Pascal's Pensees Part 73

[54] P. 28, l. 31. _Nae iste_, etc.--Terence, _Heaut._, IV, i, 8.

Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 1.

[55] P. 28, l. 15. _Quasi quidquam_, etc.--Plin., ii, 7. Montaigne, ibid.

[56] P. 28, l. 29. _Quod crebro_, etc.--Cicero, _De Divin._, ii, 49.

[57] P. 29, l. 1. _Spongia solis._--The spots on the sun. Pascal sees in them the beginning of the darkening of the sun, and thinks that there will therefore come a day when there will be no sun.

[58] P. 29, l. 15. _Custom is a second nature_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 22.

[59] P. 29, l. 19. _Omne animal._--See Genesis vii, 14.

[60] P. 30, l. 22. _Hence savages_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 22.

[61] P. 32, l. 3. _A great part of Europe_, etc.--An allusion to the Reformation.

[62] P. 33, l. 13. _Alexander's chast.i.ty._--Pascal apparently has in mind Alexander's treatment of Darius's wife and daughters after the battle of Issus.

[63] P. 34, l. 17. _l.u.s.travit lampade terras._--Part of Cicero's translation of two lines from Homer, _Odyssey_, xviii, 136.

Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.

_Tales sunt hominum mentes, quali pater ipse Jupiter auctiferas l.u.s.travit lampade terras._

[64] P. 34, l. 32. _Nature gives_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 19.

[65] P. 37, l. 23. _Our nature consists_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 13.

[66] P. 38, l. 1. _Weariness._--Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.

[67] P. 38, l. 8. _Caesar was too old_, etc.--See Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 34.

[68] P. 38, l. 30. _A mere trifle_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 4.

[69] P. 40, l. 21. _Advice given to Pyrrhus._--Ibid., i, 42.

[70] P. 41, l. 2. _They do not know_, etc.--Ibid., i, 19.

[71] P. 44, l. 14. _They are_, etc.--Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 38.

[72] P. 46, l. 7. _Those who write_, etc.--A thought of Cicero in _Pro Archia_, mentioned by Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 41.

[73] P. 47, l. 3. _Ferox gens._--Livy, x.x.xiv, 17. Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 40.

[74] P. 47, l. 5. _Every opinion_, etc.--Montaigne, ibid.

[75] P. 47, l. 12. 184.--This is a reference to Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 40. See also ibid., iii, 10.

[76] P. 48, l. 8. _I know not what (Corneille)._--See _Medee,_ II, vi, and _Rodogune_, I, v.

[77] P. 48, l. 22. _In omnibus requiem quaesivi._--Eccles. xxiv, II, in the Vulgate.

[78] P. 50, l. 5. _The future alone is our end._--Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 3.

[79] P. 50, l. 14. _Solomon._--Considered by Pascal as the author of Ecclesiastes.

[80] P. 50, l. 20. _Unconscious of approaching fever._--Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 19.

[81] P. 50, l. 22. _Cromwell._--Cromwell died in 1658 of a fever, and not of the gravel. The Restoration took place in 1660, and this fragment was written about that date.

[82] P. 50, l. 28. _The three hosts._--Charles I was beheaded in 1649; Queen Christina of Sweden abdicated in 1654; Jean Casimir, King of Poland, was deposed in 1656.

[83] P. 50, l. 32. _Macrobius._--A Latin writer of the fifth century. He was a Neo-Platonist in philosophy. One of his works is ent.i.tled _Saturnalia_.

[84] P. 51, l. 5. _The great and the humble_, etc.--See Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.

[85] P. 53, l. 5. _Miton._--A man of fashion in Paris known to Pascal.

[86] P. 53, l. 15. _Deus absconditus._--Is. xiv, 15.

[87] P. 60, l. 26. _Fascinatio nugacitatis._--Book of Wisdom iv, 12.

[88] P. 61, l. 10. _Memoria hospitis_, etc.--Book of Wisdom v, 15.

[89] P. 62, l. 5. _Instability._--Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 12.

[90] P. 66, l. 19. _Foolishness, stult.i.tium._--I Cor. i, 18.

[91] P. 71, l. 5. _To prove Divinity from the works of nature._--A traditional argument of the Stoics like Cicero and Seneca, and of rationalist theologians like Raymond Sebond, Charron, etc. It is the argument from Design in modern philosophy.

[92] P. 71, l. 27. _Nemo novit_, etc.--Matthew xi, 27. In the Vulgate, it is _Neque patrem quis novit_, etc. Pascal's biblical quotations are often incorrect. Many seem to have been made from memory.

[93] P. 71, l. 30. _Those who seek G.o.d find Him._--Matthew vii, 7.

[94] P. 72, l. 3. _Vere tu es Deus absconditus._--Is. xiv, 15.

[95] P. 72, l. 22. _Ne evacuetur crux Christi._--I Cor. i, 17. In the Vulgate we have_ut non_ instead of _ne_.

[96] P. 72, l. 25. _The machine._--A Cartesian expression. Descartes considered animals as mere automata. According to Pascal, whatever does not proceed in us from reflective thought is a product of a necessary mechanism, which has its root in the body, and which is continued into the mind in imagination and the pa.s.sions. It is therefore necessary for man so to alter, and adjust this mechanism, that it will always follow, and not obstruct, the good will.

[97] P. 73, l. 3. _Justus ex fide vivit._--Romans i, 17.

[98] P. 73, l. 5. _Fides ex auditu._--Romans x, 17.

[99] P. 73, l. 12. _The creature._--What is purely natural in us.

[100] P. 74, l. 15. _Inclina cor meum, Deus._--Ps. cxix, 36.

[101] P. 75, l. 11. _Unus quisque sibi Deum fingit._--See Book of Wisdom xv, 6, 16.