l. i. ch. iii.
P. 74, l. 28. _Alexander's chastity._ To attribute this virtue to
Alexander is strange, but no doubt the circumstance in Pascal's
thought was his generous conduct to the family of Darius, after the
battle of Issus.
P. 75, l. 12. _the King of England._ Probably Charles II., then
living in exile, rather than Charles I. The King of Poland was Jean
Casimir, driven from his throne by Charles X. of Sweden, after the
battle of Warsaw in 1656. The Queen of Sweden was Christina, daughter
of Gustavus Adolphus, who abdicated in favour of her cousin, Charles
X., in 1654.
P. 75, l. 29. _we shall die alone_, "on mourra seul." It is a curious
instance of the fact how little Pascal is known in England, that
Keble having quoted this sentence wrongly, probably from memory, in
the first edition of the _Christian Year_, as "Je mourrai seul," it
has remained uncorrected and apparently unnoticed to this day.
P. 76, l. 12. _Cromwell._ As Charles II. was restored in 1660, this
fragment was written about that date, two years before Pascal's
death. Cromwell's death did not arise from the cause stated in the
text.
P. 77, l. 8. _the automaton._ The expression of Descartes and his
school for the animal body.
P. 77, l. 25. _Inclina cor meum, Deus._ Ps. cxix. 36. "_Inclina cor
meum in testimonia tua, et non in avaritiam._"
P. 77, l. 30. _Eritis sicut dii._ Gen. iii. 5.
P. 79, l. 30. _men laugh and weep at the same thing._ The thought is
from Charron, _Traité de la Sagesse_, l. i. ch. xxxviii.
P. 80, l. 35. _the grand Sultan._ None of Pascal's editors have
discovered whence he drew this purely fictitious description of the
Sultan.
P. 81, l. 9. _That epigram about the two one-eyed people._ This is
not Martial's. It is found in _Epigrammatum Delectus_, published by
Port Royal in 1659.
_Lumine Acon dextro, capta est Leonilla sinistro,
Et potis est forma vincere uterque Deos.
Blande puer, lumen quod habes concede parenti;
Si tu cæcus Amor, sic erit illa Venus._
P. 81, l. 12. _Ambitiosa recidet ornamenta._ Horace, _De Arte
Poetica_, v. 447.
P. 83, l. 22. _Spongia solis._ The spots on the sun. Du Cange
explains _spongia_ by _macula_. Pascal seems to mean that the spots
on the sun prepare us for its total extinction; that the sun will
eventually expire, so that, contrary as it seems to the course of
nature, there will come a day when there will be no sun.
P. 89. The title given to this second part is furnished by Pascal. In
the first part he has wished to prove the fallen state of man, and
his weakness; he now maintains that man may be restored by faith in
Jesus Christ, and the practice of religion.
P. 91, l. 26. _Nemo novit._ Matt. xi. 27. _Et nemo novit Filium nisi
Pater: neque Patrem quis novit, nisi Filius, et cui voluerit Filius
revelare._
P. 92, l. 3. _Vere tu es._ Is. xlv. 15, see p. 3, l. 8.
P. 92, l. 10. _Quod curiositate cognoverint._ Probably cited from
recollection of Saint Augustine, but the passage is not verbally to
be found.
P. 96, l. 6. _neither the stars._
_Porrum et cæpe nefas violare et frangere morsu
O sanctas gentes, quibus hæc nascuntur in hortis
Numina!_ Juvenal, _Sat._ xv. 9.
See also Montaigne, _Essais_, l. i. ch. xlii.
P. 97, l. 28. _stultitiam._ 1 Cor. i. 19.
P. 101, l. 12. _the opinion of Copernicus._ Pascal no doubt refers
to a passage in Montaigne, _Essais_, l. ii. ch. xii., in which he
abstains from deciding between the rival systems of astronomy.
Pascal, however, had no doubt on the matter himself, as is plain from
the passage on Galileo in the Eighteenth _Provincial_.
P. 101, l. 16. _Fascinatio nugacitatis._ Lib. Sap. iv. 12.
_Fascinatio enim nugacitatis obscurat bona._ See note on p. 165.
P. 102, l. 12. _So our people often act._ Fénélon, _Lettre à l'Evêque
d'Arras_, says, "_Toutes les difficultés s'evanouissent sans peine
des qu'on a l'esprit gueri de la présomption. Alors suivant le règle
de Saint Augustin_, Epist. ad Hier., _on passe sur tout ce que l'on
n'entend pas, et on s'edifie de tout ce qu'on entend_."
See also _De Imitatione Christi_, l. i. ch. v.
P. 104, l. 4. _Harum sententiarum. Harum sententiarum quæ vera sit
Deus aliquis viderit._ Cic. _Tuscul._ i. 11.
P. 104, l. 14. _The Preacher shows._ The precise thought as Pascal
has it here is not easy to find in Ecclesiastes. It is probably a
reminiscence of Eccles. viii. 17.
P. 105. _The Philosophers._ The title of this chapter is that
given by Molinier to the collection of fragments contained in it.
A few expressions and thoughts are from Montaigne, many more from
Descartes, _Discours de la Méthode_.
P. 108, l. 16. _Deliciæ meæ._ Prov. viii. 31.
P. 108, l. 17. _Effundam spiritum._ Joel ii. 28.
P. 108, l. 17. _Dii estis_, Ps. lxxxii. 6.
P. 108, l. 18. _Omnis caro fœnum._ Is. xl. 6.
P. 108, l. 18. _Homo assimilatus est._ Ps. xlix. 20.
P. 108, l. 20. _Dixi in corde meo._ Eccl. iii. 18.
P. 110, l. 28. _Ex senatus consultis._ Seneca, _Ep._ xcv., sec. 30.
P. 110, l. 29. _Nihil tam absurde._ Cic. _De Divia._ ii. 58.
P. 110, l. 32. _Ut omnium rerum._ Seneca, _Ep._ cvi. But the real
reading is _Quemadmodum--omnium rerum_.
P. 110, l. 34. _Id maxime._ Cic. _De Off._ i. 31.
P. 110, l. 35. _Hos natura modos._ Virg. _Georg._ ii. 20.
P. 111, l. 4. _Mihi sic usus est._ Ter. _Hea._ i. 1, 28.
P. 111, l. 6. _falsity of their dilemma in Montaigne._ _Essais_, l.
ii. ch. xii. "_Si l'âme est mortelle, il est absurde de craindre la
mort, si elle est immortelle elle ne peut aller qu'en s'ameliorant._"
P. 112, l. 11. _Felix qui potuit._ Virg. _Georg._ ii. l. 489.
P. 112, l. 13. _nihil mirari._ Hor. _Epist._ 1, vi. l. 1. The whole
passage is,
_Nil admirari prope res est una, Numici,
Solaque, quæ possit facere et servare beatum_.
P. 113, l. 15. _two sects._ Epicureans and Stoics.
P. 113, l. 17. _Des Barreaux._ Jacques Desbarreaux was an Epicurean
poet born at Paris in 1602, died in 1673, who in his poems paraded
his unbelief. Curiously enough, his only extant verses were written
when he lay ill, and are addressed to God.
P. 113, l. 28. _Epictetus concludes._ _Encheiridion_, iv. 7.
P. 113, l. 30. _three sects._ Pascal no doubt refers the _libido
sentiendi_ to the Epicureans, the _libido dominandi_ to the Stoics,
and the _libido sciendi_ to the dogmatic schools of Plato and
Aristotle, of which Cicero always speaks as though they taught one
and the same philosophy.
P. 114, l. 3. _two inches under water_, are equally drowned with
those who are at the bottom.
P. 115. The fragments collected in this chapter are here placed by
Molinier according to the plan which Pascal had traced out for his
work, in which after he had laid the various philosophical systems
before his supposed unbeliever, he brought forward for examination
the other religions.
P. 115, l. 20. _forbade men to read it._ It is not known whence
Pascal obtained this statement, which is a complete mistake.
P. 116, l. 15. _Jesus Christ wills that his testimony to himself
should be of no avail._ John v. 31. "If I bear witness of myself, my
witness is not true."
P. 116, l. 30. _The Koran says that Saint Matthew._ The Koran does
not name Saint Matthew, but says in general terms that Mahomet
regarded the apostles of Jesus as holy.
P. 117, l. 27. _whose witnesses let themselves be slaughtered._
After this Pascal had written, but erased the words "which of the
two is most to be blamed, Moses or China?" and these aid us in the
explanation of this enigmatic passage. The Jesuits had established
themselves in China at the end of the sixteenth century, and when
Pascal wrote their missions were in a flourishing state. They
had studied the language, history, and literature of China. But
the difficulty presented itself of reconciling the cosmogony and
chronology of the Bible with those of the Chinese sages. It is
probable that this passage was inspired by a private conversation
with some one who had read letters from a missionary, for no book on
the subject appears to have existed in Pascal's day.
P. 118, l. 4. _The five suns_, etc. Montaigne, from whom this is
taken, _Essais_, l. iii. ch. iv., probably borrowed it from some
Spanish book now forgotten.
P. 119. _Of the Jewish People._ This position in his intended
treatise, before the sections on the Sacred Books and on Prophecy, is
that which Pascal himself designed for his remarks on the Jews.
P. 123, l. 5. _The Masorah._ The unwritten tradition of the Jews.
P. 126, l. 9. _Quis mihi det._ Num. xi. 29. The true reading is,
_Quis tribuat ut omnis populus prophetet_.
P. 126, l. 17. _If the story in Esdras is credible._ In the 14th
Chapter of the Second Book of Esdras God appears to Esdras in a bush,
and orders him to assemble the people and deliver the message. Esdras
replies, "I will go as thou hast commanded me, and reprove the people
which are present, but they that shall be born afterward who shall
admonish them?... _For thy law is burnt_, therefore no man knoweth
the things that are done of thee, or the works that shall begin.
But if I have found grace before thee, send the Holy Ghost into me,
and I shall write all that hath been done in the world since the
beginning." ... Then God ordered him to take five scribes, to whom
for forty days he dictated the ancient law.
The authenticity of this story, coming into conflict as it does with
many passages of the prophets, and specially with Jeremiah, appeared
open to such grave doubts, that at the Council of Trent the last book
of Esdras, called in the Catholic Church, Esdras IV., by Protestants
Esdras II., was then rejected from the Canon.
P. 126, l. 27. _Jeremiah gave them the law._ See 2 Maccabees, ch. xi.
P. 128, l. 31. _Qui justus est justificetur adhuc._ Apocal. xvii. 4.
P. 129, l. 18. _a thousand and twenty-two._ This was the number of
stars comprised in the Catalogue of Ptolemy, according to the system
of Hipparchus.
P. 132, l. 9. _Non habemus regem nisi Cæsarem._ Job. xx. 15.
P. 134, l. 12. _Eris palpans in meridie._ Incorrectly quoted from
Deut. xxviii. 29.
P. 134, l. 13. _Dabitur liber._ Incorrectly quoted from Is. xxix. 12.
P. 135, l. 6. _Effundam spiritum meum._ Is. xliv. 2.
P. 135, l. 21. _populum non credentem._ Is. lxv. 2.
P. 136, l. 2. _ex omnibus iniquitatibus._ Probably a remembrance of
Is. xliv. 22. _Delevi ut nubem iniquitates tuas._
P. 136, l. 13. _The little stone._ Dan. ii. 34.
P. 136, l. 33. _Omnis Judæa regio._ Incorrectly quoted from Matt.
iii. 5.
P. 137, l. 3. _These stones can become._ Matt. iii. 9.
P. 140, l. 15. _Grotius._ The allusion is no doubt to his work, _De
Veritate Religionis Christianæ_, which appeared in 1662.
P. 143, l. 6. _the king of the Medes and Persians_ is Darius
Codomanus; the King of the Greeks, Alexander. The four kings are,
Seleucus, King of Syria; Ptolemy, King of Egypt; Lysimachus, King of
Thrace, and Cassander, King of Macedonia, after the battle of Ipsus,
301 B.C.
P. 143, l. 12. This paragraph refers to Antiochus Epiphanes, King of
Syria, who died 164 B.C. See the account of his death, 1 Macc. c. 6.
P. 145, l. 1. _And in the end of years._ The marriage of Antiochus
Theos with Berenice took place about 247 B.C. Berenice was
assassinated by Seleucus Ceraunos soon afterwards, and the war
between Ptolemy Euergetes and the King of Syria lasted during almost
all the reign of the latter. Syria regained the ascendancy only after
the death of Ptolemy Euergetes in 222 B.C.
P. 145, l. 26. _Raphia._ The Battle of Raphia was gained by Ptolemy
Philopator over Antiochus the Great, 217 B.C.
P. 145, l. 36. _Euergetes_, a mistake for Epiphanes.
P. 147, l. 2. _The leader taken from the thigh._ A literal
translation of Gen. xlix. 10. _Non auferetur sceptrum de Juda, et dux
de femore ejus._
P. 152, l. 26. _Pugio Fidei._ The work so called, which Pascal first
specifies in this place, is one of which he made great use in all his
speculations on the fulfilment of Prophecy, and on the meaning of
the Hebrew letters, etc. The book, of which the full title is _Pugio
Fidei adversus Mauros et Judæos_, was written in 1278 by Raymond
Martin, a Catalonian monk. It remained almost unknown for four
hundred years, and was first printed in 1651. It was, therefore, as
it were, a new book when Pascal became acquainted with it. Under the
name Mauri the author assails not the Koran nor Mahomet, but Arabic
philosophy.
P. 161, l. 2. _Ut sciatis quod filius hominis._ Marc. ii. 10-11. The
words of Jesus to the paralytic.
P. 164, l. 16. _Signa legem in electis meis._ Is. viii. 16, where the
Vulgate has _discipulis_.
P. 165, l. 15. _Fascination._ _i.e._, _Fascinatio nugacitatis_,
see p. 101, l. 16. The blindness produced by the love of temporal
possessions, or as the A. V. translates it, "the bewitching of
naughtiness."
P. 165, l. 15. _Somnum suum._ Ps. lxxvi. 5. _Turbati sunt omnes
insipientes corde. Dormierunt somnum suum: et nihil invenerunt omnes
viri divitiarum in manibus suis._
P. 165, l. 15. _Figura hujus mundi._ 1 ad Cor. vii. 31. _Et qui
utuntur hoc mundo, tanquam non utantur: præterit enim figura hujus
mundi._
P. 165, l. 16. _Comedes panem tuum._ Deut viii. 9. _Panem nostrum._
Luc. xi. 3.
P. 165, l. 17. _Inimici Dei terram lingent._ Ps. lxxii 8. The Psalm
is of Solomon, _Inimici ejus terram lingent_.
P. 165, l. 22. _cum amaritudinibus._ Ex. xii. 8, where the Vulgate
has _cum lactucis agrestibus_.
P. 165, l. 24. _Singularis sum ego._ Ps. cxli. 10, where the true
reading is "_singulariter_."
P. 165, l. 34. _We have no right._ The following is the explanation
of this and the next two paragraphs: In Is. ix. 6, a prophecy which
the Rabbis apply to Messiah, and Christian interpreters to Jesus, are
the words: _Parvulus enim natus est nobis ... multiplicabatur ejus
imperium._ In the Hebrew words representing this latter clause, the
_closed mem_, a letter ordinarily employed only at the end of a word,
occurs where an _open mem_ should be used. From this orthographic
mistake the Rabbis have concluded that Messiah would be born of a
virgin, _ex virgine clausa_. Moreover, as the _closed mem_ in Hebrew
writing means six hundred, the Rabbis supposed that Messiah was to
come six hundred years after Isaiah. The _final tsadé_ has the same
value as the _closed mem_.
P. 166, l. 8. _the way of the philosopher's stone_, no doubt the way
of _finding_ the philosopher's stone. The dreams of the alchemists
on this subject were early mingled with those of the Rabbis on the
Messiah. Nor had the Cabbala lost all credit in Pascal's days. In
1629 Robert Fludd, in Latin De Fluctibus, an Englishman, educated
at Oxford, and a Fellow of the College of Physicians, published at
Frankfort his _Medicina Catholica_. In this, sect 1. pt. ii. b. 1.
ch. i. he speaks of sicknesses and healing as both sent from God by
angelic intermediaries, and that all angelic natures are summed up
in the great angel Mittatron, whom the Scriptures call Wisdom. In a
further passage he says that in him whom the Cabalists call Mittatron
others recognise Messiah, and quotes the passage of Isaiah in which
occurs the _closed mem_.
In Reuchlin's book _De Arte Cabalistica_ the _open mem_ is said to
represent the sphere of Jupiter, and the _closed mem_ the sphere of
Mars.
P. 166, l. 12. _Apocalyptics._ Interpreters of the Apocalypse.
P. 166, l. 13. _Preadamites._ Those who hold that Adam was the
progenitor of the Jews only, and not of the whole human race.
P. 166, l. 13. _Millenarians._ The believers in the reign of Christ
on earth for a thousand years.
P. 166, l. 19. The allusion is probably to 2 Paralip. i. 14. _Et
fecit eos esse in urbibus quadrigarum, et cum rege in Jerusalem._
P. 166, l. 31. _Exortum est lumen._ Ps. cxii. 4. But the word _corde_
does not appear in the Vulgate.
P. 168, l. 30. _Agnus occisus est._ Apoc. xiii. 8.
P. 170, l. 23. _the breasts of the Spouse._ Song of Songs, iv. 5.
P. 171, l. 32. _Nisi fecissem._ A partial citation of Joh. xv. 24.
P. 174, l. 32. _Adam forma futuri_, ad Rom. v. 14.
P. 175, l. 7. _the six mornings._ This passage is taken from S.
Aug. _De Genesi contra Manichæos_, i. 23. Pascal probably intending
to write _les six orients_, dawns or mornings, his amanuensis has
written _les six arians_, a source of much misunderstanding. The six
mornings are, the creation; the deliverance from the Ark; the call of
Abraham; the carrying away into Babylon; the preaching of Jesus.
P. 175, l. 29. _Fac secundum exemplar._ Exod. xxv. 40, but the
Vulgate has _monstratum_.
P. 176, l. 9. _Saint Paul says._ 1 Cor. vii.; 1 Tim. iv. 3.
P. 176, l. 14. _On which Saint Paul says._ Heb. viii. 5.
P. 176, l. 16. _Veri adoratores._ Joh. iv. 23. _Ecce agnus Dei._ Joh.
i. 29.
P. 187, l. 11. _ne evacuata sit crux._ 1 ad Cor. i. 17. _ut non
evacuetur crux Christi._
P. 187, l. 12. _says that he came neither with wisdom nor with
signs._ See however 2 Cor. xii. 12. "Truly the signs of an apostle
were wrought among you in all patience, _in signs_ and wonders and
mighty deeds."
P. 191, l. 7. _Deliciæ meæ._ Prov. viii. 31. _Effundam._ Joel, ii.
28. _Dii estis._ Ps. lxxxii. 6. _Omnis caro fœnum._ Is. xl. 6. _Homo
comparatus est._ Ps. xlix. 20. _Dixi in corde._ Eccles. iii. 18.
P. 192, l. 3. _Marton._ Probably a mistake of the amanuensis for
Miton. See p. 12, l. 22.
P. 192, l. 10. _Sapientius est hominibus._ 1 ad Cor. i. 25.
P. 194, l. 5. _Nemo ante obitum beatus est._ Ovid, _Met._ iii. 136.
The passage runs:--
_Dicique beatus
Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet._
P. 194, l. 19. The citations from the Rabbis are taken from the
_Pugio Fidei_.
P. 195, l. 36. _Chronology of Rabbinism._ The chronology here given
is in many points at variance with modern scholarship.
P. 197, l. 19. _Salutare tuum expectabo._ Gen. xlix. 18.
P. 200, l. 12. _Miserere._ The first word of Ps. li., "_Miserere mei
Deus_." _Expectavi._ The first word of Ps. xl., "_Expectans expectavi
Dominum_."
P. 200, l. 29. _Dixit Dominus._ The first words of Ps. cx.
P. 209, l. 11. _Excæca._ Is. vi. 10.
P. 210, l. 13. _nisi efficiamini._ Matt, xviii. 3.
P. 213, l. 21. _Quis mihi det ut._ Job, xix. 23-25.
P. 215, l. 5. _Quare fremuerunt gentes._ Ps. ii. 1, 2.
P. 215, l. 30. _Ingrediens mundum._ Probably a recollection of the
meaning, but not the words, of Heb. i. 6.
P. 215, l. 31. _Stone upon stone._ Mark, xiii. 2.
P. 216, l. 23. _in sanctificationem et in scandalum_, a partial
quotation of Isaiah, viii. 14.
P. 217, l. 3. _Ænigmatis._ The word nowhere appears, but the allusion
is no doubt to 1 ad Cor. xiii. 12. _Videmus nunc per speculum in
ænigmate, tunc autem facie ad faciem._
P. 219, l. 3. _gladium tuum._ Ps. xlv. 3. _Accingere gladio tuo super
femur tuum, potentissime._
P. 220, l. 21. _He hath blinded them._ Is. vi. 10.
P. 221, l. 22. _Great Pan is dead._ Plutarch _De Oraculis_.
P. 221, l. 26. _Barcoseba_, or Barcochebas, a Jewish impostor who
claimed to be the Messiah, A.D. 135.
P. 222, l. 3. _Curse of the Greeks_, no doubt against those Heretics
who tried to discover the exact date of the end of the world.
P. 225, l. 19. _Quia non cognovit._ The quotation is modified from
1 ad Cor. i. 21, and with the important omission of the final word
"_credentes_."
P. 226, l. 24. _Quod ergo ignorantes quæritis._ Adapted from Act. Ap.
xvii. 23. _Quod ergo ignorantes colitis ego annuncio vobis._
P. 226, l. 28. _via, veritas._ Joh. xiv. 6.
P. 227, l. 12. _Jaddus to Alexander._ Jaddus was the Jewish High
Priest, who on Alexander's invasion of Syria refused to aid him.
Thereupon Alexander marched on Jerusalem. Jaddus came out to meet him
in processional pomp, when the conqueror prostrated himself at his
feet, saying he had seen such a man in a dream, who had promised him
the Empire of Asia.
P. 228, l. 14. _Archimedes, though of princely birth._ Plutarch says
that Archimedes was of a family allied to that of Hiero, King of
Syracuse.
P. 229, l. 11. _I will bless those that bless thee._ Gen. xii. 3.
_Benedicam benedicentibus tibi._
P. 229, l. 13. _Parum est ut._ Is. xlix. 6. _Parum est ut sis mihi
servus ad suscitandas tribus Jacob et faeces Israel convertendas.
Ecce dedi te in lucem gentium._
P. 229, l. 15. _Non fecit taliter._ Ps. cxlvii. 20.
P. 230, l. 8. _Jesus Christ the Redeemer of all._ "_Jesu Redemptor
omnium_" is the first verse of the Christmas Vesper Hymn.
P. 230, l. 21. _Lord, when saw we thee an hungered?_ Matt. xxv. 34.
P. 231. _The Mystery of Jesus._ This fragment has only been included
by more recent editors. But it exists in the autograph MS., and
unquestionably forms a part of the intended work.
P. 231, l. 3. _turbare semetipsum._ Joh. xi. 33. In the text
_turbavit seipsum_.
P. 232, l. 9. _Eamus. Processit._ A recollection of Joh. xviii. 4,
but the word _eamus_ does not occur in the verse, being borrowed from
the account in Matt. xxvi. 46.
P. 233, l. 25. _ut immundus pro luto._ Possibly a reminiscence and
misquotation of 2 Pet. ii. 22. _Sus lota in volutabro luti._
P. 234, l. 33. _Noli me tangere._ Joh. xx. 17.
P. 235, l. 21. _Et tu conversus._ Luc. xxii. 32. _Conversus Jesus._
_ib._ 61. _before_ should be "after."
P. 238, l. 16. _Qui adhæret Deo._ 1 ad Cor. v. 17. _Qui autem adhæret
Domino unus spiritus est._
P. 238, l. 28. _because it has perhaps merited ours._ See Bossuet's
Catechism. _Qu'entendez vous par la Communion des Saints? J'entends
principalement la participation qu'ont tous les fidèles au fruit des
bonnes œuvres les uns des autres._
P. 240, l. 28. _Book of Wisdom._ Ch. ii. 6. But the sense only, and
not the words, is given.
P. 241, l. 16. _et non intres in judicium._ Ps. cxliii. 2.
P. 241, l. 19. _The goodness of God._ Rom. ii. 4.
P. 241, l. 20. _Let us do penance._ Jonah, iii. 9. But the sense
only, not the words, is quoted.
P. 243, l. 2. _qui gloriatur, in Domino glorietur._ 1 ad Cor. i. 31.
P. 243, l. 4. _libido sentiendi._ From Jansenius, _De statu naturæ
lapsæ_, ii. 8.
P. 243, l. 5. _Woe to the accursed land._ This and the following
paragraphs are taken from Saint Augustine's commentary on Ps.
cxxxvii., _Super flumina Babylonis_.
P. 244, l. 1. _Abraham took nothing for himself._ Gen. xiv. 24.
P. 244, l. 5. _Sub te erit appetitus tuus._ Gen. iv. 7.
P. 244, l. 29. _Multi crediderunt._ Joh. viii. 30-33.
P. 245, l. 17. _Comminutum cor._ No doubt a misquotation of Ps. li.
_cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies_.
P. 245, l. 18. _Albe vous a nommé._ Corneille, _Horace_, act ii. sc.
3.
P. 248, l. 1. _Omnis creatura subjecta est vanitati._ Eccles. iii.
19, but the true reading is "_cuncta subjacent vanitati_."
P. 249, l. 33. _Inclina cor meum._ Ps. cxix. 36.
P. 251, l. 13. _Ne evacuetur crux Christi._ 1 ad Cor. i. 17.
P. 253. _The Arrangement._ Scattered here and there in Pascal's MS.
were a number of notes concerning the plan, form, and matter of his
intended treatise, many of them marked with the word "_Ordre_." These
are gathered together by recent editors, and some others which seem
to cohere with them added, but Molinier's arrangement, as well as
that of Faugère, is necessarily somewhat arbitrary.
P. 254, l. 6. _Justus ex fide vivit._ Habac. ii. 4. Ad Rom. i. 17.
P. 254, l. 8. _fides ex auditu._ Ad Rom. x. 17.
P. 254, l. 14. _divide my moral qualities into four._ The classical
division of ancient philosophy was into four: prudence, temperance,
justice, magnanimity.
P. 254, l. 16. _Abstine et sustine._ The Stoic formula.
P. 257. _The Miracle of the Holy Thorn._ Marguerite Perier, Pascal's
niece, aged ten, was cured of lachrymal fistula on March 24, 1656,
after touching the diseased part with a reliquary containing a thorn
from the Saviour's crown. This was at the time that Port Royal was
suffering deeply from persecution, and was considered by many a
signal mark of the favour of heaven. The Jesuits did not deny the
miracle, but the conclusions drawn from it.
P. 257, l. 20. _those who heal by invocation of the devil._ Pascal,
when a child, was supposed both to have been made ill and restored to
health by a witch. He desires to show that this was no miracle.
P. 258, l. 9. _Believe the Church._ Matt. xviii. 17.
P. 258, l. 13. _Montaigne._ Cf. _Essais_, i. 26.
P. 258, l. 23. _Judæi signa petunt._ 1 ad Cor. i. 22.
P. 258, l. 25. _Sed plenum signis._ This and the following one are
not to be found. Pascal is probably citing Saint Paul from memory.
P. 258, l. 29. _Sed vos non creditis._ Joh. x. 26.
P. 261, l. 5. _Saint Augustine._ Pascal does not appear to refer to
any single passage, but to the general teaching of Saint Augustine.
But see especially _De Civit. Dei_, xxii. 9.