Solomon Maimon: An Autobiography Part 16

[48] Maimon in a footnote here refers, by way of a parallel, to the interpretation by a Catholic theologian of a pa.s.sage in Ezekiel (xliv., 1-2) as an allegorical prophecy of the Virgin Mary; but most readers will probably prefer to leave the exposition of the allegory to the imagination of those who choose to follow it out.--_Trans._

[49] A trait of these, as of all uncultivated men, is their contempt of the other s.e.x.

[50] Of this cla.s.s I became acquainted with one. He was a young man of twenty-two, of very weak bodily const.i.tution, lean and pale. He travelled in Poland as a missionary. In his look there was something so terrible, so commanding, that he ruled men by means of it quite despotically. Wherever he came he inquired about the const.i.tution of the congregation, rejected whatever displeased him, and made new regulations which were punctually followed. The elders of the congregation, for the most part old respectable men, who far excelled him in learning, trembled before his face. A great scholar, who would not believe the infallibility of this superior, was seized with such terror by his threatening look, that he fell into a violent fever of which he died.

Such extraordinary courage and determination had this man attained merely through early exercises in Stoicism.

[51] Born 1720; died 1797. See Jost's _Geschichte des Judenthums_, Vol.

iii., pp. 248-250.--_Trans._

[52] _Exodus_, iii., 13, 14.

[53] These names are taken from _Maimoniana_, p. 108.--_Trans._

[54] The method, in which, as before explained, I had learnt to read and to understand books without any preparatory studies, and to which I had been driven in Poland by the want of books, grew to such an expertness, that I felt certain beforehand of being able to understand anything.

[55] Here there seems in the original an evident misprint of _Vereinigung_ for _Verneinung_.--_Trans._

[56] The incident referred to was the following. Lavater had translated into German a work, which had a great reputation in its day, by the eminent Swiss scientific writer, Bonnet, on the evidences of Christianity. Out of respect for Mendelssohn, Lavater dedicated the translation to him, requiring him, however, either to refute the work, or to do "what policy, love of truth, and probity demand,--what Socrates would doubtless have done, had _he_ read the work, and found it unanswerable." Mendelssohn was thus placed in an awkward dilemma. He could not well let the challenge pa.s.s unacknowledged; and yet, owing to the disabilities under which the Jews laboured all over the world, he would have seriously imperilled their interests by appearing even to impugn the evidences of Christianity. He had, moreover, resolved never to enter into religious controversy. Under the circ.u.mstances his reply was masterly as it was dignified and candid. Lavater saw his mistake; and it is but due to him to say, that he publicly apologised for it in the fullest and frankest manner.--_Trans._

[57] This "hiatus _haud_ valde deflendus" is in the original.--_Trans._

[58] This name is taken from _Maimoniana_.--_Trans._

[59] The love of life, that is, the instinct of self-preservation, seems rather to increase than to decrease with the diminution or uncertainty of the means of living, inasmuch as man is thereby spurred to greater _activity_, which developes a stronger _consciousness of life_. Only this want must not have reached its maximum; for the necessary result of that is _despair_, that is a conviction of the impossibility of preserving life, and consequently a desire to put an end to it. Thus every pa.s.sion, and therefore also the love of life, is increased by the obstacles which come in the way of its gratification: only these obstacles must not make the gratification of the pa.s.sions _impossible_, else despair is the result.

[60] "Afterwards when he spoke of Poland, he used to be deeply affected in thinking of his wife, from whom he was obliged to separate. He was really very much devoted to her, and her fate went home to his very heart. It was easy when the subject came up in conversation, to read in his face the deep sorrow which he felt; his liveliness then sensibly faded away, he became by and by perfectly silent, was usually incapable of further entertainment, and went earlier than usual home."

_Maimoniana_, p. 177. He seems, however, at a later period, to have at least spoken to his friends about marrying a second time; but the project was never carried out. _Ibid._, p. 248.--_Trans._

[61] He died 4th Jan., 1786.--_Trans._

[62] Kant's work must still have been quite new, as it appeared in 1781.--_Trans._

[63] The name is left blank by Maimon, but is known to be that which I have inserted. See Fischer's _Geschichte der neueren Philosophie_, Vol.

v., p. 131.--_Trans._

[64] Samuel Levi, according to _Maimoniana_, p. 78.--_Trans._

[65] See above, p. 41--_Trans._

[66] The last few pages have been condensed from the original; in which the author gives detailed information, which seems no longer of any special interest, about the articles he contributed to periodicals.-- _Trans._

[67] By the kindness of my friend, the Rev. Meldola de Sola, of the Portuguese Synagogue in Montreal, I am enabled to make an interesting note on this subject. Among the Talmudic pa.s.sages enjoining industry are the following:--"Rather skin a carcase for pay in the public streets, than be idly dependent on charity," "Rather perform the meanest labour than beg." As a further evidence of the estimation in which labour was held by the sages of the Talmud, it may be mentioned that Hillel, before being admitted to the Great College, earned his livelihood as a wood-cutter; that Rabbi Joshua was a pinmaker; Rabbi Nehemiah Halsador, a potter; Rabbi Judah, a tailor; Rabbi Joshua Hasandler, a shoemaker; and Rabbi Judah Hanechtan, a baker. "Of all things," says Mr. Deutsch, "the most hated were idleness and asceticism; piety and learning themselves only received their proper estimation when joined to healthy, bodily work. 'It is well to add a trade to your studies; you will then be free from sin,' 'The tradesman at his work need not rise before the greatest doctor,' 'Greater is he who derives his livelihood from work than he who fears G.o.d'--are some of the most common dicta of the period." (_Literary Remains_, p. 25, where there are some striking stories in condemnation of asceticism). Mr. Deutsch elsewhere quotes, "Rather live on your Sabbath as you would on a week day than be dependent on others," (_Ibid._, p. 30).--_Trans._

[68] See above, pp. 140-1.

[69] _Maimoniana_, pp. 196-200.

[70] _Ibid._, p. 80.

[71] _Ibid._, pp. 80, 83-4.

[72] _Ibid._, p. 95, note.

[73] _Ibid._, pp. 82-3.

[74] _Ibid._, pp. 154, 157.

[75] _Ibid._, pp. 80, 95, 104.

[76] _Ibid._, p. 84.

[77] _Ibid._, p. 105.

[78] _Ibid._, p. 159.

[79] _Ibid._, pp. 231-2.

[80] _Ibid._, p. 96.

[81] _Ibid._, p. 140.

[82] _Ibid._, p. 96.

[83] _Ibid._, p. 97.

[84] Fischer's _Geschichte der neuern Philosophie_, vol. v., pp. 133-4.

[85] _Maimoniana_, pp. 190-6.

[86] _Ibid._, pp. 90-1.

[87] _Ibid._, pp. 183-8.

[88] _Ibid._, pp. 101-4.

[89] _Ibid._, p. 217.

[90] _Ibid._, pp. 109-112, 208, 212-3.

[91] _Ibid._, p. 87.

[92] _Ibid._, p. 213.

[93] _Ibid._, p. 249.

[94] _Ibid._, p. 88.

[95] _Ibid._, p. 230.