Le Ver Rongeur Des Sociétés Modernes

INTRODUCTION

PAGANISM

IN

EDUCATION

from the French

OF

Le Ver Rongeur des Sociétés Modernes

(The Canker-Worm of Modern Societies)

by the

Abbé Jean-Joseph Gaume

Vicar-General of Nevers, Doctor of Theology, etc., etc.

Translated by

ROBERT SMALL

(1852) 1

PAGANISM IN EDUCATION

2

CONTENTS

Letter from His Eminence Cardinal Gousset, Archbishop of Rheims

to the Abbé Gaume...... iii

Introduction...... v

I. Position of the Problem...... 1

II. Examination of the Problem...... 3

III. Solution of the Problem...... 7

IV. First Objection answered. — History of the Classic Books:

First Epoch...... 12

V. Continuation...... 23

VI. Second Epoch...... 28

VII. Third Epoch...... 42

VIII. Second Objection answered. — Testimony of Men...... 45

IX. Continuation...... 50

X. Testimony of Facts. — Influence of Pagan Classics on Literature...... 56

XI. Continuation...... 61

XII. Influence of Pagan Classics on Language...... 74

XIII. Influence of Pagan Classics on the Arts...... 81

XIV. Continuation...... 86

XV. Influence of Pagan Classics on Philosophy...... 92

XVI. Continuation...... 97

XVII. Influence of Pagan Classics on the Sciences...... 103

XVIII. Continuation...... 107

XIX. Influence of Pagan Classics on Religion...... 113

XX. Continuation...... 117

i PAGANISM IN EDUCATION

XXI. Influence of Pagan Classics on the Family...... 125

XXII. Continuation...... 130

XXIII. Influence of Classic Paganism on Society...... 136

XIV. Continuation...... 143

XV. Continuation...... 149

XVI. Necessity of Christian Classics. — Objections answered...... 157

XVII. Continuation...... 168

XVIII. Objections answered...... 177

XIX. Plan for a Christian Classic Library...... 183

XX. Particular Advantages of this Library...... 189

iiINTRODUCTION

LETTER

FROM

HIS EMINENCE

CARDINAL GOUSSET,

ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS,

TO THE

ABBÉ GAUME,

Vicar-General to his Lordship the Bishop of Nevers.

MONSIEUR THE VICAR-GENERAL, — I have seen the proofs of the book you propose publishing under the title of Le Ver Rongeur des Sociétés Modernes; ou, Le Paganisme dans l’Education. The reading of this work has deeply interested me, from the manner in which you have treated questions of the highest importance. It seems to me that you have clearly shown that the almost exclusive use of pagan authors in secondary schools, for several centuries, has exercised a fatal influence on the education of youth and on the spirit of modern societies. Hence the friends of religion and of social order will easily understand, as you yourself have understood, the necessity of modifying, in the establishments of public instruction, the direction of those studies which relate to the classic authors, so as to make the Christian Latin and Greek authors predominate, since their writings are so well calculated to incite young people to the practice of the evangelical virtues, and to re-establish the constitutive principles of society in all their vigor. This idea may meet with contradiction; but I have reason to hope that, sooner or later, your work will be attended with happy results, and I cannot but congratulate you on its publication.

Receive, Monsieur the Vicar-General, the expression of my devoted and affectionate sentiments.

T. CARDINAL GOUSSET,

Archbishop of Rheims.

Paris, 20th June, 1851.

iii

PAGANISM IN EDUCATION iv

INTRODUCTION.

How does the physician treat the sick man struggling with a disease which momentarily threatens to precipitate him into the tomb? If he is not blind or culpable, his first care is to have recourse, not to palliatives, not to ordinary remedies, but to fly to the last resources of his art to bring about a salutary crisis; if necessary, he has recourse to the knife or cautery, in spite of the cries and the resistance of the patient.

Society is sick; very sick. Symptoms more and more alarming no longer permit us to doubt the gravity of the evil. Are palliatives or the ordinary remedies sufficient to ward off inevitable death? No. Such is your opinion, such is also mine. Some energetic remedy is then necessary. A complete revolution must be brought about, and that, too, quickly, for time presses; every hour’s delay may become fatal.

But where is the seat of the evil? Now, more than ever, it is in the soul; and the soul is not healed by laws, but by good morals; and they are the result of education. Education does not influence mature age, but childhood. This, you will say, is a slow remedy, and one which has become at the present time powerless. It is true that we write under the howling of the tempest. To all appearance the thunder will have burst before the lightning rod shall have discharged the cloud. But the tempest will pass, and a source from which childhood may draw pure truth must be opened upon the ravaged soil, or on the morrow of the hurricane, a new one will prepare. Admit, as you suppose, that the entire edifice cannot be preserved; apply the cautery, let those who must suffer, suffer. If the present is condemned, let us save the future. Upon this point all our efforts should be concentrated; there must be brought about the revolution which alone can snatch the patient from death.

Many speak of this revolution, but few understand it; many have attempted it, but none have succeeded. I will endeavor to explain why, in pointing out what it ought to be.

In these latter times people have been much occupied about liberty of instruction; it has been demanded with earnestness, with perseverance, as a

v PAGANISM IN EDUCATION

necessity, and as a right. Honor to the courage, honor to the talent that has been so nobly consecrated to the success of this great cause! Important as it is, the question of liberty is commanded by another still more important. Liberty is not the end; it is but a means. The capital point is not to make instruction free, but to make it Christian. Otherwise this liberty would but increase the number of poisoned sources from which childhood would drink the deadly draught.

To make instruction Christian is the object of the struggle; this is what must be sought after, must be realized at any cost.

We must substitute Christianity for paganism in education, — we must renew the chain of Catholic teaching, which it is evident was sacrilegiously and unfortunately broken throughout Europe four centuries ago. We must place the pure source of truth near the cradle of the new-born generations, instead of the impure cistern of error; spiritualism, instead of sensualism; order, instead of disorder; life, instead of death.

We must impregnate anew our literature, our arts and sciences, our customs and institutions, with the Catholic principle, to purge them from the shameful diseases that devour them, to release them from the slavery under which they groan.

We must thus save society, if it is not already too late; or at least we must prevent all from perishing in the frightful deluge that threatens us.

We must thus second the manifest designs of Providence, either in tempering the steel that must sustain the shock in the great struggle towards which we are rapidly advancing; either in preserving religion in a few of the faithful, destined to become the germ of a glorious reign of peace and justice, or by preserving to the end, amongst its noble trials, the visibility of the Church.

Such is the revolution in question: it is gigantic, and man is insignificant. This revolution will find resistance of more than one kind, it will call forth passionate opposition; yet it is possible, and more so now than formerly. You will judge of it.

Fifteen years ago, the author of Catholicism in Education signalized, ex professo, the canker-worm of modem Europe. With the avowed object of destroying the empire usurped by paganism over the education of the Christian people, he preached the holy war. Without being a prophet, it was not difficult for him to announce that society would soon reach its ruin, if it did not quickly change its system. But, on the one hand, to attack classic paganism was at that time blasphemy; and, on the other, society, enervated by sensualism, only listened to the Sirens whose perfidious chant led towards the abyss. From this double cause his voice received but a feeble echo, and, less happy than the

viINTRODUCTION

hermit of the middle ages, he scarce found any knights ready to combat. Isolated under the crossfire of his enemies, and even of his friends, he was forced to quit the field of battle. He was before his time, and withdrew to await his hour. This time is come, or it will never come; for society is on the eve of dissolution, and circumstances are changed. To the voice of the Siren has succeeded the roar of thunder; the inebriation of prosperity is dissipated under the blows of misfortune; the solemn warnings of Providence have not been lost on all. Some by fear, others by conviction, are driven to create a Catholic reaction; they applaud the effort made with this view. It is evident that the reaction of Catholicity on education, without which all reaction, all restoration, would lead to nothing, cannot continue to be looked upon as a thing indifferent. In fact, under these and other causes, the revolution has advanced, and now counts many and illustrious supporters.1 Reproduced by them, the arguments against classic paganism will not again fall, as was the case sixteen years ago, buried under the storm of abuse and sophism. Some applaud whilst others are fear-stricken; but none, save the gods Termini, consider them an object of disdain.

To words succeed actions. Re-entered triumphant into the domain of religious architecture, Catholicism develops its movement, and begins to introduce itself into education, the vestibule of all power. Already on different points of France and of Europe, history, philosophy, and literature, open to it their long-closed sanctuaries. In a certain number of establishments, the study of the ancient languages is made, in part at least, by the aid of the Christian classics, and monopoly is shaken. It is clear the breach is open, it is only necessary to widen it, and the victorious revolution will advance to the citadel. Let us acknowledge, then, with gratitude, the work of Providence. Now, Providence does not grope; the revolution is then possible, — more so now than formerly.

That it is necessary, immediately and sovereignly necessary, it is the object of this book to show, by indicating the character of this revolution, and the means by which to insure success.

1 I have in my mind at this moment the remarkable letter of his lordship the bishop of Langres, from which I shall have occasion to cite some passages.

viiPAGANISM IN EDUCATION viii

CHAPTER I.

POSITION OF THE PROBLEM.

I N order that the truth of the proposition we are about to set forth may be the more apparent, we will abandon all abstract reasoning, all metaphysical theories, and only have recourse to a few striking facts, the signification of which is incontestable.

The First Fact. — With the exception of some few acts of disobedience, we find that during the Middle Ages the whole of Europe showed itself full of respect for, and obedience to, the Church. Christian in faith, laws, and customs, in institutions, arts, sciences, and language, society quietly developed those beautiful proportions which day by day brought it nearer the divine type of perfection.

Second Fact. — With the fifteenth century the sovereign empire of Catholicism became weakened; the ancient union of religion and society was shaken; the paternal voice of the Roman pontiffs, hitherto so deeply venerated, now became suspected; the majesty of their power was overshadowed; the filial submission of kings and peoples diminished; a fatal desire for independence sprung up in the bosom of society: everything announced a rupture.

Third Fact. — The sixteenth century had scarce commenced when, from the cell of a German monk, a voice arose — the powerful organ of the guilty thought which fermented in the soul. This voice said: “Nations, separate yourselves from the Catholic Church, fly from Babylon; break the leading-strings of your long infancy; henceforth you are strong enough and sufficiently enlightened to conduct yourselves.”

This voice was listened to with a degree of favor which causes us still to wonder. Throughout the larger portion of Europe society accused its mother of superstition and barbarism, abjured her doctrines, looked scornfully upon her greatest men, destroyed all that bore the mark of her sacred hand; destroyed or mutilated, as monuments of ignorance, slavery, and idolatry, the temples and edifices in which preceding ages had so nobly sheltered their faith whilst they immortalized their genius and skill.

1 PAGANISM IN EDUCATION

Fourth Fact. — This incredible rupture was not the effect of a passing excitement: it still continues. Neither sufferings, nor humiliations, nor disappointments, nor catastrophes, nor calamities of all kinds, have been able to bring back the prodigal son to the paternal roof; on the contrary, he has continued to separate himself more widely from the Church, — he has shifted from one thing to another his living and active hatred; so that for the last three centuries Europe seems to have done but little else than despoil, enchain, and injure the Church. In our own days this paroxysm seems to have arrived at its height, and the war-cry of the former child of Catholicism resounds from the Adriatic to the Ocean, — from the Mediterranean to the Baltic: “Christianity weighs upon us, we will not be ruled by it; the sight of it alone is insupportable to us.” — Such are the. expressions that constantly fall upon our ear.

Fifth Fact .— During this separation, the Church was not changed: she still remains what she was before, — equally good, wise, and devoted. She has not been silent or idle in the midst of suffering society. Perhaps, indeed, her maternal tenderness never displayed more universal solicitude, more untiring zeal. From her ever-fertile bosom sprung, in the fifteenth century, thirty-five religious orders or congregations; in the sixteenth, fifty-two; in the seventeenth, ninety. All those powerful bodies labored as one, acting incessantly on the family and on society at large, from the north to the east of Europe. From St. Vincent Ferrer to St. Vincent of Paul, numerous saints have astonished the world with their heroic virtues, making it manifest to the blind that the Roman Church has not ceased to be the incorruptible spouse of the Holy of Holies, the mother of all men truly worthy of the name of great: Alma parens, alma virum.

From Bellarmine to Bossuet, her wonderful doctors have proved that she is the perpetual source of light and wisdom. Continued in all the majesty of its power by the sovereign pontiffs and councils, Catholic teaching has long since crushed the principles of Protestantism, and the false motives which served as a pretext for the rupture, as well as those which have been invented later to support it. Neither arguments, nor warnings, nor kindness, nor supplication, nor any other means, have, however, succeeded in inducing European society to renew the ancient alliance in recognizing its legitimate parent.

From these undeniable facts the following conclusion evidently results: —

“That for four centuries a new element has appeared in Europe, — an element either more or less than existed during the Middle Ages, — and this element forms a wall of separation between Christianity and society.” What and where is this element, are questions we are about to examine.

2

CHAPTER II.

EXAMINATION OF THE PROBLEM.

T HE investigation we are about to enter upon is of the greatest importance. Lest we wander from our subject, let us mark out the ground by setting forth the following incontestable principles

Firstly. — Every effect has its cause; every permanent effect a permanent cause.

Secondly. — Every word, every human action, public or private, is the effect of free-will, or the will of the soul. Will, or, to speak philosophically, the volitions of the soul, presuppose the idea or the notion of the thing willed; it being impossible to will a thing that is not already known, and of which one has no idea: Ignoti nulla cupido; nihil volitum, nisi præcognitum.

Thirdly. — Whether innate or not, ideas come from, or depend upon, teaching, which awakens or produces them. Education, then, forms the man.

Fourthly. — Education, which makes the man, which forms for life his mind and heart, is accomplished in that period which separates the cradle from adolescence, according to the following truth, which was proverbial three thousand years ago: “Train up a child in the way it should go, and when it is old, it will not depart therefrom.” — Adolescens juxta viam suam, etiam cum senuerit, non recedet ab ea. — Prov. xxii. 6.

Fifthly. — The life of man is divided into two epochs, perfectly distinct: — the epoch for receiving, and the epoch for transmitting. The first comprehends the time of education, that is, of development or instruction; the second, the remainder of life. Not existing of himself; man receives all, as well in the intellectual and moral as in the physical order. After having received, he transmits, and he cannot transmit what he has not received. In transmitting what he has received, he forms the family, or society, after his own image. The truth or falsehood, the good or evil, the order or disorder realized in the exterior actions of the family, or of society, are only the reflections and the productions of the good or evil, the truth or falsehood, the order or disorder which reign in his soul.