know better than seers could say. My boy, you are not here, are you, after hearing my fixed decree about your intended bride, in a rage at your father, or as far as you are concerned are we, whatever we do, loved ones?

Haemon Father, I am yours. You would guide me aright, if you have good judgments that I will follow. No marriage in my opinion will be worth winning more than you leading nobly.

Creon Yes, you should always be disposed this way in your breast, boy, to assume your post behind your father's judgments in all things. For this reason, men pray to beget and have sons in their households who listen, that they may both repay an enemy with evils and honor the loved ones equally with the father. Whoever produces useless children, what could you say about him except that he begets hardship for himself and great mockery for his enemies.

Do not ever throw out good sense, boy, over pleasure for a woman's sake, knowing that this proves to be a cold thing to embrace in your arms, a evil woman in your bed and in your house. What wound greater could there be than an evil beloved. No, spit the girl out like an enemy, and let someone in Hades' house marry her. Since I caught her openly, alone out of the whole city, in disobedience, I will not make myself a liar to the city, but I shall kill her. Therefore, let her keep invoking Zeus of Kin Blood.12 If I nurture my natural kin to be disorderly, then surely I will do so to those outside the family.

12 Zeus of the Fence oversees the sacredness of kin-blood and so may be referred to in this capacity as Zeus of Kin Blood.

Whoever is a good man among those within his house will also appear to be just in the city. But whoever transgresses the laws and does them violence or intends to issue orders to those in power, this man cannot possibly receive praise from me. Whomever the city may appoint, one should obey in small concerns and just, and in their opposites. For my part, I would encourage this man to rule nobly and to consent to be ruled well, and when assigned a post amid the spear storm, to remain there, a just and brave comrade beside his comrades.13

There is no greater evil than lack of rule. This destroys cities, this renders houses desolate, this in the spear battle causes routs to break out. But among men who are prosperous, obedience to command saves many lives. Thus a defense must be mounted for the regulations. Defeat by a woman must never happen. It is better, if it is bound to happen, to be expelled by a man. We could not be called "defeated by women"--could not.

Coryphaeus In our opinion, unless we are misled by our years, you seem to say thoughtfully what you are saying.

Haemon Father, the gods implant good sense in men which is the foremost of all their possessions. I . . . in what way you are mistaken in what you say, I neither could say, nor would I even know how to say. Yet, things may come out right in another way. Whatever, it is my nature to scout out for you everything that someone says or does or finds fault with, since your face is a terrifying thing for the townsmen because of words you are not pleased to hear. It is possible for me to hear things in the shadows, how the city mourns for this girl, that the most undeserving of all women is perishing in the foulest way for deeds most glorious. She did not allow one from the same womb, lying without rites amid the carnage, to be ravaged by raw-eating dogs or some one of the birds. Is she not worthy of receiving a golden meed of honor? Such dark talk is spreading secretly about. As far as I am concerned, there is no possession more valuable, father, than a father who is prospering in good fortune.

What greater pride and joy is there for children than a father flourishing in fame, or what for a father in children. Do not wear one and only one frame of mind in yourself, that what you say, and nothing else, is right. Whoever imagines that he and he alone has sense or has a tongue or an essence that no other has, these men, when unfolded, are seen to be empty. But for a man, even if he is wise, to go on learning many things and not to be drawn too taut is no shame. You see how along streams swollen from winter floods some trees yield and save their twigs, but others resist and perish, root and branch. Likewise, the man in command of a ship who draws the foot sheet14 taut and leaves no slack, capsizes and sails what is left with his decks upside down. Let go your anger, and grant a change, for if an opinion comes up from me, a younger person, I say it is by far best that a man be born filled with wisdom. If he is not, for the scale does not usually so incline, to learn from those speaking competently is a noble thing.

13 Creon alludes to the oath of allegiance that every hoplite took, which affirmed in part: "I will not desert the "stand-beside" whomever I may stand beside." 14 The "foot sheet" was one of the two ropes attached to the lower corners of the sail.

Coryphaeus Lord, it is fair, if he says something to the point, for you to learn, and in turn for you from him. It has been well said well twice.

Creon Are we at our age to be taught in exercising good sense by a man of his age?

Haemon Yes, in nothing that is not just. Even if I am young, you should not see my years more than my deeds.

Creon What deed is this--reverencing the disorderly?

Haemon I would not order you to act piously toward evil men.

Creon Has she not been stricken by such a disease?

Haemon The people, all Thebes together, deny it.

Creon The city will tell me what orders I should give?

Haemon Do you see how young you sounded saying that?

Creon Should I rule the land for anyone other than myself?

Haemon There is no city that is one man's.

Creon Is not the city considered to belong to the ruling man?

Haemon Nobly you could rule an empty land, alone.

Creon This one, it seems, battles as an ally15 of the woman.

Haemon Yes, if you are a woman. For it is you I care for.

Creon You most evil thing, by bringing your father to justice?

Haemon Yes, when I see you making an error that is not just.

Creon Do I err by revering my own prerogatives?

Haemon You do not revere them by trampling upon the honor of the gods.

Creon You abomination who trails after a woman.

Haemon You would not catch me defeated by what is shameful.

15 "Ally" connotes an underling. Since the allies in the alliance led by Athenians, for the most, paid tribute to the Athenians, they were not considered as equals.

Creon And yet, your every word now is for her.

Haemon And for you, and me, and the gods below.

Creon This woman, it is not possible for you to marry her while she lives.

Haemon Then she will die, and by her dying, she will destroy someone.

Creon Are you so bold as to threaten me?

Haemon What threat is it to tell you my opinions?

Creon You will convey sense to me in tears since you are empty of sense yourself?

Haemon If you were not my father, I would say you were not making sense.

Creon You slave to a woman, do not wheedle me.

Haemon Do you wish to speak, and after speaking, not hear anything?

Creon Right! But, by Olympus, know this: you will not revile me with criticism and get away with it. [To his slaves.] Bring that hated thing so this instant before his eyes she may die next to her bridegroom.

Haemon No, not next to me. Do not ever suppose that. She will not die next to me, and you will never look upon my face again with your eyes. Rage on at any of your loved ones who are willing to let you.

[Exit Haemon for the country]

Coryphaeus The man is gone, lord, quickened by wrath. The mind in pain takes things hard at his age.

Creon Let him go. Let him act and think greater than what befits a man. But these two girls, he will not save them from death.

Coryphaeus Do you truly intend to kill them both?

Creon No, not the one who did not touch the deed. You are right.

Coryphaeus By what death are you planning to kill the other?

Creon By leading her where the path is deserted of people. I will hide her alive in a rocky cave, setting forth enough food to escape pollution so that the whole city may escape miasma. There begging Hades, whom alone of the gods she reveres, perchance she will not die, or she will come

to realize, late but at last, that revering what is in Hades is excessive labor.

[Creon remains on stage.]

Skipped text – The Chorus blames love and lust for Haemon’s quarrel with his father.

[Antigone enters from the house, escorted by Creon's slaves.]

Coryphaeus Now, by this time, even I myself am carried outside the ordinances of the gods at seeing this. I am no longer able to stanch the streams of tears, when I see Antigone here approaching the bridal-chambers that give rest to all.

Antigone See me, citizens of my paternal land, walking my last road and beholding my last light of the sun-- never again. But Hades, the all-provider of rest, leads me living to Acheron's16 shore, without a share of wedding hymns. No song at my wedding sang out for me, but I shall wed Acheron.

Coryphaeus Therefore, without renown and praise, you are departing for the recesses of the dead, neither struck by wasting diseases nor obtaining the wages of the sword. But under your own law, alive, alone and unique of mortals, you will descend to Hades…

Antigone O me, I am mocked. Why, by the gods of our fathers, why do you abuse me, when I have not gone but am in plain sight before you? O city and its men of many possessions, at least I possess thee as witnesses to how unwept by loved ones and by what laws am I going to the rock-entombed vault of my unprecedented mound. Oh, wretched me, a corpse among people and not among corpses, a metic,17 not among the living, and not among the dead. …Oh, maternal ruinous delusions of beds and the incestuous sleepings of my ill-fated mother with my father, from such people wretched me was born. To them, accursed and unmarried, here I am going, a metic. Oh, brother, by attaining ill-fated marriages, dead though you be, you slew me still alive.

Coryphaeus There is some piety in being pious, but power, for him who cares for power, proves nowhere to be transgressed. Your self-knowing temper destroyed you.

Antigone Without laments, without loved ones, without wedding hymns, I am led in misery along the road made ready. No longer for miserable me is it right to see the eye of this holy torch. My own destiny, unwept by tears, no one of kin laments.

Creon [To the slaves.] Do you not know that, instead of dying, not one person would stop pouring out songs and wailing, if allowed? Will you not lead her off as quickly as you can enfold her in a roofed tomb, as I have ordered. Leave her alone and deserted, whether she may die or be entombed in such an enclosure alive. The fact is that we are pure in the matter of this maiden. In

16 The name of one of the rivers in the underworld. 17 A metic is an alien who has changed (met-) his residency (oik- "house') and lives in Athens with a status above other foreigners but with military and financial obligations. As such, he is a citizen of neither his native polis nor that of the Athenians.

any case, she will be deprived of her metic status up here.

Antigone O tomb, O wedding chamber, O hollowed abode ever guarding, where I am walking to my own, the greatest number of whom has perished, and Persephassa has received among the dead. Last of them, I, and by far in the most evil way, I am going down before my life's measure has expired. In arriving there, I nourish the hope, of course, that I will come out of love to father and especially to you, mother, and to you, brother-head, since all of you in death with my own hand I washed and dressed, and gave liquid offerings at your tomb. Now, Polyneices, for laying out your body, I win such things as these. And yet, I honored you for those thinking rightly. Not even if I were the mother of children, not if my husband were dead and rotting on me, would I take up this task in violence of the citizens. For the sake of what law do I say this? A husband dead, there would be another for me, and a child from another man, if I lost this one, but with mother and father both hidden in the house of Hades, there is no brother who would be produced, ever. I honored you before all by such a law, and to Creon this seems to be doing wrong and to be daring terrible things, O brother-head. Now he [Hades] takes me by the hand and is leading me away, unbedded, unhymned and ungraced by a share of bridal coupling and nurturing a child, but in this way deserted of kin and ill-fated. I am going alive into the hollowed abodes of the dead. Having transgressed what justice of deities? Why should I in such misery look further to the gods? What ally of those who are allies should I look to, seeing that, by acting piously, I have come to possess impiety? If this should be good and beautiful before the gods, then I would realize my mistake after suffering my doom. But if these men are doing wrong, may they suffer no more evils than they themselves do unjustly to me.

Coryphaeus Still, the same blasts of the same winds of her essence are holding her fast.

Creon For this reason, those who are leading her will be sorry for their slowness.

Antigone O me, this word has come very close to death.

Creon I offer no consolation at all to take heart that these arrangements will not be executed as proposed.

Antigone O paternal city of the land of Thebes and ancestral gods, I am being led away. I delay no longer. Look, magnates of Thebes, at the sole and last one of the royal line, at what I suffer from what sort of men, having piously rendered piety.

[Antigone is being led away by Creon's slaves but must remain within earshot of the elders' ode, since they address her directly. Creon remains on stage. An old man, led by a boy, enters by the gangway from the city.]

Tiresias Lords of Thebes, we come by a common road, two seeing from one. For the blind, this way by a guide is usual.

Creon What is new, aged Tiresias?

Tiresias I shall inform you, and, for your part, obey the prophet.

Creon I did not differ before from your purpose, did I?

Tiresias No, and you steered the city on a straight course.

Creon From experience I can bear witness to your aid.

Tiresias Now that you have come onto the razor's edge of chance, start thinking.

Creon What is it? How I shudder at your voice.

Tiresias You shall know when you have heard the marks of my craft. Sitting at the ancient seat for watching birds, where lies my sanctuary for every bird, I hear an unknown sound of birds shrieking with a gadfly18 sinister and barbarous. And that they were tearing one another apart with murderous claws, I came to realize, for the whirling of wings was not without its own mark. Frightened, I immediately tested the burnt offerings on altars set fully ablaze, but from the sacrifices Hephaestus did not shine forth, but onto the ashes the juices oozing from the thigh pieces were melting and smoking and sputtering, and the bladders were exploding gall into the air, and dripping thigh bones were exposed from their enveloping fat. Such things I learned from this boy, prophecies withering away from rites bearing no marks, for he is my guide as I am for others.

As for this situation, the city is sick from your thinking. Absolutely all our altars and braziers are filled by birds and dogs with the meat of the unfortunate fallen son of Oedipus. No longer do the gods accept prayers from us at sacrifices or the flames from our thigh pieces, nor do the birds scream cries that mark meaning clearly since they are glutted on the fat of a slain man's blood.

Therefore, think about this, child. For men, all of them, it is common to make mistakes. Whenever he does make a mistake, that man is still not foolish or unhappy who, fallen into evil, applies a remedy and does not become immovable. Stubborn self-will incurs a charge of stupidity. No, yield to the dead, and do not goad the deceased. What valor this-- to slay the dead again? I have thought this out well and speak for your good. Learning from someone speaking kindly is very pleasant, if he speaks to your profit.

Creon Elder, all of you, like bowmen at their target, shoot arrows at this man. I am not without experience of that prophetic craft of yours. By the tribe of those of your ilk, I have been sold off like wares and loaded as cargo before. Pursue your profits, sell electrum from Sardis,19 if you wish, and the gold of India. You will not hide that one with a tomb, not even if Zeus's eagles want to seize him for meat and carry him to the thrones of Zeus. Not even fearing this pollution, will I give him up for burying, for well I know that none among men has the power to pollute gods. They fall shameful falls, old man Tiresias, those of mortals who are very clever, whenever

18 The gadfly, an tormenting insect and metaphor for frenzy, makes incomprehensible twittering sounds like those of barbarous, that is, non-Greek languages. 19 Electrum, gold mixed with twenty-percent or more of silver, was mined on Tmolus in Lydia, the mountain range south of Sardis.

they utter shameful words nobly for the sake of profit.

Tiresias Pheu!20 does any man know, does he consider . . .

Creon Just what? What old saw are you saying?

Tiresias by how much the best of possessions is good counsel?

Creon By as much, I suppose, as not to have sense is the greatest harm.

Tiresias You certainly were full of this sickness.

Creon I prefer not to speak evil of a prophet.

Tiresias And yet, you do, when you say I prophecy falsely.

Creon Yes, for the whole family of prophets is lovers of silver.

Tiresias And the family of absolute rulers holds disgraceful profits as its love.

Creon Do you know what you are saying you say of sovereigns?

Tiresias I do, since on my account you saved the city and have it now.

Creon You are a skilled prophet but one who is kin to wrongdoing.

Tiresias You will goad me to say in my breast that ought not be moved.

Creon Move them. Only do not do so by speaking for profit.

Tiresias Do I seem to you to speak that way?

Creon Know that you are not going to sell my purpose.

Tiresias Know this well: you will no longer finish many successive laps of the sun in which you yourself will have repaid one from your own loins, a corpse in return for corpses, because you have cast one of those up here down there, and while domiciling a living being in a tomb without honor, you have one of those belonging to the lower gods up here, a corpse without portion, without burial rites, without holiness. In those things, neither you nor the gods above have a share, but for this they are being violated by you. For this reason, mutilators whose destruction comes afterwards, lie in ambush for you, the Erinyes of Hades and the gods, so that you may be caught in these same evils.

Consider whether I am saying this, silvered in bribes, for the wearing away of not a long time will reveal the laments for men, for women in your house. All the cities are thrown into disorder

20 “Pheu” was a Greek interjection of anger or grief.

87 by hostility whose severed bodies either dogs have consecrated or beasts or some winged bird, carrying an unhallowed stench into the city of their hearths. Such bolts, for you rile me, like an archer I let loose in rage at your heart, sure bolts whose heat you will not run out from under. Boy, lead us home, so this one may vent his rage on younger men and learn to nourish a tongue calmer and a mind in his breast better than he now bears.

[Exit Tiresias, led by the boy.]

Coryphaeus Lord, the man is gone after uttering terrible prophecies. We know, from the time I put on white hair from black, that he never cried out falsehood to a city.

Creon I know this myself, and I shutter in my breast.For to yield is terrible, but to resist and smite my rage with ruin present a terrible alternative.

Coryphaeus There is need, son of Menoeceus, to take good counsel.

Creon What ought I to do, then? Tell me. I will obey.

Coryphaeus Go, release the maiden from the cavernous room, and build a tomb for the one lying forth.

Creon You advise this? It is best for me to yield?

Coryphaeus As quickly as possible, lord, the gods' swift-footed Harms cut short those who think badly.

Creon Ah me! It is hard, but I abandon my heart to do it.A vain battle must not be waged against necessity.

Coryphaeus Go, and do these things. Do not entrust them to others.

Creon I should go just as I am. Come, come, servants, both those present and those not present. Take up axes, and rush to the place in plain sight. Since my opinion turns around in this direction, I bound her myself, and I will go there and release her. For I fear that it is best for one to end his life preserving the established customs.

[Creon exits. Then a man enters from the country.]

Messenger Neighbors of the houses of Cadmus and Amphion [the founders of Thebes], no life among men exists that I would either praise or blame as fixed once for all. Chance sets upright, and chance dashes down the lucky and the unlucky, always. Mortals have no prophet at all for what is established. For Creon was enviable in my opinion, once. He saved this land of Cadmus [Thebes] from its enemies. He received sole rule omnipotent over the land and guided it straight, flourishing in the seed of children born. And now everything is lost.

Whenever men forfeit their pleasures, I do not regard such a man as alive, but I consider him a living corpse. Be very wealthy in your household, if you wish, and live the style of absolute rulers, but should the enjoyment of these depart, what is left, compared to pleasure, I would not buy from a man for a shadow of smoke.

Coryphaeus What misery this for the kings do you come bringing?

Messenger They are dead. The living are responsible for them dying.

Coryphaeus Who is the murderer? Who is laid forth? Tell us.

Messenger Haemon is dead, his blood drawn by a hand of his own . . .

Coryphaeus his father's or the hand of his own?

Messenger He himself by his own hand in anger at his father for the murder.

Coryphaeus O prophet, how truly you fulfilled your word.

Messenger Since this is the situation, it remains to plan for the rest.

[A woman enters from the house.]

Coryphaeus Here I see wretched Eurydice close by, wife of Creon.21 She comes from the house, because she has she heard about her son, or by chance.

Eurydice All my townsmen, I heard your words as I was approaching the door to go and address the goddess Pallas [Athena] with my prayers. I was just loosening the bolts of the door, when the sound of misfortune for my house struck my ears. I fell backward in fear into my servants' arms and fainted. But say again what the report was, for I will listen as one not inexperienced in evils.

Messenger I will tell you, beloved lady. I was there. I will not omit any word of the truth. Why would I comfort you with words for which later I will be revealed a liar? The truth is always the right thing. I followed your husband as his guide to the edge of the plain where was lying, unpitied and rent by dogs Polyneices' body, still. We asked the Goddess of the Road [Hecate] and Plouton [Hades] to maintain a kindly disposition. We bathed him with purifying bath and burned what was left on newly plucked branches. A lofty crowned mound of his own earth, we heaped upon him, and, afterwards, we left for the maiden's hollow bridal chamber of Hades with its bedding of stone. From afar someone hears high-pitched laments of a voice near the bride's chamber unhallowed by funeral rites. He came and reported to his master. Senseless marks of a cry of suffering came over Creon as he drew nearer. Crying out, he sent forth a mournful word.

21 Eurydice can be played by the Antigone or Ismene actor. Her name means "Wide Justice." The advantage of the Antigone actor would be that this casting in a small measure grants Antigone the revenge she seeks in her final words.

"O miserable me, am I a prophet? Am I going the most unfortunate road of those traveled before? My son's voice touches me. But, servants, go quickly closer, and stand near the tomb, and look, entering at the gap torn in the rocks of the mound as far as the mouth itself, and see if I am hearing Haemon's voice, or I am deceived by the gods."

At the command of our despairing master, we began looking, and in the furthest part of the tomb, we saw her hanging by the neck, suspended by a noose of fine linen, and him lying beside her, his arms about her waist, bewailing the destruction of his nuptial bed departed below, his father's deeds, and wretched marriage bed. When Creon sees him, crying out dreadfully, he goes inside toward him, and wailing out loud, he calls out:

"Wretched one, what have you done? What were you thinking? By what disaster were you destroyed? Come out, my child, I beg you on my knees."

With savage eyes descrying him, the boy, spitting at his face and offering no reply, draws his two-edged sword, but he fell short of his father bolting in flight. Then, doomed and furious with himself, just as he was, he stretched out and drove his sword half-way into his side. Still conscious, he enfolds the girl in his faint embrace. He was panting and streaming a swift flow of blood upon her white cheek. He lies, corpse around corpse. The wretched one received marriage rites in Hades' house, having shown among men how much lack of counsel is the greatest evil that clings to a man. [At some point before the Messenger concludes his report, Eurydice withdraws into the house.]

Coryphaeus What do you suppose about that? The woman is gone again, before she said a word, good or bad.

Messenger I, too, am surprised, but I feed on the hopes that, on hearing of her child's pains, she does not think wailing before the city proper, but inside beneath her roof, she will set forth the grief of her own for her slaves to lament. She is not inexperienced in discretion so as to make a mistake.

Coryphaeus I do not know. To me too much silence seems as heavy as much vain shouting.

Messenger Well, we will know if, as we fear, she is concealing something, repressed secretly in her distraught heart, after I have entered the house. You are right. There is a heaviness even in too much silence.

[Exit Messenger. During his last lines, Creon enters silently, holding onto the body of his son Haemon which is carried by his servants.]

Coryphaeus Here comes the lord himself, holding in his hands a remarkable memorial, if it is meet to say, not of another's ruin but of a mistake that is all his own.

Creon O the mistakes of thoughtless minds, stubborn, deadly mistakes; O, you who look upon kinsmen slayers and the slain.

Ah me! the unhappy counsels among my counsels. O boy, new to life with a new kind of death, aiai,22 aiai, you died, and you have departed because of my bad counsels, not yours.

Coryphaeus Ah me! How you seem to see justice late.

Creon Ah me! I have learned in misery. Upon my head a god, at that time holding a heavy weight, struck me and hurled me in savage ways, Ah me! overturning and trampling my joy. Pheu! Pheu! the painful pains of mortals.

[Enter the Messenger from the house.]

Messenger Master, you are holding evils, and you have others laid in store. Some you carry in your hands. Others inside the house you are about to come and see over there.

Creon What worse evil is yet to come from evils?

Messenger The woman is dead, the all-mother of the corpse, the wretched one, just now by newly cut blows.

Creon O haven of Hades hard to atone, why me, why are you destroying me? O you who have escorted to me the sufferings of ill-tidings, what word are you crying out? Aiai, you have done away with a dead man. What are you saying, boy? What news are telling me? Aiai, aiai, slaughter on top of destruction-- a woman's death besetting me on both sides?

Messenger You may see, for she is no longer in the inner recesses of the house.

[The central doors of the stage building move inward. A low, wooden platform mounted on wheels is pushed outward. On it is displayed the corpse of Eurydice lying next to an altar. A sword is visible piercing her side.]

Creon Ah me! in my misery I am looking at a second evil. What, what fate still awaits me? I hold my child just now in my hands, wretched me, and I look further at the corpse before me. Pheu! Pheu! woeful mother, Pheu, child.

Messenger †Around the sharply whetted knife at the altar,† ...... she relaxes her eyebrows into darkness, after lamenting the empty bed of Megareus who died before23 and again the bed of this one and lastly, after conjuring evil doings for you, child-killer.

Creon Aiai, aiai, I flutter with fear. Why has someone not struck me straight in the chest with a two-edged sword? I am miserable, aiai, and I am soaked in miserable woe.

22 Like “pheu,” “aiai” is another Greek way of vocalizing grief. 23 Sophocles does not say how Megareus, other son of Creon and Eurydice, died, but he implies that Creon was involved. According to Apollodorus, Tiresias declared that the Thebans would be victorious over the Argives if Creon's son offered himself as a sacrificial victim. When Megareus heard the prophecy, he slew himself before the city's gates.

Messenger Yes, you were denounced by the dead woman with responsibility for the deaths, that one and this one both.

Creon In what way did she release herself in bloodshed?

Messenger By striking herself with her own hand down to the liver when she heard of the boy's sharply lamented suffering.

Creon Ah me! me, these things will never be fit upon another of mortals and be free of my responsibility. Yes, I killed, I killed you, O pitiable me, I, the report is true. Oh, servants, lead me away as quickly as you can, lead me from under foot, who exists no more than a nonentity.

Coryphaeus You give profitable advice, if any profit exists amid evils, for the evils at one's feet are best when very brief.

Creon Let it come. Let it come. Let the fairest of destinies appear, the one that brings to me my final day, the supreme destiny. Let it come. Let it come, that I no longer see another day.

Coryphaeus These things lie in the future. It is necessary to do some of what lies before. What lies in the future is the care of those who ought to care.

Creon No, what I lust for, I have prayed for.

Coryphaeus Then, do not pray for anything. There is no escape for mortals from misfortune that is fated.

Creon Please, lead a useless man out from under foot, who killed you, boy, not willingly, and you, too, this woman. O me, wretched me, I do not know toward which to look or where to lean for support. Everything in my hands is awry, while upon my head fate unbearable leaped.

[Creon is led into the house. The wheeled platform is drawn inside, and the messenger and the slaves carrying Haemon's body enter the house.]

Chorus of Theban Elders By far is having sense the first part of happiness. One must not act impiously toward what pertains to gods. Big words of boasting men, paid for by big blows, teach having sense in old age.

Plato, Selections from the Phaedo (ca.360 BCE)1

The Phaedo (about 50 pages in its entirety) is set in the cell of Socrates after he has taken the poison Hemlock prescribed by the death sentence and is waiting for its effects to kick in and kill him. Thus, it is the perfect context in which to discuss life, death, the afterlife and the philosopher’s attitude regarding it all. I have kept all of Socrates’ speech in plain text and indented and italicized the words of his students in a different font to make it easier to follow.

[Socrates:] And now I will make answer to you, O my judges, and show that he who has lived as a true philosopher has reason to be of good cheer when he is about to die, and that after death he may hope to receive the greatest good in the other world. And how this may be, Simmias and Cebes, I will endeavor to explain. For I deem that the true disciple of philosophy is likely to be misunderstood by other men; they do not perceive that he is ever pursuing death and dying; and if this is true, why, having had the desire of death all his life long, should he repine at the arrival of that which he has been always pursuing and desiring? Simmias laughed and said: Though not in a laughing humor, I swear that I cannot help laughing when I think what the wicked world will say when they hear this. They will say that this is very true, and our people at home will agree with them in saying that the life which philosophers desire is truly death, and that they have found them out to be deserving of the death which they desire. And they are right, Simmias, in saying this, with the exception of the words "They have found them out"; for they have not found out what is the nature of this death which the true philosopher desires, or how he deserves or desires death. But let us leave them and have a word with ourselves: Do we believe that there is such a thing as death? To be sure, replied Simmias. And is this anything but the separation of soul and body? And being dead is the attainment of this separation; when the soul exists in herself [the Greek word for soul, psyche, is a feminine noun], and is parted from the body and the body is parted from the soul—that is death? Exactly, that and nothing else, he replied. And what do you say of another question, my friend, about which I should like to have your opinion, and the answer to which will probably throw light on our present inquiry: Do you think that the philosopher ought to care about the pleasures-if they are to be called pleasures-of eating and drinking? Certainly not, answered Simmias. And what do you say of the pleasures of love-should he care about them? By no means. And will he think much of the other ways of indulging the body-for example, the acquisition of costly raiment, or sandals, or other adornments of the body? Instead of caring about them, does he not rather despise anything more than nature needs? What do you say? I should say the true philosopher would despise them. Would you not say that he is entirely concerned with the soul and not with the body? He would like, as far as he can, to be quit of the body and turn to the soul. That is true.

1 Plato, Phaedo, translated by Benjamin Jowett in 1871. Parts of the text have been modernized. The full text is available at http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/ancient/plato-phaedo.txt

In matters of this sort philosophers, above all other men, may be observed in every sort of way to sever the soul from the body. That is true. Whereas, Simmias, the rest of the world are of opinion that a life which has no bodily pleasures and no part in them is not worth having; but that he who thinks nothing of bodily pleasures is almost as though he were dead. That is quite true. What again shall we say of the actual acquirement of knowledge? Is the body, if invited to share in the inquiry, a hinderer or a helper? I mean to say, have sight and hearing any truth in them? Are they not, as the poets are always telling us, inaccurate witnesses? And yet, if even they are inaccurate and indistinct, what is to be said of the other senses?-for you will allow that they are the best of them? Certainly, Simmias replied. Then when does the soul attain truth?-for in attempting to consider anything in company with the body she is obviously deceived. Yes, that is true. Then must not existence be revealed to her in thought, if at all? Yes. And thought is best when the mind is gathered into herself and none of these things trouble her- neither sounds nor sights nor pain nor any pleasure-when she has as little as possible to do with the body, and has no bodily sense or feeling, but is aspiring after being? That is true. And in this the philosopher dishonors the body; his soul runs away from the body and desires to be alone and by herself? That is true. Well, but there is another thing, Simmias: Is there or is there not an absolute justice? Assuredly there is. And an absolute beauty and absolute good? Of course. But did you ever behold any of them with your eyes? Certainly not. Or did you ever reach them with any other bodily sense? (and I speak not of these alone, but of absolute greatness, and health, and strength, and of the essence or true nature of everything). Has the reality of them ever been perceived by you through the bodily organs? Or rather, is not the nearest approach to the knowledge of their several natures made by him who so orders his intellectual vision as to have the most exact conception of the essence of that which he considers? Certainly. And he attains to the knowledge of them in their highest purity who goes to each of them with the mind alone, not allowing when in the act of thought the intrusion or introduction of sight or any other sense in the company of reason, but with the very light of the mind in her clearness penetrates into the very light of truth in each; he has got rid, as far as he can, of eyes and ears and of the whole body, which he conceives of only as a disturbing element, hindering the soul from the acquisition of knowledge when in company with her-is not this the sort of man who, if ever man did, is likely to attain the knowledge of existence? There is admirable truth in that, Socrates, replied Simmias.

And when they consider all this, must not true philosophers make a reflection, of which they will speak to one another in such words as these: We have found, they will say, a path of speculation which seems to bring us and the argument to the conclusion that while we are in the body, and while the soul is mingled with this mass of evil, our desire will not be satisfied, and our desire is of the truth. For the body is a source of endless trouble to us by reason of the mere requirement of food; and also is liable to diseases which overtake and impede us in the search after truth: and by filling us so full of loves, and lusts, and fears, and fancies, and idols, and every sort of folly, prevents our ever having, as people say, so much as a thought. For where did wars, and quarrels and factions come from? Where but from the body and the lusts of the body? For wars are occasioned by the love of money, and money has to be acquired for the sake and in the service of the body; and in consequence of all these things the time which ought to be given to philosophy is lost. Moreover, if there is time and an inclination toward philosophy, yet the body introduces a turmoil and confusion and fear into the course of speculation, and hinders us from seeing the truth. And all experience shows that if we would have pure knowledge of anything we must be quit of the body, and the soul in herself must behold all things in themselves. Then I suppose that we shall attain that which we desire, and of which we say that we are lovers, and that is wisdom, not while we live, but after death, as the argument shows; for if while in company with the body the soul cannot have pure knowledge, one of two things seems to follow-either knowledge is not to be attained at all, or, if at all, after death. For then, and not till then, the soul will be in herself alone and without the body. In this present life, I reckon that we make the nearest approach to knowledge when we have the least possible concern or interest in the body, and are not saturated with the bodily nature, but remain pure until the hour when God himself is pleased to release us. And then the foolishness of the body will be cleared away and we shall be pure and hold converse with other pure souls, and know of ourselves the clear light everywhere; and this is surely the light of truth. For no impure thing is allowed to approach the pure. These are the sort of words, Simmias, which the true lovers of wisdom cannot help saying to one another, and thinking. You will agree with me in that? Certainly, Socrates. But if this is true, O my friend, then there is great hope that, going whither I go, I shall there be satisfied with that which has been the chief concern of you and me in our past lives. And now that the hour of departure is appointed to me, this is the hope with which I depart, and not I only, but every man who believes that he has his mind purified. Certainly, replied Simmias. And what is purification but the separation of the soul from the body, as I was saying before; the habit of the soul gathering and collecting herself into herself, out of all the courses of the body; the dwelling in her own place alone, as in another life, so also in this, as far as she can; the release of the soul from the chains of the body? Very true, he said. And what is that which is termed death, but this very separation and release of the soul from the body? To be sure, Simmias said. And the true philosophers, and they only, study and are eager to release the soul. Is not the separation and release of the soul from the body their especial study? That is true. And as I was saying at first, there would be a ridiculous contradiction in men studying to live as nearly as they can in a state of death, and yet recoiling when death comes. Certainly.

Then, Simmias, as the true philosophers are ever studying death, to them, of all men, death is the least terrible.

***

That [pure and unpolluted] soul, I say, herself invisible, departs to the invisible world to the divine and immortal and rational. Arriving there, she lives in bliss and is released from the error and folly of men, their fears and wild passions and all other human ills, and forever dwells, as they say of the initiated, in company with the gods. Is not this true, Cebes? Yes, said Cebes, beyond a doubt. But the soul which has been polluted, and is impure at the time of her departure, and is the companion and servant of the body always, and is in love with and fascinated by the body and by the desires and pleasures of the body, until she is led to believe that the truth only exists in a bodily form, which a man may touch and see and taste and use for the purposes of his lusts-the soul, I mean, accustomed to hate and fear and avoid the intellectual principle, which to the bodily eye is dark and invisible, and can be attained only by philosophy-do you suppose that such a soul as this will depart pure and unalloyed? That is impossible, he replied. She is engrossed by the corporeal, which the continual association and constant care of the body have made natural to her. Very true. And this, my friend, may be conceived to be that heavy, weighty, earthy element of sight by which such a soul is depressed and dragged down again into the visible world, because she is afraid of the invisible and of the world below-prowling about tombs and sepulchres, in the neighborhood of which, as they tell us, are seen certain ghostly apparitions of souls which have not departed pure, but are cloyed with sight and therefore visible. That is very likely, Socrates. Yes, that is very likely, Cebes; and these must be the souls, not of the good, but of the evil, who are compelled to wander about such places in payment of the penalty of their former evil way of life; and they continue to wander until the desire which haunts them is satisfied and they are imprisoned in another body. And they may be supposed to be fixed in the same natures which they had in their former life. What natures do you mean, Socrates? I mean to say that men who have followed after gluttony, and wantonness, and drunkenness, and have had no thought of avoiding them, would pass into asses and animals of that sort. What do you think? I think that exceedingly probable. And those who have chosen the portion of injustice, and tyranny, and violence, will pass into wolves, or into hawks and kites; whither else can we suppose them to go? Yes, said Cebes; that is doubtless the place of natures such as theirs. And there is no difficulty, Socrates said, in assigning to all of them places answering to their several natures and propensities? There is not, Cebes said. Even among them some are happier than others; and the happiest both in themselves and their place of abode are those who have practiced the civil and social virtues which are called temperance and justice, and are acquired by habit and attention without philosophy and mind. Why are they the happiest?

Because they may be expected to pass into some gentle, social nature which is like their own, such as that of bees or ants, or even back again into the form of man, and just and moderate men spring from them. That is not impossible. But he who is a philosopher or lover of learning, and is entirely pure at departing, is alone permitted to reach the gods. And this is the reason, Simmias and Cebes, why the true votaries of philosophy abstain from all fleshly lusts, and endure and refuse to give themselves up to them- not because they fear poverty or the ruin of their families, like the lovers of money, and the world in general; nor like the lovers of power and honor, because they dread the dishonor or disgrace of evil deeds. No, Socrates, that would not become them, said Cebes. No, indeed, he replied; and therefore they who have a care of their souls, and do not merely live in the fashions of the body, say farewell to all this; they will not walk in the ways of the blind and when philosophy offers them purification and release from evil, they feel that they ought not to resist her influence, and to her they incline, and where she leads they follow. What do you mean, Socrates? I will tell you, he said. The lovers of knowledge are conscious that their souls, when philosophy receives them, are simply fastened and glued to their bodies. The soul is only able to view existence through the bars of a prison, and not in her own nature; she is wallowing in the mire of all ignorance; and philosophy, seeing the terrible nature of her confinement, and that the captive through desire is led to conspire in her own captivity (for the lovers of knowledge are aware that this was the original state of the soul, and that when she was in this state philosophy received and gently counseled her, and wanted to release her, pointing out to her that the eye is full of deceit, and also the ear and other senses, and persuading her to retire from them in all but the necessary use of them and to be gathered up and collected into herself, and to trust only to herself and her own intuitions of absolute existence, and mistrust that which comes to her through others and is subject to vicissitude)-philosophy shows her that this is visible and tangible, but that what she sees in her own nature is intellectual and invisible. And the soul of the true philosopher thinks that she ought not to resist this deliverance, and therefore abstains from pleasures and desires and pains and fears, as far as she is able…

Plato, selections from the Symposium

A symposium is a drinking party at which the participants discuss some philosophical topic. In the case of Plato’s Symposium (written ca. 385 BCE) the topic of discussion is the meaning of love. What were the different views of love put forward by the various participants? The excerpts below are taken from four of the speakers (condensed down), with the intervening dialogue removed.

Then, said Eryximachus, as you are all agreed that drinking is to be voluntary, and that there is to be no compulsion, I move, in the next place, that the flute-girl, who has just made her appearance, be told to go away and play to herself, or, if she likes, to the women who are within. Today let us have conversation instead; and, if you will allow me, I will tell you what sort of conversation. …I think that at the present moment we who are here assembled cannot do better than honor the god Love. If you agree with me, there will be no lack of conversation; for I mean to propose that each of us in turn, going from left to right, shall make a speech in honor of Love. Let him give us the best which he can; and Phaedrus, because he is sitting first on the left hand, and because he [suggested the topic], shall begin.

Phaedrus: Numerous are the witnesses who acknowledge Love to be the eldest of the gods. And not only is he the eldest, he is also the source of the greatest benefits to us. For I know not any greater blessing to a young man who is beginning life than a virtuous lover or to the lover than a beloved youth. For the principle which ought to be the guide of men who would nobly live at principle, I say, neither kindred, nor honor, nor wealth, nor any other motive is able to implant so well as love. Of what am I speaking? Of the sense of honor and dishonor, without which neither states nor individuals ever do any good or great work. And I say that a lover who is detected in doing any dishonorable act, or submitting through cowardice when any dishonor is done to him by another, will be more pained at being detected by his beloved than at being seen by his father, or by his companions, or by anyone else. The beloved too, when he is found in any disgraceful situation, has the same feeling about his lover. And if there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their loves, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonor, and emulating one another in honor; and when fighting at each other's side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour of danger? The biggest coward would become an inspired hero, equal to the bravest, at such a time; Love would inspire him. That courage which, as Homer says, the god breathes into the souls of some heroes, Love of his own nature infuses into the lover. Love will make men dare to die for their beloved-love alone; and women as well as men. …And greatly as the gods honor the virtue of love, still the return of love on the part of the beloved to the lover is more admired and valued and rewarded by them, for the lover is more divine; because he is inspired by God. These are my reasons for affirming that Love is the eldest and noblest and mightiest of the gods; and the chief author and giver of virtue in life, and of happiness after death.

Pausanias: If there were only one Love, then what you said would be well enough; but since there are more Loves than one, we should have begun by determining which of them was to be the theme of our praises. I will amend this defect; and first of all I would tell you which Love is deserving of praise, and then try to hymn the praiseworthy one in a manner worthy of him. For we all know that Love is inseparable from Aphrodite, and if there were only one Aphrodite there would be only one Love; but as there are two goddesses there must be two Loves. And am I not right in asserting that there are two goddesses? The elder one, having no mother, who is called the heavenly Aphrodite, she is the daughter of Uranus; the younger, who is the daughter of Zeus and Dione, her we call common; and the Love who is her fellow-worker is rightly named common, as the other love is called heavenly. All the gods ought to have praise given to them, but not without distinction of their natures; and therefore I must try to distinguish the characters of the two Loves. Now actions vary according to the manner of their performance. Take, for example, that which we are now doing, drinking, singing and talking these actions are not in themselves either good or evil, but they turn out in this or that way according to the mode of performing them. And when done well they are good, and when wrongly done they are evil and in like manner not every love, but only that which has a noble purpose, is noble and worthy of praise. The Love who is the offspring of the common Aphrodite is essentially common, and has no discrimination, being such as the meaner sort of men feel, and is apt to be of women as well as of youths, and is of the body rather than of the soul-the most foolish beings are the objects of this love which desires only to gain an end, but never thinks of accomplishing the end nobly, and therefore does good and evil quite indiscriminately. The goddess who is his mother is far younger than the other, and she was born of the union of the male and female, and partakes of both. But the offspring of the heavenly Aphrodite is derived from a mother in whose birth the female has no part,-she is from the male only; this is that love which is of youths, and the goddess being older, there is nothing of wantonness in her. Those who are inspired by this love turn to the male, and delight in him who is the more valiant and intelligent nature; any one may recognize the pure enthusiasts in the very character of their attachments. For they love not boys, but intelligent, beings whose reason is beginning to be developed, much about the time at which their beards begin to grow. And in choosing young men to be their companions, they mean to be faithful to them, and pass their whole life in company with them, not to take them in their inexperience, and deceive them, and play the fool with them, or run away from one to another of them. But the love of young boys should be forbidden by law, because their future is uncertain; they may turn out good or bad, either in body or soul, and much noble enthusiasm may be thrown away upon them; in this matter the good are a law to themselves, and the coarser sort of lovers ought to be restrained by force; as we restrain or attempt to restrain them from fixing their affections on women of free birth. These are the persons who bring a reproach on love; and some have been led to deny the lawfulness of such attachments because they see the impropriety and evil of them; for surely nothing that is decorously and lawfully done can justly be censured. Evil is the vulgar lover who loves the body rather than the soul, inasmuch as he is not even stable, because he loves a thing which is in itself unstable, and therefore when the bloom of youth which he was desiring is over, he takes wing and flies away, in spite of all his words and promises; whereas the love of the noble disposition is life-long, for it becomes one with the everlasting.

Aristophanes: Mankind judging by their neglect of him, have never, as I think, at all understood the power of Love. For if they had understood him they would surely have built noble temples and altars, and offered solemn sacrifices in his honor; but this is not done, and most certainly ought to be done: since of all the gods he is the best friend of men, the helper and the healer of the ills which are the great impediment to the happiness of the race. I will try to describe his power to you, and you shall teach the rest of the world what I am teaching you. In the first place, let me treat of the nature of man and what has happened to it; for the original human nature was not like the present, but different. The sexes were not two as they are now, but originally three in number; there was man, woman, and the union of the two, having a name corresponding to this double nature, which had once a real existence, but is now lost, and the word "Androgynous" is only preserved as a term of reproach. In the second place, the primeval man was round, his back and sides forming a circle; and he had four hands and four feet, one head with two faces, looking opposite ways, set on a round neck and precisely alike; also four ears, two privy members, and the remainder to correspond. He could walk upright as men now do, backwards or forwards as he pleased, and he could also roll over and over at a great pace, turning on his four hands and four feet, eight in all, like tumblers going over and over with their legs in the air; this was when he wanted to run fast…Terrible was their might and strength, and the thoughts of their hearts were great, and they made an attack upon the gods; of them is told the tale of Otys and Ephialtes who dared to scale heaven, and would have laid hands upon the gods. Doubt reigned in the celestial councils. Should they kill them and annihilate the race with thunderbolts, as they had done the giants, then there would be an end of the sacrifices and worship which men offered to them; but, on the other hand, the gods could not suffer their insolence to be unrestrained. At last, after a good deal of reflection, Zeus discovered a way. He said: "Methinks I have a plan which will humble their pride and improve their manners; men shall continue to exist, but I will cut them in two and then they will be diminished in strength and increased in numbers; this will have the advantage of making them more profitable to us. They shall walk upright on two legs, and if they continue insolent and will not be quiet, I will split them again and they shall hop about on a single leg." He spoke and cut men in two, like a sorb-apple which is halved for pickling, or as you might divide an egg with a hair; and as he cut them one after another, he bade Apollo give the face and the half of the neck a turn in order that the man might contemplate the section of himself: he would thus learn a lesson of humility. Apollo was also asked to heal their wounds and compose their forms. So he gave a turn to the face and pulled the skin from the sides all over that which in our language is called the belly, like the purses which draw in, and he made one mouth at the center, which he fastened in a knot (the same which is called the navel); he also molded the breast and took out most of the wrinkles, much as a shoemaker might smooth leather upon a last; he left a few, however, in the region of the belly and navel, as a memorial of the primeval state. After the division the two parts of man, each desiring his other half, came together, and throwing their arms about one another, entwined in mutual embraces, longing to grow into one, they were on the point of dying from hunger and self-neglect, because they did not like to do anything apart; and when one of the halves died and the other survived, the survivor sought another mate, man or woman as we call them, being the sections of entire men or women, and clung to that. They were being destroyed, when Zeus in pity of them invented a new plan: he turned the parts of generation round to the front, for this had not been always their position and they sowed the seed no longer as hitherto like grasshoppers in the ground, but in one another; and after the transposition the male generated in the female in order that by the mutual embraces of man and woman they might breed, and the race might continue; or if man came to

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man they might be satisfied, and rest, and go their ways to the business of life: so ancient is the desire of one another which is implanted in us, reuniting our original nature, making one of two, and healing the state of man. Each of us when separated, having one side only, like a flat fish, is but the indenture of a man, and he is always looking for his other half. Men who are a section of that double nature which was once called Androgynous are lovers of women – adulterers are generally of this breed, and also adulterous women who lust after men. The women who are a section of the woman do not care for men, but have female attachments... But they who are a section of the male follow the male, and while they are young, being slices of the original man, they hang about men and embrace them, and they are themselves the best of boys and youths, because they have the most manly nature. Some indeed assert that they are shameless, but this is not true; for they do not act thus from any want of shame, but because they are valiant and manly, and have a manly countenance, and they embrace that which is like them. And these when they grow up become our statesmen, and these only, which is a great proof of the truth of what I am saving. When they reach manhood they are loves of youth, and are not naturally inclined to marry or beget children,-if at all, they do so only in obedience to the law; but they are satisfied if they may be allowed to live with one another unwedded and such a nature is prone to love and ready to return love, always embracing that which is akin to him. And when one of them meets with his other half, the actual half of himself, whether he be a lover of youth or a lover of another sort, the pair are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy, and would not be out of the other's sight, as I may say, even for a moment: these are the people who pass their whole lives together; yet they could not explain what they desire of one another. For the intense yearning which each of them has towards the other does not appear to be the desire of lover's intercourse, but of something else which the soul of either evidently desires and cannot tell, and of which she has only a dark and doubtful presentiment.

Socrates: And now, taking my leave of you, I would rehearse a tale of love which I heard from Diotima of Mantineia, a woman wise in this and in many other kinds of knowledge, who in the days of old, when the Athenians offered sacrifice before the coming of the plague, delayed the disease ten years. She was my instructress in the art of love, and I shall repeat to you what she said to me… “Love," she said, "may be described generally as the love of the everlasting possession of the good?" "That is most true." I agreed. "Then if this is the nature of love, can you tell me further," she said, "what is the manner of the pursuit? What are they doing who show all this eagerness and heat which is called love? And what is the object which they have in view? Answer me." "No, Diotima," I replied, "if I had known, I should not have wondered at your wisdom, neither should I have come to learn from you about this very matter." "Well," she said, "I will teach you; The object which they have in view is birth in beauty, whether of body or, soul… and this is the reason why, when the hour of conception arrives, and the teeming nature is full, there is such a flutter and ecstasy about beauty whose approach is the alleviation of the pain of travail. For love, Socrates, is not, as you imagine, the love of the beautiful only." "What then?" "The love of generation and of birth in beauty." "Yes," I said. "Yes, indeed," she replied. "But why of generation?" "Because to the mortal creature, generation is a sort of eternity and immortality," she replied; "and if, as has been already admitted, love is of the everlasting possession of the good, all men will necessarily desire immortality together with good: Wherefore love is of immortality."

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Aristotle, selections from the Politics1

Aristotle (384-322 BCE) is equal to Plato in his influence on later philosophy, theology and science. He spent twenty years studying and teaching at Plato’s Academy in Athens. While Aristotle’s writings span a wide variety of subjects, the excerpts here come from the Politics. While we know Aristotle wrote more polished works (and, like Plato, in dialogue format), what has survived are much closer to lecture notes or early drafts meant later to be turned into dialogues. In the excerpts below, he covers the purpose of the state, types of governments and the differences between rulers and subjects (which he begins with a discussion of differences within the household, the basic unit within Greek society).

Book I

It was out of the association formed by men with these two, women and slaves, that the first household was formed; and the poet Hesiod was right when he wrote “get first a house and a wife and an ox to draw the plough” (the ox is a poor man’s slave). This association of persons, established according to the law of nature and continuing day after day, is the household… Property is a part of the household, and the art of acquiring property is a part of the art of managing the household; for no man can live well, or indeed live at all, unless he be provided with the necessities. And as in the arts which have a definite sphere the workers must have their own proper instruments for the accomplishment of their work, so it is in the management of a household. Now instruments are of various sorts; some are living, others lifeless; in the rudder, the pilot of a ship has a lifeless, in the look-out man, a living instrument; for in the arts the servant is a kind of instrument. Thus, too, a possession is an instrument for maintaining life. And so, in the arrangement of the family, a slave is a living possession, and property a number of such instruments; and the servant is himself an instrument which takes precedence of all other instruments.

***

It is clear that household management pertains more to men than to the acquisition of inanimate things, and to human excellence more than to the excellence of property which we call wealth, and to the virtue of freemen more than to the virtue of slaves. A question may indeed be raised, whether there is any excellence at all in a slave beyond and higher than merely bodily services- whether he can have the virtues of temperance, courage, justice, and the like; or whether slaves possess only bodily services. And, whichever way we answer the question, a difficulty arises; for, if they have virtue, in what will they differ from freemen? On the other hand, since they are men and share in rational principle, it seems absurd to say that they have no virtue. A similar question may be raised about women and children, whether they too have virtues: ought a woman to be temperate and brave and just, and is a child to be called temperate, and intemperate? So in general we may ask about the natural ruler, and the natural subject, whether they have the same or different virtues. For if a noble nature is equally required in both, why should one of them always rule, and the other always be ruled? Nor can we say that this is a

1 Aristotle, Politics, translated by Benjamin Jowett (d.1893). Complete text available at http://www.constitution.org/ari/polit_00.htm.

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question of degree, for the difference between ruler and subject is a difference of kind, which the difference of more and less never is. Yet how strange is the supposition that the one ought, and that the other ought not, to have virtue! For if the ruler is intemperate and unjust, how can he rule well? If the subject, how can he obey well? If he be licentious and cowardly, he will certainly not do his duty. It is evident, therefore, that both of them must have a share of virtue, but varying as natural subjects also vary among themselves. Here the very constitution of the soul has shown us the way; in it one part naturally rules, and the other is subject, and the virtue of the ruler we maintain to be different from that of the subject; the one being the virtue of the rational, and the other of the irrational part. Now, it is obvious that the same principle applies generally and, therefore, almost all things rule and are ruled according to nature. But the kind of rule differs; the freeman rules over the slave after another manner from that in which the male rules over the female, or the man over the child; although the parts of the soul are present in an of them, they are present in different degrees. For the slave has no deliberative faculty at all; the woman has, but it is without authority, and the child has, but it is immature. So it must necessarily be supposed to be with the moral virtues also; all should partake of them, but only in such manner and degree as is required by each for the fulfillment of his duty. Hence the ruler ought to have moral virtue in perfection, for his function absolutely demands a master craftsman, and reason is such a craftsman; the subjects, on the other hand, require only that measure of virtue which is proper to each of them. Clearly, then, moral virtue belongs to all of them; but the temperance of a man and of a woman, or the courage and justice of a man and of a woman, are not, as Socrates maintained, the same; the courage of a man is shown in commanding, of a woman in obeying. And this holds of all other virtues, as will be more clearly seen if we look at them in detail, for those who say generally that virtue consists in a good disposition of the soul, or in doing rightly, or the like, only deceive themselves. Far better than such definitions is their mode of speaking, who, like Gorgias, enumerate the virtues. All classes must be deemed to have their special attributes; as the poet [Sophocles] says of women, “Silence is a woman's glory,” but this is not equally the glory of man. The child is imperfect, and therefore obviously his virtue is not relative to himself alone, but to the perfect man and to his teacher, and in like manner the virtue of the slave is relative to a master. Now we determined that a slave is useful for the wants of life, and therefore he will obviously require only so much virtue as will prevent him from failing in his duty through cowardice or lack of self-control. Someone will ask whether, if what we are saying is true, virtue will not be required also in the artisans, for they often fail in their work through the lack of self-control? But is there not a great difference in the two cases? For the slave shares in his master's life; the artisan is less closely connected with him, and only attains excellence in proportion as he becomes a slave. The meaner sort of mechanic has a special and separate slavery; and whereas the slave exists by nature, not so the shoemaker or other artisan. It is manifest, then, that the master ought to be the source of such excellence in the slave, and not a mere possessor of the art of mastership which trains the slave in his duties. Wherefore they are mistaken who forbid us to converse with slaves and say that we should employ command only, for slaves stand even more in need of admonition than children.

Book II

Our purpose is to consider what form of political community is best of all for those who are most able to realize their ideal of life. Three alternatives are conceivable: The members of a state must either have (1) all things or (2) nothing in common, or (3) some things in common and some not.

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That they should have nothing in common is clearly impossible, for the constitution is a community, and must at any rate have a common place---one city will be in one place, and the citizens are those who share in that one city. But should a well ordered state have all things, as far as may be, in common, or some only and not others? For the citizens might conceivably have wives and children and property in common, as Socrates proposes in the Republic of Plato. Which is better, our present condition, or the proposed new order of society?

***

Property should be in a certain sense common, but, as a general rule, private; for, when everyone has a distinct interest, men will not complain of one another, and they will make more progress, because everyone will be attending to his own business. And yet by reason of goodness, and in respect of use, 'Friends,' as the proverb says, "will have all things common." Even now there are traces. For, although every man has his own property, some things he will place at the disposal of his friends, while of others he shares the use with them. Again, how immeasurably greater is the pleasure, when a man feels a thing to be his own; for surely the love of self is a feeling implanted by nature and not given in vain, although selfishness is rightly censured. No one, when men have all things in common, will any longer set an example of liberality or do any liberal action; for liberality consists in the use which is made of property. Such legislation may have a specious appearance of benevolence; men readily listen to it, and are easily induced to believe that in some wonderful manner everybody will become everybody's friend, especially when someone is heard denouncing the evils now existing in states, suits about contracts, convictions for perjury, flatteries of rich men and the like, which are said to arise out of the possession of private property. These evils, however, are due to a very different cause---the wickedness of human nature.

Book III

He who would inquire into the essence and attributes of various kinds of governments must first of all determine "What is a state?" A state is composite, like any other whole made up of many parts; these are the citizens, who compose it. It is evident, therefore, that we must begin by asking, who is the citizen, and what is the meaning of the term? For here again there may be a difference of opinion. He who is a citizen in a democracy will often not be a citizen in an oligarchy. Leaving out of consideration those who have been made citizens, or who have obtained the name of citizen any other accidental manner, we may say, first, that a citizen is not a citizen because he lives in a certain place, for resident aliens and slaves share in the place; nor is he a citizen who has no legal right except that of suing and being sued; for this right may be enjoyed under the provisions of a treaty. But the citizen whom we are seeking to define is a citizen in the strictest sense, against whom no such exception can be taken, and his special characteristic is that he shares in the administration of justice, and in offices. He who has the power to take part in the deliberative or judicial administration of any state is said by us to be a citizens of that state; and, speaking generally, a state is a body of citizens sufficing for the purposes of life. Like the sailor, the citizen is a member of a community. Now, sailors have different functions, for one of them is a rower, another a pilot, and a third a look-out man...Similarly, one citizen differs from another, but the salvation of the community is the common business of them

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all. This community is the constitution; the virtue of the citizen must therefore be relative to the constitution of which he is a member. A constitution is the arrangement of magistracies in a state, especially of the highest of all. The government is everywhere sovereign in the state, and the constitution is in fact the government. For example, in democracies the people are supreme, but in oligarchies, the few; and, therefore, we say that these two forms of government also are different: and so in other cases.

***

First, let us consider what is the purpose of a state, and how many forms of government there are by which human society is regulated. We have already said, in the first part of this treatise, when discussing household management and the rule of a master, that man is by nature a political animal. And therefore, men, even when they do not require one another's help, desire to live together; not but that they are also brought together by their common interests in proportion as they severally attain to any measure of well-being. This is certainly the chief end, both of individuals and of states. And also for the sake of mere life (in which there is possibly some noble element so long as the evils of existence do not greatly overbalance the good) mankind meet together and maintain the political community.... The words constitution and government have the same meaning, and the government, which is the supreme authority in states, must be in the hands of one, or of a few, or of the many. The true forms of government, therefore, are those in which the one, or the few, or the many, govern with a view to the common interest; but governments which rule with a view to the private interest, whether of the one or of the few, or of the many, are perversions. Of forms of government in which one rules, we call that which regards the common interests, monarchy;2 that in which more than one, but not many, rule, aristocracy (and it is so called, either because the rulers are the best men, or because they have at heart the best interests of the state and of the citizens). But when the citizens at large administer the state for the common interest, the government is called a polity. And there is a reason for this use of language. Of the above-mentioned forms, the perversions are as follows: of monarchy, tyranny; of aristocracy, oligarchy; of polity, democracy. For tyranny is a kind of monarchy which has in view the interest of the monarch only; oligarchy has in view the interest of the wealthy; democracy, of the needy: none of them the common good of all. Tyranny, as I was saying, is monarchy exercising the rule of a master over the political society; oligarchy is when men of property have the government in their hands; democracy, the opposite, when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers....Then ought the good to rule and have supreme power? But in that case everybody else, being excluded from power, will be dishonored. For the offices of a state are posts of honor; and if one set of men always holds them, the rest must be deprived of them. Then will it be well that the one best man should rule? Nay, that is still more oligarchical, for the number of those who are dishonored is thereby increased....The discussion of the first question shows nothing so clearly as that laws, when good, should be supreme; and that the magistrate or magistrates should regulate those matters only on which the laws are unable to speak with precision owing to the difficulty of any general principle embracing all particulars.

2 The Aristotle’s definition of six types of government is linked to the Greek words on which they are based: mono = one; aristoi = the best; polis = the city-state and its citizens; tyrannos = one who seized power unjustly; oligoi = a few; and demos = the Athenian name for a political district and the commonly used term by the Greek upper class to refer to the poor, all non-aristocrats.

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Book VII

Now it is evident that the form of government is best in which every man, whoever he is, can act best and live happily....If we are right in our view, and happiness is assumed to be virtuous activity, the active life will be the best, both for every city collectively, and for individuals. In what remains the first point to be considered is what should be the conditions of the ideal or perfect state; for the perfect state cannot exist without a due supply of the means of life...In size and extent it should be such as may enable the inhabitants to live at once temperately and liberally in the enjoyment of leisure. And so states require property, but property, even though living beings are included in it, is no part of a state; for a state is not a community of living beings only, but a community of equals, aiming at the best life possible. Let us then enumerate the functions of a state, and we shall easily elicit what we want: First, there must be food; secondly, arts, for life requires many instruments; thirdly, there must be arms, for the members of a community have need of them, and in their own hands, too, in order to maintain authority both against disobedient subjects and against external assailants; fourthly, there must be a certain amount of revenue, both for internal needs, and for the purposes of war; fifthly, or rather first, there must be a care of religion which is commonly called worship; sixthly, and most necessary of all there must be a power of deciding what is for the public interest, and what is just in men's dealings with one another. These are the services which every state may be said to need. For a state is not a mere aggregate of persons, but a union of them sufficing for the purposes of life; and if any of these things be wanting, it is as we maintain impossible that the community can be absolutely self-sufficing. A state then should be framed with a view to the fulfillment of these functions. There must be farmers to procure food, and artisans, and a warlike and a wealthy class, and priests, and judges to decide what is necessary and expedient. Since every political society is composed of rulers and subjects let us consider whether the relations of one to the other should interchange or be permanent. For the education of the citizens will necessarily vary with the answer given to this question. Now, if some men excelled others in the same degree in which gods and heroes are supposed to excel mankind in general, so that the superiority of the governors was undisputed and patent to their subjects, it would clearly be better that the one class should rule and the other serve. But since this is unattainable, and kings have no marked superiority over their subjects…it is obviously necessary on many grounds that all the citizens alike should take their turn of governing and being governed. Equality consists in the same treatment of similar persons, and no government can stand which is not founded upon justice.

***

Since the legislator should begin by considering how the frames of the children whom he is rearing may be as good as possible, his first care will be about marriage---at what age should his citizens marry, and who are fit to marry? The union of male and female when too young is bad for the procreation of children; it also conduces to temperance not to marry too soon; for women who marry early are apt to be wanton; and in men too the bodily frame is stunted if they marry while the seed is growing (for there is a time when the growth of the seed, also, ceases, or continues to but a slight extent). Women should marry when they are about eighteen years of

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age, and men at thirty-seven; then they are in the prime of life, and the decline in the powers of both will coincide. The constitution of an athlete is not suited to the life of a citizen, or to health, or to the procreation of children, any more than the valetudinarian or exhausted constitution, but one which is in a mean between them. A man's constitution should be inured to labor, but not to labor which is excessive or of one sort only, such as is practiced by athletes; he should be capable of all the actions of a freeman. These remarks apply equally to both parents. Women who are with child should be careful of themselves; they should take exercise and have a nourishing diet. Their minds, however, unlike their bodies, they ought to keep quiet, for the offspring derive their natures from their mothers as plants do from the earth. As to adultery, let it be held disgraceful, in general, for any man or woman to be found in any way unfaithful when they are married, and called husband and wife. As to the exposure and rearing of children, let there be a law that no deformed child shall live, but that on the ground of an excess in the number of children, if the established customs of the state forbid this (for in our state population has a limit), no child is to be exposed, but when couples have children in excess, let abortion be procured before sense and life have begun. The Directors of Education, as they are termed, should be careful what tales or stories the children hear, for all such things are designed to prepare the way for the business of later life, and should be for the most part imitations of the occupations which they will hereafter pursue in earnest. Indeed, there is nothing which the legislator should be more careful to drive away than indecency of speech; for the light utterance of shameful words leads soon to shameful actions. The young especially should never be allowed to repeat or hear anything of the sort. And since we do not allow improper language, clearly we should also banish pictures or speeches from the stage which are indecent. Let the rulers take care that there be no image or picture representing unseemly actions, except in the temples of those gods at whose festivals the law permits even ribaldry, and whom the law also permits to be worshiped by persons of mature age on behalf of themselves, their children, and their wives. And therefore youth should be kept strangers to all that is bad, and especially to things which suggest vice or hate.

Book VIII

The citizen should be molded to suit the form of government under which he lives. And since the whole city has one end, it is manifest that education should be one and the same for all, and that it should be public, and not private. Neither must we suppose that any one of the citizens belongs to himself, for they all belong to the state, and are each of them a part of the state, and the care of each part is inseparable from the care of the whole. The customary branches of education are in number four; they are —1) reading and writing, (2) gymnastic exercises, (3) music, to which is sometimes added (4) drawing. Of these, reading and writing and drawing are regarded as useful for the purposes of life in a variety of ways, and gymnastic exercises are thought to infuse courage. Concerning music a doubt may be raised.---in our own day most men cultivate it for the sake of pleasure, but originally it was included in education, because nature herself, as has been often said, requires that we should be able, not only to work well, but to use leisure well; for, what ought we to do when at leisure? Clearly we ought not to be amusing ourselves, for then amusement would be the end of life. But if this is inconceivable, we should introduce amusements only at suitable times, and they should be our medicines, for the emotion which they create in the soul is a relaxation, and from the pleasure we obtain rest.....

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Arrian, selections from the History of Alexander the Great (the Anabasis of Alexander)1

Arrian was a Greek in the second century CE who was educated in Greek philosophy and served as a soldier, administrator and military commander in the Roman army. He eventually rose to higher positions, becoming a Roman provincial governor and a friend of the Emperor Hadrian. Arrian’s account of Alexander, despite being composed almost 500 years after Alexander’s death, is our best source since he had access to works that did not survive intact, including an account by one of Alexander’s generals, Ptolemy, and accounts of his campaigns by a military engineer and naval commander. In his selection of sources he privileged eyewitness accounts, though he rarely questioned whether they were accurate. The selections below concentrate on the character of Alexander and how he interacted with both his own men (his Macedonian companions) and those of the places he conquered. The section titles are my own, not Arrian’s.

Alexander’s speech before the Battle of Issus against Darius Alexander now sent for his infantry and cavalry commanders and all officers in charge of allied troops and appealed to them for confidence and courage in the coming fight. 'Remember', he said, 'that already danger has often threatened you and you have looked it triumphantly in the face; this time the struggle will be between a victorious army and an enemy already once vanquished. God himself, moreover, by suggesting to Darius to leave the open ground and cram his great army into a confined space, has taken charge of operations in our behalf. We ourselves shall have room enough to deploy our infantry, while they, no match for us either in bodily strength or resolution, will find their superiority in numbers of no avail. Our enemies are Medes and Persians, men who for centuries have lived soft and luxurious lives; we of Macedon for generations past have been trained in the hard school of danger and war. Above all, we are free men, and they are slaves. There are Greek troops, to be sure, in Persian service but how different is their cause from ours! They will be fighting for pay and not much of it at that; we, on the contrary, shall fight for Greece, and, our hearts will be in it. As for our foreign troops— Thracians, Paeonians, Illyrians, Agrianes—they are the best and stoutest soldiers in Europe, and they will find, as their opponents the slackest and softest of the tribes of Asia. And what, finally, of the two men in supreme command? You have Alexander, they—Darius!' Having thus enumerated the advantages with which they would enter the coming struggle, Alexander went on to show that the rewards of victory would also be great. The victory this time would not be over mere underlings of the Persian King, or the Persian cavalry along the banks of Granicus, of the 20,000 foreign mercenaries; it would be over the fine flower of the Medes and Persians and all the Asiatic peoples which they ruled. The Great King was there in person with his army, and once the battle was over, nothing would remain but to crown their many labors with the sovereignty of Asia. He reminded them, further, of what they had already so brilliantly accomplished together, and mentioned any act of conspicuous individual courage, naming the man in each case and specifying what he had done, and alluding also, in such way as to give least offence, to the risks to which he had personally exposed himself on the field. He

1 These selections were taken from http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/ArrAlex.html and http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/readings/arrian2.html

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also, we are told, reminded them of Xenophon and his Ten Thousand, a force which, though not to be compared with their own either in strength or reputation—a force without the support of cavalry such as they had themselves, from Thessaly, Boeotia, the Peloponnese, Macedon, Thrace, and elsewhere, with no archers or slingers except a small contingent from Crete and Rhodes hastily improvised by Xenophon under pressure of immediate need—nevertheless defeated the King of Persia and his army at the gates of Babylon and successfully repelled all the native troops who tried to bar their way as they marched down to the Black Sea. Nor did Alexander omit any other words of encouragement such as brave, men about to risk their lives might expect from a brave commander; and in response to his address his officers pressed forward to clasp his hand and with many expressions of appreciation urged him to lead them to battle without delay.

On Alexander’s desire to conquer When Alexander arrived at Pasargadae and Persepolis, he was seized with an ardent desire to sail down the Euphrates and Tigris to the Persian Sea, and to see the mouths of those rivers as he had already seen those of the Indus as well as the sea into which it flows. Some authors also have stated that he was meditating a voyage round the larger portion of Arabia, the country of the Ethiopians, Libya, and Numidia beyond Mount Atlas to Gadeira, inward into our sea; thinking that after he had subdued both Libya and Carchedon, then indeed he might with justice be called king of all Asia. For he said that the kings of the Persians and Medes called themselves Great Kings without any right, since they ruled a comparatively small part of Asia. Some say that he was meditating a voyage thence into the Black Sea, to Scythia and the Lake Maeotis; while others assert that he intended to go to Sicily and the Iapygian Cape, for the fame of the Romans spreading far and wide was now exciting his jealousy. For my own part I cannot conjecture with any certainty what were his plans; and I do not care to guess. But this I think I can confidently affirm, that he meditated nothing small or mean; and that he would never have remained satisfied with any of the acquisitions he had made, even if he had added Europe to Asia, or the islands of the Britons to Europe; but would still have gone on seeking for some unknown land beyond those mentioned. I verily believe that if he had found no one else to strive with, he would have striven with himself.....

On the Marriages with Persians In Susa, he celebrated both his own wedding and those of his companions. He himself married Barsine, the eldest daughter of Darius, and besides her another, Parysatis, the youngest daughter of Ochus. He had already married Roxana, daughter of Oxyartes the Bactrian. To Hephaestion he gave Drypetis, another daughter of Darius, and his own wife's sister; for he wished Hephaestion's children to be first cousins to his own. To Craterus he gave Amastrine, daughter of Oxyartes the brother of Darius; to Perdiccas, the daughter of Atropates, viceroy of Media; to Ptolemy the confidential body-guard, and Eumenes the royal secretary, the daughters of Artabazus, to the former Artacama, and to the latter Artonis. To Nearchus (the naval commander) he gave the daughter of Barsine and Mentor; to Seleucus the daughter of Spitamenes the Bactrian. Likewise to the rest of his Companions he gave the choicest daughters of the Persians and Medes, to the number of eighty. The weddings were celebrated after the Persian manner, seats being placed in a row for the bridegrooms; and after the banquet the brides came in and seated themselves, each one near her own husband. The bridegrooms took them by the right hand and kissed them; the king being the first to begin, for the weddings of all were conducted in the same way. This

109 appeared the most popular thing which Alexander ever did; and it proved his affection for his Companions. Each man took his own bride and led her away; and on all without exception Alexander bestowed dowries, He also ordered that the names of all the other Macedonians who had married any of the Asiatic women should be registered. They were over 10,000 in number; and to these Alexander made presents on account of their weddings…

The End of Alexander’s Conquests: On Turning Back at India The sight of their King undertaking an endless succession of dangerous and exhausting enterprises was beginning to depress them. Their enthusiasm ebbing; they held meetings in camp, at which even the best of them grumbled at their fate, while others swore that they would go no further not even if Alexander himself led them. This state of affairs was brought to Alexander's notice, and before the alarm and despondency among the men could go still further, he, called a meeting of his officers and addressed them in the following words: “I observe, gentlemen, that when I would lead you on a new venture you no longer follow me with your old spirit. I have asked you to meet me that we may come to a decision together: are we, upon my advice, to go forward, or, upon yours, to turn back? 'If you have any complaint to make about the results of your efforts hitherto, or about myself as your commander, there is no more to say…With all that [we have] accomplished, why do you hesitate to extend the power of Macedon—your power—to the Hyphasis and the tribes on the other side? Are you afraid that a few natives who may still be left will offer opposition? Come, come! These natives either surrender without a blow or are caught on the run—or leave their country undefended for your taking and when we take it, we make a present of it to those who have joined us of their own free will and fight at our side…I could not have blamed you for being the first to lose heart if I, your commander, had not shared in your exhausting marches and your perilous campaigns; it would have been natural enough if you had done all the work merely for others to reap the reward. But it is not so. You and I, gentlemen, have shared the labor and shared the danger, and the rewards are for us all. The conquered territory belongs to you; from your ranks the governors of it are chosen; already the greater part of its treasure passes into your hands, and when all Asia is overrun, then indeed I will go further than the mere satisfaction of your ambitions: the utmost hopes of riches or power which each one of you cherishes will be far surpassed, and whoever wishes to return home will be allowed to go, either with me or without me. I will make those who stay the envy of those who return.” When Alexander ended, there was a long silence. The officers present were not willing to accept what he had said, yet no one liked to risk an unprepared reply. Several times Alexander invited comment, should any wish to give it and genuinely hold different views from those he had expressed; but in spite of his invitation nothing was said until at last Coenus, son of Polemocrates, plucked up his courage to speak. “Sir,” he said, “we appreciate the fact that you do not demand from us unreasoning obedience. You have made it clear to us that you will lead us on only after winning our consent, and, failing that, that you will not use compulsion. This being so, I do not propose to speak on behalf of the officers here assembled, as we, by virtue of our rank and authority, have already received the rewards of our services and are naturally concerned more than the men are to further your interests. I shall speak, therefore for the common soldiers, not, by any means, with the purpose of echoing their sentiments, but saying, what I believe will tend to your present advantage and our

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future security. My age, the repute which by your favor, I enjoy among my comrades, and the unhesitating courage have hitherto displayed in all dangers and difficulties give me the right to declare what I believe to be the soundest policy. Very well, then: precisely, in proportion to the number and magnitude of the achievements wrought by you, our leader, and by the men who marched from horn under your command, I judge it best to set some limit to further enterprise. You know the number of Greeks and Macedonians who started upon this campaign, and you can see how many of us are left today: the Thessalians you sent home from Bactra because you knew their hearts were no longer in their work—and it was wisely done; other Greeks have been settled in the new towns you have founded, where they remain not always willingly, others again, together with our own Macedonians, continue, to share with you the dangers and hardships of war, and of these some have been killed, some, disabled by wounds, have been left behind in various parts of Asia, and more still have died of sickness, so that only a few from that great army are left, a small remnant broken in health, their old vigor and determination gone. Every man of them longs to see his parents again, if they yet survive, or his wife, or his children; all are yearning for, the familiar earth of home, hoping, pardonably enough, to live, to revisit it, no longer in poverty and obscurity, but famous and enriched by the treasure you have enabled them to win. Do not try to lead men who are unwilling to follow you; if their heart is not in it, you will never find the old spirit or the old courage. Consent rather yourself to return to your mother and your home. Once there, you may bring good government to Greece and enter your ancestral house with all the glory of the many great victories won in this campaign, and then, should you so desire it, you may begin again and undertake a new expedition against these Indians of the East — or, if you prefer, to the Black Sea or to Carthage and the Libyan territories beyond. It is for you to decide. Other troops, Greek and Macedonian, will follow you — young, fresh troops to take the place of your war-weary veterans. Still ignorant of the horrors of war and full of hope for what the future may bring, these men will follow you with all the more eagerness in that they have seen your old campaigners come safely home again no longer poor and nameless but loaded with money and fame. Sir, if there is one thing above all others a successful man should know, it is when to stop. Assuredly for a commander like yourself, with an army like ours, there is nothing to fear from any enemy; but luck, remember, is an unpredictable thing, and against what it may bring no man has any defense.” Coenus' words were greeted with applause. Some even wept, which was proof enough of their reluctance to prolong the campaign and of how happy they would be should the order be given to turn back. Alexander resented the freedom with which Coenus, had spoken and the poor spirit shown by the other officers, and dismissed the conference. . . .

Arrian’s Concluding Assessment of Alexander Alexander died in the 114th Olympiad, in the archonship of Hegesias at Athens. He lived thirty- two years and eight months and reigned twelve years and eight months. He had great personal beauty, invincible power of endurance, and a keen intellect; he was brave and adventurous, strict in the observance of his religious duties, and hungry for fame. Most temperate in the pleasures of the body, his passion was for glory only, and in that he was insatiable. He had an uncanny instinct for the right course in a difficult and complex situation, and was most happy in his deductions from observed facts. In arming and equipping troops and in his military dispositions he was always masterly. Noble indeed was his power of inspiring his men, of filling them with confidence, and, in the moment of danger, of sweeping away their fear by the spectacle of his

111 own fearlessness. When risks had to be taken, he took them with the utmost boldness, and his ability to seize the moment for a swift blow, before his enemy had any suspicion of what was coming, was beyond praise. No cheat or liar ever caught him off his guard, and both his word and his bond were inviolable. Spending but little on his own pleasures, he poured out his money without stint for the benefit of his friends. Doubtless, in the passion of the moment Alexander sometimes erred; it is true he took some steps towards the pomp and arrogance of the Asiatic kings: but I, at least, cannot feel that such errors were very heinous, if the circumstances are taken fairly into consideration. For, after all, he was young; the chain of his successes was unbroken, and, like all kings, past, present, and to come, he was surrounded by courtiers who spoke to please, regardless of what evil their words might do. On the other hand, I do indeed know that Alexander, of all the monarchs of old, was the only one who had the nobility of heart to be sorry for his mistakes. Most people, if they know they have done wrong, foolishly suppose they can conceal their error by defending it, and finding a justification for it; but in my belief there is only one medicine for an evil deed, and that is for the guilty man to admit his guilt and show that he is sorry for it. Such an admission will make the consequences easier for the victim to bear, and the guilty man himself, by plainly showing his distress at former transgressions, will find good grounds of hope for avoiding similar transgressions in the future. Nor do I think that Alexander's claim to a divine origin was a very serious fault—in any case, it may well have been a mere device to magnify his consequence in the eyes of his subjects. In point of fact I account him as great a king as Minos or Aeacus or Rhadamanthus, whose claims to be the sons of Zeus were not felt by the men of old to be in any way dangerously arrogant; and the same may be said of Theseus' claim to be the son of Poseidon and Ion's to be son of Apollo. Surely, too, his adoption of Persian dress was, like his claim to divine birth, a matter of policy: by it he hoped to bring the Eastern nations to feel that they had a king who was not wholly a foreigner, and to indicate to his own countrymen his desire to move away from the harsh traditional arrogance of Macedonia. That was also, no doubt, the reason why he included a proportion of Persian troops (the so-called Golden Apples, for instance) in Macedonian units, and made Persian noblemen officers in his crack native regiments. As for his reputed heavy drinking, Aristobulus declares that his drinking bouts were prolonged not for their own sake—for he was never, in fact, a heavy drinker—but simply because he enjoyed the companionship of his friends. Anyone who belittles Alexander has no right to do so on the evidence only of what merits censure in him; he must base his criticism on a comprehensive view of his whole life and career. But let such a person, if blackguard Alexander he must, first compare himself with the object of his abuse: himself, so mean and obscure, and, confronting him, the great King with his unparalleled worldly success, the undisputed monarch of two continents, who spread the power of his name over all the earth. Will he dare to abuse him then, when he knows his own littleness and the triviality of his own pursuits, which, even so, prove too much for his ability?

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Polybius, Analysis of Roman Government from The Histories, Book 6.2

Polybius (ca.203-ca.118 BCE) was a Greek aristocrat who was deported to Italy as a political hostage (for the good behavior of his father) when the Romans gained control of his region of Greece. Luckily for Polybius, he ended up as a tutor for the children of one of Rome’s leading men and quickly became a trusted friend and advisor. Polybius came to identify himself more with the Roman Republic than Greece and was present when Roman armies conquered Greece in 146 BCE. Polybius’ Histories covers the ascent of Rome from the third century through the conquest of Carthage and Greece. Many historians view the Histories as Polybius’ attempt to explain Rome to a Greek audience. This section of Book Six is widely considered the most- valuable (though not unproblematic) synopsis of the complicated political organization of Rome and was an inspiration for Enlightenment political theorists.

The three kinds of government, monarchy, aristocracy and democracy, were all found united in the commonwealth of Rome. And so even was the balance between them all, and so regular the administration that resulted from their union, that it was no easy thing to determine with assurance, whether the entire state was to be estimated an aristocracy, a democracy, or a monarchy. For if they turned their view upon the power of the consuls,3 the government appeared to be purely monarchical and regal. If, again, the authority of the senate4 was considered, it then seemed to wear the form of aristocracy. And, lastly, if regard was to be had to the share which the people possessed in the administration of affairs, it could then scarcely fail to be denominated a popular state. The several powers that were appropriated to each of these distinct branches of the constitution at the time of which we are speaking, and which, with very little variation, are even still preserved, are these which follow.

The consuls, when they remain in Rome, before they lead out the armies into the field, are the masters of all public affairs. For all other magistrates, the tribunes5 alone excepted, are subject to them, and bound to obey their commands. They introduce ambassadors into the senate. They propose also to the senate the subjects of debates; and direct all forms that are observed in making the decrees. Nor is it less a part of their office likewise, to attend to those affairs that are transacted by the people; to call together general assemblies; to report to them the resolutions of the senate; and to ratify whatever is determined by the greater number. In all the preparations that are made for war, as well as in the whole administration in the field, they possess an almost absolute authority. For to them it belongs to impose upon the allies whatever services they judge expedient; to appoint the military tribunes; to enroll the legions, and make the necessary levies, and to inflict punishments in the field, upon all that are subject to their command. Add to this, that they have the power likewise to expend whatever sums of money they may think convenient

2 Available at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/polybius6.asp 3 There were two consuls, who held office for a year and had veto power over each other. 4 The Senate was usually made up of 300 members, all wealthy ex-magistrates (no political office in Rome paid a salary). 5 The tribunes were officials originally put in place to give some political representation to the plebeians (the lower classes), who were ineligible for service as consuls, senators, priests, and several other offices before the third century.

113 from the public treasury; being attended for that purpose by a quaestor; who is always ready to receive and execute their orders. When anyone therefore, directs his view to this part of the constitution, it is very reasonable for him to conclude that this government is no other than a simple royalty. Let me only observe, that if in some of these particular points, or in those that will hereafter be mentioned, any change should be either now remarked, or should happen at some future time, such an alteration will not destroy the general principles of this discourse.

To the senate belongs, in the first place, the sole care and management of the public money. For all returns that are brought into the treasury, as well as all the payments that are issued from it, are directed by their orders. Nor is it allowed to the quaestors to apply any part of the revenue to particular occasions as they arise, without a decree of the senate; those sums alone excepted which are expended in the service of the consuls. And even those more general, as well as greatest disbursements, which are employed at the return every five years, in building and repairing the public edifices, are assigned to the censors for that purpose, by the express permission of the senate. To the senate also is referred the cognizance of all the crimes, committed in any part of Italy, that demand a public examination and inquiry: such as treasons, conspiracies, poisonings, and assassinations. Add to this, that when any controversies arise, either between private men, or any of the cities of Italy, it is the part of the senate to adjust all disputes; to censure those that are deserving of blame: and to yield assistance to those who stand in need of protection and defense. When any embassies are sent out of Italy; either to reconcile contending states; to offer exhortations and advice; or even, as it sometimes happens, to impose commands; to propose conditions of a treaty; or to make a denunciation of war; the care and conduct of all these transactions is entrusted wholly to the senate. When any ambassadors also arrive in Rome, it is the senate likewise that determines how they shall be received and treated, and what answer shall be given to their demands.

In all these things that have now been mentioned, the people has no share. To those, therefore, who come to reside in Rome during the absence of the consuls, the government appears to be purely aristocratic. Many of the Greeks, especially, and of the foreign princes, are easily led into this persuasion: when they perceive that almost all the affairs, which they are forced to negotiate with the Romans, are determined by the senate.

And now it may well be asked, what part is left to the people in this government: since the senate, on the one hand, is vested with the sovereign power, in the several instances that have been enumerated, and more especially in all things that concern the management and disposal of the public treasure; and since the consuls, on the other hand, are entrusted with the absolute direction of the preparations that are made for war, and exercise an uncontrolled authority on the field. There is, however, a part still allotted to the people; and, indeed, the most important part. For, first, the people are the sole dispensers of rewards and punishments; which are the only bands by which states and kingdoms, and, in a word, all human societies, are held together. For when the difference between these is overlooked, or when they are distributed without due distinction, nothing but disorder can ensue. Nor is it possible, indeed, that the government should be maintained if the wicked stand in equal estimation with the good. The people, then, when any such offences demand such punishment, frequently condemn citizens to the payment of a fine: those especially who have been invested with the dignities of the state. To the people alone belongs the right to sentence any one to die. Upon this occasion they have a custom which

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deserves to be mentioned with applause. The person accused is allowed to withdraw himself in open view, and embrace a voluntary banishment, if only a single tribe remains that has not yet given judgment; and is suffered to retire in safety to Praeneste, Tibur, Naples, or any other of the confederate cities. The public magistrates are allotted also by the people to those who are esteemed worthy of them: and these are the noblest rewards that any government can bestow on virtue. To the people belongs the power of approving or rejecting laws and, which is still of greater importance, peace and war are likewise fixed by their deliberations. When any alliance is concluded, any war ended, or treaty made; to them the conditions are referred, and by them either annulled or ratified. And thus again, from a view of all these circumstances, it might with reason be imagined, that the people had engrossed the largest portion of the government, and that the state was plainly a democracy.

Such are the parts of the administration, which are distinctly assigned to each of the three forms of government, that are united in the commonwealth of Rome. It now remains to be considered, in what manner each several form is enabled to counteract the others, or to cooperate with them.

When the consuls, invested with the power that has been mentioned, lead the armies into the field, though they seem, indeed, to hold such absolute authority as is sufficient for all purposes, yet are they in truth so dependent both on the senate and the people, that without their assistance they are by no means able to accomplish any design. It is well known that armies demand a continual supply of necessities. But neither corn, nor habits, nor even the military stipends, can at any time be transmitted to the legions unless by an express order of the senate. Any opposition, therefore, or delay, on the part of this assembly, is sufficient always to defeat the enterprises of the generals. It is the senate, likewise, that either compels the consuls to leave their designs imperfect, or enables them to complete the projects which they have formed, by sending a successor into each of their several provinces, upon the expiration of the annual term, or by continuing them in the same command. The senate also has the power to aggrandize and amplify the victories that are gained, or, on the contrary, to depreciate and debase them. For that which is called among the Romans a triumph, in which a sensible representation of the actions of the generals is exposed in solemn procession to the view of all the citizens, can neither be exhibited with due pomp and splendor, nor, indeed, be in any other manner celebrated, unless the consent of the senate be first obtained, together with the sums that are requisite for the expense. Nor is it less necessary, on the other hand, that the consuls, however far they may happen to be removed from Rome, should be careful to preserve the good affections of the people. For the people, as we have already mentioned, annuls or ratifies all treaties. But that which is of greatest moment is that the consuls, at the time of laying down their office are bound to submit their past administration to the judgment of the people. And thus these magistrates can at no time think themselves secure, if they neglect to gain the approbation both of the senate and the people.

In the same manner the senate also, though invested with so great authority, is bound to yield a certain attention to the people, and to act in concert with them in all affairs that are of great importance. With regard especially to those offences that are committed against the state, and which demand a capital punishment, no inquiry can be perfected, nor any judgment carried into execution, unless the people confirm what the senate has before decreed. Nor are the things which more immediately regard the senate itself less subject than the same control. For if a law should at any time be proposed to lessen the received authority of the senators, to detract from

115 their honors and pre-eminence, or even deprive them of a part of their possessions, it belongs wholly to the people to establish or reject it. And even still more, the interposition of a single tribune is sufficient, not only to suspend the deliberations of the senate, but to prevent them also from holding any meeting or assembly. Now the peculiar office of the tribunes is to declare those sentiments that are most pleasing to the people: and principally to promote their interests and designs. And thus the senate, on account of all these reasons, is forced to cultivate the favor and gratify the inclinations of the people.

The people again, on their part, are held in dependence on the senate, both to the particular members, and to the general body. In every part of Italy there are works of various kinds, which are let to farm by the censors, such are the building or repairing of the public edifices, which are almost innumerable; the care of rivers, harbors, mines and lands; everything, in a word, that falls beneath the dominion of the Romans. In all these things the people are the undertakers: inasmuch as there are scarcely any to be found that are not in some way involved, either in the contracts, or in the management of the works. For some take the farms of the censors at a certain price; others become partners with the first. Some, again, engage themselves as sureties for the farmers; and others, in support also of these sureties, pledge their own fortunes to the state. Now, the supreme direction of all these affairs is placed wholly in the senate. The senate has the power to allot a longer time, to lighten the conditions of the agreement, in case that any accident has intervened, or even to release the contractors from their bargain, if the terms should be found impracticable. There are also many other circumstances in which those that are engaged in any of the public works may be either greatly injured or greatly benefited by the senate; since to this body, as we have already observed, all things that belong to these transactions are constantly referred. But there is still another advantage of much greater moment. For from this order, likewise, judges are selected, in almost every accusation of considerable weight, whether it be of a public or private nature. The people, therefore, being by these means held under due subjection and restraint, and doubtful of obtaining that protection, which they foresee that they may at some time want, are always cautious of exciting any opposition to the measures of the senate. Nor are they, on the other hand, less ready to pay obedience to the orders of the consuls; through the dread of that supreme authority, to which the citizens in general, as well as each particular man, are obnoxious in the field.

Thus, while each of these separate parts is enabled either to assist or obstruct the rest, the government, by the apt contexture of them all in the general frame, is so well secured against every accident, that it seems scarcely possible to invent a more perfect system. For when the dread of any common danger, that threatens from abroad, constrains all the orders of the state to unite together, and co-operate with joint assistance; such is the strength of the republic that as, on the one hand, no measures that are necessary are neglected, while all men fix their thoughts upon the present exigency; so neither is it possible, on the other hand, that their designs should at any time be frustrated through the want of due celerity, because all in general, as well as every citizen in particular, employ their utmost efforts to carry what has been determined into execution. Thus the government, by the very form and peculiar nature of its constitution, is equally enabled to resist all attacks, and to accomplish every purpose. And when again all apprehensions of foreign enemies are past, and the Romans being now settled in tranquility, and enjoying at their leisure all the fruits of victory, begin to yield to the seduction of ease and plenty, and, as it happens usually in such conjunctures, become haughty and ungovernable; then

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chiefly may we observe in what manner the same constitution likewise finds in itself a remedy against the impending danger. For whenever either of the separate parts of the republic attempts to exceed its proper limits, excites contention and dispute, and struggles to obtain a greater share of power, than that which is assigned to it by the laws, it is manifest, that since no one single part, as we have shown in this discourse, is in itself supreme or absolute, but that on the contrary, the powers which are assigned to each are still subject to reciprocal control, the part, which thus aspires, must soon be reduced again within its own just bounds, and not be suffered to insult or depress the rest. And thus the several orders, of which the state is framed, are forced always to maintain their due position: being partly counter-worked in their designs; and partly also restrained from making any attempt, by the dread of falling under that authority to which they are exposed.

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Augustus, The Deeds of the Divine Augustus1

The Deeds of the Divine Augustus was the funeral inscription placed on bronze tablets for Augustus Caesar (d.14 CE), the first Roman Emperor. It was composed and revised over time by Augustus himself. What were Augustus’ most important achievements, as he saw them? How did he portray his rise to power and his dominance of Roman politics?

A copy below of the deeds of the divine Augustus, by which he subjected the whole wide earth to the rule of the Roman people, and of the money which he spent for the state and Roman people, inscribed on two bronze pillars, which are set up in Rome.

1. In my nineteenth year, on my own initiative and at my own expense, I raised an army with which I set free the state, which was oppressed by the domination of a faction. For that reason, the senate enrolled me in its order by laudatory resolutions, when Gaius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius were consuls (43 BCE), assigning me the place of a consul in the giving of opinions, and gave me the imperium—the right of military command. With me as propraetor,2 it ordered me, together with the consuls, to take care lest any detriment befall the state. But the people made me consul in the same year, when the consuls each perished in battle, and they made me a triumvir3 for the settling of the state.

2. I drove the men who slaughtered my father [Julius Caesar] into exile with a legal order, punishing their crime, and afterwards, when they waged war on the state, I conquered them in two battles.

3. I often waged war, civil and foreign, on the earth and sea, in the whole wide world, and as victor I spared all the citizens who sought pardon. As for foreign nations, those which I was able to safely forgive, I preferred to preserve than to destroy. About five hundred thousand Roman citizens were sworn to me. I led something more than three hundred thousand of them into colonies and I returned them to their cities, after their stipend had been earned, and I assigned all of them fields or gave them money for their military service. I captured six hundred ships in addition to those smaller than triremes.4

5. When the dictatorship was offered to me, both in my presence and my absence, by the people and senate, when Marcus Marcellus and Lucius Arruntius were consuls (22 BCE), I did not accept it. I did not evade the curatorship of grain in the height of the food shortage, which I so arranged that within a few days I freed the entire city from the present fear and danger by my own expense and administration. When the annual and perpetual consulate was then again offered to me, I did not accept it.

9. The senate decreed that vows be undertaken for my health by the consuls and priests every

1 Augustus, The Deeds of the Divine Augustus, translated by Thomas Bushnell (copyright 1998, Thomas Bushnell, BSG; This translation may be freely distributed, provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are retained on all copies). Full text available at http://classics.mit.edu/Augustus/deeds.html. 2 A Roman magistrate ranked just below the consuls. 3 One of a three-man rule; here with Lepidus and Marc Antony. 4 A trireme is a ship with three banks of oars.

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fifth year. In fulfillment of these vows they often celebrated games for my life; several times the four highest colleges of priests, several times the consuls. Also both privately and as a city all the citizens unanimously and continuously prayed at all the shrines for my health.

10. By a senate decree my name was included in the Saliar Hymn, and it was sanctified by a law, both that I would be sacrosanct forever, and that, as long as I would live, the tribunician power would be mine. I was unwilling to be high priest in the place of my living colleague; when the people offered me that priesthood which my father had, I refused it. And I received that priesthood, after several years, with the death of him5 who had occupied it since the opportunity of the civil disturbance, with a multitude flocking together out of all Italy to my election, so many as had never before been in Rome, when Publius Sulpicius and Gaius Valgius were consuls (12 BCE).

13. Our ancestors wanted the gateway of Janus Quirinus to be closed when throughout the all the rule of the Roman people, by land and sea, peace had been secured through victory. Although before my birth it had been closed twice in all in recorded memory from the founding of the city, the senate voted three times while I was princeps6 that it be closed.

15. I paid to the Roman plebs, 300 sesterces7 per man from my father's will and in my own name gave 400 sesterces from the spoils of war when I was consul for the fifth time (29 BCE); furthermore I again paid out a public gift of 400 sesterces per man, in my tenth consulate (24 BCE), from my own patrimony; and, when consul for the eleventh time (23 BCE), twelve doles of grain personally bought were measured out; and in my twelfth year of tribunician power (12- 11 BCE) I gave 400 sesterces per man for the third time. And these public gifts of mine never reached fewer than 250,000 men. In my eighteenth year of tribunician power, as consul for the twelfth time (5 BCE), I gave to 320,000 plebs of the city 240 sesterces per man. And, when consul the fifth time (29 BCE), I gave from my war-spoils to colonies of my soldiers each 1000 sesterces per man; about 120,000 men in the colonies received this triumphal public gift. Consul for the thirteenth time (2 BCE), I gave 240 sesterces to the plebs who then received the public grain; they were a few more than 200,000.

16. I paid the towns money for the fields which I had assigned to soldiers in my fourth consulate (30 BCE) and then when Marcus Crassus and Gnaeus Lentulus Augur were consuls (14 BCE); the sum was about 600,000,000 sesterces which I paid out for Italian estates, and about 260,000,000 sesterces which I paid for provincial fields. I was first and alone who did this among all who founded military colonies in Italy or the provinces according to the memory of my age. And afterwards, when Tiberius Nero and Gnaeus Piso were consuls (7 BCE), and likewise when Gaius Antistius and Decius Laelius were consuls (6 BCE), and when Gaius Calvisius and Lucius Passienus were consuls (4 BCE), and when Lucius Lentulus and Marcus Messalla were consuls (3 BCE), and when Lucius Caninius and Quintus Fabricius were consuls (2 BCE) , I paid out rewards in cash to the soldiers whom I had led into their towns when their

5 Lepidus, who held the position from 27 BCE. 6 First citizen. 7 While difficult to make a conversion to modern equivalents, a soldier or skilled laborer in Rome could earn 3 or 4 sesterces a day. Slaves are recorded to have sold in the 2000-7000 sesterces range. In order to be eligible for the senatorial class, one needed to be worth at least one million sesterces.

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service was completed, and in this venture I spent about 400,000,000 sesterces.

17. Four times I helped the senatorial treasury with my money, so that I offered 150,000,000 sesterces to those who were in charge of the treasury. And when Marcus Lepidus and Lucius Arruntius were consuls (6 CE), I offered 170,000,000 sesterces from my patrimony to the military treasury, which was founded by my advice and from which rewards were given to soldiers who had served twenty or more times.

18. From that year when Gnaeus and Publius Lentulus were consuls (18 BCE), when the taxes fell short, I gave out contributions of grain and money from my granary and patrimony, sometimes to 100,000 men, sometimes to many more.

20. I rebuilt the Capitol and the theater of Pompey, each work at enormous cost, without any inscription of my name. I rebuilt aqueducts in many places that had decayed with age, and I doubled the capacity of the Marcian aqueduct by sending a new spring into its channel. I completed the Forum of Julius and the basilica which he built between the temple of Castor and the temple of Saturn, works begun and almost finished by my father. When the same basilica was burned with fire I expanded its grounds and I began it under an inscription of the name of my sons, and, if I should not complete it alive, I ordered it to be completed by my heirs. Consul for the sixth time (28 BCE), I rebuilt eighty-two temples of the gods in the city by the authority of the senate, omitting nothing which ought to have been rebuilt at that time. Consul for the seventh time (27 BCE), I rebuilt the Flaminian road from the city to Ariminum and all the bridges except the Mulvian and Minucian.

21. I built the temple of Mars on private ground and the forum of Augustus from war-spoils. I build the theater at the temple of Apollo on ground largely bought from private owners, under the name of Marcus Marcellus my son-in-law. I consecrated gifts from war-spoils in the Capitol and in the temple of divine Julius, in the temple of Apollo, in the temple of Vesta, and in the temple of Mars, which cost me about 100,000,000 sesterces. I sent back gold crowns weighing 35,000 to the towns and colonies of Italy, which had been contributed for my triumphs, and later, however many times I was named imperator, I refused gold crowns from the towns and colonies which they equally kindly decreed, and before they had decreed them.

22. Three times I gave shows of gladiators under my name and five times under the name of my sons and grandsons; in these shows about 10,000 men fought. Twice I furnished under my name spectacles of athletes gathered from everywhere, and three times under my grandson's name. I celebrated games under my name four times, and furthermore in the place of other magistrates twenty-three times. As master of the college I celebrated the secular games for the college of the Fifteen, with my colleague Marcus Agrippa, when Gaius Furnius and Gaius Silanus were consuls (17 BCE). Consul for the thirteenth time (2 BCE), I celebrated the first games of Mas, which after that time thereafter in following years, by a senate decree and a law, the consuls were to celebrate. Twenty-six times, under my name or that of my sons and grandsons, I gave the people hunts of African beasts in the circus, in the open, or in the amphitheater; in them about 3,500 beasts were killed.

23. I gave the people a spectacle of a naval battle, in the place across the Tiber where the grove

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of the Caesars is now, with the ground excavated in length 1,800 feet, in width 1,200, in which thirty beaked ships, biremes or triremes, but many smaller, fought among themselves; in these ships about 3,000 men fought in addition to the rowers.

25. I restored peace to the sea from pirates. In that slave war8 I handed over to their masters for the infliction of punishments about 30,000 captured, who had fled their masters and taken up arms against the state. All Italy swore allegiance to me voluntarily, and demanded me as leader of the war which I won at Actium; the provinces of Gaul, Spain, Africa, Sicily, and Sardinia swore the same allegiance. And those who then fought under my standard were more than 700 senators, among whom 83 were made consuls either before or after, up to the day this was written, and about 170 were made priests.

26. I extended the borders of all the provinces of the Roman people which neighbored nations not subject to our rule. I restored peace to the provinces of Gaul and Spain, likewise Germany, which includes the ocean from Cadiz to the mouth of the river Elbe. I brought peace to the Alps from the region which is near the Adriatic Sea to the Tuscan, with no unjust war waged against any nation. I sailed my ships on the ocean from the mouth of the Rhine to the east region up to the borders of the Cimbri, where no Roman had gone before that time by land or sea, and the Cimbri and the Charydes and the Semnones and the other Germans of the same territory sought by envoys the friendship of me and of the Roman people. By my order and auspices two armies were led at about the same time into Ethiopia and into that part of Arabia which is called Happy, and the troops of each nation of enemies were slaughtered in battle and many towns captured. They penetrated into Ethiopia all the way to the town Nabata, which is near to Meroe; and into Arabia all the way to the border of the Sabaei, advancing to the town Mariba.

27. I added Egypt to the rule of the Roman people.9 When Artaxes, king of Greater Armenia, was killed, though I could have made it a province, I preferred, by the example of our elders, to hand over that kingdom to Tigranes, son of king Artavasdes, and grandson of King Tigranes, through Tiberius Nero, who was then my step-son. And the same nation, after revolting and rebelling, and subdued through my son Gaius, I handed over to be ruled by King Ariobarzanes son of Artabazus, King of the Medes, and after his death, to his son Artavasdes; and when he was killed, I sent Tigranes, who came from the royal clan of the Armenians, into that rule. I recovered all the provinces which lie across the Adriatic to the east and Cyrene, with kings now possessing them in large part, and Sicily and Sardina, which had been occupied earlier in the slave war.

28. I founded colonies of soldiers in Africa, Sicily, Macedonia, both Spanish provinces, Greece, Asia, Syria, Narbonian Gaul, and Pisidia, and furthermore had twenty-eight colonies founded in Italy under my authority, which were very populous and crowded while I lived.

29. I recovered from Spain, Gaul, and Dalmatia the many military standards lost through other leaders, after defeating the enemies. I compelled the Parthians to return to me the spoils and standards of three Roman armies, and as suppliants to seek the friendship of the Roman people. Furthermore I placed those standards in the sanctuary of the temple of Mars.

8 The war against Sextus Pompey in 36 BCE. 9 Slightly misleading—Egypt remained the personal property of the emperor, who was treated as the Pharoah.

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30. As for the tribes of the Pannonians, before my principate no army of the Roman people had entered their land. When they were conquered through Tiberius Nero, who was then my stepson and emissary, I subjected them to the rule of the Roman people and extended the borders of Illyricum to the shores of the river Danube. On the near side of it the army of the Dacians was conquered and overcome under my auspices, and then my army, led across the Danube, forced the tribes of the Dacians to bear the rule of the Roman people.

34. In my sixth and seventh consulates (28-27 BCE), after putting out the civil war, having obtained all things by universal consent, I handed over the state from my power to the dominion of the senate and Roman people. And for this merit of mine, by a senate decree, I was called Augustus and the doors of my temple were publicly clothed with laurel and a civic crown was fixed over my door and a gold shield placed in the Julian senate-house, and the inscription of that shield testified to the virtue, mercy, justice, and piety, for which the senate and Roman people gave it to me. After that time, I exceeded all in influence, but I had no greater power than the others who were colleagues with me in each magistracy.

35. When I administered my thirteenth consulate (2 BCE), the senate and Equestrian order and Roman people all called me “Father of the Country,” and voted that the same be inscribed in the vestibule of my temple, in the Julian senate-house, and in the forum of Augustus under the chariot which had been placed there for me by a decision of the senate. When I wrote this I was seventy-six years old.

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Pliny the Elder, selections from Natural History1

Pliny the Elder (ca.23-79 CE), an orator, writer, soldier and government official wrote this brief description of Rome during the reign of his friend Vespasian (69-79 CE) in his encyclopedic Natural History. In his time the city probably housed over 1.5 million people.

In great buildings as well as in other things the rest of the world has been outdone by us Romans. If, indeed, all the buildings in our City are considered in the aggregate, and supposing them---so to say---all thrown together in one vast mass, the united grandeur of them would lead one to imagine that we were describing another world, accumulated in a single spot.

Not to mention among our great works the Circus Maximus, that was built by the Dictator Caesar---one stadium broad and three in length---and occupying with the adjacent buildings no less than four iugera [about 2 acres] with room for no less than 160,000 spectators seated---am I not, however, to include in the number of our magnificent structures the Basilica of Paulus with its admirable Phrygian columns [built also in Julius Caesar's day], the Forum of the late Emperor Augustus, the Temple of Peace erected by the Emperor Vespasian Augustus---some of the finest work the world has ever seen? [and many others].

We behold with admiration pyramids that were built by kings, while the very ground alone that was purchased by the Dictator Caesar, for the construction of his Forum, cost 100,000,000 sesterces. If, too, an enormous expenditure has its attractions for any one whose mind is influenced by money matters, be it known that the house in which Clodius [Cicero's enemy] dwelt was purchased by him at a price of 14,800,000 sesterces---a thing which I for my part look upon as no less astonishing than the monstrous follies that have been displayed by kings. Frequently praise is given to the great sewer system of Rome. There are seven "rivers" made to flow, by artificial channels, beneath the city. Rushing onward like so many impetuous torrents, they are compelled to carry off and sweep away all the sewerage; and swollen as they are by the vast accession of the rain water, they reverberate against the sides and bottoms of their channels. Occasionally too the Tiber, overflowing, is thrown backward in its course, and discharges itself by these outlets. Obstinate is the struggle that ensues between the meeting tides, but so firm and solid is the masonry that it is able to offer an effectual resistance. Enormous as are the accumulations that are carried along above, the work of the channels never gives way. Houses falling spontaneously to ruins, or leveled with the ground by conflagrations are continually battering against them; now and then the ground is shaken by earthquakes, and yet---built as they were in the days of Tarquinius Priscus, seven hundred years ago---these constructions have survived, all but unharmed.

Passing to the dwellings of the city, in the consulship of Lepidus and Catulus [78 BCE] we learn on good authority there was not in all Rome a finer house than that belonging to Lepidus himself, but yet---by Hercules!---within twenty-five years the very same house did not hold the hundredth rank simply in the City! Let anybody calculate---if he please---considering this fact, the vast masses of marble, the productions of painters, the regal treasures that must have been expended

1 This excerpt is from Book 36, Chapter 24, lines 100-123. It is available online at http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/pliny-natihist-rome.asp

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in bringing these hundred mansions to vie with one that in its day had been the most sumptuous and celebrated in all the City; and then let him reflect that, since then and down to the present, these houses had all of them been surpassed by others without number. There can be no doubt that the great fires are a punishment inflicted upon us for our luxury; but such are our habits, that in spite of such warnings, we cannot be made to understand that there are things in existence more perishable than even man himself.

***

But let us now turn our attention to some marvels that, if justly appreciated, may be pronounced to remain unsurpassed. Quintus Marcius Rex [praetor in 144 BCE] upon being commanded by the Senate to repair the Appian Aqueduct and that of the Anio, constructed during his praetorship a new aqueduct that bore his name, and was brought hither by a channel pierced through the very sides of mountains. Agrippa, during his aedileship, united the Marcian and the Virgin Aqueducts and repaired and strengthened the channels of others. He also formed 700 wells, in addition to 500 fountains, and 130 reservoirs, many of them magnificently adorned. Upon these works too he erected 300 statues of marble or bronze, and 400 marble columns, and all this in the space of a single year! In the work which he has written in commemoration of his aedileship, he also informs us that public games were celebrated for the space of fifty-seven days and 170 free baths were opened to the public. The number of these at Rome has vastly increased since his time.

The preceding aqueducts, however, have all been surpassed by the costly work which has more recently been completed by the Emperors Gaius [Caligula] and Claudius. Under these princes the Curtian and the Caerulean Waters with the "New Anio" were brought a distance of forty miles, and at so high a level that all the hills---whereon Rome is built---were supplied with water. The sum expended on these works was 350,000,000 sesterces. If we take into account the abundant supply of water to the public, for baths, ponds, canals, household purposes, gardens, places in the suburbs and country houses, and then reflect upon the distances that are traversed from the sources on the hills, the arches that have been constructed, the mountains pierced, the valleys leveled, we must perforce admit that there is nothing more worthy of our admiration throughout the whole universe.

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Juvenal, Excerpt from Satire 61

Decimus Junius Juvenalis, known as Juvenal, was a writer of satirical poems at the end of the first century and beginning of the second. Beyond that, we know little about him. In this Satire, Juvenal takes on the women of the city of Rome.

Eppia, though the wife of a senator, went off with a gladiator to Pharos and the Nile on the notorious walls of Alexandria (though even Egypt condemns Rome's disgusting morals). Forgetting her home, her husband, and her sister, she showed no concern whatever for her homeland (she was shameless) and her children in tears, and (you'll be dumbfounded by this) she left the theatre and Paris the actor behind. Even though when she was a baby she was pillowed in great luxury, in the down of her father's mansion, in a cradle of the finest workmanship, she didn't worry about the dangers of sea travel (she had long since stopped worrying about her reputation, the loss of which among rich ladies' soft cushions does not matter much). Therefore with heart undaunted she braved the waves of the Adriatic and the wide-resounding Ionian Sea (to get to Egypt she had to change seas frequently). You see, if there's a good reason for undertaking a dangerous voyage, then women are fearful; their cowardly breasts are chilled with icy dread; they cannot stand on their trembling feet. But they show courageous spirit in affairs they're determined to enter illicitly. If it's their husband who wants them to go, then it's a problem to get on board ship. They can't stand the bilge-water; the skies spin around them. The woman who goes off with her lover of course has no qualms. She eats dinner with the sailors, walks the quarter-deck, and enjoys hauling rough ropes. Meanwhile the first woman gets sick all over her husband. And yet what was the glamour that set her on fire, what was the prime manhood that captured Eppia's heart? What was it she saw in him, that would compensate for her being called Gladiatrix?2 Note that her lover, dear Sergius, had now started shaving his neck, and was hoping to be released from duty because of a bad wound on his arm. Moreover, his face was deformed in a number of ways: he had a mark where his helmet rubbed him, and a big wart between his nostrils, and a smelly discharge always dripping from his eye. But he was a gladiator. That made him look as beautiful as Apollo's friend Hyacinth. This is what she preferred to her children and her homeland, her sister and her husband. It's the sword they're in love with: this same Sergius, once released from service, would begin to seem like her husband Veiento. Do you care about a private citizen's house, about Eppia's doings? Turn your eyes to the gods' rivals. Hear what the Emperor Claudius had to put up with. As soon as his wife thought that he was asleep, this imperial whore3 put on the hood she wore at night, determined to prefer a cheap pad to the royal bed, and left the house with one female slave only. No, hiding her black hair in a yellow wig she entered the brothel, warm with its old patchwork quilts and her empty cell, her very own. Then she took her stand, naked, her nipples gilded, assuming the name of Lycisca, and displayed the stomach you came from, noble Brittanicus. She obligingly received

1 Text available at http://www.stoa.org/diotima/anthology/wlgr/wlgr-mensopinions69.shtml 2 A female gladiator. There is good evidence for female gladiators who fought wearing loincloths and shields (without helmets and bare-breasted). There is significant debate over how common this was. An upper-class woman was prohibited by law from becoming a gladiatrix. 3 The infamous Empress Messalina, mother of Octavia and Britannicus. She was later put to death for conspiracy against Claudius.

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customers and asked for her money, and lay there through the night taking in the thrusts of all comers. Then when the pimp sent the girls home, at last she went away sadly, and (it was all she could do) was the last to close up her cell-she was still burning; tired by men, but not yet satisfied, she left, her face dirty and bruised, grimy with lamp smoke, she brought back to her pillow the smell of the brothel. Isn't there anyone then in such large herds of women that's worth marrying? Let her be beautiful, graceful, rich, fertile, let her place on her porticoes her ancestors' statues; let her be more virginal than the Sabine women4 (the ones that with their dishevelled hair brought the war with Rome to an end); let her be a phoenix on earth, something like a black swan-but who could stand a wife who has every virtue? I'd rather have (much rather) a gal from Venusia [a small city in southern Italy] than you, Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, if along with your great excellence you bring a snob's brow and count your family's triumphs as part of your dowry.5 All chance of domestic harmony is lost while your wife's mother is living. She gets her to rejoice in despoiling her husband, stripping him naked. She gets her to write back politely and with sophistication when her seducer sends letters. She tricks your spies or bribes them. Then when your daughter is feeling perfectly well she calls in the doctor Archigenes and says that the blankets are too heavy. Meanwhile, her lover, in hiding shut off from her, impatient at the delay, waits in silence and stretches his foreskin. Maybe you think that her mother will teach her virtuous ways-ones different from her own? It's much more productive for a dirty old lady to bring up a dirty little girl. There's hardly a case in court where the litigation wasn't begun by a female. If Manilia can't be defendant, she'll be the plaintiff. They'll draw up indictments without assistance, and are ready to tell Celsus the lawyer how to begin his speech and what arguments he should use. Who doesn't know about the Tyrian wrappers and the ointment for women's athletics? Who hasn't seen the wounds in the dummy, which she drills with continual stabbings and hits with her shield and works through the whole course of exercise-a matron, the sort you'd expect to blow the trumpet at the Floralia6 -unless in her heart she is plotting something deeper still, and seriously training for the actual games? How can a woman who wears a helmet be chaste? She's denying her sex, and likes a man's strength. But she wouldn't want to turn into a man, since we men get so little pleasure. Yet what a show there would be, if there were an auction of your wife's stuff-her belt and gauntlets and helmet and half-armor for her left leg. Or she can try the other style of battle-lucky you, when she sells her greaves [armored shinguards]. Yet these same girls sweat even in muslin, even the thinnest little netting burns their delicacies. Look at the noise she makes when she drives home the blows her trainer showed her, at the weight of her helmet, how solidly she sits on her haunches (like the binding around a thick tree), and laugh when she puts her armor aside to pick up her chamber-pot. You ask where these monsters come from, the source that they spring from? Poverty made Latin women chaste in the old days, hard work and a short time to sleep and hands

4 The Rape of the Sabine Women is a legendary event in the early history of Rome. The Romans (with many men, but few women) were said to have acquired wives by inviting the Sabine people to Rome for a festival and then abducting the unmarried women and forcing them into marriage. 5 The 'triumphs' are those of her father Scipio Africanus, the hero of the Second Punic War. This would mean that instead of the monetary dowry that husbands obtained, she came into marriage with a good family history (though in the distant past), but no money. 6 The Floralia was a particularly joyous festival in honor of the goddess Flora, celebrated from April 28 to May 3. Juvenal is again referring to the training and practice of a gladiatrix.

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calloused and hardened with wool-working, and Hannibal close to the city, and their husbands standing guard at the Colline Gate-that kept their humble homes from being corrupted by vice. But now we are suffering from the evils of a long peace. Luxury, more ruthless than war, broods over Rome and takes revenge for the world she has conquered. No cause for guilt or deed of lust is missing, now that Roman poverty has vanished. Money, nurse of promiscuity, first brought in foreigners' ways, and effete riches weakened the sinews of succeeding generations. What does Venus care when she's drunk? She can't tell head from tail when she eats big oysters at midnight, and when her perfume foams with undiluted wine, when she drinks her conch-shell cup dry, and when in her dizziness the roof turns round and the table rises up to meet two sets of lights. An even worse pain is the female who, as soon as she sits down to dinner, praises Vergil and excuses Dido's suicide:7 matches and compares poets, weighing Vergil on one side of the scale and Homer in the other. Schoolmasters yield; professors are vanquished; everyone in the party is silenced. No one can speak, not a lawyer, not an auctioneer, not even another woman. Such an avalanche of words falls, that you'd say it's like pans and bells being beaten. Now no one needs trumpets or bronzes: this woman by herself can come help the Moon when she's suffering from an eclipse.8 As a philosopher she sets definitions on moral behavior. Since she wants to seem so learned and eloquent she ought to shorten her tunic up to her knees9 and bring a pig to Sylvanus10 and go to the penny bath with the philosophers. Don't let the woman who shares your marriage bed adhere to a set style of speaking or hurl in well-rounded sentences with the enthymeme [syllogism] shorn of its premise. Don't let her know all the histories. Let there be something in books she does not understand. I hate the woman who is continually poring over and studying Palaemon's11 treatise, who never breaks the rules or principles of grammar, and who quotes verses I never heard of, ancient stuff that men ought not to worry about. Let her correct her girlfriend's verses; she ought to allow her husband to commit a grammatical mistake. Pauper women endure the trials of childbirth and endure the burdens of nursing, when fortune demands it. But virtually no gilded bed is laid out for childbirth-so great is her skill, so easily can she produce drugs that make her sterile or induce her to kill human beings in her womb. You fool, enjoy it, and give her the potion to drink, whatever it's going to be, because, if she wants to get bloated and to trouble her womb with a live baby's kicking, you might end up being the father of an Ethiopian; soon a wrong-colored heir will complete your accounts, a person whom it's bad luck to see first thing in the morning.

7 Queen of Carthage, lover of Aeneas; She committed suicide when he abandoned her. 8 Eclipses of the moon, thought by some to be caused by witchcraft, were met with loud noises to dispel the accompanying evil spirits. 9 A reference to the short tunic worn by men. 10 This was forbidden to women. 11 Palaemon, a freedman, was a grammarian of the early first century CE

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Ovid, selections from the Art of Love1

Ovid (43 BCE – 17 CE) was a lawyer turned poet in the Rome of Augustus. Ovid’s Art of Love was not entirely serious. The format was a satire on the genre of “how to” books that were popular in Rome. At the same time, Ovid was critical of the classes of Rome who spent their days engaged in seduction and affairs (especially when Augustus was promoting an anti-adultery campaign). When reading this, keep in mind that Ovid’s audience was not Roman single men and women looking for marriage (those were arranged by families); these were married men and women and the love discussed is that of adulterous affairs. In the format below the entire poem would run for 52 pages. While you have only excerpts from this, the entirety of the content is spelled out in the italicized notes.

Book I: How to Seduce a Woman ...She won’t come falling for you out of thin air: the right girl has to be searched for: use your eyes. The hunter knows where to spread nets for the stag, he knows what valleys hide the angry boar: the wild-fowler knows the woods: the fisherman knows the waters where the most fish spawn: You too, who search for the essence of lasting love, must be taught the places that the girls frequent.

Ovid here describes the specific colonnades and porches in the public areas of Rome that one should look to find women. He also includes shrines and temples (to Roman gods, cults from Mesopotamia and the place of the “sacred Sabbath rites of the Syrian Jews”). He goes on to address other public areas of Rome.

And the law-courts (who’d believe it?) they suit love: a flame is often found in the noisy courts: where the Appian waters pulse into the air, from under Venus’s temple, made of marble, there the lawyer’s often caught by love, and he who guides others, fails to guide himself: in that place of eloquence often his words desert him, and a new case starts, his own cause is the brief. There Venus, from her neighboring temples, laughs: he, who was once the counsel, now wants to be the client.

But hunt for them, especially, at the tiered theatre: that place is the most fruitful for your needs. There you’ll find one to love, or one you can play with, one to be with just once, or one you might wish to keep. As ants return home often in long processions,

1 Full text available at http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/ArtofLoveBkI.htm.

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carrying their favorite food in their mouths, or as the bees buzz through the flowers and thyme, among their pastures and fragrant chosen meadows, so our fashionable ladies crowd to the famous shows… They come to see, they come to be seen as well: the place is fatal to chaste modesty…

Don’t forget the races, those noble stallions: the Circus holds room for a vast obliging crowd. No need here for fingers to give secret messages, nor a nod of the head to tell you she accepts: You can sit by your lady: nothing’s forbidden, press your thigh to hers, as you can do, all the time: and it’s good the rows force you close, even if you don’t like it, since the girl is touched through the rules of the place. Now find your reason for friendly conversation, and first of all engage in casual talk. Make earnest enquiry whose those horses are: and rush to back her favorite, whatever it is. When the crowded procession of ivory gods goes by, you clap fervently for Lady Venus: if by chance a speck of dust falls in the girl’s lap, as it may, let it be flicked away by your fingers: and if there’s nothing, flick away the nothing: let anything be a reason for you to serve her. If her skirt is trailing too near the ground, lift it, and raise it carefully from the dusty earth: Straightaway, the prize for service, if she allows it, is that your eyes catch a glimpse of her legs…

The table laid for a feast also gives you an opening: There’s something more than wine you can look for there. Often rosy Love has clasped Bacchus’s horns, drawing him to his gentle arms, as he lay there. And when wine has soaked Cupid’s drunken wings, he’s stayed, weighed down, a captive of the place… Wine rouses courage and is fit for passion: care flies, and deep drinking dilutes it. Then laughter comes, the poor man dons the horns, then pain and sorrow leave, and wrinkled brows. Then what’s rarest in our age appears to our minds, Simplicity: all art dispelled by the god. Often at that time girls captivated men’s wits, and Venus was in the vine, flame in the fire. Don’t trust the treacherous lamplight overmuch: night and wine can harm your view of beauty…

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Faults are hidden at night: every blemish is forgiven, and the hour makes whichever girl you like beautiful. Judge jewelry, and fabric dyed purple, judge a face, or a figure, in the light.

Now that Ovid has told the reader where to find women, he proceeds to tell a man how to win her. His first point is to prove that women are as lustful as men. This he does by citing (and retelling) numerous examples from Roman and Greek mythology of women driven by lust and desire. For Ovid the only reason men do the courting is cultural: “If it was proper for men not to be the first to ask, woman’s role would be to take the part of the asker.” He then advises getting to know the woman’s maid to get inside information. He then counsels men on when to begin a relationship.

It’s fine to start on that day of tears when the Allia flowed with the blood poured from Roman wounds, or when the Sabbath day returns, the holy day of the Syrian Jews, less suitable for buying things. Let your mistress’s birthday be one of great terror to you: that’s a black day when anything has to be given. However much you avoid it, she’ll still win: it’s a woman’s skill, to strip wealth from an ardent lover… They many times ask for gifts, they never give in return: you lose, and you’ll get no thanks for your loss. And ten mouths with as many tongues wouldn’t be enough for me to describe the wicked tricks of whores.

Make promises: what harm can a promise do? Anyone can be rich in promises. Hope lasts, if she’s once believed in, a useful, though deceptive, goddess. If you’ve given, you can quite reasonably be forgotten: she carried it off, and now she’s nothing to lose. But if you don’t give, always appear about to: like barren fields that always cheat the farmer, like the gambler who goes on losing, lest he’s finally lost, and calls the dice back endlessly into his eager hand. This is the work, the labor, to have her without giving first: and she’ll go on giving, lest she lose what she’s freely given.

He then advises sending her letters and poems (even if she never replies) and being wherever she is. If she goes on a walk, to the theater, etc. then she should see the reader there. He next addresses male hygiene and behavior at dinner.

Neatness pleases, a body tanned from exercise: a well-fitting and spotless toga’s good… don’t mar your neat hair with an evil haircut:

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let an expert hand trim your head and beard. And no long nails, and make sure they’re dirt-free: and no hairs (please) sprouting from your nostrils. No bad breath exhaled from unwholesome mouth: don’t offend the nose like a herdsman or his flock.

When Bacchus’s gifts are set before you then, and you find a girl sharing your couch, pray to the father of feasts and nocturnal rites to command the wine to bring your head no harm. It’s alright here to speak many secret things, with hidden words she’ll feel were spoken for her alone: and write sweet nothings in the film of wine, so your girl can read them herself on the table: and gaze in her eyes with eyes confessing fire: you should often have silent words and speaking face. Be the first to snatch the cup that touched her lips, and where she drank from, that is where you drink: and whatever food her fingers touch, take that, and as you take it, touch hers with your hand. Let it be your wish besides to please the girl’s husband: it’ll be more useful to you to make friends. If you cast lots for drinking, give him the better draw: give him the garland you were crowned with. Though he’s below you or beside you, let him always be served first: don’t hesitate to second whatever he says. It’s a safe well-trodden path to deceive in a friend’s name, though it’s a safe well-trodden path, it’s a crime. That way the procurer procures far too much, and reckons to see to more than he was charged with. You’ll be given sure limits for drinking by me: so pay attention to your mind and feet. Most of all beware of starting a drunken squabble, and fists far too ready for a rough fight… Food and drink are fitter for sweet jests. If you’ve a voice, sing: if your limbs are supple, dance: and please, with whatever you do that’s pleasing. And though drunkenness is harmful, it’s useful to pretend: make your sly tongue stammer with lisping sounds, then, whatever you say or do that seems too forward, it will be thought excessive wine’s to blame. And speak well of your lady, speak well of the one she sleeps with: but silently in your thoughts wish the man ill. Then when the table’s cleared, the guests are free, the throng will give you access to her and room. Join the crowd, and softly approach her,

131 let fingers brush her thigh, and foot touch foot… Don’t think it’s hard: each thinks herself desired: the very worst takes pleasure in her looks… Never weary of praising her face, her hair, her elegant fingers, and her slender feet. Even the chaste like their beauty to be commended: her form to even the virgin’s pleasing and dear.

Book II: How to Keep a Mistress Ovid’s task in Book Two changes; Now the goal is to keep a lover. He continues to give more advice: don’t tell your friends about her or they might try to steal her; learn poetry since your body will age but your mind will still be able to entice her; “to be loved, one must be lovable” so one must be gentle and never argue (“that’s proper for wives: quarrelling’s the marriage dowry”); be patient and do whatever she asks; praise whatever she wears; and go away once in a while.

Make her accustomed to you: nothing’s greater than habit: while you’re captivating her, avoid no boredom. Let her always be seeing you: always giving you ear: show your face, at night and in the day. When you’ve more confidence that you’ll be missed, when your absence far away will cause her worry, give her a rest: the fields when rested repay the loan, and parched earth drinks the heavenly rain.

He also twists Socrates’ famous saying “Know Yourself” to apply to lovers knowing their strengths and talents and finding occasion to emphasize those. He continues by telling his man to give his lover a little space, never ask her age, and always turn her “faults” into compliments:

An evil may be sweetened by its name: let her be ‘dark’ whose pigment’s blacker than Illyrian pitch: if she squints, she’s like Venus: if she’s grey, Minerva [goddess of wisdom]: let her be ‘slender’, who’s truly emaciated: call her ‘trim’, who’s tiny, ‘full-bodied’ if she’s huge, and hide the fault behind the nearest virtue.

He finishes his advice to men, by addressing performance in bed.

Moans and loving murmurs will arise, and sweet sighs, and playful and fitting words. But don’t desert your mistress by cramming on more sail, or let her overtake you in your race: hasten to the goal together: that’s the fullness of pleasure, when man and woman lie there equally spent. This is the pace you should indulge in, when you’re given time for leisure, and fear does not urge on the secret work.

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When delay’s not safe, lean usefully on the oar, and plunge your spur into the galloping horse. While strength and years allow, sustain the work: bent age comes soon enough on silent feet. Plough the earth with the blade, the sea with oars, take a cruel weapon in your warring hands, or spend your body, and strength, and time, on girls: this is warlike service too, this too earns plenty.

Book III: Advice to Women Ovid turns in Book Three to advising women. He has “armed” the men and now turns to giving the women arms and armor. The first part of the Book is spent telling women exactly what men will do…anything in order to get them into bed. He advises young women to indulge in affairs, since beauty quickly fades away. He then proceeds to address what it takes to attract men. We’re captivated by elegance: don’t ignore your hair: beauty’s granted or denied by a hand’s touch. There isn’t only one style: choose what suits each one, and consult your mirror in advance. An oval-shaped head suggests a plain parting… A round face asks for a small knot on the top, leaving the forehead free, showing the ears. One girl should throw her hair over both shoulders.. Another tied up behind, in Diana’s [goddess of the hunt] usual style, when, skirts tucked up, she seeks the frightened quarry. Blown tresses suit this girl, loosely scattered: that one’s encircled by tight-bound hair. This one delights in being adorned by tortoiseshell from Cyllene: that one presents a likeness to the curves of a wave. But you’ll no more number the acorns on oak branches, or bees on Hybla, wild beasts on Alpine mountains, than I can possibly count so many fashions: every new day adds another new style. And tangled hair suits many girls: often you’d think it’s been hanging loose since yesterday, but it’s just styled.

What to say about dress? Don’t ask for brocade, or wools dyed purple with Tyrian murex. With so many cheaper colors having appeared, it’s crazy to bear your fortune on your back! As many as the flowers the new world, in warm spring, bears when vine-buds wake, and dark winter vanishes, as many or more dyes the wool drinks: choose, decisively: since all are not suitable for everyone. dark-grey suits snow-white skin: dark-grey suited Briseis: when she was carried off, then she also wore dark-grey.

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White suits the dark: you looked pleasing, Andromeda, in white.

How near I was to warning you, no rankness of the wild goat under your armpits, no legs bristling with harsh hair! But I’m not teaching girls from the Caucasian hills… So why remind you not to let your teeth get blackened, by being lazy, and to wash your face each morning in water? You know how to acquire whiteness with a layer of powder: she who doesn’t blush by blood, indeed, blushes by art. You make good the naked edges of your eyebrows, and hide your natural cheeks with little patches. It’s no shame to highlight your eyes with thinned ashes.

Still, faultless forms are rare: conceal your faults, and hide your body’s defects as best you may. If you’re short sit down, lest, standing, you seem to sit: and commit your smallness to your couch: there also, so your measure can’t be taken, let a shawl drop over your feet to hide them. If you’re very slender, wear a full dress, and walk about in clothes that hang loosely from your shoulders… Let an ugly foot be hidden in snow-white leather: and don’t loose the bands from skinny legs. Thin padding suits those with high shoulder blades: a good brassiere goes with a meager chest. Those with thick fingers and bitten nails, make sparing use of gestures whenever you speak. Those with strong breath don’t talk when you’re fasting. and always keep your mouth a distance from your lover.

If you’re teeth are blackened, large, or not in line from birth, laughing would be a fatal error. Who’d believe it? Girls must even learn to laugh, they seek to acquire beauty also in this way. Laugh modestly, a small dimple either side, the teeth mostly concealed by the lips. Don’t strain your lungs with continual laughter, but let something soft and feminine ring out.

Learn to carry yourself in a feminine way. And not the least part of charm is in walking: it attracts men you don’t know, or sends them running. One moves her hips with art, catches the breeze with flowing robes, and points her toes daintily: another walks like the wife of a red-faced Umbrian, feet wide apart, and with huge paces.

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But there’s measure here as in most things: both the rustic’s stride, and the more affected step should be foregone. Still, let the parts of your lower shoulder and upper arm on the left side, be naked, to be admired. That suits you pale-skinned girls especially: when I see it, I want to kiss your shoulder, as far as it’s shown.

You’re anxiously expecting, while I lead you to dinner, that you can even ask for my advice there too. Come late, and come upon us charmingly in the lamplight: you’ll come with pleasing delay: delay’s a grand seductress. Even if you’re plain, with drink you’ll seem beautiful, and night itself grants concealment to your failings. Take the food daintily: how you eat does matter: don’t smear your face all over with a greasy hand. Don’t eat before at home, but stop before you’re full: be a little less eager than you can be. It’s more fitting, and it suits girls more, to drink: Bacchus you don’t go badly with Venus’s boy. So long as the head holds out, and the mind and feet stand firm: and you don’t see two of what’s only one. Shameful a woman lying there, drenched with too much wine: she’s worthy of sleeping with anyone who’ll have her. And it’s not safe to fall asleep at table: many shameful things usually happen in sleep.

Ovid then advises women to learn music, poetry, games, singing and dancing (all of the things necessary for the dinner parties he mentioned earlier to men). Then he tells women that they need to be seen, in all the public places he told men to find them. He then advices women to make men jealous and “Make us believe (it’s so easy) that we’re loved,” but most of all he advises to never trust promises and always get the gift in hand. He concludes, as he did with men, with a discussion of sex, specifically with a discussion of which sexual positions are most flattering to which body types.

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Augustus’ Legislation on Marriage and Adultery

Augustus made the “restoration” of the Roman family a central aspect of his attempt to show himself as a traditionalist. These laws, however, marked a public intrusion into what had been a private family matter and were poorly received. Two laws (the Lex Julia and Lex Papia) were passed regarding adultery and they were frequently mentioned in ancient works, but the laws themselves do not survive. The selections below allow us to infer what was included in the laws.

Selection from Dio Cassius, Roman History, 54.16 (ca. 200 CE)

[Augustus] assessed heavier taxes on unmarried men and women without husbands, and by contrast offered awards for marriage and childbearing. And since there were more males than females among the nobility, he permitted anyone who wished (except for senators) to marry freedwomen (former slaves), and decreed that children of such marriages be legitimate.

Selection from Suetonius, Life of Augustus, Book 34 (ca. 100 CE)

He reformed the laws and completely overhauled some of them, such as the sumptuary law, that on adultery and chastity, that on bribery, and marriage of the various classes.

Having shown greater severity in the emendation of this last than the others, as a result of the agitation of its opponents he was unable to get it approved except by abolishing or mitigating part of the penalty, conceding a three-year grace-period (before remarriage) and increasing the rewards (for having children).

Nevertheless, when, during a public show the order of equites asked him with insistence to revoke it, he summoned the children of Germanicus, holding some of them near him and setting others on their father's knee; and in so doing he gave the demonstrators to understand through his affectionate gestures and expressions that they should not object to imitating that young man's example.

Moreover, when he found out that the law was being sidestepped through engagements to young girls and frequent divorces, he put a time limit on engagement and clamped down on divorce.

Selections from Later Legal Commentary on the Lex Julia (Third Century CE)

Public prosecutions are as follows....the Lex Julia for the suppression of adultery punishes with death not only those who dishonor the marriage bed of another. The same Lex Julia also punishes the offence of seduction, when a person, without the use of force, deflowers a virgin or seduces a respectable widow. The penalty imposed by the statute on such offenders is the confiscation of half their estate if they are of respectable standing, corporal punishment and banishment in the case of people of the lower orders. (Institutes 4.18.2-3)

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But as regards the provisions of the Lex Julia....a man who confesses that he has committed the offence [i.e. adultery] has no right to ask for a remission of the penalty on the ground that he was under age; nor, as I have said, will any remission be allowed if he commits any of those offences which the statute punishes in the same way as adultery; as, for example, if he marries a woman who is detected in adultery and he declines to divorce her, or where he makes a profit from her adultery, or accepts a bribe to conceal illicit intercourse which he detects, or lends his house for the commission of adultery or illicit intercourse within it; youth, as I said, is no excuse in the face of clear enactments, when a man who, though he appeals to the law, himself transgresses it. (Digest 4.4.37)

The Jurist Paul’s Legal Opinions on Adultery Law from the Early Third Century (Digest 2.26.1-8, 12, 14-17)

(1) In the second chapter of the lex Julia concerning adultery, either an adoptive or a natural father is permitted to kill with his own hands an adulterer caught in the act with his daughter in his own house or in that of his son-in-law, no matter what his rank may be.

(2) If a son under paternal power, who is the father, should surprise his daughter in the act of adultery, while it is inferred from the words of the law that he cannot kill her, still, he ought to be permitted to do so.

(3) Again, it is provided in the fifth chapter of the lex Julia that it is permitted to detain an adulterer who has been caught in the act for twenty hours, calling neighbors to witness.

(5) It has been decided that a husband who kills his wife when caught with an adulterer should be punished more leniently, for the reason that he committed the act through impatience caused by just suffering.

(6) After having killed the adulterer, the husband should at once dismiss his wife, and publicly declare within the next three days with what adulterer, and in what place he found his wife.

(7) A husband who surprises his wife in adultery can only kill the adulterer when he catches him in his own house.

(8) It has been decided that a husband who does not at once dismiss his wife whom he has taken in adultery can be prosecuted as a pimp.

(12) Anyone who has sexual relations with a free male without his consent shall be punished with death.

(14) It has been held that women convicted of adultery shall be punished with the loss of half of their dowry and the third of their goods, and by relegation to an island. The adulterer, however, shall be deprived of half his property, and shall also be punished by relegation to an island; provided the parties are exiled to different islands.

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(15) It has been decided that the penalty for incest, which in the case of a man is deportation to an island, shall not be inflicted upon the woman; that is to say when she has not been convicted under the lex Julia concerning adultery.

(16) Sexual intercourse with female slaves, unless they are deteriorated in value or an attempt is made against their mistress through them, is not considered an injury.

(17) In a case of adultery a postponement cannot be granted.

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The Gospel according to Matthew

The Gospel according to Matthew was written around 70 CE. The Gospel of John was written about two decades later. Neither was written as a biography of Jesus, but instead they were written to specific audiences to prove specific points about Jesus, his life and his message. From the selections below, who was the intended audience and what was the thesis of each?

Matthew 1 1A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife, 7Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 12After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim,

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Akim the father of Eliud, 15Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 17Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ. 18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus1, because he will save his people from their sins." 22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"— which means, "God with us." 24When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Matthew 2 1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." 3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: 6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’"

7Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him." 9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. 13When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." 14So he got up, took the child and his mother during the

1 Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the LORD saves.

140 night and left for Egypt, 15where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

16When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18"A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." 19After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead." 21So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

Matthew 4 … 18As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 20At once they left their nets and followed him. 21Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 23Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. 25Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.

Matthew 5 (The Sermon on the Mount is the title given to Matthew 5, 6 and 7) 1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying: 3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

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7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. 17"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. 21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca’2, is answerable to the Sanhedrin [Council]. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. 23"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. 25"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. 27"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. 31"It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' 32But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.

2 An Aramaic term of contempt

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33"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' 34But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. 38"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' 39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. 43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 6 1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9"This, then, is how you should pray: " 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us today our daily bread. 12Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' 14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. 16"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is,

143 there your heart will be also. 22"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. 25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 7 1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. 6"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces. 7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 9"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. 13"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. 15"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. 21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and

144 perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' 24"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." 28When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Matthew 13 1That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9He who has ears, let him hear." 10The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" 11He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 13This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: " 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' 16But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Matthew 16 … 13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" 14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,

145 and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." 20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

Matthew 19 … 16Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" 17"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." 18"Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'" 20"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?" 21Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." 22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. 23Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?" 26Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." 27Peter answered him, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?" 28Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

Matthew 27 1Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. 2They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor. 3When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. 4"I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." "What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility." 5So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. 6The chief priests picked up the coins and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money." 7So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners. 8That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, 10and they used them to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me." [The next section of Matthew 27 covers the crucifixion of Jesus, emphasizing that the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, was not responsible for the sentence of crucifixion, but instead it was done at the instigation of the chief priests of the Jews. Also his account focuses on the insults hurled on Jesus as the “Son of God” and “King of the Jews.”] 50And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. 52The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy

146 city and appeared to many people. 54When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!" 55Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. 56Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons. 57As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 61Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb. 62The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63"Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' 64So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first." 65"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." 66So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Matthew 28 1After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 2There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 5The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you." 8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." 11While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13telling them, "You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' 14If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." 15So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day. 16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

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The Gospel according to John

John 1

1In the beginning was the Word1, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. 14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' " 16From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

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John 2

1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." 4"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come." 5His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." 6Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. 8Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, 9and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now." 11This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him. 12After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days. 13When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went

1 The Word in Greek is logos. The Logos had a philosophical meaning that would have been understood by all educated Greek readers. Heraclitus (died c.475 BCE) had used the logos to refer to the eternal divine force that brings order to the ever-changing universe. Philo of Alexandria (died 40 CE), a Hellenized Jew, brought the term into Hebrew thought. Since he believed nothing was eternal but God, he made the logos a part of God: the creative aspect of God active in the world.

148 up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!" 17His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me." 18Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?" 19Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." 20The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" 21But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. 23Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. 24But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. 25He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

John 3

1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." 3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." 4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" 5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." 9"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked. 10"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

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149

John 4

1The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." 11"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" 13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." 15The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." 16He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." 17"I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." 19"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." 21Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." 25The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." 26Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

27Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" 28Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29"Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

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John 6

… 28Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" 29Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." 30So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to

150 eat.'" 32Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread." 35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." 41At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?" 43"Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. 44"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." 52Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." 59He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

151

Selections from the Letters of Paul to the Romans and the First Letter to the Corinthians

The oldest writings contained in the New Testament are the letters of Paul, the man most responsible for spreading news of Jesus and his teaching outside of the Jewish population of the Roman Empire. Paul wrote (or dictated) these letters in response to questions or news he received from the Christian communities he helped to found (in Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, etc.) in the late 50s CE. While we do not have the specific questions asked, it is possible to imagine what they were from Paul’s replies. Because of the nature of the topics, Paul’s letters are unlike the Gospels and focus little on Jesus’ life. They instead focus on the practical issues of how to follow Jesus’ teachings, form a community and live as a Christian in an overwhelmingly pagan world. What issues does Paul address in the following? What questions or news do you think prompted his reply? How does he respond?

Romans 3

1What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God. 3What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? 4Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge." 5But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" 8Why not say—as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say—"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved. 9What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." … 19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. 21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. 29Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles

152 too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Romans 4

1What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? 2If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." 4Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7"Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."

9Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. 13It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. 16Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

Romans 12

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is

153 teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 13

1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. 8Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. 11And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

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154

1 Corinthians 51

1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. 2And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? 3Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. 4When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.

6Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

9I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 12What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."

1 Corinthians 6

1If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? 2Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 4Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church! 5I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6But instead, one brother goes to law against another—and this in front of unbelievers! 7The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers. 9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:2 Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you

1 Corinth in Paul’s time was the center of the sex trade in the Mediterranean. If one wanted to find sexual services in the ancient world on a large scale or of unusual variety, Corinth was the place to go. It is helpful to keep that in mind while reading Paul’s letter, since some of those who Paul converted were formerly prostitutes and involved in Corinth’s seedier side (as he mentions in 1 Corinthians 6:11). 2 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 contains several Greek words of questionable or multiple meanings. These words have been translated in numerous ways since the fourth century. We will cover the possibilities of this sentence in our class discussion.

155 were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

12"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13"Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh." 17But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

1 Corinthians 7

1Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. 2But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. 3The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. 5Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. 8Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. 9But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. 10To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. 12To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. 14For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. 16How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? 17Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. 18Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. 19Circumcision is nothing and

156 uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts. 20Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. 21Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave. 23You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. 24Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to. 25Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. 26Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are. 27Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife. 28But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this. 29What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; 30those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. 32I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs—how he can please the Lord. 33But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— 34and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. 35I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord. 36If anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if she is getting along in years and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. 37But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin—this man also does the right thing. 38So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does even better. 39A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. 40In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is—and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

157

The Nicene Creed1

The Council of Nicaea (in modern-day Turkey) was called and presided over by the first Christian Emperor, Constantine in 325 CE. The main goal of this council was to bring together bishops and the leading priests to determine exactly what people needed to believe to call themselves Christians. Christianity had only been legal for 12 years before the Council, so this was the first meeting of Christian leaders in the Mediterranean since the time of the apostles. The following Creed was the statement of belief that was approved by the Council. Since the points contained here were included because they were previously disputed points, what beliefs is the Nicene Creed condemning as false?

We believe (I believe) in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and born of the Father before all ages. (God of God) light of light, true God of true God. Begotten not made, consubstantial to the Father, by whom all things were made. Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven. And was incarnate of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary and was made man; was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried; and the third day rose again according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, and shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose Kingdom there shall be no end. And [we believe] in the Holy Ghost. And whosoever shall say that there was a time when the Son of God was not, or that before he was begotten he was not, or that he was made of things that were not, or that he is of a different substance or essence [from the Father] or that he is a creature, or subject to change or conversion--all that so say, the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes them. Amen.

1 This text is available with other canons of the Council at http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3801.htm.

158

Eusebius of Caesarea, selection from The Life of Constantine1

Eusebius was born around the year 260 and became Bishop of Caeserea (in Judea, on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean) sometime before 315. He was in his forties when Diocletian launched the biggest persecution of Christians in the Roman period and Eusebius personally witnessed several martyrdoms (including many of his friends and his teacher and mentor). He played a major role in the Council of Nicaea (the council called by Constantine to establish the basic beliefs of Christianity), sitting next to Constantine and giving the opening address. Eusebius wrote this Life of Constantine (as an addition to his History of the Church) after Constantine died in 337. Eusebius himself died four years later. This Life helped produce the image of Constantine for later generations of Christians, but it is by no means an objective (or even factual) account of the rise of Constantine. His target audience in this work is his fellow Roman Christians. What is he trying to convince them of? How might that affect what is included and removed from his account of a period which he lived through?

CHAPTER 22: How, after the Burial of Constantius (Constantine’s Father), Constantine was proclaimed Augustus by the Army.

Nor did the imperial throne remain long unoccupied: for Constantine invested himself with his father's purple, and proceeded from his father's palace, presenting to all a renewal, as it were, in his own person, of his father's life and reign. He then conducted the funeral procession in company with his father's friends, some preceding, others following the train, and performed the last offices for the pious deceased with an extraordinary degree of magnificence, and all united in honoring this blessed prince with acclamations and praises, and while with one mind and voice, they glorified the rule of the son as a living again of him who was dead, they hastened at once to hail their new sovereign by the titles of Imperial and Worshipful Augustus, with joyful shouts. Thus the memory of the deceased emperor received honor from the praises bestowed upon his son, while the latter was pronounced blessed in being the successor of such a father. All the nations also under his dominion were filled with joy and inexpressible gladness at not being even for a moment deprived of the benefits of a well ordered government. In the instance of the Emperor Constantius, God has made manifest to our generation what the end of those is who in their lives have honored and loved Him.

CHAPTER 23: A Brief Notice of the Destruction of the Tyrants.

With respect to the other princes, who made war against the churches of God, I have not thought it fit in the present work to give any account of their downfall, nor to stain the memory of the good by mentioning them in connection with those of an opposite character. The knowledge of the facts themselves will of itself suffice for the wholesome admonition of those who have witnessed or heard of the evils which severally befell them.

1 Complete text available at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vita-constantine.asp.

159

CHAPTER 24: It was by the Will of God that Constantine became possessed of the Empire.

Thus then the God of all, the Supreme Governor of the whole universe, by his own will appointed Constantine, the descendant of so renowned a parent, to be prince and sovereign: so that, while others have been raised to this distinction by the election of their fellow men, he is the only one to whose elevation no mortal may boast of having contributed.

CHAPTER 25: Victories of Constantine over the Barbarians and the Britons.

As soon then as Constantine was established on the throne, he began to care for the interests of his paternal inheritance, and visited with much considerate kindness all those provinces which had previously been under his father's government. Some tribes of the barbarians who dwelt on the banks of the Rhine and the shores of the Western ocean ventured to revolt. He reduced them all to obedience and brought them from their savage state to one of gentleness. He contented himself with checking the inroads of others and drove from his dominions, like untamed and savage beasts, those whom he perceived to be altogether incapable of the settled order of civilized life. Having disposed of these affairs to his satisfaction, he directed his attention to other quarters of the world and first passed over to the British nations, which lie in the very bosom of the ocean. These he reduced to submission and then proceeded to consider the state of the remaining portions of the empire, that he might be ready to tender his aid wherever circumstances might require it.

CHAPTER 26: How he resolved to deliver Rome from Maxentius.2

While, therefore, he regarded the entire world as one immense body, and perceived that the head of it all, the royal city of the Roman empire, was bowed down by the weight of a tyrannous oppression; at first he had left the task of liberation to those who governed the other divisions of the empire, as being his elders. But when none of these3 proved able to afford relief, and those who had attempted it had experienced a failed disastrously, he said that life was without enjoyment to him as long as he saw the imperial city thus afflicted, and prepared himself to overthrow the tyranny.

CHAPTER 27: That after reflecting on the downfall of those who had worshiped idols, he made choice of Christianity.

Being convinced, however, that he needed some more powerful aid than his military forces could afford him, on account of the wicked and magical enchantments which were so diligently practiced by the tyrant [Maxentius], he sought Divine assistance, deeming the possession of arms and a large army of secondary importance, but believing the co-operating power of Deity

2 At this point there were four men who shared imperial duty: An Augustus and a Caesar in the Wset and an Augustus and a Caesar in the East. Maxentius was the son of Maximian, the former Augustus (chief emperor) of the western half of the Empire who retired in 305 and made way for Constantius (Constantine’s father) as the new Augustus. When Constantius died, his Caesar (junior emperor), Severus, should have become the new Augustus, but Maxentius had support from the army and people in Rome and was eventually able to capture and execute Severus. 3 Severus and the eastern Augustus, Galerius.

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invincible and not to be shaken. He considered, therefore, on what god he might rely for protection and assistance. While engaged in this enquiry, the thought occurred to him that of the many emperors who had preceded him, those who had rested their hopes in a multitude of gods and served them with sacrifices and offering, had in the first place been deceived by flattering predictions, and oracles which promised them all prosperity, and at last had met with an unhappy end, while not one of their gods had stood by to warn them of the impending wrath of heaven… and considering that those who had already taken arms against the tyrant and had marched to the battlefield under the protection of a multitude of gods, had met with a dishonorable end (for one of them had shamefully retreated from the contest without a blow, and the other, being slain in the midst of his own troops, became, as it were, the mere sport of death). Reviewing, I say, all these considerations, he judged it to be folly indeed to join in the worship of those who were no gods and, after such convincing evidence, to err from the truth; and therefore felt it incumbent on him to honor his father's God alone.

CHAPTER 28: How, while he was praying, God sent him a Vision of a Cross of Light in the Heavens at Mid-day, with an Inscription admonishing him to conquer by that.

Constantine called on God with earnest prayer and supplications that he would reveal to him who he was, and stretch forth his right hand to help him in his present difficulties. And while he was thus praying with fervent entreaty a most marvelous sign appeared to him from heaven, the account of which it might have been hard to believe had it been related by any other person. But since the victorious emperor himself long afterwards declared it to the writer of this history, when he was honored with his acquaintance and society, and confirmed his statement by an oath, who could hesitate to accredit the relation, especially since testimony has established its truth? He said that about noon, when the day was already beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, bearing the inscription CONQUER BY THIS. At this sight he himself was struck with amazement. And his whole army that followed him on this expedition witnessed the miracle too.

CHAPTER 29: How Christ appeared to him in his sleep, and commanded him to use in his wars a standard made in the form of the Cross.

He said, moreover, that he doubted within himself what the importance of this apparition could be. And while he continued to ponder and reason on its meaning, night suddenly came on; then in his sleep Christ appeared to him with the same sign which he had seen in the heavens, and commanded him to make a likeness of that sign which he had seen in the heavens and to use it as a safeguard in all engagements with his enemies.

CHAPTER 30: The Making of the Standard of the Cross.

At dawn of day he arose, and communicated the marvel to his friends: and then, calling together the workers in gold and precious stones, he sat in the midst of them, and described to them the figure of the sign he had seen, bidding them represent it in gold and precious stones. And this representation I myself have had an opportunity of seeing.

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CHAPTER 31: A Description of the Standard of the Cross, which the Romans now call the Labarum.

Now it was made in the following manner. A long spear, overlaid with gold, formed the figure of the cross by means of a transverse bar laid over it. On the top of the whole was fixed a wreath of gold and precious stones; and within this, the symbol of the Savior's name, two letters indicating the name of Christ by means of its initial characters, the letter P (rho) being intersected by X (chi) in its center: and these letters the emperor was in the habit of wearing on his helmet at a later period. From the cross-bar of the spear was suspended a cloth, a royal piece, covered with a profuse embroidery of most brilliant precious stones and which, being also richly interlaced with gold, presented an indescribable degree of beauty to the beholder. This banner was of a square form, and the upright staff, whose lower section was of great length, bore a golden half-length portrait of the pious emperor and his children on its upper part, beneath the trophy of the cross, and immediately above the embroidered banner. The emperor constantly made use of this sign of salvation as a safeguard against every adverse and hostile power, and commanded that others similar to it should be carried at the head of all his armies.

CHAPTER 32: How Constantine received instruction and read the Sacred Scriptures.

These things were done shortly afterwards. But at the time above specified, being struck with amazement at the extraordinary vision, and resolving to worship no other God save Him who had appeared to him, he sent for those who were acquainted with the mysteries of His doctrines, and enquired who that God was, and what was intended by the sign of the vision he had seen. They affirmed that He was God, the only begotten Son of the one and only God: that the sign which had appeared was the symbol of immortality and the trophy of that victory over death which He had gained in time past when sojourning on earth. They taught him also the causes of His advent, and explained to him the true account of His incarnation. Thus he was instructed in these matters, and was impressed with wonder at the divine manifestation which had been presented to his sight. Comparing, therefore, the heavenly vision with the interpretation given, he found his judgment confirmed. In the persuasion that the knowledge of these things had been imparted to him by Divine teaching, he determined thenceforth to devote himself to the reading of the inspired writings. Moreover, he made the priests of God his counselors, and deemed it incumbent on him to honor the God who had appeared to him with all devotion. And after this, being fortified by well- grounded hopes in Him, he hastened to quench the threatening fire of tyranny.

CHAPTER 33: Of the Adulterous Conduct of Maxentius at Rome.

For the one who had tyrannically possessed the imperial city had proceeded to great lengths in impiety and wickedness, so as to venture without hesitation on every vile and impure action. For example: he would separate women from their husbands, and after a time send them back to them again, and these insults he offered not to men of mean or obscure condition, but to those who held the first places in the Roman senate. Moreover, though he shamefully dishonored almost numberless free women, he was unable to satisfy his ungoverned and intemperate desires. But when he assayed to corrupt Christian women also, he could no longer secure success to his

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designs, since they chose rather to submit their lives to death than yield their persons to be defiled by him.

CHAPTER 34: How the Wife of a Prefect slew herself for Chastity's Sake.

Now a certain woman, wife of one of the senators who held the authority of prefect, when she understood that those who ministered to the tyrant in such matters were standing before her house (she was a Christian), and knew that her husband through fear had bidden them take her and lead her away, begged a short space of time for arraying herself in her usual dress and entered her chamber. There, being left alone, she sheathed a sword in her own breast and immediately expired, leaving indeed her dead body to the procurers, but declaring to all mankind, both to present and future generations, by an act which spoke louder than any words that the chastity for which Christians are famed is the only thing which is invincible and indestructible. Such was the conduct displayed by this woman.

CHAPTER 35: Massacre of the Roman People by Maxentius.

All men, therefore, both people and magistrates, whether of high or low degree, trembled through fear of him whose daring wickedness was such as I have described, and were oppressed by his grievous tyranny. Nay, though they submitted quietly and endured this bitter servitude, still there was no escape from the tyrant's sanguinary cruelty. For at one time, on some trifling pretense, he exposed the populace to be slaughtered by his own bodyguard and countless multitudes of the Roman people were slain in the very midst of the city by the lances and weapons, not of Scythians or barbarians, but of their own fellow-citizens. And besides this, it is impossible to calculate the number of senators whose blood was shed with a view to the seizure of their respective estates, for at different times and on various fictitious charges, multitudes of them suffered death.

CHAPTER 36: Magic Arts of Maxentius against Constantine; and Famine at Rome.

But the crowning point of the tyrant's wickedness was his having recourse to sorcery: sometimes for magic purposes ripping up women with child, at other times searching into the bowels of new-born infants. He slew lions also and practiced certain horrid arts for evoking demons, and averting the approaching war, hoping by these means to get the victory. In short, it is impossible to describe the manifold acts of oppression by which this tyrant of Rome enslaved his subjects; so that by this time they were reduced to the most extreme poverty and lack of food, a scarcity such as our contemporaries do not remember ever before to have existed at Rome.

CHAPTER 37: Defeat of Maxentius's Armies in Italy.

Constantine, however, filled with compassion on account of all these miseries, began to arm himself with all warlike preparation against the tyranny. Assuming therefore the Supreme God as his patron and invoking His Christ to be his preserver and aid, and setting the victorious trophy, the salutary symbol, in front of his soldiers and bodyguard, he marched with his whole forces, trying to obtain again for the Romans the freedom they had inherited from their ancestors.

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And whereas Maxentius, trusting more in his magic arts than in the affection of his subjects, dared not even advance outside the city gates, but had guarded every place and district and city subject to his tyranny, with large bodies of soldiers, the emperor, confiding in the help of God, advanced against the first and second and third divisions of the tyrant's forces, defeated them all with ease at the first assault and made his way into the very interior of Italy.

CHAPTER 38: Death of Maxentius on the Bridge of the Tiber (Milvian Bridge).

And already he was approaching very near Rome itself, when, to save him from the necessity of fighting with all the Romans for the tyrant's sake, God himself drew the tyrant, as it were by secret cords, a long way outside the gates. And now those miracles recorded in Holy Writ, which God of old wrought against the ungodly (discredited by most as fables, yet believed by the faithful), did he in every deed confirm to all alike, believers and unbelievers, who were eye- witnesses of the wonders. For as once in the days of Moses and the Hebrew nation, who were worshipers of God, "Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea and his chosen chariot-captains are drowned in the Red Sea," --so at this time Maxentius, and the soldiers and guards with him, "went down into the depths like stone," when, in his flight before the divinely- aided forces of Constantine, he tried to cross the river which lay in his way, over which, making a strong bridge of boats, he had framed an engine of destruction, really against himself, but in the hope of ensnaring thereby him who was beloved by God. For his God stood by the one to protect him, while the other, godless, proved to be the miserable contriver of these secret devices to his own ruin. Thus, in the present instance, under divine direction, the machine erected on the bridge, with the ambuscade concealed therein, giving way unexpectedly before the appointed time, the bridge began to sink, and the boats with the men in them went bodily to the bottom. And first the wretch himself, then his armed attendants and guards, even as the sacred oracles had before described, "sank as lead in the mighty waters." So that they who thus obtained victory from God might well, if not in the same words, yet in fact in the same spirit as the people of his great servant Moses, sing and speak as they did concerning the impious tyrant of old: "Let us sing unto the Lord, for he hath been glorified exceedingly: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. He is become my helper and my shield unto salvation."

CHAPTER 39: Constantine's Entry into Rome.

Having then at this time sung these and suchlike praises to God, the Ruler of all and the Author of victory, after the example of his great servant Moses, Constantine entered the imperial city in triumph. And here the whole body of the senate and others of rank and distinction in the city, freed as it were from the restraint of a prison, along with the whole Roman populace, their countenances expressive of the gladness of their hearts, received him with acclamations and abounding joy. Men, women and children, with countless multitudes of servants, greeted him as deliverer, preserver, and benefactor, with incessant shouts. But he, being possessed of inward piety toward God, was neither rendered arrogant by these plaudits, nor uplifted by the praises he heard: but, being sensible that he had received help from God, he immediately rendered a thanksgiving to him as the Author of his victory.

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Tacitus, the Germania, excerpts

Tacitus, an important Roman historian, wrote the most detailed early description of the Germans at the end of the first century. There is, however, no evidence he ever left the Roman Empire. While he may have had access to knowledge from those who have been there, he was also a major critic of the Rome of his own time and may be using the Germans to make a point about Rome.

Physical Characteristics.

For my own part, I agree with those who think that the tribes of Germany are free from all taint of intermarriages with foreign nations, and that they appear as a distinct, unmixed race, like none but themselves. Hence, too, the same physical peculiarities throughout so vast a population. All have fierce blue eyes, red hair, huge frames, fit only for a sudden exertion. They are less able to bear laborious work. Heat and thirst they cannot in the least endure; to cold and hunger their climate and their soil inure them.

Government. Influence of Women.

They choose their kings by birth, their generals for merit. These kings have not unlimited or arbitrary power, and the generals do more by example than by authority. If they are energetic, if they are conspicuous, if they fight in the front, they lead because they are admired. But to reprimand, to imprison, even to flog, is permitted to the priests alone, and that not as a punishment, or at the general's bidding, but, as it were, by the mandate of the god whom they believe to inspire the warrior. They also carry with them into battle certain figures and images taken from their sacred groves. And what most stimulates their courage is, that their squadrons or battalions, instead of being formed by chance or by a fortuitous gathering, are composed of families and clans. Close by them, too, are those dearest to them, so that they hear the shrieks of women, the cries of infants. They are to every man the most sacred witnesses of his bravery-they are his most generous applauders. The soldier brings his wounds to mother and wife, who shrink not from counting or even demanding them and who administer food and encouragement to the combatants.

Tradition says that armies already wavering and giving way have been rallied by women who, with earnest entreaties and bosoms laid bare, have vividly represented the horrors of captivity, which the Germans fear with such extreme dread on behalf of their women, that the strongest tie by which a state can be bound is the being required to give, among the number of hostages, maidens of noble birth. They even believe that the sex has a certain sanctity and prescience, and they do not despise their counsels, or make light of their answers. In Vespasian's days we saw Veleda, long regarded by many as a divinity. In former times, too, they venerated Aurinia, and many other women, but not with servile flatteries, or with sham deification.

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Punishments. Administration of Justice.

In their councils an accusation may be preferred or a capital crime prosecuted. Penalties are distinguished according to the offence. Traitors and deserters are hanged on trees; the coward, the unwarlike, the man stained with abominable vices, is plunged into the mire of the morass with a hurdle put over him. This distinction in punishment means that crime, they think, ought, in being punished, to be exposed, while infamy ought to be buried out of sight- Lighter offences, too, have penalties proportioned to them; he who is convicted, is fined in a certain number of horses or of cattle. Half of the fine is paid to the king or to the state, half to the person whose wrongs are avenged and to his relatives. In these same councils they also elect the chief magistrates, who administer law in the cantons and the towns. Each of these has a hundred associates chosen from the people, who support him with their advice and influence. Marriage Laws. Their marriage code, however, is strict, and indeed no part of their manners is more praiseworthy. Almost alone among barbarians they are content with one wife, except a very few among them, and these not from sensuality, but because their noble birth procures for them many offers of alliance. The wife does not bring a dower to the husband, but the husband to the wife. The parents and relatives are present, and pass judgment on the marriage-gifts, gifts not meant to suit a woman's taste, nor such as a bride would deck herself with, but oxen, a caparisoned steed, a shield, a lance, and a sword. With these presents the wife is espoused, and she herself in her turn brings her husband a gift of arms. This they count their strongest bond of union, these their sacred mysteries, these their gods of marriage. Lest the woman should think herself to stand apart from aspirations after noble deeds and from the perils of war, she is reminded by the ceremony which inaugurates marriage that she is her husband's partner in toil and danger, destined to suffer and to dare with him alike both in in war. The yoked oxen, the harnessed steed, the gift of arms proclaim this fact. She must live and die with the feeling that she is receiving what she must hand down to her children neither tarnished nor depreciated, what future daughters-in-law may receive, and maybe so passed on to her grandchildren.

Thus with their virtue protected they live uncorrupted by the allurements of public shows or the stimulant of feastings. Clandestine correspondence is equally unknown to men and women. Very rare for so numerous a population is adultery, the punishment for which is prompt, and in the husband's power. Having cut off the hair of the adulteress and stripped her naked, he expels her from the house in the presence of her kinsfolk, and then flogs her through the whole village. The loss of chastity meets with no indulgence; neither beauty, youth, nor wealth will procure the culprit a husband. No one in Germany laughs at vice, nor do they call it the fashion to corrupt and to be corrupted. Still better is the condition of those states in which only maidens arc given in marriage, and where the hopes and expectations of a bride are then finally terminated. They receive one husband, as having one body and one life, that they may have no thoughts beyond, no further-reaching desires, that they may love not so much the husband as the married state. To limit the number of children or to destroy any of their subsequent offspring is accounted infamous, and good habits are here more effectual than good laws elsewhere.

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Food

A liquor for drinking is made of barley or other grain, and fermented into a certain resemblance to wine. The dwellers on the river-bank also buy wine. Their food is of a simple kind, consisting of wild fruit, fresh game, and curdled milk. They satisfy their hunger without elaborate preparation and without delicacies. In quenching their thirst they are equally moderate. If you indulge their love of drinking by supplying them with as much as they desire, they will be overcome by their own vices as easily as by the arms of an enemy.

Such on the whole is the account which I have received of the origin and manners of the entire German people.

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The Salic Law (of the Salian Franks)4

The Salian Franks were one of the main tribes of Franks. This law was not committed to writing until after they had been living in the Roman Empire for over a century, when it was likely written down by jurists trained in Roman law at the order of King Clovis. It is impossible to get a direct conversion of the monetary amounts listed below, but their comparison provides something of an idea of what was valued.

Title I. Concerning Summonses. 1. If anyone is summoned before the "Thing"5 by the king's law, and do not come he shall be sentenced to 600 denars, which make 15 shillings (solidi). 2. But he who summons another, and does not come himself, shall, if a lawful impediment have not delayed him, be sentenced to 15 shillings, to be paid to him whom he summoned. 3. And he who summons another shall walk with witnesses to the home of that man, and, if he be not at home, shall bid the wife or any one of the family to make known to him that he has been summoned to court. 4. But if he is occupied in the king's service he cannot summon him. 5. But if he shall be inside the hundred seeing about his own affairs, he can summon him in the manner explained above.

Title II. Concerning Thefts of Pigs etc. 1. If anyone steals a sucking pig, and it be proved against him, he shall be sentenced to 120 denars, which make three shillings. 2. If anyone steals a pig that can live without its mother, and it be proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 40 denars-that is, 1 shilling. 14. If anyone steals 25 sheep where there were no more in that flock, and it be proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 2500 denars-that is, 62 shillings.

Title III. Concerning Thefts of Cattle. 4. If anyone steals that bull which rules the herd and never has been yoked, he shall be sentenced to 1800 denars, which make 45 shillings. 5. But if that bull is used for three villages in common, he who stole him shall be sentenced to three times 45 shillings. 6. If anyone steals a bull belonging to the king he shall be sentenced to 3600 denars, which make 90 shillings.

Title IV. Concerning Damage done among Crops or in any Enclosure. 1. If any one finds cattle, or a horse, or flocks of any kind in his crops, he shall not at all mutilate them.

4 From Henderson, Ernest F. Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages (London : George Bell and Sons, 1896); available online at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/salic-law.html. 5 The Thing is an assembly. It is both a political meeting of the important local men and also an occasion when legal affairs, business, and marriage arrangements were conducted.

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2. If he does this and confesses it, he shall restore the worth of the animal in place of it, and shall himself keep the mutilated one. 3. But if he has not confessed it, and it has been proved on him, he shall be sentenced, besides the value of the animal and the fines for delay, to 600 denars, which make 15 shillings.

Title XI. Concerning Thefts or Housebreakings of Freemen. 1. If any freeman steals, outside of the house, something worth 2 denars, he shall be sentenced to 600 denars, which make 15 shillings. 2. But if he steals, outside of the house, something worth 40 denars, and it be proved on him, he shall be sentenced, besides the amount and the fines for delay, to 1400 denars, which make 35 shillings. 3. If a freeman break into a house and steal something worth 2 denars, and it be proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 15 shillings 4. But if he shall have stolen something worth more than 5 denars, and it have been proved on him, he shall be sentenced, besides the worth of the object and the fines for delay, to 1400 denars, which make 35 shillings. 5. But if he have broken, or tampered with, the lock, and thus have entered the house and stolen anything from it, he shall be sentenced, besides the worth of the object and the fines for delay, to 1800 denars, which make 45 shillings. 6. And if he have taken nothing, or have escaped by flight, he shall, for the housebreaking alone, be sentenced to 1200 denars, which make 30 shillings.

Title XII. Concerning Thefts or Housebreakings on the Part of Slaves. 1. If a slave steal, outside of the house, something worth two denars, he shall, besides paying the worth of the object and the fines for delay, be stretched out and receive 120 blows. 2. But if he steals something worth 40 denars, he shall either be castrated or pay 6 shillings. But the lord of the slave who committed the theft shall restore to the plaintiff the worth of the object and the fines for delay.

Title XIII. Concerning Rape committed by Freemen. 1. If three men carry off a free born girl, they shall be compelled to pay 30 shillings. 2. If there are more than three, each one shall pay 5 shillings. 3. Those who shall have been present with boats shall be sentenced to three shillings. 4. But those who commit rape shall be compelled to pay 2500 denars, which make 63 shillings. 5. But if they have carried off that girl from behind lock and key, or from the spinning room, they shall be sentenced to the above price and penalty. 6. But if the girl who is carried off be under the king's protection, then the "frith" (peace-money) shall be 2500 denars, which make 63 shillings. 7. But if a bondsman of the king should carry off a free woman, he shall be sentenced to death. 8. But if a free woman has followed a slave of her own will, she shall lose her freedom. 9. If a freeborn man shall have taken an alien bondswoman, he shall suffer similarly. 10. If anybody takes a foreign spouse and joins her to himself in matrimony, he shall be sentenced to 2500 denars, which make 63 shillings.

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Title XIV. Concerning Assault and Robbery. 1. If anyone has assaulted and plundered a free man, and it be proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 2500 denars, which makes 63 shillings. 2. If a Roman has plundered a Salian Frank, the above law shall be observed. 3. But if a Frank has plundered a Roman, he shall be sentenced to 35 shillings. 4. If any man should wish to migrate, and has permission from the king, and shall have shown this in the public "Thing;" whoever, contrary to the decree of the king, shall presume to oppose him, shall be sentenced to 8000 denars, which make 200 shillings.

Title XV. Concerning Arson. 1. If anyone shall set fire to a house in which men were sleeping, as many freemen as were in it can make complaint before the "Thing;" and if any one shall have been burned in it, the incendiary shall be sentenced to 2500 denars, which make 63 shillings.

Title XVII. Concerning Wounds. 1. If anyone has wished to kill another person, and the blow has missed, he on whom it was proved shall be sentenced to 2500 denars, which make 63 shillings. 2. If any person have wished to strike another with a poisoned arrow, and the arrow have glanced aside, and it shall be proved on him; he shall be sentenced to 2500 denars, which make 63 shillings. 3. If any person strikes another on the head so that the brain appears, and the three bones which lie above the brain shall project, he shall be sentenced to 1200 denars, which make 30 shillings. 4. But if it shall have been between the ribs or in the stomach, so that the wound appears and reaches to the entrails, he shall be sentenced to 1200 denars-which make 30 shillings-besides five shillings for the physician's pay. 5. If any one shall have struck a man so that blood falls to the floor, and it be proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 600 denars, which make 15 shillings. 6. But if a freeman strikes a freeman with his fist so that blood does not flow, he shall be sentenced for each blow-up to 3 blows-to 120 denars, which make 3 shillings.

Title XVIII. Concerning him who, before the King, accuses an innocent Man. If anyone, before the king, accuse an innocent man who is absent, he shall be sentenced to 2500 denars, which make 63 shillings.

Title XIX. Concerning Magicians. 1. If anyone has given herbs to another so that he die, he shall be sentenced to 200 shillings (or shall surely be given over to fire). 2. If any person have bewitched another, and he who was thus treated shall escape, the author of the crime, who is proved to have committed it, shall be sentenced to 2500 denars, which make 63 shillings.

Title XXIV. Concerning the Killing of little children and women. 1. If anyone has slain a boy under 10 years-up to the end of the tenth-and it shall have been proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 24000 denars, which make 600 shillings.

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3. If anyone have hit a free woman who is pregnant and she dies, he shall be sentenced to 28000 denars, which make 700 shillings. 6. If anyone has killed a free woman after she has begun bearing children, he shall be sentenced to 24000 denars, which make 600 shillings. 7. After she can have no more children, he who kills her shall be sentenced to 8000 denars, which make 200 shillings.

Title XXX. Concerning Insults. 3. If anyone, man or woman, shall have called a woman harlot, and shall not have been able to prove it, he shall be sentenced to 1800 denars, which make 45 shillings. 4. If any person shall have called another "fox," he shall be sentenced to 3 shillings. 5. If any man shall have called another "hare," he shall be sentenced to 3 shillings. 6. If any man shall have brought it up against another that he have thrown away his shield, and shall not have been able to prove it, he shall be sentenced to 120 denars, which make 3 shillings. 7. If any man shall have called another "spy" or "perjurer," and shall not have been able to prove it, he shall be sentenced to 600 denars, which make 15 shillings.

Title XXXIII. Concerning the Theft of hunting animals. 2. If anyone has stolen a tame marked stag-hound, trained to hunting, and it shall have been proved through witnesses that his master had him for hunting, or had killed with him two or three beasts, he shall be sentenced to 1800 denars, which make 45 shillings.

Title XXXIV. Concerning the Stealing of Fences. 1. If any man shall have cut 3 staves by which a fence is bound or held together, or have stolen or cut the heads of 3 stakes, he shall be sentenced to 600 denars, which make 15 shillings. 2. If anyone shall have drawn a harrow through another's harvest after it has sprouted, or shall have gone through it with a wagon where there was no road, he shall be sentenced to 120 denars, which make 3 shillings. 3. If anyone shall have gone, where there is no way or path, through another's harvest which has already become thick, he shall be sentenced to 600 denars, which make 15 shillings.

Title XLI. Concerning the Murder of Free Men. 1. If anyone shall have killed a free Frank, or a barbarian living under the Salic law, and it have been proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 8000 denars. 2. But if he shall have thrown him into a well or into the water, or shall have covered him with branches or anything else, to conceal him, he shall be sentenced to 24000 denars, which make 600 shillings. 3. But if anyone has slain a man who is in the service of the king, he shall be sentenced to 24000 denars, which make 600 shillings. 4. But if he has put him in the water or in a well, and covered him with anything to conceal him, he shall be sentenced to 72000 denars, which make 1800 shillings. 5. If anyone has slain a Roman who eats in the king's palace, and it have been proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 12000 denars, which make 300 shillings. 6. But if the Roman was not been a landed proprietor and table companion of the king, he who killed him shall be sentenced to 4000 denars, which make 100 shillings.

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7. But if he shall have killed a Roman who was obliged to pay tribute, he shall be sentenced to 50 shillings. 9. If anyone has thrown a free man into a well, and he escaped alive, he (the criminal) shall be sentenced to 4000 denars, which make 100 shillings.

Title XLV. Concerning Migrators. 1. If anyone wishes to migrate to another village and if one or more who live in that village do not wish to receive him,-if there be only one who objects, he shall not have leave to move there. 2. But if he shall have presumed to settle in that village in spite of his rejection by one or two men, then someone shall give him warning. And if he be unwilling to go away, he who gives him warning shall give him warning, with witnesses, as follows: I warn you that you may remain here this next night as the Salic law demands, and I warn you that within 10 nights you shall go forth from this village. After another 10 nights he shall again come to him and warn him again within 10 nights to go away. If he still refuse to go, again 10 nights shall be added to the command, that the number of 30 nights may be full. If he will not go away even then, then he shall summon him to the "Thing," and present his witnesses as to the separate commands to leave. If he who has been warned will not then move away, and no valid reason detains him, and all the above warnings which we have mentioned have been given according to law: then he who gave him warning shall take the mutter into his own hands and request the "comes" to go to that place and expel him. And because he would not listen to the law, that man shall relinquish all that he has earned there, and, besides, shall be sentenced to 1200 denars, which make 30 shillings. 3. But if anyone has moved there, and within 12 months no one have given him warning, he shall remain as secure as the other neighbors.

Title XLVL Concerning Transfers of Property. 1. The observance shall be that the Thunginus or Centenarius shall call together a "Thing," and shall have his shield in the "Thing," and shall demand three men as witnesses for each of the three transactions. He (the owner of the land to be transferred) shall seek a man who has no connection with himself, and shall throw a stalk into his lap. And to him into whose lap he has thrown the stalk he shall tell, concerning his property, how much of it-or whether the whole or a half-he wishes to give. He in whose lap he threw the stalk shall remain in his (the owner's) house, and shall collect three or more guests, and shall have the property-as much as is given him-in his power. And, afterwards, he to whom that property is entrusted shall discuss all these things with the witnesses collected afterwards, either before the king or in the regular "Thing," he shall give the property up to him for whom it was intended. He shall take the stalk in the "Thing," and, before 12 months are over, shall throw it into the lap of him whom the owner has named heir; and he shall restore not more nor less, but exactly as much as was entrusted to him. 2. And if any one shall wish to say anything against this, three sworn witnesses shall say that they were in the "Thing " which the "Thunginus" or "Centenarius" called together, and that they saw that man who wished to give his property throw a stalk into the lap of him whom he had selected. They shall name by name him who threw his property into the lap of the other, and, likewise, shall name him whom he named his heir. And three other sworn witnesses shall say that he in whose lap the stalk was thrown had remained in the house of him who gave his property, and had there collected three or more guests and that they had eaten porridge at table, and that he had collected those who were bearing witness, and that those guests had thanked him for their entertainment. All this those other sworn witnesses shall say, and that he who received

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that property in his lap in the " Thing " held before the king, or in the regular public " Thing," did publicly, before the people, either in the presence of the king or in public " Thing "-namely on the Mallberg, before the "Thunginus"-throw the stalk into the lap of him whom the owner had named as heir. And thus 9 witnesses shall confirm all this.

Title L. Concerning Promises to Pay. 1. If any freeman or bondsman have made to another a promise to pay, then he to whom the promise was made shall, within 40 days or within such term as was agreed when he made the promise, go to the house of that man with witnesses, or with appraisers. And if he (the debtor) is unwilling to make the promised payment, he shall be sentenced to 15 shillings above the debt which he had promised. 2. If he then is unwilling to pay, he (the creditor) shall summon him before the "Thing"; and thus accuse him: "I ask thee, 'Thunginus,' to bann my opponent who made me a promise to pay and owes me a debt." And he shall state how much he owes and promised to pay. Then the "Thunginus" shall say: " I bann thy opponent to what the Salic law decrees." Then he to whom the promise was made shall warn him (the debtor) to make no payment or pledge of payment to anybody else until he have fulfilled his promise to him (the creditor). And straightway on that same day before the sun sets, he shall go to the house of that man with witnesses, and shall ask if he will pay that debt. If he will not, he (the creditor) shall wait until after sunset; then, if he has waited until after sunset, 120 denars, which make 3 shillings shall be added on to the debt. And this shall be done up to 3 times in 3 weeks. And if at the third time he will not pay all this, it (the sum) shall increase to 360 denars, or 9 shillings: so, namely, that, after each admonition or waiting until after sunset, 3 shillings shall be added to the debt. 3. If anyone is unwilling to fulfill his promise in the regular assembly,-then he to whom the promise was made shall go the count of that place, in whose district he lives, and shall take the stalk and shall say: oh count, that man made me a promise to pay, and I have lawfully summoned him before the court according to the Salic law on this matter; I pledge thee myself and my fortune that you may safely seize his property. And he shall state the case to him, and shall tell how much he (the debtor) had agreed to pay. Then the count shall collect suitable bailiffs, and shall go with them to the house of him who made the promise and shall say: thou who art here present pay voluntarily to that man what thou didst promise, and choose any two of those bailiffs who shall appraise that from which you shall pay; and make good what thou cost owe, according to a just appraisal. But if ho will not hear, or be absent, then the bailiffs shall take from his property the value of the debt which he owes. And, according to the law, the accuser shall take two thirds of that which the debtor owes, and the count shall collect for himself the other third as peace money; unless the peace money shall have been paid to him before in this same matter. 4. If the count has been appealed to, and no sufficient reason, and no duty of the king, has detained him-and if he has put off going, and has sent no substitute to demand law and justice: he shall answer for it with his life, or shall redeem himself with his "wergeld."6

Title LIV. Concerning the Slaying of a Count. 1. If anyone slays a count, he shall be sentenced to 2400 denars, which make 600 shillings.

6 Wergeld, or blood money, is the amount an individual’s family should be compensated for the individual’s death by his killer(s).

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Title LV. Concerning the Plundering of Corpses. 2. If anyone shall dig up and plunder a corpse already buried, and it shall be proved on him, he shall be outlawed until the day when he comes to an agreement with the relatives of the dead man, and they ask for him that he be allowed to come among men. And whoever, before he come to an arrangement with the relative, shall give him bread or shelter - even if they are his relations or his own wife - shall be sentenced to 600 denars which make 15 shillings. 3. But he who is proved to have committed the crime shall be sentenced to 8000 denars, which make 200 shillings.

Title LVI. Concerning him who shall have scorned to come to Court. 1. If any man shall have scorned to come to court, and shall have put off fulfilling the injunction of the bailiffs, and shall not have been willing to consent to undergo the fine, or the kettle ordeal, or anything prescribed by law: then he (the plaintiff) shall summon him to the presence of the king. And there shall be 12 witnesses who-3 at n time being sworn-shall testify that they were present when the bailiff enjoined him (the accused) either to go to the kettle ordeal, or to agree concerning the fine; and that he had scorned the injunction. Then 3 others shall swear that they were there on the day when the bailiffs enjoined that he should free himself by the kettle ordeal or by composition; and that 40 days after that, he (the accuser) had again waited until after sunset, and that he (the accused) would not obey the law. Then he (the accuser) shall summon him before the king for a fortnight thence; and three witnesses shall swear that they were there when he summoned him and when he waited for sunset. If he does not then come, those 9, being sworn, shall give testimony as we have above explained. On that day likewise, if he do not come, he (the accuser) shall let the sun go down on him, and shall have 3 witnesses who shall be there when he waits till sunset. But if the accuser shall have fulfilled all this, and the accused shall not have been willing to come to any court, then the king, before whom he has been summoned, shall withdraw his protection from him. Then he shall be guilty, and all his goods shall belong to the fisc, or to him to whom the fisc may wish to give them. And whoever shall have fed or housed him-even if it were his own wife-shall be sentenced to 600 denars, which make 15 shillings; until he (the debtor) shall have made good all that has been laid to his charge.

Title LVII. Concerning the "Chrenecruda." 1. If anyone has killed a man, and, having given up all his property, has not enough to comply with the full terms of the law, he shall present 12 sworn witnesses to the effect that, neither above the earth nor under it, has he any more property than he has already given. And he shall afterwards go into his house, and shall collect in his hand dust from the four corners of it, and shall afterwards stand upon the threshold, looking inwards into the house. And then, with his left hand, he shall throw over his shoulder some of that dust on the nearest relative that he has. But if his father and (his father's) brothers have already paid, he shall then throw that dust on their (the brothers') children-that is, over three (relatives) who are nearest on the father's and three on the mother's side. And after that, in his shirt, without girdle and without shoes, a staff in his hand, he shall spring over the hedge. And then those three shall pay half of what is lacking of the compounding money or the legal fine; that is, those others who are descended in the paternal line shall do this.

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2. But if there is one of those relatives who has not enough to pay his whole indebtedness, he, the poorer one, shall in turn throw the "chrenecruda" on him of them who has the most, so that he shall pay the whole fine. 3. But if he also has not enough to pay the whole then he who has charge of the murderer shall bring him before the "Thing," and afterwards to 4 Things in order that they (his friends) may take him under their protection. And if no one has taken him under his protection -that is, so as to redeem him for what he cannot pay- then he shall have to atone with his life.

Title LIX. Concerning Private Property. 1. If any man dies and leaves no sons, if the father and mother survive, they shall inherit. 3. If the father and mother do not survive, and he leaves brothers or sisters, they shall inherit. 3. But if there are none, the sisters of the father shall inherit. 4. But if there are no sisters of the father, the sisters of the mother shall claim that inheritance. 5. If there are none of these, the nearest relatives on the father's side shall succeed to that inheritance. 6. But of Salic land7 no portion of the inheritance shall come to a woman: but the whole inheritance of the land shall come to the male sex.

Title LXII. Concerning Wergeld. 1. If anyone's father has been killed, the sons shall have half the compounding money (wergeld); and the other half the nearest relatives, as well on the mother's as on the father's side, shall divide among themselves. 2. But if there are no relatives, paternal or maternal that portion shall go to the fisc (King’s treasury).

7 Only a small part of Frankish land, this was the land that carried with it the obligation of military service.

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The Rule of St. Benedict, Selections8

Benedict of Nursia (ca. 480-550) was one of many men to seek holiness by retreating into the wilderness to live a solitary existence focused on prayer. Like the most successful, he gained a reputation and others soon sought him out for guidance. Benedict was ultimately very successful at founding and guiding numerous monastic communities southeast of Rome. While hundreds of Rules for Monks were written in the fifth and sixth centuries, it was Benedict’s that became the standard. This was in part due to its detail and structure, but was equally the result of the flexibility that Benedict added to the rules. Benedict’s reputation spread with Pope Gregory the Great’s “Life of Benedict” in his Dialogues and the Rule was cemented in place as the definition of monasticism when Charlemagne, King of the Franks, adopted it (even going personally to the monastery of Montecassino to get an original copy of the Rule) for monasteries throughout his empire (which included most of modern France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, most of Italy and a chunk of Austria).

Prologue ... We are about to found therefore a school for the Lord's service; in the organization of which we trust that we shall ordain nothing severe and nothing burdensome. But even if, the demands of justice dictating it, something a little irksome shall be the result, for the purpose of amending vices or preserving charity; - you shall not therefore, struck by fear, flee the way of salvation, which can not be entered upon except through a narrow entrance. But as one's way of life and one's faith progresses, the heart becomes broadened, and, with the unutterable sweetness of love, the way of the mandates of the Lord is traversed. Thus, never departing from His guidance, continuing in the monastery in his teaching until death, through patience we are made partakers in Christ's passion, in order that we may merit to be companions in His kingdom. 2. What the Abbot Should Be Like The Abbot who is worthy to be over a monastery, ought always to be mindful of what he is called, and make his works square with his name of Superior. For he is believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery, when he is called by his name, according to the saying of the Apostle: "You have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry Abba (Father)" (Rom 8:15). Therefore, the Abbot should never teach, prescribe, or command (which God forbid) anything contrary to the laws of the Lord; but his commands and teaching should be instilled like a leaven of divine justice into the minds of his disciples. Let the Abbot always bear in mind that he must give an account in the dread judgment of God of both his own teaching and of the obedience of his disciples. And let the Abbot know that whatever lack of profit the master of the house shall find in the sheep, will be laid to the blame of the shepherd. On the other hand he will be blameless, if he gave all a shepherd's care to his restless and unruly flock, and took all pains to correct their corrupt manners; so that their shepherd, acquitted at the Lord's judgment seat, may say to the Lord with the Prophet: "I have not hid Thy justice within my heart. I have declared Thy truth and Thy salvation" (Ps 39[40]:11). "But they contemning have despised me" (Is 1:2; Ezek 20:27). Then at length eternal death will be the crushing doom of the rebellious sheep under his charge.

8 From Migne, Patrologia Latina Vol. 66, col. 215ff, translated by Ernest F. Henderson, Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages, (London: George Bell and Sons, 1910).

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When, therefore, anyone takes the name of Abbot he should govern his disciples by a twofold teaching; namely, he should show them all that is good and holy by his deeds more than by his words; explain the commandments of God to intelligent disciples by words, but show the divine precepts to the dull and simple by his works. And let him show by his actions, that whatever he teaches his disciples as being contrary to the law of God must not be done, "lest perhaps when he has preached to others, he himself should become a castaway" (1 Cor 9:27), and he himself committing sin, God one day say to him: "Why do you declare My justices, and take My covenant in your mouth? But you have hated discipline, and have cast My words behind you" (Ps 49[50]:16-17). And: "You who saw the mote in your brother's eye, has not seen the beam in your own" (Mt 7:3). Let him make no distinction of persons in the monastery. Let him not love one more than another, unless it be one whom he finds more exemplary in good works and obedience. Let not a free-born be preferred to a freed slave, unless there be some other reasonable cause. But if from a just reason the Abbot deems it proper to make such a distinction, he may do so in regard to the rank of anyone whomsoever; otherwise let everyone keep his own place; for whether bond or free, we are all one in Christ (cf Gal 3:28; Eph 6:8), and we all bear an equal burden of servitude under one Lord, "for there is no respect of persons with God" (Rom 2:11). We are distinguished with Him in this respect alone, if we are found to excel others in good works and in humility. Therefore, let him have equal charity for all, and impose a uniform discipline for all according to merit… The Abbot ought always to remember what he is and what he is called, and to know that to whom much hath been entrusted, from him much will be required; and let him understand what a difficult and arduous task he assumes in governing souls and accommodating himself to a variety of characters. Let him so adjust and adapt himself to everyone -- to one by gentle speech, to another by reproofs, and to still another by entreaties, to each one according to his bent and understanding -- that he not only suffer no loss in his flock, but may rejoice in the increase of a worthy fold…

3. About Calling in the Brethren to Take Council Whenever weighty matters are to be transacted in the monastery, let the Abbot call together the whole community, and make known the matter which is to be considered. Having heard the brethren's views, let him weigh the matter with himself and do what he thinks best. It is for this reason, however, we said that all should be called for counsel, because the Lord often reveals to the younger what is best. Let the brethren, however, give their advice with humble submission, and let them not presume stubbornly to defend what seems right to them, for it must depend rather on the Abbot's will, so that all obey him in what he considers best. But as it becomes disciples to obey their master, so also it becomes the master to dispose all things with prudence and justice. Therefore, let all follow the Rule as their guide in everything, and let no one rashly depart from it. Let no one in the monastery follow the bent of his own heart, and let no one dare to dispute insolently with his Abbot, either inside or outside the monastery. If any one dare to do so, let him be placed under the correction of the Rule. Let the Abbot himself, however, do everything in the fear of the Lord and out of reverence for the Rule, knowing that, beyond a doubt, he will have to give an account to God, the most just Judge, for all his rulings. If, however, matters of less importance, having to do with the welfare of the monastery, are to be treated of, let him use the

177 counsel of the Seniors only, as it is written: "Do all things with counsel, and you shall not repent when you have done" (Sir 32:24).

4. What are the Instrument of Good Works 1. In the first place to love the Lord God with the whole heart, the whole soul, the whole strength... 2. Then, one's neighbor as one's self (cf Mt 22:37-39; Mk 12:30-31; Lk 10:27). 3. Then, not to kill... 4. Not to commit adultery... 5. Not to steal... 6. Not to covet (cf Rom 13:9). 7. Not to bear false witness (cf Mt 19:18; Mk 10:19; Lk 18:20). 8. To honor all men (cf 1 Pt 2:17). 9. And what one would not have done to himself, not to do to another (cf Tob 4:16; Mt 7:12; Lk 6:31). 10. To deny one's self in order to follow Christ (cf Mt 16:24; Lk 9:23). 11. To chastise the body (cf 1 Cor 9:27). 12. Not to seek after pleasures. 13. To love fasting. 14. To relieve the poor. 15. To clothe the naked... 16. To visit the sick (cf Mt 25:36). 17. To bury the dead. 18. To help in trouble. 19. To console the sorrowing. 20. To hold one's self aloof from worldly ways. 21. To prefer nothing to the love of Christ. 22. Not to give way to anger. 23. Not to foster a desire for revenge. 24. Not to entertain deceit in the heart. 25. Not to make a false peace. 26. Not to forsake charity. 27. Not to swear, lest perchance one swear falsely. 28. To speak the truth with heart and tongue. 29. Not to return evil for evil (cf 1 Thes 5:15; 1 Pt 3:9). 30. To do no injury, yea, even patiently to bear the injury done us. 31. To love one's enemies (cf Mt 5:44; Lk 6:27). 32. Not to curse those who curse us, but rather to bless them. 33. To bear persecution for justice’s sake (cf Mt 5:10). 34. Not to be proud... 35. Not to be given to wine (cf Ti 1:7; 1 Tm 3:3). 36. Not to be a great eater. 37. Not to be drowsy. 38. Not to be slothful (cf Rom 12:11). 39. Not to be a murmurer. 40. Not to be a detractor.

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41. To put one's trust in God. 42. To refer what good one sees in himself, not to self, but to God. 43. But as to any evil in himself, let him be convinced that it is his own and charge it to himself. 44. To fear the day of judgment. 45. To be in dread of hell. 46. To desire eternal life with all spiritual longing. 47. To keep death before one's eyes daily. 48. To keep a constant watch over the actions of our life. 49. To hold as certain that God sees us everywhere. 50. To dash at once against Christ the evil thoughts which rise in one's heart. 51. And to disclose them to our spiritual father. 52. To guard one's tongue against bad and wicked speech. 53. Not to love much speaking. 54. Not to speak useless words and such as provoke laughter. 55. Not to love much or boisterous laughter. 56. To listen willingly to holy reading. 57. To apply one's self often to prayer. 58. To confess one's past sins to God daily in prayer with sighs and tears, and to amend them for the future. 59. Not to fulfill the desires of the flesh (cf Gal 5:16). 60. To hate one's own will. 61. To obey the commands of the Abbot in all things, even though he himself (which Heaven forbid) act otherwise, mindful of that precept of the Lord: "What they say, do ye; what they do, do ye not" (Mt 23:3). 62. Not to desire to be called holy before one is; but to be holy first, that one may be truly so called. 63. To fulfill daily the commandments of God by works. 64. To love chastity. 65. To hate no one. 66. Not to be jealous; not to entertain envy. 67. Not to love strife. 68. Not to love pride. 69. To honor the aged. 70. To love the younger. 71. To pray for one's enemies in the love of Christ. 72. To make peace with an adversary before the setting of the sun. 73. And never to despair of God's mercy. Behold, these are the instruments of the spiritual art, which, if they have been applied without ceasing day and night and approved on judgment day, will merit for us from the Lord that reward which He has promised: "The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for them that love Him" (1 Cor 2:9). But the workshop in which we perform all these works with diligence is the enclosure of the monastery, and stability in the community.

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5. Concerning Obedience The first degree of humility is obedience without delay. This becomes those who, on account of the holy subjection which they have promised, or of the fear of hell, or the glory of life everlasting, hold nothing dearer than Christ. As soon as anything has been commanded by the Superior they permit no delay in the execution, as if the matter had been commanded by God Himself. Of these the Lord says: "At the hearing of the ear he has obeyed Me" (Ps 17[18]:45). And again He says to the teachers: "He that hears you hears Me" (Lk 10:16). Such as these, therefore, instantly quitting their own work and giving up their own will, with hands disengaged, and leaving unfinished what they were doing, follow up, with the ready step of obedience, the work of command with deeds; and thus, as if in the same moment, both matters -- the master's command and the disciple's finished work -- are, in the swiftness of the fear of God, speedily finished together, whereunto the desire of advancing to eternal life urges them. They, therefore, seize upon the narrow way whereof the Lord says: "Narrow is the way which leads to life" (Mt 7:14), so that, not living according to their own desires and pleasures but walking according to the judgment and will of another, they live in monasteries, and desire an Abbot to be over them. Such as these truly live up to the maxim of the Lord in which He says: "I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me" (Jn 6:38). This obedience, however, will be acceptable to God and agreeable to men then only, if what is commanded is done without hesitation, delay, lukewarmness, grumbling or complaint, because the obedience which is rendered to Superiors is rendered to God…

6. Concerning Silence Let us do what the Prophet says: "I said, I will take heed of my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I have set a guard to my mouth, I was dumb, and was humbled, and kept silence even from good things" (Ps 38[39]:2-3). Here the prophet shows that, if at times we ought to refrain from useful speech for the sake of silence, how much more ought we to abstain from evil words on account of the punishment due to sin. Therefore, because of the importance of silence, let permission to speak be seldom given to perfect disciples even for good and holy and edifying discourse, for it is written: "In much talk you shall not escape sin" (Prov 10:19). And elsewhere: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Prov 18:21). For it belongs to the master to speak and to teach; it fits the disciple to be silent and to listen. If, therefore, anything must be asked of the Superior, let it be asked with all humility and respectful submission. But coarse jests, and idle words or speech provoking laughter, we condemn everywhere to eternal exclusion; and for such speech we do not permit the disciple to open his lips.

7. Concerning Humility The sixth grade of humility is, that a monk be contented with all lowliness or extremity, and consider himself, with regard to everything which is enjoined on him, as a poor and unworthy workman; saying to himself with the prophet: "I Was reduced to nothing and was ignorant; I was made as the cattle before you, and I am always with you." The seventh grade of humility is, not only that he, with his tongue, pronounce himself viler and more worthless than all; but that he also believe it in the inner-most workings of his heart; humbling himself and saying with the prophet, etc. The eighth degree of humility is that a monk do nothing except what the common rule of the monastery, or the example of his elders, urges him to do. The ninth degree of humility

180 is that a monk restrain his tongue from speaking; and, keeping silence, do not speak until he is spoken to. The tenth grade of humility is that he be not ready, and easily inclined, to laugh.. . . The eleventh grade of humility is that a monk, when he speaks, speak slowly and without laughter, humbly with gravity, using few and reasonable words; and that he be not loud of voice. . . The twelfth grade of humility is that a monk shall, not only with his heart but also with his body, always show humility to all who see him: that is, when at work, in the oratory, in the monastery, in the garden, on the road, in the fields. And everywhere, sitting or walking or standing, let him always be with head inclined, his looks fixed upon the ground; remembering every hour that he is guilty of his sins. Let him think that he is already being presented before the tremendous judgment of God, saying always to himself in his heart what the publican of the gospel, fixing his eyes on the earth, said: "Lord I am not worthy, I a sinner, so much as to lift mine eyes unto Heaven."

8. Concerning the Divine Offices at Night In the winter time, that is from the Calends of November until Easter, according to what is reasonable, they must rise at the eighth hour of the night, so that they rest a little more than half the night, and rise when they have already digested. But let the time that remains after vigils be kept for meditation by those brothers who are in any way behind hand with the psalter or lessons. From Easter, moreover, until the aforesaid Calends of November, let the hour of keeping vigils be so arranged that, a short interval being observed in which the brethren may go out for the necessities of nature, the matins, which are always to take place with the dawning light, may straightway follow.

16. How Divine Service Shall Be Held through the Day. As the prophet says: "Seven times in the day so I praise you." Which sacred number of seven will thus be fulfilled by us if, at matins, at the first, third, sixth, ninth hours, at vesper time and at "completorium" we perform the duties of our service; for it is of these hours of the day that he said: "Seven times in the day do I praise you." For, concerning nocturnal vigils, the same prophet says: "At midnight I arose to confess unto you." Therefore, at these times, let us give thanks to our Creator concerning the judgments of his righteousness; that is, namely, at Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline; and let us rise at night to praise Him.

19. Concerning the Art of Singing We believe that God is present everywhere and that the eyes of the Lord behold the good and the bad in every place … Therefore, let us consider how it becomes us to behave in the sight of God and His angels, and let us so stand to sing, that our mind may be in harmony with our voice.

22. How the Monks Shall Sleep. They shall sleep separately in separate beds. They shall receive positions for their beds, after the manner of their characters, according to the dispensation of their abbot. If it can be done, they shall all sleep in one place. If, however, their number do not permit it, they shall rest, by tens or twenties, with elders who will concern themselves about them. A candle shall always be burning in that same cell until early in the morning. They shall sleep clothed, and girt with belts or with ropes; and they shall not have their knives at their sides while they sleep, lest perchance in a dream they should wound the sleepers. And let the monks be always on the alert; and, when the signal is given, rising without delay, let them hasten to mutually prepare themselves for the

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service of God with all gravity and modesty, however. The younger brothers shall not have beds by themselves, but interspersed among those of the elder ones. And when they rise for the service of God, they shall exhort each other mutually with moderation on account of the excuses that those who are sleepy are inclined to make.

23. Concerning Excommunication for Faults If a brother is found stubborn or disobedient or proud or murmuring, or opposed to anything in the Holy Rule and a condemner of the commandments of his Superiors, let him be admonished by his Superiors once and again in secret, according to the command of our Lord (cf Mt 18:15- 16). If he does not amend let him be taken to task publicly before all. But if he does not reform even then, and he understands what a penalty it is, let him be placed under excommunication; but if even then he remains obstinate let him undergo corporal punishment.

24. What Ought to Be the Measure of Excommunication The degree of excommunication or punishment ought to be meted out according to the gravity of the offense, and to determine that is left to the judgment of the Abbot. If, however, anyone of the brethren is detected in smaller faults, let him be debarred from eating at the common table. The following shall be the practice respecting one who is excluded from the common table: that he does not intone a psalm or an antiphon nor read a lesson in the oratory until he hath made satisfaction; let him take his meal alone, after the refection of the brethren; thus: if, for instance, the brethren take their meal at the sixth hour that brother will take his at the ninth, and if the brethren take theirs at the ninth, he will take his in the evening, until by due satisfaction he obtains pardon.

25. Concerning Graver Faults But let the brother who is found guilty of a graver fault be excluded from both the table and the oratory. Let none of the brethren join his company or speak with him. Let him be alone at the work enjoined on him, persevering in penitential sorrow, mindful of the terrible sentence of the Apostle who says, that "such a man is delivered over for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord" (1 Cor 5:5). Let him get his food alone in such quantity and at such a time as the Abbot shall deem fit; and let him not be blessed by anyone passing by, nor the food that is given him.

28. Concerning those Who, Being Often Rebuked, Do Not Amend If a brother has often been corrected and has even been excommunicated for a fault and does not amend, let a more severe correction be applied to him, namely, proceed against him with corporal punishment. But if even then he does not reform, or puffed up with pride, should perhaps, which God forbid, even defend his actions, then let the Abbot act like a prudent physician. After he has applied soothing lotions, ointments of admonitions, medicaments of the Holy Scriptures, and if, as a last resource, he has employed the caustic of excommunication and the blows of the lash, and sees that even then his pains are of no avail, let him apply for that brother also what is more potent than all these measures: his own prayer and that of the brethren, that the Lord who is all-powerful may work a cure in that brother. But if he is not healed even in this way, then finally let the Abbot dismiss him from the community, as the Apostle says: "Put away the evil one from among you" (1 Cor 5:13); and again: "If the faithless depart, let him depart" (1 Cor 7:15); lest one diseased sheep infect the whole flock.

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30. Concerning Boys under Age, How They Shall Be Corrected Every age and understanding should have its proper discipline. Whenever, therefore, boys or immature youths or such as cannot understand how grave a penalty excommunication is, are guilty of a serious fault, let them undergo severe fasting or be disciplined with corporal punishment, that they may be corrected.

33. Whether the Monks Should Have Anything of Their Own More than anything else is this special vice to be cut off root and branch from the monastery, that one should presume to give or receive anything without the order of the abbot, or should have anything of his own. He should have absolutely not anything: neither a book, nor tablets, nor a pen-nothing at all.-For indeed it is not allowed to the monks to have their own bodies or wills in their own power. But all things necessary they must expect from the Father of the monastery; nor is it allowable to have anything which the abbot did not give or permit. All things shall be common to all, as it is written: "Let not any man presume or call anything his own." But if any one shall have been discovered delighting in this most evil vice: being warned once and again, if he do not amend, let him be subjected to punishment.

38. Concerning the Weekly Reader Reading must not be lacking at the table of the brethren when they are eating. Neither let anyone who may chance to take up the book venture to read there; but let him who is to read for the whole week enter upon that office on Sunday. After Mass and Communion let him ask all to pray for him that God may ward off from him the spirit of pride. Let the deepest silence be maintained that no whispering or voice be heard except that of the reader alone. But let the brethren so help each other to what is needed for eating and drinking, that no one need ask for anything. If, however, anything should be wanted, let it be asked for by means of a sign of any kind rather than a sound. And let no one presume to ask any questions there, either about the book or anything else, in order that no cause to speak be given [to the devil] (Eph 4:27; 1 Tm 5:14), unless, perchance, the Superior wishes to say a few words for edification. Let the brother who is reader for the week take a little bread and wine before he begins to read, on account of Holy Communion, and lest it should be too hard for him to fast so long. Afterward, however, let him take his meal in the kitchen with the weekly servers and the waiters. The brethren, however, will not read or sing in order, but only those who edify their hearers.

39. Concerning the Amount of food We believe, moreover, that, for the daily refection of the sixth as well as of the ninth hour, two cooked dishes, on account of the infirmities of the different ones, are enough for all tables: so that whoever, perchance, can not eat of one may partake of the other. Therefore let two cooked dishes suffice for all the brothers: and, if it is possible to obtain apples or growing vegetables, a third may be added. One full pound of bread shall suffice for a day, whether there be one refection, or a breakfast and a supper. But if they are going to have supper, the third part of that same pound shall be reserved by the cellarer, to be given back to those who are about to sup. But if, perchance, some greater labor shall have been performed, it shall be in the will and power of the abbot, if it is expedient, to increase anything; surfeiting above all things being guarded against, so that indigestion may never seize a monk: for nothing is so contrary to every Christian as surfeiting, as our Lord says: "Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be overcharged with

183 surfeiting. " But to younger boys the same quantity shall not be served, but less than that to the older ones; moderation being observed in all things. But the eating of the flesh of quadrupeds shall be abstained from altogether by everyone, excepting alone the weak and the sick.

40. Concerning the Amount of Drink. Each one has his own gift from God, the one in this way, the other in that. Therefore it is with some hesitation that the amount of daily sustenance for others is fixed by us. Nevertheless, in view of the weakness of the infirm we believe that a hemina9 of wine a day is enough for each one. Those moreover to whom God gives the ability of bearing abstinence shall know that they will have their own reward. But the prior shall judge if either the needs of the place, or labor or the heat of summer, requires more; considering in all things lest satiety or drunkenness creep in. Indeed we read that wine is not suitable for monks at all. But because, in our day, it is not possible to persuade the monks of this, let us agree at least as to the fact that we should not drink till we are sated, but sparingly. For wine can make even the wise to go astray. Where, moreover, the necessities of the place are such that the amount written above cannot be found-but much less or nothing at all-those who live there shall bless God and shall not murmur. And we admonish them to this above all: that they be without murmuring.

45. Concerning Those Who Make Mistakes in the Oratory If anyone, in saying a psalm, response, or antiphone or lesson, make a mistake; unless he humble himself there before all, giving satisfaction, he shall be subjected to greater punishment, as one who was unwilling to correct by humility that in which he had erred by neglect. But children, for such a fault, shall be whipped.

48. Concerning the Daily Manual Labor. Idleness is the enemy of the soul; and therefore the brethren ought to be employed in manual labor at certain times, at others, in devout reading. Hence, we believe that the time for each will be properly ordered by the following arrangement; namely, that from Easter till the calends of October, they go out in the morning from the first till about the fourth hour, to do the necessary work, but that from the fourth till about the sixth hour they devote to reading. After the sixth hour, however, when they have risen from table, let them rest in their beds in complete silence; or if, perhaps, anyone desires to read for himself, let him so read that he does not disturb others. Let None be said somewhat earlier, about the middle of the eighth hour; and then let them work again at what is necessary until Vespers. If, however, the needs of the place, or poverty should require that they do the work of gathering the harvest themselves, let them not be downcast, for then are they monks in truth, if they live by the work of their hands, as did also our forefathers and the Apostles. However, on account of the faint-hearted let all things be done with moderation. From the calends of October till the beginning of Lent, let them apply themselves to reading until the second hour complete. At the second hour let Tierce be said, and then let all be employed in the work which hath been assigned to them till the ninth hour. When, however, the first signal for the hour of None hath been given, let each one leave off from work and be ready when the second signal shall strike. But after their repast let them devote themselves to reading or the psalms.

9 There is no certainty as to this measure; a hemina could be any amount from a half liter to two liters.

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During the Lenten season let them be employed in reading from morning until the third hour, and till the tenth hour let them do the work which is imposed on them. During these days of Lent let all received books from the library, and let them read them through in order. These books are to be given out at the beginning of the Lenten season. Above all, let one or two of the seniors be appointed to go about the monastery during the time that the brethren devote to reading and take notice, lest perhaps a slothful brother be found who giveth himself up to idleness or vain talk, and doth not attend to his reading, and is unprofitable, not only to himself, but disturbeth also others. If such a one be found (which God forbid), let him be punished once and again. If he doth not amend, let him come under the correction of the Rule in such a way that others may fear. And let not brother join brother at undue times. On Sunday also let all devote themselves to reading, except those who are appointed to the various functions. But if anyone should be so careless and slothful that he will not or cannot meditate or read, let some work be given him to do, that he may not be idle. Let such work or charge be given to the weak and the sickly brethren, that they are neither idle, nor so wearied with the strain of work that they are driven away. Their weakness must be taken into account by the Abbot.

53. Concerning the Reception of Guests Let all guests who arrive be received as Christ, because He will say: "I was a stranger and you took Me in" (Mt 25:35). And let due honor be shown to all, especially to those "of the household of the faith" (Gal 6:10) and to wayfarers… When the guests have been received, let them be accompanied to prayer, and after that let the Superior, or whom he shall bid, sit down with them. Let the divine law be read to the guest that he may be edified, after which let every kindness be shown him. Let the fast be broken by the Superior in deference to the guest, unless, perchance, it be a day of solemn fast, which cannot be broken. Let the brethren, however, keep the customary fast. Let the Abbot pour the water on the guest's hands, and let both the Abbot and the whole brotherhood wash the feet of all the guests. When they have been washed, let them say this verse: "We have received Thy mercy, O God, in the midst of Thy temple" (Ps 47[48]:10). Let the greatest care be taken, especially in the reception of the poor and travelers, because Christ is received more specially in them; whereas regard for the wealthy itself procures them respect. Let the kitchen of the Abbot and the guests be apart, that the brethren may not be disturbed by the guests who arrive at uncertain times and who are never wanting in the monastery. Let two brothers who are able to fulfill this office well go into the kitchen for a year. Let help be given them as they need it, that they may serve without murmuring; and when they have not enough to do, let them go out again for work where it is commanded them. Let this course be followed, not only in this office, but in all the offices of the monastery -- that whenever the brethren need help, it be given them, and that when they have nothing to do, they again obey orders. Moreover, let also a God-fearing brother have assigned to him the apartment of the guests, where there should be sufficient number of beds made up; and let the house of God be wisely managed by the wise. On no account let anyone who is not ordered to do so, associate or speak with guests; but if he meet or see them, having saluted them humbly, as we have said, and asked a blessing, let him pass on saying that he is not allowed to speak with a guest.

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54. Whether a Monk Shall be Allowed to Receive Letters or Anything Let it not be allowed at all for a monk to give or to receive letters, tokens, or gifts of any kind, either from parents or any other person, nor from each other, without the permission of the Abbot. But even if anything is sent him by his parents, let him not presume to accept it before it has been made known to the Abbot. And if he order it to be accepted, let it be in the Abbot's power to give it to whom he pleases…

55. Concerning Clothes and Shoes Let clothing be given to the brethren according to the circumstances of the place and the nature of the climate in which they live, because in cold regions more in needed, while in warm regions less. This consideration, therefore, rests with the Abbot. We believe, however, that for a temperate climate a cowl and a tunic for each monk are sufficient, -- a woolen cowl for winter and a thin or worn one for summer, and a scapular for work, and stockings and shoes as covering for the feet. Let the monks not worry about the color or the texture of all these things, but let them be such as can be bought more cheaply. Let the Abbot, however, look to the size, that these garments are not too small, but fitted for those who are to wear them. Let those who receive new clothes always return the old ones, to be put away in the wardrobe for the poor. For it is sufficient for a monk to have two tunics and two cowls, for wearing at night and for washing. Hence, what is over and above is superfluous and must be taken away. So, too, let them return stockings and whatever is old, when they receive anything new. Let those who are sent out on a journey receive trousers from the wardrobe, which, on their return, they will replace there, washed. The cowls and the tunics should also be a little better than the ones they usually wear, which they received from the wardrobe when they set out on a journey, and give back when they return. For their bedding, let a straw mattress, a blanket, a coverlet, and a pillow be sufficient. These beds must, however, be frequently examined by the Abbot, to prevent personal goods from being found. And if anything should be found with anyone that he did not receive from the Abbot, let him fall under the severest discipline. And that this vice of private ownership may be cut off by the root, let everything necessary be given by the Abbot; namely, cowl, tunic, stockings, shoes, girdle, knife, pen, needle, towel, writing tablet; that all pretence of want may be removed. In this connection, however, let the following sentence from the Acts of the Apostles always be kept in mind by the Abbot: "And distribution was made to every man according as he had need" (Acts 4:35). In this manner, therefore, let the Abbot also have regard for the infirmities of the needy, not for the bad will of the envious. Yet in all his decisions, let the Abbot think of God's retribution.

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Selections from The Qu’ran1

The Qu’ran (meaning “Reading” or “Recitation”) is composed of 114 suras (chapters) of varying length. Each was copied down by scribes, some in Mecca and some in Medina, over the years 620-632 CE when Muhammad was speaking. The writings were considered to be the expression of the word of God, who had imprinted this knowledge into his heart through a visitation of the Angel Gabriel in 610 CE. Unlike other scriptures we have studied, there was quickly one official version of the text. By 655, the minor disagreements of four different copies were resolved, but interpretations varied soon after Muhammad’s death (in 632) as much as any other religious text.

Sura 1: The Opening (Al-Fatiha)

In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to God, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds;2 Most Gracious, Most Merciful; Master of the Day of Judgment. It is You we worship, and Your aid we seek. Show us the straight path, The path of those on whom You have bestowed Your grace, those who incur no wrath, and who have not gone astray.

Sura 2: The Cow (Al-Baqara)

[lines 1-7] A.L.M.3

This is the Book in which there is no doubt and guidance to those who fear God, who believe in the Unseen, are steadfast in prayer, and spend [on others] out of what We have provided for them; and who believe in the Revelation sent to you, and sent before your time, and (in their hearts) have faith in the Hereafter. They are truly guided by the Lord, and it is these who will prosper. As to those who reject Faith, it is the same to them whether you warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe. God has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes is a veil; great is the penalty they incur.

[lines 83-92] And remember We took a covenant from the Children of Israel (to this effect): Worship none but God; treat with kindness your parents and kindred, and orphans and those in need; speak good words to all people; be steadfast in prayer; and practice regular charity. Then all

1 The translation used here is that of Abdullah Yusuf Ali, modified at points by the more recent translation of M.A.S Abdel Haleem. The original of Yusuf Ali, alongside two other older English translations is available at http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/quran/. 2 Of the world of men, animals, plants, angels, this world, the next, etc. 3 The letters Alif Lam Mim. Twenty-nine suras begin with these mysterious letter combinations, but why is point of debate. Perhaps they were to grab the hearers attention, or to reiterate that the Qu’ran was made up of letters, or to show that some things are only known to God.

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except a few among you turned your back and you backslide (even now). And remember We took your covenant (to this effect): Shed no blood amongst you, nor turn out your own people from your homes: and this you solemnly ratified, and to this you can bear witness. And yet here you are, the same people, who slay among yourselves and banish a party of you from their homes; assist (their enemies) against them, in sin and aggression; and if they come to you as captives, you ransom them, though it was not lawful for you to banish them. Then is it only a part of the Book that you believe in? Do you reject the rest? But what is the reward for those among you who behave like this? Disgrace in this life and on the Day of Judgment they shall be consigned to the most grievous penalty. For God is not unaware of what you do. These are the people who buy the life of this world at the price of the Hereafter; their penalty shall not be lightened nor shall they be helped. We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with a succession of apostles; We gave Jesus the son of Mary clear (signs) and strengthened him with the holy spirit. Is it that whenever an apostle comes to you with what you do not want, you are puffed up with pride? Some you called impostors, and others you slay! They say, "Our hearts are the wrappings (which preserve God’s Word: we need no more)." Nay, God’s curse is on them for their blasphemy: Little is it they believe. And when there comes to them a Book from God, confirming what is with them,- although from ancient times they had prayed for victory against those without Faith,- when there comes to them that which they (should) have recognized as truth, they refuse to believe in it but the curse of God is on those without Faith. Low is the price for which they have sold their souls, for they deny (the revelation) which God has sent down, out of insolent envy that God should send it to any of His servants He pleases. Thus have they drawn on themselves Wrath upon Wrath. And humiliating is the punishment of those who reject Faith. When it is said to them, "Believe in what God has sent down," they say, "We believe in what was sent down to us:" yet they reject what came afterwards, even if it be Truth confirming what is with them. Say: "Why then have you slain the prophets of God in times gone by, if you did indeed believe?" There came to you Moses with clear signs, yet you worshipped the calf even after that, and you did behave wrongfully.

[lines 111-115] And they say: "None shall enter Paradise unless he is a Jew or a Christian." Those are their wishful thinking. Say: "Produce your proof if you are truthful." In fact, whoever submits his whole self to God and is a doer of good, will get his reward with his Lord; on such shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. The Jews say: "The Christians have naught (to stand) upon” and the Christians say: "The Jews have naught (to stand) upon." Yet they profess to study the same Book. And those who have no knowledge say the same; but God will judge between them in their quarrel on the Day of Judgment. And who is more unjust than he who forbids that in places for the worship of God,4 God’s name should be celebrated? Such a man’s zeal is (in fact) to ruin those places? It is fitting that such should themselves enter them in fear. For them there is nothing but disgrace in this world, and in the world to come, an exceeding torment. To God belong the East and the West: Whithersoever you turn, there is the presence of God. For God is all-Pervading, all-Knowing.

4 This section of the Qu’ran probably dates to the controversy in Medina caused when Muhammad changed several aspects of worship practiced by the Jews of Medina in his second year there (621 CE). Key among these was changing the direction of prayer from facing Jerusalem to facing Mecca.

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[lines 142-144] The fools among the people will say: "What has turned them from the direction which they used to pray?" Say: To God belong both East and West: He guides whom He will to a way that is straight. Thus, have We made of you a just community [literally middle-kingdom], that you might bear witnesses to other nations, and the Messenger may bear witness to it for yourselves. We appointed the direction you used to face only to test those who followed the Messenger from those who would turn on their heels (From the Faith). Indeed it was a momentous change, except to those guided by God. And never would God make your faith of no effect, for God is to people most surely full of kindness, Most Merciful. We see the turning of your face [i.e. Muhammad’s face] for guidance to the heavens: now shall We turn you to a direction that shall please you. Turn then your face in the direction of the sacred Mosque [at Mecca]: Wherever you are, turn your faces in that direction. The people of the Book know well that that is the truth from their Lord. Nor is God unmindful of what they do.

[lines 153-157] You who believe, seek help with patient perseverance and prayer, for God is with those who patiently persevere. And say not of those who are killed in the way of God: "They are dead." No, they are living, though you perceive (it) not. Be sure we shall test you with fear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives or the fruits (of your toil), but [Messenger] give good news to those who patiently persevere. Those who say, when afflicted with calamity: "To God We belong, and to Him is our return":- They are those on whom blessings from God descend, and mercy, and they are the ones that receive guidance.

[lines 168-173] O you people! Eat of what is lawful and good on the earth and do not follow the footsteps of the evil one, for he is to you an avowed enemy. He commands you what is evil and shameful, and that you should say of God that of which you have no knowledge. When it is said to them: "Follow what God has revealed:" They say: "No! We shall follow the ways of our fathers." What! Even though their fathers were void of wisdom and guidance? Calling to disbelievers is as if one were to shout like a goatherd to things that hear nothing but calls and cries: Deaf, dumb, and blind, they understand nothing. O you who believe! Eat of the good things that We have provided for you, and be grateful to God, if it is Him you worship. He has only forbidden you carrion, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that on which any other name has been invoked besides that of God. But if one is forced by hunger, without willful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits, then he commits no sin, for God is most merciful and forgiving.

[lines 177-195] Righteousness does not consist in turning your faces towards East or West; it is righteousness to believe in God and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to give of your wealth, however much you cherish it, to your kin, to orphans, to the needy, to the traveler, to those who ask [i.e. beggars], and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfill the contracts which you have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people who are true, and who are aware of God. O you who believe! The law of fair retribution is prescribed to you in cases of murder: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, the woman for the woman. But if any pardon is made

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by the brother of the slain, then grant any reasonable demand, and compensate him fairly, this is a concession and an act of mercy from your Lord. After this whoever exceeds the limits shall be in for grave suffering. In the law of fair retribution there is (saving of) life to you, o you men of understanding; that you may restrain yourselves. It is prescribed when death approaches one of you that leaves any wealth, that he make a bequest to parents and next of kin, according to reasonable usage; this is a duty incumbent on those who are mindful of God. If anyone changes the bequest after hearing it, the guilt shall be on those who make the change. For God hears and knows all things. But if anyone fears partiality or wrong-doing on the part of the testator and makes peace between the parties concerned, there is no sin in this, for God is most merciful and forgiving. O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you may learn self-restraint. Fast for a fixed number of days, but if any of you is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed number should be made up from days later. For those who can only do it with extreme difficulty, there is a way to compensate: feed one that is needy. But he that will give more of his own free will, it is better for him. And it is better for you that you fast, if you only knew. Ramadan is the month in which was sent down the Qur’an, as a guide to mankind, also clear messages for guidance and judging between right and wrong. So every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month should spend it in fasting, but if anyone is ill or on a journey, the prescribed period should be made up by days later. God intends every ease for you, not hardship. He wants you to complete the prescribed period and to glorify Him in that He has guided you, so that you may be thankful. When My servants ask you [Muhammad] concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them): I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calls on Me. Let them also listen to My call and believe in Me, so that they may walk in the right way. Permitted to you, on the night of the fasts, is to approach5 your wives. They are your garments and you are their garments. God knows what you used to do secretly among yourselves,6 but He turned to you and forgave you; so now associate with them, and seek what God has ordained for you, and eat and drink, until the white thread of dawn appear to you distinct from its black thread. Then complete your fast till the night appears, but do not associate with your wives while you are in retreat in the mosques. Those are limits set by God, so do not go near them. Thus does God make clear His message to men: that they may guard themselves against wrong-doing. And do not eat up your property among yourselves for vanities, nor use it to bribe judges, with intent that you may eat up wrongfully and knowingly a little of other people’s property. They ask you [Muhammad] concerning the New Moons. Say: They are but signs to mark fixed periods of time in the affairs of men, and for Pilgrimage. It is no virtue if you enter your houses from the back;7 It is virtue if you are mindful of God. Enter houses through the proper doors and be mindful of God so that you may prosper. Fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not overstep the limits; for God loves not transgressors. And slay them wherever you catch them,8 and turn them out from where they have turned you out; for persecution and oppression are worse than killing. But fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they first fight you there. But if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith. But if

5 “Approach” in the Arabic text of the day was a euphemism for sexual intercourse. It is used numerous times in the Qu’ran. 6 Allowing sex during a time was fasting was a change from the earliest practice and Muhammad makes clear here that God knew that people were not following that command. 7 It was a custom among some Arabs to enter their house through the backdoor when returning from a pilgrimage as a sign of piety. 8 This answered the question if there were places (or occasions) too holy to slay enemies.

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they cease, God is most forgiving and merciful. And fight them on until there is no more persecution or oppression, and there prevails justice and faith in God [at the Sacred Mosque]. But if hostilities cease, let there be no more hostility except to aggressors. The sacred month for the sacred month,- and so for all things prohibited,- there is the law of fair retribution. If then any one transgresses the prohibition against you, transgress you likewise against him. But be mindful of God, and know that God is with those who restrain themselves. And spend of your substance in the cause of God, and make not your own hands contribute to your destruction; but do good; for God loves those who do good.

[lines 216-235] Fighting is prescribed for you, though you dislike it. But it is possible that you dislike a thing which is good for you, and that you love a thing which is bad for you. But God knows, and you know not. They ask you [Muhammad] concerning fighting in the Sacred Month. Say: "Fighting therein is a grave (offence); but graver is it in the sight of God to prevent access to the path of God, to deny Him, to prevent access to the Sacred Mosque, and drive out its members." Persecution and oppression are worse than slaughter. Nor will they cease fighting you until they turn you back from your faith if they can. And if any of you turn back from their faith and die in unbelief, their works will bear no fruit in this life and in the Hereafter; they will be companions of the Fire and will abide therein. Those who believed and those who suffered exile and fought (and strove and struggled) in the path of God,- they have the hope of the Mercy of God: And God is most forgiving and merciful. They ask you [Muhammad] concerning wine and gambling. Say: "In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit." They ask you how much they are to give; Say: "Give what you can spare." Thus does God make his message clear to you, in order that you may consider this life and the Hereafter. They ask you concerning orphans. Say: "The best thing to do is what is for their good; if you mix their affairs with yours, they are your brethren; but God knows the man who means mischief from the man who means good. And if God had wished, He could have put you into difficulties: He is indeed almighty and wise." Do not marry unbelieving women (idolaters), until they believe: A slave woman who believes is better than an idolatress, even though she allures you. Nor marry your girls to idolaters until they believe: A man slave who believes is better than an idolater, even though he allures you. Unbelievers do but beckon you to the Fire. But God beckons by His Grace to the Garden (of bliss) and forgiveness, and makes his message clear to mankind so that they may celebrate His praise. They ask you [Muhammad] concerning menstruation. Say: “It is a painful condition, so keep away from women during it, and do not approach them until they are cleansed. But when they have purified themselves, you may approach them in any manner, time, or place ordained for you by God. For God loves those who turn to Him constantly and He loves those who keep themselves clean. Your wives are your fields, so go into your field whichever way you like.9 Be mindful of God and remember that you are to meet Him in the Hereafter,” and [Muhammad] give this good news to those who believe. And make not God’s (name) an excuse in your oaths against doing good, or acting rightly, or making peace between persons; for God hears and knows all things. God will not call you to account for thoughtlessness in your oaths, but for the intention in your hearts; He is most forgiving and forbearing. For those who take an oath for abstention from their wives, a waiting

9 This was in response to a local belief that certain sexual positions would produce deformed offspring.

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for four months is ordained;10 if then they return, God is most forgiving and merciful. But if their intention is firm for divorce, God hears and knows all things. Divorced women shall wait for three monthly periods before remarriage. Nor is it lawful for them to hide what God has created in their wombs, if they have faith in God and the Last Day. And their husbands would do better to take them back in that period, if they wish for reconciliation. And women shall have rights similar to the rights against them, according to what is equitable; but men have a degree (of advantage) over them. And both should remember that God is almighty and wise. A divorce is only permissible twice: after that, the parties should either hold together on equitable terms, or separate with kindness. It is not lawful for you, (Men), to take back any of your gifts (from your wives), except when both parties fear that they would be unable to keep the limits ordained by God. If you (judges) do indeed fear that they would be unable to keep the limits ordained by God, there is no blame on either of them if she gives something for her freedom. These are the limits ordained by God, so do not transgress them; if any do transgress the limits ordained by God, such persons commit a wrong. So if a husband divorces his wife (irrevocably), he cannot, after that, re-marry her until after she has married another husband and that husband has divorced her. In that case there is no blame on either of them if they re-unite, provided they feel that they can keep the limits ordained by God. Such are the limits ordained by God, which He makes plain to those who understand. When you divorce women and they fulfill their set term, either take them back on equitable terms or set them free on equitable terms; but do not take them back to injure them, (or) to take undue advantage; if any one does that he wrongs his own soul. Do not treat God’s message as a jest, but solemnly rehearse God’s favors on you and the fact that He sent down to you the Book and Wisdom, for your instruction. Be mindful of God, and know that God is well acquainted with all things. When you divorce women and they fulfill their set term, do not prevent them from marrying their (former) husbands, if they mutually agree on equitable terms. This instruction is for all amongst you, who believe in God and the Last Day. That is wholesome and purer for you. God knows and you do not. Mothers shall suckle their offspring for two whole years, if they desire to complete the term. But the father shall bear the cost of their food and clothing on equitable terms. No soul shall have a burden laid on it greater than it can bear. No mother shall be treated unfairly on account of her child, nor father on account of his child. The same duty is laid on the father’s heir. If they both decide on weaning, by mutual consent, and after due consultation, there is no blame on them. If they decide on a wet nurse for their offspring, there is no blame on them, provided they pay fairly. But be mindful of God and know that God sees well what you do. If any of you die and leave widows behind, they shall wait to remarry four months and ten days. When they have fulfilled their term, there is no blame on you if they dispose of themselves in a just and reasonable manner. And God is well acquainted with what you do.

There is no blame on you if you make an offer of betrothal or hold it secret in your hearts. God knows that you cherish them in your hearts. But do not make a secret arrangement with them. Speak with them honorably and do not confirm the marriage tie till the term prescribed is fulfilled. And know that God knows what is in your souls, so be mindful of Him and know that God is most forgiving and forbearing.

10 Previously, men could take oaths to abstain for longer. Here, if four months is exceeded divorce becomes effective.

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[lines 256-257] Let there be no compulsion in religion: truth now stands out clear from error, so whoever rejects evil and believes in God has grasped the most trustworthy hand- hold, one that never breaks. And God hears and knows all things. God is the ally of those who have faith; from the depths of darkness He will lead them forth into light. For disbelievers, their allies are false gods who lead them from light into the depths of darkness. They will be inhabitants of the fire and there they will remain forever.

Sura 4: Women (An-Nisa)

[lines 1-4] O mankind! Be mindful of your Lord, who created you from a single soul, created from it his mate, and from them scattered (like seeds) countless men and women. Be mindful of God, through whom you request your rights from each other, and be mindful of the womb- relationships (i.e. kinship ties), for God ever watches over you. To orphans restore their property (When they reach their age) and do not substitute (your) worthless things for (their) good ones; and do not devour their substance (by mixing it up) with your own. For this is indeed a great sin. If you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with orphan girls, marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to be equitable to them (i.e. treat each the same), then marry only one, or a slave, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice. And give the women their bridal gift freely upon marriage; but if they, of their own good pleasure, remit any part of it to you, take it and enjoy it with right good cheer.

[lines 15-24] If any of your women are guilty of a lewd act, take the evidence of four (Reliable) witnesses from amongst you against them; and if they testify, confine these women to houses until their death or God ordains for them some other way. If two men among you are guilty of a lewd act, punish them both. If they repent and amend, leave them alone; for God is Oft-returning, Most Merciful. God accepts the repentance of those who do evil in ignorance and repent soon afterwards; to them will God turn in mercy: For God is full of knowledge and wisdom. Of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil, until death faces one of them, and he says, "Now have I repented indeed;" nor of those who die rejecting Faith: for them God has prepared a punishment most grievous. O you who believe! You are forbidden from inheriting women against their will. Nor should you treat them with harshness, that you may take away part of the bride-gift that you have given them, except where they have been guilty of open lewdness. On the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If you take a dislike to them, it may be that you dislike something in which God brings about a great deal of good. But if you decide to take one wife in place of another, even if you had given the latter a whole treasure for bride-gift, do not take the least bit of it back. How could you when this is unjust and a blatant sin? And how could you take it when you have lain with each other, and she has taken from you a solemn vow? And marry not women whom your fathers married, except what has occurred in the past [before the Quran]. It is shameful and odious, an abominable custom indeed. Prohibited to you for marriage are: Your mothers, daughters, sisters, father's sisters, mother's sisters, brother's daughters, sister's daughters, milk-mothers (your wet nurses), your wives' mothers, your step- daughters under your guardianship…(Those who have been) wives of your natural sons, and two

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sisters in wedlock at one and the same time – except for what is past, for God is all-forgiving, Most Merciful. Also (prohibited are) women already married, except for your slaves. God has ordained all this for you. Except for these, all others are lawful, provided you seek them in marriage with gifts from your property, desiring wedlock rather than fornication.

Sura 56: That Which Is Coming (Al-Wâqi’ah)

[lines 1-56] When that which is coming arrives then no soul will be able to deny it has come. (Many) will it bring low; (many) will it exalt; When the earth shall be shaken to its depths and the mountains shall be crumbled to powder, becoming dust scattered abroad, then you shall be sorted out into three classes. Those on the Right Hand; What people they are! Those on the Left Hand; What people they are! And those in front (in Faith) will be in Front (in the Hereafter). These [in the Front] will be those nearest to God in Gardens of Bliss: a number of people from those of old and a few from those of later times. (They will be) on coaches encrusted (with gold and precious stones), reclining on them, facing each other. Round about them will (serve) everlasting youths with goblets, (shining) beakers, and cups (filled) out of clear-flowing fountains: No after-ache will they receive therefrom, nor will they suffer intoxication: And with fruits, any that they may select: And the flesh of fowls, any that they may desire. And (there will be) companions with beautiful, big, and lustrous eyes, like hidden pearls: a Reward for the deeds of their past (life). They will hear no idle or sinful talk there, only clean and wholesome speech. Those on the Right Hand; What people they are! They will be among thornless Lote-trees and clustered acacia with spreading shade, by water flowing constantly and fruit in abundance. Fruit whose season is not limited, nor forbidden. And We have specially created their incomparable companions and made them virginal, pure (and undefiled), loving (by nature), and equal in age. For those on the Right, there are many from those of old, and many from those of later times. Those on the Left Hand; What people they are! They will dwell amid scorching wind and scalding water in the shadow of black smoke. Nothing (will there be) to refresh, nor to please, for those that overindulged in wealth (and luxury) and persisted obstinately in wickedness supreme! And they used to say, "What! When we die and become dust and bones, shall we then indeed be raised up again?-"(We) and our fathers of old?" Say: "Yes, those of old and those of recent times will certainly be gathered together for the meeting appointed for a Day well-known. Then will you who have gone astray and denied the truth eat of the bitter tree of Zaqqum. Then will you fill your bellies with it and drink boiling water like the thirsty camel does.” This will be their welcome on the Day of Judgment.

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The Pact of Umar (Ninth Century CE)

The text known as the Pact of Umar survives in a ninth-century text, but purports to be a pact made between a Syrian city and the Caliph Umar (reigned as the second Caliph from 634-644 CE) during the biggest period of expansion. Whether it actually was a treaty made by Umar or not, we know from other sources that the terms here are consistent with the ones offered to Christians (and to Jews) in other areas that were conquered during the seventh century. Many of the terms are similar, or identical, to those that Christian powers (like the Byzantine Empire) imposed on their non-Christian subjects. What were the Muslim conquerors hoping to accomplish through the individual terms included below? Which are the most unexpected?

In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate.

This is a letter to Umar [ibn al-Khattab], Commander of the Faithful, from the Christians of such-and-such a city. When you came against us, we asked you for protection for ourselves, our descendants, our property, and the people of our religious community, and we undertook the following obligations toward you:

• We shall not build, in our cities or in the suburbs, new monasteries, churches, convents, or monks' cells, nor shall we repair, by day or by night, those that fall into ruins or are situated in the Muslim quarters of the town.

• We shall keep our gates wide open for passersby and travelers. We shall give board and lodging to all Muslims who pass our way for three days.

• We shall not give shelter in our churches or in our dwellings to any spy, nor hide him from the Muslims. We shall not bar entry of Muslims in our churches.

• We shall not teach the Qur'an to our children.

• We shall not manifest our religion publicly nor convert anyone to it. We shall not prevent any of our kin from entering Islam if they wish it.

• We shall show respect toward the Muslims, and we shall rise from our seats when they wish to sit.

• We shall not seek to resemble the Muslims by imitating any of their garments, caps, turban, footwear, or the parting of the hair. We shall not speak as they do, nor shall we adopt their surnames.

• We shall not mount on saddles, nor shall we gird swords nor bear any kind of arms nor carry them on our- persons.

• We shall not engrave Arabic inscriptions on our seals.

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• We shall not sell fermented drinks (alcohol).

• We shall shave our facial hair.

• We shall always dress in the same way wherever we may be, and we shall wear belts around our waists.

• We shall not display the cross upon our churches. We shall not display our crosses or our books in the roads or markets of the Muslims. We shall use only bells in our churches very softly. We shall not raise our voices during our services in church in the presence of Muslims or when following our dead. We shall not carry lighted candles on any of the roads of the Muslims or in their markets. We shall not process with palm branches or images of our saints, We shall not bury our dead near the Muslims.

• We shall not build houses higher than the houses of the Muslims.

(When I brought the letter to Umar, may God be pleased with him, he added, "We shall not strike a Muslim.")

We accept these conditions for ourselves and for the people of our community, and in return we receive protection.

If we in any way violate these undertakings for which we ourselves stand surety, we forfeit your protection, and you can treat us as enemies and rebels.

Umar ibn al-Khittab replied: Sign what they ask, but add two clauses and impose them in addition to those which they have undertaken. They are: "They shall not buy anyone made prisoner by the Muslims," and "Whoever strikes a Muslim with deliberate intent shall forfeit the protection of this pact."

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Yakut, Geographical Encyclopedia (ca. 1000 CE)

The city of Baghdad was founded in 764 CE and was at its height in the ninth and tenth centuries under the Abbasid Caliphs. Here is the description of the city excerpted from a contemporary author. How does the description compare to those of other cities we have examined?

The city of Baghdad formed two vast semi-circles on the right and left banks of the Tigris, twelve miles in diameter. The numerous suburbs, covered with parks, gardens, villas and beautiful promenades, and plentifully supplied with rich bazaars, and finely built mosques and baths, stretched for a considerable distance on both sides of the river. In the days of its prosperity the population of Baghdad and its suburbs amounted to over two million! The palace of the Caliph stood in the midst of a vast park several hours in circumference which beside a menagerie and aviary comprised an enclosure for wild animals reserved for the hunt. The palace grounds were laid out with gardens, and adorned with exquisite taste with plants, flowers, and trees, reservoirs and fountains, surrounded by sculptured figures. On this side of the river stood the palaces of the great nobles. Immense streets, none less than forty cubits wide (about 60 feet), traversed the city from one end to the other, dividing it into blocks or quarters, each under the control of an overseer or supervisor, who looked after the cleanliness, sanitation and the comfort of the inhabitants. The water exits both on the north and the south were like the city gates, guarded night and day by relays of soldiers stationed on the watch towers on both sides of the river. Every household was plentifully supplied with water at all seasons by the numerous aqueducts which intersected the town; and the streets, gardens and parks were regularly swept and watered, and no refuse was allowed to remain within the walls. An immense square in front of the imperial palace was used for reviews, military inspections, tournaments and races; at night the square and the streets were lighted by lamps. There was also a vast open space where the troops whose barracks lay on the left bank of the river were paraded daily. The long wide raised areas at the different gates of the city were used by the citizens for gossip and recreation or for watching the flow of travelers and country folk into the capital. The different nationalities in the capital had each a head officer to represent their interests with the government, and to whom the stranger could appeal for counsel or help. Baghdad was a veritable City of Palaces, not made of stucco and mortar, but of marble. The buildings were usually of several stories. The palaces and mansions were lavishly gilded and decorated, and hung with beautiful tapestry and hangings of brocade or silk. The rooms were lightly and tastefully furnished with luxurious divans, costly tables, unique Chinese vases and gold and silver ornaments. Both sides of the river were for miles fronted by the palaces, kiosks, gardens and parks of the grandees and nobles, marble steps led down to the water's edge, and the scene on the river was animated by thousands of gondolas, decked with little flags, dancing like sunbeams on the water, and carrying the pleasure-seeking Baghdad citizens from one part of the city to the other. Along the wide-stretching quays lay whole fleets at anchor, sea and river craft of all kinds, from the Chinese junk to the old Assyrian raft resting on inflated skins. The mosques of the city were at once vast in size and remarkably beautiful. There were also in Baghdad numerous colleges of learning, hospitals, infirmaries for both sexes, and lunatic asylums.

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Ibn Hazm, selections from The Ring of the Dove

Abu Muhammad Ibn Hazm (994-1064 CE) was born in Cordoba (Spain), where he remained for much of his life in service of the Ummayad Caliph. He wrote extensively on law, religion, medicine, history and many branches of philosophy. His writing would later influence medieval Christian scholars and poets. Among his hundreds of works is one on love, The Ring of the Dove, written ca.1022 CE. Below is his outline of the entire work, so that you have an idea of the overall plan of this nearly 200-page work, and his specific treatment of the nature of love and of the union of lovers.

PRELIMINARY EXCURSUS

I have divided this treatise into thirty chapters. Of these, ten are concerned with the root- principles of Love, the first being the chapter on the Signs of Love. After this comes a chapter on Those who have fallen in Love while Asleep; then a chapter on Those who have fallen in Love through a Description; next a chapter on Those who have fallen in Love at First Sight; a chapter on Those whose Love has only become True after Long Association; a chapter on Allusion by Words; a chapter on Hinting with the Eyes; a chapter on Correspondence; and lastly (of these first ten) a chapter on the Messenger. The second section of the book comprises twelve chapters on the accidents of Love, and its praiseworthy and blameworthy attributes. This section is made up first of a chapter on the Helping Friend, then a chapter on Union, then a chapter on Concealing the Secret, and after that chapters on Revealing and Divulging the Secret, on Compliance, and on Opposition; a chapter on Those who have fallen in Love with a certain Quality and thereafter have not loved any other different to it; and chapters on Fidelity, on Betrayal, on Wasting Away, and on Death. In the third part of the essay there are six chapters on the misfortunes which enter into Love. These chapters deal respectively with the Reproacher, the Spy, the Slanderer, Breaking Off, Separation, and Forgetting… Finally come two chapters to terminate the discourse a chapter discussing the Vileness of Sinning, and a chapter on the Virtue of Self-control. I have planned the matter thus so that the conclusion of our exposition and the end of our discussion may be an exhortation to obedience to Almighty God, and a recommendation to do good and to eschew evil; which last commandment is indeed a duty imposed upon all believers.

Of the Nature of Love

Of Love--may God exalt you! -the first part is jesting, and the last part is right earnestness. So majestic are its diverse aspects, they are too subtle to be described; their reality can only be apprehended by personal experience. Love is neither disapproved by Religion, nor prohibited by the Law; for every heart is in God's hands.

Concerning the nature of Love men have held various and divergent opinions, which they have debated at great length. For my part I consider Love as a conjunction between scattered parts of

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souls that have become divided in this physical universe, a union affected within the substance of their original sublime element. I do not share the view advanced by Muhammad Ibn Dawud-God have mercy on his soul! -who followed certain philosophers in declaring that spirits are segmented spheres; rather do I suppose an affinity of their vital forces in the celestial world, which is their everlasting home, and a close approximation in the manner of their constitution. We know the secret of mingling and separation in created things to be simply a process of union and disassociation; every form always cries out for its corresponding form; like is ever at rest with like. Congeneity (being of the same kind) has a perceptible effect and a visible influence; repulsion of opposites, accord between similar, attractions of like for like these are facts taking place all round us.1 How much more then should the same factors operate within the soul, whose world is pure and ethereal, whose substance is volatile and perfectly poised, whose constituent principle is so disposed as to be intensely sensitive to harmony, inclination, yearning, aversion, passionate desire and antipathy. All this is common knowledge; it is immediately observable in the moods which successively control every man, and to which we all accommodate ourselves successfully. God Himself says, "It is He that created you of one soul, and fashioned thereof its spouse, that he might find repose in her" (Quran VII). Be it noted that the reason God assigns for man's reposing in woman is that she was made out of him. If the cause of Love were physical beauty, the consequence would be that nobody defective in any shape or form would attract admiration; yet we know of many a man actually preferring the inferior article, though well aware that another is superior, and quite unable to turn his heart away from it. Again, if Love were due to a harmony of characters, no man would love a person who was not of like purpose and in concord with him. We therefore conclude that Love is something within the soul itself. Sometimes, it is true, Love comes as a result of a definite cause outside the soul, but then it passes away when the cause itself disappears: one who is fond of you because of a certain circumstance will turn his back on you when that motive no longer exists… This statement is confirmed by the fact that Love, as we know, is of various kinds. The noblest sort of Love is that which exists between persons who love each other in God either because of an identical zeal for the righteous work upon which they are engaged, or as the result of a harmony in sectarian belief and principles, or by virtue of a common possession of some noble knowledge. Next to this is the love which springs from kinship; then the love of familiarity and the sharing of identical aims; the love of comradeship and acquaintance; the love which is rooted in a benevolent regard for one's fellow; the love that results from coveting the loved one's worldly elevation; the love that is based upon a shared secret which both must conceal; love for the sake of getting enjoyment and satisfying desire; and passionate love, that has no other cause but that union of souls to which we have referred above. All these varieties of Love come to an end when their causes disappear and increase or diminish with them; they are intensified according to the degree of their proximity, and grow languid as their causes draw further and further away. The only exception is the Love of true passion, which has the mastery of the soul: this is the love, which passes not away save with death. You will find a man far advanced in years, who swears that he has forgotten love entirely; yet when you remind him of it, he calls that love back to mind, and is rejoiced; he is filled with

1 Much of pre-modern physics was based on the idea of attraction of like objects. It explained, for instance, why when an object (such as a rock) was released from one’s hand it was attracted to the earth, rather than the sky, and fell to the ground.

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youthful desire; his old emotion returns to him; his yearning is mightily stirred. In none of the other sorts of love does anything like this happen: that mental preoccupation, that derangement of the reason, that melancholia, that transformation of settled temperaments, and alteration of natural dispositions, that moodiness, that sighing, and all the other, symptoms of profound agitation which accompany passionate love. All this proves that true Love is a spiritual approbation, a fusion of souls. It may be objected, that if Love were as I have described, it would be exactly equal in both the parties concerned, since the two parts would be partners in the act of union and the share of each would be the same. To this I reply, that the objection is indeed well-founded; but the soul of the man who loves not one who loves him is beset on all sides by various accidents which occlude, and veils that encompass it about, those earthy temperaments which now overlay it, so that his soul does not sense that part which was united with it before it came to occupy its present lodging-place. Had his soul been liberated from these restrictions, the two would have been equal in their experience of union and love. As for the lover, his soul is indeed free and aware of where that other is that shared with it in ancient proximity; his soul is ever seeking for the other, striving after it, searching it out, yearning to encounter it again, drawing it to itself if might be as a magnet draws the iron…

OF UNION

One of the significant aspects of Love is Union. This is a lofty fortune, an exalted-rank, a sublime degree, a lucky star; and even more, it is life renewed, pleasure supreme, joy everlasting, and a grand mercy from God. Were it not that this world below is a transitory abode of trial and trouble, and Paradise a home where virtue receives its reward, secure from all annoyances, I would have said that union with the beloved is that pure happiness which is without alloy, and gladness unsullied by sorrow, the perfect realization of hopes and the complete fulfillment of one's dreams. I have tested all manner of pleasures, and known every variety of joy; and I have found that neither intimacy with princes, nor wealth acquired, nor finding after lacking, nor returning after long absence, nor security after fear and repose in a safe refuge none of these things so powerfully affects the soul as union with the beloved, especially if it come after long denial and continual banishment. For then the flame of passion waxes exceeding hot, and the furnace of yearning blazes up, and the fire of eager hope rages ever more fiercely. The fresh springing of herbs after the rains, the glitter of flowers when the night clouds have rolled away in the hushed hour between dawn and sunrise, the splashing of waters as they run through the stalks of golden blossoms, the exquisite beauty of white castles encompassed by verdant meadows not lovelier is any of these than union with the well-beloved, whose character is virtuous, and laudable her disposition, whose attributes are evenly matched in perfect beauty. Truly that is a miracle of wonder surpassing the tongues of the eloquent, and far beyond the range of the most cunning speech to describe: the mind reels before it, and the intellect stands abashed.

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Frankish Royal Blessing1 This was the blessing used at the coronation of a new king in the Kingdom of the Franks in the 8th and 9th centuries. What does it reveal about what they expected from a successful ruler? How much of a leader’s success was considered to be a decision of God? Look down, Omnipotent God, with serene eyes on this most glorious king. As you blessed Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so deign to irrigate and bathe him in your potency with abundant blessings of spiritual grace with all its fullness. Grant him from the dew of heaven and the fatness of earth abundance of corn, wine and oil and a wealth of fruits from the generous store of divine gifts, through long years; so that, while he is reigning, there may be healthiness of bodies in the fatherland, and peace may be unbroken in the realm, and the glorious dignity of the royal palace may shine before the eyes of all with the greatest splendor of royal power and be seen to be glittering and bright as if filled with the utmost splendor by the greatest light. Grant him Omnipotent God, to be a most mighty protector of the fatherland, and a comforter of churches and holy monasteries with the greatest piety of royal munificence, and to be the mightiest of kings, triumphing over enemies so as to crush rebels and heathen nations; and may he be very terrible to his enemies with the utmost strength of royal potency. Also may he be generous and loveable and pious to the magnates and the outstanding leaders and the faithful men of his realm, that he may be feared and loved by all. Also may kings come forth from his loins through the succession of future times to rule this whole realm. And after glorious and happy times in this present life, may he be worthy to have eternal joys in perpetual blessedness.

1 Translated by Janet Nelson in Carolingian Culture: Emulation and Innovation, 58.

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Einhard, Life of Charlemagne1

Einhard, who received a monastic education (at the Benedictine abbey of Fulda), was a member of Charlemagne’s court from the 790s. He was known in the court as a master of many things, from poetry to mathematics. His nickname, Bezaleel (the craftsman assigned to Moses by God), reflects Einhard’s jack-of-all-trades reputation. He became politically more prominent after Chalemange’s death (in 813), during the reign of Louis the Pious. Einhard and his wife, Emma, held substantial properties from the King. He was a lay-abbot for several monasteries, builder of at least two churches and a central figure in foreign and financial policy at Louis’ court. He wrote this biography of Charlemagne around 826, when Charlemagne’s reputation was at its lowest. By the mid-820s when people heard the name Charlemagne (or more appropriately Karolus) they thought of an often cruel war-monger whose palace was known as much for lust as for learning. Einhard structured his biography on Suentonius’ Life of Augustus (early second century).

THE LIFE OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES 1. The Merovingian Family The Merovingian family, from which the Franks used to choose their kings, is commonly said to have lasted until the time of Childeric [III, 743-752] who was deposed, shaved, and thrust into the cloister by command of the Roman Pope Stephen [II (or III) 752-757]. But although, to all outward appearance, it ended with him, it had long since been devoid of vital strength, and conspicuous only from bearing the empty epithet Royal; the real power and authority in the kingdom lay in the hands of the chief officer of the court, the so-called Mayor of the Palace, and he was at the head of affairs. There was nothing left the King to do but to be content with his name of King, his flowing hair, and long beard, to sit on his throne and play the ruler, to give ear to the ambassadors that came from all quarters, and to dismiss them, as if on his own responsibility, in words that were, in fact, suggested to him, or even imposed upon him. He had nothing that he could call his own beyond this vain title of King and the precarious support allowed by the Mayor of the Palace in his discretion, except a single country seat, that brought him but a very small income. There was a dwelling house upon this, and a small number of servants attached to it, sufficient to perform the necessary offices. When he had to go abroad, he used to ride in a cart, drawn by a yoke of oxen driven, peasant-fashion, by a Ploughman; he rode in this way to the palace and to the general assembly of the people, that met once a year for the welfare of the kingdom, and he returned him in like manner. The Mayor of the Palace took charge of the government and of everything that had to be planned or executed at home or abroad.

2. Charlemagne's Ancestors At the time of Childeric's deposition, Pepin, the father of King Charles, held this office of Mayor of the Palace, one might almost say, by hereditary right; for Pepin's father, Charles [Martel 715- 41], had received it at the hands of his father, Pepin, and filled it with distinction. It was this Charles that crushed the tyrants who claimed to rule the whole Frank land as their own, and that

1 Full text available at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/einhard.asp.

202 utterly routed the Saracens [Muslims], when they attempted the conquest of Gaul, and compelled them to return to Spain…

3. Charlemagne's Accession Pepin, however, was raised by decree of the Roman Pope, from the rank of Mayor of the Palace to that of King, and ruled alone over the Franks for fifteen years or more [752-768]. He died of dropsy [Sept. 24, 768] in Paris at the close of the Aquitanian War, which he had waged with William, Duke of Aquitania, for nine successive years, and left his two sons, Charles and Carloman, upon whom, by the grace of God, the succession devolved. The Franks, in a general assembly of the people, made them both kings [Oct 9, 786] on condition that they should divide the whole kingdom equally between them, Charles to take and rule the part that had to belonged to their father, Pepin, and Carloman the part which their uncle, Carloman had governed. The conditions were accepted, and each entered into the possession of the share of the kingdom that fell to him by this arrangement; but peace was only maintained between them with the greatest difficulty, because many of Carloman's party kept trying to disturb their good understanding, and there were some even who plotted to involve them in a war with each other. The event, however, which showed the danger to have been rather imaginary than real, for at Carloman's death his widow [Gerberga] fled to Italy with her sons and her principal adherents, and without reason, despite her husband's brother, put herself and her children under the protection of Desiderius, King of the Lombards. Carloman had succumbed to disease after ruling two years [in fact more than three] in common with his brother and at his death Charles was unanimously elected King of the Franks…

5. Aquitanian War His first undertaking in a military way was the Aquitanian War, begun by his father but not brought to a close; and because he thought that it could be readily carried through, he took it up while his brother was yet alive, calling upon him to render aid. The campaign once opened, he conducted it with the greatest vigor, even though his brother withheld the assistance that he had promised, and Charles did not desist or shrink from his self-imposed task until, by his patience and firmness, he had completely gained his ends...

6. Lombard War After bringing this war to an end and settling matters in Aquitania (his associate in authority had meantime departed this life), he was induced [in 773], by the prayers and entreaties of Hadrian [I, 772-795], Bishop of the city of Rome, to wage war on the Lombards. His father before him had undertaken this task at the request of Pope Stephen [II or III, 752-757], but under great difficulties, for certain leading Franks, of whom he usually took counsel, had so vehemently opposed his design as to declare openly that they would leave the King and go home. Nevertheless, the war against the Lombard King Astolf had been taken up and very quickly concluded [754]. Now, although Charles seems to have had similar, or rather just the same grounds for declaring war that his father had, the war itself differed from the preceding one alike in its difficulties and its issue. Pepin, to be sure, after besieging King Astolf a few days in Pavia, had compelled him to give hostages, to restore to the Romans the cities and castles that he had taken, and to make oath that he would not attempt to seize them again: but Charles did not cease, after declaring war, until he had exhausted King Desiderius by a long siege [773], and forced him to surrender at discretion; driven his son Adalgis, the last hope of the Lombards, not only -

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from his kingdom, but from all Italy [774]; restored to the Romans all that they had lost; subdued Hruodgaus, Duke of Friuli [776], who was plotting revolution; reduced all Italy to his power, and set his son Pepin as king over it. [781] Suffice it to say that this war ended with the subjection of Italy, the banishment of King Desiderius for life, the expulsion of his son Adalgis from Italy, and the restoration of the conquests of the Lombard kings to Hadrian, the head of the Roman Church.

7. Saxon War At the conclusion of this struggle, the Saxon war, that seems to have been only laid aside for the time, was taken up again. No war ever undertaken by the Frank nation was carried on with such persistence and bitterness, or cost so much labor, because the Saxons, like almost all the tribes of Germany, were a fierce people, given to the worship of devils, and hostile to our religion, and did not consider it dishonorable to transgress and violate all law, human and divine. Then there were peculiar circumstances that tended to cause a breach of peace every day. Except in a few places, where large forests or mountain ridges intervened and made the bounds certain, the line between ourselves and the Saxons passed almost in its whole extent through an open country, so that there was no end to the murders thefts and arsons on both sides. In this way the Franks became so embittered that they at last resolved to make reprisals no longer, but to come to open war with the Saxons [772]. Accordingly war was begun against them, and was waged for thirty- three successive years with great fury; more, however, to the disadvantage of the Saxons than of the Franks. It could doubtless have been brought to an end sooner, had it not been for the faithlessness of the Saxons. It is hard to say how often they were conquered, and, humbly submitting to the King, promised to do what was enjoined upon them, without hesitation the required hostages, gave and received the officers sent them from the King. They were sometimes so much weakened and reduced that they promised to renounce the worship of devils, and to adopt Christianity, but they were no less ready to violate these terms than prompt to accept them, so that it is impossible to tell which came easier to them to do; scarcely a year passed from the beginning of the war without such changes on their part. But the King did not suffer his high purpose and steadfastness - firm alike in good and evil fortune - to be wearied by any fickleness on their part, or to be turned from the task that he had undertaken, on the contrary, he never allowed their faithless behavior to go unpunished, but either took the field against them in person, or sent his counts with an army to wreak vengeance and exact righteous satisfaction. At last, after conquering and subduing all who had offered resistance, he took ten thousand of those that lived on the banks of the Elbe, and settled them, with their wives and children, in many different bodies here and there in Gaul and Germany [804]. The war that had lasted so many years was at length ended by their acceding to the terms offered by the King; which were renunciation of their national religious customs and the worship of devils, acceptance of the sacraments of the Christian faith and religion, and union with the Franks to form one people…

9. Spanish Expedition In the midst of this vigorous and almost uninterrupted struggle with the Saxons, he covered the frontier by garrisons at the proper points, and marched over the Pyrenees into Spain at the head of all the forces that he could muster. All the towns and castles that he attacked surrendered and up to the time of his homeward march he sustained no loss whatever; but on his return through the Pyrenees he had cause to rue the treachery of the Gascons. That region is well adapted for ambushes by reason of the thick forests that cover it; and as the army was advancing in the long line of march necessitated by the narrowness of the road, the Gascons, who lay in ambush [778]

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on the top of a very high mountain, attacked the rear of the baggage train and the rear guard in charge of it, and hurled them down to the very bottom of the valley [at Roncevalles, later celebrated in the Song of Roland]. In the struggle that ensued they cut them off to a man; they then plundered the baggage, and dispersed with all speed in every direction under cover of approaching night. The lightness of their armor and the nature of the battle ground stood the Gascons in good stead on this occasion, whereas the Franks fought at a disadvantage in every respect, because of the weight of their armor and the unevenness of the ground. Eggihard, the King's steward; Anselm, Count Palatine; and Roland, Governor of the March of Brittany, with very many others, fell in this engagement. This ill turn could not be avenged because the enemy scattered so widely after carrying out their plan that not the least clue could be had to their whereabouts.

Sections 10-14 recount his wars in defeating the Bretons (from Northwest France, Brittany, in 786), defeating the Beneventans (in Southern Italy, in 787), subduing a revolt in Bavaria (Southeastern Germany in 788), “crushing and subduing” two Slavic tribes on the empire’s Eastern border in 789, a long offensive into Pannonia (roughly modern day Austria, Hungary and Croatia, from 791-799) and successful campaigns in Bohemia (805-806) and Denmark (810).

16. Foreign Relations He added to the glory of his reign by gaining the good will of several kings and nations; so close, indeed, was the alliance that he contracted with Alfonso [II 791-842] King of Galicia and Asturias, that the latter, when sending letters or ambassadors to Charles, invariably styled himself his man. His munificence won the kings of the Scots also to pay such deference to his wishes that they never gave him any other title than lord or themselves than subjects and slaves: there are letters from them extant in which these feelings in his regard are expressed. His relations with Aaron [i.e. Harun Al-Rashid, 786-809], King of the Persians, who ruled over almost the whole of the East, India excepted, were so friendly that this prince preferred his favor to that of all the kings and potentates of the earth, and considered that to him alone marks of honor and munificence were due. Accordingly, when the ambassadors sent by Charles to visit the most holy sepulcher and place of resurrection of our Lord and Savior presented themselves before him with gifts, and made known their master's wishes, he not only granted what was asked, but gave possession of that holy and blessed spot. When they returned, he dispatched his ambassadors with them, and sent magnificent gifts, besides stuffs, perfumes, and other rich products of the Eastern lands. A few years before this, Charles had asked him for an elephant, and he sent the only one that he had. The Emperors of Constantinople, Nicephorus [I 802-811], Michael [I, 811-813], and Leo [V, 813-820], made advances to Charles, and sought friendship and alliance with him by several embassies; and even when the Greeks suspected him of designing to wrest the empire from them, because of his assumption of the title Emperor, they made a close alliance with him, that he might have no cause of offense. In fact, the power of the Franks was always viewed by the Greeks and Romans with a jealous eye, whence the Greek proverb "Have the Frank for your friend, but not for your neighbor."

17. Public Works This King, who showed himself so great in extending his empire and subduing foreign nations, and was constantly occupied with plans to that end, undertook also very many works calculated

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to adorn and benefit his kingdom, and brought several of them to completion. Among these, the most deserving of mention are the basilica of the Holy Mother of God at Aachen, built in the most admirable manner, and a bridge over the Rhine at Mainz, half a mile long, the breadth of the river at this point. This bridge was destroyed by fire [May, 813] the year before Charles died, but, owing to his death so soon after, could not be repaired, although he had intended to rebuild it in stone. He began two palaces of beautiful workmanship - one near his manor called Ingelheim, not far from Mainz; the other at Nimeguen, on the Waal, the stream that washes the south side of the island of the Batavians. But, above all, sacred edifices were the object of his care throughout his whole kingdom; and whenever he found them falling to ruin from age, he commanded the priests and fathers who had charge of them to repair them , and made sure by commissioners that his instructions were obeyed. He also fitted out a fleet for the war with the Northmen [the Vikings]; the vessels required for this purpose were built on the rivers that flow from Gaul and Germany into the Northern Ocean. Moreover, since the Northmen continually overran and laid waste the Gallic and German coasts, he caused watch and ward to be kept in all the harbors, and at the mouths of rivers large enough to admit the entrance of vessels, to prevent the enemy from disembarking; and in the South, in Narbonensis and Septimania, and along the whole coast of Italy as far as Rome, he took the same precautions against the Moors [Muslims], who had recently begun their piratical practices. Hence, Italy suffered no great harm in his time at the hands of the Moors, nor Gaul and Germany from the Northmen, save that the Moors got possession of the Etruscan town of Civita Vecchia by treachery, and sacked it, and the Northmen harried some of the islands in Frisia off the German coast.

18. Private Life Thus did Charles defend and increase as well, as beautify his, kingdom, as is well known; and here let me express my admiration of his great qualities and his extraordinary constancy alike in good and evil fortune. I will now forthwith proceed to give the details of his private and family life. After his father's death, while sharing the kingdom with his brother, he bore his unfriendliness and jealousy most patiently, and, to the wonder of all, could not be provoked to be angry with him. Later he married a daughter of Desiderius, King of the Lombards, at the instance of his mother; but he repudiated her at the end of a year for some reason unknown, and married Hildegard, a woman of high birth, of Suabian origin. He had three sons by her - Charles, Pepin and Louis -and as many daughters - Hruodrud, Bertha, and and Gisela. He had three other daughters besides these- Theoderada, Hiltrud, and Ruodhaid - two by his third wife, Fastrada, a woman of East Frankish (that is to say, of German) origin, and the third by a concubine, whose name for the moment escapes me. At the death of Fastrada [794], he married Liutgard, an Alemannic woman, who bore him no children. After her death [June 4, 800] he had three concubines - Gersuinda, a Saxon by whom he had Adaltrud; Regina, who was the mother of Drogo and Hugh; and Ethelind, by whom he lead Theodoric. Charles' mother, Berthrada, passed her old age with him in great honor; he entertained the greatest veneration for her; and there was never any disagreement between them except when he divorced the daughter of King Desiderius, whom he had married to please her. She died soon after Hildegard, after living to three grandsons and as many granddaughters in her son's house, and he buried her with great pomp in the Basilica of St. Denis, where his father lay. He had an only sister, Gisela, who had consecrated herself to a religious life from girlhood, and he cherished as much affection for her as for his mother. She also died a few years before him in the nunnery where she passed her life.

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19 Private Life (continued) [Charles and the Education of His Children] The plan that he adopted for his children's education was, first of all, to have both boys and girls instructed in the liberal arts, to which he also turned his own attention. As soon as their years admitted, in accordance with the custom of the Franks, the boys had to learn horsemanship, and to practice war and the chase, and the girls to familiarize themselves with cloth-making, and to handle distaff and spindle, that they might not grow indolent through idleness, and he fostered in them every virtuous sentiment. He only lost three of all his children before his death, two sons and one daughter, Charles, who was the eldest, Pepin, whom he had made King of Italy, and Hruodrud, his oldest daughter. whom he had betrothed to Constantine [VI, 780-802], Emperor of the Greeks. Pepin left one son, named Bernard, and five daughters, Adelaide, Atula, Guntrada, Berthaid and Theoderada. The King gave a striking proof of his fatherly affection at the time of Pepin's death [810]: he appointed the grandson to succeed Pepin, and had the granddaughters brought up with his own daughters. When his sons and his daughter died, he was not so calm as might have been expected from his remarkably strong mind, for his affections were no less strong, and moved him to tears. Again, when he was told of the death of Hadrian [796], the Roman Pontiff, whom he had loved most of all his friends, he wept as much as if he had lost a brother, or a very dear son. He was by nature most ready to contract friendships, and not only made friends easily, but clung to them persistently, and cherished most fondly those with whom he had formed such ties. He was so careful of the training of his sons and daughters that he never took his meals without them when he was at home, and never made a journey without them; his sons would ride at his side, and his daughters follow him, while a number of his body-guard, detailed for their protection, brought up the rear. Strange to say, although they were very handsome women, and he loved them very dearly, he was never willing to marry any of them to a man of their own nation or to a foreigner, but kept them all at home until his death, saying that he could not dispense with their society. Hence, though otherwise happy, he experienced the malignity of fortune as far as they were concerned; yet he concealed his knowledge of the rumors current in regard to them, and of the suspicions entertained of their honor…

23. Dress He used to wear the national, that is to say, the Frank, dress-next his skin a linen shirt and linen breeches, and above these a tunic fringed with silk; while hose fastened by bands covered his lower limbs, and shoes his feet, and he protected his shoulders and chest in winter by a close- fitting coat of otter or marten skins. Over all he flung a blue cloak, and he always had a sword girt about him, usually one with a gold or silver hilt and belt; he sometimes carried a jeweled sword, but only on great feast-days or at the reception of ambassadors from foreign nations. He despised foreign costumes, however handsome, and never allowed himself to be robed in them, except twice in Rome, when he donned the Roman tunic, chlamys, and shoes; the first time at the request of Pope Hadrian, the second to gratify Leo, Hadrian's successor. On great feast-days he made use of embroidered clothes, and shoes bedecked with precious stones; his cloak was fastened by a golden buckle, and he appeared crowned with a diadem of gold and gems: but on other days his dress varied little from the common dress of the people.

24. Habits Charles was temperate in eating, and particularly so in drinking, for he abominated drunkenness in anybody, much more in himself and those of his household; but he could not easily abstain

207 from food, and often complained that fasts injured his health. He very rarely gave entertainments, only on great feast-days, and then to large numbers of people. His meals ordinarily consisted of four courses, not counting the roast, which his huntsmen used to bring in on the spit; he was more fond of this than of any other dish. While at table, he listened to reading or music. The subjects of the readings were the stories and deeds of olden time: he was fond, too, of St. Augustine's books, and especially of the one entitled "The City of God." He was so moderate in the use of wine and all sorts of drink that he rarely allowed himself more than three cups in the course of a meal. In summer after the midday meal, he would eat some fruit, drain a single cup, put off his clothes and shoes, just as he did for the night, and rest for two or three hours. He was in the habit of awaking and rising from bed four or five times during the night. While he was dressing and putting on his shoes, he not only gave audience to his friends, but if the Count of the Palace told him of any suit in which his judgment was necessary, he had the parties brought before him forthwith, took cognizance of the case, and gave his decision, just as if he were sitting on the Judgment-seat. This was not the only business that he transacted at this time, but he performed any duty of the day whatever, whether he had to attend to the matter himself, or to give commands concerning it to his officers.

25 Studies Charles had the gift of ready and fluent speech, and could express whatever he had to say with the utmost clearness. He was not satisfied with command of his native language merely, but gave attention to the study of foreign ones, and in particular was such a master of Latin that he could speak it as well as his native tongue; but he could understand Greek better than he could speak it. He was so eloquent, indeed, that he might have passed for a teacher of eloquence. He most zealously cultivated the liberal arts, held those who taught them in great esteem, and conferred great honors upon them. He took lessons in grammar of the deacon Peter of Pisa, at that time an aged man. Another deacon, Albin of Britain, surnamed Alcuin, a man of Saxon extraction, who was the greatest scholar of the day, was his teacher in other branches of learning. The King spent much time and labor with him studying rhetoric, dialectics, and especially astronomy; he learned to reckon, and used to investigate the motions of the heavenly bodies most curiously, with an intelligent scrutiny. He also tried to write, and used to keep tablets and blanks in bed under his pillow, that at leisure hours he might accustom his hand to form the letters; however, as he did not begin his efforts in due season, but late in life, they met with ill success.

26 Piety He cherished with the greatest fervor and devotion the principles of the Christian religion, which had been instilled into him from infancy. Hence it was that he built the beautiful basilica at Aachen, which he adorned with gold and silver and lamps, and with rails and doors of solid brass. He had the columns and marbles for this structure brought from Rome and Ravenna, for he could not find such as were suitable elsewhere. He was a constant worshipper at this church as long as his health permitted, going morning and evening, even after nightfall, besides attending mass; and he took care that all the services there conducted should be administered with the utmost possible propriety, very often warning the sextons not to let any improper or unclean thing be brought into the building or remain in it. He provided it with a great number of sacred vessels of gold and silver and with such a quantity of clerical robes that not even the doorkeepers who fill the humblest office in the church were obliged to wear their everyday clothes when in the exercise of their duties. He was at great pains to improve the church reading and psalmody,

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for he was well skilled in both although he neither read in public nor sang, except in a low tone and with others.

27 Generosity [Charles and the Roman Church] He was very forward in succoring the poor, and in that gratuitous generosity which the Greeks call alms, so much so that he not only made a point of giving in his own country and his own kingdom, but when he discovered that there were Christians living in poverty in Syria, Egypt, and Africa, at Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Carthage, he had compassion on their wants, and used to send money over the seas to them. The reason that he zealously strove to make friends with the kings beyond seas was that he might get help and relief to the Christians living under their rule. He cherished the Church of St. Peter the Apostle at Rome above all other holy and sacred places, and heaped its treasury with a vast wealth of gold, silver, and precious stones. He sent great and countless gifts to the popes; and throughout his whole reign the wish that he had nearest at heart was to re-establish the ancient authority of the city of Rome under his care and by his influence, and to defend and protect the Church of St. Peter, and to beautify and enrich it out of his own store above all other churches. Although he held it in such veneration, he only repaired to Rome to pay his vows and make his supplications four times during the whole forty- seven years that he reigned.

28 Charlemagne Crowned Emperor When he made his last journey thither, he also had other ends in view. The Romans had inflicted many injuries upon Pope Leo, tearing out his eyes and cutting out his tongue, so that he had been compelled to call upon the King for help [Nov 24, 800]. Charles accordingly went to Rome, to set in order the affairs of the Church, which were in great confusion, and passed the whole winter there. It was then that he received the titles of Emperor and Augustus [Dec 25, 800], to which he at first had such an aversion that he declared that he would not have set foot in the Church the day that they were conferred, although it was a great feast-day, if he could have foreseen the design of the Pope. He bore very patiently with the jealousy which the Roman emperors showed upon his assuming these titles, for they took this step very ill; and by dint of frequent embassies and letters, in which he addressed them as brothers, he made their haughtiness yield to his magnanimity, a quality in which he was unquestionably much their superior…

30. Coronation of Louis - Charlemagne's Death Toward the close of his life [813], when he was broken by ill-health and old age, he summoned Louis, King of Aquitania, his only surviving son by Hildegard, and gathered together all the chief men of the whole kingdom of the Franks in a solemn assembly. He appointed Louis, with their unanimous consent, to rule with himself over the whole kingdom and constituted him heir to the imperial name; then, placing the diadem upon his son's head, he bade him be proclaimed Emperor and is step was hailed by all present favor, for it really seemed as if God had prompted him to it for the kingdom's good; it increased the King's dignity, and struck no little terror into foreign nations. After sending his son back to Aquitania, although weak from age he set out to hunt, as usual, near his palace at Aachen, and passed the rest of the autumn in the chase, returning thither about the first of November [813]. While wintering there, he was seized, in the month of January, with a high fever and took to his bed. As soon as he was taken sick, he prescribed for himself abstinence from food, as he always used to do in case of fever, thinking

209 that the disease could be driven off, or at least mitigated, by fasting. Besides the fever, he suffered from a pain in the side, which the Greeks call pleurisy; but he still persisted in fasting, and in keeping up his strength only by drinks taken at very long intervals. He died January twenty-eighth, the seventh day from the time that he took to his bed, at nine o'clock in the morning, after partaking of holy communion, in the seventy-second year of his age and the forty- seventh of his reign…

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Baldric of Dol, “Speech of Urban II at Clermont” (ca. 1108 CE)

The First Crusade was preached by Pope Urban II starting at the Council of Clermont on November 27, 1095. That it turned out to be successful – that 100,000 people with no real planning or logistical support marched over 2000 miles, defeated superior forces, and carved out a Christian kingdom around Jerusalem – amazed everyone. Only after the crusade was over did anyone try to write out what Urban said at Clermont. Five different versions survive, but it is clear that in each one that author is trying to make sense of why crusaders went and why they were successful. Baldric was Archbishop of Dol (in Brittany, in Northwestern modern France) in the early twelfth century. Baldric may have been present at Clermont (which cannot be said for most of the other authors of version of Urban’s speech), but it is better to read this as Baldric’s explanation of what the Crusade was about and why it succeeded, written nine years after the Crusaders had taken Jerusalem. What motivations for going does Baldric give? How does he describe the knights of Europe? How does he explain their unlikely victory?

. . . "We have heard, most beloved brethren, and you have heard what we cannot recount without deep sorrow how, with great hurt and dire sufferings our Christian brothers, members in Christ, are scourged, oppressed, and injured in Jerusalem, in Antioch, and the other cities of the East. Your own blood brothers, your companions, your associates (for you are sons of the same Christ and the same Church) are either subjected in their inherited homes to other masters, or are driven from them, or they come as beggars among us; or, which is far worse, they are flogged and exiled as slaves for sale in their own land. Christian blood, redeemed by the blood of Christ, has been shed, and Christian flesh, akin to the flesh of Christ, has been subjected to unspeakable degradation and servitude. Everywhere in those cities there is sorrow, everywhere misery, everywhere groaning (I say it with a sigh). The churches in which divine mysteries were celebrated in olden times are now, to our sorrow, used as stables for the animals of these people!1 Holy men do not possess those cities; nay, base and bastard Turks2 hold sway over our brothers. The blessed Peter first presided as Bishop at Antioch; behold, in his own church the Gentiles have established their superstitions, and the Christian religion, which they ought rather to cherish, they have basely shut out from the hall dedicated to God! The estates given for the support of the saints and the patrimony of nobles set aside for the sustenance of the poor are subject to pagan tyranny, while cruel masters abuse for their own purposes the returns from these lands. The priesthood of God has been ground down into the dust. The sanctuary of God (unspeakable shame!) is everywhere profaned. Whatever Christians still remain in hiding there are sought out with unheard of tortures.

1 The image of churches being turned into stables was a prevalent one in medieval descriptions of the end of the world and the beginning of the events leading to the Last Judgment. The audience (and readers of this work) would have immediately made that connection. 2 The Seljuk Turks, devout Sunni Muslims, were conquering much of the Muslim world at this time. They gained control of Baghdad and the Abbasid Caliphs in 1055. They defeated the main Byzantine army and killed the emperor at Manzikert in 1071, opening up much of Asia Minor to conquest, and then went on to take Syria and Jerusalem (in 1076) from the Shi’a Fatimid dynasty that ruled Egypt.

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"Of holy Jerusalem, brethren, we dare not speak, for we are exceedingly afraid and ashamed to speak of it. This very city, in which, as you all know, Christ Himself suffered for us, because our sins demanded it, has been reduced to the pollution of paganism and, I say it to our disgrace, withdrawn from the service of God. Such is the heap of reproach upon us who have so much deserved it! Who now serves the church of the Blessed Mary in the valley of Josaphat, in which church she herself was buried in body? But why do we pass over the Temple of Solomon, nay of the Lord, in which the barbarous nations placed their idols contrary to law, human and divine? Of the Lord's Sepulcher [Jesus’ Tomb in Jerusalem] we have refrained from speaking, since some of you with your own eyes have seen to what abominations it has been given over. The Turks violently took from it the offerings which you brought there for alms in such vast amounts, and, in addition, they scoffed much and often at your religion. And yet in that place (I say only what you already know) rested the Lord; there He died for us; there He was buried. How precious would be the longed for, incomparable place of the Lord's burial, even if God failed there to perform the yearly miracle! For in the days of His Passion all the lights in the Sepulcher and in the church, which have been extinguished, are relighted by divine command. Whose heart is so stony, brethren, that it is not touched by so great a miracle? Believe me, that man is bestial and senseless whose heart such divinely manifest grace does not move to faith! And yet the Gentiles see this in common with the Christians and are not turned from their ways! They are, indeed, afraid, but they are not converted to the faith; nor is it to be wondered at, for a blindness of mind rules over them. With what afflictions they wronged you who have returned and are now present, you yourselves know too well you who there sacrificed your substance and your blood for God.

"This, beloved brethren, we shall say, that we may have you as witness of our words. More suffering of our brethren and devastation of churches remains than we can speak of one by one, for we are oppressed by tears and groans, sighs and sobs. We weep and wail, brethren, alas, like the Psalmist, in our inmost heart! We are wretched and unhappy, and in us is that prophecy fulfilled: 'God, the nations are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps; the dead bodies of thy servants have been given to be food for the birds of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them.' Woe unto us, brethren! We who have already become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing, and derision to them round about us, let us at least with tears condone and have compassion upon our brothers! We who are become the scorn of all peoples, and worse than all, let us bewail the most monstrous devastation of the Holy Land! This land we have deservedly called holy in which there is not even a footstep that the body or spirit of the Savior did not render glorious and blessed which embraced the holy presence of the mother of God, and the meetings of the apostles, and drank up the blood of the martyrs shed there. How blessed are the stones which crowned you Stephen, the first martyr! How happy, O, John the Baptist, the waters of the Jordan which served you in baptizing the Savior! The children of Israel, who were led out of Egypt, and who prefigured you in the crossing of the Red Sea, have taken that land, by their arms, with Jesus as leader; they have driven out the Jebusites3 and other inhabitants and have themselves inhabited earthly Jerusalem, the image of celestial Jerusalem.

3 The Jebusites and the Amelkites mentioned later in this work, were tribes defeated by the ancient Hebrews in the taking of the Promised Land. According to Hebrew Scripture, the Jebusites were the Canaanite tribe that held

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"What are we saying? Listen and learn! You, girt about with the badge of knighthood, are arrogant with great pride; you rage against your brothers and cut each other in pieces. This is not the (true) soldiery of Christ which rends asunder the sheepfold of the Redeemer. The Holy Church has reserved a soldiery for herself to help her people, but you debase her wickedly to her hurt. Let us confess the truth, whose heralds we ought to be; truly, you are not holding to the way which leads to life. You, the oppressors of children, plunderers of widows; you, guilty of homicide, of sacrilege, robbers of another's rights; you who await the pay of thieves for the shedding of Christian blood -- as vultures smell fetid corpses, so do you sense battles from afar and rush to them eagerly. Verily, this is the worst way, for it is utterly removed from God! if, forsooth, you wish to be mindful of your souls, either lay down the girdle of such knighthood, or advance boldly, as knights of Christ, and rush as quickly as you can to the defense of the Eastern Church. For she it is from whom the joys of your whole salvation have come forth, who poured into your mouths the milk of divine wisdom, who set before you the holy teachings of the Gospels. We say this, brethren, that you may restrain your murderous hands from the destruction of your brothers, and in behalf of your relatives in the faith oppose yourselves to the Gentiles. Under Jesus Christ, our Leader, may you struggle for your Jerusalem, in Christian battleline, most invincible line, even more successfully than did the sons of Jacob of old - struggle, that you may assail and drive out the Turks, more execrable than the Jebusites, who are in this land, and may you deem it a beautiful thing to die for Christ in that city in which He died for us. But if it befall you to die this side of it, be sure that to have died on the way is of equal value, if Christ shall find you in His army. God pays with the same shilling, whether at the first or eleventh hour. You should shudder, brethren, you should shudder at raising a violent hand against Christians; it is less wicked to brandish your sword against Saracens. It is the only warfare that is righteous, for it is charity to risk your life for your brothers. That you may not be troubled about the concerns of tomorrow, know that those who fear God want nothing, nor those who cherish Him in truth. The possessions of the enemy, too, will be yours, since you will make spoil of their treasures and return victorious to your own; or empurpled with your own blood, you will have gained everlasting glory. For such a Commander you ought to fight, for One who lacks neither might nor wealth with which to reward you.

Short is the way, little the labor, which, nevertheless, will repay you with the crown that fades not away. Accordingly, we speak with the authority of the prophet: 'Gird thy sword upon thy thigh O mighty one.' Gird yourselves, everyone of you, I say, and be valiant sons; for it is better for you to die in battle than to behold the sorrows of your race and of your holy places. Let neither property nor the alluring charms of your wives entice you from going; nor let the trials that are to be borne so deter you that you remain here."

And turning to the bishops, he said, "You, brothers and fellow bishops; you, fellow priests and sharers with us in Christ, make this same announcement through the churches committed to you, and with your whole soul vigorously preach the journey to Jerusalem. When they have confessed the disgrace of their sins, do you, secure in Christ, grant them speedy pardon. Moreover, you who are to go shall have us praying for you; we shall have you fighting for God's people. It is our duty to pray, yours to fight against the Amalekites. With Moses, we shall extend unwearied

Jerusalem until being conquered by King David and the Amalkites were an enemy faced and defeated by Moses after leaving Egypt.

213 hands in prayer to Heaven, while you go forth and brandish the sword, like dauntless warriors, against Amalek."

As those present were thus clearly informed by these and other words of this kind from the apostolic lord, the eyes of some were bathed in tears; some trembled, and yet others discussed the matter. However, in the presence of all at that same council, and as we looked on, the Bishop of Puy, a man of great renown and of highest ability, went to the Pope with joyful countenance and on bended knee sought and entreated blessing and permission to go., Over and above this, he won from the Pope the command that all should obey him, and that he should hold sway over all the army in behalf of the Pope, since all knew him to be a prelate of unusual energy and industry…

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Chretien de Troyes, Knight of the Cart1

Chretien de Troyes wrote at the Court of Champagne (a very wealthy autonomous county east of Paris), located at Troyes. We know very little else about the author, other than that he was likely a native of Champagne. The influence of his work, however, cannot be overstated. It was Chretien who introduced the Arthurian stories of Wales, Brittany and Britain to a wider audience and it was in The Knight of the Cart (one of the five that survive by Chretien) that the love affair between Queen Guinevere and the Knight Lancelot was first introduced. In this work (which would be about 50 pages printed in prose), Queen Guinevere is stolen from King Arthur’s Court and two knights, Gawain and an un-named knight (later revealed as Lancelot), go in pursuit of her.

…Gawain follows in pursuit of him [the unnamed knight] with all speed, until he reaches the bottom of a hill. And when he had gone some distance, he found the horse dead which he had given to the knight, and noticed that the ground had been trampled by horses, and that broken shields and lances lay strewn about, so that it seemed that there had been a great combat between several knights, and he was very sorry and grieved not to have been there. However, he did not stay there long, but rapidly passed on until he saw again by chance the knight all alone on foot, completely armed, with helmet laced, shield hanging from his neck, and with his sword on. He had overtaken a cart. In those days such a cart served the same purpose as does a pillory now; and in each good town where there are more than three thousand such carts nowadays, in those times there was only one, and this, like our pillories, had to do service for all those who commit murder or treason, and those who are guilty of any delinquency, and for thieves who have stolen others' property or have forcibly seized it on the roads. Whoever was convicted of any crime was placed upon a cart and dragged through all the streets, and he lost henceforth all his legal rights, and was never afterward heard, honored or welcomed in any court. The carts were so dreadful in those days that the saying was then first used: "When you see and meet a cart, cross yourself and call upon God, that no evil may befall you." The knight on foot, and without a lance, walked behind the cart, and saw a dwarf sitting on the shafts, who held, as a driver does, a long goad in his hand. Then he cries out: "Dwarf, for God's sake, tell me now if you have seen my lady, the Queen, pass by here." The miserable, low-born dwarf would not give him any news of her, but replied: "If you will get up into the cart I am driving you shall hear tomorrow what has happened to the Queen." Then he kept on his way without giving further heed. The knight hesitated only for a couple of steps before getting in. Yet, it was unlucky for him that he shrank from the disgrace, and did not jump in at once; for he will later rue his delay. But common sense, which is inconsistent with love's dictates, bids him refrain from getting in, warning him and counseling him to do and undertake nothing for which he may reap shame and disgrace. Reason, which dares thus speak to him, reaches only his lips, but not his heart; but love is enclosed within his heart, bidding him and urging him to mount at once upon the cart. So he jumps in, since love will have it so, feeling no concern about the shame, since he is prompted by love's commands. And my lord Gawain presses on in haste after the cart, and when he finds the knight sitting in it, his surprise is great. "Tell me," he shouted to the dwarf, "if you know anything of the Queen." And he replied: "If you art so much your own enemy as is this knight who is sitting here, get in with

1 Chretien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances, translated by W.W. Comfort (Everyman's Library, London, 1914). Full text available at http://omacl.org/Lancelot/.

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him, if it be your pleasure, and I will drive you along with him." When my lord Gawain heard that, he considered it great foolishness, and said that he would not get in, for it would be dishonorable to exchange a horse for a cart.

[The knight of the cart is similarly scorned by everyone they encounter. The two catch a glimpse of the Queen and the knight leading her and split up, with each taking one of the two paths leading to the evil knight Meleagant’s kingdom. Lancelot is at one point led by a maiden (whom he had not slept with, out of love for Guinevere), farther along the path. As she guides him, they find a beautiful ivory comb on a stone along the path.]

Then he stoops over and picks it up. While holding it, he looks at it steadfastly, gazing at the hair until the damsel begins to laugh. When he sees her doing so, he begs her to tell him why she laughs. And she says: "Never mind, for I will never tell you." "Why not?" he asks. "Because I don't wish to do so." And when he hears that, he implores her like one who holds that lovers ought to keep faith mutually: "Damsel, if you love anything passionately, by that I implore and conjure and beg you not to conceal from me the reason why you laugh." "Your appeal is so strong," she says, "that I will tell you and keep nothing back. I am sure, as I am of anything, that this comb belonged to the Queen. And you may take my word that those are strands of the Queen's hair which you see to be so fair and light and radiant, and which are clinging in the teeth of the comb; they surely never grew anywhere else." Then the knight replied: "Upon my word, there are plenty of queens and kings; what queen do you mean?" And she answered: "In truth, fair sire, it is of King Arthur's wife I speak." When he hears that, he has not strength to keep from bowing his head over his saddle-bow. And when the damsel sees him thus, she is amazed and terrified, thinking he is about to fall. Do not blame her for her fear, for she thought him in a faint. He might as well have swooned, so near was he to doing so; for in his heart he felt such grief that for a long time he lost his color and power of speech. And the damsel dismounts, and runs as quickly as possible to support and rescue him; for she would not have wished for anything to see him fall. When he saw her, he felt ashamed, and said: "Why do you need to bear me aid?" You must not suppose that the damsel told him why; for he would have been ashamed and distressed, and it would have annoyed and troubled him, if she had confessed to him the truth. So she took good care not to tell the truth, but tactfully answered him: "Sire, I dismounted to get the comb; for I was so anxious to hold it in my hand that I could not longer wait." Willing that she should have the comb, he gives it to her, first pulling out the hair so carefully that he tears none of it. Never will the eye of man see anything receive such honor as when he begins to adore these tresses. A hundred thousand times he raises them to his eyes and mouth, to his forehead and face: he manifests his joy in every way, considering himself rich and happy now. He lays them in his bosom near his heart, between the shirt and the flesh. He would not exchange them for a cartload of emeralds and carbuncles, nor does he think that any sore or illness can afflict him now; he holds in contempt essence of pearl, treacle, and the cure for pleurisy; even for St. Martin and St. James he has no need; for he has such confidence in this hair that he requires no other aid. But what was this hair like? If I tell the truth about it, you will think I am a mad teller of lies. When the mart is full at the yearly fair of St. Denis, and when the goods are most abundantly displayed, even then the knight would not take all this wealth, unless he had found these tresses too. And if you wish to know the truth, gold a hundred thousand times refined, and melted down as many times, would be darker than is night compared with the brightest summer day we have had this year, if one were to see the gold and set it beside this hair. But why should I make a long story of

216 it? The damsel mounts again with the comb in her possession; while he revels and delights in the tresses in his bosom.

[After many adventures and much physical suffering, Lancelot eventually reaches the tower where Meleagant keeps the Queen and an individual battle between the two ensues.]

But up at the window of the tower there was a wise maiden who thought within herself that the knight had not undertaken the battle either on her account or for the sake of the common herd who had gathered about the list, but that his only incentive had been the Queen; and she thought that, if he knew that she was at the window seeing and watching him, his strength and courage would increase. And if she had known his name, she would gladly have called to him to look about him. Then she came to the Queen and said: "Lady, for God's sake and your own as well as ours, I beseech you to tell me, if you know, the name of yonder knight, to the end that it may be of some help to him." "Damsel," the Queen replies, "you have asked me a question in which I see no hate or evil, but rather good intent; the name of the knight, I know, is Lancelot of the Lake." "God, how happy and glad at heart I am!" the damsel says. Then she leans forward and calls to him by name so loudly that all the people hear: "Lancelot, turn about and see who is here taking note of thee!" When Lancelot heard his name, he was not slow to turn around: he turns and sees seated up there at the window of the tower her whom he desired most in the world to see. From the moment he caught sight of her, he did not turn or take his eyes and face from her, defending himself with backhand blows. And Meleagant meanwhile attacked him as fiercely as he could, delighted to think that the other cannot withstand him now; and they of the country are well pleased too, while the foreigners are so distressed that they can no longer support themselves, and many of them fall to earth either upon their knees or stretched out prone; thus some are glad, and some distressed. Then the damsel cried again from the window: "Ah, Lancelot, how is it that you now conduct yourself so foolishly? Once you were the embodiment of prowess and of all that is good, and I do not think God ever made a knight who could equal you in valor and in worth. But now we see you so distressed that you deal backhand blows and fight your adversary, behind your back. Turn, so as to be on the other side, and so that you can face toward this tower, for it will help you to keep it in view." Then Lancelot is so ashamed and mortified that he hates himself, for he knows full well that all have seen how, for some time past, he has had the worst of the fight. Thereupon he leaps backward and so maneuvers as to force Meleagant into a position between him and the tower. Meleagant makes every effort to regain his former position. But Lancelot rushes upon him, and strikes him so violently upon his body and shield whenever he tries to get around him, that he compels him to whirl about two or three times in spite of himself. Lancelot's strength and courage grow, partly because he has love's aid, and partly because he never hated any one so much as him with whom he is engaged.

[Lancelot now begins defeating Meleagant. Meleagant’s father, the King, implores Queen Guinevere to intervene to spare his son’s life. She orders Lancelot to halt; he does so, even when Meleagant continues to attack him. The King scolds Meleagant, who still insists he is the better fighter. The King brokers a peace: Meleagant will release Queen Guinevere and they will have a rematch at Arthur’s court in one year. When the Queen meets Lancelot, however, she ignores him and refuses to speak to him. He is confused and, thinking she does not love him, he later tries to kill himself. He is saved by his companions and brought back to the Queen.]

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This time the Queen did not lower her eyes to the ground, but she went to meet him cheerfully, honoring him all she could, and making him sit down by her side. Then they talked together at length of all that was upon their hearts, and love furnished them with so much to say that topics did not lack. And when Lancelot sees how well he stands, and that all he says finds favor with the Queen, he says to her in confidence: "Lady, I marvel greatly why you received me with such a countenance when you saw me the day before yesterday, and why you would not speak a word to me: I almost died of the blow you gave me, and I had not the courage to dare to question you about it, as I now venture to do. I am ready now, lady, to make amends, when you have told me what has been the crime which has caused me such distress." Then the Queen replies: "What? Did you not hesitate for shame to mount the cart? You showed you were loath to get in, when you hesitated for two whole steps. That is the reason why I would neither address nor look at you." "May God save me from such a crime again," Lancelot replies, "and may God show me no mercy, if you were not quite right! For God's sake, lady, receive my amends at once, and tell me, for God's sake, if you can ever pardon me." "Friend, you are quite forgiven," the Queen replies; "I pardon you willingly." "Thank you for that, lady," he then says; "but I cannot tell you here all that I should like to say; I should like to talk with you more at leisure, if possible." Then the Queen indicates a window by her glance rather than with her finger, and says: "Come through the garden to-night and speak with me at yonder window, when everyone inside has gone to sleep. You will not be able to get in: I shall be inside and you outside: to gain entrance will be impossible. I shall be able to touch you only with my lips or hand, but, if you please, I will stay there until morning for love of you. Our bodies cannot be joined, for close beside me in my room lies Kay the seneschal, who is still suffering from his wounds. And the door is not open, but is tightly closed and guarded well. When you come, take care to let no spy catch sight of you." "Lady," says he, "if I can help it, no spy shall see me who might think or speak evil of us." Then, having agreed upon this plan, they separate very joyfully. Lancelot leaves the room in such a happy frame that all his past troubles are forgotten. But he was so impatient for the night to come that his restlessness made the day seem longer than a hundred ordinary days or than an entire year. If night had only come, he would gladly have gone to the trysting place. Dark and somber night at last won its struggle with the day, and wrapped it up in its covering, and laid it away beneath its cloak. When he saw the light of day obscured, he pretended to be tired and worn, and said that, in view of his protracted vigils, he needed rest. You, who have ever done the same, may well understand and guess that he pretends to be tired and goes to bed in order to deceive the people of the house; but he cared nothing about his bed, nor would he have sought rest there for anything, for he could not have done so and would not have dared, and furthermore he would not have cared to possess the courage or the power to do so. Soon he softly rose, and was pleased to find that no moon or star was shining, and that in the house there was no candle, lamp, or lantern burning. Thus he went out and looked about, but there was no one on the watch for him, for all thought that he would sleep in his bed all night. Without escort or company he quickly went out into the garden, meeting no one on the way, and he was so fortunate as to find that a part of the garden-wall had recently fallen down. Through this break he passes quickly and proceeds to the window, where he stands, taking care not to cough or sneeze, until the Queen arrives clad in a very white chemise. She wore no cloak or coat, but had thrown over her a short cape of scarlet cloth and shrew-mouse fur. As soon as Lancelot saw the Queen leaning on the window-sill behind the great iron bars, he honored her with a gentle salute. She promptly returned his greeting, for he was desirous of her, and she of

218 him. Their talk and conversation are not of vulgar, tiresome affairs. They draw close to one another, until each holds the other's hand. But they are so distressed at not being able to come together more completely, that they curse the iron bars. Then Lancelot asserts that, with the Queen's consent, he will come inside to be with her, and that the bars cannot keep him out. And the Queen replies: "Do you not see how the bars are stiff to bend and hard to break? You could never so twist, pull or drag at them as to dislodge one of them." "Lady," says he, "have no fear of that. It would take more than these bars to keep me out. Nothing but your command could thwart my power to come to you. If you will but grant me your permission, the way will open before me. But if it is not your pleasure, then the way is so obstructed that I could not possibly pass through." "Certainly," she says, "I consent. My will need not stand in your way; but you must wait until I retire to my bed again, so that no harm may come to you, for it would be no joke or jest if the seneschal, who is sleeping here, should wake up on hearing you. So it is best for me to withdraw, for no good could come of it, if he should see me standing here." "Go then, lady," he replies; "but have no fear that I shall make any noise. I think I can draw out the bars so softly and with so little effort that no one shall be aroused." Then the Queen retires, and he prepares to loosen the window. Seizing the bars, he pulls and wrenches them until he makes them bend and drags them from their places. But the iron was so sharp that the end of his little finger was cut to the nerve, and the first joint of the next finger was torn; but he who is intent upon something else paid no heed to any of his wounds or to the blood which trickled down. Though the window is not low, Lancelot gets through it quickly and easily. First he finds Kay asleep in his bed, then he comes to the bed of the Queen, whom he adores and before whom he kneels, holding her more dear than the relic of any saint. And the Queen extends her arms to him and, embracing him, presses him tightly against her bosom, drawing him into the bed beside her and showing him every possible satisfaction; her love and her heart go out to him. It is love that prompts her to treat him so; and if she feels great love for him, he feels a hundred thousand times as much for her. For there is no love at all in other hearts compared with what there is in his; in his heart love was so completely embodied that it was miserly toward all other hearts. Now Lancelot possesses all he wants, when the Queen voluntarily seeks his company and love, and when he holds her in his arms, and she holds him in hers. Their sport is so agreeable and sweet, as they kiss and fondle each other, that in truth such a marvelous joy comes over them as was never heard or known. But their joy will not be revealed by me, for in a story, it has no place. Yet, the most choice and delightful satisfaction was precisely that of which our story must not speak. That night Lancelot's joy and pleasure were very great. But, to his sorrow, day comes when he must leave his mistress' side. It cost him such pain to leave her that he suffered a real martyr's agony. His heart now stays where the Queen remains; he has not the power to lead it away, for it finds such pleasure in the Queen that it has no desire to leave her: so his body goes, and his heart remains… Full of sighs and tears, Lancelot leaves in great distress. He grieves that no time is fixed for another meeting, but it cannot be. Regretfully he leaves by the window through which he had entered so happily. He was so badly wounded in the fingers that they were in sorry state; yet he straightened the bars and set them in their place again, so that from neither side, either before or behind, was it evident that anyone had drawn out or bent any of the bars. When he leaves the room, he bows and acts precisely as if he were before a shrine; then he goes with a heavy heart, and reaches his lodgings without being recognized by any one. He throws himself naked upon his bed without awaking any one, and then for the first time he is surprised to notice the cuts in his fingers…Therefore he was not at all worried, for he would rather have had both arms dragged from his body than not enter through

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the window. But he would have been very angry and distressed, if he had thus injured and wounded himself under any other circumstances. In the morning, within her curtained room, the Queen had fallen into a gentle sleep; she had not noticed that her sheets were spotted with blood, but she supposed them to be perfectly white and clean and presentable. Now Meleagant, as soon as he was dressed and ready, went to the room where the Queen lay. He finds her awake, and he sees the sheets spotted with fresh drops of blood, whereupon he nudges his companions and, suspicious of some mischief, looks at the bed of Kay the seneschal, and sees that his sheets are blood-stained too, for you must know that in the night his wounds had begun to bleed afresh. Then he said: "Lady, now I have found the evidence that I desired. It is very true that any man is a fool to try to confine a woman: he wastes his efforts and his pains. He who tries to keep her under guard loses her sooner than the man who takes no thought of her. A fine watch, indeed, has been kept by my father, who is guarding you on my behalf! He has succeeded in keeping you from me, but, in spite of him, Kay the seneschal has looked upon you last night, and has done what he pleased with you, as can readily be proved." "What is that?" she asks. "Since I must speak, I find blood on your sheets, which proves the fact. I know it and can prove it, because I find on both your sheets and his the blood which issued from his wounds: the evidence is very strong." Then the Queen saw on both beds the bloody sheets, and marveling, she blushed with shame and said: "So help me God, this blood which I see upon my sheets was never brought here by Kay, but my nose bled during the night, and I suppose it must be from my nose." In saying so, she thinks she tells the truth. "By my head," says Meleagant, "there is nothing in what you say. Swearing is of no avail, for you are taken in your guilt, and the truth will soon be proved." Then he said to the guards who were present: "Gentlemen, do not move, and see to it that the sheets are not taken from the bed until I return. I wish the king to do me justice, as soon as he has seen the truth." Then he searched until he found him, and failing at his feet, he said: "Sire, come to see what you have failed to guard. Come to see the Queen, and you shall see the certain marvels which I have already seen and tested. But, before you go, I beg you not to fail to be just and upright toward me. You know well to what danger I have exposed myself for the Queen; yet, you are no friend of mine and keep her from me under guard. This morning I went to see her in her bed, and I remarked that Kay lies with her every night. Sire, for God's sake, be not angry, if I am disgruntled and if I complain. For it is very humiliating for me to be hated and despised by one with whom Kay is allowed to lie." "Silence!" says the king; "I don't believe it." "Then come, my lord, and see the sheets and the state in which Kay has left them. Since you will not believe my words, and since you think I am lying, I will show you the sheets and the quilt covered with blood from Kay's wounds." "Come now," says the king, "I wish to see for myself, and my eyes will judge of the truth." Then the king goes directly to the room, where the Queen got up at his approach. He sees that the sheets are blood-stained on her bed and on Kay's alike and he says: "Lady, it is going badly now, if what my son has said is true." Then she replies: "So help me God, never even in a dream was uttered such a monstrous lie. I think Kay the seneschal is courteous and loyal enough not to commit such a deed, and besides, I do not expose my body in the market-place, nor offer it of my own free will. Surely, Kay is not the man to make an insulting proposal to me, and I have never desired and shall never desire to do such a thing myself." "Sire, I shall be much obliged to you," says Meleagant to his father, "if Kay shall be made to atone for this outrage, and the Queen's shame thus be exposed. It devolves upon you to see that justice is done, and this justice I now request and claim. Kay has betrayed King Arthur, his lord, who had such confidence in him that he entrusted to him what he loved most in the world." "Let me answer, sire," says Kay, "and

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I shall exonerate myself. May God have no mercy upon my soul when I leave this world, if I ever lay with my lady! Indeed, I should rather be dead than ever do my lord such an ugly wrong, and may God never grant me better health than I have now but rather kill me on the spot, if such a thought ever entered my mind! But I know that my wounds bled profusely last night, and that is the reason why my sheets are stained with blood. That is why your son suspects me, but surely he has no right to do so." And Meleagant answers him: "So help me God, the devils and demons have betrayed you. You grew too heated last night and, as a result of your exertions, your wounds have doubtless bled afresh. There is no use in your denying it; we can see it, and it is perfectly evident. It is right that he should atone for his crime who is so plainly caught in his guilt. Never did a knight with so fair a name commit such iniquities as this, and yours is the shame for it." "Sire, sire," says Kay to the king, "I will defend the Queen and myself against the accusation of your son. He harasses and distresses me, though he has no ground to treat me so." "You cannot fight," the king replies, "you are too ill." "Sire, if you will allow it, I will fight with him, ill as I am, and will show him that I am not guilty of the crime which he imputes to me." But the Queen, having secretly sent word to Lancelot, tells the king that she will present a knight who will defend the seneschal, if Meleagant dares to urge this charge. Then Meleagant said at once: "There is no knight without exception, even if he was a giant, whom I will not fight until one of us is defeated." Then Lancelot came in, and with him such a rout of knights that the whole hall was filled with them. As soon as he had entered, in the hearing of all, both young and old, the Queen told what had happened, and said: "Lancelot, this insult has been done me by Meleagant. In the presence of all who hear his words he says I have lied, if you do not make him take it back. Last night, he asserted, Kay lay with me, because he found my sheets, like his, all stained with blood; and he says that he stands convicted, unless he will undertake his own defense, or unless someone else will fight the battle on his behalf." Lancelot says: "You need never use arguments with me. May it not please God that either you or he should be thus discredited! I am ready to fight and to prove to the extent of my power that he never was guilty of such a thought. I am ready to employ my strength in his behalf, and to defend him against this charge." Then Meleagant jumped up and said: "So help me God, I am pleased and well satisfied with that: no one need think that I object." And Lancelot said: "My lord king, I am well acquainted with suits and laws, with trials and verdicts: in a question of veracity an oath should be taken before the fight." Meleagant at once replies: "I agree to take an oath; so let the relics be brought at once, for I know well that I am right." And Lancelot answers him: "So help me God, no one who ever knew Kay the seneschal would doubt his word on such a point." Then they call for their horses, and ask that their arms be brought. This is promptly done, and when the valets had armed them, they were ready for the fight. Then the holy relics are brought forth: Meleagant steps forward, with Lancelot by his side, and both fall on their knees. Then Meleagant, laying his hands upon the relics, swears unreservedly: "So help me God and this holy relic, Kay the seneschal lay with the Queen in her bed last night and, had his pleasure with her." "And I swear that you liest," says Lancelot, "and furthermore I swear that he neither lay with her nor touched her. And may it please God to take vengeance upon him who has lied, and may He bring the truth to light! Moreover, I will take another oath and swear, whoever may dislike it or be displeased, that if I am permitted to vanquish Meleagant to-day, I will show him no mercy, so help me God and these relics here!" The king felt no joy when he heard this oath. When the oaths had been taken, their horses were brought forward, which were fair and good in every way. Each man mounts his own horse, and they ride at once at each other as fast as the steeds can carry them; and when the horses are in mid-career, the knights strike each other so

221 fiercely that there is nothing left of the lances in their hands. Each brings the other to earth; however, they are not dismayed, but they rise at once and attack each other with their sharp drawn swords. The burning sparks fly in the air from their helmets. They assail each other so bitterly with the drawn swords in their hands that, as they thrust and draw, they encounter each other with their blows and will not pause even to catch their breath. The king in his grief and anxiety called the Queen, who had gone up in the tower to look out from the balcony: he begged her for God's sake, the Creator, to let them be separated. "Whatever is your pleasure is agreeable to me," the Queen says honestly: "I shall not object to anything you do." Lancelot plainly heard what reply the Queen made to the king's request, and from that time he ceased to fight and renounced the struggle at once. But Meleagant does not wish to stop, and continues to strike and hew at him. But the king rushes between them and stops his son, who declares with an oath that he has no desire for peace. He wants to fight, and cares not for peace. Then the king says to him: "Be quiet, and take my advice, and be sensible. No shame or harm shall come to you, if you will do what is right and heed my words. Do you not remember that you have agreed to fight him at King Arthur's court? And do you not suppose that it would be a much greater honor for you to defeat him there than anywhere else?" The king says this to see if he can so influence him as to appease him and separate them. And Lancelot, who was impatient to go in search of my lord Gawain, requests leave of the king and Queen to depart.

[Lancelot does not have time to savor his successful quest. He follows another dwarf off into the woods and is captured and imprisoned by Meleagant, who plans to win the rematch by making certain that Lancelot does not appear to fight. Once the Court is back at Camelot and realizes Lancelot is missing they search for him, but find nothing. When Arthur calls for a tournament, however, Lancelot can’t resist. He promises the wife of his guard that he will return to captivity after the tournament is over. She believes him and lets him go. He participates in the tournament in disguise, but Guinevere recognizes who it is.]

Now the crowd was assembled, including the Queen and all the ladies, the knights and the other people, and there were many men-at-arms everywhere, to the right and left. At the place where the tournament was to be, there were some large wooden stands for the use of the Queen with her ladies and damsels. Such fine stands were never seen before they were so long and well- constructed. Thither the ladies betook themselves with the Queen, wishing to see who would fare better or worse in the combat. Knights arrive by tens, twenties, and thirties, here eighty and there ninety, here a hundred, there still more, and yonder twice as many yet; so that the press is so great in front of the stands and all around that they decide to begin the joust. As they assemble, armed and unarmed, their lances suggest the appearance of a forest, for those who have come to the sport brought so many lances that there is nothing in sight but lances, banners, and standards. Those who are going to take part begin to joust, and they find plenty of their companions who had come with similar intent. Still others prepare to perform other feats of chivalry. The fields, meadows, and fallow lands are so full of knights that it is impossible to estimate how many of them are there. But there was no sign of Lancelot at this first gathering of the knights; but later, when he entered the middle of the field, the herald saw him and could not refrain from crying out: "Behold him who will take the measure! Behold him who will take the measure!" And the people ask him who he is, but he will not tell them anything. When Lancelot entered the tournament, he was as good as twenty of the best, and he began to fight so skillfully that no one could take his eyes from him, wherever he was. On the

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Pomelegloi side there was a brave and valorous knight, and his horse was spirited and swifter than a wild stag. He was the son of the Irish king, and fought well and handsomely. But the unknown knight pleased them all more a hundred times. In wonder they all make haste to ask: "Who is this knight who fights so well?" And the Queen privately called a clever and wise damsel to her and said: "Damsel, you must carry a message, and do it quickly and with few words. Go down from the stand, and approach yonder knight with the vermilion shield, and tell him privately that I bid him do his `worst'." She goes quickly, and with intelligence executes the Queen's command. She sought the knight until she came up close to him; then she said to him prudently and in a voice so low that no one standing by might hear: "Sire, my lady the Queen sends you word by me that you shall do your `worst'." When he heard this, he replied: "Very willingly," like one who is altogether hers. Then he rides at another knight as hard as his horse can carry him, and misses his thrust which should have struck him. From that time till evening fell he continued to do as badly as possible in accordance with the Queen's desire. But the other, who fought with him, did not miss his thrust, but struck him with such violence that he was roughly handled. Thereupon he took to flight, and after that he never turned his horse's head toward any knight, and were he to die for it, he would never do anything unless he saw in it his shame, disgrace, and dishonor; he even pretends to be afraid of all the knights who pass to and fro. And the very knights who formerly esteemed him now hurled jests and jibes at him. And the herald who had been saying: "He will beat them all in turn!" is greatly dejected and discomfited when he hears the scornful jokes of those who shout: "Friend, say no more! This fellow will not take any one's measure again. He has measured so much that his yardstick is broken, of which you have boasted to us so much." Many say: "What is he going to do? He was so brave just now; but now he is so cowardly that there is not a knight whom he dares to face. The cause of his first success must have been that he never engaged at arms before, and he was so brave at his first attack that the most skilled knight dared not withstand him, for he fought like a wild man. But now he has learned so much of arms that he will never wish to bear them again his whole life long. His heart cannot longer endure the thought, for there is nothing more cowardly than his heart." And the Queen, as she watches him, is happy and well-pleased, for she knows full well, though she does not say it, that this is surely Lancelot. Thus all day long till evening he played his coward's part, and late in the afternoon they separated. At parting there was a great discussion as to who had done the best. The son of the Irish king thinks that without doubt or contradiction he has all the glory and renown. But he is grievously mistaken, for there were plenty of others as good as he. Even the vermilion knight so pleased the fairest and gentlest of the ladies and damsels that they had gazed at him more than at any other knight, for they had remarked how well he fought at first, and how excellent and brave he was; then he had become so cowardly that he dared not face a single knight, and even the worst of them could defeat and capture him at will. But knights and ladies all agreed that on the morrow they should return to the list, and the damsels should choose as their lords those who should win honor in that day's fight: on this arrangement they all agree. Then they turn toward their lodgings, and when they had returned, here and there men began to say: "What has become of the worst, the most craven and despised of knights? Whither did he go? Where is he concealed? Where is he to be found? Where shall we search for him? We shall probably never see him again. For he has been driven off by cowardice, with which he is so filled that there is no greater craven in the world than he. And he is not wrong, for a coward is a hundred times more at ease than a valorous fighting man. Cowardice is easy of entreaty, and that is the reason he has given her the kiss of peace and has taken from her all she has to give. Courage never so debased herself as to lodge in his breast or take quarters

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near him. But cowardice is altogether lodged with him, and she has found a host who will honour her and serve her so faithfully that he is willing to resign his own fair name for hers." Thus they wrangle all night, vying with each other in slander. But often one man maligns another, and yet is much worse himself than the object of his blame and scorn. Thus, every one said what he pleased about him. And when the next day dawned, all the people prepared and came again to the jousting place. The Queen was in the stand again, accompanied by her ladies and damsels and many knights without their arms, who had been captured or defeated, and these explained to them the armorial bearings of the knights whom they most esteem. Thus they talk among themselves: "Do you see that knight yonder with a golden band across the middle of his red shield? That is Governauz of Roberdic. And do you see that other one, who has an eagle and a dragon painted side by side upon his shield? That is the son of the King of Aragon, who has come to this land in search of glory and renown. And do you see that one beside him, who thrusts and jousts so well, bearing a shield with a leopard painted on a green ground on one part, and the other half is azure blue? That is Ignaures the well-beloved, a lover himself and jovial. And he who bears the shield with the pheasants portrayed beak to beak is Coguillanz of Mautirec. Do you see those two side by side, with their dappled steeds, and golden shields showing black lions? One is named Semiramis, and the other is his companion; their shields are painted alike. And do you see the one who has a shield with a gate painted on it, through which a stag appears to be passing out? That is King Ider, in truth." Thus they talk up in the stand. "That shield was made at Limoges, whence it was brought by Pilades, who is very ardent and keen to be always in the fight. That shield, bridle, and breast-strap were made at Toulouse, and were brought here by Kay of Estraus. The other came from Lyons on the Rhone, and there is no better under heaven; for his great merit it was presented to Taulas of the Desert, who bears it well and protects himself with it skillfully. Yonder shield is of English workmanship and was made at London; you see on it two swallows which appear as if about to fly; yet they do not move, but receive many blows from the Poitevin lances of steel; he who has it is poor Thoas." Thus they point out and describe the arms of those they know; but they see nothing of him whom they had held in such contempt, and, not remarking him in the fray, they suppose that he has slipped away. When the Queen sees that he is not there, she feels inclined to send someone to search for him in the crowd until he be found. She knows of no one better to send in search of him than she who yesterday performed her errand. So, straightway calling her, she said to her: "Damsel, go and mount your palfrey! I send you to the same knight as I sent you yesterday, and do you seek him until you find him. Do not delay for any cause, and tell him again to do his `worst'. And when you have given him this message, mark well what reply he makes." The damsel makes no delay, for she had carefully noticed the direction he took the night before, knowing well that she would be sent to him again. She made her way through the ranks until she saw the knight, whom she instructs at once to do his "worst" again, if he desires the love and favour of the Queen which she sends him. And he makes answer: "My thanks to her, since such is her will." Then the damsel went away, and the valets, sergeants, and squires begin to shout: "See this marvellous thing! He of yesterday with the vermilion arms is back again. What can he want? Never in the world was there such a vile, despicable, and craven wretch! He is so in the power of cowardice that resistance is useless on his part." And the damsel returns to the Queen, who detained her and would not let her go until she heard what his response had been; then she heartily rejoiced, feeling no longer any doubt that this is he to whom she altogether belongs, and he is hers in like manner. Then she bids the damsel quickly return and tell him that it is her command and prayer that he shall do his "best ";

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and she says she will go at once without delay. She came down from the stand to where her valet with the palfrey was awaiting her. She mounted and rode until she found the knight, to whom she said at once: "Sire, my lady now sends word that you shall do the `best' you can!" And he replies: "Tell her now that it is never a hardship to do her will, for whatever pleases her is my delight." The maiden was not slow in bearing back this message, for she thinks it will greatly please and delight the Queen. She made her way as directly as possible to the stand, where the Queen rose and started to meet her, however, she did not go down, but waited for her at the top of the steps. And the damsel came happy in the message she had to bear. When she had climbed the steps and reached her side, she said: "Lady, I never saw so courteous a knight, for he is more than ready to obey every command you send to him, for, if the truth be known, he accepts good and evil with the same countenance. "Indeed," says the Queen, "that may well be so." Then she returns to the balcony to watch the knights. And Lancelot without delay seizes his shield by the leather straps, for he is kindled and consumed by the desire to show his prowess. Guiding his horse's head, he lets him run between two lines. All those mistaken and deluded men, who have spent a large part of the day and night in heaping him with ridicule, will soon be disconcerted. For a long time they have had their sport and joke and fun. The son of the King of Ireland held his shield closely gripped by the leather straps, as he spurs fiercely to meet him from the opposite direction. They come together with such violence that the son of the Irish king having broken and splintered his lance, wishes no more of the tournament; for it was not moss he struck, but hard, dry boards. In this encounter Lancelot taught him one of his thrusts, when he pinned his shield to his arm, and his arm to his side, and brought him down from his horse to earth. Like arrows the knights at once fly out, spurring and pricking from either side, some to relieve this knight, others to add to his distress. While some thus try to aid their lords, many a saddle is left empty in the strife and fray. But all that day Gawain took no hand at arms, though he was with the others there, for he took such pleasure in watching the deeds of him with the red painted arms that what the others did seemed to him pale in comparison. And the herald cheered up again, as he shouted aloud so that all could hear: "Here there has one come who will take the measure! To-day you shall see what he can do. To-day his prowess shall appear." Then the knight directs his steed and makes a very skillful thrust against a certain knight, whom he strikes so hard that he carries him a hundred feet or more from his horse. His feats with sword and lance are so well performed that there is none of the onlookers who does not find pleasure in watching him. Many even of those who bear arms find pleasure and satisfaction in what he does, for it is great sport to see how he makes horses and knights tumble and fall. He encounters hardly a single knight who is able to keep his seat, and he gives the horses he wins to those who want them. Then those who had been making game of him said: "Now we are disgraced and mortified. It was a great mistake for us to deride and vilify this man, for he is surely worth a thousand such as we are on this field; for he has defeated and outdone all the knights in the world, so that there is no one now that opposes him." And the damsels, who amazed were watching him, all said that he might take them to wife; but they did not dare to trust in their beauty or wealth, or power or highness, for not for her beauty or wealth would this peerless knight deign to choose any one of them. Yet, most of them are so enamored of him that they say that, unless they marry him, they will not be bestowed upon any man this year. And the Queen, who hears them boast, laughs to herself and enjoy the fun, for well she knows that if all the gold of Arabia should be set before him, yet he who is beloved by them all would not select the best, the fairest, or the most charming of the group. One wish is common to them all -- each wishes to have him as her spouse. One is jealous of another, as if she were already his wife; and all this is because they see him so adroit that in their opinion no

225 mortal man could perform such deeds as he had done. He did so well that when the time came to leave the list, they admitted freely on both sides that no one had equaled the knight with the vermilion shield. All said this, and it was true. But when he left, he allowed his shield and lance and trappings to fall where he saw the thickest press, then he rode off hastily with such secrecy that no one of all the host noticed that he had disappeared. But he went straight back to the place whence he had come, to keep his oath. When the tournament broke up, they all searched and asked for him, but without success, for he fled away, having no desire to be recognized. The knights are disappointed and distressed, for they would have rejoiced to have him there. But if the knights were grieved to have been deserted thus, still greater was the damsels' grief when they learned the truth, and they asserted by St. John that they would not marry at all that year. If they can't have him whom they truly love, then all the others may be dismissed. Thus the tourney was adjourned without any of them choosing a husband.

[Lancelot returns to captivity, but Meleagant is so upset that he was able to leave that he takes Lancelot from the couple and puts him instead in a tower built specifically to hide him. Luckily for Lancelot, just before the appointed rematch at Arthur’s, a maiden for whom Lancelot had done a favor stumbles upon the tower and rescues him. He then shows up for the fight.]

In the field there stood a sycamore as fair as any tree could be; it was wide-spread and covered a large area, and around it grew a fine border of thick fresh grass which was green at all seasons of the year. Under this fair and stately sycamore, which was planted back in Abel's time, there rises a clear spring of water which flows away hurriedly. The bed of the spring is beautiful and as bright as silver, and the channel through which the water flows is formed, I think, of refined and tested gold, and it stretches away across the field down into a valley between the woods. There it pleases the King to take his seat where nothing unpleasant is in sight. After the crowd has drawn back at the King's command, Lancelot rushes furiously at Meleagant as at one whom he hates cordially, but before striking him, he shouted with a loud and commanding voice: "Take your stand, I defy you! And take my word, this time you shall not be spared." Then he spurs his steed and draws back the distance of a bow-shot. Then they drive their horses toward each other at top speed, and strike each other so fiercely upon their resisting shields that they pierced and punctured them. But neither one is wounded, nor is the flesh touched in this first assault. They pass each other without delay, and come back at the top of their horses’ speed to renew their blows on the strong, stout shields. Both of the knights are strong and brave, and both of the horses are stout and fast. So mighty are the blows they deal on the shields about their necks that the lances passed clean through, without breaking or splintering, until the cold steel reached their flesh. Each strikes the other with such force that both are borne to earth, and no breast-strap, girth, or stirrup could save them from falling backward over their saddle-bow, leaving the saddle without an occupant. The horses run riderless over hill and dale, but they kick and bite each other, thus showing their mortal hatred. As for the knights who fell to earth, they leaped up as quickly as possible and drew their swords, which were engraved with chiselled lettering. Holding their shields before the face, they strive to wound each other with their swords of steel. Lancelot stands in no fear of him, for he knew half as much again about fencing as did his antagonist, having learned it in his youth. Both dealt such blows on the shield slung from their necks, and upon their helmets barred with gold, that they crushed and damaged them. But Lancelot presses him hard and gives him a mighty blow upon his right arm which, though encased in mail, was unprotected by the shield, severing it with one clean stroke. And when he felt the loss of his right

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arm, he said that it should be dearly sold. If it is at all possible, he will not fail to exact the price; he is in such pain and wrath and rage that he is well-nigh beside himself, and he has a poor opinion of himself, if he cannot score on his rival now. He rushes at him with the intent to seize him, but Lancelot forestalls his plan, for with his trenchant sword he deals his body such a cut as he will not recover from until April and May be passed. He smashes his nose-guard against his teeth, breaking three of them in his mouth. And Meleagant's rage is such that he cannot speak or say a word; nor does he deign to cry for mercy, for his foolish heart holds tight in such constraint that even now it deludes him still. Lancelot approaches and, unlacing his helmet, cuts off his head. Never more will this man trouble him; it is all over with him as he falls dead. Not a soul who was present there felt any pity at the sight. The King and all the others there are jubilant and express their joy. Happier than they ever were before, they relieve Lancelot of his arms, and lead him away exultingly.

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Andreas Capellanus, The Art of Courtly Love (btw. 1174-1186)1

Andreas Capellanus was active at the Court of Marie of Champagne (east of Paris), at the same time as Chretien de Troyes was writing there. Little is known of his personal life, other than the name Capellanus designated that he was a chaplain or priest. Below is a brief list he composed of the rules of courtly loving.

Book Two: On the Rules of Love 1. Marriage is no real excuse for not loving. 2. He who is not jealous cannot love. 3. No one can love two people. 4. It is well known that love is always increasing or decreasing. 5. That which a lover takes against his will of his beloved has no relish. 6. Boys do not love until they arrive at the age of maturity. 7. When one lover dies, a widowhood of two years is required of the survivor. 8. No one should be deprived of love without the very best of reasons. 9. No one can love unless he is impelled by the persuasion of love. 10. Love is always a stranger in the home of avarice. 11. It is not proper to love any woman whom one should be ashamed to seek to marry. 12. A true lover does not desire to embrace in love anyone except his beloved. 13. When made public love rarely endures. 14. The easy attainment of love makes it of little value; difficulty of attainment makes it prized. 15. Every lover regularly turns pale in the presence of his beloved. 16. When a lover suddenly catches sight of his beloved his heart palpitates. 17. A new love puts to flight an old one. 18. Good character alone makes any man worthy of love. 19. If love diminishes, it quickly fails and rarely revives. 20. A man in love is always apprehensive. 21. Real jealousy always increases the feeling of love. 22. Jealousy, and therefore love, are increased when one suspects his beloved. 23. He whom the thought of love vexes, eats and sleeps very little. 24. Every act of a lover ends with in the thought of his beloved. 25. A true lover considers nothing good except what he thinks will please his beloved. 26. Love can deny nothing to love. 27. A lover can never have enough of the solaces of his beloved. 28. A slight presumption causes a lover to suspect his beloved. 29. A man who is vexed by too much passion usually does not love. 30. A true lover is constantly and without intermission possessed by the thought of his beloved. 31. Nothing forbids one woman being loved by two men or one man by two women.

1 For full text see http://home.ubalt.edu/NTYGFIT/ai_03_illuminating_love/ai_03_see/mary_burgundy/capellanus_a.htm

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Selections from the Statutes of Siena, ca.13001

The city of Siena lies about 40 miles south of Florence in Italy and was one of the 10 biggest cities in Europe at the time. The following are a selection of Sienese statutes from the collection made in 1309-1310. The entire collection of statutes, the first ever written in Italian, is over 1200 pages in a modern published edition. The numbers before each selection refer to the Book (of six) and the number of that law in the book. The laws chosen here are representative of a variety of issues, but definitely not exhaustive. Keep in mind that statutes (laws passed by the legislative assemblies, in this case the City Council) represent the perceptions and goals of the lawmakers. They may or may not represent real problems in society or be applied in practice as they are written.

3.227 It is ordained that no person ought to wash clothes or vegetables or anything else dirty in the Becci fountain or any drinking fountain. And whoever violates this will be punished in the amount of 20 soldi (1 lire)2, given to the Commune of Siena. It is licit to confidentially accuse the lawbreaker, and half of the fine would go to the accuser and the other half to the Commune.

1 Translated by Glenn Kumhera from Il costituto del comune di Siena volgarizzato nel MCCCIX-MCCCX, 3 vols., ed. Mahmoud Salem Elsheikh (Siena, 2002). 2 How much was a lire worth in the early 14th century? Here are some things to use as a comparison: • In 1343, the artist Giovanni di Sera was paid just under 14 soldi to paint coats of arms on 33 books of the podesta. 20 soldi = 1 lire • A family of merchants fled Siena in the 1280s. They started over in Volterra and the total amount they had been able to save up over the next twenty years was 1000 lire. • Grammar school teachers were paid 2 to 5 soldi by each student each month. The most sought after university professors could make as much as 300 lire each year. • A female servant to a wealthy family could earn as much as 20 lire per year (and that was considered extravagant by some). • In 1348, the city of Rome paid 100 lire to the family of any knight in its employ who died in battle. • The upper reaches of fashion were quite expensive: o 60-180 lire for a silk, velvet or red cape. o Pearls sold for about 30 lire per ounce. The most elaborate pearl and gold headdresses cost around 400 lire in the 1380s. o For a wedding in 1384, deep red woolen dresses with black bone buttons for the women of the family cost 24 lire each. • The dowries of noble women by the end of the 14th century had risen to 1200-3000 lire and that was considered a significant increase from earlier in the century. • Dowries in 1337 Bologna of… o A butcher’s wife …..50 lire o A porter’s wife…….36 lire o A laborer’s wife …..23 lire o A baker’s wife …….20 lire • Siena paid 225 lire for the land to build one of the gates to the city in 1326. The same year, the city constructed a new prison in the center of town and had to reimburse citizens for nine houses in the prime area of real estate. They paid out a total of 7500 lire (833 lire per house on average).

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5.6 And if anyone on horseback or on foot does not allow himself to be searched for weapons, he should be punished and condemned by the Commune following the statute as if he were found carrying forbidden weapons; for such a crime the penalty is 50 lire.

5.32 And no one is allowed on Christmas Eve, on Easter, or on the night of the birth of our lord Jesus Christ to play tables or other dice games publicly in the streets, or in homes, or in other places within the city, or in the suburbs, or within three miles of the city, whether it is day or night; and whoever violates this should be punished in the amount of 25 lire… And this should be publicly proclaimed in the city for three or four days before the holiday… And the name of any accusers should be kept confidential.

5.43 Also, we state and ordain that no tavern, or a gambling house or prostitutes or pimps, or such people that prostitutes or dice games attract, be located or reside near the house of the Humiliati,3 within 200 braccia [about 400 ft].

5.77 And if someone, while apprehending a thief or robber, hits the thief, he should not be punished, except if he beats him to death or dismembers him, and it was not done in self- defense.

5.94 Also, we state and ordain that the podesta4 is allowed to use torture upon the indicted … if it is supported by five witnesses of good reputation (fama). And this holds in the case of robbers, forgers, men of poor reputation, assassins, rebels and traitors to the commune and people of Siena, and those who give false testimony in court or cause it to be given…

5.95 Also, the podesta and communal judges are held by a special duty, that if they torture someone they ought to proceed with temperance, considering the quality and condition of the person and the deed, so that no one perish or lose a limb from torture.

5.104 Also, we state and ordain that whoever beats or assaults his own father or mother, or drags them by the hair, let him be punished in the amount of 200 lire. But if the son strikes the father or mother and blood flows, he should be punished with double the usual penalty, whether he is a citizen of Siena or of the district; except that if the strike causes them to die, then he ought to be sentenced to death, according to the statutes on homicide. But if he only speaks injurious words against his father or mother, he should be punished in the amount of 10 lire for each instance. And if the son does not pay the aforementioned penalty, he should be detained and held in the prison of the commune until he pays.

3 The Humiliati (“Humble Ones”) were a religious order, largely made up of married people, who prayed daily, studied religious texts and tried to live simply. They stood out for wearing robes of un-dyed cloth. 4 The podesta was the chief judicial and military officer of the city. He was, by 1300, always a foreigner and appointed for only a six-month term. He brought his own judges and police force with him for the job.

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5.219 And if one of the night watchmen, or anyone who is obliged by the statutes and ordinances of Siena to denounce criminals, denounces or accuses someone falsely or unjustly, let him be punished in the amount of 50 lire.

5.236 And if one resident of Siena strikes another resident of Siena with a knife, shears, cleaver, sword, halberd or any iron blade, or of any other metal, in the throat or neck (or from there higher up) and blood flows, let him be punished and condemned by the commune of Siena in the sum of 800 lire; and if blood did not flow, let him be punished in the amount of 400 lire. And if he is struck below the neck and blood flows, let him be punished in the sum of 400 lire; and if no bleeding occurred he should be punished in 200 lire. And this [the division at the neck] was added in 1303… in the month of May.

5.237 And if one resident of Siena strikes another resident of Siena with his hand or fist in the head, face, neck, mouth, throat, or some other such part, causing bleeding, let him be punished in the amount of 100 lire; and if no blood is shed, in the sum of 50 lire; and if the attack was below the neck, let him be punished in the sum of 25 lire.

5.247 And if a resident of Siena cuts off the hand, foot, nose, or tongue of another resident of Siena, or cuts out an eye…or pulls out teeth, or makes it so that these are done, let him be condemned in the sum of 500 lire.

5.248 Also, we state and ordain that if anyone of the city or contado5 of Siena kills another city or contado resident, by design and forethought, not as a result of a brawl or riot, let him be condemned to pay with his head... And if he is not able to be had in person (captured), let him be put under perpetual banishment from the commune of Siena and his assets are seized by the commune of Siena entirely (all the way to the roots).

5.251 Also, we state and ordain that no person who kills another, or causes him to be killed, or mortally wounds him, or causes him to be mortally wounded, is able to succeed or inherit from the victim.

5.258 And anyone who gives herbs or something else to a woman to make it that someone should miscarry or fail to conceive, or that someone get an illness, or to give them a drink to induce love or death or hatred, whoever does such or causes them to be done should be punished in the sum of 200 lire… except that if death follows the punishment is beheading.

5.267 And if someone makes or composes a song, poem, or speech to injure or insult a Sienese citizen, let him be condemned by the commune in the sum of 100 lire; and if someone should sing such a song, or recite such a poem or speech, let him be condemned in the amount of 25 lire.

5 The contado was the countryside and small towns that were subject to the city, having been conquered in the past. Contado residents were not considered citizens.

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5.276 And if someone speaks injurious words to another, let him be condemned in the sum of 40 soldi (2 lire) and more, up to the amount of 25 lire, depending on the quality of the person and the nature of the words.

5.279 And if a woman, living in Siena or the suburbs, strikes another Sienese woman with iron, stone, or bone, or any other things and blood flows, let her be condemned in the sum of 25 lire; and if no bleeding occurs, then 10 lire. And if she drags her by the hair, or with her hands or fists hits her in the head, neck, mouth, face, or throat, let her be condemned in the sum of 40 soldi (2 lire); and if she grabs her by the clothes, throws her into the mud, keeps her down with kicks, or rips the veil from her head or makes it fall, let her be punished in the amount of 100 soldi (5 lire).

5.280 And if a woman wounds a man or commits an offense against a man, except homicide, let her be punished with half of the penalty a man would get if he committed the same offense against another man.

5.287 And if someone should commit the detestable sin of sodomy, he should be condemned in the amount of 300 lire; and if the penalty is not paid within one month from the day of the condemnation, if he should be apprehended, let him be strung up by his genitals in the Campo and let him remain in said manner for the whole day.

5.288 And anyone who corrupts a female virgin by force, or by force knows carnally the wife of another, let him be condemned in the amount of 500 lire. And if in another way he corrupts a female virgin or knows another’s wife carnally, let him be condemned in the sum of 300 lire. And if someone by force knows another type of woman (unmarried non- virgin) carnally, let him be condemned in 300 lire. And the aforesaid has no standing in regards to public prostitutes.

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Selection of Criminal Justice Documents from Siena, 1320-13451

A valuable way to correct for the problems associated with trying to use statutes (or any code of law) is to look at how the system worked in practice. The selection of documents that follows covers the main steps in the judicial process. Victims of crime could bring accusations in city criminal courts (and take on the role of prosecution), but starting in the mid-1200s another method emerged—the inquisitorial one. In the inquisitorial process, it was a government official that launched an inquest into a crime and acted as the prosecution for it. In the fourteenth century, the inquisitorial process was the one predominantly used (but not exclusively). Below you have two examples from the Inquest phase of proceedings (Cases 1 and 2) and then two examples from after a sentence of banishment was declared (Cases 3 and 4).

CASE 1: The Denunciation and Inquest of Giacopo di Thure and Minoccio and Giannellino di Scelto2

29 July [1345]

This is the inquest that is being made by the podesta3 and his judges as part of their office, in response to the denunciation by Vannino Giannini of Percena, sindicus4 of the commune and men of Percena5, against:

• Giacopo di Thure • Minuccio and Giannellino, sons of the deceased Scelto

In the presence of you, wise Lord Giovanni, criminal judge of the commune of Siena, I Vannino Giannini of Percena, sindicus of the commune and men of Percena, denounce, so that it be heard, that Giacopo di Thure of the village of Resta, near Percena on one side and Minuccio and Giannellino, sons of the deceased Scelto also of the village of Resta on the other side went at each other in a melee. And that said Minuccio and Giannellino during the brawl hit Giacopo with empty hands two times in the face, but without causing bleeding. And then Giacopo struck Minuccio in the face with an empty hand without shedding blood, and bit the nose of Giannellino, causing much bleeding. This happened in the village of Resta on Sunday night, 24 July, in the village of Resta in the street in front of the house of Tino Albertini’s family and Benino Andree’s on the opposite side.

1 Translated by Glenn Kumhera from unpublished archival sources, as indicated in the footnotes. 2 Source: Archivio di Stato di Siena, Podestà 41, fols. 28rv. 3 The podesta was the chief judicial and military officer of the city. He was, by 1300, always a foreigner and appointed for only a six-month term. He brought his own judges and police force with him for the job. He was paid only after his term was up and his records were reviewed (a process known as syndication). 4 The official responsible for reporting crimes within his locality. He was a local man elected by his community to act as liason with the central government of Siena. 5 Percena was a town within Siena’s jurisdiction, about 16 miles to the south-east, along the Via Francigena, the major pilgrimage road to Rome from France.

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Witnesses to the aforesaid are as follows: Barthalo di Giannino, physician Bartalo, son of Benino Andree both from the village of Resta

The same day, during the inquest and in the presence of the judge, the accused in their defense produced a peace agreement, made and redacted concerning all injuries and strikes made by one to the other and vice versa, written and published by the hand of Tommaso di Guidone in 1345, 13th indiction6, 26th day of July. And with peace in place they petitioned the judge that he order the inquest to proceed no further on account of peace having been obtained, since they were prepared to pay the registration fee [of 14 soldi]7 in accordance with the statutes of the commune of Siena.

The Lord Judge, from his bench saw to it that the aforesaid peace agreement was in order and the fee paid. After diligently seeing and considering all of this, he pronounced and decreed that the inquest against the aforesaid suspects proceed no further in any legal way or by any other method, on account of the aforementioned peace.

CASE 2: Denunciation and Inquest of Fiore di Vanuccio and Giovanni Ricci8 The court records here divide the cases against Fiore di Vanuccio and Giovanni Ricci into two separate trials, but both relate to the same incident and were occurring simultaneously. Be sure to read them together.

Denunciation and Inquest of Fiore di Vannuccio

7th of August [1343]

This is the inquest made by the lord podesta and his judges concerning the denunciation made by Turino, sindicus of the undersigned community, against:

• Fiora di Vannuccio of Cerbaria

In the presence of you, the wise Lord Giovanni, criminal judge of the commune of Siena, I, Turino di Nerio, sindicus of the commune and men of Molli (a community of Siena)9, in that position denounce Fiora, daughter of the late Vannuccio of Cerbaria (a community of Siena in the parish of Molli). That she, in the present month of August, hit Giovanni Ricci of Corecchio (a community of Siena) with a rock in her hand once to the head, causing an effusion of blood. And the aforesaid took place in Cerbaria, in a public street in front of the house of the sons of Cenne and the place of Tancredus Nerii.

6 An indiction was a 15-year cycle that originated in the Roman tax system and was used throughout the Mediterranean as early as the 4th century CE. 7 20 soldi = 1 lire. 8 Source: Archivio di Stato di Siena, Podestà 36, fols. 85rv and 87rv. 9 Molli is a small town located about 7 miles southwest of Siena. Cerbaria is about a mile south of Molli and Corecchio is about 3 miles directly north.

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Witnesses to the aforesaid: Lorenzo Ghinucci of Viteccio Mino di Ture of Barentoli Gemma di Tancredo of Cerbaria Grazino di Guido of Cerbaria

7 August: These witnesses were produced by the sindicus in the presence of the judge and affirmed the statement on all things, etc.

8 August: The judge ordered Benincase Spadini, a public messenger of Siena, that he go and cite the aforementioned Fiora personally, at her home or residence, visiting it once or twice, according to the form of the statute, with a sheet of paper containing all that is charged in this inquest, and that she be warned that she must appear in the presence of the judge to explain and defend herself by the end of the period defined by statute [one week] or be banished.

9 August: The messenger related to said judge and me, the notary, that he cited the accused at her home in writing and did and said everything according to the statutes of Siena.

16 August: The judge ordered from his bench, according to the laws, Niccolinus Fave, the public crier of bans for the commune, that as is the usual custom he should declare from the established places with the sound of the trumpet that she is banished. And the accused is placed under the ban from the city and contado10 of Siena to the sum of 100 lire according to the statutes, unless she comes within three days to the lord podesta and his court and pays 5 soldi, otherwise her contumacy [failure to appear] will be held as a confession and she will be convicted according to the statutes.

The public crier of bans stood at the bench in front of the judge and announced Fiora banished11 and related to the judge and to me, the notary, everything he was to do according to the statutes upon this matter.

Denunciation and Inquest of Giovanni Ricci 7th of August

This is the inquest made by the lord podesta and his judges concerning the denunciation made by Turino, sindicus of the undersigned community, against:

• Giovanni Ricci of Cerecchio

10 The contado is the land subject to the city of Siena beyond its immediate surroundings (beyond about 5 miles from the city wall, which is referred to as the Masse). Contado is often translated as countryside, but sometimes includes a more specific meaning of the subjugated territories. Residents of the contado were not Sienese citizens. 11 The ban included various levels. Those banished for monetary amounts could not participate in legal and business documents regulated by the city and could be captured and taken into prison until their fine was paid. Others could be banished in their person, which meant that anyone could kill them with impunity – they were literally outside the protection of the law. If captured, those banished in person were supposed to be executed with three days. The banished could also have their property confiscated to pay fines. Those banished in person were usually subject to full confiscation of property (though everyone who had a claim on this property was processed before the government took what was left).

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In the presence of you, the wise Lord Giovanni, criminal judge of the commune of Siena, I, Turino di Nerio, sindicus of the commune and men of Molli (a community of Siena), in that position, denounce Giovanni Ricci of Cerecchio (a community of Siena). That he, in the present month in which we are, with a wooden staff in his hand made insults and aggressive moves against Fiora, daughter of the late Vannuccio of Cerbaria, and with this staff in his hand he caused Fiora to flee and he chased after her with the staff in hand. And this happened in Cerbaria in the public street in front of the house of Cenne’s kids and those of Tancredo.

Witnesses to the aforesaid: Lorenzo Ghinucci of Viteccio Mino di Ture of Barentoli Gemma di Tancredo of Cerbaria Grazino di Guido of Cerbaria

7 August: These witnesses were produced by the sindicus in the presence of the judge and affirmed the statement on all things, etc.

8 August: The judge ordered Benencase Spadini, a public messenger of Siena, that he go and cite the aforementioned Giovanni personally, at his home or residence, visiting it once or twice, according to the form of the statute, with a sheet of paper containing all that is charged in this inquest, and that he is warned that he must appear in the presence of the judge to explain and defend himself by the end of the period defined by statute [one week] or be banished.

9 August: The messenger related to said judge and me, the notary, that he cited the accused at his home in writing and did and said everything according to the statutes of Siena.

13 August: The judge, after examining and considering the person of Giovanni from the look of his body, pronounced Giovanni to be under 14 years of age and, as a consequence, according to the wording of the laws, pronounced that the inquest proceed no further.

Peace Agreement between Fiore di Vanuccio and Giovanni Ricci12

In the name of the Lord, Amen. In the year of the Lord 1343, 11th indiction, 12th day of the month of August. Let it be known that Fiore daughter of the late Vannuccio of Cerbaria from one party, and Giovanni Ricci of Correchio in the presence and with the consent of his father, from the other party made, gave to each other a true peace, remission, and concord concerning each and every injury, damage, insult, strike, wound, and whatever other offenses were said, committed, done, and perpetrated by Fiore against Giovanni and by Giovanni against Fiore from this day back, both in word and in deed. They promise to hold this peace, remission, and concord firm in perpetuity, under the obligation of all of their goods and those of their heirs.

An act made in Siena, in the presence of Sir Pietro Giulliani, Tuccino di Cenne, Andrea Ghini, and Goro di Nuti as witnesses.

12 Source: Archivio di Stato di Siena, Diplomatico, Archivio Generale dei Contratti, 12 August 1343. (One piece of parchment, so no page numbers)

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I, Ricco son of Lenzo, a notary public and judge ordinary by imperial authority, attest to all that I have written and publicized above.

CASE 3: The Rebannimentum Petition of Ambrogio di Tone13 When the City Council needed money (usually in times of emergency or war) it could offer an amnesty to banished criminals. When it did, those who were banished (or being held in prison until they paid their fines) could petition to have their sentence lifted, which was known as rebannimentum. The City Council heard each of these petitions and voted on whether to accept it. A two-thirds majority was needed to accept a petition. Below you have an example of an unsuccessful and a successful petition (Case 4). What do these documents reveal?

24 February 1329

In the presence of you, prudent and wise men,14 chamberlain and provedditori of the Biccherna15 of the commune of Siena, Ambrogio di Tone Guidi of Asciano16 (a community of Siena) states that Lord Landfreddo Gaitani, then podesta of Siena, 17 condemned Ambrogio for contumacy [failure to appear] to the sum of 500 lire, to be paid to the Biccherna of Siena. And that unless he paid the fine within the next month he would be suspended from the fork [a fork-shaped pole for punishment] if apprehended, for it is said that Ambrogio approached the side of the house of Nerio di Benettino and entered that house and left with Lady Tessa, Nerio’s wife, and with her he committed adultery, knowing her carnally (as is contained in the Biccherna register marked NN, page 27). And that Ambrogio has made a voluntary peace with Nerio, as is contained in a public document guaranteed by the hand of the notary Donato di Becco. [see the next document for this peace agreement]

Likewise, Ambrogio states that while he lived in the castle of Serre18 (a community of Siena) Lord Renaldo, then podesta of Siena,19 condemned him to 100 lire on account of his contumacy, and that in this condemnation it is included that Ambrogio, armed with offensive and defensive weapons, grabbed a man named Tone by the hair and stabbed him and made him fall to the ground with blood flowing from Tone’s hand (as contained in Biccherna register marked SS, page 211). And Ambrogio made a willing peace with the nearest relatives of Tone, since Tone has since died, and this peace is contained in the public instrument guaranteed by the hand of the notary Appresato, son of the notary Sir Bindo.

Likewise, Ambrogio states that the same podesta, Lord Renaldo, condemned him to pay 600 lire to the Biccherna, and in the condemnation it is included that Ambrogio, armed with offensive and

13 Source: Archivio di Stato di Siena, Biccherna 732, fols.329v-330r. 14 The Consiglio Generale, or City Council of up to 300 citizens. 15 The Financial Office of the commune’s government. It was led by a chamberlain (usually a monk) and four officers called provedditori. They held office for a year at a time. 16 A town within Sienese jurisdiction about 12 miles to the southeast. 17 He was podesta from December 1321 to June 1322. 18 Serre is about 2 miles to the east of Asciano. 19 Renaldus was podesta from June to December 1324.

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defensive weapons, made insults against Pucciarino di Brandino of San Geminanello20 and then he hit and wounded him with his weapons (as contained in the condemnation in Biccherna register marked SS, page 35). And Ambrogio made peace freely with the sons of Pucciarino, as stated in the public instrument guaranteed by the hand of the notary Oliverio Signoruccii.

Likewise, Ambrogio states that said Lord Renaldo, the podesta of the city of Siena, condemned Ambrogio for contumacy in the amount of 125 lire to be paid to the Biccherna, since Renaldo said in the condemnation that Ambrogio grabbed Giacobino Giacobi with his hands and gave him jabs with his fist and slapped him upside the head, and that he then put hand to sword and came at Giacobino and struck him with that sword (as contained in the condemnation in the Biccherna register marked SS, page 36). From this incident Giacobino and Ambrogio have made a true and voluntary peace, as contained in the public instrument by the hand of the above mentioned Appresato.

Because of these things, Ambrogio petitions and humbly submits to you and pleads for your mercy and your pious love, so that these condemnations should cease and be cancelled and removed from the books, thus I [Ambrogio’s legal representative] place myself in front of and swear to the general council of the bell of the commune of Siena and any other council necessary according to the ordinances of said commune on the topic of the lifting of banishment. And if as a result of this petition, he obtains what he asks from you, he will give 5 gold florins21 to the commune [as payment for his fines].

Concerning the above, following the form of the ordinances, there were placed by the council members in the white bag (in favor) 108 balls, and in the black bag (opposed) 88 balls. And thus it is clear that the council is not in favor [short of two-thirds majority needed] and declines the petition.

Peace Agreement between Ambrogio di Tone and Nerio di Benettino22

In the year of the Lord 1328, 12th indiction, 16th day of the month of December, enacted in Combaboli, suburb of the district of Asciano, guaranteed in the presence of the witnesses Muccio Benatini, Cola Gheggi di Benettino (both of Combaboli), and Nuccino, son of master Gosi of Serre. I, Nerio son of the late Benectino of Burgo Combaboli as one party, and I, Ambrogio son of the late Tone as the other party, with an exchange of the kiss of peace, make a perpetual firm peace and remission [release from liability] concerning each and every injury, offense, and damage, and most of all concerning the violent rape committed by Ambrogio to Tessa my late wife. And they promise to observe this under penalty of 25 lire.

20 San Gemignello is about a mile south of Serre and two miles east of Asciano. 21 In the 1320’s one florin was equal to approximately 3 lire. 22 Source: Archivio di Stato di Siena, Archivio Notarile antecosimiano 16, fol. 150v.

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CASE 4: The Rebannimentum Petition of Minuccio Venture23

Into the presence of your wise and powerful lords, the Chamberlain and four Provedditori of the commune of Siena, I, Martino di Fuccio, notary, come as legal representative for Minuccio Venture of Cerreto Ciampoli24 (a community of Siena). Minuccio was condemned by Lord Filippo of Agubio, podesta of Siena,25 on account of the inquisition against him revealing that Minuccio, armed with a sword, knife, spear, and other arms made insults and aggressions toward and against Landuccio Gini of Villa Santa Marie a Sesta (a community of Siena) and with these weapons struck Landuccio (or so it seems from the wounds) in the head and in many parts of his body. From these wounds blood flowed and Landuccio died. On account of this Minuccio was banished forever from the city, and if at any time he came to the city his head would be amputated from his shoulders, so that he should die and all of his assets become public property. This is stated in said condemnation by Lord Filippo once podesta of Siena in the year of the Lord 1320, 3rd indiction, in November (contained in the Biccherna register marked K, page 399). I state and propose that the late Landuccio was a criminal, and on account of which he was condemned by the commune of Florence for highway robbery and during a robbery killed two priests. One of these priests was the brother of Minnucio, who killed Landuccio to avenge the murder of his priestly brother. In truth though, Landuccio was from outside of Linare (a community in the jurisdiction of Florence) and had his home in the contado of Arezzo26 and was in no way in Sienese jurisdiction. And that Minuccio, by reason of this homicide, was condemned by the podesta of Arezzo, since the homicide was committed in the district and contado of Arezzo, and that to gain the benefit of the amnesty ordinances he should not need a peace agreement; however, he has one with [Landuccio’s] brother anyway, as is contained in the public document redacted by the hand of the notary Ser Ambrogio di Ser Guccio. As a consequence of the above I petition that Minuccio be released from the ban and the condemnations be removed from the books and I submit this petition for your consideration according to the ordinances. And I offer from Minuccio a payment of 25 lire, to help with his readmittance and to support what I have said. Here are the undersigned documents: First the peace agreement mentioned above; likewise the condemnation of him by the podesta of Arezzo by the hand of Ser Lippo di Stefano, a Aretine notary; and also the document giving me power of attorney for Minuccio, by the hand of Ser Ranerio Jacobi. A.D. 1321, 3rd indiction, 19th day of May. Given and displayed with the petition by the procurator Martino di Fuccio, the legal representative named by and for Minnuccio, to Ranerio, the Chamberlain, and Guccio Gerii and Meo Beringherii, two provedditori of the commune of Siena, were the peace agreement and power of attorney. And it was promised to them that the amount stipulated in the petition would be paid.

In the white box in favor ---- 263 balls In the black box against ---- 67 balls counted concerning the petition of the undersigned council.

23 Source: Archivio di Stato di Siena, Biccherna 731, fols.763rv 24 Located about six miles to the northeast of Siena. Santa Maria a Sesta is about 5 miles east of Cerreto Ciampoli. 25 Filippo was podesta from July to December of 1320. 26 A large independent city to the east of Siena, outside of Sienese jurisdiction.

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Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy1

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was a Florentine whose writings in his vernacular, the Tuscan dialect, helped make Tuscan into standard Italian. He wrote books of love poetry, philosophy and on government, but his most famous after his death was his Divine Comedy. This was a long and complex poem that takes Dante on a journey through down through Hell (the Inferno), then up mount Purgatory (the Purgatorio) and through Heaven (the Paradiso). The entire work is made up of 100 canti (plural of canto); you have most of the first five below, followed by a brief outline of the remainder of the Inferno.

Inferno, Canto 1 the lake within my heart felt terror present.

When I had journeyed half of our life's way,1 And just as he who, with exhausted breath, I found myself within a shadowed forest, having escaped from sea to shore, turns back for I had lost the path that does not stray. to watch the dangerous waters he has quit,

Ah, it is hard to speak of what it was, so did my spirit, still a fugitive, that savage forest, dense and difficult, turn back to look intently at the pass which even in recall renews my fear: that never has let any man survive.

so bitter-death is hardly more severe! I let my tired body rest awhile. But to retell the good discovered there, Moving again, I tried the lonely slope- I'll also tell the other things I saw. my firm foot always was the one below.

And almost where the hillside starts to rise- I cannot clearly say how I had entered 3 the wood; I was so full of sleep just at look there!-a leopard, very quick and lithe, the point where I abandoned the true path. a leopard covered with a spotted hide.

But when I'd reached the bottom of a hill- He did not disappear from sight, but stayed; it rose along the boundary of the valley indeed, he so impeded my ascent that had harassed my heart with so much fear- that I had often to turn back again.

I looked on high and saw its shoulders clothed The time was the beginning of the morning; already by the rays of that same planet2 the sun was rising now in fellowship which serves to lead men straight along all with the same stars that had escorted it roads. when Divine Love first moved those things of At this my fear was somewhat quieted; beauty; for through the night of sorrow I had spent, so that the hour and the gentle season

1 Complete text, with original Italian, is available at http://www.worldofdante.org/comedy/dante/inferno.xml/1.1. 1 The Biblical lifespan granted to humans was 70 years, so here Dante places himself at 35, which would have set the events in 1300. 2 The Sun, which was considered a planet in the Ptolemaic system. 3 The three beasts Dante faces here represent the three divisions of Hell (in order from worst to least bad): sins of fraud and deception (the Leopard), sins of violence (the Lion) and sins of inability to control passions (the She- Wolf).

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gave me good cause for hopefulness on seeing I was a poet, and I sang the righteous son of Anchises who had come from that beast before me with his speckled skin; Troy when flames destroyed the pride of Ilium. but hope was hardly able to prevent the fear I felt when I beheld a lion. But why do you return to wretchedness? Why not climb up the mountain of delight, His head held high and ravenous with hunger- the origin and cause of every joy?" even the air around him seemed to shudder- this lion seemed to make his way against me. "And are you then that Virgil, you the fountain that freely pours so rich a stream of speech?" And then a she-wolf showed herself; she I answered him with shame upon my brow. seemed to carry every craving in her leanness; "O light and honor of all other poets, she had already brought despair to many. may my long study and the intense love that made me search your volume serve me The very sight of her so weighted me now. with fearfulness that I abandoned hope of ever climbing up that mountain slope. You are my master and my author, you- the only one from whom my writing drew the Even as he who glories while he gains noble style for which I have been honored. will, when the time has come to tally loss, lament with every thought and turn You see the beast that made me turn aside; despondent, help me, o famous sage, to stand against her, for she has made my blood and pulses so was I when I faced that restless beast shudder." which, even as she stalked me, step by step had thrust me back to where the sun is "It is another path that you must take," speechless. he answered when he saw my tearfulness, "if you would leave this savage wilderness; While I retreated down to lower ground, before my eyes there suddenly appeared the beast that is the cause of your outcry one who seemed faint because of the long allows no man to pass along her track, silence. but blocks him even to the point of death;

When I saw him in that vast wilderness, her nature is so squalid, so malicious "Have pity on me," were the words I cried that she can never sate her greedy will; "whatever you may be a shade, a man." when she has fed, she's hungrier than ever. … He answered me: "Not man; I once was man. Both of my parents came from Lombardy, Therefore, I think and judge it best for you and both claimed Mantua as native city. to follow me, and I shall guide you, taking you from this place through an eternal place, And I was born, though late, sub Julio,4 and lived in Rome under the good Augustus where you shall hear the howls of desperation the season of the false and lying gods. and see the ancient spirits in their pain,

4 In the time of Julius Caesar (died 44 BCE).

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as each of them laments his second death; see if the force in me is strong enough before you let me face that rugged pass. and you shall see those souls who are content within the fire, for they hope to reach- You say that he who fathered Sylvius,5 whenever that may be-the blessed people. while he was still corruptible, had journeyed into the deathless world with his live body. If you would then ascend as high as these, a soul more worthy than I am will guide you; For, if the Enemy of every evil I'll leave you in her care when I depart, was courteous to him, considering all he would cause and who and what he was, because that Emperor who reigns above, since I have been rebellious to His law, that does not seem incomprehensible, will not allow me entry to His city. since in the empyrean heaven he was chosen to father honored Rome and her empire; He governs everywhere, but rules from there; there is His city, His high capital: and if the truth be told, Rome and her realm o happy those He chooses to be there!" were destined to become the sacred place, the seat of the successor of great Peter. And I replied: "O poet by that God whom you had never come to know I beg you, And through the journey you ascribe to him, that I may flee this evil and worse evils, he came to learn of things that were to bring his victory and, too, the papal mantle. to lead me to the place of which you spoke, that I may see the gateway of Saint Peter and Later the Chosen Vessel6 travelled there, those whom you describe as sorrowful." to bring us back assurance of that faith with which the way to our salvation starts. Then he set out, and I moved on behind him. But why should I go there? Who sanctions it? Inferno, Canto 2 For I am not Aeneas, am not Paul; nor I nor others think myself so worthy. The day was now departing; the dark air released the living beings of the earth Therefore, if I consent to start this journey, from work and weariness; and I myself I fear my venture may be wild and empty. You're wise; you know far more than what I alone prepared to undergo the battle say." both of the journeying and of the pity, which memory, mistaking not, shall show. And just as he who unwills what he wills and shifts what he intends to seek new ends O Muses, o high genius, help me now; so that he's drawn from what he had begun, o memory that set down what I saw, here shall your excellence reveal itself! so was I in the midst of that dark land, because, with all my thinking, I annulled I started: "Poet, you who are my guide, the task I had so quickly undertaken.

5 Aeneas, the main character of Virgil’s Aenied and one 6 Saint Paul of the legendary founders of Rome.

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"If I have understood what you have said," then I shall often let Him hear your praises.' replied the shade of that great-hearted Now Beatrice was silent. I began: one, "your soul has been assailed by cowardice, 'O Lady of virtue, the sole reason why which often weighs so heavily on a man- the human race surpasses all that lies distracting him from honorable trials-as beneath the heaven with the smallest spheres,9 phantoms frighten beasts when shadows fall. so welcome is your wish, that even if That you may be delivered from this fear, it were already done, it would seem tardy; I'll tell you why I came and what I heard all you need do is let me know your will. when I first felt compassion for your pain. But tell me why you have not been more I was among those souls who are suspended;7 prudent- a lady called to me, so blessed, so lovely descending to this center, moving from that I implored to serve at her command. that spacious place where you long to return?'

Her eyes surpassed the splendor of the star's; 'Because you want to fathom things so deeply, and she began to speak to me so gently I now shall tell you promptly,' she replied, and softly with angelic voice. She said: 'why I am not afraid to enter here.

'O spirit of the courteous Mantuan, One ought to be afraid of nothing other whose fame is still a presence in the world than things possessed of power to do us harm, and shall endure as long as the world lasts, but things innocuous need not be feared.

my friend, who has not been the friend of God, in His graciousness, has made me so fortune, that this, your misery, cannot touch me; is hindered in his path along that lonely I can withstand the fires flaming here. hillside; he has been turned aside by terror. In Heaven there's a gentle lady-one From all that I have heard of him in Heaven, who weeps for the distress toward which I send he is, I fear, already so astray you, that I have come to help him much too late. so that stern judgment up above is shattered.

Go now; with your persuasive word, with all And it was she who called upon Lucia, that is required to see that he escapes, bring requesting of her: "Now your faithful one help to him, that I may be consoled. has need of you, and I commend him to you."

For I am Beatrice8 who send you on; Lucia, enemy of every cruelty, I come from where I most long to return; arose and made her way to where I was, Love prompted me, that Love which makes me sitting beside the venerable Rachel. speak. She said: "You, Beatrice, true praise of God, When once again I stand before my Lord, why have you not helped him who loves you so

7 In Limbo, Canto 4. love poetry was targeted to her (and used her as a muse). 8 Beatrice (whose real name was Bice Portinari) was the She died when Dante was 25. object of Dante’s affections when he was young. Dante’s 9 The orbit of the moon.

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that for your sake he's left the vulgar crowd? You, with your words, have so disposed my heart Do you not hear the anguish in his cry? to longing for this journey-I return Do you not see the death he wars against to what I was at first prepared to do. upon that river ruthless as the sea?" Now go; a single will fills both of us: No one within this world has ever been so you are my guide, my governor, my master." quick to seek his good or flee his harm as These were my words to him; when he I-when she had finished speaking thus- advanced

to come below, down from my blessed station; I entered on the steep and savage path. I trusted in your honest utterance, which honors you and those who've listened to Inferno, Canto 3 you.' THROUGH ME THE WAY INTO THE When she had finished with her words to me, SUFFERING CITY, she turned aside her gleaming, tearful eyes, THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE which only made me hurry all the more. ETERNAL PAIN, THROUGH ME THE WAY THAT RUNS And, just as she had wished, I came to you: AMONG THE LOST. I snatched you from the path of the fierce beast that barred the shortest way up the fair JUSTICE URGED ON MY HIGH mountain. ARTIFICER; MY MAKER WAS DIVINE AUTHORITY, What is it then? Why, why do you resist? THE HIGHEST WISDOM, AND THE Why does your heart host so much cowardice? PRIMAL LOVE. Where are your daring and your openness BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL as long as there are three such blessed women THINGS concerned for you within the court of Heaven WERE MADE, AND I ENDURE and my words promise you so great a good?" ETERNALLY. ABANDON EVERY HOPE, WHO ENTER As little flowers, which the chill of night HERE. has bent and huddled, when the white sun strikes These words-their aspect was obscure-I read grow straight and open fully on their stems, inscribed above a gateway, and I said: "Master, their meaning is difficult for me." so did I, too, with my exhausted force; and such warm daring rushed into my heart And he to me, as one who comprehends: that I-as one who has been freed-began: "Here one must leave behind all hesitation; here every cowardice must meet its death. "O she, compassionate, who has helped me! And you who, courteous, obeyed so quickly For we have reached the place of which I the true words that she had addressed to you! spoke, where you will see the miserable people, those who have lost the good of the intellect."

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And when, with gladness in his face, he placed both justice and compassion must disdain his hand upon my own, to comfort me, them; he drew me in among the hidden things. let us not talk of them, but look and pass."

Here sighs and lamentations and loud cries And I, looking more closely, saw a banner were echoing across the starless air, that, as it wheeled about, raced on so quick so that, as soon as I set out, I wept. that any respite seemed unsuited to it.

Strange utterances, horrible pronouncements, Behind that banner trailed so long a file accents of anger, words of suffering, of people-I should never have believed and voices shrill and faint, and beating hands- that death could have unmade so many souls.

all went to make a tumult that will whirl After I had identified a few, forever through that turbid, timeless air, I saw and recognized the shade of him like sand that eddies when a whirlwind swirls. who made, through cowardice, the great refusal.10 And I-my head oppressed by horror-said: "Master, what is it that I hear? Who are At once I understood with certainty: those people so defeated by their pain?" this company contained the cowardly, hateful to God and to His enemies. And he to me: "This miserable way is taken by the sorry souls of those These wretched ones, who never were alive, who lived without disgrace and without praise. went naked and were stung again, again by horseflies and by wasps that circled them. They now commingle with the coward angels, the company of those who were not rebels The insects streaked their faces with their nor faithful to their God, but stood apart. blood, which, mingled with their tears, fell at their The heavens, that their beauty not be lessened, feet, have cast them out, nor will deep Hell receive where it was gathered up by sickening worms. them- even the wicked cannot glory in them." And then, looking beyond them, I could see a crowd along the bank of a great river; And I: "What is it, master, that oppresses at which I said: "Allow me now to know these souls, compelling them to wail so loud?" He answered: "I shall tell you in few words. who are these people-master-and what law has made them seem so eager for the crossing, Those who are here can place no hope in death, as I can see despite the feeble light." and their blind life is so abject that they are envious of every other fate. And he to me: "When we have stopped along the melancholy shore of Acheron, The world will let no fame of theirs endure; then all these matters will be plain to you."

10 There is debate over whether Dante intended this possible popes, Boniface VIII, or (2) Pontius Pilate, who figure to be (1) Pope Celestine V, who resigned the refused to pass judgment on Jesus and left it up to the office (the only pope ever to do so) in 1294 and led to crowd. the election of the man Dante saw as the the worst of all

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At that, with eyes ashamed, downcast, and his oar strikes anyone who stretches out. fearing that what I said had given him offense, As, in the autumn, leaves detach themselves, I did not speak until we reached the river. first one and then the other, till the bough sees all its fallen garments on the ground, And here, advancing toward us, in a boat, an aged man-his hair was white with years- similarly, the evil seed of Adam was shouting: "Woe to you, corrupted souls! descended from the shoreline one by one, when signaled, as a falcon-called-will come. Forget your hope of ever seeing Heaven: I come to lead you to the other shore, So do they move across the darkened waters; to the eternal dark, to fire and frost. even before they reach the farther shore, new ranks already gather on this bank. And you approaching there, you living soul, keep well away from these-they are the dead." "My son," the gracious master said to me, But when he saw I made no move to go, "those who have died beneath the wrath of God, he said: "Another way and other harbors all these assemble here from every country; not here-will bring you passage to your shore: a lighter craft will have to carry you." and they are eager for the river crossing because celestial justice spurs them on, My guide then: "Charon, don't torment so that their fear is turned into desire. yourself: our passage has been willed above, where One No good soul ever takes its passage here; can do what He has willed; and ask no more." therefore, if Charon has complained of you, by now you can be sure what his words mean." Now silence fell upon the wooly cheeks of Charon, pilot of the livid marsh, And after this was said, the darkened plain whose eyes were ringed about with wheels of quaked so tremendously-the memory flame. of terror then, bathes me in sweat again.

But all those spirits, naked and exhausted, A whirlwind burst out of the tear-drenched had lost their color, and they gnashed their earth, teeth a wind that crackled with a bloodred light, as soon as they heard Charon's cruel words; a light that overcame all of my senses; and like a man whom sleep has seized, I fell. they execrated God and their own parents and humankind, and then the place and time Inferno, Canto 4 (First Circle) of their conception's seed and of their birth. The heavy sleep within my head was smashed Then they forgathered, huddled in one throng, by an enormous thunderclap, so that weeping aloud along that wretched shore I started up as one whom force awakens; which waits for all who have no fear of God. I stood and turned my rested eyes The demon Charon, with his eyes like embers, from side to side, and I stared steadily by signaling to them, has all embark; to learn what place it was surrounding me.

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In truth I found myself upon the brink they did not worship God in fitting ways; of an abyss, the melancholy valley and of such spirits I myself am one. containing thundering, unending wailings. For these defects, and for no other evil, That valley, dark and deep and filled with mist, we now are lost and punished just with this: is such that, though I gazed into its pit, we have no hope and yet we live in longing." I was unable to discern a thing. Great sorrow seized my heart on hearing him, "Let us descend into the blind world now," for I had seen some estimable men the poet, who was deathly pale, began; among the souls suspended in that limbo. "I shall go first and you will follow me." "Tell me, my master, tell me, lord." I then But I, who'd seen the change in his began because I wanted to be certain complexion, of that belief which vanquishes all errors, said: "How shall I go on if you are frightened, you who have always helped dispel my "did any ever go-by his own merit doubts?" or others'- from this place toward blessedness?" And he, who understood my covert speech, And he to me: "The anguish of the people whose place is here below, has touched my replied: "I was new-entered on this state face when I beheld a Great Lord enter here; with the compassion you mistake for fear. the crown he wore, a sign of victory.

Let us go on, the way that waits is long." He carried off the shade of our first father, So he set out, and so he had me enter of his son Abel, and the shade of Noah, on that first circle girdling the abyss. of Moses, the obedient legislator,

Here, for as much as hearing could discover, of father Abraham, David the king, there was no outcry louder than the sighs of Israel, his father, and his sons, that caused the everlasting air to tremble. and Rachel, she for whom he worked so long,

The sighs arose from sorrow without torments, and many others and He made them blessed; out of the crowds-the many multitudes- and I should have you know that, before them, of infants and of women and of men. there were no human souls that had been saved." The kindly master said: "Do you not ask who are these spirits whom you see before We did not stay our steps although he spoke; you? we still continued onward through the wood- I'd have you know, before you go ahead, the wood, I say, where many spirits thronged.

they did not sin; and yet, though they have Our path had not gone far beyond the point merits, where I had slept, when I beheld a fire that's not enough, because they lacked baptism, win out against a hemisphere of shadows. the portal of the faith that you embrace. We still were at a little distance from it, And if they lived before Christianity, but not so far I could not see in part

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that honorable men possessed that place. I was the sixth among such intellects.

"O you who honor art and science both, So did we move along and toward the light, who are these souls whose dignity has kept talking of things about which silence here their way of being, separate from the rest?" is just as seemly as our speech was there.

And he to me: "The honor of their name, We reached the base of an exalted castle, which echoes up above within your life, encircled seven times by towering walls, gains Heaven's grace, and that advances them." defended all around by a fair stream.

Meanwhile there was a voice that I could hear: We forded this as if upon hard ground; "Pay honor to the estimable poet; I entered seven portals with these sages; his shadow, which had left us, now returns." we reached a meadow of green flowering plants. After that voice was done, when there was silence, The people here had eyes both grave and slow; I saw four giant shades approaching us; their features carried great authority; in aspect, they were neither sad nor joyous. they spoke infrequently, with gentle voices.

My kindly master then began by saying: We drew aside to one part of the meadow, "Look well at him who holds that sword in an open place both high and filled with light, hand and we could see all those who were who moves before the other three as lord. assembled.

That shade is Homer, the consummate poet; Facing me there, on the enameled green, the other one is Horace, satirist; great-hearted souls were shown to me and I the third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan. still glory in my having witnessed them.

Because each of these spirits shares with me I saw Electra11 with her many comrades, the name called out before by the lone voice, among whom I knew Hector and Aeneas, they welcome me-and, doing that, do well." and Caesar, in his armor, falcon-eyed.

And so I saw that splendid school assembled I saw Camilla and Penthesilea led by the lord of song incomparable, and, on the other side, saw King Latinus, who like an eagle soars above the rest. who sat beside Lavinia, his daughter.

Soon after they had talked a while together, I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin out, they turned to me, saluting cordially; Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia, and having witnessed this, my master smiled; and, solitary, set apart, Saladin.12 and even greater honor then was mine, When I had raised my eyes a little higher, for they invited me to join their ranks-

11 Mother of the founder of Troy. She is followed here 12 Saladin was the Muslim ruler of Egypt and Syria at the by a list of many of the famous Trojans and Romans end of twelfth century. He was considered by Christian (who, in Virgil’s legend are descended from Trojans). crusaders to be the perfect example of chivalry…except for not being Christian.

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I saw the master of the men who know13 I mean that when the spirit born to evil seated in philosophic family. appears before him, it confesses all; and he, the connoisseur of sin, can tell There all look up to him, all do him honor: there I beheld both Socrates and Plato, the depth in Hell appropriate to it; closest to him, in front of all the rest; as many times as Minos wraps his tail around himself, that marks the sinner's level. Democritus, who ascribes the world to chance, Diogenes, Empedocles, and Zeno, Always there is a crowd that stands before him: and Thales, Anaxagoras, Heraclitus; each soul in turn advances toward that judgment; I saw the good collector of medicinals, they speak and hear, then they are cast below. I mean Dioscorides; and I saw Orpheus, … and Tully,14 Linus, moral Seneca; I reached a place where every light is muted, which bellows like the sea beneath a tempest, and Euclid the geometer, and Ptolemy, when it is battered by opposing winds. Hippocrates and Galen, Avicenna, Averroës, of the great Commentary.15 The hellish hurricane, which never rests, drives on the spirits with its violence: I cannot here describe them all in full; wheeling and pounding, it harasses them. my ample theme impels me onward so: what's told is often less than the event. When they come up against the ruined slope, then there are cries and wailing and lament, The company of six divides in two; and there they curse the force of the divine. my knowing guide leads me another way, beyond the quiet, into trembling air. I learned that those who undergo this torment are damned because they sinned within the And I have reached a part where nothing flesh, gleams. subjecting reason to the rule of lust.

Inferno, Canto 5 (Second Circle) And as, in the cold season, starlings' wings bear them along in broad and crowded ranks So I descended from the first enclosure so does that blast bear on the guilty spirits: down to the second circle, that which girdles less space but grief more great, that goads to now here, now there, now down, now up, it weeping. drives them. There is no hope that ever comforts them-- There dreadful Minos stands, gnashing his no hope for rest and none for lesser pain. teeth: examining the sins of those who enter, And just as cranes in flight will chant their he judges and assigns as his tail twines. lays,

13 Aristotle Aristotle that was taught in universities alongside 14 Cicero Aristotle. Avicenna (who lived in 10th-century 15 Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and Averroes (Ibn Rushd) were Afganistan, d.1037) was the leading authority on several the two most well-respected Muslim intellectuals among medical treatments, though he wrote on almost every Christian scholars. Averroes wrote the commentary on topic of his day.

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arraying their long file across the air, by that love which impels them. They will so did the shades I saw approaching, borne come." by that assailing wind, lament and moan; No sooner had the wind bent them toward us so that I asked him: "Master, who are those than I urged on my voice: "O battered souls who suffer punishment in this dark air?" if One does not forbid it, speak with us."

"The first of those about whose history Even as doves when summoned by desire, you want to know," my master then told me borne forward by their will, move through the "once ruled as empress over many nations. air with wings uplifted, still, to their sweet nest, Her vice of lust became so customary that she made license licit in her laws those spirits left the ranks where Dido suffers to free her from the scandal she had caused. approaching us through the malignant air; so powerful had been my loving cry. She is Semíramis,16 of whom we read that she was Ninus' wife and his successor: "O living being, gracious and benign, she held the land the Sultan now commands. who through the darkened air have come to visit That other spirit killed herself for love, our souls that stained the world with blood,17 if and she betrayed the ashes of Sychaeus; He the wanton Cleopatra follows next. who rules the universe were friend to us See Helen, for whose sake so many years then we should pray to Him to give you peace, of evil had to pass; see great Achilles, for you have pitied our atrocious state. who finally met love-in his last battle. Whatever pleases you to hear and speak See Paris, Tristan . . ."-and he pointed out will please us, too, to hear and speak with you, and named to me more than a thousand shades now while the wind is silent, in this place. departed from our life because of love. The land where I was born lies on that shore No sooner had I heard my teacher name to which the Po together with the waters the ancient ladies and the knights, than pity that follow it descends to final rest. seized me, and I was like a man astray. Love, that can quickly seize the gentle heart, My first words: "Poet, I should willingly took hold of him because of the fair body speak with those two who go together there taken from me-how that was done: still wounds and seem so lightly carried by the wind." me.

And he to me: "You'll see when they draw Love, that releases no beloved from loving closer took hold of me so strongly through his beauty to us, and then you may appeal to them that, as you see, it has not left me yet.

16 Legendary Queen of Assyria. much older brother (Giovanni the Lame of Rimini) as 17 These two are Francesca and Paolo. In reality, part of a political marriage. Eventually Giovanni caught Francesca was married in 1275 to Paolo’s deformed and Paolo in Francesca’s bed and killed them both.

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Love led the two of us unto one death. A Gallehault19 indeed, that book and he Caïna18 waits for him who took our life." who wrote it, too; that day we read no more." These words were borne across from them to us. And while one spirit said these words to me, the other wept, so that-because of pity- When I had listened to those injured souls, I fainted, as if I had met my death. I bent my head and held it low until the poet asked of me: "What are you thinking?" And then I fell as a dead body falls.

When I replied, my words began: "Alas, Here is how the rest of the Inferno is how many gentle thoughts, how deep a organized from top to bottom (bad to worse) longing, had led them to the agonizing pass!" • 3rd Circle: the Gluttons • 4th Circle: Avarice -- those who hoarded Then I addressed my speech again to them, or spent too freely and I began: "Francesca, your afflictions • 5th Circle: Anger -- the Wrathful and move me to tears of sorrow and of pity. Sullen • 6th Circle: Heretics (& those who deny But tell me, in the time of gentle sighs, immortality) with what and in what way did Love allow you • 7th Circle: the Violent to recognize your still uncertain longings?" o Against neighbor (murder) Against Self (suicides) And she to me: "There is no greater sorrow o o Against God or Nature (sodomy than thinking back upon a happy time & usury) in misery and this your teacher knows. • 8th Circle: Fraud

o Seducers and Pimps Yet if you long so much to understand Flatterers the first root of our love, then I shall tell o o Simonists (those who buy and my tale to you as one who weeps and speaks. sell church offices)

o Fortune tellers and those One day, to pass the time away, we read claiming to be psychic of Lancelot-how love had overcome him. Grafters We were alone, and we suspected nothing. o o Hypocrites Thieves And time and time again that reading led o o Sowers of scandal and schism our eyes to meet, and made our faces pale, Forgers and counterfeiters and yet one point alone defeated us. o • 9th Circle: Treachery and Betrayal

Against family and kin When we had read how the desired smile o Against one’s Country/City was kissed by one who was so true a lover, o Against one’s guest/host this one, who never shall be parted from me, o Against one’s lords (including o God) while all his body trembled, kissed my mouth.

18 The first ring of the lowest circle of Hell, reserved for 19 In numberous French romances about Lanceot, the those who kill family members. knight Gallehault encouraged Lancelot and Guinevere to pursue their affair.

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Leonbattista Alberti, Autobiography (selections)1

Leonbattista Alberti (1404-1472) is often described as the prototypical “Renaissance Man” for his interest in all the fields the Renaissance exemplified. From his Autobiography, what were the things worthy of accomplishment? What were the ideals of these Renaissance Humanists?

In everything suitable to one born free and educated liberally, he was so trained from boyhood that among the leading young men of his age he was considered by no means the last. For, assiduous in the science and skill of dealing with arms and horses and musical instruments, as well, as in the pursuit of letters and the fine arts, he was devoted to the knowledge of the most strange and difficult things. And finally he embraced with zeal and forethought everything which pertained to fame. To omit the rest, he strove hard to attain a name in modeling and painting that he wished to neglect nothing by which he might gain the approbation of good men. His genius was so versatile that you might almost judge all the fine arts to be his… *** He played ball, hurled the javelin, ran, leaped, wrestled, and above all delighted in the steep ascent of mountains; he applied himself to all these things for the sake of health rather than sport or pleasure. As a youth he excelled in warlike games. With his feet together he could leap over the shoulders of men standing by; he had almost no equal in hurling the spear. An arrow shot by his hand could pierce the strongest iron breastplate. With his left foot lifted from the ground to the wall of a church, he could throw an apple so high that it was go far beyond the top of the highest roofs. He could hurl a small coin into the air with such force that whoever was with him in the church could hear it ringing against the lofty vaulting. On horseback, balancing on one hand the end of a long wand, he could ride violently in all directions for hours and the wand would not fall. The most spirited horses would tremble violently and shudder in great fear when he first mounted them. He learned music without teachers and his compositions were approved of by learned musicians. He sang throughout his whole life…He delighted in the organ and was considered an expert… When he had begun to mature in years, neglecting everything else, he devoted himself entirely to the study of letters and spent some three years on canon and civil law. Finally after so many late nights and constant work, he fell gravely ill from the exertion. Since his relatives were neither kind nor humane to him in his illness, by way of consoling himself he wrote the play Philodoxeux, putting aside his legal studies—this when he was only 20 years old… Finally, on orders from his doctors he desisted from those studies that were most fatiguing to memory, just when they were about to flourish. But because he could not be without letters, at the age of 24 he turned to physics and the mathematical arts. At this time he wrote On the Advantages and Disadvantages of Letters for his brother, On Religion and other such works good for his soul, and in verse Elegies and Ecologues and works on love that would lead the reader to good habits and a peaceful soul. When he was 29 he wrote, for the benefit of his relatives who could not read Latin, some books in Tuscan, namely the three books of On the Family, which he finished in 90 days…He also composed many dinner speeches which were very entertaining and occasioned much laughter. But these he consigned to the flames lest his detractors charge him with levity. ***

1 From Opere volgari di Leon Battista Alberti, ed. A. Bonucci (Florence, 1843).

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He wished by everything in his life, every gesture and every word, both to be and to seem worthy of the good will of good men; and together with other things, on three especially, he said, every effort should be lavished. Effort should be added to effort lest anything seem to be done with effort when one is walking about in the city, riding a horse, or speaking. For in these things one must watch on all sides not to displease anyone greatly. *** When he heard that a learned man of any kind had arrived, he would at once become familiar with him and learn whatever he already did not know. From craftsmen, architects, shipbuilders, and even cobblers he sought information to see if by chance they anything rare and unusual or special in their arts. He pretended to be ignorant in many things so that he might observe the talents and skills of others… He wholly despised the pursuit of material gain. He gave his money and his goods to his friends to take care of and enjoy. He never betrayed secrets of another but remained silent forever, yet shared his own secrets with his friends…He was prone to anger and sometimes deliberately fled the verbose and headstrong because with them he could not subdue his wrath… He would paint portraits or make models of his friends in wax. In Venice, he portrayed the faces of his friends in Florence, whom he had not seen for a year, and asked young boys whether they recognized the portrait. He copied his own expression and likeness so that from this he painted and modeled portraits of himself so that he might be more easily known to strangers approaching him. He wrote some books entitled On Painting, and in this very art of painting he created works unheard of and unbelievable to those who saw them….He applied himself more in his work to investigating things of this kind than to making them known, for he always served genius rather than fame. His mind was never free from deliberation and meditation. He rarely stayed at home without working on some matter and even at dinner parties he deliberated between courses. We have his letters in which he foretold the fortunes of popes twelve years in advance. His friends said he could do the same with the political fortunes of cities. He had the vision by which he could sense the good or evil intention of men towards himself. Simply by looking at them he could discover most of the defects of anyone in his presence… *** When not yet age 15, he seriously wounded his foot and when the doctor pulled together the broken parts of the foot and sewed them through the skin with a needle, he hardly made a sound. In fact, with his own hands, despite the pain, he aided the doctor and treated his own wound. And when on account of pain in his side he was continually in an icy sweat he called in musicians and for about two hours he strove to sing to overcome the agony of the pain. His head was by nature unable to bear the cold or wind; but by persistence he learned to bear them, gradually getting used to riding bareheaded in summer, then in winter, and even in a raging wind. By some defect of nature he loathed garlic and also honey, and the mere sight of them brought on vomiting. But he conquered himself by force of looking at and handling these disagreeable objects until they came to offend him less, thus showing by example that men can do anything with themselves if they will… When his favorite dog died he wrote a funeral oration for him. Whatever was done by man with genius and with a certain grace, he held to be almost divine; and he so respected any achievement that he insisted even poor writers were worthy of praise.

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Leonardo Bruni, Selection from On Studies and Letters1

Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444) was one of the leading humanists of the generation after Petrarch’s death. Bruni became a citizen of Florence, wrote a monumental History of Florence copying the ancient Roman style of writing history, and eventually became the chancellor of Florence. Bruni’s treatise (below) was written for the Count of Urbino’s daughter, Baptista di Montefeltro (d.1450), regarding her education. Written sometime between 1405 and 1429 (probably the later years of that period), it was the earliest Renaissance text addressing the education of women. Baptista had, in fact, received an excellent education. She exchanged poetry with princes and even greeted the Emperor with a Latin oration that she composed when he visited Urbino in 1433. Her oration continued to be circulated and, after her death, even printed.

I am led to address this treatise to you, Illustrious Lady, by the high repute which attaches to your name in the field of learning; and I offer it, partly as an expression of my homage to distinction already attained, partly as an encouragement to further effort. Were it necessary I might urge you by brilliant instances from antiquity: Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio, whose Epistles survived for centuries as models of style; Sappho, the poetess, held in so great honor for the exuberance of her poetic art; Aspasia, whose learning and eloquence made her not unworthy of the intimacy of Socrates. Upon these, the most distinguished of a long range of great names, I would have you fix your mind; for an intelligence such as your own can be satisfied with nothing less than the best. You yourself, indeed, may hope to win a fame higher even than theirs. For they lived in days when learning was no rare attainment, and therefore they enjoyed no unique renown. While, alas, upon such times are we fallen that a learned man seems well-nigh a portent, and erudition in a woman is a thing utterly unknown, for true learning has almost died away amongst us. True learning, I say: not a mere acquaintance with that vulgar, threadbare jargon which satisfies those who devote themselves to Theology; but sound learning in its proper and legitimate sense, that is, the knowledge of realities--Facts and Principles--united to a perfect familiarity with Letters and the art of expression… This leads me to press home this truth--though in your case it is unnecessary--that the foundations of all true learning must be laid in the sound and thorough knowledge of Latin: which implies study marked by a broad spirit, accurate scholarship, and careful attention to details. Unless this solid basis be secured it is useless to attempt to rear an enduring edifice. Without it the great monuments of literature are unintelligible, and the art of composition impossible. To attain this essential knowledge we must never relax our careful attention to the grammar of the language, but perpetually confirm and extend our acquaintance with it until it is thoroughly our own… But the wider question now confronts us, that of the subject matter of our studies, that which I have already called the realities of fact and principle, as distinct from literary form. Here, as before, I am contemplating a student of keen and lofty aspiration to whom nothing that is worthy in any learned discipline is without its interest. But it is necessary to exercise discrimination. In some branches of knowledge I would rather restrain the ardor of the learner, in

1 The full text of the treatise can be found at http://history.hanover.edu/texts/bruni.html.

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others, again, encourage it to the uttermost. Thus there are certain subjects in which, whilst a modest proficiency is on all accounts to be desired, a minute knowledge and excessive devotion seem to be a vain display. For instance, subtleties of Arithmetic and Geometry are not worthy to absorb a cultivated mind, and the same must be said of Astrology. You will be surprised to find me suggesting (though with much more hesitation) that the great and complex art of Rhetoric should be placed in the same category. My chief reason is the obvious one, that I have in view the cultivation most fitting to a woman. To her neither the intricacies of debate nor the oratorical artifices of action and delivery are of the least practical use, if indeed they are not positively unbecoming. Rhetoric in all its forms--public discussion, forensic argument, logical fence, and the like--lies absolutely outside the province of woman. What Disciplines then are properly open to her? In the first place she has before her, as a subject peculiarly her own, the whole field of religion and morals. The literature of the Church will thus claim her earnest study. Such a writer, for instance, as St Augustine affords her the fullest scope for reverent yet learned inquiry. Her devotional instinct may lead her to value the help and consolation of holy men now living; but in this case let her not for an instant yield to the impulse to look into their writings, which, compared with those of Augustine, are utterly destitute of sound and melodious style, and seem to me to have no attraction whatever. Moreover, the cultivated Christian lady has no need in the study of this weighty subject to confine herself to ecclesiastical writers. Morals, indeed, have been treated by the noblest intellects of Greece and Rome. What they have left to us upon Continence, Temperance, Modesty, Justice, Courage, Greatness of Soul, demands your sincere respect…These inquiries are, of all others, most worthy to be pursued by men and women alike; they are fit material for formal discussion and for literary exercise. Let religion and morals, therefore, hold the first place in the education of a Christian lady. But we must not forget that true distinction is to be gained by a wide and varied range of such studies as conduce to the profitable enjoyment of life, in which, however, we must observe due proportion in the attention and time we devote to them. First amongst such studies I place History: a subject which must not on any account be neglected by one who aspires to true cultivation. For it is our duty to understand the origins of our own history and its development; and the achievements of Peoples and of Kings. For the careful study of the past enlarges our foresight in contemporary affairs and affords to citizens and to monarchs lessons of incitement or warning in the ordering of public policy. From History, also, we draw our store of examples of moral precepts… The great Orators of antiquity must by all means be included. Nowhere do we find the virtues more warmly extolled, the vices so fiercely decried. From them we may learn, also, how to express consolation, encouragement, dissuasion or advice. If the principles which orators set forth are portrayed for us by philosophers, it is from the former that we learn how to employ the emotions--such as indignation, or pity--in driving home their application in individual cases. Further, from oratory we derive our store of those elegant or striking turns of expression which are used with so much effect in literary compositions. Lastly, in oratory we find that wealth of vocabulary, that clear easy-flowing style, that verve and force, which are invaluable to us both in writing and in conversation. I come now to Poetry and the Poets--a subject with which every educated lady must show herself thoroughly familiar. For we cannot point to any great mind of the past for whom the Poets had not a powerful attraction. Aristotle, in constantly quoting Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, Euripides and other poets, proves that he knew their works hardly less intimately than those of

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the philosophers. Plato, also, frequently appeals to them, and in this way covers them with his approval.…Hence my view that familiarity with the great poets of antiquity is essential to any claim to true education. For in their writings we find deep speculations upon Nature, and upon the Causes and Origins of things, which must carry weight with us both from their antiquity and from their authorship. Besides these, many important truths upon matters of daily life are suggested or illustrated. All this is expressed with such grace and dignity as demands our admiration... But I am ready to admit that there are two types of poet: the aristocracy, so to call them, of their craft, and the vulgar, and that the latter may be put aside in ordering a woman’s reading. A comic dramatist may season his wit too highly: a satirist describe too bluntly the moral corruption which he scourges: let her pass them by… To sum up what I have endeavored to set forth. That high standard of education to which I referred at the outset is only to be reached by one who has seen many things and read much. Poet, Orator, Historian, and the rest, all must be studied, each must contribute a share. Our learning thus becomes full, ready, varied and elegant, available for action or for discourse in all subjects. But to enable us to make effectual use of what we know we must add to our knowledge the power of expression. These two sides of learning, indeed, should not be separated: they afford mutual aid and distinction. Proficiency in literary form, not accompanied by broad acquaintance with facts and truths, is a barren attainment; whilst information, however vast, which lacks all grace of expression, would seem to be put under a bushel or partly thrown away. Indeed, one may fairly ask what advantage it is to possess profound and varied learning if one cannot convey it in language worthy of the subject. Where, however, this double capacity exists- -breadth of learning and grace of style--we allow the highest title to distinction and to abiding fame. But my last word must be this. The intelligence that aspires to the best must aim at both. In doing so, all sources of profitable learning will in due proportion claim your study. None have more urgent claim than the subjects and authors which treat of Religion and of our duties in the world; and it is because they assist and illustrate these supreme studies that I press upon your attention the works of the most approved poets, historians and orators of the past.

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Baldassare Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier1

Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529) was an Italian noble with a humanist education. He served at many of the leading Renaissance courts as a diplomat. He was also a playwright and a soldier. His career as an ambassador and courtier par-excellence led him to become a close friend to the leading rulers and artists of the day. With The Book of the Courtier, Castiglione set out to explore the qualities that went into the ideal men and women at court, using the setting of a dialogue between members of the court of Urbino in 1507. The book was first published in 1528 and went on to define the ideal proper upper-class man and woman for much of the next four centuries.

Book One: Chapters 17, 18, 19, 44, & 47

(17) “ But to come to some details, I am of opinion that the principal and true profession of the Courtier ought to be that of arms; which I would have him follow actively above all else, and be known among others as bold and strong, and loyal to whomever he serves. And he will win a reputation for these good qualities by exercising them at all times and in all places, since one may never fail in this without severest censure. And just as among women, their reputation once sullied never recovers its first luster, so the reputation of a gentleman who bears arms, if once it is in the least tarnished with cowardice or other disgrace, remains forever infamous before the world and full of ignominy. Therefore the more our Courtier excels in this art, the more he will be worthy of praise; and yet I do not deem essential in him that perfect knowledge of things and those other qualities that befit a commander; since this would be too wide a sea, let us be content, as we have said, with perfect loyalty and unconquered courage, and that he be always seen to possess them. For the courageous are often recognized even more in small things than in great; and frequently in perils of importance and where there are many spectators, some men are to be found, who, although their hearts be dead within them, yet, moved by shame or by the presence of others, press forward almost with their eyes shut, and do their duty God knows how. While on occasions of little moment, when they think they can avoid putting themselves in danger without being detected, they are glad to keep safe. But those who, even when they do not expect to be observed or seen or recognized by anyone, show their ardor and neglect nothing, however paltry, that may be laid to their charge, — they have that strength of mind which we seek in our Courtier…”

Then the lady at once said, “Now that you are in no war and out of fighting trim, I should think it were a good thing to have yourself well oiled, and to stow yourself with all your battle harness in a closet until you be needed, lest you grow more rusty than you are;” and so, amid much laughter from the bystanders, she left the discomfited fellow to his silly presumption, "Therefore let the man we are seeking, be very bold, stern, and always among the first, where the enemy are to be seen; and in every other place, gentle, modest, reserved, above all things avoiding ostentation and that impudent self-praise by which men ever excite hatred and disgust in all who hear them."

1 Translation of Leonard Eckstein Opdycke (New York, 1903). Full text available at http://www.archive.org/stream/bookofcourtier00castuoft/bookofcourtier00castuoft_djvu.txt

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(18) Then my lord Caspar replied: "As for me, I have known few men excellent in anything whatever, who do not praise themselves; and it seems to me that this may well be permitted them; for when anyone who feels himself to be of worth, sees that he is not known to the ignorant by his works, he is offended that his worth should lie buried, and must in some way hold it up to view, in order that he may not be cheated of the fame that is the true reward of worthy effort. Thus among the ancient authors, whoever carries weight seldom fails to praise himself. They indeed are insufferable who do this without being able to back it up, but such we do not presume our Courtier to be."

The Count then said: "If you heard what I said, it was impudent and indiscriminate self-praise that I censured: and as you say, we surely ought not to form a bad opinion of a brave man who praises himself modestly, nay we ought rather to regard such praise as better evidence than if it came from the mouth of others. I say, however, that he, who in praising himself runs into no error and incurs no annoyance or envy at the hands of those that hear him, is a very discreet man indeed and merits praise from others in addition to that which he bestows upon himself; because it is a very difficult matter..."

(19) The Count now paused a little, and messer Bernardo Bibbiena said, laughing: "I remember what you said earlier, that this Courtier of ours must be endowed by nature with beauty of countenance and person, and with a grace that shall make him so agreeable. Grace and beauty of countenance I think I certainly possess, and this is the reason why so many ladies are ardently in love with me, as you know; but I am rather doubtful as to the beauty of my person, especially as regards these legs of mine, which seem to me decidedly less well-proportioned than I should wish: as to my bust and other members however, I am quite content. Pray, now, describe a little more in particular the sort of body that the Courtier is to have, so that I may dismiss this doubt and set my mind at rest."

After some laughter at this, the Count continued: "Of a certainty that grace of countenance can be truly said to be yours, nor need I cite further example than this to show what manner of thing it is, for we unquestionably perceive your aspect to be most agreeable and pleasing to everyone, albeit the lineaments of it are not very delicate. Still it is of a manly cast and at the same time full of grace; and this characteristic is to be found in many different types of countenance. And of such sort I would have our Courtier's aspect; not so soft and effeminate as is sought by many, who not only curl their hair and pluck their brows, but gloss their faces with all those arts employed by the most wanton and unchaste women in the world; and in their walk, posture and every act, they seem so limp and languid that their limbs are like to fall apart; and they pronounce their words so mournfully that they appear about to expire upon the spot: and the more they find themselves with men of rank, the more they affect such tricks. Since nature has not made them women, as they seem to wish to appear and be, they should be treated not as good women but as public harlots, and driven not merely from the courts of great lords but from the society of honest men.”

***

(44) "I would have him more than passably accomplished in letters, at least in those studies that are called the humanities, and conversant not only with the Latin language but with the Greek,

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for the sake of the many different things that have been admirably written therein. Let him be well versed in the poets, and not less in the orators and historians, and also proficient in writing verse and prose, especially in this vulgar tongue of ours [Italian]; for besides the enjoyment he will find in it, he will by this means never lack agreeable entertainment with ladies, who are usually fond of such things. And if other occupations or want of study prevent his reaching such perfection as to render his writings worthy of great praise, let him be careful to suppress them so that others may not laugh at him, and let him show them only to a friend whom he can trust: because they will at least be of this service to him, that the exercise will enable him to judge the work of others. For it very rarely happens that a man who is not accustomed to write, however learned he may be, can ever quite appreciate the toil and industry of writers, or taste the sweetness and excellence of style, and those latent niceties that are often found in the ancients.

"Moreover these studies will also make him fluent, and as Aristippus2 said to the tyrant, confident and assured in speaking with everyone. Hence I would have our Courtier keep one precept fixed in mind; which is that in this and everything else he should be always on his guard, and diffident rather than forward, and that he should keep from falsely persuading himself that he knows that which he does not know. For by nature we all are fonder of praise than we ought to be, and our ears love the melody of words that praise us more than any other sweet song or sound; and thus, like sirens' voices, they are often the cause of shipwreck to him who does not close his ears to such deceptive harmony. Among the ancient sages this danger was recognized, and books were written showing in what way the true friend may be distinguished from the flatterer. But what does this avail, if there are many of those who clearly perceive that they are flattered, yet love him who flatters them, and hold him in hatred who tells them the truth? And often when they find him who praises them too sparing in his words, they even help him and say such things of themselves, that the flatterer is put to shame, most impudent though he be.

"Let us leave these blind ones to their error, and have our Courtier of such good judgment that he will not take black for white, or have more self-confidence than he clearly knows to be well founded… On the contrary, even if he well knows the praises bestowed upon him to be true, let him not err by accepting them too openly or confirming them without some protest; but rather let him as it were disclaim them modestly, always showing and really esteeming arms as his chief profession, and all other good accomplishments as an ornament thereto. And particularly among soldiers let him not act like those who insist on seeming soldiers in learning, and learned men among soldiers. In this way, for the reasons we have alleged, he will avoid affectation, and even the middling things that he does, shall seem very great."

***

(47) "My lords, you must know that I am not content with the Courtier unless he be also a musician and unless, besides understanding and being able to read notes, he can play upon many instruments. For if we consider rightly, there is to be found no rest from toil or medicine for the troubled spirit more becoming and praiseworthy in time of leisure, than this; and especially in courts, where besides the relief from tedium that music affords us all, many things are done to

2 A philosopher and student of Socrates. The many stories and saying of his that appear in other classical authors depict him as a man more concerned with enjoyment of life and adaptability to circumstances than Socrates’ own philosophy.

259 please the ladies, whose tender and gentle spirit is easily penetrated by harmony and filled with sweetness. Thus it is no marvel that in both ancient and modern times they have always been inclined to favor musicians, and have found refreshing spiritual food in music."

Then my lord Gaspar said: "I admit that music as well as many other vanities may be proper to women and perhaps to some that have the semblance of men, but not to those who really are men; for these ought not to enervate their mind with delights and thus induce therein a fear of death."

"Say not so," replied the Count; "for I shall enter upon a vast sea in praise of music. And I shall call to mind how it was always celebrated and held sacred among the ancients, and how very sage philosophers were of opinion that the world is composed of music, that the heavens make harmony in their moving, and that the soul, being ordered in like fashion, awakes and as it were revives its powers through music.

Thus it is written that Alexander was sometimes excited by it so passionately, that he was forced almost against his will to leave the banquet table and rush to arms; and when the musician changed the temper of the tune, he grew calm again, laying aside his arms and returning to the banquet table. Moreover I will tell you that grave Socrates learned to play the cithern3 at a very advanced age. And I remember having once heard that Plato and Aristotle would have the man of culture a musician also; and they show by a host of arguments that the power of music over us is very great, and (for many reasons which would be too long to tell now) that it must needs be taught from childhood, not so much for the mere melody that we hear, but for the power it has to induce in us a fresh and good habit of mind and an habitual tendency to virtue, which renders the soul more capable of happiness, just as bodily exercise renders the body more robust; and that music is not only no hindrance in the pursuits of peace and war, but is very helpful therein.

Again, Lycurgus approved of music in his harsh laws. And we read that in their battles the very warlike Lacedemonians and Cretans used the cithern and other dulcet instruments; that many very excellent commanders of antiquity, like Epaminondas,4 practiced music; and that those who were ignorant of it, like Themistocles,5 were far less esteemed. Have you not read that music was among the first accomplishments which the worthy old Chiron taught Achilles in tender youth, whom he reared from the age of nurse and cradle? And that the sage preceptor insisted that the hands which were to shed so much Trojan blood, should be often busied with the cithern? Where is the soldier who would be ashamed to imitate Achilles, to say nothing of many other famous commanders whom I could cite?

*** Book Three: Chapters 4-10

(4) "And although my lord Gaspar has said that the same rules which are set for the Courtier serve also for the Lady, I am of another mind. For while some qualities are common to both and as necessary to man as to woman, there are nevertheless some others that befit woman more than

3 A 16th-century instrument that resembled a guitar, but with a more pear-shaped sound box. 4 The general and statesman who led Thebes in their successful rebellion against Sparta in the fourth century BCE. 5 Politician and Athenian general of the early fifth century BCE responsible for creating the Athenian navy.

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man, and some are befitting man to which she ought to be wholly a stranger. The same I say of bodily exercises; but above all, methinks that in her ways, manners, words, gestures and bearing, a woman ought to be very unlike a man; for just as it befits him to show a certain stout and sturdy manliness, so it is becoming in a woman to have a soft and dainty tenderness with an air of womanly sweetness in her every movement, which, in her going or staying or saying what you will, shall always make her seem the woman, without any likeness of a man.

Now, if this precept be added to the rules that these gentlemen have taught the Courtier, I certainly think she ought to be able to profit by many of them, and to adorn herself with admirable accomplishments, as my lord Gaspar says. For I believe that many faculties of the mind are as necessary to woman as to man; likewise gentle birth, to avoid affectation, to be naturally graceful in all her doings, to be mannerly, clever, prudent, not arrogant, not envious, not slanderous, not vain, not quarrelsome, not silly, to know how to win and keep the favor of her mistress at court and of all others, to practice well and gracefully the exercises that befit women. I am quite of the opinion, too, that beauty is more necessary to her than to the Courtier, for in truth that woman lacks much who lacks beauty. Then, too, she ought to be more circumspect and take greater care not to give occasion for evil being said of her, and so to act that she may not only escape a stain of guilt but even of suspicion, for a woman has not so many ways of defending herself against false imputations as has a man.

But as Count Ludovico has explained very minutely the chief profession of the Courtier, and has insisted it be that of arms, methinks it is also fitting to tell what in my judgment is that of the Court Lady and when I have done this, I shall think myself quit of the greater part of my duty.

(5) "Laying aside, then, those faculties of the mind that she ought to have in common with the Courtier (such as prudence, magnanimity, continence, and many others), and likewise those qualities that befit all women (such as kindness, discretion, ability to manage her husband's property and her house and children if she be married, and all those capacities that are requisite in a good housewife), I say that in a lady who lives at court methinks above all else a certain pleasant affability is befitting, whereby she may be able to entertain politely every sort of man with agreeable and seemly converse, suited to the time and place, and to the rank of the person with whom she may speak, uniting with calm and modest manners, and with that seemliness which should ever dispose all her actions, a quick vivacity of spirit whereby she may show herself alien to all coarseness; but with such a kindly manner as shall make us think her no less chaste, prudent and benign, than agreeable, witty and discreet: and so she must preserve a certain middle ground (difficult and composed almost of contraries), and must barely touch certain limits but not pass them.

Thus, in her wish to be thought good and pure, the Lady ought not to be so coy and seem so to abhor company and talk that are a little free, as to take her leave as soon as she finds herself therein; for it might easily be thought that she was pretending to be thus austere in order to hide something about herself which she feared others might come to know; and such prudish manners are always odious. Nor ought she, on the other hand, for the sake of showing herself free and agreeable, to utter unseemly words or practice a certain wild and unbridled familiarity and ways likely to make that believed of her which perhaps is not true; but when she is present at such talk, she ought to listen with a little blush and shame.

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Likewise she ought to avoid an error into which I have seen many women fall, which is that of saying and of willingly listening to evil about other women. For those women who, on hearing the unseemly ways of other women described, grow angry and seem to disbelieve it and to regard it almost monstrous that a woman should be immodest, — they, by accounting the offence so heinous, give reason to think that they do not commit it. But those who go about continually prying into other women's intrigues and narrate them so minutely and with such zest seem to be envious of them and to wish that everyone may know it, to the end that like matters may not be reckoned as a fault in their own case; and thus they fall into certain laughs and ways that show they then feel greatest pleasure. And hence it comes that men, while seeming to listen gladly, usually hold such women in small respect and have very little regard for them, and think these ways of theirs are an invitation to advance farther, and thus often go such lengths with them as bring them deserved reproach, and finally esteem them so lightly as to despise their company and even find them tedious.

"And on the other hand, there is no man so shameless and insolent as not to have reverence for those women who are esteemed good and virtuous; because this gravity (tempered with wisdom and goodness) is as it were a shield against the insolence and coarseness of the presumptuous. Thus we see that a word or laugh or act of kindness (however small it be) from a virtuous woman is more prized by everyone, than all the endearments and caresses of those who show their lack of shame so openly; and if they are not immodest, by their unseemly laughter, their loquacity, insolence and like scurrile manners, they give sign of being so.

(6) "… In this way she will be adorned with good manners, and will perform with perfect grace the bodily exercises proper to women; her discourse will be rich and full of prudence, virtue and pleasantness; and thus she will be not only loved but revered by everyone, and perhaps worthy to be placed side by side with this great Courtier as well in qualities of the mind as in those of the body."

(7) Having so far spoken, the Magnifico was silent and sat quietly, as if he had ended his discourse. Then my lord Caspar said: "Verily, my lord Magnifico, you have adorned this Lady well and given her excellent qualities. Yet methinks you have kept much to generalities, and mentioned some things in her so great that I think you were ashamed to explain them, and have rather desired than taught them, after the manner of those who sometimes wish for things impossible and beyond nature. Therefore I would have you declare to us a little better what are the bodily exercises proper to a Court Lady, and in what way she ought to converse, and what those many things are whereof you say it befits her to have knowledge; and whether you mean that she should use the prudence, the magnanimity, the continence, and the many other virtues you have named, merely to aid her in the government of her house, children and family (which however you would not have her chief profession), or indeed in her conversation and graceful practice of those bodily exercises; and, by your faith, guard against setting these poor virtues to such menial duty that they must needs be ashamed of it."

The Magnifico laughed, and said: "My lord Caspar, you cannot help showing your ill will towards women. But in truth I thought I had said enough, and especially before such hearers; for I am quite sure there is no one here who does not perceive that in the matter of bodily exercises it

262 does not befit women to handle weapons, to ride, to play tennis, to wrestle, and to do many other things that befit men."

Then the Unico Aretino said: "Among the ancients it was the custom for women to wrestle unclothed with men; but we have lost this good custom, along with many others."

Messer Cesare Gonzaga added: "And in my time I have seen women play tennis, handle weapons, ride, go hunting, and perform nearly all the exercises that a cavalier can."

(8) The Magnifico replied: “Since I may fashion this Lady as I wish, not only am I unwilling to have her practice such vigorous and rugged manly exercises, but I would have her practice even those that are becoming to women, circumspectly and with that gentle daintiness which we have said befits her; and thus in dancing I would not see her use too active and violent movements, nor in singing or playing those abrupt and oft-repeated diminutions which show more skill than sweetness; likewise the musical instruments that she uses ought, in my opinion, to be appropriate to this intent. Imagine how unlovely it would be to see a woman play drums, fifes or trumpets, or other like instruments; and this because their harshness hides and destroys that mild gentleness which so much adorns every act a woman does. Therefore when she starts to dance or make music of any kind, she ought to bring herself to it by letting herself be urged a little, and with a touch of shyness which shall show that noble shame which is the opposite of effrontery.

Moreover, she ought to adapt her dress to this intent, and so to clothe herself that she may not seem vain or frivolous. But since women may and ought to take more care for beauty than men, — and there are diverse sorts of beauty, — this Lady ought to have the good sense to discern what those garments are that enhance her grace and are most appropriate to the exercises wherein she purposes to engage at the time, and to wear them. And if she is conscious of possessing a bright and cheerful beauty, she ought to set it off with movements, words and dress all tending towards the cheerful; so too, another, who feels that her style is gentle and serious, ought to accompany it with fashions of that sort, in order to enhance that which is the gift of nature. Thus, if she is a little more stout or thin than the medium, or fair or dark, let her seek help from dress, but as covertly as possible; and while keeping herself dainty and neat, let her always seem to give no thought or heed to it.

(9) … "And to repeat in a few words part of what has been already said, I wish this Lady to have knowledge of letters, music, painting, and to know how to dance and make merry; accompanying the other precepts that have been taught the Courtier with discreet modesty and with the giving of a good impression of herself. And thus, in her talk, her laughter, her play, her jesting, in short, in everything, she will be very graceful, and will entertain appropriately, and with witticisms and pleasantries befitting her, everyone who shall come before her. And although continence, magnanimity, temperance, strength of mind, prudence, and the other virtues, seem to have little to do with entertainment, I would have her adorned with all of them, not so much for the sake of entertainment (albeit even there they can be of service), as in order that she may be full of virtue, and to the end that these virtues may render her worthy of being honored, and that her every act may be governed by them."

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(10) My lord Gaspar then said, laughing: "Since you have given women letters and continence and magnanimity and temperance, I only marvel that you would not also have them govern cities, make laws, and lead armies, and let the men stay at home to cook or spin."

The Magnifico replied, also laughing: "Perhaps even this would not be amiss." Then he added: "Do you not know that Plato, who certainly was no great friend to women, gave them charge over the city, and gave all other martial duties to the men? Do you not believe that there are many to be found who would know how to govern cities and armies as well as men do? But I have not laid these duties on them, because I am fashioning a Court Lady and not a Queen. "I well know you would like to repeat tacitly that false imputation which my lord Ottaviano cast on women yesterday: namely, that they are very imperfect creatures, incapable of doing any good act, and of very little worth and no dignity by comparison with men: but in truth both he and you would be greatly in the wrong if you were to think this."

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Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, The Education of a Christian Prince (excerpts from Chapter One: “The Birth and Upbringing of a Christian Prince”), 1516.1

Erasmus (c.1469-1536) was the leading Renaissance scholar in Northern Europe. In the age of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Machiavelli and Thomas More, it was Erasmus who was the most well-known and respected man in Europe. Erasmus was best known for his satirical The Praise of Folly (1509), which attacked hypocrisy among all classes and professions, but saved the most virulent for the corruption of his fellow clergymen and their lack of spirituality. He called for a renewed emphasis on ethics and purity of behavior (and the de-emphasis of sacraments) in Handbook of the Christian Soldier (written in 1503) which, when it was published in 1518, went through 10 editions in five languages in just three years. Arguably his most important intellectual effort was the application of Renaissance techniques of philology (the study of language and linguistics in historical documents) to the Bible. In 1516 Erasmus produced an annotated Greek Text of the New Testament with a new facing-page Latin translation (the first Greek New Testament published). Erasmus wrote Education of a Christian Prince while completing his edition of the New Testament, probably as part of an attempt to be named advisor to the 16-year-old new King of Spain, Charles (who would become Emperor three years later). If that was his purpose, he was not successful. The work displays much of what had developed in three centuries of advice literature for princes, though Erasmus does stray from what was typical at times (such as in his harsh critique of warfare and political marriages).

In navigation the wheel is not given to him who surpasses his fellows in birth, wealth, or appearance, but rather to him who excels in his skill as a navigator, in his alertness, and in his dependability. Just so with the rule of a state: most naturally the power should be entrusted to him who excels all in the requisite kingly qualities of wisdom, justice, moderation, foresight, and zeal for the public welfare…

The prince is not a priest, I confess, and therefore does not consecrate the body of Christ. He is not a bishop, and so does not rouse the people on the mysteries of Christianity, nor does he administer the sacraments. He has not professed the rule of St. Benedict, and therefore does not wear the cowl.2 But what is more than all this, he is a Christian. He has followed the rule of Christ himself. It is from Him that he has received his white robe, not from St. Francis. The prince should vie with the other Christians, if he would have the same reward. You, too, must take up your cross, or else Christ will have none of you. "What," you ask, "is my cross?" I will tell you: Follow the right, do violence to no one, plunder no one, sell no public office, be corrupted by no bribes. To be sure, your treasury will have far less in it than otherwise, but take no thought for that loss, if only you have acquired the interest from justice. While you are using every means and interest to benefit the state, your life is fraught with care; you rob your youth

1 Source: Desiderius Erasmus. The Education of a Christian Prince (1516). Translated by Lester K. Born [c.1936]. Columbia University Records of Civilization. New York: Octagon Books, 1963. Available at http://www.stoics.com/erasmus_s_education_of_a_chris.html. Text modernized. 2 That is, he is not a monk.

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and genius of their pleasures; you wear yourself down with long hours of toil. Forget that and enjoy yourself in the consciousness of right. As you would rather stand for an injury than avenge it at great loss to the state, perchance you will lose a little something of your empire. Bear that; consider that you have gained a great deal because you have brought hurt to fewer than you would otherwise have done. Do your private emotions as a man reproachful anger, love for your wife, hatred of an enemy, shame - urge you to do what is not right and what is not to the welfare of the state? Let the thought of honor win. Let the concern for the state completely cover your personal ambitions. If you cannot defend your realm without violating justice, without wanton loss of human life, without great loss to religion, abdicate and yield to the demands of the age! If you cannot look out for the possessions of your subjects without danger to your own life, set the safety of the people before your very life! But while you are conducting yourself in this fashion, which befits a true Christian prince, there will be plenty who will call you an idiot, and no prince at all! Hold fast to your cause. It is far better to be a just man than an unjust prince. It is clear now, I think, that even the greatest kings are not without their crosses, if they want to follow the course of right at all times, as they should…

Christian theology attributes three prime qualities to God: the highest power, the greatest wisdom, the greatest goodness. In so far as you can, you should make this trinity yours. Power without goodness is unmitigated tyranny; without wisdom it brings chaos, not domain. In the first place, then, in so much as fortune gave you power, make it your duty to gain for yourself the best store of wisdom possible, so you may clearly see the objectives to be striven for and the courses to avoid. In the next place, try to fill as many needs as possible for everyone, for that is the province of goodness. Make your power serve you to this end, that you can be of as much assistance as you want to be. But no, your desire in this respect should always exceed your means! On the other hand, always cause less hurt than you could have caused. God is loved by all good men. Only the wicked fear Him, and even they have only that fear which all men have of harm befalling them. In like manner, a good prince should strike awe into the heart of none but the evildoers and criminals; and yet even to them he should hold out a hope of leniency, if only they reform. On the other hand, a devilish majesty is beloved of no one, and is feared by all, especially the virtuous, for the wicked are his appropriate attendants. Likewise a tyrant is hated by every good man, and none are closer to him than the worst element in society…

God is swayed by no emotions, yet he rules the universe with supreme judgment. The prince should follow His example in all his actions, cast aside all personal motives, and use only reason and judgment. God is sublime. The prince should be removed as far as possible from the low concerns of the common people and their sordid desires. No one sees God in his government of the universe, but only feels Him and His kindness. The prince's native land should not feel his powers, except when its troubles are mitigated through his wisdom and goodness. On the other hand, tyrants are nowhere experienced, except to the sorrow of all…

Let the teacher paint a sort of celestial creature, more like to a divine being than a mortal: complete in all the virtues; born for the common good; sent by the God above to help the affairs of mortals by looking out and caring for everyone and everything; to whom no concern is of longer standing or more dear than the state; who has more than a paternal spirit toward everyone;

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who holds the life of each individual dearer than his own; who works and strives night and day for just one end - to be the best he can for everyone; with whom rewards are ready for all good men and pardon for the wicked, if only they will reform - for so much does he want to be of real help to his people, without thought of recompense, that if necessary he would not hesitate to look out for their welfare at great risk to himself; who considers his wealth to lie in the advantages of his country; who is ever on the watch so that everyone else may sleep deeply; who grants no leisure to himself so that he may spend his life in the peace of his country; who worries himself with continual cares so that his subjects may have peace and quiet. Upon the moral qualities of this one man alone depends the happiness of the state. Let the tutor point this out as the picture of a true prince! Now let him bring out the opposite side by showing a frightful, loathsome beast, formed of a dragon, wolf, lion, viper, bear, and like creatures; with six hundred eyes all over it, teeth everywhere, fearful from all angles, and with hooked claws; with never satiated hunger, fattened on human vitals, and reeking with human blood; never sleeping, but always threatening the fortunes and lives of all men; dangerous to everyone, especially to the good; a sort of fatal scourge to the whole world, on which everyone who has the interests of state at heart pours forth execration and hatred; which cannot be borne because of its monstrousness and yet cannot be overthrown without great disaster to the city because its maliciousness is hedged about with armed forces and wealth. This is the picture of a tyrant - unless there is something more odious which can be depicted… The main object of a tyrant is to follow his own caprices, but a king follows the path of right and honor. Reward to a tyrant is wealth; to a king, honor, which follows upon virtue. The tyrants' rule is marked by fear, deceit, and machinations of evil. The king governs through wisdom, integrity, and beneficence. The tyrant uses his imperial power for himself; the king, for the state. The tyrant guarantees safety for himself by means of foreign attendants and hired brigands. The king deems himself safe through his kindness to his subjects and their love for him in return. Those citizens who are distinguished for their moral character, judgment, and prestige are held under suspicion and distrust by the tyrant. The king, however, cleaves to these same men as his helpers and friends. The tyrant is pleased either with stupid dolts, on whom he imposes; or with wicked men, whom he puts to evil use in defending his position as tyrant; or with flatterers, from whom he hears only praise which he enjoys. It is just the opposite with a king; every wise man by whose counsel he can be helped is very dear to him. The better each man is, the higher he rates him, because he can rely on his allegiance. He loves honest friends, by whose companionship he is bettered. Kings and tyrants have many hands and many eyes, but they are very different. A tyrant's aim is to get the wealth of his subjects in the hands of a few, the wickedest few, and fortify his power by the weakened strength of his subjects. The king considers that his purse is represented by the wealth of his subjects; the tyrant strives to have everyone answerable to him either by law or informers. The king rejoices in the freedom of his people; the tyrant strives to be feared, the king to be loved. The tyrant looks upon nothing with greater suspicion than the harmonious agreement of good men and of cities; good princes especially rejoice in this. A tyrant is happy to stir up factions and strife between his subjects and feeds and aids chance animosities. This means he basely uses for the safeguarding of his tyranny. A king has this one interest: to foster peaceful relations between his subjects and straightway to adjust such dissensions among them as chance to arise, for he believes that they are the worst menace to the state that can happen. When a tyrant sees that affairs of state are flourishing, he

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trumps up some pretext, or even invites in some enemy, so as to start a war and thereby weaken the powers. The opposite is true of a king. He allows everything that will bring everlasting peace to his country, for he realizes that war is the source of all misfortunes to the state. The tyrant either sets up laws, constitutions, edicts, treaties, and all things sacred and profane to his own personal preservation or else perverts them to that end. The king judges everything by the standard of its value to the state. Most of the marks or schemes of a tyrant have been set forth at great length by Aristotle in his Politics;3 but he sums them up under three points. The tyrant is first concerned to see that his subjects neither wish to nor dare to rise against his tyrannical rule; next, that they do not trust one another; and thirdly, that they cannot attempt a revolution. He accomplishes his first end by allowing his subjects to develop no spirit at all and no wisdom, by keeping them like slaves and devoted to mean stations in life, or held accountable by a system of spies, or rendered effeminate through pleasure. He knows full well that noble and acute spirits do not tolerate a tyranny with good grace. He accomplishes his second point by stirring up dissension and mutual hatred among his subjects so that one accuses the other and he himself is more powerful as a result of their misfortunes. The third he attains by using every means to reduce the wealth and prestige of any of his subjects, and especially the good men, to a limit which no sane man would want to approach and would despair of attaining.

3 Aristotle composed his Politics in the fourth century BCE. After being forgotten in Western Europe it emerged as the authoritative work on politics in the thirteenth-century universities. While Aristotle was dismissed by many Renaissance humanists (because he was so closely associated with the “medieval” universities) his reputation was rehabilitated at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

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Niccolò Machiavelli, excerpts from The Prince.1

Machiavelli was the second chancellor of the Republic of Florence, in charge of conducting diplomacy and providing advice on foreign relations and military affairs to the council that ruled Florence. He became well-known in Italy for his attempt to revive the ancient Roman practice of having a citizen army. His Florentine militia helped conquer Pisa in 1509, but it was defeated in 1512, when the Medici family overthrew the Florentine Republic and regained power. Machiavelli was arrested (wrongly, it seems) for conspiracy against the new government, tortured and imprisoned. He escaped execution when a Medici was elected Pope (Leo X) and prisoners were granted clemency as part of the celebration. Machiavelli wrote The Prince at the low point of his career (he became a political player again in 1520, when his comedy Mandragola (1519) was performed and loved by Pope Leo X and his military treatise The Art of War (1520) was published). Many of the ideas that are developed in The Prince (written between 1513 and 1516) appear in his diplomatic correspondence from a decade earlier and his letters to his friend Francesco Vettori, Florentine ambassador to Rome. This version of those ideas, which was not published until 1532 (five years after Machiavelli’s death), was used by Machiavelli in his effort to impress potential patrons with his knowledge of real-world politics and to find him a job in politics again; it was unsuccessful.

Chapter 8: Of Those Who Come to Power through Wicked Actions

…Hence it is to be remarked that, in taking control of a state, you ought to list all those injuries which it is necessary to inflict and to do them all at once so as not to have to repeat new atrocities daily; thus by not unsettling men you will be able to reassure them and win them to yourself by benefits. He who does otherwise, either from squeamishness or bad judgment, is always compelled to keep the bloody knife in his hand; neither can he rely on his subjects, nor can they trust him, for he is always making new attacks on them. Injuries ought to be done all at one time, so that the full extent will not be noticed. Good deeds, on the other hand, should be done little by little, so that they can be fully appreciated…

Chapter 17: Concerning Cruelty and Compassion, and Whether It Is Better To Be Loved Than Feared

… I recognize that every prince ought to desire to be considered compassionate and not cruel. Nevertheless he ought to take care not to misuse this compassion. Cesare Borgia was considered cruel; notwithstanding, his cruelty reconciled the Romagna, unified it, and restored it to peace and loyalty.2 And if this be rightly considered, he will be seen to have been much more merciful

1 Source: Machiavelli, The Prince, trans. W. K. Marriott ,1908. Full text available at http://www.constitution.org/mac/prince00.htm. Text modernized, with notes and introduction added by Glenn Kumhera. 2 Cesare Borgia (1476-1507) was the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI. His father had made him a cardinal, but then removed him from the clergy so he could pursue a military career. Borgia, with papal money and ruthless and fear-inspiring tactics, conquered the Romagna, a region of fiercely independent cities east of Rome and Florence that had fought for centuries to be free of papal influence. Machiavelli had been an envoy to Borgia’s court twice. While he seems to have had several intellectual conversations with Cesare, he was afraid enough being at his court

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than the Florentine people, who, to avoid a reputation for cruelty, permitted Pistoia to be destroyed.3 Therefore a prince, so long as he keeps his subjects united and loyal, ought not to mind the reproach of cruelty; because with a few examples he will be more merciful than those who, through too much mercy, allow disorders to arise, from which follow murders or robberies; for these injure the whole people, while those executions which originate with a prince offend the individual only. And of all princes, it is impossible for the new prince to avoid the imputation of cruelty, owing to new states being full of dangers. Hence Virgil, through the mouth of Dido, excuses the inhumanity of her reign owing to its being new, saying:

Harsh necessity, and the fact that my kingdom is new Oblige me to do these things, And to mass my armies on the frontiers. (Virgil’s Aenied, I 563-564)

Nevertheless he should be slow to believe and to act, nor should he himself show fear, but proceed in a temperate manner with prudence and humanity, so that too much confidence may not make him incautious and too much distrust render him insupportable. Upon this a question arises: whether it is better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, one must choose one. Because this is to be asserted in general of men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, deceptive, cowardly, covetous, and as long as you serve their interests they are yours entirely; they will offer you their blood, property, life and children, as is said above, when the need is far distant; but when it approaches they turn against you. And that prince who, relying entirely on their promises, has neglected other precautions, is ruined; because friendships that are obtained by payments, and not by greatness or nobility of mind, may indeed be earned, but they are not secured, and in time of need cannot be relied upon; and men have less scruple in offending one who is beloved than one who is feared, for love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity when their interests are at stake; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails. Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared when he is not hated, which will always be the case as long as he refrains from taking the property of his citizens and subjects and from their women. But when it is necessary for him to proceed against the life of someone, he must do it on proper justification and for manifest cause, but above all things he must keep his hands off the property of others, because men more quickly forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony. Besides, pretexts for taking away the property are never wanting; for he who has once begun to live by robbery will always find pretexts for seizing what belongs to others; but reasons for taking life, on the contrary, are more difficult to find and sooner lapse. But when a prince is with his army, and has under control a multitude of soldiers, then it is quite necessary for him to disregard the reputation of cruelty, for without it he would never hold his army united or disposed to its duties.

that he tried to get recalled to Florence because of “illness.” Machiavelli used Cesare earlier in the Prince as an example of the prince who did everything right. 3 The Florentines conquered Pistoia and instead of exiling or killing one of the two major families, attempted to keep both in the city and play them against each other. Machiavelli knew the situation well, since he was involved in trying to restore order to Pistoia.

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Among the wonderful deeds of Hannibal this one is enumerated: that having led an enormous army, composed of many various races of men, to fight in foreign lands, no dissensions arose either among them or against the prince, whether things were going well or poorly.4 This arose from nothing else than his inhuman cruelty, which, with his boundless skill, made him revered and terrible in the sight of his soldiers, but without that cruelty, his other abilities were not sufficient to produce this effect. And shortsighted writers admire his deeds from one point of view and from another condemn the principal cause of them. That it is true his other abilities would not have been sufficient for him may be proved by the case of Scipio, that most excellent man, not of his own times but within the memory of man, against whom, nevertheless, his army rebelled in Spain; this arose from nothing but his too great forbearance, which gave his soldiers more freedom than is consistent with military discipline.5 For this he was upbraided in the Senate by Fabius Maximus, and called the corrupter of the Roman armies. The Locrians were laid waste by a legate of Scipio, yet they were not avenged by him, nor was the insolence of the legate punished, owing entirely to his easy nature. Insomuch that someone in the Senate, wishing to excuse him, said there were many men who knew much better how not to err than to correct the errors of others. This disposition, if he had been continued in the command, would have destroyed in time the fame and glory of Scipio; but, he being under the control of the Senate, this injurious characteristic not only concealed itself, but contributed to his glory. Returning to the question of being feared or loved, I come to the conclusion that, men loving according to their own will and fearing according to that of the prince, a wise prince should establish himself on that which is in his own control and not in that of others; he must endeavor only to avoid hatred, as I have said.

Chapter 18: Concerning the Way in which Princes Should Keep Faith

Everybody admits how praiseworthy it is in a prince to keep faith and to live with integrity and not with craftiness. Nevertheless our experience has been that those princes who have done great things have held good faith of little account and have known how to employ cunning to confuse and disorientate other men, and in the end have overcome those who have relied on their word. You must know there are two ways of contesting, the one by the rules, the other by force; the first method is proper to men, the second to beasts; but because the first is frequently not sufficient, it is necessary to have recourse to the second. Therefore it is necessary for a prince to understand how to avail himself of the beast and the man. This has been figuratively taught to princes by ancient writers, who describe how Achilles and many other princes of old were given to the Centaur Chiron to nurse, who brought them up in his discipline; which means solely that, as they had for a teacher one who was half beast and half man, so it is necessary for a prince to know how to make use of both natures, and that one without the other is not durable. A prince, therefore, being compelled knowingly to adopt the beast, ought to choose the fox and the lion; because the lion cannot defend himself against snares and the fox cannot defend himself against wolves. Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves. Those who rely simply on the lion do not understand what they are about. Therefore a wise lord cannot, nor ought he to, keep faith when such observance may be turned

4 Hannibal (247-c.183 BCE), a Carthaginian general, campaigned in Italy from 218-203 BCE. Machiavelli takes his information on Hannibal from the ancient historian Polybius. 5 Scipio (c.236-183 BCE) defeated Hannibal at Zama in North Africa in 202 BCE.

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against him, and when the reasons that caused him to pledge it exist no longer. If men were entirely good this precept would not hold, but because they are bad, and will not keep faith with you, you too are not bound to observe it with them. Nor will there ever be wanting to a prince legitimate reasons to excuse this nonobservance. I could give endless modern examples showing how many treaties and engagements have been made void and of no effect through the faithlessness of princes; and he who has known best how to employ the fox has succeeded best. But it is necessary to know well how to disguise this characteristic, and to be a great pretender and dissembler; and men are so simple, and so subject to present necessities, that he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived. One recent example I cannot pass over in silence. Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503) did nothing else but deceive men, nor ever thought of doing otherwise, and he always found victims; for there never was a man who had greater power in asserting, or who with greater oaths would affirm a thing, yet would observe it less; nevertheless his deceits always succeeded according to his wishes, because he well understood this side of mankind. Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to become the opposite. And you have to understand this—that a prince, especially a new one, cannot observe all those things for which men are esteemed, being often forced in order to maintain the state to act contrary to faith, friendship, humanity, and religion. Therefore it is necessary for him to have a mind ready to turn itself accordingly as the winds and variations of fortune force it, yet, as I have said above, not to diverge from the good if he can avoid doing so, but, if compelled, then to know how to set about it. For this reason a prince ought to take care that he never lets anything slip from his lips that is not replete with the above-named five qualities, that he may appear to him who sees and hears him altogether merciful, faithful, humane, upright, and religious. There is nothing more necessary to appear to have than this last quality, inasmuch as men judge generally more by sight than by touch, because it belongs to everybody to see you, but few to come in touch with you. Everybody sees what you appear to be, but few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them; and in the actions of all men, and especially of princes, which it is not prudent to challenge, one judges by the result. For that reason, if a prince wins wars and holds on to power, the means will always be considered honorable. He will be praised by everybody because the common man is always taken by what a thing seems to be and by what comes of it; and in the world only the common men count, for the elite are powerless if the masses have someone to provide them with leadership...

Chapter 19: That One Should Avoid Being Despised and Hated

It makes him hated above all things, as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of the property and women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain. And when neither their property nor honor is touched, the majority of men live content, and he has only to contend with the ambitious few, whom he can curb with ease in many ways.

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It makes him contemptible to be considered eratic, frivolous, effeminate, mean-spirited, irresolute, from all of which a prince should guard himself as ship’s pilot does from a rock; and he should endeavor to show in his actions greatness, courage, strength of character and fortitude; and in his private dealings with his subjects let him show that his judgments are irrevocable, and maintain himself in such reputation that no one can hope either to deceive him or to get round him. That prince is highly esteemed who conveys this impression of himself, and he who is highly esteemed is not easily conspired against; for, provided it is well known that he is an excellent man and revered by his people, he can only be attacked with difficulty. For this reason a prince ought to have two fears, one from within, on account of his subjects, the other from without, on account of external powers. From the latter he is defended by having a good army and having good allies, and if he has a good army then he will have good allies… But concerning his subjects, when affairs outside are disturbed he has only to fear that they will conspire secretly, from which a prince can easily secure himself by avoiding being hated and despised, and by keeping the people satisfied with him, which it is most necessary for him to accomplish.

Chapter 21: How a Prince Should Conduct Himself as to Gain Renown

…Do not think for a moment that a state can always choose perfectly safe courses; rather expect to have to take risks in every decision, because it is natural that one opens oneself up to new dangers by protecting against others. Prudence consists in knowing how to assess risks and in accepting the lesser of two evils as a good. A prince ought also to show himself a patron of ability, and to honor those proficient in every art. At the same time he should encourage his citizens to practice their callings peaceably, both in commerce and agriculture, and in every other following, so that the no one should be deterred from improving his possessions for fear that they be taken away from him or another from opening up trade for fear of taxes; but the prince ought to offer rewards to whoever wishes to do these things and designs in any way to honor his city or state. Further, he ought to entertain the people with festivals and spectacles at convenient seasons of the year; and as every city is divided into guilds or into societies, he ought to hold such bodies in esteem, and associate with them sometimes, and show himself an example of courtesy and liberality; nevertheless, always maintaining the authority and dignity of his rank, for this he must never consent to let slip in any circumstances.

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Amerigo Vespucci, Account of His First Voyage (of 1497)1

Amerigo Vespucci (born in Florence in 1452), whose name was given to the American continents by the mapmaker Waldsmuller in 1507, worked in Seville (Spain) in the business house which fitted out Columbus' second expedition. Here he gives an account of the first of his own four voyages. The original of this letter was sent to the leader of the Florentine Republic, Piero Soderini, to send news of his accomplishments to his home. The news greatly enhanced the status of his family, who added "of the New World" to their name. The letter as it survives was the one published by printers around 1505 and they may have added certain elements. For most of Europe, this letter was their first glimpse of the New World.

Letter of Amerigo Vespucci to Piero Soderini, Gonfalonier of the Republic of Florence … I resolved to abandon trade, and to fix my aim upon something more praiseworthy and stable, whence it was that I made preparation for going to see part of the world and its wonders. Here the time and place presented themselves most opportunely to me; King Don Ferrando of Castile being about to dispatch four ships to discover new lands towards the west and I was chosen by his Highness to go in that fleet to aid in making discovery. We set out from the port of Cadiz on the 10th day of May 1497, and took our route through the great gulf of the Ocean-sea. We were eighteen months engaged and discovered much continental land and innumerable islands, and a great part of them inhabited, of which there is no mention made by the ancient writers. I believe this is because they had no knowledge of them, for, if I remember well, I have read in some one (of those writers) that he considered that this Ocean-sea was an unpeopled sea… As I said above, we left the port of Cadiz four consort ships: and began our voyage in direct course to the Fortunates Isles which are called today the Grand Canaries…where we remained eight days, taking in provision of water, and wood and other necessary things. From here, having said our prayers, we weighed anchor, and gave the sails to the wind, beginning our course to westward… on till at the end of 37 days we reached a land which we deemed to be a continent, which is distant westwardly from the isles of Canary about a thousand leagues beyond the inhabited region within the torrid zone. We anchored with our ships a league and a half from land and we put out our boats freighted with men and arms. We made towards the land, and before we reached it, had sight of a great number of people who were going along the shore, by which we were much rejoiced. We observed that they were a naked race. They showed themselves to stand in fear of us; I believe (it was) because they saw us clothed and of other appearance (than their own). They all withdrew to a hill, and for whatsoever signals we made to them of peace and of friendliness, they would not come to parley with us. We decided to remove from there the next day, and to go in search of some harbor or bay, where we might place our ships in safety since the night was now coming on and the ships were anchored in a dangerous place, being on a rough and shelterless coast. We sailed with northwest, running along the coast with the land ever in sight, continually in our course observing people along the shore till after having navigated for two days, we found a place sufficiently secure for the ships. We anchored half a league from land, on which we saw a

1 Source: American Historical Documents, 1000–1904, The Harvard Classics, 1909–14. Available at http://www.bartleby.com/43/3.html. Text and punctuation modernized.

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very great number of people and this same day we put to land with the boats, and sprang on shore full 40 men in good trim. Still the land's people appeared too shy to converse with us, and we were unable to encourage them so much as to make them come to speak with us. And this day we labored so greatly in giving them of our wares, such as rattles and mirrors, beads and other trifles, that some of them took confidence and came to discourse with us. After having made good friends with them, the night coming on, we took our leave of them and returned to the ships and the next day when the dawn appeared we saw that there were infinite numbers of people upon the beach and they had their women and children with them. We went, ashore, and found that they were all2 laden with their worldly goods which I will describe in their proper place. Before we reached the land, many of them jumped into the sea and came swimming to receive us at a bowshot's length from the shore (for they are very great swimmers) with as much confidence as if they had for a long time been acquainted with us. We were pleased with their confidence. This we learned of their manner of life and customs: they go entirely naked, both the men and the women. . . . They are of medium stature, very well proportioned; their flesh is of a color that verges into red like a lion's mane and I believe that if they went clothed they would be as white as we. They have no hair upon the body, except the hair of the head which is long and black (especially in the women, whom it renders quite attractive). In features they are not very good-looking because they have broad faces, so that they would seem Tartar-like.3 They let no hair grow on their eyebrows, nor on their eyelids, nor elsewhere, except the hair of the head, for they hold hairiness to be a filthy thing. They are very light footed in walking and in running, both the men and the women, so that a woman thinks nothing of running a league or two, as many times we saw them do. Herein they have a very great advantage over us Christians. They swim with an expertness beyond all belief, and the women better than the men; we have many times found and seen them swimming two leagues out at sea without anything to rest upon. Their weapons are bows and arrows very well made, save that (the arrows) are not (tipped) with iron nor any other kind of hard metal. Instead of iron they put animals' or fishes' teeth, or a spike of tough wood, with the point hardened by fire. They are sure marksmen, for they hit whatever they aim at and in some places the women use these bows. They have other weapons, such as fire-hardened spears, and also clubs with knobs, beautifully carved. Warfare is used amongst them, which they carry on against people not of their own language, very cruelly, without granting life to any one, except (to reserve him) for greater suffering. When they go to war, they take their women with them, not that these may fight, but because they carry behind them their worldly goods, for a woman carries on her back for thirty or forty leagues a load which no man could bear, as we have many times seen them do. They are not accustomed to have any Captain, nor do they go in any ordered array, for each one is lord of himself. The cause of their wars is not for lust of dominion, nor of extending their frontiers, nor for inordinate covetousness, but for some ancient enmity which in by-gone times arose amongst them. And when asked why they made war, they knew not any other reason to give than that they did so to avenge the death of their ancestors, or of their parents. These people have neither king, nor lord, nor do they yield obedience to anyone, for they live in their own liberty. They are motivated to go to war when their enemies have slain or captured any of them and his oldest kinsman rises up and goes about the highways haranguing them to go with him and avenge the death of his

2 The word "all" is feminine here, and probably refers only to the women (Harvard note). 3 The Tartars were the European name for the Mongols. Here Vespucci observes that the natives bear a resemblance to Mongolians.

275 kinsman; thus they are stirred up by fellow-feeling. They have no judicial system, nor do they punish the ill-doer. Nor does the father, nor the mother chastise the children and marvelously seldom, or never, did we see any dispute among them. In their conversation they appear simple, but they are very cunning and acute in that which concerns them. They speak little and in a low tone and they use the same articulations as we, since they form their utterances either with the palate, or with the teeth, or on the lips.4 They just give different names to things. Many are the varieties of tongues, for in every 100 leagues we found a change of language, so that they do not understand each other. The manner of their living is very barbarous, for they do not eat at certain hours, and as often as they want…They eat upon the ground without a table-cloth or any other cover, for they have their meats either in earthen basins, which they make themselves, or in the halves of pumpkins. They sleep in certain very large nettings made of cotton, suspended in the air and although this fashion of sleeping may seem uncomfortable, I say that it is sweet to sleep in those nettings; we slept better in them than in the counterpanes (of the ship). They are a people smooth and clean of body, because of so continually washing themselves as they do. . . Amongst those people we did not learn that they had any law (i.e. religion), nor can they be called Moors nor Jews. And (they are) worse than pagans because we did not observe that they offered any sacrifice, nor even had they a house of prayer…Their dwellings are in common and their houses (are) made in the style of huts, but strongly made, and constructed with very large trees, and covered over with palm-leaves, secure against storms and winds. In some places (they are) of so great breadth and length, that in one single house we found there were 600 souls and we saw a village of only thirteen houses where there were four thousand souls. Every eight or ten years they change their habitations and when asked why they did so (they said it was) because of the soil which, from its filthiness, was already unhealthy and corrupted, and that it bred aches in their bodies, which seemed to us a good reason. Their riches consist of bird's plumes of many colors, or of rosaries which they make from fish bones, or of white or green stones which they put in their cheeks and in their lips and ears, and of many other things which we in no way value. They use no trade; they neither buy nor sell. They live and are contended with that which nature gives them. The wealth that we enjoy in this our Europe and elsewhere, such as gold, jewels, pearls, and other riches, they hold as nothing; although they have them in their own lands, they do not labor to obtain them, nor do they value them. They are liberal in giving, for it is rare that they deny you anything and on the other hand, liberal in asking, when they show themselves your friends. . . . When they die, they use diverse manners of obsequies. Some they bury with water and food at their heads, thinking that they shall have (whereof) to eat. They have not, nor do they use, ceremonies of torches nor of lamentation. In some other places, they use the most barbarous and inhuman burial, which is that when a suffering or infirm (person) is as it were at the last pass of death, his kinsmen carry him into a large forest, and attach one of those nets of theirs, in which they sleep, to two trees, and then put him in it, and dance around him for a whole day. And when the night comes they place at his bed, water with other victuals, so that he may be able to subsist for four or six days and then they leave him alone and return to the village. If the sick man helps himself, and eats, and drinks, and survives, he returns to the village, and his (friends) receive him with ceremony. But few are they who escape; without receiving any further visit they die, and that is their sepulture. And they have many other customs which for prolixity are not related.

4 He means that they have no sounds in their language unknown to European organs of speech, all being either palatals or dentals of labials.

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They use in their sicknesses various forms of medicines, [that is, medical treatment] so different from ours that we marveled how any one survived them. Many times I saw that with a man sick of fever, when it heightened upon him, they bathed him from head to foot with a large quantity of cold water, then they lit a great fire around him, making him turn and turn again every two hours, until they tired him and left him to sleep, and many were (thus) cured. With this they make use of dieting, for they remain three days without eating, and also of blood-letting, but not from the arm, only from the thighs and the loins and the calf of the leg. Also they provoke vomiting with their herbs which are put into the mouth and they use many other remedies which it would be long to relate. They are much vitiated in the phlegm and in the blood because of their food which consists chiefly of roots of herbs, and fruits and fish. They have no seed of wheat nor other grain and for their ordinary use and feeding, they have a root of a tree, from which they make flour, tolerably good, and they call it Iuca, and another which they call Cazabi, and another Ignami.5 They eat little flesh except human flesh.6 Your Magnificence must know that herein they are so inhuman that they outdo every custom (even) of beasts; for they eat all their enemies whom they kill or capture, as well females as males with so much savagery. Merely to relate it is a horrible thing, how much more so to see it, as, infinite times and in many places, it was my hap to see it. And they wondered to hear us say that we did not eat our enemies. And this your Magnificence may take for certain, that their other barbarous customs are such that expression is too weak for the reality. And as in these four voyages I have seen so many things diverse from our customs, I prepared to write a common-place-book which I name Le quattro Giornate (The Four Voyages) in which I have set down the greater part of the things which I saw, sufficiently in detail, so far as my feeble wit has allowed me. I have not yet published it, because I have so ill a taste for my own things that I do not relish those which I have written, notwithstanding that many encourage me to publish it. Therein everything will be seen in detail, so that I shall not enlarge further in this chapter. As in the course of the letter we shall come to many other things which are particular, let this suffice for the general. At this beginning, we saw nothing in the land of much profit, except some show of gold. I believe the cause of it was that we did not know the language. In so far as concerns the situation and condition of the land, it could not be better. We decided to leave that place, and to go further on, continuously coasting the shore, upon which we made frequent descents and held converse with a great number of people. At the end of some days we went into a harbor where we underwent very great danger and it pleased the Holy Ghost to save us. This is how it happened; we landed in a harbor, where we found a village built like Venice upon the water. There were about 44 large dwellings in the form of huts erected upon very thick piles, and they had their doors or entrances in the style of drawbridges and from each house one could pass through all, by means of the drawbridges which stretched from house to house. When the people there had seen us, they appeared to be afraid of us, and immediately drew up all the bridges and while we were looking at this strange action, we saw coming across the sea 22 canoes (which are a kind of boats of theirs, constructed from a single tree) which came towards our boats. As they had been surprised by our appearance and clothes, they kept wide of

5 Yucca, sweet potatoes, and yams. 6 This section on cannibals is generally considered to have been added by the printer. The image of the uncivilized being cannibals was widely accepted and one of the most illustrated with woodcuts of the new world natives. Perhaps it was such a part of the image that the printer thought the account incomplete without cannibalism. Or perhaps it was to sell more books, since it is followed immediately by a mention of a full description of the voyage in a forthcoming volume.

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us. And thus remaining, we made signals to them that they should approach us, encouraging them with every token of friendliness. When we saw that they were not coming to us, we went to them, and they did not stay for us, but made to the land, and, by signs, told us to wait and that they should soon return. They went to a hill in the background and did not delay long. When they returned, they led with them 16 of their girls, and entered with these into their canoes, and came to the boats and in each boat they put 4 of the girls. That we marveled at this behavior your Magnificence can imagine how much, and they placed themselves with their canoes among our boats, coming to speak with us (insomuch that we deemed it a mark of friendliness). While thus engaged, we beheld a great number of people advance swimming towards us across the sea, who came from the houses. As they were drawing near to us without any apprehension, just then there appeared at the doors of the houses certain old women, uttering very loud cries and tearing their hair to exhibit grief, whereby they made us suspicious, and we each betook ourselves to arms. And instantly the girls whom we had in the boats, threw themselves into the sea, and the men of the canoes drew away from us, and began with their bows to shoot arrows at us and those who were swimming each carried a lance held, as covertly as they could, beneath the water: so that, recognizing the treachery, we engaged with them, not merely to defend ourselves, but to attack them vigorously, and we overturned with our boats many of their canoes, for so they call them. We made a slaughter (of them), and they all flung themselves into the water to swim, leaving their canoes abandoned, with considerable loss on their side, they went swimming away to the shore. There died of them about 15 or 20, and many were left wounded and of ours 5 were wounded, and all, by the grace of God, escaped death. We captured two of the girls and two men and we proceeded to their houses, and entered therein, and in them all we found nothing else than two old women and a sick man. We took away from them many things, but of small value and we did not burn their houses, because it seemed to us as though that would be a burden upon our conscience. We returned to our boats with five prisoners…and put a pair of irons on the feet of each of the captives, except the little girls. When the night came on, the two girls and one of the men fled away in the most subtle manner possible. The next day we decided to quit that harbor and go further onwards; we proceeded continuously skirting the coast, until we had sight of another tribe distant perhaps some 80 leagues7 from the former tribe. We found them very different in speech and customs. We cast anchor and went ashore with the boats. We saw on the beach a great number of people amounting probably to 4000 souls and when we had reached the shore, they did not stay for us, but fled through the forests, abandoning their things. We jumped on land, and took a pathway that led to the forest and at the distance of a bow-shot we found their tents, where they had made very large fires, and two (of them) were cooking their victuals, and roasting several animals, and fish of many kinds. Here we saw that they were roasting a certain animal which seemed to be a serpent, save that it had not wings, and was in its appearance so loathsome that we marveled much at its savageness. Thus went we on through their houses, or rather tents, and found many of those serpents alive, and they were tied by the feet and had a cord around their snouts, so that they could not open their mouths, as is done in Europe with mastiff-dogs so that they may not bite. They were of such savage aspect that none of us dared to take one away, thinking that they were poisonous: they are of the bigness of a kid, and in length an ell and a half.8 Their feet are long and thick and armed with big claws. They have a hard skin, and are of various colors. They have the muzzle and face of a serpent and from their snouts there rises a crest like a saw which

7 The “league” in Spanish usage before 1568 measured approximately 2.6 miles. 8 An ell is an arm’s length.

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extends along the middle of the back as far as the tip of the tail.9 In the end we deemed them to be serpents and venomous, and (nevertheless, those people) ate them. We also found that they made bread out of little fishes which they took from the sea, first boiling them, (then) pounding them, and making thereof a paste, or bread, and they baked them on the embers. Thus did they eat them and we tried it, and found that it was good. They had so many other kinds of eatables, and especially of fruits and roots, that it would be a large matter to describe them in detail. Seeing that the people did not return, we decided not to touch nor take away anything of theirs, so as better to reassure them and we left in the tents for them many of our things, placed where they should see them, and returned by night to our ships. The next day, when it was light, we saw on the beach an infinite number of people. We landed and although they appeared timorous towards us, they took courage nevertheless to hold converse with us, giving us whatever we asked of them. Showing themselves very friendly towards us, they told us that those were their dwellings, and that they had come hither for the purpose of fishing and they begged that we would visit their dwellings and villages, because they desired to receive us as friends. They engaged in such friendship because of the two captured men whom we had with us, as these were their enemies. … We determined that 28 of us Christians in good array should go with them, and in the firm resolve to die if it should be necessary. After we had been here some three days, we went with them inland and at three leagues from the coast we came to a village of many people and few houses (for there were no more than nine of these) where we were received with such and so many barbarous ceremonies that the pen suffices not to write them down. There were dances, and songs, and lamentations mingled with rejoicing, and great quantities of food and here we remained the night . . . and after having been here that night and half the next day, so great was the number of people who came wondering to behold us that they were beyond counting. The most aged begged us to go with them to other villages which were further inland, making display of doing us the greatest honor, wherefore we decided to go. It would be impossible to tell you how much honor they did us; we went to several villages, so that we were nine days journeying, so that our Christians who had remained with the ships were already apprehensive concerning us. When we were about 18 leagues in the interior of the land, we resolved to return to the ships: and on our way back, such was the number of people, as well men as women, that came with us as far as the sea, that it was a wondrous thing. If any of us became weary of the march, they carried us in their nets very refreshingly and in crossing the rivers, which are many and very large, they passed us over by skilful means so securely that we ran no danger whatever, and many of them came laden with the things which they had given us, which consisted in their sleeping-nets, and very rich feathers, many bows and arrows, and innumerable popinjays of divers colors. Others brought with them loads of their household goods, and of animals, but a greater marvel will I tell you, that, when we had to cross a river, he deemed himself lucky who was able to carry us on his back. And when we reached the sea, our boats having arrived, we entered into them and so great was the struggle which they made to get into our boats, and to come to see our ships, that we marveled thereat. We took as many of them as we could in our boats, and made our way to the ships, and so many others came swimming that we found ourselves embarrassed in seeing so many people in the ships, for there were over a thousand persons all naked and unarmed. They were amazed by our nautical gear and contrivances, and the size of the ships. With them there occurred to us a very laughable affair, which was that we decided to fire off some of our great guns, and when the explosion took place, most of them through fear cast themselves into the sea to swim, not

9 This animal is the iguana.

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otherwise than frogs on the margins of a pond, when they see something that frightens them, will jump into the water, just so did those people. Those who remained in the ships were so terrified that we regretted our action, however, we reassured them by telling them that with those arms we slew our enemies. And after they had amused themselves in the ships the whole day, we told them to go away because we desired to depart that night, and so separating from us with much friendship and love, they went away to land. … This land is very populous, and full of inhabitants, and of numberless rivers, and animals, few of which resemble ours, excepting lions, panthers, stags, pigs, goats, and deer. Even these have some dissimilarities of form. They have no horses, nor mules, nor, saving what we brought, asses nor dogs, nor any kind of sheep or oxen. But so numerous are the other animals which they have, and all are savage, and of none do they make use for their service, that they could not be counted. What shall we say of others, such as birds? They are so numerous, and of so many kinds, and of such various-colored plumages, that it is a marvel to behold them. The soil is very pleasant and fruitful, full of immense woods and forests and it is always green, for the foliage never drops off. The fruits are so many that they are numberless and entirely different from ours. … Many tribes came to see us, and wondered at our faces and our whiteness. They asked us whence we came and we gave them to understand that we had come from heaven, and that we were going to see the world, and they believed it. In this land we placed baptismal fonts, and an infinite number of people were baptized. And they called us in their language Carabi, which means men of great wisdom. … In several places we obtained gold by barter but not much in quantity, for we had done enough in discovering the land and learning that they had gold. We had now been thirteen months on the voyage and the vessels and the tackling were already much damaged, and the men worn out by fatigue. We decided by general council to haul our ships on land and examine them for the purpose of stanching leaks, as they made much water, and of caulking and tarring them afresh, and then returning towards Spain. When we came to this determination, we were close to a harbor the best in the world, into which we entered with our vessels. Here we found an immense number of people who received us with much friendliness. On the shore we made a bastion [a fort or barricade] with our boats and with barrels and casks, and our artillery, which commanded every point. And our ships having been unloaded and lightened, we drew them upon land, and repaired them in everything that was needed. The land's people gave us very great assistance and continually furnished us with their victuals, so that in this port we tasted little of our own. This suited us well for the stock of provisions which we had for our return-passage was little and of sorry kind. There we remained 37 days and went many times to their villages where they paid us the greatest honor. And (now) desiring to depart upon our voyage, they made complaint to us how at certain times of the year there came from over the sea to this their land, a race of people very cruel, and enemies of theirs, who by means of treachery or of violence slew many of them, and ate them and some they made captives, and carried them away to their houses, or country and how they could scarcely contrive to defend themselves from them, making signs to us that (those) were an island-people and lived out in the sea about a hundred leagues away. And so piteously did they tell us this that we believed them and we promised to avenge them of so much wrong. They were overjoyed and many of them offered to come along with us, but we did not wish to take them for many reasons, save that we took seven of them, on condition that they should come (i.e., return home) afterwards in (their own) canoes because we did not desire to be obliged to take them back to their country and they were contented. So we departed from those people, leaving them

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very friendly towards us and having repaired our ships, and sailing for seven days out to sea between northeast and east. At the end of the seven days we came upon the islands, which were many, some (of them) inhabited, and others deserted. We anchored at one of them where we saw a numerous people who called it Iti. Having manned our boats with strong crews, and (taken ammunition for) three cannon shots in each, we made for land, where we found (assembled) about 400 men, and many women, and all naked like the former (peoples). They were of good bodily presence, and seemed right warlike men, for they were armed with their weapons, which are bows, arrows, and lances and most of them had square wooden targets [shields] and bore them in such a way that they did not impede the drawing of the bow. When we had come with our boats to about a bowshot of the land, they all sprang into the water to shoot their arrows at us and to prevent us from leaping upon shore. They all had their bodies painted of various colors, and (were) plumed with feathers and the interpreters who were with us told us that when (those) displayed themselves so painted and plumed, it was to betoken that they wanted to fight. And so much did they persist in preventing us from landing, that we were compelled to play with our artillery and when they heard the explosion, and saw one of them fall dead, they all drew back to the land. Wherefore, forming our council, we resolved that 42 of our men should spring on shore, and, if they waited for us, fight them. Thus having leaped to land with our weapons, they advanced towards us, and we fought for about an hour, for we had but little advantage of them, except that our arbalasters and gunners killed some of them, and they wounded certain of our men. This was because they did not stand to receive us within reach of lance-thrust or sword- blow and so much vigor did we put forth at last, that we came to sword-play, and when they tasted our weapons, they fled through the mountains and the forests, and left us conquerors of the field with many of them dead and a good number wounded. For that day we took no other pains to pursue them, because we were very weary, and we returned to our ships, with so much gladness on the part of the seven men who had come with us that they could not contain themselves (for joy). And when the next day arrived, we beheld coming across the land a great number of people, with signals of battle, continually sounding horns, and various other instruments which they use in their wars and all (of them) painted and feathered, so that it was a very strange sight to behold them. Wherefore all the ships held council, and it was resolved that since this people desired hostility with us, we should proceed to encounter them and try by every means to make them friends. In case they would not have our friendship, that we should treat them as foes, and so many of them as we might be able to capture should all be our slaves. Having armed ourselves as best we could, we advanced towards the shore, and they sought not to hinder us from landing (I believe from fear of the cannons). We jumped on land, 57 men in four squadrons, each one (consisting of) a captain and his company and we came to blows with them and after a long battle, in which many of them were slain, we put them to flight. We pursued them to a village, having made about 250 of them captives, and we burnt the village, and returned to our ships with victory and 250 prisoners, leaving many of them dead and wounded, and of ours there were no more than one killed and 22 wounded, who all escaped (i.e., recovered), God be thanked. We arranged our departure, and seven men, of whom five were wounded, took an island-canoe, and with seven prisoners that we gave them, four women and three men, returned to their own country full of gladness, wondering at our strength. We thereon made sail for Spain with 222 captive slaves and reached the port of Cadiz on the 15th day of October, 1498, where we were well received and sold our slaves. Such is what befell me, most noteworthy, in this my first voyage.

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Martin Luther, Selections from The Freedom of a Christian1

Martin Luther was a monk and professor in the early sixteenth century who first gained international prominence with his attack on the selling of indulgences in 1517. This act did not immediately begin a new Church or put Luther in danger of being hunted as a heretic. Each year, however, Luther developed his ideas and took the next theological steps. In 1520, while not yet condemned a heretic and still a Catholic monk, Luther wrote three books that together laid out the core issues of the Protestant Reformation. The most important of the three in terms of the theology of salvation was The Freedom of a Christian. In the following excerpt pay attention to what is necessary for salvation. What from the medieval church that we have studied would have to be discarded as useless or harmful to the soul if Luther’s theology was accepted?

A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone. Although these statements appear contradictory, yet, when they are found to agree together, they will be highly serviceable to my purpose. They are both the statements of Paul himself, who says: "Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all" (1 Cor. 9: 19), and: "Owe no man anything, but to love one another." (Rom. 13:8) Now love is by its own nature dutiful and obedient to the beloved object. Thus even Christ, though Lord of all things, was yet made of a woman; made under the law; at once free and a servant; at once in the form of God and in the form of a servant. Let us examine the subject on a deeper and less simple principle. Man is composed of a twofold nature, a spiritual and a bodily. As regards the spiritual nature, which is called the soul, he is called the spiritual, inward, new man; as regards the bodily nature, which is called the flesh, he is called the fleshly, outward, old man. The Apostle speaks of this: "Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is relieved day by day." (2 Cor. 6:16) The result of this diversity is that in the Scriptures opposing statements are made concerning the same man; the fact being that in the same man these two men are opposed to one another; the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. (Gal. 5:17) We first approach the subject of the inward man, that we may see by what means a man becomes justified, free, and a true Christian; that is, a spiritual, new, and inward man. It is certain that absolutely none among outward things, under whatever name they may be reckoned, has any weight in producing a state of justification and Christian liberty, nor, on the other hand an unjustified state and one of slavery. This can be shown by an easy course of argument. What can it profit the soul if the body should be in good condition, free, and full of life; that it should eat, drink, and act according to its pleasure; when even the most impious slaves of every kind of vice are prosperous in these matters ? Again, what harm can ill-health, bondage, hunger, thirst, or any other outward evil, do to the soul, when even the most pious of men, and the freest in the purity of their conscience are harassed by these things? Neither of these states of things has to do with the liberty or the slavery of the soul.

1 Text from Henry Wace and C. A. Buchheim, First Principles of the Reformation, London: John Murray, 1883. Text modernized here. Full original text available at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/luther- freedomchristian.asp.

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And so it will profit nothing that the body should be adorned with sacred vestments, or dwell in holy places, or be occupied in sacred offices, or pray aloud, fast, and abstain from certain meats, or do whatever works can be done through the body and in the body. Something widely different will be necessary for the justification and liberty of the soul, since the things I have spoken of can be done by any impious person, and only hypocrites are produced by devotion to these things. On the other hand, it will not at all injure the soul that the body should be clothed in profane raiment, should dwell in profane places, should eat and drink in the ordinary fashion, should not pray aloud, and should leave undone all the things abovementioned, which may be done by hypocrites. And, to cast everything aside, even theological speculations, meditations and whatever things can be performed by the exertions of the soul itself are of no profit. One thing, and one alone, is necessary for life, justification, and Christian liberty; and that is the most holy word of God, the Gospel of Christ, as He says: "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me shall not die eternally" (John 11:25) ; and also (John 8:36) "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed;" and (Matt. 4:4), "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." Let us therefore hold it for certain and firmly established, that the soul can do without everything, except the word of God, without which none at all of its wants are provided for. But, having the word, it is rich and needs nothing else; since that is the word of life, of truth, of light, of peace, of justification, of salvation, of joy, of liberty, of wisdom, of virtue, of grace, of glory, and of every good thing…Christ was sent for no other office than that of the word, and the order of apostles, that of bishops, and that of the whole body of the clergy, have been called and instituted for no object but the ministry of the word. But you will ask:--"What is this word, and by what means is it to be used, since there are so many words of God?" I answer, the Apostle Paul (Rom. 1) explains what it is, namely, the Gospel of God, concerning His Son, incarnate, suffering, risen, and glorified through the Spirit, the sanctifier. To preach Christ is to feed the soul, to justify it, to set it free, and to save it, if it believes the preaching. For faith alone, and the efficacious use of the word of God, bring salvation. "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Rom. 10:9) And again: "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth" (Rom. 10:4); and "The just shall live by faith." (Rom. 1: 17) For the word of God cannot be received and honored by any works, but by faith alone. Hence it is clear that, as the soul needs the word alone for life and justification, so it is justified by faith alone and not by any works. For if it could be justified by any other means, it would have no need of the word, nor consequently of faith…

***

But, you ask, how it can be the fact that faith alone justifies and affords without works so great a treasure of good things, when so many works, ceremonies, and laws are prescribed to us in the Scriptures. I answer: before all things bear in mind what I have said, that faith alone without works justifies, sets free, and saves, as I shall show more clearly below. Meanwhile it is to be noted, that the whole Scripture of God is divided into two parts, precepts and promises. The precepts certainly teach us what is good, but what they teach is not forthwith done. For they show us what we ought to do, but do not give us the power to do it. They were ordained, however, for the purpose of showing man to himself; that through them he may learn his own

283 inability to do good, and may despair of his own strength. For this reason they are called the Old Testament, and are so. For example: "thou shalt not covet," is a precept by which we are all convicted of sin; since no man can help coveting, whatever efforts to the contrary he may make. In order therefore that he may fulfill the precept, and not covet, he is constrained to despair of himself and to seek elsewhere and through another the help which he cannot find in himself…Now what is done by this one precept, is done by all; for all are equally impossible of fulfillment by us. Now when a man has through the precepts been taught his own inabilities and becomes anxious about how he may satisfy the law--for the law must be satisfied, so that no jot of it may pass away; otherwise he must be hopelessly condemned--then, being truly humbled and brought to nothing in his own eyes, he finds in himself no resource for justification and salvation. Then comes in that other part of Scripture, the promises of God, which declare the glory of God, and say: "If you wish to fulfill the law, and, as the law requires, not to covet, believe in Christ, in whom are promised to you grace, justification, peace, and liberty." All these things you shall have if you believe, and shall be without them if you do not believe. For what is impossible for you by all the works of the law, which are many and yet useless, you shall fulfill in an easy and summary way through faith; because God the Father has made everything to depend on faith, so that whosoever has it has all things, and he who has it not has nothing… From all this it is easy to understand why faith has such great power, and why no good works, nor even all good works put together, can compare with it; since no work can cleave to the word of God, or be in the soul…This is that Christian liberty, our faith, the effect of which is, not that we should be careless or lead a bad life, but that no one should need the law or works for justification and salvation.

***

The next incomparable grace of faith is this, that it unites the soul to Christ, as the wife to the husband; by which mystery, as the Apostle teaches, Christ and the soul are made one flesh. Now if they are one flesh, and if a true marriage is accomplished between them (for human marriages are but feeble types of this one great marriage), then it follows that all they have becomes theirs in common, as well good things as evil things; so that whatsoever Christ possesses, that the believing soul may take to itself and boast of as its own, and whatever belongs to the soul, that Christ claims as his. If we compare these possessions, we shall see how inestimable is the gain. Christ is full of grace, life, and salvation; the soul is full of sin, death, and condemnation. Let faith step in, and then sin, death, and hell will belong to Christ, and grace, life, and salvation to the soul. For, if he is a husband, he must needs take to himself that which is his wife's, and, at the same time, impart to his wife that which is his. For, in giving her his own body and himself, how can he but give her all that is his? And, in taking to himself the body of his wife, how can he but take to himself all that is hers?... Thus the believing soul, by the pledge of its faith in Christ, becomes free from all sin, fearless of death, safe from hell, and endowed with the eternal righteousness, life, and salvation of its husband Christ. Thus he presents to himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word; that is, by faith in the word of life, righteousness, and salvation…Christ, that rich and pious husband, takes as a wife this poor wicked harlot, redeeming her from all her evils, and supplying her with all his good things. It is

284 impossible now that her sins should destroy her, since they have been laid upon Christ and swallowed up in Him, and since she has in her husband Christ a righteousness which she may claim as her own, and which she can set up with confidence against all her sins, against death and hell, saying: "If I have sinned, my Christ, in whom I believe, has not sinned; all mine is His, and all His is mine."

*** From these considerations any one may clearly see how a Christian man is free from all things; so that he needs no works in order to be justified and saved, but receives these gifts in abundance from faith alone. Nay, were he so foolish as to pretend to be justified, set free, saved, and made a Christian by means of any good work he would immediately lose faith with all its benefits. Such folly is well-represented in the fable where a dog, running along in the water, and carrying in his mouth a real piece of meat, is deceived by the reflection of the meat in the water, and, in trying with open mouth to seize it, loses the meat and its image at the same time.

Here you will ask: "If all who are in the Church are priests by what character are those, whom we now call priests, to be distinguished from the laity? " I reply: By the use of these words, "priest," "clergy," "spiritual person," "ecclesiastic," an injustice has been done, since they have been transferred from the remaining body of Christians to those few, who are now, by a hurtful custom, called ecclesiastics. For Holy Scripture makes no distinction between them, except that those, who are now boastfully called popes, bishops, and lords, it calls ministers, servants, and stewards, who are to serve the rest in the ministry of the Word, for teaching the faith of Christ and the liberty of believers… This bad system has now issued in such a pompous display of power, and such a terrible tyranny, that no earthly government can be compared to it, as if the laity were something else than Christians. Through this perversion of things it has happened that the knowledge of Christian grace, of faith, of liberty, and altogether of Christ, has utterly perished, and has been succeeded by an intolerable bondage to human works and laws; and we have become the slaves of the vilest men on earth, who abuse our misery to all the disgraceful and ignominious purposes of their own will.

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Michael Sattler, The Schleitheim Articles (1527)1

The Schleitheim Articles were the product of a conference held at Schleitheim in February 1527. The conference was a meeting of Swiss and Southern German Anabaptists and the seven articles represent the general agreement of the individuals involved. Michael Sattler is credited with constructing the wording and form of the document, though several individuals certainly contributed to them. The introduction, which is not included below, makes it clear that this is addressed to those who consider themselves Anabaptists but were not in agreement on these points. The point of difference that Sattler emphasized in the introduction was on a separation from the world “in all that they do and don’t do.” By the time this circulated as a pamphlet in the vernacular (probably 1533 – it had circulated earlier in a Latin translation), the Schleitheim Articles had become the statement of beliefs for the pacifist wing of the Anabaptist movement.

Article I. Notice Concerning Baptism Baptism shall be given to all those who have learned repentance and the amendment of life and [who] believe truly that their sins are taken away through Christ, and to all those who desire to walk in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and be buried with Him in death, so that they might rise with Him; to all those who with such an understanding themselves desire and request it from us; hereby is excluded all infant baptism, the greatest and first abomination of the pope. For this you have the reasons and the testimony of the writings and the practice of the apostles (Mt. 28:19; Mk. 16:6; Acts 2:38; Acts 8:36; Acts 16:31-33; 19:4). We wish simply yet resolutely and with assurance to hold to the same.

Article II. We have been united as follows concerning the ban We have been united as follows concerning the ban. The ban shall be employed with all those who have given themselves over to the Lord, to walk after Him in His commandments; those who have been baptized into the one body of Christ, and let themselves be called brothers or sisters, and still somehow slip and fall into error and sin, being unknowingly overtaken. The same shall be warned twice privately and the third time be publicly banned before the entire congregation according to the command of Christ (Mt. 18:15-18). But this shall be done according to the ordering of the Spirit of God before the breaking of bread (Mt. 5:23), so that we may all in one spirit and in one love break and eat from one bread and drink from one cup.

Article III. Concerning the breaking of bread Concerning the breaking of bread, we have become one and agree thus: all those who desire to break the one bread in remembrance of the broken body of Christ and all those who wish to drink of one drink in remembrance of the shed blood of Christ, they must beforehand be united in the one body of Christ, that is the congregation of God, whose head is Christ, and that by baptism. For as Paul indicates (1 Cor. 10:21), we cannot be partakers at the same time of the table of the Lord and the table of devils. Nor can we at the same time partake and drink of the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. That is: all those who follow the devil and the world, have no part

1 Source: Text taken from John Howard Yoder, The Legacy of Michael Sattler, Herald Press, 1973 (available at http://www.mcusa-archives.org/library/resolutions/schleithiem/index.html) with modifications made from the translation of Michael Baylor (The Radical Reformation, Cambridge University Press, 1991).

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with those who have been called out of the world unto God. All those who lie in evil have no part in the good. So it shall and must be, that whoever does not share the calling of the one God to one faith, to one baptism, to one spirit, to one body together with all the children of God, may not be made one loaf together with them, as must be true if one wishes truly to break bread according to the command of Christ.

Article IV. We have been united concerning the separation that shall take place We have been united concerning the separation that shall take place from the evil and the wickedness which the devil has planted in the world, simply in this; that we have no fellowship with them and do not run with them in the confusion of their abominations. That is, all who have not entered into the obedience of faith and have not united themselves with God so that they will to do His will, are a great abomination before God. Since this is so, nothing else can or really will grow or spring forth from them than abominable things. Now there is nothing else in the world and all creation than good or evil, believing and unbelieving, darkness and light, the world and those who are out of the world, God's temple and idols. Christ and Belial, neither will have anything to do with the other. To us, then, the commandment of the Lord is also obvious, whereby He orders us to be and to become separated from the evil one, and thus He will be our God and we shall be His sons and daughters (2 Cor.6:17). Further, He admonishes us therefore to go out from Babylon and from the earthly Egypt, that we may not be partakers in their torment and suffering, which the Lord will bring upon them (Rev. 18:4ff). From all this we should learn that everything which has not been united with our God in Christ is nothing but an abomination which we should shun and flee. By this are meant all popish and neo-popish2 works and idolatry, church attendance, ecclesiastical processions, wine houses, guarantees and commitments of unbelief, and other things of the kind, which the world regards highly, and yet which are carnal or flatly counter to the command of God, after the pattern of all the iniquity which is in the world. From all this we shall be separated and have no part with such, for they are nothing but abominations, which cause us to be hated before our Christ Jesus, who has freed us from the servitude of the flesh and fitted us for the service of God and the Spirit whom He has given us. Thereby the unchristian and diabolical weapons of violence shall also doubtless fall away from us—such as sword, armor, and the like, and all of their use to protect friends or against enemies—by virtue of the word of Christ: "you shall not resist evil" (Mt. 5:39).

Article V. We have been united as follows concerning shepherds in the church of God. We have been united as follows concerning shepherds in the church of God. The shepherd in the church shall be a person according to the rule of Paul (1 Tim. 3:7), fully and completely, who has a good reputation among those who are outside the faith. The office of such a person shall be to read, to admonish, to teach, to warn, and to punish or ban in the congregation, and properly to preside among the sisters and brothers in prayer, and in the breaking of bread, and in all things to take care of the body of Christ, that it may be built up and developed so that the name of God might be praised and honored through us and the mouth of the mocker be stopped. He shall be supported, wherein he has need, by the congregation which has chosen him, so that he who serves the gospel can also live from it, as the Lord has ordered (1 Cor. 9:14). But should

2 Neo-popism is referring here to the magisterial reformers, like Luther, whom the Anabaptists viewed as holding too closely onto the errors of Catholicism.

287 a shepherd do something worthy of reprimand, nothing shall be done with him without the voice of two or three witnesses. If they sin they shall be publicly reprimanded, so that others might fear. But if the shepherd should be driven away or led to the Lord by the cross3 at the same hour another shall be installed in his place, so that the little folk and the little flock of God may not be destroyed but be preserved by warning and be consoled.

Article VI. We have been united as follows concerning the sword. We have been united as follows concerning the sword.4 The sword is an ordering of God outside the perfection of Christ. It punishes and kills the wicked and guards and protects the good. In the Law5 the sword is established over the wicked for punishment and for death and the secular rulers are established to wield the same. But within the perfection of Christ only the ban is used for the admonition and exclusion of the one who has sinned, without the death of the flesh, simply the warning and the command to sin no more. Now many, who do not understand Christ's will for us, will ask; whether a Christian may, or should, use the sword against the wicked for the protection and defense of the good, or for the sake of love. The answer is unanimously revealed: Christ teaches and commands us to learn from Him, for He is meek and lowly of heart and thus we shall find rest for our souls (Mt. 11:29). Now Christ says to the woman who was taken in adultery (Jn. 8:11), not that she should be stoned according to the law of His Father (and yet He says, "What the Father commanded me, that I do," Jn. 8:22) but with mercy and forgiveness and the warning to sin no more, says: "Go, sin no more." Exactly thus should we also proceed, according to the rule of the ban. Second, is asked concerning the sword: whether a Christian shall pass sentence in disputes and strife about worldly matters, such as the unbelievers have with one another. The answer: Christ did not wish to decide or pass judgment between brother and brother concerning inheritance, but refused to do so (Lk 12:13). So should we also do. Third, is asked concerning the sword: whether the Christian should be a magistrate if he is chosen thereto. This is answered thus: Christ was to be made King, but He fled and did not view it as ordained by His Father. Thus we should also do as He did and follow after Him, and we shall not walk in darkness. For He Himself says: "Whoever would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mt. 16:24). He Himself further forbids the violence of the sword when He says: "The princes of this world lord it over them etc., but among you it shall not be so" (Mt. 20:25). Further Paul says, "Whom God has foreknown, the same he has also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son," (Rom. 8:30 ) etc. Peter also says: "Christ has suffered (not ruled) and has left us an example, that you should follow after in his steps” (1 Pet. 2:21). Lastly, one can see in the following points that it does not befit a Christian to be a magistrate: the rule of the government is according to the flesh, that of the Christians according to the spirit. Their houses and dwelling remain in this world, that of the Christians is in heaven. Their citizenship is in this world, that of the Christians is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). The weapons of their battle and warfare are carnal and only against the flesh, but the weapons of Christians are spiritual, against the fortification of the devil. The worldly are armed with steel and iron, but Christians are armed with the armor of God, with truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and

3 matyrdom 4 The sword here refers to the civil government’s power to use force. 5 The Old Testament

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with the Word of God. In sum: as Christ our Head is minded, so also must be minded the members of the body of Christ through Him, so that there be no division in the body, through which it would be destroyed. Since then Christ is as is written of Him, so must His members also be the same, so that His body may remain whole and unified for its own advancement and edification. For any kingdom which is divided within itself will be destroyed (Mt. 12:25).

Article VII. We have been united as follows concerning the oath. We have been united as follows concerning the oath. The oath is a confirmation among those who are quarreling or making promises. In the law it is commanded that it should be done only in the name of God, truthfully and not falsely. Christ, who teaches the perfection of the law, forbids His followers all swearing, whether true or false, neither by heaven nor by earth, neither by Jerusalem nor by our head, and that for the reason which He goes on to give: "For you cannot make one hair white or black." You see, thereby all swearing is forbidden. We cannot perform what is promised in the swearing, for we are not able to change the smallest part of ourselves (Mt. 5:34-37). Now there are some who do not believe the simple commandment of God and who say, "But God swore by Himself to Abraham, because He was God (as He promised him that He would do good to him and would be his God if he kept His commandments). Why then should I not swear if I promise something to someone?" The answer: hear what the Scripture says: "God, since he wished to prove overabundantly to the heirs of His promise that His will did not change, inserted an oath so that by two immutable things we might have a stronger consolation (for it is impossible that God should lie)" (Heb. 6:7 ff). Notice the meaning of the passage: God has the power to do what He forbids you, for everything is possible to Him. God swore an oath to Abraham, Scripture says, in order to prove that His counsel is immutable. That means: no one can withstand and thwart His will; thus He can keep His oath. But we cannot, as Christ said above, hold or perform our oath, therefore we should not swear. Others say, “Swearing cannot be forbidden by God in the New Testament when it was commanded in the Old, but that it is forbidden only to swear by heaven, earth, Jerusalem, and our head.” Answer: hear the Scripture. He who swears by heaven, swears by God's throne and by Him who sits thereon (Mt. 5:35). Observe: swearing by heaven is forbidden, which is only God's throne; how much more is it forbidden to swear by God Himself. You blind fools, what is greater, the throne or He who sits upon it? Others say, “If it is then wrong to use God for truth, then did the apostles Peter and Paul also sin by swearing?” Answer: Peter and Paul only testify to that which God promised Abraham, whom we long after have received. But when one testifies, one testifies concerning that which is present, whether it be good or evil. Thus Simeon spoke of Christ to Mary and testified: "Behold: this one is ordained for the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign which will be spoken against" (Lk. 2:34). Christ taught us similarly when He says: Your speech shall be yea, yea; and nay, nay; for what is more than that comes of evil. He says, your speech or your word shall be yes and no, so that no one might understand that He had permitted it. Christ is simply yea and nay, and all those who seek Him simply will understand His Word. Amen.

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Michel de Montaigne, Of Cannibals (from Essays, 1588)1

Michel de Montaigne was born near Bordeaux in 1533 into a family that had risen into the nobility only a half century earlier. His father was Catholic and his mother a Spanish Jew. Until age six he was taught by a German tutor whom Montaigne’s father had instructed to ensure that the boy communicated only in Latin in the home. As an adult Montaigne was politically active, serving two terms as Mayor of Bordeaux and advising King Henri IV. In 1571 he attempted to retire from politics and concentrate on his studies. The result of this period was his “Attempts” (in French, Essais) and it is this book which gave us the English word “Essay.” One of these essays – “Of Cannibals”– is excerpted below.

CHAPTER XXX: OF CANNIBALS

When King Pyrrhus [a Greek from Epirus] invaded Italy and viewed the order of the army the Romans sent out to meet him; "I know not," said he, "what kind of barbarians" (for so the Greeks called all other nations) "these may be; but the disposition of this army that I see has nothing of barbarism in it."2 As much said the Greeks of that which Flaminius brought into their country; and Philip, beholding from an eminence the order and distribution of the Roman camp formed in his kingdom by Publius Sulpicius Galba, spoke to the same effect. By which it appears how cautious men ought to be of taking things upon trust from vulgar opinion, and that we are to judge by the eye of reason, and not from common report. I long had a man in my house that lived ten or twelve years in the New World, discovered in these latter days, and in that part of it where Villegaignon landed,3 which he called Antarctic France. This discovery of so vast a country seems to be of very great consideration. I cannot be sure, that hereafter there may not be another, so many wiser men than we having been deceived in this.4 I am afraid our eyes are bigger than our bellies, and that we have more curiosity than capacity; for we grasp at all, but catch nothing but wind.

Montaigne here digresses for two pages to show that neither Plato (from whom the Atlantis legend originates), nor Aristotle knew about the New World. This is meant both to support his point below that simpler men are often better sources of knowledge than those considered wise and part of the sixteenth century’s larger challenge to the supremacy of Greek thought in schools.

This man that I had was a plain ignorant fellow, and therefore the more likely to tell truth: for your better-bred sort of men are much more curious in their observation, 'tis true, and discover a great deal more; but then they gloss upon it, and to give the greater weight to what they deliver, and allure your belief, they cannot forbear a little to alter the story; they never

1 Source: Montaigne, Michel de. “Of cannibals.” Trans. Charles Cotton. 1580. Quotidiana. Ed. Patrick Madden. Available at http://essays.quotidiana.org/montaigne/cannibals/. Notes expanded by Glenn Kumhera. 2 Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhus, chp. 8. Pyrrhus died in 272 BCE. 3 At Brazil, in 1557. 4 Montaigne, over the next page and a half, turns to showing that Plato and Aristotle (and hence the ancients) did not know about the New World. He then returns to the theme of barbarism that he began in the opening paragraph.

290 represent things to you simply as they are, but rather as they appeared to them, or as they would have them appear to you, and to gain the reputation of men of judgment, and the better to induce your faith, are willing to help out the business with something more than is really true, of their own invention. Now in this case, we should either have a man of irreproachable veracity, or so simple that he has not wherewithal to contrive, and to give a color of truth to false relations, and who can have no ends in forging an untruth. Such a one was mine; and besides, he has at divers times brought to me several seamen and merchants who at the same time went the same voyage. I shall therefore content myself with his information, without inquiring what the cosmographers say to the business. We should have topographers to trace out to us the particular places where they have been; but for having had this advantage over us, to have seen the Holy Land, they would have the privilege, forsooth, to tell us stories of all the other parts of the world beside. I would have every one write what he knows, and as much as he knows, but no more; and that not in this only but in all other subjects; for such a person may have some particular knowledge and experience of the nature of such a river, or such a fountain, who, as to other things, knows no more than what everybody does, and yet to give a currency to his little pittance of learning, will undertake to write the whole body of physics: a vice from which great inconveniences derive their original. Now, to return to my subject, I find that there is nothing barbarous and savage in this nation, by anything that I can gather, excepting, that everyone gives the title of barbarism to everything that is not in use in his own country. As, indeed, we have no other level of truth and reason than the example and idea of the opinions and customs of the place wherein we live: there is always the perfect religion, there the perfect government, there the most exact and accomplished usage of all things. They are savages at the same rate that we say fruits are wild, which nature produces of herself and by her own ordinary progress; whereas, in truth, we ought rather to call those wild whose natures we have changed by our artifice and diverted from the common order. In those, the genuine, most useful, and natural virtues and properties are vigorous and sprightly, which we have helped to degenerate in these, by accommodating them to the pleasure of our own corrupted palate. And yet for all this, our taste confesses a flavor and delicacy excellent even to emulation of the best of ours, in several fruits wherein those countries abound without art or culture. Neither is it reasonable that art should gain the pre-eminence of our great and powerful mother nature. We have so surcharged her with the additional ornaments and graces we have added to the beauty and riches of her own works by our inventions that we have almost smothered her; yet in other places, where she shines in her own purity and proper luster, she marvelously baffles and disgraces all our vain and frivolous attempts:

The ivy grows best spontaneously, the arbutus best in shady caves; and the wild notes of birds are sweeter than art can teach. (Properitus)5

Our utmost endeavours cannot arrive at so much as to imitate the nest of the least of birds, its contexture, beauty, and convenience: not so much as the web of a poor spider.

All things, says Plato6, are produced either by nature, by fortune, or by art; the greatest and most beautiful by the one or the other of the former, the least and the most imperfect by the last.

5 Sextus Propertius (d. 15 BCE), i. 2, 10 6 Laws, 10

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These nations then seem to me to be so far barbarous, as having received but very little form and fashion from art and human invention, and consequently to be not much remote from their original simplicity. The laws of nature, however, govern them still, not as yet much vitiated with any mixture of ours: but 'tis in such purity, that I am sometimes troubled we were not sooner acquainted with these people, and that they were not discovered in those better times, when there were men much more able to judge of them than we are. I am sorry that Lycurgus7 and Plato had no knowledge of them; for to my apprehension, what we now see in those nations, does not only surpass all the pictures with which the poets have adorned the golden age, and all their inventions in feigning a happy state of man, but, moreover, the fancy and even the wish and desire of philosophy itself; so native and so pure a simplicity, as we by experience see to be in them, could never enter into their imagination, nor could they ever believe that human society could have been maintained with so little artifice and human patchwork. I should tell Plato that it is a nation wherein there is no manner of traffic, no knowledge of letters, no science of numbers, no name of magistrate or political superiority; no use of service, riches or poverty, no contracts, no successions, no dividends, no properties, no employments, but those of leisure, no respect of kindred, but common, no clothing, no agriculture, no metal, no use of corn or wine; the very words that signify lying, treachery, dissimulation, avarice, envy, detraction, pardon, never heard of. How much would he find his imaginary Republic short of his perfection?

Men fresh from the gods. (Seneca)8 These were the manners first taught by nature. (Virgil)9

As to the rest, they live in a country very pleasant and temperate, so that, as my witnesses inform me, 'tis rare to hear of a sick person, and they moreover assure me, that they never saw any of the natives, either paralytic, blear-eyed, toothless, or crooked with age. The situation of their country is along the sea-shore, enclosed on the other side towards the land, with great and high mountains, having about a hundred leagues in breadth between. They have great store of fish and flesh that have no resemblance to those of ours: which they eat without any other cookery, than plain boiling, roasting, and broiling. The first that rode a horse thither, though in several other voyages he had contracted an acquaintance and familiarity with them, put them into so terrible a fright, with his centaur appearance, that they killed him with their arrows before they could come to discover who he was. Their buildings are very long, and of capacity to hold two or three hundred people, made of the barks of tall trees, reared with one end upon the ground, and leaning to and supporting one another at the top, like some of our barns, of which the covering hangs down to the very ground, and serves for the side walls. They have wood so hard, that they cut with it, and make their swords of it, and their grills of it to broil their meat. Their beds are of cotton, hung swinging from the roof, like our seamen's hammocks, every man his own, for the wives lie apart from their husbands. They rise with the sun, and so soon as they are up, eat for all day, for they have no more meals but that; they do not then drink, as Suidas reports of some other people of the East that never drank at their meals; but drink very often all day after, and sometimes to a rousing pitch. Their drink is made of a certain root, and is of the color of our claret, and they never drink it but lukewarm. It will not keep above two or three days; it

7 The legendary lawgiver of ancient Sparta 8 Seneca (died in 65), Epistles, 90. 9 Virgil,Georgics, ii. 20.

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has a somewhat sharp, brisk taste, is nothing heady, but very comfortable to the stomach; laxative to strangers, but a very pleasant beverage to such as are accustomed to it. They make use, instead of bread, of a certain white compound, like coriander seeds; I have tasted of it; the taste is sweet and a little flat. The whole day is spent in dancing. Their young men go a-hunting after wild beasts with bows and arrows; one part of their women are employed in preparing their drink the while, which is their chief employment. One of their old men, in the morning before they fall to eating, preaches to the whole family, walking from the one end of the house to the other, and several times repeating the same sentence, till he has finished the round, for their houses are at least a hundred yards long. Valor towards their enemies and love towards their wives, are the two heads of his discourse, never failing in the close, to put them in mind, that 'tis their wives who provide them their drink warm and well seasoned. The fashion of their beds, ropes, swords, and of the wooden bracelets they tie about their wrists, when they go to fight, and of the great canes, bored hollow at one end, by the sound of which they keep the cadence of their dances, are to be seen in several places, and amongst others, at my house. They shave all over, and much more neatly than we, without other razor than one of wood or stone. They believe in the immortality of the soul, and that those who have merited well of the gods are lodged in that part of heaven where the sun rises, and the accursed in the west. They have I know not what kind of priests and prophets, who very rarely present themselves to the people, having their abode in the mountains. At their arrival, there is a great feast, and solemn assembly of many villages: each house, as I have described, makes a village, and they are about a French league distant from one another. This prophet declaims to them in public, exhorting them to virtue and their duty: but all their ethics are comprised in these two articles, resolution in war, and affection to their wives. He also prophesies to them events to come, and the issues they are to expect from their enterprises, and prompts them to or diverts them from war. But let him look to it; for if he fail in his divination, and anything happen otherwise than he has foretold, he is cut into a thousand pieces, if he be caught, and condemned for a false prophet. For that reason, if any of them has been mistaken, he is no more heard of. Divination is a gift of God, and therefore to abuse it, ought to be a punishable imposture. Amongst the Scythians, where their diviners failed in the promised effect, they were laid, bound hand and foot, upon carts loaded with firs and bavins, and drawn by oxen, on which they were burned to death.10 Such as only meddle with things subject to the conduct of human capacity, are excusable in doing the best they can: but those other fellows that come to delude us with assurances of an extraordinary faculty, beyond our understanding, ought they not to be punished, when they do not make good the effect of their promise, and for the temerity of their imposture? They have continual war with the nations that live further within the mainland, beyond their mountains, to which they go naked, and without other arms than their bows and wooden swords, fashioned at one end like the head of our javelins. The obstinacy of their battles is wonderful, and they never end without great effusion of blood: for as to running away, they know not what it is. Each one, for a trophy, brings home the head of an enemy he has killed, which he fixes over the door of his house. After having a long time treated their prisoners very well, and given them all the regales they can think of, he to whom the prisoner belongs, invites a great assembly of his friends. Once they have arrived he ties a rope to one of the arms of the prisoner, of which, at a distance, out of his reach, he holds the one end himself, and gives to the friend he loves best the other arm to hold after the same manner; which being done, they two, in the presence of all the assembly, dispatch him with their swords. After that, they roast him, eat

10 Herodotus (fifth century BCE), Histories, iv. 69.

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him amongst them, and send some chops to their absent friends. They do not do this, as some think, for nourishment, as the Scythians anciently did, but as a representation of an extreme revenge; as will appear by this: that having observed the Portuguese, who were in league with their enemies, to inflict another sort of death upon any of them they took prisoners, which was to set them up to the girdle in the earth, to shoot at the remaining part till it was stuck full of arrows, and then to hang them, they thought those people of the other world (as being men who had sown the knowledge of a great many vices amongst their neighbors, and who were much greater masters in all sorts of mischief than they) did not exercise this sort of revenge without a meaning, and that it must needs be more painful than theirs, they began to leave their old way, and to follow this. I am not sorry that we should here take notice of the barbarous horror of so cruel an action, but that, seeing so clearly into their faults, we should be so blind to our own. I conceive there is more barbarity in eating a man alive, than when he is dead; in tearing a body limb from limb by racks and torments, that is yet in perfect sense; in roasting it by degrees; in causing it to be bitten and worried by dogs and swine (as we have not only read, but lately seen, not amongst inveterate and mortal enemies, but among neighbors and fellow-citizens, and, which is worse, under color of piety and religion), 11 than to roast and eat him after he is dead. Chrysippus and Zeno, the two heads of the Stoic sect, were of opinion that there was no hurt in making use of our dead carcasses, in whatsoever way for our necessity, and in feeding upon them too;12 as our own ancestors [the Gauls], who being besieged by Caesar in the city Alexia, resolved to sustain the famine of the siege with the bodies of their old men, women, and other persons who were incapable of bearing arms.

T’is said the Gascons with such meats appeased their hunger. (Juvenal)13

And the physicians make no bones of employing it to all sorts of use, either to apply it outwardly; or to give it inwardly for the health of the patient. But there never was any opinion so irregular, as to excuse treachery, disloyalty, tyranny, and cruelty, which are our familiar vices. We may then call these people barbarous, in respect to the rules of reason: but not in respect to ourselves, who in all sorts of barbarity exceed them. Their wars are throughout noble and generous, and carry as much excuse and fair pretence, as that human malady is capable of having with them no other foundation than the sole jealousy of valor. Their disputes are not for the conquest of new lands, for these they already possess are so fruitful by nature, as to supply them without labor or concern, with all things necessary, in such abundance that they have no need to enlarge their borders. And they are, moreover, happy in this, that they only covet so much as their natural necessities require: all beyond that is superfluous to them: men of the same age call one another generally brothers, those who are younger, children; and the old men are fathers to all. These leave to their heirs in common the full possession of goods, without any manner of division, or other title than what nature bestows upon her creatures, in bringing them into the world. If their neighbors pass over the mountains to assault them, and obtain a victory, all the victors gain by it is glory only, and the advantage of having proved themselves the better in valor and virtue: for they never meddle with the goods of the conquered, but presently return into their own country, where they have no want of anything necessary, nor of this greatest of all goods, to

11 A reference to the violence between Catholic and Protestant neighbors which was part of the French Wars of Religion (1562-98). 12 Diogenes Laertius (third century Greek), vii. 188. 13 Juvenal (second century Roman), Satires, xv. 93

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know happily how to enjoy their condition and to be content. And those in turn do the same; they demand of their prisoners no other ransom, than acknowledgment that they are overcome: but there is not one found in an age who will not rather choose to die than make such a confession, or either by word or look recede from the entire grandeur of an invincible courage. There is not a man amongst them who had not rather be killed and eaten, than so much as to open his mouth to entreat he may not. They use them with all liberality and freedom, to the end their lives may be so much the dearer to them; but frequently entertain them with menaces of their approaching death, of the torments they are to suffer, of the preparations making in order to it, of the mangling their limbs, and of the feast that is to be made, where their carcass is to be the only dish. All which they do, to no other end, but only to extort some gentle or submissive word from them, or to frighten them so as to make them run away, to obtain this advantage that they were terrified, and that their constancy was shaken; and indeed, if rightly taken, it is in this point only that a true victory consists:

No victory is complete, which the conquered do not admit to be so. (Claudian)14

The Hungarians, a very warlike people, never pretend further than to reduce the enemy to their discretion; for having forced this confession from them, they let them go without injury or ransom, excepting, at the most, to make them engage their word never to bear arms against them again. We have sufficient advantages over our enemies that are borrowed and not truly our own; it is the quality of a porter, and no effect of virtue, to have stronger arms and legs; it is a dead and corporeal quality to set in array; 'tis a turn of fortune to make our enemy stumble, or to dazzle him with the light of the sun; 'tis a trick of science and art, and that may happen in a mean base fellow, to be a good fencer. The estimate and value of a man consist in the heart and in the will: there his true honor lies. Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of the courage and the soul; it does not lie in the goodness of our horse or our arms but in our own. He that falls obstinate in his courage— “If his legs fail him, he fights on his knees." (Seneca)15 --he who, for any danger of imminent death, abates nothing of his assurance; who, dying, yet darts at his enemy a fierce and disdainful look, is overcome not by us, but by fortune; he is killed, not conquered; the most valiant are sometimes the most unfortunate. There are defeats more triumphant than victories. Never could those four sister victories, the fairest the sun ever be held, of Salamis, Plataea, Mycale, and Sicily, venture to oppose all their united glories, to the single glory of the discomfiture of King Leonidas and his men, at the pass of Thermopylae. Whoever ran with a more glorious desire and greater ambition, to the winning, than Captain Iscolas to the certain loss of a battle?16 Who could have found out a more subtle invention to secure his safety, than he did to assure his destruction? He was set to defend a certain pass of Peloponnesus against the Arcadians, which, considering the nature of the place and the inequality of forces, finding it utterly impossible for him to do, and seeing that all who were presented to the enemy, must certainly be left upon the place; and on the other side, reputing it unworthy of his own virtue and magnanimity and of the Lacedaemonian (i.e Spartan) name to fail in any part of his duty, he chose a mean betwixt these two extremes after this manner; the youngest and most active of his men, he preserved for the service and defense of their country,

14 Claudian (Claudius Claudianus, d.404), De Sexto Consulatu Honorii, v. 248. 15 Seneca, De Providentia, c. 2. 16 Diodorus Siculus (first century BCE Greek), xv. 64.

295 and sent them back; and with the rest, whose loss would be of less consideration, he resolved to make good the pass, and with the death of them, to make the enemy buy their entry as dear as possibly he could; as it fell out, for being presently environed on all sides by the Arcadians, after having made a great slaughter of the enemy, he and his were all cut in pieces. Is there any trophy dedicated to the conquerors which was not much more due to these who were overcome? The part that true conquering is to play, lies in the encounter, not in the coming off; and the honor of valor consists in fighting, not in subduing. But to return to my story: these prisoners are so far from discovering the least weakness, for all the terrors that can be represented to them, that, on the contrary, during the two or three months they are kept, they always appear with a cheerful countenance; importune their masters to make haste to bring them to the test, defy, rail at them, and reproach them with cowardice, and the number of battles they have lost against those of their country. I have a song made by one of these prisoners, wherein he bids them "come all, and dine upon him, and welcome, for they shall withal eat their own fathers and grandfathers, whose flesh has served to feed and nourish him. “These muscles," says he, "this flesh and these veins, are your own: poor silly souls as you are, you little think that the substance of your ancestors' limbs is here yet; notice what you eat, and you will find in it the taste of your own flesh:" in which song there is to be observed an invention that nothing relishes of the barbarian. Those that paint these people dying after this manner, represent the prisoner spitting in the faces of his executioners and making wry mouths at them. And 'tis most certain, that to the very last gasp, they never cease to brave and defy them both in word and gesture. In plain truth, these men are very savage in comparison of us; of necessity, they must either be absolutely so or else we are savages; for there is a vast difference betwixt their manners and ours. The men there have several wives, and so much the greater number, by how much they have the greater reputation for valor. And it is one very remarkable feature in their marriages, that the same jealousy our wives have to hinder and divert us from the friendship and familiarity of other women, those employ to promote their husbands' desires, and to procure them many spouses; for being above all things solicitous of their husbands' honor, 'tis their chief care to seek out, and to bring in the most companions they can, forasmuch as it is a testimony of the husband's virtue. Most of our ladies will cry out, that 'tis monstrous; whereas in truth it is not so, but a truly matrimonial virtue, and of the highest form. In the Bible, Sarah, with Leah and Rachel, the two wives of Jacob, gave the most beautiful of their handmaids to their husbands; Livia preferred the passions of Augustus to her own interest;17 and the wife of King Deiotarus, Stratonice, did not only give up a fair young maid that served her to her husband's embraces, but moreover carefully brought up the children he had by her, and assisted them in the succession to their father's crown…

Three of these people, not foreseeing how dear their knowledge of the corruptions of this part of the world will one day cost their happiness and repose, and that the effect of this commerce will be their ruin, as I presuppose it is in a very fair way (miserable men to suffer themselves to be deluded with desire of novelty and to have left the serenity of their own heaven to come so far to gaze at ours!), were at Rouen at the time that the late King Charles IX (d.1574) was there. The king himself talked to them a good while, and they were made to see our fashions, our pomp, and the form of a great city. After which, someone asked their opinion, and would know of them, what of all the things they had seen, they found most to be admired? To

17 Suetonius (first/second century Roman), Life of Augustus, c. 71

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which they made answer, three things, of which I have forgotten the third, and am troubled at it, but two I yet remember. They said, that in the first place they thought it very strange that so many tall men, wearing beards, strong, and well-armed, who were about the king ('tis like they meant the Swiss of the guard), should submit to obey a child, and that they did not rather choose out one amongst themselves to command. Secondly (they have a way of speaking in their language to call men the half of one another), that they had observed that there were amongst us men full and crammed with all manner of commodities, whilst, in the meantime, their halves were begging at their doors, lean and half-starved with hunger and poverty; and they thought it strange that these necessitous halves were able to suffer so great an inequality and injustice, and that they did not take the others by the throats, or set fire to their houses. I talked to one of them a great while together, but I had so ill an interpreter, and one who was so perplexed by his own ignorance to apprehend my meaning, that I could get nothing out of him of any moment. Asking him what advantage he reaped from the superiority he had amongst his own people (for he was a captain, and our mariners called him king), he told me, to march at the head of them to war. Demanding of him further how many men he had to follow him, he showed me a space of ground, to signify as many as could march in such a compass, which might be four or five thousand men; and putting the question to him whether or not his authority expired with the war, he told me this remained: that when he went to visit the villages of his dependence, they cut him paths through the thick of their woods, by which he might pass at his ease. All this does not sound very ill, and the last was not at all amiss, for they wear no breeches [i.e. pants].

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Francis Bacon, The Great Instauration1

Born in London to a family with close ties to the English court, Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was an accomplished attorney and law professor as well as a Member of Parliament. Bacon nonetheless pursued other intellectual endeavors, including history, philosophy and natural science. These he studied while advancing his political career. He served as an advisor to Queen Elizabeth I and rose to prominence in the court of James I, attaining the post of Attorney General and later Lord Chancellor. All the while he continued to write, producing several influential texts, including this one. This treatise (of which only the Preface is included below), like much of his work, was never completed. In 1621, his political fortunes changed when he was accused of bribery and banished from office. He spent his last years studying and writing at his country estate.

PREFACE

That the state of knowledge is not prosperous nor greatly advancing, and that a way must be opened for the human understanding entirely different from any hitherto known, and other helps provided, in order that the mind may exercise over the nature of things the authority which properly belongs to it.

It seems to me that men do not rightly understand either their store or their strength,2 but overrate the one and underrate the other. Hence it follows that either from an extravagant estimate of the value of the arts which they possess they seek no further, or else from too mean an estimate of their own powers they spend their strength in small matters and never put it fairly to the trial in those which go to the main. These are as the pillars of fate set in the path of knowledge, for men have neither desire nor hope to encourage them to penetrate further. And since opinion of store is one of the chief causes of want, and satisfaction with the present induces neglect of provision for the future, it becomes a thing not only useful, but absolutely necessary, that the excess of honor and admiration with which our existing stock of inventions is regarded be in the very entrance and threshold of the work, and that frankly and without circumlocution stripped off, and men be duly warned not to exaggerate or make too much of them. For let a man look carefully into all that variety of books with which the arts and sciences abound, he will find everywhere endless repetitions of the same thing, varying in the method of treatment, but not new in substance, insomuch that the whole stock, numerous as it appears at first view, proves on examination to be but scanty. And for its value and utility it must be plainly avowed that that wisdom which we have derived principally from the Greeks is but like the boyhood of knowledge, and has the characteristic property of boys: it can talk, but it cannot generate, for it is fruitful of controversies but barren of works. … Observe also, that if sciences of this kind had any life in them, that could never have come to pass which has been the case now for many ages — that they stand almost at a stay, without receiving any augmentations worthy of the human race, insomuch that many times not only what was asserted once is asserted still, but what was a question once is a question

1 Source: Translation of James Spedding, Robert Leslie Ellis, and Douglas Denon Heath in The Works (Vol. VIII), (Taggard and Thompson, 1863). Available at http://www.constitution.org/bacon/instauration.htm. 2 That is, what they know and their abilities.

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still, and instead of being resolved by discussion is only fixed and fed; and all the tradition and succession of schools is still a succession of masters and scholars, not of inventors and those who bring to further perfection the things invented. In the mechanical arts we do not find it so; they, on the contrary, as having in them some breath of life, are continually growing and becoming more perfect. As originally invented they are commonly rude, clumsy, and shapeless; afterwards they acquire new powers and more commodious arrangements and constructions, in so far that men shall sooner leave the study and pursuit of them and turn to something else than they arrive at the ultimate perfection of which they are capable. Philosophy and the intellectual sciences, on the contrary, stand like statues, worshipped and celebrated, but not moved or advanced. … [Bacon then attacks the position that the ancients’ opinions have merit because they have stood the test of time]…So that Time is like a river which has brought down to us things light and puffed up, while those which are weighty and solid have sunk. Nay, those very authors who have usurped a kind of dictatorship in the sciences and taken upon them to lay down the law with such confidence, yet when from time to time they come to themselves again, they fall to complaints of the subtlety of nature, the hiding places of truth, the obscurity of things, the entanglement of causes, the weakness of the human mind; wherein nevertheless they show themselves never the more modest, seeing that they will rather lay the blame upon the common condition of men and nature than upon themselves…. [He then criticizes those who believe they have accomplished something great by introducing one new thing into the ancient systems]… Men of this kind, therefore, amend some things, but advance little, and improve the condition of knowledge, but do not extend its range. Some, indeed, there have been who have gone more boldly to work and, taking it all for an open matter and giving their genius full play, have made a passage for themselves and their own opinions by pulling down and demolishing former ones; and yet all their stir has but little advanced the matter, since their aim has been not to extend philosophy and the arts in substance and value, but only to change doctrines and transfer the kingdom of opinions to themselves; whereby little has indeed been gained, for though the error be the opposite of the other, the causes of erring are the same in both. And if there have been any who, not binding themselves either to other men's opinions or to their own, but loving liberty, have desired to engage others along with themselves in search, these, though honest in intention, have been weak in endeavor. For they have been content to follow probable reasons and are carried round in a whirl of arguments, and in the promiscuous liberty of search have relaxed the severity of inquiry. There is none who has dwelt upon experience and the facts of nature as long as is necessary. Some there are indeed who have committed themselves to the waves of experience and almost turned mechanics, yet these again have in their very experiments pursued a kind of wandering inquiry, without any regular system of operations. And besides they have mostly proposed to themselves certain petty tasks, taking it for a great matter to work out some single discovery — a course of proceeding at once poor in aim and unskillful in design. For no man can rightly and successfully investigate the nature of anything in the thing itself; let him vary his experiments as laboriously as he will, he never comes to a resting-place, but still finds something to seek beyond. And there is another thing to be remembered — namely, that all industry in experimenting has begun with proposing to itself certain definite works to be accomplished, and has pursued them with premature and unseasonable eagerness; it has sought, I say, experiments of fruit, not experiments of light, not imitating the divine procedure, which in its first day's work created light only and assigned to it one entire day, on which day it produced no material work, but proceeded to that on the days following. As for those who have given the first place to logic, supposing that the surest helps to the sciences were to be found in that, they have indeed most

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truly and excellently perceived that the human intellect left to its own course is not to be trusted; but then the remedy is altogether too weak for the disease, nor is it without evil in itself. For the logic which is received, though it be very properly applied to civil business and to those arts which rest in discourse and opinion, is not nearly subtle enough to deal with nature; and in attempting what it cannot master, has done more to establish and perpetuate error than to open the way to truth.

Upon the whole, therefore, it seems that men have not been happy hitherto either in the trust which they have placed in others or in their own industry with regard to the sciences; especially as neither the demonstrations nor the experiments as yet known are much to be relied upon. But the universe to the eye of the human understanding is framed like a labyrinth, presenting as it does on every side so many ambiguities of way, such deceitful resemblances of objects and signs, natures so irregular in their lines and so knotted and entangled. And then the way is still to be made by the uncertain light of the sense, sometimes shining out, sometimes clouded over, through the woods of experience and particulars; while those who offer themselves for guides are (as was said) themselves also puzzled, and increase the number of errors and wanderers. In circumstances so difficult neither the natural force of man's judgment nor even any accidental felicity offers any chance of success. No excellence of wit, no repetition of chance experiments, can overcome such difficulties as these. Our steps must be guided by a clue, and the whole way from the very first perception of the senses must be laid out upon a sure plan. Not that I would be understood to mean that nothing whatever has been done in so many ages by so great labors. We have no reason to be ashamed of the discoveries which have been made, and no doubt the ancients proved themselves in everything that turns on wit and abstract meditation, wonderful men. But, as in former ages, when men sailed only by observation of the stars, they could indeed coast along the shores of the old continent or cross a few small and Mediterranean seas; but before the ocean could be traversed and the new world discovered, the use of the mariner's needle, as a more faithful and certain guide, had to be found out; in like manner the discoveries which have been hitherto made in the arts and sciences are such as might be made by practice, meditation, observation, argumentation — for they lay near to the senses and immediately beneath common notions; but before we can reach the remoter and more hidden parts of nature, it is necessary that a more perfect use and application of the human mind and intellect be introduced.

For my own part at least, in obedience to the everlasting love of truth, I have committed myself to the uncertainties and difficulties and solitudes of the ways and, relying on the divine assistance, have upheld my mind both against the shocks and embattled ranks of opinion, and against my own private and inward hesitations and scruples, and against the fogs and clouds of nature, and the phantoms flitting about on every side, in the hope of providing at last for the present and future generations guidance more faithful and secure. Wherein if I have made any progress, the way has been opened to me by no other means than the true and legitimate humiliation of the human spirit. For all those who before me have applied themselves to the invention of arts have but cast a glance or two upon facts and examples and experience, and straightway proceeded, as if invention were nothing more than an exercise of thought, to invoke their own spirits to give them oracles. I, on the contrary, dwelling purely and constantly among the facts of nature, withdraw my intellect from them no further than may suffice to let the images and rays of natural objects meet in a point, as they do in the sense of vision; whence it follows

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that the strength and excellence of the wit has but little to do in the matter. And the same humility which I use in inventing I employ likewise in teaching. For I do not endeavor either by triumphs of confutation, or pleadings of antiquity, or assumption of authority, or even by the veil of obscurity, to invest these inventions of mine with any majesty; which might easily be done by one who sought to give luster to his own name rather than light to other men's minds. I have not sought (I say) nor do I seek either to force or ensnare men's judgments, but I lead them to things themselves and the concordances of things, that they may see for themselves what they have, what they can dispute, what they can add and contribute to the common stock. And for myself, if in anything I have been either too credulous or too little awake and attentive, or if I have fallen off by the way and left the inquiry incomplete, nevertheless I so present these things naked and open, that my errors can be marked and set aside before the mass of knowledge be further infected by them; and it will be easy also for others to continue and carry on my labors. And by these means I suppose that I have established forever a true and lawful marriage between the empirical and the rational faculty, the unkind and ill-starred divorce and separation of which has thrown into confusion all the affairs of the human family.

Wherefore, seeing that these things do not depend upon myself, at the outset of the work I most humbly and fervently pray to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, that remembering the sorrows of mankind and the pilgrimage of this our life wherein we wear out days few and evil, they will vouchsafe through my hands to endow the human family with new mercies. This likewise I humbly pray, that things human may not interfere with things divine, and that from the opening of the ways of sense and the increase of natural light there may arise in our minds no incredulity or darkness with regard to the divine mysteries, but rather that the understanding being thereby purified and purged of fancies and vanity, and yet not the less subject and entirely submissive to the divine oracles, may give to faith that which is faith's. Lastly, that knowledge being now discharged of that venom which the serpent infused into it, and which makes the mind of man to swell, we may not be wise above measure and sobriety, but cultivate truth in charity.

And now, having said my prayers, I turn to men, to whom I have certain salutary admonitions to offer and certain fair requests to make. My first admonition (which was also my prayer) is that men confine the sense within the limits of duty in respect of things divine: for the sense is like the sun, which reveals the face of earth, but seals and shuts up the face of heaven. My next, that in flying from this evil they fall not into the opposite error, which they will surely do if they think that the inquisition of nature is in any part interdicted or forbidden. For it was not that pure and uncorrupted natural knowledge whereby Adam gave names to the creatures according to their propriety, which, gave occasion to the fall. It was the ambitious and proud desire of moral knowledge to judge of good and evil, to the end that man may revolt from God and give laws to himself, which was the form and manner of the temptation. Whereas of the sciences which regard nature, the divine philosopher declares that "it is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but it is the glory of the King to find a thing out." Even as though the divine nature took pleasure in the innocent and kindly sport of children playing at hide-and-seek, and vouchsafed of his kindness and goodness to admit the human spirit for his playfellow at that game. Lastly, I would address one general admonition to all — that they consider what are the true ends of knowledge, and that they seek it not either for pleasure of the mind, or for contention, or for superiority to others, or for profit, or fame, or power, or any of these inferior things, but for the benefit and use of life,

301 and that they perfect and govern it in charity. For it was from lust of power that the angels fell, from lust of knowledge that man fell; but of charity there can be no excess, neither did angel or man ever come in danger by it.

The requests I have to make are these. Of myself I say nothing; but in behalf of the business which is in hand I entreat men to believe that it is not an opinion to be held, but a work to be done; and to be well assured that I am laboring to lay the foundation, not of any sect or doctrine, but of human utility and power. Next, I ask them to deal fairly by their own interests, and laying aside all emulations and prejudices in favor of this or that opinion, to join in consultation for the common good; and being now freed and guarded by the securities and helps which I offer from the errors and impediments of the way, to come forward themselves and take part in that which remains to be done. Moreover, to be of good hope, nor to imagine that this Instauration of mine is a thing infinite and beyond the power of man, when it is in fact the true end and termination of infinite error; and seeing also that it is by no means forgetful of the conditions of mortality and humanity (for it does not suppose that the work can be altogether completed within one generation, but provides for its being taken up by another); and finally that it seeks for the sciences not arrogantly in the little cells of human wit, but with reverence in the greater world. But it is the empty things that are vast; things solid are most contracted and lie in little room. And now I have only one favor more to ask (else injustice to me may perhaps imperil the business itself) — that men will consider well how far, upon that which I must needs assert (if I am to be consistent with myself), they are entitled to judge and decide upon these doctrines of mine; inasmuch as all that premature human reasoning which anticipates inquiry, and is abstracted from the facts rashly and sooner than is fit, is by me rejected (so far as the inquisition of nature is concerned) as a thing uncertain, confused, and ill built up; and I cannot be fairly asked to abide by the decision of a tribunal which is itself on trial.

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