Pascal's Pensees Part 75

[150] P. 100, l. 27. _When it is said_, etc.--By Descartes.

[151] P. 102, l. 20. _Arcesilaus._--A follower of Pyrrho, the sceptic.

He lived in the third century before Christ.

[152] P. 105, l. 20. _Ecclesiastes._--Eccles. viii, 17.

[153] P. 106, l. 16. _The academicians._--Dogmatic sceptics, as opposed to sceptics who doubt their own doubt.

[154] P. 107, l. 10. _Ego vir videns._--Lamentations iii, I.

[155] P. 108, l. 26. _Evil is easy_, etc.--The Pythagoreans considered the good as certain and finite, and evil as uncertain and infinite. Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 9.

[156] P. 109, l. 7. _Paulus aemilius._--Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 19.

Cicero, _Tusc._, v, 40.

[157] P. 109, l. 30. _Des Barreaux._--Author of a licentious love song.

He was born in 1602, and died in 1673. Balzac call him "the new Bacchus."

[158] P. 110, l. 16. _For Port-Royal._--The letters, A. P. R., occur in several places, and are generally thought to indicate what will be afterwards treated in lectures or conferences at Port-Royal, the famous Cistercian abbey, situated about eighteen miles from Paris.

Founded early in the thirteenth century, it acquired its greatest fame in its closing years. Louis XIV was induced to believe it heretical; and the monastery was finally demolished in 1711. Its downfall was no doubt brought about by the Jesuits.

[159] P. 113, l. 4. _They all tend to this end._--Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 19.

[160] P. 119, l. 15. _Quod ergo_, etc.--Acts xvii, 23.

[161] P. 119, l. 26. _Wicked demon._--Descartes had suggested the possibility of the existence of an _evil genius_ to justify his method of universal doubt. See his _First Meditation_. The argument is quite Cartesian.

[162] P. 122, l. 18. _Deliciae meae_, etc.--Proverbs viii, 31.

[163] P. 122, l. 18. _Effundam spiritum_, etc.--Is. xliv, 3; Joel ii, 28.

[164] P. 122, l. 19. _Dii estis._--Ps. lx.x.xii, 6.

[165] P. 122, l. 20. _Omnis caro faenum._--Is. xl, 6.

[166] P. 122, l. 20. _h.o.m.o a.s.similatus_, etc.--Ps. xlix, 20.

[167] P. 124, l. 24. _Sapientius est hominibus._--1 Cor. i, 25.

[168] P. 125, l. 1. _Of original sin._--The citations from the Rabbis in this fragment are borrowed from a work of the Middle Ages, ent.i.tled _Pugio christianorum ad impiorum perfidiam jugulandam et maxime judaeorum_. It was written in the thirteenth century by Raymond Martin, a Catalonian monk. An edition of it appeared in 1651, edited by Bosquet, Bishop of Lodeve.

[169] P. 125, l. 24. _Better is a poor and wise child_, etc.--Eccles.

iv, 13.

[170] P. 126, l. 17. _Nemo ante_, etc.--See Ovid, _Met._, iii, 137, and Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 18.

[171] P. 127, l. 10. _Figmentum._--Borrowed from the Vulgate, Ps. ciii, 14.

[172] P. 128. l. 5. _All that is in the world_, etc.--First Epistle of St. John, ii, 16.

[173] P. 128, l. 7. _Wretched is_, etc.--M. Faugere thinks this thought is taken from St. Augustine's Commentary on Ps. cx.x.xvii, _Super flumina Babylonis._

[174] P. 129, l. 6. _Qui gloriatur_, etc.--1 Cor. i, 31.

[175] P. 130, l. 13. _Via, veritas._--John xiv, 6.

[176] P. 130, l. 14. _Zeno._--The original founder of Stoicism.

[177] P. 130, l. 15. _Epictetus._--_Diss._, iv, 6, 7.

[178] P. 131, l. 32. _A body full of thinking members._--See I Cor. xii.

[179] P. 133, l. 5. _Book of Wisdom._--ii, 6.

[180] P. 134, l. 28. _Qui adhaeret_, etc.--1 Cor. vi, 17.

[181] P. 134, l. 36. _Two laws._--Matthew xxii, 35-40; Mark xii, 28-31.

[182] P. 135, l. 6. _The kingdom of G.o.d is within us._--Luke xvii, 29.

[183] P. 137, l. 1. _Et non_, etc.--Ps. cxliii, 2.

[184] P. 137, l. 3. _The goodness of G.o.d leadeth to repentance._--Romans ii, 4.

[185] P. 137, l. 5. _Let us do penance_, etc.--See Jonah iii, 8, 9.

[186] P. 137, l. 27. _I came to send war._--Matthew x, 34.

[187] P. 137, l. 28. _I came to bring fire and the sword._--Luke xii, 49.

[188] P. 138, l. 2. _Pharisee and the Publican._--Parable in Luke xviii, 9-14.

[189] P. 138, l. 13. _Abraham._--Genesis xiv, 22-24.

[190] P. 138, l. 17. _Sub te erit appet.i.tus tuus._--Genesis iv, 7.

[191] P. 140, l. 1. _It is_, etc.--A discussion on the Eucharist.

[192] P. 140, l. 34. _Non sum dignus._--Luke vii, 6.

[193] P. 140, l. 35. _Qui manducat indignus._--I Cor. xi, 29.

[194] P. 140, l. 36. _Dignus est accipere._--Apoc. iv, II.

[195] P. 141. In the French edition on which this translation is based there was inserted the following fragment after No. 513:

"Work out your own salvation with fear."