The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. Vii (of X)—Continental Europe I

Part 1

THE BEST of the WORLD'S CLASSICS

RESTRICTED TO PROSE

HENRY CABOT LODGE Editor-in-Chief

FRANCIS W. HALSEY Associate Editor

With an Introduction, Biographical and Explanatory Notes, etc.

In Ten Volumes

Vol. VII

CONTINENTAL EUROPE--I

Funk & Wagnalls Company New York and London Copyright, 1909, by Funk & Wagnalls Company

The Best of the World's Classics

VOL. VII

CONTINENTAL EUROPE--I

CONTENTS

VOL. VII--CONTINENTAL EUROPE--I

EARLY CONTINENTAL WRITERS

354--1380

ST. AURELIUS AUGUSTINE--(Born in Numidia, Africa, in 354; died in 430.)

Imperial Power for Good and Bad Men.

(From Book IV, Chapter III, of "De Civitate Dei")

ANICIUS BOETHIUS--(Born about 475, died about 524.)

The Highest Happiness.

(From "The Consolations of Philosophy." Translated by Alfred the Great)

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS--(Born near Aquino, Italy, probably in 1225; died in 1274.)

A Definition of Happiness.

(From the "Ethics")

THOMAS À KEMPIS--(Born in Rhenish Prussia about 1380, died in the Netherlands in 1471.)

Of Eternal Life and of Striving for It.

(From "The Imitation of Christ")

Part 2

FRANCE

Twelfth Century--1885

GEOFFREY DE VILLE-HARDOUIN--(Born between 1150 and 1165; died in 1212.)

The Sack of Constantinople.

(From "The Chronicles." Translated by Eric Arthur Bell)

JEAN DE JOINVILLE--(Born in 1224, died in 1317.)

Greek Fire in Battle.

(From "The Memoirs of Louis IX, King of France." Translated by Thomas Johnes)

"AUCASSIN AND NICOLETTE."

(A French romance of the 12th Century, the author's name unknown)

JEAN FROISSART--(Born in 1337, died in 1410.)

The Battle of Crécy (1346).

(From the "Chronicles." Translated by Thomas Johnes)

PHILIPPE DE COMINES--(Born in France about 1445, died in 1511.)

Of the Character of Louis XI

(From the "Memoirs." Translated by Andrew R. Scoble)

MARGUERITE D'ANGOULÊME--(Born in 1492, died in 1549.)

Of Husbands Who Are Unfaithful.

(From the "Heptameron")

FRANÇOIS RABELAIS--(Born in 1495, died in 1553.)

I Gargantua in His Childhood.

(From "The Inestimable Life of the Great Gargantua." Translated by Urquhart and Motteux)

II Gargantua's Education.

(From "The Inestimable Life of the Great Gargantua." Translated by Urquhart and Motteux)

III Of the Founding of an Ideal Abbey.

(From "The Inestimable Life of the Great Gargantua." Translated by Urquhart and Motteux)

JOHN CALVIN--(Born in 1509, died in 1564.)

Of Freedom for the Will.

Part 3

(From the "Institutes")

JOACHIM DU BELLAY--(Born about 1524, died in 1560.)

Why Old French Was Not as Rich as Greek and Latin.

(From the "Défense et Illustration de la Langue Françoise." Translated by Eric Arthur Bell)

MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE--(Born in 1533, died in 1592.)

I A Word to His Readers.

(From the preface to the "Essays." Translated by John Florio)

II Of Society and Solitude.

(From the essay entitled "Of Three Commerces." The Cotton translation, revised by W. C. Hazlitt)

III Of His Own Library.

(From the essay entitled "Of Three Commerces." The Cotton translation, revised by W. C. Hazlitt)

IV That the Soul Discharges Her Passions upon False Objects Where True Ones Are Wanting.

(From the essay with that title. The Cotton translation)

V That Men Are Not to Judge of Our Happiness Till After Death.

(From the essay with that title. The Cotton translation)

RENÉ DESCARTES--(Born in 1596, died in 1650.)

Of Material Things and of the Existence of God.

(From the "Meditations." Translated by John Veitch)

DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD--(Born in France in 1613, died in 1680.)

Selections from the "Maxims."

(Translated by Willis Bund and Hain Friswell)

BLAISE PASCAL--(Born in 1623, died in 1662.)

Of the Prevalence of Self-Love.

(From the "Thoughts." Translated by C. Kegan Paul)

MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ--(Born in Paris in 1626, died in 1696.)

I Great News from Paris.

(From a letter dated Paris, December 15, 1670)

II An Imposing Funeral Described.

Part 4

(From a letter to her daughter, dated Paris, May 6,1672)

ALAIN RENÉ LE SAGE--(Born in 1668, died in 1747.)

I In the Service of Dr. Sangrado.

(From "Gil Blas." Translated by Tobias Smollett)

II As an Archbishop's Favorite.

(From "Gil Blas." Translated by Tobias Smollett)

DUC DE SAINT-SIMON--(Born in 1675, died in 1755.)

I The Death of the Dauphin.

(From the "Memoirs." Translated by Bayle St. John)

II The Public Watching the King and Madame.

(From the "Memoirs." Translated by Bayle St. John)

BARON DE MONTESQUIEU--(Born in 1689, died in 1755.)

I Of the Causes Which Destroyed Rome.

(From the "Grandeur and Decadence of the Romans")

II Of the Relation of Laws to Human Beings.

(From the "Spirit of Laws." Translated by Thomas Nugent)

FRANÇOIS AROUET VOLTAIRE--(Born in Paris in 1694, died in 1778.)

I Of Bacon's Greatness.

(From the "Letters on England")

II England's Regard for Men of Letters.

(From the "Letters on England")

JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU--(Born in 1712, died in 1778.)

I Of Christ and Socrates

II Of the Management of Children.

(From the "New Héloïse")

MADAME DE STAËL--(Born in 1763, died in 1817.)

Of Napoleon Bonaparte.

(From "Considerations on the French Revolution")

Part 5

VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND--(Born in 1768, died in 1848.)

In an American Forest.

(From the "Historical Essay on Revolutions")

FRANÇOIS GUIZOT--(Born in 1787, died in 1874.)

Shakespeare as an Example of Civilization.

(From "Shakespeare and His Times")

ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE--(Born in 1790, died in 1869.)

Of Mirabeau's Origin and Place in History.

(From Book I of the "History of the Girondists." Translated by T. Ryde)

LOUIS ADOLPH THIERS--(Born in 1797, died in 1877.)

The Burning of Moscow.

(From the "History of the Consulate and the Empire")

HONORÉ DE BALZAC--(Born in 1799, died in 1850.)

I The Death of Père Goriot.

(From the concluding chapter of "Père Goriot." Translated by Helen Marriàge)

II Birotteau's Early Married Life.

(From "The Rise and Fall of César Birotteau." Translated by Helen Marriàge)

ALFRED DE VIGNY--(Born in 1799, died in 1863.)

Richelieu's Way with His Master.

(From "Cinq-Mars; or, The Conspiracy under Louis XIII." Translated by William C. Hazlitt)

VICTOR HUGO--(Born in France in 1802, died in 1885.)

I The Battle of Waterloo.

(From Chapter XV of "Cosette," in "Les Misérables." Translated by Lascelles Wraxall)

II The Beginnings and Expansions of Paris.

(From Book III, Chapter II, of "Notre-Dame de Paris")

ALEXANDER DUMAS--(Born in 1802, died in 1870.)

The Shoulder, the Belt and the Handkerchief.

(From "The Three Musketeers")

Part 6

GEORGE SAND--(Born in 1804, died in 1876.)

Lélia and the Poet.

(From "Lélia")

EARLY CONTINENTAL WRITERS

354 A.D.--1471 A.D.

ST. AURELIUS AUGUSTINE

Born in Numidia, Africa, in 354 A.D., died in 430; educated at Carthage; taught rhetoric at Carthage; removed to Rome in 383; going thence to Milan in 384, where he became a friend of St. Ambrose; converted from Manicheanism to Christianity by his mother Monica, and baptized by St. Ambrose in 387; made Bishop of Hippo in North Africa in 395; became a champion of orthodoxy and the most celebrated of the fathers of the Latin branch of the Church; his "Confessions" published in 397.

IMPERIAL POWER FOR GOOD AND BAD MEN

Let us examine the nature of the spaciousness and continuance of empire, for which men give their gods such great thanks; to whom also they exhibited plays (that were so filthy both in actors and the action) without any offense of honesty. But, first, I would make a little inquiry, seeing you can not show such estates to be anyway happy, as are in continual wars, being still in terror, trouble, and guilt of shedding human blood, tho it be their foes; what reason then or what wisdom shall any man show in glorying in the largeness of empire, all their joy being but as a glass, bright and brittle, and evermore in fear and danger of breaking? To dive the deeper into this matter, let us not give the sails of our souls to every air of human breath, nor suffer our understanding's eye to be smoked up with the fumes of vain words, concerning kingdoms, provinces, nations, or so. No, let us take two men, let us imagine the one to be poor, or but of a mean estate, the other potent and wealthy; but withal, let my wealthy man take with him fears, sorrows, covetousness, suspicion, disquiet, contentions,--let these be the books for him to hold in the augmentation of his estate, and with all the increase of those cares, together with his estate; and let my poor man take with him, sufficiency with little, love of kindred, neighbors, friends, joyous peace, peaceful religion, soundness of body, sincereness of heart, abstinence of diet, chastity of carriage, and security of conscience.

Where should a man find any one so sottish as would make a doubt which of these to prefer in his choice? Well, then, even as we have done with these two men, so let us do with two families, two nations, or two kingdoms. Lay them both to the line of equity; which done, and duly considered, when it is done, here doth vanity lie bare to the view, and there shines felicity. Wherefore it is more convenient that such as fear and follow the law of the true God should have the swaying of such empires; not so much for themselves, their piety and their honesty (God's admired gifts) will suffice them, both to the enjoying of true felicity in this life and the attaining of that eternal and true felicity in the next. So that here upon earth, the rule and regality that is given to the good man does not return him so much good as it does to those that are under this his rule and regality. But, contrariwise, the government of the wicked harms themselves far more than their subjects, for it gives themselves the greater liberty to exercise their lusts; but for their subjects, they have none but their own iniquities to answer for; for what injury soever the unrighteous master does to the righteous servant, it is no scourge for his guilt, but a trial of his virtue. And therefore he that is good is free, tho he be a slave; and he that is evil, a slave tho he be king. Nor is he slave to one man, but that which is worst of all, unto as many masters as he affects vices; according to the Scriptures, speaking thus hereof: "Of whatsoever a man is overcome, to that he is in bondage."

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