Library of the Worlds Best Literature Ancient and Modern Vol 1 by Charles Dudley Warner

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Title: Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 1

Editor: Charles Dudley Warner

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LIBRARY OF THE

WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE

ANCIENT AND MODERN

VOL. I.

CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER

EDITOR

HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE

LUCIA GILBERT RUNKLE
GEORGE HENRY WARNER

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Connoisseur Edition

PREFACE

he plan of this Work is simple, and yet it is novel. In its distinctive features it differs from any compilation that has yet
been made. Its main purpose is to present to American households a mass of good reading. But it goes much beyond
this. For in selecting this reading it draws upon all literatures of all time and of every race, and thus becomes a
conspectus of the thought and intellectual evolution of man from the beginning. Another and scarcely less important
purpose is the interpretation of this literature in essays by scholars and authors competent to speak with authority.

The title, "A Library of the World's Best Literature," is strictly descriptive. It means that what is offered to the reader is
taken from the best authors, and is fairly representative of the best literature and of all literatures. It may be important
historically, or because at one time it expressed the thought and feeling of a nation, or because it has the character of
universality, or because the readers of to-day will find it instructive, entertaining, or amusing. The Work aims to suit a
great variety of tastes, and thus to commend itself as a household companion for any mood and any hour. There is no
intention of presenting merely a mass of historical material, however important it is in its place, which is commonly of the
sort that people recommend others to read and do not read themselves. It is not a library of reference only, but a library
to be read. The selections do not represent the partialities and prejudices and cultivation of any one person, or of a
group of editors even; but, under the necessary editorial supervision, the sober judgment of almost as many minds as
have assisted in the preparation of these volumes. By this method, breadth of appreciation has been sought.

The arrangement is not chronological, but alphabetical, under the names of the authors, and, in some cases, of literatures
and special subjects. Thus, in each volume a certain variety is secured, the heaviness or sameness of a mass of antique,
classical, or mediaeval material is avoided, and the reader obtains a sense of the varieties and contrasts of different
periods. But the work is not an encyclopaedia, or merely a dictionary of authors. Comprehensive information as to all
writers of importance may be included in a supplementary reference volume; but the attempt to quote from all would
destroy the Work for reading purposes, and reduce it to a herbarium of specimens.

In order to present a view of the entire literary field, and to make these volumes especially useful to persons who have
not access to large libraries, as well as to treat certain literatures or subjects when the names of writers are unknown or
would have no significance to the reader, it has been found necessary to make groups of certain nationalities, periods,
and special topics. For instance, if the reader would like to know something of ancient and remote literatures which
cannot well be treated under the alphabetical list of authors, he will find special essays by competent scholars on the
Accadian-Babylonian literature, on the Egyptian, the Hindu, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Icelandic, the Celtic, and
others, followed by selections many of which have been specially translated for this Work. In these literatures names of
ascertained authors are given in the Index. The intention of the essays is to acquaint the reader with the spirit, purpose,
and tendency of these writings, in order that he may have a comparative view of the continuity of thought and the value
of tradition in the world. Some subjects, like the Arthurian Legends, the Nibelungen Lied, the Holy Grail, Provençal
Poetry, the Chansons and Romances, and the Gesta Romanorum, receive a similar treatment. Single poems upon which
the authors' title to fame mainly rests, familiar and dear hymns, and occasional and modern verse of value, are also
grouped together under an appropriate heading, with reference in the Index whenever the poet is known.

It will thus be evident to the reader that the Library is fairly comprehensive and representative, and that it has an
educational value, while offering constant and varied entertainment. This comprehensive feature, which gives the Work
distinction, is, however, supplemented by another of scarcely less importance; namely, the critical interpretive and
biographical comments upon the authors and their writings and their place in literature, not by one mind, or by a small
editorial staff, but by a great number of writers and scholars, specialists and literary critics, who are able to speak from
knowledge and with authority. Thus the Library becomes in a way representative of the scholarship and wide judgment
of our own time. But the essays have another value. They give information for the guidance of the reader. If he becomes
interested in any selections here given, and would like a fuller knowledge of the author's works, he can turn to the essay
and find brief observations and characterizations which will assist him in making his choice of books from a library.

The selections are made for household and general reading; in the belief that the best literature contains enough that is
pure and elevating and at the same time readable, to satisfy any taste that should be encouraged. Of course selection
implies choice and exclusion. It is hoped that what is given will be generally approved; yet it may well happen that some
readers will miss the names of authors whom they desire to read. But this Work, like every other, has its necessary
limits; and in a general compilation the classic writings, and those productions that the world has set its seal on as among
the best, must predominate over contemporary literature that is still on its trial. It should be said, however, that many
writers of present note and popularity are omitted simply for lack of space. The editors are compelled to keep
constantly in view the wider field. The general purpose is to give only literature; and where authors are cited who are

generally known as philosophers, theologians, publicists, or scientists, it is because they have distinct literary quality, or
because their influence upon literature itself has been so profound that the progress of the race could not be accounted
for without them.

These volumes contain not only or mainly the literature of the past, but they aim to give, within the limits imposed by
such a view, an idea of contemporary achievement and tendencies in all civilized countries. In this view of the modern
world the literary product of America and Great Britain occupies the largest space.

It should be said that the plan of this Work could not have been carried out without the assistance of specialists in many
departments of learning, and of writers of skill and insight, both in this country and in Europe. This assistance has been
most cordially given, with a full recognition of the value of the enterprise and of the aid that the Library may give in
encouraging and broadening literary tastes. Perhaps no better service could be rendered the American public at this
period than the offer of an opportunity for a comprehensive study of the older and the greater literatures of other
nations. By this comparison it can gain a just view of its own literature, and of its possible mission in the world of letters.

THE ADVISORY COUNCIL

CRAWFORD H. TOY, A.M., LL.D.,

Professor of Hebrew,
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Cambridge, Mass.

THOMAS R. LOUNSBURY, LL.D., L.H.D.,

Professor of English in the Sheffield Scientific School of
YALE UNIVERSITY, New Haven, Conn.

WILLIAM M. SLOANE, PH.D., L.H.D.,

Professor of History and Political Science,
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, Princeton, N.J.

BRANDER MATTHEWS, A.M., LL.B.,

Professor of Literature,
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, New York City.

JAMES B. ANGELL, LL.D.,

President of the
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, Ann Arbor, Mich.

WILLARD FISKE, A.M., PH.D.,

Late Professor of the Germanic and Scandinavian Languages and Literatures,
CORNELL UNIVERSITY, Ithaca, N.Y.

EDWARD S. HOLDEN, A.M., LL.D.,

Director of the Lick Observatory, and Astronomer
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, Berkeley, Cal.

ALCÉE FORTIER, LIT.D.,

Professor of the Romance Languages,
TULANE UNIVERSITY, New Orleans, La.

WILLIAM P. TRENT, M.A.,

Dean of the Department of Arts and Sciences, and Professor of English and History,
UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH, Sewanee, Tenn.

PAUL SHOREY, PH.D.,

Professor of Greek and Latin Literature,
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, Chicago, Ill.

WILLIAM T. HARRIS, LL.D.,

United States Commissioner of Education,
BUREAU OF EDUCATION, Washington, D.C.

MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN, A.M., LL.D.,

Professor of Literature in the
CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, Washington, D.C.

NOTE OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT

wing to the many changes in the assignment of topics and engaging of writers incident to so extended a publication as
the Library of the World's Best Literature, the Editor finds it impossible, before the completion of the work, adequately
to recognize the very great aid which he has received from a large number of persons. A full list of contributors will be
given in one of the concluding volumes. He will expressly acknowledge also his debt to those who have assisted him
editorially, or in other special ways, in the preparation of these volumes.

Both Editor and Publishers have endeavored to give full credit to every author quoted, and to accompany every citation
with ample notice of copyright ownership. At the close of the work it is their purpose to express in a more formal way
their sense of obligation to the many publishers who have so courteously given permission for this use of their property,
and whose rights of ownership it is intended thoroughly to protect.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

VOL. I

ABÉLARD AND HÉLOISE (by Thomas Davidson) -- 1079-1142

Letter of Héloise to Abélard
Abélard's Answer to Héloise
Vesper Hymn of Abélard

EDMOND ABOUT -- 1828-1885

The Capture ('The King of the Mountains')
Hadgi-Stavros (same)
The Victim ('The Man with the Broken Ear')
The Man without a Country (same)

ACCADIAN-BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN LITERATURE (by Crawford H. Toy)

Theogony
Revolt of Tiamat
Descent to the Underworld
The Flood
The Eagle and the Snake
The Flight of Etana
The God Zu
Adapa and the Southwind
Penitential Psalms
Inscription of Sennacherib
Invocation to the Goddess Beltis
Oracles of Ishtar of Arbela
An Erechite's Lament

ABIGAIL ADAMS (by Lucia Gilbert Runkle) -- 1744-1818

Letters--To her Husband:

May 24, 1775; June 15, 1775; June 18, 1775;

Nov. 27, 1775; April 20, 1777; June 8, 1779

To her Sister:

Sept. 5, 1784; May 10, 1785;
July 24, 1784; June 24, 1785

To her Niece

HENRY ADAMS -- 1838-

Auspices of the War of 1812
What the War of 1812 Demonstrated
Battle between the Constitution and the Guerrière

JOHN ADAMS -- 1735-1826

At the French Court ('Diary')
Character of Franklin (Letter to the Boston Patriot)

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS -- 1767-1848

Letter to his Father, at the Age of Ten
From the Memoirs, at the Age of Eighteen
From the Memoirs, Jan. 14, 1831; June 7, 1833; Sept. 9, 1833
The Mission of America (Fourth of July Oration, 1821)
The Right of Petition (Speech in Congress)
Nullification (Fourth of July Oration, 1831)

SARAH FLOWER ADAMS -- 1805-1848

He Sendeth Sun, He Sendeth Shower
Nearer, My God, to Thee

JOSEPH ADDISON (by Hamilton Wright Mabie) -- 1672-1720

Sir Roger de Coverley at the Play
Visit to Sir Roger de Coverley
Vanity of Human Life
Essay on Fans
Hymn, 'The Spacious Firmament'

AELIANUS CLAUDIUS -- Second Century

Of Certain Notable Men that made themselves Playfellowes with Children
Of a Certaine Sicilian whose Eyesight was Woonderfull Sharpe and Quick
The Lawe of the Lacedaemonians against Covetousness
That Sleep is the Brother of Death, and of Gorgias drawing to his End
Of the Voluntary and Willing Death of Calanus
Of Delicate Dinners, Sumptuous Suppers, and Prodigall Banqueting
Of Bestowing Time, and how Walking Up and Downe was not Allowable among the

Lacedaemonians

How Socrates Suppressed the Pryde and Hautinesse of Alcibiades
Of Certaine Wastgoodes and Spendthriftes

AESCHINES -- B.C. 389-314

A Defense and an Attack ('Oration against Ctesiphon')

AESCHYLUS (by John Williams White) -- B.C. 525-456

Complaint of Prometheus ('Prometheus')
Prayer to Artemis ('The Suppliants')
Defiance of Eteocles ('The Seven against Thebes')
Vision of Cassandra ('Agamemnon')
Lament of the Old Nurse ('The Libation-Pourers')
Decree of Athena ('The Eumenides')

AESOP (by Harry Thurston Peck) -- Seventh Century B.C.

The Fox and the Lion
The Ass in the Lion's Skin
The Ass Eating Thistles
The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
The Countryman and the Snake
The Belly and the Members
The Satyr and the Traveler
The Lion and the other Beasts
The Ass and the Little Dog

The Country Mouse and the City Mouse
The Dog and the Wolf

JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ -- 1807-1873

The Silurian Beach ('Geological Sketches')
Voices ('Methods of Study in Natural History')
Formation of Coral Reefs (same)

AGATHIAS -- A.D. 536-581

Apostrophe to Plutarch

GRACE AGUILAR -- 1816-1847

Greatness of Friendship ('Woman's Friendship')
Order of Knighthood ('The Days of Bruce')
Culprit and Judge ('Home Influence')

WILLIAM HARRISON AINSWORTH -- 1805-1882

Students of Paris ('Crichton')

MARK AKENSIDE -- 1721-1770

From the Epistle to Curio
Aspirations after the Infinite ('Pleasures of the Imagination')
On a Sermon against Glory

PEDRO ANTONIO DE ALARCÓN -- 1833-1891

A Woman Viewed from Without ('The Three-Cornered Hat')
How the Orphan Manuel gained his Sobriquet ('The Child of the Ball')

ALCAEUS -- Sixth Century B.C.

The Palace
A Banquet Song
An Invitation
The Storm
The Poor Fisherman
The State
Poverty

BALTÁZAR DE ALCÁZAR -- 1530?-1606

Sleep
The Jovial Supper

ALCIPHRON (by Harry Thurston Peck) -- Second Century

From a Mercenary Girl--Petala to Simalion
Pleasures of Athens--Euthydicus to Epiphanio
From an Anxious Mother--Phyllis to Thrasonides
From a Curious Youth--Philocomus to Thestylus
From a Professional Diner-out--Capnosphrantes to Aristomachus
Unlucky Luck--Chytrolictes to Patellocharon

ALCMAN -- Seventh Century B.C.

Poem on Night

LOUISA MAY ALCOTT -- 1832-1888

The Night Ward ('Hospital Sketches')
Amy's Valley of Humiliation ('Little Women')
Thoreau's Flute (Atlantic Monthly)
Song from the Suds ('Little Women')

ALCUIN (by William H. Carpenter) -- 735?-8o4

On the Saints of the Church at York ('Alcuin and the Rise of the Christian Schools')
Disputation between Pepin, the Most Noble and Royal Youth, and Albinus the Scholastic
A Letter from Alcuin to Charlemagne

HENRY M. ALDEN -- 1836-

A Dedication--To My Beloved Wife ('A Study of Death')
The Dove and the Serpent (same)
Death and Sleep (same)
The Parable of the Prodigal (same)

THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH -- 1837-

Destiny
Identity
Prescience
Alec Yeaton's Son
Memory
Tennyson (1890)
Sweetheart, Sigh No More
Broken Music
Elmwood
Sea Longings
A Shadow of the Night
Outward Bound
Reminiscence
Père Antoine's Date-Palm
Miss Mehetabel's Son

ALEARDO ALEARDI -- 1812-1878

Cowards ('The Primal Histories')
The Harvesters ('Monte Circello')
The Death of the Year ('An Hour of My Youth')

JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT -- 1717-1783

Montesquieu (Eulogy in the 'Encyclopédie')

VITTORIO ALFIERI (by L. Oscar Kuhns) -- 1749-1803

Scenes from 'Agamemnon'

ALFONSO THE WISE -- 1221-1284

What Meaneth a Tyrant, and How he Useth his Power ('Las Siete Partidas')
On the Turks, and Why they are So Called ('La Gran Conquista de Ultramar')
To the Month of Mary ('Cantigas')

ALFRED THE GREAT -- 849-901

King Alfred on King-Craft
Alfred's Preface to the Version of Pope Gregory's 'Pastoral Care'
From Boethius
Blossom Gatherings from St. Augustine

CHARLES GRANT ALLEN -- 1848-

The Coloration of Flowers ('The Colors of Flowers')
Among the Heather ('The Evolutionist at Large')
The Heron's Haunt ('Vignettes from Nature')

JAMES LANE ALLEN -- 1850-

A Courtship ('A Summer in Arcady')
Old King Solomon's Coronation ('Flute and Violin')

WILLIAM ALLINGHAM -- 1828-1889

The Ruined Chapel
The Winter Pear
O Spirit of the Summer-time
The Bubble
St. Margaret's Eve
The Fairies
Robin Redbreast
An Evening
Daffodil
Lovely Mary Donnelly

KARL JONAS LUDVIG ALMQUIST -- 1793-1866

Characteristics of Cattle
A New Undine (from 'The Book of the Rose')
God's War

JOHANNA AMBROSIUS -- 1854-

A Peasant's Thoughts

Struggle and Peace
Do Thou Love, Too!
Invitation

EDMONDO DE AMICIS -- 1846-

The Light ('Constantinople')
Resemblances (same)
Birds (same)
Cordova ('Spain')
The Land of Pluck ('Holland and Its People')
The Dutch Masters ('Holland and Its People')

HENRI FRÉDÉRIC AMIEL (by Richard Burton) -- 1821-1881

Extracts from Amiel's Journal:

Christ's Real Message
Duty
Joubert
Greeks vs. Moderns
Nature, and Teutonic and Scandinavian Poetry
Training of Children
Mozart and Beethoven

FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

VOLUME I.

The Book of the Dead (Colored Plate).

First English Printing (Fac-simile).
Assyrian Clay Tablet (Fac-simile).

John Adams (Portrait).

John Quincy Adams (Portrait).

Joseph Addison (Portrait).
Louis Agassiz (Portrait).
"Poetry" (Photogravure).
Vittorio Alfieri (Portrait).

"A Courtship" (Photogravure).
"A Dutch Girl" (Photogravure).

VIGNETTE PORTRAITS

Pierre Abélard.
Edmond About.
Abigail Adams.

Aeschines.
Aeschylus.

Aesop.

Grace Aguilar.

William Harrison Ainsworth.

Mark Akenside.

Alcaeus.

Louisa May Alcott.

Thomas Bailey Aldrich.
Jean le Rond D'Alembert.

Edmondo de Amicis.

Books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them
to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve
as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred
them. I know they are as lively, and as vigorously productive, as those
fabulous dragon's teeth; and being sown up and down, may chance to spring
up armed men. And yet on the other hand, unless wariness be used, as good
almost kill a man as kill a good book: who kills a man kills a reasonable
creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself,
kills the image of God, as it were in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to the
earth; but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed
and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.

JOHN MILTON.

CAXTON.

Reduced facsimile of the first page of the only copy extant of

GODEFREY OF BOLOYNE

or

LAST SIEGE AND CONQUESTE OF JHERUSALEM.

The Prologue, at top of page, begins:

Here begynneth the boke Intituled Eracles, and also Godefrey of Boloyne,

the whiche speketh of the Conquest of the holy lande of Jherusalem.

Printed by Caxton, London, 1481. In the British Museum.

A good specimen page of the earliest English printing. Caxton's first

printed book, and the first book printed in English, was "The Game and

Play of the Chess," which was printed in 1474. The blank

space on this page was for the insertion by

hand of an illuminated initial T.

First English Printing (Fac-simile).

ABÉLARD

(1079--1142)

BY THOMAS DAVIDSON

ierre, the eldest son of Bérenger and Lucie (Abélard?) was born at Palais, near Nantes and the frontier of Brittany, in
1079. His knightly father, having in his youth been a student, was anxious to give his family, and especially his favorite
Pierre, a liberal education. The boy was accordingly sent to school, under a teacher who at that time was making his
mark in the world,--Roscellin, the reputed father of Nominalism. As the whole import and tragedy of his life may be
traced back to this man's teaching, and the relation which it bore to the thought of the time, we must pause to consider
these.

In the early centuries of our era, the two fundamental articles of the Gentile-
Christian creed, the Trinity and the Incarnation, neither of them Jewish, were
formulated in terms of Platonic philosophy, of which the distinctive tenet is, that
the real and eternal is the universal, not the individual. On this assumption it was
possible to say that the same real substance could exist in three, or indeed in any
number of persons. In the case of God, the dogma-builders were careful to say,
essence is one with existence, and therefore in Him the individuals are as real as
the universal. Platonism, having lent the formula for the Trinity, became the
favorite philosophy of many of the Church fathers, and so introduced into
Christian thought and life the Platonic dualism, that sharp distinction between the temporal and the eternal which belittles
the practical life and glorifies the contemplative.

This distinction, as aggravated by Neo-Platonism, further affected Eastern Christianity in the sixth century, and Western
Christianity in the ninth, chiefly through the writings of (the pseudo-) Dionysius Areopagita, and gave rise to Christian
mysticism. It was then erected into a rule of conduct through the efforts of Pope Gregory VII., who strove to subject
practical and civil life entirely to the control of ecclesiastics and monks, standing for contemplative, supernatural life. The
latter included all purely mental work, which more and more tended to concentrate itself upon religion and confine itself

to the clergy. In this way it came to be considered an utter disgrace for any man engaged in mental work to take any
part in the institutions of civil life, and particularly to marry. He might indeed enter into illicit relations, and rear a family
of "nephews" and "nieces," without losing prestige; but to marry was to commit suicide. Such was the condition of things
in the days of Abélard.

But while Platonism, with its real universals, was celebrating its ascetic, unearthly triumphs in the West, Aristotelianism,
which maintains that the individual is the real, was making its way in the East. Banished as heresy beyond the limits of
the Catholic Church, in the fifth and sixth centuries, in the persons of Nestorius and others, it took refuge in Syria, where
it flourished for many years in the schools of Edessa and Nisibis, the foremost of the time. From these it found its way
among the Arabs, and even to the illiterate Muhammad, who gave it (1) theoretic theological expression in the cxii.
surah of the Koran: "He is One God, God the Eternal; He neither begets nor is begotten; and to Him there is no peer,"
in which both the fundamental dogmas of Christianity are denied, and that too on the ground of revelation; (2) practical
expression, by forbidding asceticism and monasticism, and encouraging a robust, though somewhat coarse, natural life.
Islam, indeed, was an attempt to rehabilitate the human.

In Abélard's time Arab Aristotelianism, with its consequences for thought and life, was filtering into Europe and forcing
Christian thinkers to defend the bases of their faith. Since these, so far as defensible at all, depended upon the Platonic
doctrine of universals, and this could be maintained only by dialectic, this science became extremely popular,--indeed,
almost the rage. Little of the real Aristotle was at that time known in the West; but in Porphyry's Introduction to
Aristotle's Logic was a famous passage, in which all the difficulties with regard to universals were stated without being
solved. Over this the intellectual battles of the first age of Scholasticism were fought. The more clerical and mystic
thinkers, like Anselm and Bernard, of course sided with Plato; but the more worldly, robust thinkers inclined to accept
Aristotle, not seeing that his doctrine is fatal to the Trinity.

Prominent among these was a Breton, Roscellin, the early instructor of Abélard. From him the brilliant, fearless boy
learnt two terrible lessons: (1) that universals, instead of being real substances, external and superior to individual things,
are mere names (hence Nominalism) for common qualities of things as recognized by the human mind; (2) that since
universals are the tools and criteria of thought, the human mind, in which alone these exist, is the judge of all truth,--a
lesson which leads directly to pure rationalism, and indeed to the rehabilitation of the human as against the superhuman.
No wonder that Roscellin came into conflict with the church authorities, and had to flee to England. Abélard afterwards
modified his nominalism and behaved somewhat unhandsomely to him, but never escaped from the influence of his
teaching. Abélard was a rationalist and an asserter of the human. Accordingly, when, definitely adopting the vocation of
the scholar, he went to Paris to study dialectic under the then famous William of Champeaux, a declared Platonist, or
realist as the designation then was, he gave his teacher infinite trouble by his subtle objections, and not seldom got the
better of him.

These victories, which made him disliked both by his teacher and his fellow-pupils, went to increase his natural self-
appreciation, and induced him, though a mere youth, to leave William and set up a rival school at Mélun. Here his
splendid personality, his confidence, and his brilliant powers of reasoning and statement, drew to him a large number of
admiring pupils, so that he was soon induced to move his school to Corbeil, near Paris, where his impetuous dialectic
found a wider field. Here he worked so hard that he fell ill, and was compelled to return home to his family. With them
he remained for several years, devoting himself to study,--not only of dialectic, but plainly also of theology. Returning to
Paris, he went to study rhetoric under his old enemy, William of Champeaux, who had meanwhile, to increase his
prestige, taken holy orders, and had been made bishop of Châlons. The old feud was renewed, and Abélard, being
now better armed than before, compelled his master openly to withdraw from his extreme realistic position with regard
to universals, and assume one more nearly approaching that of Aristotle.

This victory greatly diminished the fame of William, and increased that of Abélard; so that when the former left his chair
and appointed a successor, the latter gave way to Abélard and became his pupil (1113). This was too much for
William, who removed his successor, and so forced Abélard to retire again to Mélun. Here he remained but a short
time; for, William having on account of unpopularity removed his school from Paris Abélard returned thither and opened
a school outside the city, on Mont Ste. Généviève. William, hearing this, returned to Paris and tried to put him down,
but in vain. Abélard was completely victorious.

After a time he returned once more to Palais, to see his mother, who was about to enter the cloister, as his father had
done some time before. When this visit was over, instead of returning to Paris to lecture on dialectic, he went to Laon to
study theology under the then famous Anselm. Here, convinced of the showy superficiality of Anselm, he once more got
into difficulty, by undertaking to expound a chapter of Ezekiel without having studied it under any teacher. Though at
first derided by his fellow-students, he succeeded so well as to draw a crowd of them to hear him, and so excited the
envy of Anselm that the latter forbade him to teach in Laon. Abélard accordingly returned once more to Paris,
convinced that he was fit to shine as a lecturer, not only on dialectic, but also on theology. And his audiences thought so
also; for his lectures on Ezekiel were very popular and drew crowds. He was now at the height of his fame (1118).

The result of all these triumphs over dialecticians and theologians was unfortunate. He not only felt himself the intellectual
superior of any living man, which he probably was, but he also began to look down upon the current thought of his time
as obsolete and unworthy, and to set at naught even current opinion. He was now on the verge of forty, and his life had
so far been one of spotless purity; but now, under the influence of vanity, this too gave way. Having no further
conquests to make in the intellectual world, he began to consider whether, with his great personal beauty, manly

bearing, and confident address, he might not make conquests in the social world, and arrived at the conclusion that no
woman could reject him or refuse him her favor.

It was just at this unfortunate juncture that he went to live in the house of a certain Canon Fulbert, of the cathedral,
whose brilliant niece, Héloïse, had at the age of seventeen just returned from a convent at Argenteuil, where she had
been at school. Fulbert, who was proud of her talents, and glad to get the price of Abélard's board, took the latter into
his house and intrusted him with the full care of Héloïse's further education, telling him even to chastise her if necessary.
So complete was Fulbert's confidence in Abélard, that no restriction was put upon the companionship of teacher and
pupil. The result was that Abélard and Héloïse, both equally inexperienced in matters of the heart, soon conceived for
each other an overwhelming passion, comparable only to that of Faust and Gretchen. And the result in both cases was
the same. Abélard, as a great scholar, could not think of marriage; and if he had, Héloïse would have refused to ruin his
career by marrying him. So it came to pass that when their secret, never very carefully guarded, became no longer a
secret, and threatened the safety of Héloïse, the only thing that her lover could do for her was to carry her off secretly to
his home in Palais, and place her in charge of his sister. Here she remained until the birth of her child, which received the
name of Astralabius, Abélard meanwhile continuing his work in Paris. And here all the nobility of his character comes
out. Though Fulbert and his friends were, naturally enough, furious at what they regarded as his utter treachery, and
though they tried to murder him, he protected himself, and as soon as Héloïse was fit to travel, hastened to Palais, and
insisted upon removing her to Paris and making her his lawful wife. Héloïse used every argument which her fertile mind
could suggest to dissuade him from a step which she felt must be his ruin, at the same time expressing her entire
willingness to stand in a less honored relation to him. But Abélard was inexorable. Taking her to Paris, he procured the
consent of her relatives to the marriage (which they agreed to keep secret), and even their presence at the ceremony,
which was performed one morning before daybreak, after the two had spent a night of vigils in the church.

After the marriage, they parted and for some time saw little of each other. When Héloïse's relatives divulged the secret,
and she was taxed with being Abélard's lawful wife, she "anathematized and swore that it was absolutely false." As the
facts were too patent, however, Abélard removed her from Paris, and placed her in the convent at Argenteuil, where
she had been educated. Here she assumed the garb of a novice. Her relatives, thinking that he must have done this in
order to rid himself of her, furiously vowed vengeance, which they took in the meanest and most brutal form of personal
violence. It was not a time of fine sensibilities, justice, or mercy; but even the public of those days was horrified, and
gave expression to its horror. Abélard, overwhelmed with shame, despair, and remorse, could now think of nothing
better than to abandon the world. Without any vocation, as he well knew, he assumed the monkish habit and retired to
the monastery of St. Denis, while Héloïse, by his order, took the veil at Argenteuil. Her devotion and heroism on this
occasion Abélard has described in touching terms. Thus supernaturalism had done its worst for these two strong,
impetuous human souls.

If Abélard had entered the cloister in the hope of finding peace, he soon discovered his mistake. The dissolute life of the
monks utterly disgusted him, while the clergy stormed him with petitions to continue his lectures. Yielding to these, he
was soon again surrounded by crowds of students--so great that the monks at St. Denis were glad to get rid of him. He
accordingly retired to a lonely cell, to which he was followed by more admirers than could find shelter or food. As the
schools of Paris were thereby emptied, his rivals did everything in their power to put a stop to his teaching, declaring
that as a monk he ought not to teach profane science, nor as a layman in theology sacred science. In order to
legitimatize his claim to teach the latter, he now wrote a theological treatise, regarding which he says:--

"It so happened that I first endeavored to illuminate the basis of our faith by
similitudes drawn from human reason, and to compose for our students a treatise on
'The Divine Unity and Trinity,' because they kept asking for human and philosophic
reasons, and demanding rather what could be understood than what could be said,
declaring that the mere utterance of words was useless unless followed by
understanding; that nothing could be believed that was not first understood, and that
it was ridiculous for any one to preach what neither he nor those he taught could
comprehend, God himself calling such people blind leaders of the blind."

Here we have Abélard's central position, exactly the opposite to that of his realist contemporary, Anselm of
Canterbury, whose principle was "Credo ut intelligam" (I believe, that I may understand). We must not suppose,
however, that Abélard, with his rationalism, dreamed of undermining Christian dogma. Very far from it! He believed it
to be rational, and thought he could prove it so. No wonder that the book gave offense, in an age when faith and
ecstasy were placed above reason. Indeed, his rivals could have wished for nothing better than this book, which gave
them a weapon to use against him. Led on by two old enemies, Alberich and Lotulf, they caused an ecclesiastical
council to be called at Soissons, to pass judgment upon the book (1121). This judgment was a foregone conclusion, the
trial being the merest farce, in which the pursuers were the judges, the Papal legate allowing his better reason to be
overruled by their passion. Abélard was condemned to burn his book in public, and to read the Athanasian Creed as
his confession of faith (which he did in tears), and then to be confined permanently in the monastery of St. Médard as a
dangerous heretic.

His enemies seemed to have triumphed and to have silenced him forever. Soon after, however, the Papal legate,
ashamed of the part he had taken in the transaction, restored him to liberty and allowed him to return to his own
monastery at St. Denis. Here once more his rationalistic, critical spirit brought him into trouble with the bigoted,

licentious monks. Having maintained, on the authority of Beda, that Dionysius, the patron saint of the monastery, was
bishop of Corinth and not of Athens, he raised such a storm that he was forced to flee, and took refuge on a
neighboring estate, whose proprietor, Count Thibauld, was friendly to him. Here he was cordially received by the
monks of Troyes, and allowed to occupy a retreat belonging to them.

After some time, and with great difficulty, he obtained leave from the abbot of St. Denis to live where he chose, on
condition of not joining any other order. Being now practically a free man, he retired to a lonely spot near Nogent-sur-
Seine, on the banks of the Ardusson. There, having received a gift of a piece of land, he established himself along with a
friendly cleric, building a small oratory of clay and reeds to the Holy Trinity. No sooner, however, was his place of
retreat known than he was followed into the wilderness by hosts of students of all ranks, who lived in tents, slept on the
ground, and underwent every kind of hardship, in order to listen to him (1123). These supplied his wants, and built a
chapel, which he dedicated to the "Paraclete,"--a name at which his enemies, furious over his success, were greatly
scandalized, but which ever after designated the whole establishment.

So incessant and unrelenting were the persecutions he suffered from those enemies, and so deep his indignation at their
baseness, that for some time he seriously thought of escaping beyond the bounds of Christendom, and seeking refuge
among the Muslim. But just then (1125) he was offered an important position, the abbotship of the monastery of St.
Gildas-de-Rhuys, in Lower Brittany, on the lonely, inhospitable shore of the Atlantic. Eager for rest and a position
promising influence, Abélard accepted the offer and left the Paraclete, not knowing what he was doing.

His position at St. Gildas was little less than slow martyrdom. The country was wild, the inhabitants were half
barbarous, speaking a language unintelligible to him; the monks were violent, unruly, and dissolute, openly living with
concubines; the lands of the monastery were subjected to intolerable burdens by the neighboring lord, leaving the
monks in poverty and discontent. Instead of finding a home of God-fearing men, eager for enlightenment, he found a
nest of greed and corruption. His attempts to introduce discipline, or even decency, among his "sons," only stirred up
rebellion and placed his life in danger. Many times he was menaced with the sword, many times with poison. In spite of
all that, he clung to his office, and labored to do his duty. Meanwhile the jealous abbot of St. Denis succeeded in
establishing a claim to the lands of the convent at Argenteuil,--of which Héloïse, long since famous not only for learning
but also for saintliness, was now the head,--and she and her nuns were violently evicted and cast on the world. Hearing
of this with indignation, Abélard at once offered the homeless sisters the deserted Paraclete and all its belongings. The
offer was thankfully accepted, and Héloïse with her family removed there to spend the remainder of her life. It does not
appear that Abélard and Héloïse ever saw each other at this time, although he used every means in his power to
provide for her safety and comfort. This was in 1129. Two years later the Paraclete was confirmed to Héloïse by a
Papal bull. It remained a convent, and a famous one, for over six hundred years.

After this Abélard paid several visits to the convent, which he justly regarded as his foundation, in order to arrange a
rule of life for its inmates, and to encourage them in their vocation. Although on these occasions he saw nothing of
Héloïse, he did not escape the malignant suspicions of the world, nor of his own flock, which now became more unruly
than ever,--so much so that he was compelled to live outside the monastery. Excommunication was tried in vain, and
even the efforts of a Papal legate failed to restore order. For Abélard there was nothing but "fear within and conflict
without." It was at this time, about 1132, that he wrote his famous 'Historia Calamitatum,' from which most of the above
account of his life has been taken. In 1134, after nine years of painful struggle, he definitely left St. Gildas, without,
however, resigning the abbotship. For the next two years he seems to have led a retired life, revising his old works and
composing new ones.

Meanwhile, by some chance, his 'History of Calamities' fell into the hands of Héloïse at the Paraclete, was devoured
with breathless interest, and rekindled the flame that seemed to have smoldered in her bosom for thirteen long years.
Overcome with compassion for her husband, for such he really was, she at once wrote to him a letter which reveals the
first healthy human heart-beat that had found expression in Christendom for a thousand years. Thus began a
correspondence which, for genuine tragic pathos and human interest, has no equal in the world's literature. In Abélard,
the scholarly monk has completely replaced the man; in Héloïse, the saintly nun is but a veil assumed in loving obedience
to him, to conceal the deep-hearted, faithful, devoted flesh-and-blood woman. And such a woman! It may well be
doubted if, for all that constitutes genuine womanhood, she ever had an equal. If there is salvation in love, Héloïse is in
the heaven of heavens. She does not try to express her love in poems, as Mrs. Browning did; but her simple,
straightforward expression of a love that would share Francesca's fate with her lover, rather than go to heaven without
him, yields, and has yielded, matter for a hundred poems. She looks forward to no salvation; for her chief love is for
him. Domino specialiter, sua singulariter: "As a member of the species woman I am the Lord's, as Héloïse I am
yours"--nominalism with a vengeance!

But to return to Abélard. Permanent quiet in obscurity was plainly impossible for him; and so in 1136 we find him back
at Ste. Généviève, lecturing to crowds of enthusiastic students. He probably thought that during the long years of his
exile, the envy and hatred of his enemies had died out; but he soon discovered that he was greatly mistaken. He was
too marked a character, and the tendency of his thought too dangerous, for that. Besides, he emptied the schools of his
rivals, and adopted no conciliatory tone toward them. The natural result followed. In the year 1140, his enemies,
headed by St. Bernard, who had long regarded him with suspicion, raised a cry of heresy against him, as subjecting
everything to reason. Bernard, who was nothing if not a fanatic, and who managed to give vent to all his passions by
placing them in the service of his God, at once denounced him to the Pope, to cardinals, and to bishops, in passionate

letters, full of rhetoric, demanding his condemnation as a perverter of the bases of the faith.

At that time a great ecclesiastical council was about to assemble at Sens; and Abélard, feeling certain that his writings
contained nothing which he could not show to be strictly orthodox, demanded that he should be allowed to explain and
dialectically defend his position, in open dispute, before it. But this was above all things what his enemies dreaded. They
felt that nothing was safe before his brilliant dialectic. Bernard even refused to enter the lists with him; and preferred to
draw up a list of his heresies, in the form of sentences sundered from their context in his works,--some of them, indeed,
from works which he never wrote,--and to call upon the council to condemn them. (These theses may be found in
Denzinger's 'Enchiridion Symbolorum et Definitionum,' pp. 109 seq.) Abélard, clearly understanding the scheme, feeling
its unfairness, and knowing the effect of Bernard's lachrymose pulpit rhetoric upon sympathetic ecclesiastics who
believed in his power to work miracles, appeared before the council, only to appeal from its authority to Rome. The
council, though somewhat disconcerted by this, proceeded to condemn the disputed theses, and sent a notice of its
action to the Pope. Fearing that Abélard, who had friends in Rome, might proceed thither and obtain a reversal of the
verdict, Bernard set every agency at work to obtain a confirmation of it before his victim could reach the Eternal City.
And he succeeded.

The result was for a time kept secret from Abélard, who, now over sixty years old, set out on his painful journey.
Stopping on his way at the famous, hospitable Abbey of Cluny, he was most kindly entertained by its noble abbot, who
well deserved the name of Peter the Venerable. Here, apparently, he learned that he had been condemned and
excommunicated; for he went no further. Peter offered the weary man an asylum in his house, which was gladly
accepted; and Abélard, at last convinced of the vanity of all worldly ambition, settled down to a life of humiliation,
meditation, study, and prayer. Soon afterward Bernard made advances toward reconciliation, which Abélard accepted;
whereupon his excommunication was removed. Then the once proud Abélard, shattered in body and broken in spirit,
had nothing more to do but to prepare for another life. And the end was not far off. He died at St. Marcel, on the 21st
of April, 1142, at the age of sixty-three. His generous host, in a letter to Héloïse, gives a touching account of his closing
days, which were mostly spent in a retreat provided for him on the banks of the Saône. There he read, wrote, dictated,
and prayed, in the only quiet days which his life ever knew.

The body of Abélard was placed in a monolith coffin and buried in the chapel of the monastery of St. Marcel; but Peter
the Venerable twenty-two years afterward allowed it to be secretly removed, and carried to the Paraclete, where
Abélard had wished to lie. When Héloïse, world-famous for learning, virtue, and saintliness, passed away, and her body
was laid beside his, he opened his arms and clasped her in close embrace. So says the legend, and who would not
believe it? The united remains of the immortal lovers, after many vicissitudes, found at last (let us hope), in 1817, a
permanent resting place, in the Parisian cemetery of Père Lachaise, having been placed together in Abélard's monolith
coffin. "In death they were not divided."

Abélard's character may be summed up in a few words. He was one of the most brilliant and variously gifted men that
ever lived, a sincere lover of truth and champion of freedom. But unfortunately, his extraordinary personal beauty and
charm of manner made him the object of so much attention and adulation that he soon became unable to live without
seeing himself mirrored in the admiration and love of others. Hence his restlessness, irritability, craving for publicity,
fondness for dialectic triumph, and inability to live in fruitful obscurity; hence, too, his intrigue with Héloïse, his continual
struggles and disappointments, his final humiliation and tragic end. Not having conquered the world, he cannot claim the
crown of the martyr.

Abélard's works were collected by Cousin, and published in three 4to volumes (Paris, 1836, 1849, 1859). They
include, besides the correspondence with Héloïse, and a number of sermons, hymns, answers to questions, etc., written
for her, the following:--(1) 'Sic et Non,' a collection of (often contradictory) statements of the Fathers concerning the
chief dogmas of religion, (2) 'Dialectic,' (3) 'On Genera and Species,' (4) Glosses to Porphyry's 'Introduction,'
Aristotle's 'Categories and Interpretation,' and Boethius's 'Topics,' (5) 'Introduction to Theology,' (6) 'Christian
Theology,' (7) 'Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans,' (9) 'Abstract of Christian Theology,' (10) 'Ethics, or Know
Thyself,' (11) 'Dialogue between a Philosopher, a Jew, and a Christian,' (12) 'On the Intellects,' (12) 'On the
Hexameron,' with a few short and unimportant fragments and tracts. None of Abélard's numerous poems in the
vernacular, in which he celebrated his love for Héloïse, which he sang ravishingly (for he was a famous singer), and
which at once became widely popular, seem to have come down to us; but we have a somewhat lengthy poem, of
considerable merit (though of doubtful authenticity), addressed to his son Astralabius, who grew to manhood, became a
cleric, and died, it seems, as abbot of Hauterive in Switzerland, in 1162.

Of Abélard's philosophy, little need be added to what has been already said. It is, on the whole, the philosophy of the
Middle Age, with this difference: that he insists upon making theology rational, and thus may truly be called the founder
of modern rationalism, and the initiator of the struggle against the tyrannic authority of blind faith. To have been so is his
crowning merit, and is one that can hardly be overestimated. At the same time it must be borne in mind that he was a
loyal son of the Church, and never dreamed of opposing or undermining her. His greatest originality is in 'Ethics,' in
which, by placing the essence of morality in the intent and not in the action, he anticipated Kant and much modern
speculation. Here he did admirable work. Abélard founded no school, strictly speaking; nevertheless, he determined the
method and aim of Scholasticism, and exercised a boundless influence, which is not dead. Descartes and Kant are his
children. Among his immediate disciples were a pope, twenty-nine cardinals, and more than fifty bishops. His two
greatest pupils were Peter the Lombard, bishop of Paris, and author of the 'Sentences,' the theological text-book of the

schools for hundreds of years; and Arnold of Brescia, one of the noblest champions of human liberty, though
condemned and banished by the second Council of the Lateran.

The best biography of Abélard is that by Charles de Rémusat (2 vols., 8vo, Paris, 1845). See also, in English, Wight's
'Abelard and Eloise' (New York, 1853).

HÉLOÏSE TO ABÉLARD

A letter of yours sent to a friend, best beloved, to console him in affliction, was lately, almost by a chance, put into my
hands. Seeing the superscription, guess how eagerly I seized it! I had lost the reality; I hoped to draw some comfort
from this faint image of you. But alas!--for I well remember--every line was written wit...