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The Philosophes

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Charles Palissot

Letter by Mr Palissot, Author of the Comedy The Philosophes, to Serve as a Preface to the Play

Letter by Mr Palissot, Author of the Comedy The Philosophes, to Serve as a Preface to the Play1

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  • 1 When Voltaire republishes this preface in the Facéties (see above, Introduction), he adds a number (...)

Title pages of Charles Palissot de Montenoy, Les philosophes, comédie. Paris: Chez Duchesne, 1760. Edition-Originale.com, https://www.edition-originale.com/​fr/​livres-anciens-1455-1820/​editions-originales/​palissot-de-montenoy-les-philosophes-comedie-ensemble-1760-27447

  • 2 Voltaire writes: ‘Alas! Did he have any other views other than the hope of earning a little money?’

1You whom Corneille, Racine and Molière always respected, and who should not have expected to see yourselves insulted in prefaces by a sect of new men who have provoked neither any respect nor any surprise: you who are free from self-interest, from prejudice, from hatred, and to whom I owe so much gratitude, allow me to put to you the views2 that guided me in the preparation of the work that you have had the indulgence to applaud.

  • 3 Voltaire writes: ‘Where then is this support? What gratitude does he owe the public? Was his play p (...)
  • 4 In his edition, Voltaire adds a Latin epigraph, ‘Castigas non turpia turpis’, translated as ‘Shamef (...)

2Certain people, humiliated by the encouragement with which you deigned to honour me, not daring to attack your support directly, 3instead raised cries of libel and malice. I felt it necessary to justify myself against these reproaches, so alien to my sentiments and to my heart. I address my apologia to you. Read and judge.4

  • 5 The Encyclopédie.
  • 6 Scepticism: the philosophy of Pyrrho, founded in 4BC.
  • 7 Voltaire writes: ‘What an insolent denunciation! What anger! What public and atrocious slander! And (...)

3An imperious sect, formed in the shadows of an enterprise which could have been the glory of our century,5 exercised its rigorous despotism over science, literature, art and morality. Armed with the fire of philosophy, its members inflamed the minds of the people rather than shedding light therein: they attacked religion, laws and morals; they preached pyrrhonism6 and independence, and at the same time as denouncing all authority, themselves imposed a universal tyrrany. It was not enough for them pompously to publish their opinions; rather, they declared war on anyone who did not bow to their idols. The Encyclopédie, a work that should have been the glory of the nation, became its shame; but from its very ashes were born a number of converts who, purporting to be men of character, inspired in women ideas of anarchy and materialism.7

4The most detestable maxims of Hobbes and Spinoza and the most republican ideas appeared everywhere in their writing and speech.

5True philosophers, ministers of religion, true citizens; indeed, all honest men trembled at the audacious dogmas they put forward against divinity and supreme authority. Some complained that the might of the Church and the sword of the law struck only the weakest blows against them; but these were whispers rather then true complaints, for no-one dared raise their voice.

  • 8 Voltaire writes: ‘This, then, is a whole part of the nation that Palissot has insulted.’

6These new philosophers thought themselves the masters of renown: they handed out reputations and artistic accolades on a whim, but no-one had a chance of receiving their attentions unless they too were part of the sect. Indeed, this malady was so widespread, it had so effectively made its way into every area of life, that a whole part of the nation was caught up in it,8 thinking only according to what these oracles prescribed.

  • 9 Voltaire writes: ‘But this original purpose was a licence controlled by laws: Venere modum formidin (...)

7The only means left to cut these powerful people down to size was to attack them with ridicule before the eyes of an assembled public: this was to return theatre to its original purpose,9 and it might be said that it was a moderate response only to take up such arms against their excesses.

  • 10 Palissot’s note in one of the 1760 editions: ‘Helvétius.’
  • 11 Voltaire writes: ‘At the second performance it was necessary to cut fifty lines that outraged women (...)

8But for this task a soul was required that was sufficiently courageous; sufficiently inflamed (if I dare say it) by the love of public good, so as not to be afraid of either obstacles or dangers. I did not shy away from all that might be attempted to bring my name into disrepute; I forsaw the malicious use that would be made of the portraits contained in the play of individuals whose talent and morals I repect, though I might not adopt their philosophical systems.10 Had I been capable of remaining under any illusions in this regard, I would have been disabused of them even before the first performance of Les Pbilosophes, when I saw discussed in public extracts from my play which only ever existed in the imagination of those who attributed them to me.11

  • 12 Palissot’s note: ‘Voltaire.’

9When I saw it claimed in writing that I attacked that rare genius, of whom I have only ever spoken with delight,12 who received me with such kindness in his home when I went to pay him my respects and admiration, and who has since often honoured me with letters that I shall keep safe for all my life.

10When, moreover, I saw that I was being accused of not even having spared the illustrious Montesquieu, these so-called wise men flattering themselves by the implication that there was no immense gulf separating them from these great men. Though these famous geniuses who have enlightened their century may at times have forgotten themselves through human weakness, this group of philosophers, who have only imitated them in their faults, have no right to make any sort of comparison with them.

  • 13 A reference to the ‘précieux’ salon of the Marquise de Rambouillet, implicitly mocked in Molière’s (...)
  • 14 Charles Cotin (1604–1681) and Gilles Ménage (1613–1692), both members of contemporary academies, an (...)
  • 15 Molière’s Tartuffe (1664) was accused of mocking religious believers; Le Malade imaginaire (1673), (...)
  • 16 A reference to Racine’s only comedy, the 1678 Les Plaideurs.

11What I would never have anticipated, however, is that people would affect to have forgotten all of the models that authorise my choice of subject and the manner in which I have treated it: that they would be unable to remember that Molière mocked in the theatre the Hôtel de Rambouillet,13 Cotin, Ménage,14 the court, the devout and doctors;15 that even Racine put the magistrature on stage.16

  • 17 Voltaire writes: ‘And it is a minor administrator, known only for being a scoundrel and for Sardana (...)

12Moreover, convinced that the truly philosophical action of a good citizen is to have the courage to pull his country out of dangerous errors, and to sacrifice everything to this glory, I could not be held back by any personal considerations; not even the fear of the pamphlets in which I knew I would be attacked, and to which I shall never respond. I must rely for my defence on all those who still believe in the respect of authority, in natural feeling, in ancient morals.17 I will simply observe that the most hateful recriminations will never prove anything either against my play, or in favour of the false philosophers, but will on the contrary give me the satisfaction of seeing honest men join me in my scorn.

  • 18 Palissot’s note: ‘These words are taken from the Dictionnaire encyclopédique, in the entry for Ency (...)

13In response to the charges of malice made against me, I will simply employ these judicious and remarkable words of M. Diderot: ‘I know that people speak thus of works in which authors have let loose all their indignation: This is horrible! People must not be treated so harshly! These are terrible insults that should not be published, and other similar claims that have been made across time about all those works in which idiocy and evil are painted in the strongest colours, and which we read today with the greatest pleasure. Let us explain this contradiction in our judgements. At the moment at which these formidable productions were published, all villains were alarmed, and feared for themselves. The more a man was full of vice, the more vociferously he complained. He objected to the satire based on the age, the rank, the dignity of the person attacked; on hundreds of those little fleeting considerations, which lose their importance day by day, and which evaporate before a century has passed. Passing circumstances are forgotten, posterity sees nothing but folly, ridicule, vice and evil, covered in ignominy, and rejoices in this as an act of justice… It is only reprehensible weakness that prevents us from demonstrating towards baseness, envy, and duplicity, that strong and profound hatred that all honest men should feel.’18

14In the light of such decisively authoritative words, I would therefore be justified in making no apology: but there are some delicate and honest souls, whose errors deserve some indulgence, who are troubled by the word ‘malice’; not always taking the time to consider whether its application is just. It is for their sake that I will add this question, which seems to me apt to calm them regarding any pleasure that they may have taken in my comedy.

  • 19 Voltaire writes: ‘There is no question that the truly evil one is the author of several plays that (...)

15Who is really evil: he who devotes himself to the defence of legitimate authority and of the most sacred bonds of society, or those men who,19 impatiently struggling against all restraints, the enemies of all power, dare to publish what follows?

  • 20 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie to the public; these words are not in the book that you cite.’
    Indeed, ins
    (...)

16‘Between animal and man there is no real division. Animals have a soul capable of all the mental operations carried out by man: conceiving and assembling ideas, and drawing from them a just consequence.’ (Interprétation de la Nature, page 35.)20

  • 21 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie to the public; l’Homme plante is not by any of the encyclopédistes agains (...)

17‘Our soul is made of the same ingredients and the same fabric as that of animals.’ (L’Homme plante, page 31.)21

  • 22 This is the text by La Mettrie known as the Anti-Sénèque (1750); see Ferret, p. 117.

18‘It has been demonstrated by a thousand irrefutable proofs that there is only one life, and one happiness, and that the proud monarch dies completely, just like the modest subject and the loyal dog.’ (Discours sur la vie heureuse, page 34 and 35.)22

  • 23 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie to the public; La Vie heureuse is not by any of the encyclopédistes.’

19‘That which pleases the body is the sole route to happiness.’ (Discours sur la vie heureuse, page 6.)23

  • 24 Ferret notes that the following quotations can be compared to passages in Helvétius’ De l’esprit (p (...)

20‘The pleasures of the senses can inspire in us all sorts of feelings and virtues.’24

21‘Physical sensibility and personal interest are the authors of all justice.’

  • 25 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie, idem.

22‘Probity is nothing but the habit of undertaking useful actions, and must necessarily be founded in personal interest.’25

23‘The idea of virtue is not by any means absolute, nor independent of circumstances.’

  • 26 Voltaire writes: ‘Idem.

24‘Virtue and truth are beings that are only worthy insomuch as they serve those who possess them.’ (Discours sur la vie heureuse, page 106.)26

  • 27 Voltaire writes: ‘Idem.

25‘Neither vice nor virtue, moral good nor evil, justice nor injustice exist in themselves: everything is arbitrary and constructed by the hand of man.’ (Discours sur la vie heureuse, page 11.)27

  • 28 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie to the public: not a word of this appears in the ‘Discours préliminaire.’(...)

26‘The inequality of conditions is a barbaric law: no natural subjection into which man is born with respect to his father, or to his prince, has ever been regarded as a bond that obliges him, without his own consent.’ (‘Discours préliminaire’ of the Dictionnaire encyclopédique.)28

27‘A child is not born as the subject of any country or any government; when he reaches the age of reason he is free to choose the government under which he wishes to live, and to become part of the political body that pleases him the best.’ (Dictionnaire encyclopédique, art. ‘Government’, vol. VII, page 789.)

  • 29 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie to the public, for you cut these passages short.’
    Four passages from the s
    (...)

28‘Nothing is capable of submitting man to any power on earth but his own consent.’ (ibid.)29

29‘A tacit consent binds us to the laws of the government under which we enjoy the benefit of holding certain possessions, but if our obligation begins with those possessions, it ends with our enjoyment of them.’ (ibid. page 791.)

  • 30 Voltaire writes: ‘Idem.

30‘Governments can dissolve when the legislative and executive powers act with force beyond the authority that has been accorded to them.’ (ibid.)30

  • 31 Voltaire writes: ‘Idem.
    Again, Palissot removes an element of Jaucourt’s argument, which supports f
    (...)

31‘It is only thanks to the weak and ignorant state into which they are born that children find themselves naturally subject to their fathers and mothers.’ (ibid. art. ‘Child’, vol. V, p. 652.)31

  • 32 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie with inconceivable impudence, there is not a word of what you quote.’
    Inde
    (...)

32‘A son owes his father no gratitude for having brought him into this world.’ (Les Mœurs, page 59.)32

  • 33 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie with a punishable artifice. Here are the words of the author. After havin (...)

33‘Filial love is very susceptible to exemptions.’ (Les Mœurs, page 459.)33

  • 34 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie more than ever; there is not a word of this in the passage you cite; but (...)

34‘The best way to free oneself from the innopportune nature of desires is to follow them.’ (Les Mœurs, page 75.)34

  • 35 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie again, for though La Mettrie’s book might be bad, you imply that the auth (...)

35‘In order to be happy, it is neccessary to stifle any remorse: useless in advance of a crime, it is no more useful once the crime has been carried out. Good philosophy would do itself a disservice if it were to occupy itself with such irritating reminiscences, or dwell on such old prejudices.’ (Discours sur la vie heureuse, p. 63.)35

  • 36 Voltaire writes: ‘You are right to lay down your pen, but you are most guilty and most punishable f (...)

36The fear of raising ire in my readers makes me lay down my pen, and prevents me from looking through the Pensées philosophiques and L’Interprétation de la Nature.36

Notes

1 When Voltaire republishes this preface in the Facéties (see above, Introduction), he adds a number of notes, which are presented here. Notes here are drawn both from Ferret’s edition of this preface (pp. 113–19), and my own edition of Voltaire’s re-publication, in Facéties, pp. 221–44.

2 Voltaire writes: ‘Alas! Did he have any other views other than the hope of earning a little money?’

3 Voltaire writes: ‘Where then is this support? What gratitude does he owe the public? Was his play performed again? Will it be performed? Is it read?’

4 In his edition, Voltaire adds a Latin epigraph, ‘Castigas non turpia turpis’, translated as ‘Shameful [person], you castigate things that are not shameful’, seeming to play on Juvenal’s Satires II.9–10. See Juvenal and Persius, trans. by George Gilbert Ramsay, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Loeb, 1969), p. 19.

5 The Encyclopédie.

6 Scepticism: the philosophy of Pyrrho, founded in 4BC.

7 Voltaire writes: ‘What an insolent denunciation! What anger! What public and atrocious slander! And why? All because Palissot’s Sardanapale was booed.’
This refers to
Zarès, in which the eponymous character is the unrecognized son of Sardanapalus. The implication is that Palissot’s critiques come from wounded pride rather than any moral stance.

8 Voltaire writes: ‘This, then, is a whole part of the nation that Palissot has insulted.’

9 Voltaire writes: ‘But this original purpose was a licence controlled by laws: Venere modum formidine fustis.’
The quotation, meaning ‘Men changed their tune, and terror of the cudgel [led them back to goodly and gracious forms of speech]’, is drawn from Horace (
Satires, Epistles and Ars Poetica, trans. by H. Rushton Fairclough, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Loeb, 1947), p. 409. The implication is that Palissot does not abide by the rules of this ‘original purpose’ he claims to follow.

10 Palissot’s note in one of the 1760 editions: ‘Helvétius.’

11 Voltaire writes: ‘At the second performance it was necessary to cut fifty lines that outraged women and citizens with their most revolting brutality.’

12 Palissot’s note: ‘Voltaire.’

13 A reference to the ‘précieux’ salon of the Marquise de Rambouillet, implicitly mocked in Molière’s Les Précieuses ridicules (1659).

14 Charles Cotin (1604–1681) and Gilles Ménage (1613–1692), both members of contemporary academies, and satirized as Trissotin and Valdius in Les Femmes savantes.

15 Molière’s Tartuffe (1664) was accused of mocking religious believers; Le Malade imaginaire (1673), among many other of his titles, satirized the medical profession.

16 A reference to Racine’s only comedy, the 1678 Les Plaideurs.

17 Voltaire writes: ‘And it is a minor administrator, known only for being a scoundrel and for Sardanapale, who recalls to us these ancient models.’

18 Palissot’s note: ‘These words are taken from the Dictionnaire encyclopédique, in the entry for Encyclopedia. They were recently cited in a very interesting article in the Année littéraire.’
The quotation in fact formed the entire preface to the play in one 1763 edition (in
Théatre et œuvres diverses, London and Paris, pp. 172–73). The Année littéraire article referred to was a ‘Lettre de M. de *** à M. Fréron sur le mot ‘Encyclopédie’ du dictionnaire qui porte ce nom’, III, pp. 260–62.
Voltaire adds his own note here, reading: ‘Reponse. Yes, Palissot, they prove that it is necessary to show strong hatred against baseness and envy, but they do not prove that baseness and envy have any right to slander men of merit for no other reason than that they have scorned you.’

19 Voltaire writes: ‘There is no question that the truly evil one is the author of several plays that have been booed, who writes a satirical piece to be performed occasionally in favour of satire.’

20 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie to the public; these words are not in the book that you cite.’
Indeed, instead they are a paraphrase of Boyer d’Argens’
La Philosophie du bon sens, 3 vols (The Hague, 1768), II, p. 226.

21 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie to the public; l’Homme plante is not by any of the encyclopédistes against whom you are raging.’
The text in question is a 1748 piece by La Mettrie.

22 This is the text by La Mettrie known as the Anti-Sénèque (1750); see Ferret, p. 117.

23 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie to the public; La Vie heureuse is not by any of the encyclopédistes.’

24 Ferret notes that the following quotations can be compared to passages in Helvétius’ De l’esprit (p. 117).

25 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie, idem.

26 Voltaire writes: ‘Idem.

27 Voltaire writes: ‘Idem.

28 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie to the public: not a word of this appears in the ‘Discours préliminaire.’
In a letter to the
Observateur littéraire, Palissot admits he included elements of Rousseau’s thought here (in Facéties, pp. 336–39). The quotation in question is in fact taken from Jaucourt’s article ‘Government’, vol. VII, p. 789.

29 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie to the public, for you cut these passages short.’
Four passages from the same article are presented here dissociated, when in fact they follow more closely. Palissot’s fragmented version gives a far stronger impression of the support for civil disobedience than Jaucourt puts forward in the original: Jaucourt condemns the arbitrary seizing of power, but Palissot cuts this element entirely.

30 Voltaire writes: ‘Idem.

31 Voltaire writes: ‘Idem.
Again, Palissot removes an element of Jaucourt’s argument, which supports filial obedience, in order to present the philosophes as anarchic.

32 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie with inconceivable impudence, there is not a word of what you quote.’
Indeed, François-Vincent Toussaint’s 1749 
Les Mœurs contradicts the sentiments Palissot attributes to it.

33 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie with a punishable artifice. Here are the words of the author. After having shown how important it is to honour ones father and mother, filial love, says he, even the most tender and affectionate, is not such a general obligation that it cannot be susceptible to certain exemptions; a father who shows only hatred can only be loved as much as is necessary to love one’s enemies: though a father may have faults in his mood, in his thoughts; these are vain pretexts for ingratitude; fall at his feet, hard and ungrateful heart, embrace his knees.’

34 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie more than ever; there is not a word of this in the passage you cite; but the very opposite is found on the final page of the chapter on wisdom; there the author gives these maxims: prefer honesty to utility, put a break on your desires.’
Voltaire’s criticism is not quite so easily explained here — in fact, Toussaint does imply that passions should be followed. However, he contextualizes his claims in a later paragraph: Voltaire might have done better to point to this later contradiction.

35 Voltaire writes: ‘You lie again, for though La Mettrie’s book might be bad, you imply that the author says what in fact he puts in the mouth of a debauched individual.’
On the possible identification of this ‘débauché’ with Hobbes, see
Facéties, p. 244, n. 35.

36 Voltaire writes: ‘You are right to lay down your pen, but you are most guilty and most punishable for having taken it up in the first place, and at the same time entirely senseless, to have vomited up so many deceptions that it is so easy to confuse.’

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