Polytropy

The reading is Sellier 612–50, which is Lafuma 730–98, or

• Pensées diverses IV (SÉRIE XXVI): 23 fragments

• Pensées diverses V (SÉRIE XXVII): 7 fragments

• Pensées diverses VI (SÉRIE XXVIII): 5 fragments

Labels are

Summary

IV.1 (612)

In John, contradictions

• Scripture itself (Psalm 82) has God calling men gods

• Jesus says,

  • Lazarus

    • will not die
    • is sleeping
    • is dead

  • Lazarus, come forth

IV.2 (613)

Ces gens manquent de cœur / On n’en ferait pas son ami / Poète et non honnête homme

IV.3 (614)

La source de toutes les hérésies est l’exclusion de quelques‑unes de ces vérités

1. Jesus Christ is god and man
2. The sacramental bread is his body and symbol (figure)
3. Indulgences (not spelled out)

IV.4 (615)

• If curing an ill were always impossible, none would ever think it possible
• If some miracles are judged false, others must be true
• If some religions are false, one must be true

IV.5 (616)

There are false miracles, because there are true

IV.6 (617)

We prefer the arguments

• that we are used to or
• that we ourselves come up with

The frail (malingres) or perhaps the malign (malins) acknowledge the truth only when it is in their interest

A calculator seems to think better than animals, but lacks their willpower

Some people lie for the hell of it

Being persecuted for Christianity is like being in a storm in an unsinkable ship

IV.7 (618)

Better that we should have a common error than be curious without purpose

IV.8 (619)

Since we know Jesus lived and made a splash, Josephus and Tacitus or their editors must have covered it up

IV.9 (620)

Since there are many religions, the Christian one must be correct

IV.10 (621)

Rather than be destined for hell in ignorance, better to know of hell and hope to avoid it

IV.11 (622)

Disordered judgment: that everybody puts himself before others

What Cromwell was doing to Christianity was stopped by a kidney stone

Judge by reason or feeling; never the twain shall meet

There are two ways of likening things, such as holidays with working days, Christians with priests, sins with one another

IV.12 (623)

Better to be Herod’s pig than son

IV.13 (624)

1. Be blamed and praised (2) be neither

IV.14 (625)

Wisdom 15:16: “no man can make a god like unto himself”

IV.15 (626)

Toute la dignité de l’homme est en la pensée … Qu’elle est grande par sa nature, qu’elle est basse par ses défauts !

IV.16 (627)

The visible church appeals to feeling (sentiment); but there’s more

IV.17 (628)

Pensée fait la grandeur de l’homme

IV.18 (629)

The Gospel cites prophets to discourage your belief

IV.19 (630)

Theater is the most dangerous diversion

IV.20 (631)

Those who can’t reason (obscure)

IV.21 (632)

Offices are real; that their holders fit them, a fantasy

IV.22 (633)

La raison nous commande bien plus impérieusement qu’un maître

IV.23 (634)

Only Christians do not take natural reason for their guide

V.1 (635)

The chastity of Alexander is less of an example than his drunkenness an excuse

V.2 (636)

Continuity is boring; nature zigzags

V.3 (637)

We prefer the dispute to the outcome

V.4

• 638 Mercy for sloth, justice for pride
• 639 Contre ceux qui abusent des passages de l’Écriture
• 640 With me, against me
• 641 The history of the church is the history of truth
• 642 Psalm 112:4: “Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness”

V.5 (643)

Honesty (being honorable) cannot be taught. What gets better can get worse

V.6 (644)

Two prefaces. The wonders of nature are not proof of God to the skeptic. Vere tu es Deus absconditus

V.7 (645)

Telescopes. The infinitely large and small. Pursuing virtue to the extreme, we are lost in vice. God says fear and fear not. Not even the Son knows what the Father knows. Fathers will be turned to and divided from their children. Particular and general effects

VI.1 (646)

Better that we don’t know what we say of one another. A pure God is revealed only to purified hearts. Church history and a statement of faith

VI.2 (647)

Those who write their own laws

VI.3 (648)

Sneezing and loving; pain and pleasure

VI.4 (649)

Power

VI.5 (650)

King and tyrant; epigrams of Martial

Cette mention CC. semble n’avoir reçu aucune interprétation satisfaisante. All quotations are from John, one of these quoting in turn Psalm 82:

A Psalm of Asaph.

God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.

John 10:

22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.
24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.
26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

30 I and my Father are one.
31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

John 11:

1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

D’où vient qu’on croit tant de menteurs qui disent qu’ils ont vu des miracles
et qu’on ne croit aucun de ceux qui disent qu’ils ont des secrets
pour rendre l’homme immortel ou pour rajeunir.

• que les hommes se fussent imaginé qu’ils en pourraient donner, et encore plus
• que tant d’autres eussent donné créance à ceux qui se fussent vantés d’en avoir.

Pascal must be alluding to slow reception of Harvey’s theory of the circulation of the blood, published in 1628. But Pascal may be begging the question of what are bad and good reasons. Some level of skepticism would seem always to be appropriate.

What’s to be surprised at here? If you came up with the reasons, evidently they are amenable to you.

Les malingres sont gens qui connaissent la vérité mais qui ne la soutiennent qu’autant que leur intérêt s’y rencontre mais hors de là ils l’abandonnent.

Some think malingres should be malins.

La machine d’arithmétique fait des effets qui approchent plus de la pensée que tout ce que font les animaux ; mais elle ne fait rien qui puisse faire dire qu’elle a de la volonté comme les animaux.

The effects of the Pascaline are the effects of the thought of the inventor.

This is in line with following the law, just because it is the law.

Is Pascal opposed to pure research?

Sur ce que Josèphe ni Tacite et les autres historiens
n’ont point parlé de Jésus-Christ.

This is like the argument in the last reading that the Jews were the better witnesses of the Christ for not accepting him as such. Similar comment for the next fragment.

Sur ce que la religion chrétienne n’est pas unique.

Since there are many religions, that one of them called Christianity must be correct?

We shall read more on the “wager” later. Meanwhile, why does Pascal pick these two options, and only these? How for example is whether there is a hell to be distinguished from whether oneself is going? See the next fragment.

It’s a disordered judgment that can think there is a hell to which persons go, but oneself will not.

The precursor of the personality inventory?

Is there meant to be a logical difference?

From the fifth reading, 351–320–178:

Macrobe. Des innocents tués par Hérode.

Macrobius, Saturnalia, Book II, Chapter IV:

Cum audisset inter pueros quos in Syria Herodes rex Iudaeorum intra bimatum iussit interfici filium quoque eius occisum, ait: Melius est Herodis porcum esse quam filium.

Matthew 2:

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

Jeremiah 31:

13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord.
15 Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.
16 Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

Descotes and Proust:

Ce fragment très dense n’a guère suscité la curiosité des commentateurs. Son interprétation ne peut être proposée qu’avec prudence.

Therefore I’ll suggest a connection with one from the last reading, II.43–569–584–690–506:

Que Dieu ne nous impute pas nos péchés, c’est-à-dire toutes les conséquences et suites de nos péchés, qui sont effroyables, des moindres fautes, si on veut les suivre sans miséricorde.

« Chacun se forge un dieu à soi-même », alluding to verse 16 of Wisdom 15 (I quote the whole chapter as being of interest):

1 But thou, O God, art gracious and true, longsuffering, and in mercy ordering all things,
2 For if we sin, we are thine, knowing thy power: but we will not sin, knowing that we are counted thine.
3 For to know thee is perfect righteousness: yea, to know thy power is the root of immortality.
4 For neither did the mischievous invention of men deceive us, nor an image spotted with divers colours, the painter’s fruitless labour;
5 The sight whereof enticeth fools to lust after it, and so they desire the form of a dead image, that hath no breath.
6 Both they that make them, they that desire them, and they that worship them, are lovers of evil things, and are worthy to have such things to trust upon.
7 For the potter, tempering soft earth, fashioneth every vessel with much labour for our service: yea, of the same clay he maketh both the vessels that serve for clean uses, and likewise also all such as serve to the contrary: but what is the use of either sort, the potter himself is the judge.
8 And employing his labours lewdly, he maketh a vain god of the same clay, even he which a little before was made of earth himself, and within a little while after returneth to the same, out of the which he was taken, when his life which was lent him shall be demanded.
9 Notwithstanding his care is, not that he shall have much labour, nor that his life is short: but striveth to excel goldsmiths and silversmiths, and endeavoureth to do like the workers in brass, and counteth it his glory to make counterfeit things.
10 His heart is ashes, his hope is more vile than earth, and his life of less value than clay:
11 Forasmuch as he knew not his Maker, and him that inspired into him an active soul, and breathed in a living spirit.
12 But they counted our life a pastime, and our time here a market for gain: for, say they, we must be getting every way, though it be by evil means.
13 For this man, that of earthly matter maketh brittle vessels and graven images, knoweth himself to offend above all others.
14 And all the enemies of thy people, that hold them in subjection, are most foolish, and are more miserable than very babes.
15 For they counted all the idols of the heathen to be gods: which neither have the use of eyes to see, nor noses to draw breath, nor ears to hear, nor fingers of hands to handle; and as for their feet, they are slow to go.
16 For man made them, and he that borrowed his own spirit fashioned them: but no man can make a god like unto himself.
16 homo enim fecit illos et qui spiritum mutuatus est is finxit illos nemo enim sibi similem homo poterit deum fingere
17 For being mortal, he worketh a dead thing with wicked hands: for he himself is better than the things which he worshippeth: whereas he lived once, but they never.
18 Yea, they worshipped those beasts also that are most hateful: for being compared together, some are worse than others.
19 Neither are they beautiful, so much as to be desired in respect of beasts: but they went without the praise of God and his blessing.

Pensée.

L’écoulement.

Clarté. Obscurité.

Is reason (as above in 11–622–632–750–176) what else the church has?

si c’est à [Denys l’Aréopagite] que Pascal fait allusion, ce qui n’est que vraisemblable – thus GEF XIV, apparently L’édition de Léon Brunschvicg … envisagée dans l’ensemble des œuvres de Pascal dans la collection des Grands écrivains de la France de Hachette. The relevant passage from Acts 17 was quoted in the last reading, 570–585–691–432; here is the whole, to the end of the chapter, Paul’s sermon having echoes of Wisdom 15, quoted for 625–635–755–258 above:

16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
17 Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.
18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.
19 And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?
20 For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.
21 (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
33 So Paul departed from among them.
34 Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

• plus il paraît innocent aux âmes innocentes,
• plus elles sont capables d’en être touchées ;

Ce texte sur les méfaits de la comédie s’inscrit dans l’ensemble des discussions du XVII^e siècle sur la moralité du théâtre. Il a été composé par M^me de Sablé, qui a demandé à son ami Pascal de le réviser et de le corriger.

Two separate sentences seem to have been intended.

Texte non autographe écrit par Gilberte Périer (la sœur de Pascal) qui a servi de secrétaire pendant une période où Pascal était malade.

The first part refers to concepts; the second, to instantiations. Whether the latter are persons or particular tracts of land is not clear to me. In any case, the point would seem to that

• the concept of rule is as real as the ideas or forms of Plato, but
• that any particular person meets the conditions of the concept is a fantasy.

Gender seems to make the first part clear. The adjectives réelles et nécessaires are feminine, because the two nouns royautés et magistratures are feminine, and duché could have either gender, according to a note citing Furetière, according to whose DICTIONAIRE UNIVERSEL, Contenant generalement tous les mots françois, tant vieux que modernes, & les Termes de toutes les sciences et des arts:

DUCHÉ. ſ. m. & f. Terre qui eſt érigée par le Roy ſous ce titre, & qui donne à celuy qui la poſſede pluſieurs privileges, les honneurs du Louvre, & le premier rang lans l’Eſtat …

The initial abbreviation ſ. apparently stands for ſubstantif.

The second part of Pascal’s fragment says qu’un tel ou telle le soit, “that such [masculine] or such [feminine] be he/it [masculine].” The translators make the he or (masculine) it a person, although no such person was referred to. However, I don’t know the transcribers distinguish le from la. In any case, here is Trotter:

As duchies, kingships, and magistracies are real and necessary, because might rules all, they exist everywhere and always. But since only caprice makes such and such a one a ruler, the principle is not constant, but subject to variation, etc.

Ariew makes it all personal:

Since dukes, kings, and magistrates are real and necessary (because power rules everything), they exist everywhere and always. But because only fancy makes this or that person such a one, this is not consistent but subject to variation, etc.

I suppose this is chiasmus, disobedience to reason making one a fool. Reality, I would say, is what commands us imperiously; reason – or just thinking – is how we interpret the command.

Pascal asked in the last reading, 567–582–688–323, Qu’est‑ce que le moi ? Not the qualities of his body, though here he speaks in the third person of somebody rendered hideous by smallpox; the person is still there. Pascal himself can lose his judgment and his memory, qualities of his soul, without losing himself:

si on m’aime pour mon jugement, pour ma mémoire, m’aime‑t‑on moi ? Non, car je puis perdre ces qualités sans me perdre moi.

It’s not clear to me what would be left of himself then. In the present fragment, what is being contemplated as disobeying reason or a master, and what would suffer as a result?

The blows of a harsh master create a feeling: an accompaniment, attribute, or apanage of ourselves, as opposed to a constituent, in the sense of Collingwood in The New Leviathan (1942):

4. 17. A mind has both constituents and apanages.

4. 18. The essential constituent of mind is consciousness or thought (practical and theoretical) in its most rudimentary form. In addition, many minds have other constituents in the shape of various specialized forms of consciousness. Forms of consciousness are the only constituents, so far as I know, possessed by any mind.

4. 19. Feeling is an apanage of mind. It is an apanage of simple consciousness, namely its proper object, what there is consciousness of.

4. 2. Man as mind is consciousness, practical and theore­tical, both in its simplest form and also in specialized forms; he has feeling, both in its simplest or purely sensuous-emo­tional form and also in specialized forms.

See also the words of Xerxes to exiled Spartan king Demaratus before Thermopylae, as reported by Herodotus, VII.103:

If [your Greeks] were under the rule of one man according to our custom, they might out of fear of him become better than they naturally are, and under compulsion of the lash they might go against greater numbers of inferior men; but if they are allowed to go free they would do neither.

Demaratus replies in 104:

fighting singly [the Lacedaemonians] are as brave as any man living, and together they are the best warriors on earth. They are free, yet not wholly free: law is their master, whom they fear much more than your men fear you. They do whatever it bids; and its bidding is always the same, that they must never flee from the battle before any multitude of men, but must abide at their post and there conquer or die.

State super vias et interrogate de semitis antiquis et ambulate in eis. Et dixerunt : Non ambulabimus, sed post cogitationem nostram ibimus. ils ont dit aux peuples : Venez avec nous, suivons les opinions des nouveaux auteurs ; la raison sera notre guide ; nous serons comme les autres peuples qui suivent chacun sa lumière naturelle. Les philosophes ont …

• à prendre leurs règles hors d’eux‑mêmes et
• à s’informer de celles que Jésus-Christ a laissées aux anciens pour être transmises aux fidèles.

Jeremiah 6:

16 Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

Jeremiah 18:

11 Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
12 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

Is Pascal ridiculing us for seeming to be hypocrites? How can we contemplate a “found truth,” without knowing how it was found? As Collingwood says in An Autobiography (1939):

Whether a given proposition is true or false, significant or meaningless, depends on what question it was meant to answer; and any one who wishes to know whether a given proposition is true or false, significant or meaningless, must find out what question it was meant to answer.

Now, the question ‘To what question did So-and-so intend this proposition for an answer ?’ is an historical question, and therefore cannot be settled except by historical methods. When So-and-so wrote in a distant past, it is generally a very difficult one …

Texte non autographe écrit par Gilberte Périer (la sœur de Pascal) qui a servi de secrétaire pendant une période où Pascal était malade.

Contre ceux qui sur la confiance
de la miséricorde de Dieu demeurent
dans la nonchalance sans faire de bonnes œuvres.

• que la miséricorde autorise le relâchement
• que c’est au contraire la qualité qui le combat formellement.

I wonder whether Pascal would distinguish mercy or clemency from a concept that might be alled amnesty.

Structurally, as in 633–643–768–345, chiasmus:

The first quotation is from Psalm 143:

A Psalm of David.

Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.
2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.
4 Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.

The next, La miséricorde de Dieu invite à pénitence, is in Romans 2:

Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

4 ἢ τοῦ πλούτου τῆς χρηστότητος αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἀνοχῆς καὶ τῆς μακροθυμίας καταφρονεῖς, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι τὸ χρηστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς μετάνοιάν σε ἄγει;

The last verse is supposedly what Pascal means by La miséricorde de Dieu invite à pénitence. However, miséricorde, or misericordia in Latin, mercy in English, is perhaps normally in Greek not χρηστός (which appears in English in “catachresis,” “chresard,” and “chrestomathy”), but ἔλεος, as in the cognate Kyrie eleison or directly in Hebrews 4:

14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

16 προσερχώμεθα οὖν μετὰ παρρησίας τῷ θρόνῳ τῆς χάριτος, ἵνα λάβωμεν ἔλεος καὶ χάριν εὕρωμεν εἰς εὔκαιρον βοήθειαν.

Finally, Faisons pénitence pour voir si par aventure il aura pitié de nous is (roughly) from Jonah 3:

And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.
4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
5 ¶ So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
10 ¶ And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

Contre ceux qui abusent des passages de l’Écriture
et qui se prévalent de ce qu’ils en trouvent
quelqu’un qui semble favoriser leur erreur.

Explication de ces paroles Qui n’est point pour moi est contre moi
et de ces autres Qui n’est point contre vous est pour vous.

Matthew 12:30: “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”

Mark 9:

38 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.
39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.
40 For he that is not against us is on our part.

Luke 9:50 is similar. We saw all this before in the sixth reading, at the beginning of Miracles I (419–830–app. XIII), in Question 10 of the Q&A with Monsieur l’abbé de Saint-Cyran.

Psalm 112:4: “Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious and full of compassion, and righteous.”

In the Septuagint, 111:4: ἐξανέτειλεν ἐν σκότει φῶς τοῖς εὐθέσιν ἐλεήμων καὶ οἰκτίρμων καὶ δίκαιος.

Honnêtes hommes: “gentlemen” (Trotter), “honorable men” (Ariew). The adjective is from Latin hŏnĕstus “worthy, decent, of high rank, honorable, handsome,” from hŏnōs hŏnōris “honor, regard; office, dignity; grace”; “of unknown origin.”

Se piquer: Avoir des prétensions à (Trotter “plume oneself,” Ariew “pride oneself”).

Why should we be proud of having what everybody can be taught? We are proud of what is peculiar to ourselves. So what Pascal says may be natural and unobjectionable. Or does he mean to suggest that only dishonorable people would take on airs for being honorable?

Also, to what extent is he making the distinction between being honest and having the title “honorable”?

There’s an issue in English with “gentleman.” both Somerset Maugham and C. S. Lewis argue, in different ways, that there’s no point in using the term in any but a technical sense. With what he has said about clothes making the office, Pascal may agree. Anyway, here’s Lewis from Mere Christianity (1952):

The word gentleman originally meant something recognisable; one who had a coat of arms and some landed property. When you called someone “a gentleman” you were not paying him a compliment, but merely stating a fact. If you said he was not “a gentleman” you were not insulting him, but giving information. There was no contradiction in saying that John was a liar and a gentleman; any more than there now is in saying that James is a fool and an M.A. But then there came people who said—so rightly, charitably, spiritually, sensitively, so anything but usefully—“Ah, but surely the important thing about a gentleman is not the coat of arms and the land, but the behaviour? Surely he is the true gentleman who behaves as a gentleman should? Surely in that sense Edward is far more truly a gentleman than John?” They meant well. To be honourable and courteous and brave is of course a far better thing than to have a coat of arms. But it is not the same thing. Worse still, it is not a thing everyone will agree about. To call a man “a gentleman” in this new, refined sense, becomes, in fact, not a way of giving information about him, but a way of praising him: to deny that he is “a gentleman” becomes simply a way of insulting him. When a word ceases to be a term of description and becomes merely a term of praise, it no longer tells you facts about the object: it only tells you about the speaker’s attitude to that object. (A “nice” meal only means a meal the speaker likes.) A gentleman, once it has been spiritualised and refined out of its old coarse, objective sense, means hardly more than a man whom the speaker likes. As a result, gentleman is now a useless word. We had lots of terms of approval already, so it was not needed for that use; on the other hand if anyone (say, in a historical work) wants to use it in its old sense, he cannot do so without explanations. It has been spoiled for that purpose.

Maugham, “The Lion’s Skin”:

The trouble was that Captain Forestier was almost too perfect a type of the English gentleman. He was at forty-five (he was two or three years younger than Eleanor) still a very handsome man, with his wavy, abundant grey hair and his handsome moustache; he had the weather-beaten, healthy, tanned skin of a man who is much in the open air. He was tall, lean and broad-shouldered. He looked every inch a soldier. He had a bluff, hearty way with him and a loud, frank laugh. In his conversation, in his manner, in his dress he was so typical that you could hardly believe it. He was so much of a country gentleman that he made you think rather of an actor giving a marvellous performance of the part. When you saw him walking along the Croisette, a pipe in his mouth, in plus-fours and just the sort of tweed coat he would have worn on the moors, he looked so like an English sportsman that it gave you quite a shock. And his conversation, the way he dogmatised, the platitudinous inanity of his statements, his amiable, well-bred stupidity, were all so characteristic of the retired officer that you could hardly help thinking he was putting it on.

The reply was so theatrical that Fred Hardy began to chuckle, but then he saw that the man meant it. He was deadly serious. Fred Hardy was no fool; he could hardly have lived for twenty-five years on his wits in tolerable comfort unless he had had them all about him. And now, in amazement, staring at that heavy, powerful man, who looked so like the typical English sportsman, sunk back in the chair, he had a sudden flash of comprehension. He was no common swindler who had got hold of a silly woman to keep him in luxury and idleness. She was only a means to a greater end. He had been captivated by an ideal and in pursuit of it had stuck at nothing. Perhaps the notion had come to him when he was a page-boy in a smart club; the members, with their lounging ease, their casual manner, may have seemed very wonderful to him; and afterwards as a trooper, as a valet, as a car-washer, the many men he ran across, belonging to a different world and seen through a haze of hero-worship, had filled him perhaps with admiration and envy. He wanted to be like them. He wanted to be one of them. That was the ideal that haunted his dreams. He wanted—it was grotesque, it was pathetic—he wanted to be a gentleman. The war, with the commission it brought him, gave him his chance. Eleanor’s money provided the means. That wretched fellow had spent twenty years pretending to be something the only value of which was that it wasn’t a pretence. That was grotesque too; that was pathetic. Without meaning to, Fred Hardy uttered the thought that passed through his head.

Préface de la première partie.

Préface de la seconde partie.

Matthew 11:

25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
26 Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

As for Deus absconditus from Isaiah (with my discussion of Heraclitus and Annie Dillard), see the fourth reading, 275–242–585. (The Septuagint for Isaiah 45:15 has σὺ γὰρ εἶ Θεός, καὶ οὐκ ᾔδειμεν, ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ ᾿Ισραὴλ σωτήρ.)

“How many the telescopes for us have they discovered of things that were not for our philosophers before.” The order seems confusing; but in the French there’s a difference between combien de lunettes and combien les lunettes.

Il ne faut pas dire qu’il y a ce qu’on ne voit pas. Il faut donc dire comme les autres mais ne pas penser comme eux.

Who was the first person to conceive of the possibility of looking down from the moon? Zeus and the other gods might look down, but perhaps not in the way that Pascal is imagining looking.

On se prend à la perfection même.

On the original paper, the initial clause (Quand on veut poursuivre les vertus jusques aux extrêmes) was added later, above the other lines, and the closing clause (On se prend à la perfection même) was added upside down, obliquely, in the right margin. I see two difficulties of basic interpretation:

1. Does the qualification de sorte que … apply to the infinities on both sides, or just to the side of the grand infinity?
2. How does Pascal mean se prendre à? Did he mean s’en prendre à?

Trotter and Ariew differ on the former question, but are united on the latter:

When we would pursue virtues to their extremes on either side, vices present themselves, which insinuate themselves insensibly there, in their insensible journey towards the infinitely little: and vices present themselves in a crowd towards the infinitely great, so that we lose ourselves in them, and no longer see virtues. We find fault with perfection itself.

When we try to pursue virtues to their extremes, vices appear from everywhere, insinuating themselves imperceptibly, in their imperceptible paths from the direction of the infinitely little. And vices appear in a multitude from the direction of the infinitely great. As a result, we lose ourselves in the vices and no longer see the virtues. ¶ We take issue with perfection itself.

As for se prendre à, here is all the Larousse de poche says on the pronominal use of prendre:

S’y prendre bien (ou mal) être plus ou moins adroit. S’en prendre à quelqu’un, lui faire des reproches.

The latter might confirm the translations of Pascal by Trotter and Ariew, except for the en. When I consult Le petit Robert (which has 2950 pages to the 543+LV of the Larousse), I find one passive, eight reflexive, and three reciprocal meanings of se prendre. Of all of these, only two of the reflexive meanings are for se mettre à specifically, and only one of these is followed by a noun: figuratively or literarily,

S’interesser vivement à. «Je ne pouvais me prendre à rien» (Balzac).

For se prendre à followed by a verb, there is an example relevant in its meaning alone:

Se mettre à (généralement de façon inopinée) … «Il se prit à penser que sa piété allait bien à sa paresse» (Aragon).

As for s’en prendre à, we have

s’en prendre à : s’attaquer à, en rendant responsable. ⇒ incriminer (cf. Prendre à partie.) Il s’en est pris à moi qui n’y etais pour rien. Il ne peut s’en prendre qu’à lui-même : il est responsable de ses propres malheurs.

This seems to be what the translators want, but it has en. Nonetheless, among 80 senses of prendre, in number 70, Littré allows se prendre à without en to mean attaquer.

Furetière has meanings for prendre spread over three columns, but does not distinguish them according to pronoun or preposition. He has the meaning that the translators choose for Pascal, but with en:

Prendre, ſignifie auſſi, S’attaquer. Il ne ſçait à qui s’en prendre; il ſ’en prend à celuy qui n’en peut mais, au [?] premier venu. Un blaſphemateur s’en prend à Dieu. Il s’en prend à plus fort que luy, il luy en prendra mal, il s’en repentira. Il luy en a bien pris, que le Maiſtre n’eſtoit pas au logis. Ils ſe ſont pris de paroles. Il l’a pris en trahiſon, par derriere. Quand le debiteur ne paye pas, on s’en prend à ſa caution.

Only two examples (Ils se sont pris de paroles, il l’a pris en trahison) lack en, but they also lack à. Pascal’s own writing is inscrutible, but the transcription is

onSeprend ala
  perfection mesmes

The question then is whether Pascal meant the onSeprend to be onSenprend, or whether it even matters for allowing him to mean on attaque.

What else could he mean? His words could have the literal sense, “One is taken to perfection itself.” This would suggest the accomplishment of the command to be perfect that I shall take up at the beginning of the next reading. But Pascal may say that perfection involves avoiding extremes.

Finally, regarding the infinities, Descotes and Proust have a note:

GEF XIII ne cache pas une certaine perplexité à l’égard des notions de petit infini et de grand infini dans ce passage, et propose : « Poursuivre les vertus de part et d’autre, c’est-à-dire dans la direction des deux infinis à la fois, c’est sans doute les poursuivre dans leur plus petit détail et en même temps dans leur plus vaste étendue » : c’est dans le premier cas vouloir être « juste à la rigueur et dans les moindres circonstances de la vie », et dans l’autre aspirer à « faire régner partout la justice universelle », ce qui, dans les deux cas ne peut avoir que des effets regrettables.

Seeming contradictions. Luke 12:

27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
33 Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.
34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Philippians 2:

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Mark 9:

31 For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.
32 But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.
33 And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?
34 But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.
35 And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.
36 And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,
37 Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.
38 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.
39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.
40 For he that is not against us is on our part.

Mark 13:

30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.
31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.
35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

No reference?

Submitting to them in the sense of worshipping them as idols?

Les sens.

“Note to self: find examples”?

Matthew 17:

And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
7 And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
8 And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
9 And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.

Luke 1:

13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.
15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.
16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.
17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Luke 12:

51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.
53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

Summa Theologiae, Question 23 (“Predestination”), Article 5 (“Are merits the cause or reason of predestination, or reprobation, or election?”):

We must say, therefore, that the effect of predestination may be considered in a twofold light—in one way, in particular; and thus there is no reason why one effect of predestination should not be the reason or cause of another; a subsequent effect being the reason of a previous effect, as its final cause; and the previous effect being the reason of the subsequent as its meritorious cause, which is reduced to the disposition of the matter. Thus we might say that God pre-ordained to give glory on account of merit, and that He pre-ordained to give grace to merit glory. In another way, the effect of predestination may be considered in general. Thus, it is impossible that the whole of the effect of predestination in general should have any cause as coming from us; because whatsoever is in man disposing him towards salvation, is all included under the effect of predestination; even the preparation for grace. For neither does this happen otherwise than by divine help, according to the prophet Jeremias (Lamentations 5:21): “convert us, O Lord, to Thee, and we shall be converted.” Yet predestination has in this way, in regard to its effect, the goodness of God for its reason; towards which the whole effect of predestination is directed as to an end; and from which it proceeds, as from its first moving principle.

De là cette religion m’est aimable
et je la trouve déjà assez autorisée par une si divine morale,
mais j’y trouve de plus …

Plus je les examine, plus j’y trouve de vérité, ce qui a précédé et ce qui a suivi, plus de prophètes : un peuple entier le prédit avant sa venue, un peuple entier l’adore après sa venue ; et cette synagogue qui l’a précédé, et [ce nombre de Juifs] misérables et sans prophètes qui le suivent et qui, étant tous ennemis, sont d’admirables témoins pour nous de la vérité de ces prophéties où leur misère et leur aveuglement même est prédit. Enfin eux sans idoles ni roi.

Deuteronomy 28:

1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

9 The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.

12 The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
13 And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
14 And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:

27 The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
28 The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:
29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.
30 Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.

68 And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.

Isaiah 29:

8 It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
9 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
10 For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.
11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

What’s the difference between external laws and our own? As Mary Midgley suggests in a couple of places, if there is no god, why act like him?

• Beast and Man (1995/1979), “Facts and Values” (pp. 188–9):

  People did not proceed—as the theory of evolution really requires—by demythologizing their symbolism about animals and the downward direction. Instead they either resisted evolution at all costs, or accepted it with the proviso that the Future was to lift them out of the degrading company that admittedly contaminated their past. The Future was seen as leading man away from the rest of nature as fast as possible, as giving him the hope of escaping continuity with it after all. Those who felt a sense of pollution at the thought of kinship with other animals could dwell on the hope of becoming less like them. Since both animals and the earth were still used, quite uncritically, as symbols for evil, weakness, and emotion, this distancing usually meant becoming less emotional, more intellectual and technological. In Nietzsche, with his violent poetic imagination, this arid intellectual machismo is balanced by some emphasis on feeling as well. But in the future fantasies of Shaw and Wells, and in the mass of science fiction that has followed them, it cavorts instructively. Robot worlds, purged of natural emotions, replace flesh and blood. And the idea of space travel itself acts as a symbol for the storming of Heaven. Man, having “conquered” his own world, is supposed to rise up and conquer the sky as well, thus putting down all his rivals, divine as well as terrestrial. But if God is alive, will ray guns bother him? And if he is dead, why dress up in his clothes?

  Potential connection here to V.7–(645)–(654)–788–486 above, La dignité de l’homme consistait dans son innocence à user et dominer sur les créatures, mais aujourd’hui à s’en séparer et s’y assujettir.

• Heart and Mind (2003/1983), “Creation and Originality” (p. 52):

  The notion of creation is central to Nietzsche; he comes back to it constantly. But what does creation mean when people, not gods, are said to do it? If God is really dead, why should we dress up in his clothes? In Sartre, there is the same explicit reference to the divine model. For instance, answering the objector who says ‘your values are not serious since you choose them for yourselves’. Sartre replies, ‘To that I can only say that I am very sorry that it should be so, but if I have excluded God the father, there must be someone to invent values’.

That besogne can mean acte sexuel is pointed out by Le petit Robert, but not Larousse de poche, which says only Travail, ouvrage. Furetière is coy, saying of the verb besogner that it was used by Amyot Evêque d’Auxerre dans ſes Vies de Plutarque en un ſens qui paſſe maintenant pour obſcene.

While evidently besogne is feminine, éternument is masculine. This lets us conclude that the paragraph is talking about the latter, in implicit contrast to the former. Thus sexual activity is a mark of weakness and servitude, for reasons explained in the sequel.

What worldly power you may have is from God. You can use it that way or not.

Épigrammes de Martial.

Apparently an epigram of Martial was rendered thus:

De l’invention de Joachim Du Bellay, d’une ère et d’un fils borgnes, mais d’une beauté grande.

Jeanne et André son fils sont beaux comme le jour ;
Mais chacun d’eux d’un œil a perdu la lumière.
André, donne celui qui te reste à ta mère :
Elle sera Vénus, et tu seras l’Amour.