Chapter XXII
Original French
De la Tolérance universelle.
IL ne faut pas un grand art, une éloquence bien recherchée, pour prouver que des Chrétiens doivent se tolérer les uns les autres. Je vais plus loin; je vous dis qu'il faut regarder tous les hommes comme nos freres. Quoi! mon frere le Turc? mon frere le Chinois? le Juif? le Siamois? Oui, sans doute; ne sommes-nous pas tous enfants du même Pere, & créatures du même Dieu?
Mais ces Peuples nous méprisent; mais ils nous traitent d'idolâtres! Eh bien! je leur dirai qu'ils ont grand tort. Il me semble que je pourrais étonner au moins l'orgueilleuse opiniâtreté d'un Iman, ou d'un Talapoin, si je leur parlais à peu près ainsi.
Ce petit globe, qui n'est qu'un point, roule dans l'espace, ainsi que tant d'autres globes; nous sommes perdus dans cette immensité. L'homme, haut d'environ cinq pieds, est assurément peu de chose dans la création. Un de ces êtres imperceptibles dit à quelques-uns de ses voisins, dans l'Arabie, ou dans la Cafrerie; «Ecoutez-moi; car le Dieu de tous ces mondes m'a éclairé: il y a neuf cents millions de petites fourmis comme nous sur la terre; mais il n'y a que ma fourmilliere qui soit chere à Dieu, toutes les autres lui sont en horreur de toute éternité; elle sera seule heureuse, & toutes les autres seront éternellement infortunées.
Ils m'arrêteraient alors, & me demanderaient, quel est le fou qui a dit cette sottise? Je serais obligé de leur répondre: C'est vous-mêmes. Je tâcherais ensuite de les adoucir, mais cela serait bien difficile.
Je parlerai maintenant aux Chrétiens, & j'oserais dire, par exemple, à un Dominicain Inquisiteur pour la Foi: «Mon Frere, vous savez que chaque Province d'Italie a son jargon, & qu'on ne parle point à Venise & à Bergame comme à Florence. L'Académie de la Crusca a fixé la Langue; son Dictionnaire est une regle dont on ne doit pas s'écarter, & la Grammaire de Buon Matei est un guide infaillible qu'il faut suivre: mais, croyez-vous que le Consul de l'Académie, & en son absence Buon Matei, auraient pu en conscience faire couper la langue à tous les Vénitiens & à tous les Bergamasques qui auraient persisté dans leur patois?
L'Inquisiteur me répond; «Il y a bien de la différence, il s'agit ici du salut de votre ame; c'est pour votre bien que le Directoire de l'Inquisition ordonne qu'on vous saisisse sur la déposition d'une seule personne, fût-elle infame & reprise de Justice; que vous n'ayiez point d'Avocat pour vous défendre, que le nom de votre accusateur ne vous soit pas seulement connu; que l'Inquisiteur vous promette grace, & ensuite vous condamne; qu'il vous applique à cinq tortures différentes, & qu'ensuite vous soyez ou fouetté, ou mis aux galeres, ou brulé en cérémonie:36 le Pere Ivonet, le Docteur Chucalon, Zanchinus, Campegius, Royas, Felinus, Gomarus, Diabarus, Gemelinus, y sont formels, & cette pieuse pratique ne peut souffrir de contradiction.
Je prendrais la liberté de lui répondre: «Mon Frere, peut-être avez-vous raison, je suis convaincu du bien que vous voulez me faire, mais ne pourrais-je pas être sauvé sans tout cela?»
Il est vrai que ces horreurs absurdes ne souillent pas tous les jours la face de la terre; mais elles ont été fréquentes, & on en composerait aisément un volume beaucoup plus gros que les Evangiles qui les réprouvent. Non-seulement il est bien cruel de persécuter, dans cette courte vie, ceux qui ne pensent pas comme nous; mais je ne sais s'il n'est pas bien hardi de prononcer leur damnation éternelle. Il me semble qu'il n'appartient guères à des atomes d'un moment, tels que nous sommes, de prévenir ainsi les arrêts du Créateur. Je suis bien loin de combattre cette sentence, hors de l'Eglise point de salut: je la respecte, ainsi que tout ce qu'elle enseigne; mais en vérité, connaissons-nous toutes les voyes de Dieu, & toute l'étendue de ses miséricordes? n'est-il pas permis d'espérer en lui autant que de le craindre? N'est-ce pas assez d'être fideles à l'Eglise? faudra-t-il que chaque Particulier usurpe les droits de la Divinité, & décide avant elle du sort éternel de tous les hommes?
Quand nous portons le deuil d'un Roi de Suede, ou de Dannemark, ou d'Angleterre, ou de Prusse, disons-nous que nous portons le deuil d'un Réprouvé qui brûle éternellement en Enfer? Il y a dans l'Europe quarante millions d'Habitants qui ne sont pas de l'Eglise de Rome: dirons-nous à chacun d'eux, «Monsieur, attendu que vous êtes infailliblement damné, je ne veux ni manger, ni contracter, ni converser avec vous?
Quel est l'Ambassadeur de France, qui, étant présenté à l'audience du Grand Seigneur, se dira dans le fond de son cœur: Sa Hautesse sera infailliblement brulée pendant toute l'éternité, parce qu'elle s'est soumise à la circoncision? S'il croyait réellement que le Grand Seigneur est l'ennemi mortel de Dieu, & l'objet de sa vengeance, pourrait-il lui parler? devrait-il être envoyé vers lui? Avec quel homme pourrait-on commercer? quel devoir de la vie civile pourrait-on jamais remplir, si en effet on était convaincu de cette idée que l'on converse avec des Réprouvés?
O sectateurs d'un Dieu clément! si vous aviez un cœur cruel, si en adorant celui dont toute la Loi consistait en ces paroles, Aimez Dieu & votre Prochain, vous aviez surchargé cette Loi pure & sainte, de sophisme & de disputes incompréhensibles; si vous aviez allumé la discorde, tantôt pour un mot nouveau, tantôt pour une seule lettre de l'alphabet; si vous aviez attaché des peines éternelles à l'omission de quelques paroles, de quelques cérémonies que d'autres Peuples ne pouvaient connaître, je vous dirais en répandant des larmes sur le Genre-humain: «Transportez-vous avec moi au jour où tous les hommes seront jugés, & où Dieu rendra à chacun selon ses œuvres.
«Je vois tous les morts des siecles passés & du nôtre, comparaître en sa présence. Etes-vous bien sûrs que notre Créateur & notre Pere dira au sage & vertueux Confucius, au Législateur Solon, à Pythagore, à Zaleucus, à Socrate, à Platon, aux divins Antonins, au bon Trajan, à Titus les délices du Genre-humain, à Epictete, à tant d'autres hommes, les modeles des hommes: Allez, monstres! allez subir des châtiments infinis, en intensité & en durée; que votre supplice soit éternel comme moi. Et vous, mes bien-aimés, Jean Chatel, Ravaillac, Damiens, Cartouche, &c. qui êtes morts avec les formules prescrites, partagez à jamais à ma droite mon Empire & ma félicité?
Vous reculez d'horreur à ces paroles; & après qu'elles me sont échappées, je n'ai plus rien à vous dire.
36 Voyez l'excellent Livre, intitulé: Le Manuel de l'Inquisition.
Musean translation
Complete machine-assisted Musean translation directly from French, reviewed against it. Includes all 25 chapters, Voltaire’s notes and the added Article with six edition references. Article transcription: French Wikisource, Garnier 1879, revision 15479820. Translation and Article: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.
On universal tolerance.
No great art, no elaborate eloquence is needed to prove that Christians ought to tolerate one another. I go further: I tell you that we must regard all people as our brothers. What! The Turk my brother? The Chinese my brother? The Jew? The Siamese? Yes, certainly. Are we not all children of the same Father, creatures of the same God?
“But these peoples despise us; they call us idolaters!” Very well: I shall tell them they are quite wrong. It seems to me that I could at least shake the proud obstinacy of an imam or a Buddhist monk if I spoke to them somewhat as follows.
This little globe, which is no more than a point, rolls through space like so many other globes; we are lost in this immensity. A human being, about five feet tall, is surely a very small thing in creation. One of these imperceptible beings says to a few of his neighbors in Arabia or Kaffraria, “Listen to me, for the God of all these worlds has enlightened me. There are nine hundred million little ants like us on earth; but only my anthill is dear to God. All the others have been hateful to him from all eternity. Mine alone will be happy, and all the others eternally wretched.”
They would stop me then and ask what madman had uttered such nonsense. I would be obliged to answer, “You yourselves.” I would then try to soothe them, but that would be very difficult.
I shall now address Christians, and would venture to say, for example, to a Dominican inquisitor of the faith: “My brother, you know that every province of Italy has its own jargon, and that people do not speak in Venice and Bergamo as they do in Florence. The Crusca Academy has established the language; its dictionary is a rule from which one must not depart, and Buon Matei’s grammar is an infallible guide that must be followed. But do you believe that the academy’s consul, or Buon Matei in his absence, could in good conscience have had the tongues cut out of every Venetian and Bergamasque who persisted in speaking their dialect?”
The inquisitor answers me: “There is a great difference: the salvation of your soul is at stake here. It is for your own good that the Directory of the Inquisition orders that you be arrested on the testimony of a single person, even one disgraced and convicted of a crime; that you have no lawyer to defend you; that even your accuser’s name be kept from you; that the inquisitor promise you mercy and then condemn you; that he subject you to five different forms of torture; and that you then be whipped, sent to the galleys, or ceremonially burned.36 Father Ivonet, Doctor Chucalon, Zanchinus, Campegius, Royas, Felinus, Gomarus, Diabarus, and Gemelinus are explicit on this point, and this pious practice admits no contradiction.”
I would take the liberty of replying, “My brother, perhaps you are right. I am convinced of the good you wish to do me; but could I not be saved without all that?”
It is true that these absurd horrors do not defile the face of the earth every day. But they have been frequent, and one could easily compile from them a volume much larger than the Gospels that condemn them. Not only is it very cruel to persecute, in this short life, those who do not think as we do; I wonder whether it is not also very presumptuous to pronounce their eternal damnation. It seems to me that momentary atoms such as ourselves have little right to anticipate the Creator’s judgments in this way. I am far from disputing the maxim outside the Church there is no salvation: I respect it, as I respect everything the Church teaches. But in truth, do we know all the ways of God and the full extent of his mercies? May we not hope in him as well as fear him? Is it not enough to be faithful to the Church? Must every individual usurp the rights of the Divinity and decide, before God does, the eternal fate of all humanity?
When we wear mourning for a king of Sweden, Denmark, England, or Prussia, do we say that we are mourning a reprobate who burns eternally in hell? There are forty million inhabitants of Europe who do not belong to the Church of Rome. Shall we say to each of them, “Sir, since you are infallibly damned, I will neither eat nor enter into contracts nor converse with you”?
What French ambassador, when presented at an audience with the sultan, will say in his heart, “His Highness will infallibly burn for all eternity because he submitted to circumcision”? If he truly believed that the sultan was God’s mortal enemy and the object of his vengeance, could he speak to him? Should he be sent to him? With whom could anyone have dealings? What duty of civil life could anyone ever fulfill, if truly convinced that he was conversing with the damned?
O followers of a merciful God! If your hearts were cruel; if, while worshiping him whose entire law lay in these words, Love God and your neighbor, you had burdened that pure and holy law with sophistry and incomprehensible disputes; if you had kindled discord, now over a new word, now over a single letter of the alphabet; if you had attached eternal punishments to the omission of a few words, a few ceremonies that other peoples could not know, I would say to you, shedding tears for the human race, “Come with me to the day when all people will be judged, and God will reward each according to his works.
“I see all the dead of past centuries and of our own appear before him. Are you quite certain that our Creator and Father will say to the wise and virtuous Confucius, to the lawgiver Solon, to Pythagoras, to Zaleucus, to Socrates, to Plato, to the divine Antonines, to good Trajan, to Titus, the delight of humankind, to Epictetus, to so many others who were models for humanity: ‘Go, monsters! Go suffer punishments infinite in intensity and duration; let your torment be eternal as I am. And you, my beloved Jean Châtel, Ravaillac, Damiens, Cartouche, and the rest, who died with the prescribed formulas, share forever at my right hand my dominion and my bliss’?”
You recoil in horror at these words; and now that they have escaped me, I have nothing more to say to you.
36 See the excellent book entitled Le Manuel de l'Inquisition.
Plain English translation
Independent, complete machine-assisted Plain English translation directly from French, reviewed against it. All 25 chapters, author’s notes and added Article with six edition references are retained. Article transcription: French Wikisource, Garnier 1879, revision 15479820. Translation and Article: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.
Universal Tolerance.
It takes no great skill or elaborate eloquence to prove that Christians should tolerate one another. I go further: I say we must regard all people as our brothers and sisters. What! The Turk my brother? The Chinese? The Jew? The Siamese? Yes, of course. Are we not all children of the same Father and creatures of the same God?
But these peoples despise us; they call us idolaters! Well, I will tell them they are very wrong. I think I could at least shake the proud stubbornness of an imam or a Buddhist monk if I spoke to them something like this.
This little globe, no more than a speck, moves through space like so many other globes. We are lost in this vastness. A human being, about five feet tall, is certainly a very small part of creation. One of these imperceptible beings says to a few neighbors in Arabia or Kaffraria, "Listen to me, for the God of all these worlds has enlightened me. There are nine hundred million little ants like us on earth. But only my anthill is dear to God. He has hated all the others from all eternity. Mine alone will be happy, and all the others will be unhappy forever."
They would stop me then and ask, "Who is the madman who said this nonsense?" I would have to answer, "You yourselves." I would then try to calm them down, but that would be very difficult.
I will now speak to Christians. I would dare to say, for example, to a Dominican inquisitor of the faith, "My brother, you know that every province of Italy has its own way of speaking, and that people do not speak in Venice and Bergamo as they do in Florence. The Crusca Academy has fixed the language. Its dictionary is a rule from which no one should depart, and Buon Matei's grammar is an infallible guide that must be followed. But do you believe that the academy's consul, or Buon Matei in his absence, could in good conscience have had the tongues cut out of all the Venetians and people of Bergamo who persisted in speaking their dialects?"
The inquisitor answers, "There is a great difference. Here your soul's salvation is at stake. It is for your own good that the Directory of the Inquisition orders your arrest on the testimony of a single person, even one who is disgraced and has a criminal record; that you have no lawyer to defend you; that you are not even told your accuser's name; that the inquisitor promises you mercy and then condemns you; that he subjects you to five different tortures; and that you are then whipped, sent to the galleys, or burned in a ceremony.36 Father Ivonet, Doctor Chucalon, Zanchinus, Campegius, Royas, Felinus, Gomarus, Diabarus, and Gemelinus are explicit on this, and this pious practice allows no objection."
I would take the liberty of answering, "My brother, perhaps you are right. I am convinced that you want to do me good. But could I not be saved without all that?"
It is true that these absurd horrors do not stain the earth every day. But they have been frequent, and we could easily make a book of them much larger than the Gospels that condemn them. Not only is it very cruel to persecute in this short life those who do not think as we do; I wonder whether it is not also very presumptuous to pronounce their eternal damnation. It seems to me that momentary atoms like us have little right to anticipate the Creator's judgments in this way. I am very far from challenging the statement outside the Church there is no salvation. I respect it, as I do everything the Church teaches. But in truth, do we know all God's ways and the full extent of his mercy? Are we not allowed to hope in him as much as we fear him? Is it not enough to be faithful to the Church? Must every individual seize God's rights and decide the eternal fate of all people before God does?
When we mourn a king of Sweden, Denmark, England, or Prussia, do we say we are mourning a damned soul burning forever in hell? Europe has forty million inhabitants who do not belong to the Church of Rome. Shall we say to each one, "Sir, since you are certainly damned, I will neither eat, make agreements, nor talk with you"?
What French ambassador, when admitted to an audience with the Ottoman sultan, would say in his heart, "His Highness will certainly burn for all eternity because he submitted to circumcision"? If he really believed the sultan was God's mortal enemy and the object of his vengeance, could he speak to him? Should he be sent to him? With whom could we do business? What duty of civil life could we ever fulfill if we were really convinced that we were dealing with damned souls?
Followers of a merciful God! If your hearts were cruel; if, while worshiping the one whose whole law was contained in these words, Love God and your neighbor, you had burdened that pure and holy law with false reasoning and incomprehensible disputes; if you had stirred up conflict, sometimes over a new word, sometimes over a single letter of the alphabet; if you had attached eternal punishments to the omission of certain words or ceremonies that other peoples could not have known, I would say to you, weeping for the human race, "Come with me to the day when all people will be judged and God will repay each according to their deeds.
"I see all the dead of past centuries and our own appearing before him. Are you quite sure that our Creator and Father will say to the wise and virtuous Confucius, to the lawgiver Solon, to Pythagoras, Zaleucus, Socrates, Plato, the divine Antonines, good Trajan, Titus, the delight of the human race, Epictetus, and so many other people who were models for humanity: 'Go, monsters! Go and suffer punishments infinite in intensity and duration. Let your torment be eternal like me. And you, my beloved Jean Châtel, Ravaillac, Damiens, Cartouche, and the rest, who died using the prescribed formulas, share my kingdom and happiness forever at my right hand'?"
You recoil in horror at these words. Now that they have escaped me, I have nothing more to say to you.
36 See the excellent book entitled Le Manuel de l'Inquisition.
About this section
Chapter XXII is part of Treatise on Tolerance by Voltaire. This page sets the French original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is chapter 22 of 26 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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