Upright words sound upside down

Lao-tzu's Taoteching: with selected commentaries of the past 2,ooo years.

Lao-Tzu, Translated by Red Pine.
Copper Canyon Press. 2009. 184 pp.
ISBN 978-1-55659-290-4.

Like so many young seekers, when I first came upon the Tao Te Ching I sensed that I had stumbled onto a profound alternative to a world that seemed so sure of so many "unquestionable facts" that it amounted to a pattern of emotional violence. Of course, I found these "facts" highly questionable, myself, the persistent discomfort that they caused me unnecessary.

The translator that introduced the Tao to me was D. C. Lau, I believe, though I am not absolutely certain. Whoever it was, she or he gave me Lao Tzu as an abiding influence on my life. I reread the Tao Te Ching regularly for a couple of years, mulled over its implications. The slim volume set on my shelf, occasionally consulted, for more years still.

In 1988, Stephen Mitchell, published his own translation of the Tao Te Ching. I held Mitchell in high regard for his translation of another book which had profoundly affected me: The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. Upon reading his Tao Te Ching I felt once again joyfully shot through with the Tao.

But there were certain concessions one had to make in order to be satisfied with Mitchell's translation. It clearly had as its goal the modernization of the Tao Te Ching—it was a translation across time as well as language. "When a country goes counter to the Tao," he writes, in verse 46, "warheads are stockpiled outside of cities." It is not likely that many warheads were stockpiled in 6th century B.C.E. China. The translation also contained references to Friedrich Neitzche's "will to power."

Not all of the analogies which underlay the modernization seemed precise. More worrisome was the fact that the 6th century B.C.E. was so utterly gone. Even without a grasp of the original Chinese, it was clear that Mitchell's version glossed over the less palatable aspects of the text when it did not leave them out altogether.

Now, some 20 years later, Red Pine presents lovers of The Tao his own translation of the 81 verses of Lao-tzu's Taoteching. (It is actually a revision of the translation he published in 1996.) It does not seem impertinent to suspect that it is the finest of the myriad English language translations to date. Being authored by Red Pine, the reader may depend upon it being as literal as the textual variations will allow and as true to the original tone as the enormous differences between the two languages will allow.

A comparison, at various points, with the Stephen Mitchell Tao Te Ching helps to clarify two very different approaches to translation. Mitchell's version of verse #58, for example, reads:

If a country is governed with tolerance,
the people are comfortable and honest.
If a country is governed with repression,
the people are depressed and crafty.

When the will to power is in charge,
the higher the ideals, the lower the results.
Try to make people happy,
and you lay the groundwork for misery.
Try to make people moral,
and you lay the groundwork for vice.

In Red Pine's translation (and, by all indications, in the original), Lao Tzu is much more fatalistic, and, while that fact might mitigate against the popularity of a translation, it is arguably important for the modern reader to know. It is a fact of the text too essential to be glossed over.

Where the government stands aloof
the people open up
where the government steps in
the people slip away
happiness rests in misery
misery hides in happiness
who knows where these end
for nothing is direct
directness becomes deception
and good becomes evil

While the two versions are recognizably of more or less the same original text, Mitchell's amounts to a slightly eccentric but generally commonplace late 20th century aphorism upon progressive government.

While the first four lines of Red Pine's translation might warm the cockles of a Rush Limbaugh's reputed heart, on the other hand, the rest of the verse makes them utterly unusable as contemporary political or ideological fodder. Lao Tzu's words were written two and a half millennia ago, and any wisdom we might draw from them must be extracted in spite of the profound differences between our two worlds.

The subsequent two lines of the Red Pine translation make the point in spades:

the people have been lost
for a long long time

This part of the original text does not appear in Mitchell's version at all. Both contemporary Progressive-ism and Conservatism being—or pretending to be—resoundingly populist, this is decidedly not considered the stuff of wisdom in our world. Variations upon these words, uttered in the public sphere, have crippled more than one commentator's career, retractions notwithstanding. All the more important, then, that a translation of a great historical wisdom text include the original sentiment and the reader be left to sort the matter out for him- or herself.

It is not unreasonable to suggest that Mitchell fails to heed the warning of verse 81, the final verse of the Tao Te Ching (here in Red Pine's translation):

True words aren't beautiful
beautiful words aren't true
the good aren't eloquent
the eloquent aren't good

For the sake of eloquence, he has removed or glossed over the uncomfortable portions of the text, ironed out the difficult, repackaged the uncomfortable. His Lao-Tzu is inspiring—the misbegotten aim of so many translators. "Upright words sound upside down," says the old sage, in verse 78 of Red Pine's translation. In Mitchell they have been put right side up.

In Red Pine's translation, Lao-Tzu is ineloquent, blunt, impossibly ironic, backwards, frustrating, disappointing and inexplicably poetic. That is to say that the old sage is everything that he is in the original text.

The literal quality of Red Pine's text is not the only attraction his Lao-tzu's Taoteching has to offer. Each verse is followed by a half-dozen to a dozen snippets from historical commentary on the text, by commentators from Confucius (551-479 BCE) to Tu Er-Wei (1913-1987). This, in turn, is followed by a single paragraph, by Red Pine himself, describing how he approached knotty textual problems.

These commentaries are not intrusive. (The reader who does not agree can pass them by.) Rather, they are often every bit as engaging as the text they address. When Wu Ch'eng, for instance, says "the Tao is like the sea, and Virtue [te] is like a stream, flowing back into the Tao." the clarification of an image so central to the Tao Te Ching becomes as memorable as the text it explains. More often, the commentaries give historical context for images in the original text, argue with it, amplify it.

As for Red Pine's textual discussions, welcome as they often are, they are the source of the single notable flaw in Lao-tzu's Taoteching. Neither translator nor editor, it would seem, could see the confusion inherent in sentences such as:

I have chosen the Mawangtui miao (peer) in place of the standard miao (mystery), and I have read the standard yao (essential) as shorthand for yao (distant).

While it seems clear that the translator is referring to different Chinese pictograms which are pronounced the same, surely it had been better to include the pictograms themselves as part of the explanation. This mistake is repeated again and again, the reader's frustration growing with each occasion.

The persistent state of discomfort in a teenager, to which I referred at the beginning of this review, is so common that hopefully it seemed a bit trite when I mentioned it as the reason I turned toward the Tao Te Ching. It was, in fact, all the wrong reason, and, in time, I found myself somewhat disenchanted with the book. After more mature thought, I realized that mine was a hopelessly and happily western mind.

I liked technology. Lao-Tzu felt, even during the 6th century BCE, that it was a sign of corruption:

let there be labor saving-tools
that aren't used
let people consider death
and not move far
let there be boats and carts
but no reason to ride them
let there be armor and weapons
but no reason to employ them

The old sage was a Luddite of the first order. I was an intellectual by inclination and the Tao Te Ching was resoundingly anti-intellectual. I turned out to be as dedicated as any westerner to harness ambition to the good of myself and my world. The Tao changes the world by not doing, improves things by not trying to improve them.

While I am one of that minority of people who never do get over their persistent discomfort, I did come to realize, eventually, that my discomfort was a poor guide as to what were the failings of the world around me. With that began a new relationship to Lao-Tzu's wonderful work that began with putting it aside until I might have better reason to open it.

It may seem strange, then, that, looking back, I find that far more of my life has been lived in accordance with the Tao Te Ching than with the western mores I preferred to it. This while I only occasionally returned to read it and never in search of advice on any specific question. Life just turned out that way one decision at a time.

the Way of Heaven
is to win without a fight
to answer without a word
to come without a summons
and to plan without a thought
the Net of Heaven is all-embracing
its mesh is wide but nothing escapes

Perhaps no one opens themselves up to the first verse of the Tao Te Ching without living it through to the 81st. This is a book that accompanies a reader through their life, changing (though unchanging), as they change, to be the advisor they need.

The hours spent reflecting on Red Pine's Lao-tzu's Taoteching, for this review, have been my next step on a path that leads I know not where.

The way that becomes a way
is not the Immortal Way

Now it will go on my shelf where I will return to it when my journey requires. Beside it will be Stephen Mitchell's version, for I like to be inspired as well as the next person even though Lao-Tzu surely would have scowled to hear as much.

 

This essay-review first appeared in Eclectica Magazine.

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The Marvelous Tale of Thomas Becket's Birth. p. 2.

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After having traversed the territories of the heathen, she embarked in safety on board a vessel with some foreigners and merchants who understood her language, and were returning to their native country. They arrived safely in England, without suffering from the numerous perils which assail voyagers, and the young female bade farewell to her companions, with no other means of making known her wishes, than by exclaiming, London! London! which was the name of the place she was seeking. At this city she speedily arrived, and wandering through the streets, looked wildly into the faces of the passers-by, to all of whom she afforded subject of derision, particularly the children, who followed her, laughing and marvelling at her foreign dress and uncouth accents. In this guise she passed in front of the house where Gilbert was living, in one of the more open and better frequented quarters of the city, where now stands the hospital erected in honour of St. Thomas. It was soon told in the house that a young crazy girl was going by, followed by boys and others who were laughing and mocking her. Gilbert's man, Richard, who has been mentioned above, ran out with others to see the sight. On approaching nearer he recognized the damsel, and returned with all speed to tell his master, that it was Amurath's daughter who had attracted so great a concourse of people. 

At these words Gilbert was struck with amazement, and could not believe a thing which he considered absolutely impossible: but as Richard persisted in what he said, his master's incredulity somewhat abated. In doubt what could be the cause of her coming, he nevertheless judged it wiser not to admit her into his own house; wherefore he sent Richard to conduct her to the house of a widow lady, who lived near him, who would treat her as if she were her own daughter. The damsel no sooner saw and recognized the man, than she fell down in a swoon as if dead outright. When she had recovered her senses, and risen from the ground, Richard conducted her, as he had been directed, to the widow lady's house. Meanwhile, Gilbert's mind was distracted with the event which had just happened, and in his doubt what course to take, he determined to go to St. Paul's and consult the Bishop of London. Thither he accordingly went on a certain time, when six of the bishops had met there to deliberate on some important business either of Church or State. In their presence he related the whole affair as it has been here described, when the Bishop of Chichester anticipating the others, exclaimed with prophetic voice, that it was the hand of God, and not of man, which had conducted that woman from so far a land, and that she would be the mother of a son, whose sanctity and sufferings should elevate the whole Church, to the glory of Christ the Lord! The other bishops agreed with the Bishop of Chichester in this opinion, and advised that Gilbert should marry the young woman, provided she would consent to be baptized. 

A day was then fixed, namely the morrow, on which she was conducted into the presence of the afore said bishops in the Church of St. Paul, where was a baptistery prepared in which she should be baptized. Upon her being asked before the whole congregation, according to the custom of the Church, by means of the above-named Richard, who acted as interpreter between them, if she was willing to be baptized; she replied, " It was for this purpose that I came here from so distant a land, only if Gilbert will take me for his wife." She was, therefore, at once baptized with much solemnity by the six bishops above-named, for she was a woman of a noble family, and was more ennobled still by the call which she had received; yea, the call of God himself. The bishops afterwards bestowed her upon Gilbert as his wife with all the forms of the marriage ceremony, when she had previously been instructed in the nature of the Christian faith. They returned home together, and at the very beginning of their wedlock she conceived, and bore to her husband the blessed Thomas of Canterbury, archbishop and martyr.

On the morning after the marriage, Gilbert was again smitten with a strong desire of visiting the Holy Land, so that he began to be more and more uneasy, and could not dissemble the vexation which showed itself upon his countenance. But he reflected on the frail sex of his young wife, whose tender age was exposed to all kinds of temptations, besides which, her ignorance of the language of the country would be the cause of much danger to her in the absence of her husband so far from home. But his wife saw that his countenance was different from what it had been before, and was troubled with apprehension that, perchance, she might be the cause thereof. She, therefore, did not cease, day and night, to entreat him to tell her the cause of his dejection, and at length she won from him the secret. For Gilbert yielded to her importunities, and declared what he so eagerly longed for; and she, being a woman of high hopes, and already firm in the faith of Christ, not only assented to her husband's wishes, but strongly urged him to have no regard to her, but to execute with zeal and devotion whatever plans he should be led to form that might tend to give glory to his Creator. 'For me,' added she, ' I trust firmly and stedfastly in my God, who has called me to the knowledge of his name, and will not desert me when you are gone, but as he once before preserved me from every danger, when I did not know him, so will he again protect me now. Only leave Richard at home with me, because, by his knowledge of my native language, he will be better able to minister to my necessities. Gilbert was delighted at these words, and immediately began to prepare what was necessary for his journey. When he had made every provision for his wife and family during his absence, he set out for Jerusalem, where he remained three years and half; after which he returned home, and found a son named Thomas, a beautiful boy, and high in favour with all his friends and neighbours.

Source: Giles, John Allen The Life and Letters of Thomas à Becket (1846).  I.14-22.

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Source Texts: The Marvelous Tale of Thomas Becket's Birth.

When Gilbert was a young man, he took upon him our Lord's cross by way of penance, and set out for the Holy Land, accompanied by a single serving man, whose name was Richard. As these two were on their way with others to offer up their prayers at the holy places, they were surprised by an ambuscade, made prisoners, and given in chains to be the slaves of a certain Amurath, and chief of the Pagans. Here they remained some time, earning a scanty subsistence by the daily labour of their hands. A year and half passed away in this Sclavonian bondage, and Gilbert began to attract more notice and respect than the others, particularly in the eyes of Amurath, with whom he got into such favour, that he often, though still in chains, waited on him at table, and conversed with him and his guests on the customs and manners of different countries. For his sake, also, much favour was extended to his fellow captives, principally by the mediation of Amurath's only daughter, a beautiful and courtly damsel, who, as will be shown presently, was smitten with love for the captive Gilbert.

One day the young lady took an opportunity of speaking to him more freely than usual, and asked him what country and city he came from, also about the doctrines and life of the Christians, what was the nature of their creed, and hope of reward in a future life. To this Gilbert replied, that he was an Englishman, and that he lived at London, to which he added an exposition of the Christian faith, as he was best able to give it. "And would you dare to die," says the damsel, "for your God, and for that faith of Christ which you profess?" "Most willingly," replied he, " would I die in the cause of my God." On hearing this, the girl seemed penetrated with the words which he had spoken, and declared, that for his sake she would become a Christian, if he would pledge himself, by the faith which he professed, to take her for his wife." But he said nothing in reply, deliberating within himself, and apprehensive of deceit; and though she urged it, he not only declined to acquiesce at once, but put her off from day to day, and showed great reluctance to consent at all to her proposal.

The damsel was much afflicted at his continued hesitation, and became, as is usual with women a prey to anxiety. Meanwhile, at the end of a year and half from their first capture, Gilbert and his fellow-prisoners began to form plans or escaping. One night they broke their chains, and issuing from their prison, arrived, after travelling the whole night, within the Christian frontiers. In the morning, the overseer of slaves went, as was his custom, to bring them out to their work, and finding the prisoners gone, pursued them at the head of a numerous band, until he arrived at the territory of the Christians, where in anger he was obliged to abandon the pursuit. But Amurath's daughter, learning this intelligence, began from that moment to meditate on the best way of securing her own escape and following the fugitives.

Night and day were given up to deliberation, until at length, one night, when all were buried in sleep, she arose by herself, and concealing her design from every one, she took a small quantity of provisions with her, that she might not be encumbered, and committed herself to all the dangers of such a stealthy flight, forgetful in the excitement of her anticipated escape, of all the wealth of her father, which would, after his death, have come to her. Wonderful indeed was the courage of this woman, and the depth of her love which emboldened her to execute so difficult and dangerous a deed! Noble as she was, and the heiress to a rich estate, she cast aside the parental tie, and though frail and delicate, she braved all the terrors of poverty, all the dangers of a long extent of country and of a stormy sea, alone and unaided, for the love of one man so far away from her, so utterly a stranger to her; though it was uncertain whether she ever should find him, or even if he was yet alive, still less certain whether he would marry her, even when he should be found!

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Source Texts: Three Pageants for the Meeting of Queen Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots.

 

THE FIRSTE NIGHT.

Firste a pryson to be made in the haule, the name whereof is Extreme Oblyvion, and the Kepers name thereof, Argus, otherwise called Circumspection: then a maske of Ladyes to come in after this sorte.

Firste Pallas, rydinge vppon an unycorne, havinge in her hande a Standarde, in w^ch is to be paynted ij Ladyes hands, knitt one faste w^th in thother, and over th’ands written in letters of golde, Fides.

Then ij Ladyes rydinge together th’one uppon a golden Lyon, w^th a crowne of gold on his heade : th’other uppon a redd Lyon, w^th the like crowne of Gold; signifyinge ij Vertues, that is to saye, the Lady on the golden Lyon is to be called Prudentia, and the Ladye on the redd Lyon Temperantia.

After this to followe vj, or viij Ladyes maskers, bringinge in, captive, Discorde, and False Reporte, with ropes of gold about there necks. When theis have marched about the haule, then Pallas to declare before the Quenes ma^tie in verse, that the goddes, under-standinge the noble meteinge of those ij quenes, hathe willed her to declare unto them, that those ij vertues, Prudentia and Temperantia, have made greate and longe sute unto Jupiter, that it wold please hym to gyve unto them False Reporte and Discorde, to be punished as they thinke good; and that those Ladyes have nowe in there presence determyned to committ them faste bounde unto th’affore-sayde pryson of Extreme Oblyvion, there to be kepte by th’affore-sayde gaylor Argus, otherwise Circumspection, for ever; unto whome Prudentia shall delyver a locke whereuppon shalbe wrytten In Eternum. Then Temperantia shall likewise delyver vnto Argus a key whose name shalbe Nunquam, signifyinge, that when False Report and Discorde are committed to the pryson of Extreme Oblyvion, and locked there everlastinglie, he should put in the key to lett them out Nunquam: and when he hathe so done, then the trompetts to blowe, and th’inglishe Ladies to take the nobilite of the straungers, and daunce.

THE SECONDE NIGHT.

‘First a Castell to be made in the haule, called the Courte of Plentye; then the maske after this sorte. ‘Firste Peace, rydinge uppon a chariott drawen wth an Oliphant, uppon whome shall ryde Fryndeshippe, and after them vj or vijj Ladyes maskers ; and when they have marched rounde aboute the haule, Fryndshippe shall declare before the quenes highnes in verse, that the goddes Pallas hath latelie made a declaracion before all the godds, howe worthilie the night precedent theis ij vertues, Prudentia and Temperantia, behaved them selves in judginge, and condempninge False Reporte and Discord to the prison of Extreme Oblyvion: and understandinge that those ij vertues do remaine in that Cowrte of Plentye, they have, by there mightie power, sent this vertu, Peace, there to dwell with those ij Ladyes, for ever. To this Castell perteyneth ij porters, th’one to Prudentia, called Ardent Desyer, and th’other porter to Temperantia, named Perpetuitie; signifyinge that, by Ardent Desyer and Perpetuitie, perpetuall peace and tranquillitie maye be hadd and kept throughe the hole worlde. Then shall springe out of the Cowrt of Plentie conditts of all sorts of wynes, duringe w’ch tyme th’inglishe Lords shall maske wth the Scottishe Ladyes.

THE THYRDE NIGHT.

Firste shall come in Disdaine rydinge vppon a wilde bore; w^th hym Prepencyd Malyce, in the similitude of a greate serpent. These ij shall drawe an orcharde havinge golden apples, in w’ch orchard shall sitt vj, or viij, Ladyes maskers. ‘Then Dysdaine shall declare before the quenes ma^tie in verse, that his Mr. Pluto, the greate god of hell, takith no little displeasure w^th Jupiter, the god of heaven, for that he, in the ij other nyghts precedent, hath firste by Pallas sent Discord and False Reporte, being ij of his chefe servants, unto Prudentia and Temperantia, to be punisshed at there pleasure; and not content w^th this, but hathe the laste night, sent unto those ij Ladyes his most mortall enymye, Peace, to be onlie betwene them ij imbraced: wherefore Jupiter shall well understande, that in dispite of his doings, he hath sent his chefeste Capitayne, Prepencyd Mallyce, and wyllithe ether Argus, otherwyse Circumspection, to delyver unto hym Discorde, and False Reporte, his saide Masters servants, or ells th’afforesaid ij porters, Ardent Dessyer, and Perpetuitie, to delyver hym there masters enymie, Peace, chuse them whether.

Then shall come in Discretion; after hym Valyant Courage, otherwise Hercules, rydinge vppon a horse, whose name is Boldnes, Discretyon leadynge hym by the raynes of the brydell: after hym vj or viij Lords maskers. Then Discretion shall declare before the quenes highnes in verse, that Jupiter dothe well foresee the mischevous intent of Pluto, and therefore, to confounde his pollyces, hathe sente from heaven this vertu Valyant Courage, w^ch shalbe suffycient to confounde all Plutos devices: neverthelesse thos ij dyvells, Dysdaine, and Prepencyd Malyce, are mervailous warryours; yea, suche as unlesse theis vertues, Prudentia and Temperantia, will of themselves by some signe or token conclude to imbrace Peace, in such sorte as Jupiter hathe sent hym unto them, it wilbe to harde for Valyant Courage to overcome those vyces; but if they once speake but one worde, the battaill is overcome as a trifle. And therefore Jupiter hathe willed Discretion, in the presence of those ij quenes, to repaier unto the Cowrte of Plentie, and there firste to demande of Prudentia, how longe her pleasure is, of her honor, that Peace shall dwell between her and Temperantia? Then Prudentia shall let downe unto Discretion, w^th a bande of golde, a grandgarde of assure, whereuppon shalbe wrytten, in letters of gold, Ever. Then Discretion shall humblie demande of Temperantia uppon her honor, when Peace shall departe from Prudentia, and her grace? Then Temperantia shall lett downe unto Discretyon a girdell of assure, studded w^th gold, and a sworde of stele, whereuppon shalbe written, Never; w^ch grand-garde, and sworde, Discretion shall bringe, and laye at the fete of the ij quenes. Then Discretion (after a fewe words spoken) shall, before the quenes highnes, arme Valyant Courage, otherwise Hercules, w^th the grandgard of ver, and gyrte hym wt the sworde of Never, signifying that those ij Ladies have professed that Peace shall ever dwell wt them, and never departe from them; and signifyinge also that there Valyant Courage shalbe ever at defyance w^th Disdaine and Prepencyd Mallice, and never leave untill he have overcome them. And then shall valyant courage alone go and fight w^th those ij; in the myddeste of w’ch fight, Disdaine shall rune his wayes, and escape w^th life, but the monster Prepencyd Mallyce shalbe slaine for ever: signifyinge that some vngodlie men maye still disdaine the perpetuall peace made betweene those ij vertues, but as for there prepencyd mallice, it is easye troden under theis Ladyes fete. After this shall come out of the garden, the vj or viij Ladies maskers wth a songe, that shalbe made hereuppon, as full of armony as maye be devised.

Source: Collier, John Payne. The History of Dramatic Poetry (1579). citing Lansdowne MS. v, f. 126, endorsed "Maij 1562".

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• The Best Translation of Dante’s Divina Commedia.  July, 14, 2019.  “For the next month, then, I put aside a few hours each night.  Not only with Singleton and Merwin.  In the glorious Age of the Internet, the first step could only be a search for what books relating to the subject were available on Google Book Search and the Internet Archive.”

• A Memoriam for W. S. Merwin.  April 17, 2019.  “It took about three days, as I recall, for me to surrender to the fact that W. S. Merwin was the finest English language poet of his time.  I wished I’d been prepared to read him years ago.”

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Spectator No. 507.] Saturday, October 11, 1712. On Party-Lying.

Once again Joseph Addison reminds us that the basic behaviors of mankind change little over the centuries. Give a rapacious man a club he will club someone. Give him an assault weapon he will shoot. Give him only a mouth as weapon and he is as likely to lie as anything. And it is among our most destructive area-effect weapons.

In Addison's day it was still possible to believe that honor and humility would gradually some day overcome such facts. Now each is considered eternal, I suspect, and an impediment to success as often as not.

It bears saying that the stakes have grown very much higher. Now political-lies can determine whether the wealthy among us will leave the rest to perish from the effects of climate change. Whether schoolrooms of children will be slaughtered with the above mentioned assault weapons. Both dangers are immense. They and many more did not exist 300 years ago.

No. 507.] Saturday, October 11, 1712.

Defendit numerus, junctaeque umbone phalanges.

Juv. Sat. ii. 46.

Preserv'd from shame by numbers on our side.

THERE is something very sublime, though very fanciful, in Plato's description of the Supreme Being; that “truth is his body, and light his shadow.” According to this definition, there is nothing so contradictory to his nature as error and falsehood. The Platonists have so just a notion of the Almighty's aversion to every thing which is false and erroneous, that they looked upon truth, as no less necessary than virtue to qualify a human soul for the enjoyment of a separate state. For this reason, as they recommended moral duties to qualify and season the will for a future life, so they prescribed several contemplations and sciences to rectify the understanding. Thus Plato has called mathematical demonstrations the cathartics, or purgatives of the soul, as being the most proper means to cleanse it from error, and give it a relish of truth; which is the natural food and nourishment of the understanding, as virtue is the perfection and happiness of the will.

There are many authors who have shown wherein the malignity of a lie consists, and set forth in proper colours the heinousness of the offence. I shall here consider one particular kind of this crime, which has not been so much spoken to; I mean that abominable practice of party-lying. This vice is so very predominant among us at present, that a man is thought of no principle, who does not propagate a certain system of lies. The coffee-houses are supported by them, the press is choked with them, eminent authors live upon them. Our bottle conversation is so infected with them, that a party-lie is grown as fashionable an entertainment as a lively catch, or a merry story. The truth of it is, half the great talkers in the nation would be struck dumb were this fountain of discourse dried up. There is however one advantage resulting from this detestable practice: the very appearances of truth are so little regarded, that lies are at present discharged in the air, and begin to hurt nobody. When we hear a party-story from a stranger, we consider whether he is a whig or a tory that relates it, and immediately conclude they are words of course, in which the honest gentleman designs to recommend his zeal, without any concern for his veracity. A man is looked upon as bereft of common sense, that gives credit to the relations of party writers; nay, his own friends shake their heads at him, and consider him in no other light than an officious tool, or a well meaning idiot. When it was formerly the fashion to husband a lie, and trump it up in some extraordinary emergency, it generally did execution, and was not a little serviceable to the faction that made use of it; but at present every man is upon his guard: the artifice has been too often repeated to take effect.

I have frequently wondered to see men of probity, who would scorn to utter a falsehood for their own particular advantage, give so readily into a lie, when it is become the voice of their faction, notwithstanding they are thoroughly sensible of it as such. How is it possible for those who are men of honour in their persons, thus to become notorious liars in their party? If we look into the bottom of this matter, we may find, I think, three reasons for it, and at the same time discover the insufficiency of these reasons to justify so criminal a practice.

In the first place, men are apt to think that the guilt of a lie, and consequently the punishment may be very much diminished, if not wholly worn out, by the multitudes of those who partake in it. Though the weight of a falsehood would be too much for one to bear, it grows light, in their imaginations when it is shared among many. But in this case a man very much deceives himself; guilt, when it spreads through numbers, is not so properly divided as multiplied. Every one is criminal in proportion to the offence which he commits, not to the number of those who are his companions in it. Both the crime and the penalty lie as heavy upon every individual of an offending multitude, as they would upon any single person, had none shared with him in the offence. In a word, the division of guilt is like to that of matter: though it may be separated into infinite portions, every portion shall have the whole essence of matter in it, and consist of as many parts as the whole did before it was divided.

But in the second place, though multitudes, who join in a lie, cannot exempt themselves from the guilt, they may from the shame of it. The scandal of a lie is in a manner lost and annihilated, when diffused among several thousands; as a drop of the blackest tincture wears away and vanishes, when mixed and confused in a considerable body of water; the blot is still in it, but is not able to discover itself. This is certainly a very great motive to several party-offenders, who avoid crimes, not as they are prejudicial to their virtue, but to their reputation. It is enough to show the weakness of this reason, which palliates guilt without removing it, that every man who is influenced by it declares himself in effect an infamous hypocrite, prefers the appearance of virtue to its reality, and is determined in his conduct neither by the dictates of his own conscience, the suggestions of true honour, nor the principles of religion.

The third and last great motive for men's joining in a popular falsehood, or, as I have hitherto called it, a party-lie, notwithstanding they are convinced of it as such, is the doing good to a cause which every party may be supposed to look upon as the most meritorious. The unsoundness of this principle has been so often exposed, and is so universally acknowledged, that a man must be an utter stranger to the principles either of natural religion or Christianity, who suffers himself to be guided by it. If a man might promote the supposed good of his country by the blackest calumnies and falsehoods, our nation abounds more in patriots than any other of the Christian world. When Pompey was desired not to set sail in a tempest that would hazard his life, “It is necessary for me,” says he, “to sail, but it is not necessary for me to live.” Every man should say to himself, with the same spirit, “It is my duty to speak truth, though it is not my duty to be in an office.” One of the fathers has carried this point so high as to declare he would not tell a lie, though he were sure to gain heaven by it. However extravagant such a protestation may appear, every one will own that a man may say, very reasonably, he would not tell a lie if he were to if he were to gain hell by it; or, if you have a mind to soften the expression, that he would not tell a lie to gain any temporal reward by it, when he should run the hazard of losing much more than it was possible for him to gain.

Also from the Library of Babel:

• Pierce Butler, Fanny Kemble, et al.  July 22, 2020.  ‘“An attempt of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to make a way around the original Fugitive Slave Law, of 1793, by finding a private agent guilty of kidnapping for having remanded a slave from Pennsylvania to Maryland was forcefully overturned by the U. S. Supreme Court in Prigg v. United States (1842).”’

• The Best Translation of Dante’s Divina Commedia.  July, 14, 2019.  “For the next month, then, I put aside a few hours each night.  Not only with Singleton and Merwin.  In the glorious Age of the Internet, the first step could only be a search for what books relating to the subject were available on Google Book Search and the Internet Archive.”

• A Memoriam for W. S. Merwin.  April 17, 2019.  “It took about three days, as I recall, for me to surrender to the fact that W. S. Merwin was the finest English language poet of his time.  I wished I’d been prepared to read him years ago.”

• Be sure to check out the Browser's Guide to the Library of Babel.

Also from Virtual Grub Street:

• Shakespeare CSI: Sir Thomas More, Hand-D. April 22, 2023. “What a glory to have an actual hand-written manuscript from the greatest English writer of all time!”

• A Thousand Years of English Terms.  June 2, 2019.  ‘One person did not say to another, “Meet you at three o’clock”.    There was no clock to be o’.  But the church bell rang the hour of Nones and you arranged to meet “upon the Nones bell”.’

Source Texts: Dedication Letter to William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, in the Citie of God (1609)

The Source Texts series is designed to provide context to quotes in various essays I expect to publish in my various venues. Some may be back-fitted in. I expect the texts to provide more depth to a wide range of information on these topics — primarily literary, historical, cultural anthropological.

A dedication letter such as this can stand alone as a curiosity, as well, giving one more example of how such letters were written. As for the work to which the present letter is attached, — St. Augustine's City of God — it is less important for our purposes than the names of the parties involved, associated dates, etc. These will prove to be of considerable importance to studies on Shakespeare, Thorpe and his associates, William Herbert, the mysterious translator “John Healey, alias Vavasour,” and others.

I have somewhat modernized the orthography.

AUGUSTINE, OF

THE CITIE OF GOD:

WITH THE LEARNED

COMMENTS

OF

lo. Lod. VIVES.

Englished by J. H.

Printed by GEORGE ELD .

1610.

Mr. Petherick cites an entry for this work in the Stationers' Register entry “by Thomas Thorpe, January 18, 1609.”¹ The scholarly consensus is that Thorpe was the “Th. Th.” of the following dedication letter to William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke. That same year, of course, saw Thorpe publish Shake-speares Sonnets, dedicating it to “Mr. W.H.”

TO THE HONORABLEST

PATRON OF MUSES AND

GOOD MINDES, LORD

WILLIAM Earle of Penbroke,

Knight of the Honourable

Order,&c.

RIght gracious and gracefull Lord, your late imaginary, but now actuall Travailer, then to most- conceited Viraginia, now to almost-concealed Virginia; then a light, but not lewde, now a sage and allowed translator; then of a scarce knowne novice, now a famous Father; then of a devised Country scarse on earth, now of a desired Citie sure in heaven; then of Utopia, now of Eutopia; not as by testament,but as a testimonie of gratitude, observance, and hearts-honour to your Honor, bequeathed at hence-parting (thereby scarse perfecting) this his translation at the imprinting to your Lordships protecting. He, that against detraction beyond expectation, then found your sweete patronage in a matter of fmall moment, without distrust or disturbance in this worke of more worth, more weight, as he approoved his more abilitie, so would not but expect your Honours more acceptance.

Though these be Church-men, and this a Church-matter, he unapt, or unworthy to holde trafique with either yet heere Saint Augustine, and his Commenter Vives, most favour of the secular: and the one accordingly to Marcellinus, the other to our King Henry, directed their dedications; and as translators are onely tyed, to have, and give, true understanding: so are they freer then the authors to sute them-selves a Patrone . Which as to Scipio, the staffe and stay, the type and top of that Cornelian stemme, in quam, ut plura genera in unam arborem, videtur insita multorum illuminata sapientia, your poore Pacuvius, Terence, or Ennius, (or what you list, so he be yours) thought most convenient to consecrate. Wherefore his legacie laide at your Honours feete, is rather here delivered to your Honours humbly thrise-kissed hands by his poore delegate.

Your Lordships true-devoted,

Th. Th.

1 Petherick, Edward A. Gentleman's Magazine, VOL. CCLXXXI (1896). “Mundus Aliter et Idem” 66-87@78.

Also from the Library of Babel:

• The American Garden.  January 16, 2019.  “By 1890, the Ladies' Home Journal was the most popular advertising venue in the country. There, between ads for cook books, children's clothing, stave-less corsets, indoor water-closets, refrigerators and pianos, and popular female columnists who advised the housewife about them all, were a profusion of ads for seeds.”
• Blank Verse Now and Then.  January 1, 2019.  “Surrey was as erratic as most young noblemen during early English history, and far more brilliant, and was imprisoned several times for temper and intemperance. In the end, he became rather impatient for the gouty, porcine, syphilis-riddled Henry VIII to die, and for the Howard faction to rule as regents to the young, fragile, son conceived of the syphilitic, Edward.” 
• The Elegy and the Internet.  July 1, 2005.  ‘Drummond, we may remember, was the William Drummond, of Hawthornden, who Ben Jonson visited during a trip to Scotland, in 1619. The Scot took the time to jot a memorandum of Jonson's conversation, in which we learn inter alia that "he cursed Petrarch for redacting Verses to Sonnets, which he said were like the Tirrant's bed, wher some who were too short were racked, others too long cut short,"7 and "That Shakspear wanted Arte."’

• Be sure to check out the Browser's Guide to the Library of Babel.

Also from Virtual Grub Street:

• Shakespeare CSI: Sir Thomas More, Hand-D. April 22, 2023. “What a glory to have an actual hand-written manuscript from the greatest English writer of all time!”

• A Thousand Years of English Terms.  June 2, 2019.  ‘One person did not say to another, “Meet you at three o’clock”.    There was no clock to be o’.  But the church bell rang the hour of Nones and you arranged to meet “upon the Nones bell”.’