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C belieffersonian
Vol 9, Number 44.
Watson’s Reply to Windle
(No. 13.)
OT content with grossly misrepresenting
the status of the child and the woman
under ancient paganism, Mr. Windle denies
that even the philosophers held aloft a noble
standard.
He says “the philosophy of the ancients,
even among the greatest, was inhuman.”
If that statement is true, it should easily
be capable of proof. What evidence does
Mr. Windle offer?
He says that “Marcus Aurelius held that it
iWas weakness to pity the unfortunate.”
Will Mr. Windle be so good as to cite me
to the page?
I have here at hand “The Thoughts of
the Emperor Marcus Aurelius,” and also
•Renan’s celebrated work on that glorious
old pagan. In neither of these books do I
find the inhuman doctrine which Mr. Windle
imputes to the Roman philosopher.
On the contrary, I find that in the third
paragraph of his “Thoughts,” he thanks the
gods that from his mother he inherited
“piety and beneficence.”
What is beneficence, if not kindness to the
unfortunate ?
The rich and the fortunate do not need
It is the poor, the unfortunate, with whom
we connect the words “beneficence,” “benefi
cent” and “charity.”
Is it not so, my Windle? My conviction
deepens that my Wnidle has never read
many books, and that he is particularly weak
in ancient and modern, and medieval history.
In his 9th paragraph, Marcus Aurelius
declares that from Sextus he derived “a
benevolent disposition.”
How about that) my Windle?
In his 14th paragraph, the pagan Emperor
says that, “From my brother Severus (I
learned) to love my kin and to love truth,
and to love justice, * * that there is the
same law for all with equal rights and equal
freedom of speech and the idea of a kingly
government which respects most of all the
freedom of the governed.
“From him I also derived a disposition to
do good, and to give to others, readily.”
What about that) my Windle?
In the 17th paragraph of his Book 111.,
Marcus Aurelius writes—
“Do not act as if thou wert going to live
10,000 years. Death hangs over thee. While
thou livest, while it is in thy power, be
good.”
In paragraph 25, this philosopher speaks
of the happiness of the good man who culti
vates a “benevolent disposition.”
In his Chapter VII., paragraph 31, Mar
cus Aurelius says:
'‘'‘Love mankind! Follow good”
Throughout the “Thoughts” of this grand
old pagan the words “Be just,” “be kind,” “be
good” perpetually recur. It is quite evident,
therefore that my Windle has never perused
the philosophical reflections of Marcus
Aurelius.
If my Windle will read the Emperor’s
principles and will then compare that pagan
ideal with the diabolical canon law of the
Roman Church, he will never again defend
the latter at the expense of the former.
Thomson, Ga., Thursday, October 31, 1912.
Heavens alive! did not Marcus Aurelius
give enormous sums out of his private for
tune to succor the poor of both sexes—unfor
tunate boys and girls who otherwise could
not have gone to school and got a start in
life?
Renan says he did; and Renan made a
profound study of the subject. (See Renan’s
“Marcus Aurelius,” page 14.)
On page 15, Renan says, “Marcus Aurelius
constituted himself in a fashion the tutor of
all those who had none. The wants of the
poor child and the sick child were assured.”
By whom? By this pagan Emperor who,
according to Windle held that it was wrong
to pity the unfortunate!
Marcus Aurelius legislated in behalf of the
slave, ameliorating his condition to a won
derful degree; he also created a fund for the
decent burial of the poor.
Our Roman Catholic Coffin Trust wouldn’t
The Thomson meeting was the most satis-,
factory that we have held since the Nineties.
Mr. Watson spoke an hour and three quar- •
tens, and a stenographer took down the
address.
It covers the whole field, State and
National, touching on all the great issues.
The speech is too long for this paper.
We are publishing it in booklet form—
Per copy 5 cents.
10 copies 40 cents.
100 copies » $3.00.
This address furnishes literature on the
Initiative, Referendum and Recall, the Tariff,
National banks, Immigration, Constitutional
law, the purposes of Government, the
supremacy of Civil law, Federal extrava
gance, the Roman Catholic peril, and other
permanently important subjects.
have lasted long in the Empire of those
pagan Emperors of old Rome.
In Lecky’s “History of European Morals,”
(Vol I, p. 254) we are told that the charity
of Marcus Aurelius embraced the whole of
mankind.
“As an Antonine,” said he, “my country is
Rome: as a man, the world.”
On page 82, of Vol. 11., Lecky asserts that,
“Antoninus was accustomed to lend money
to the poor at 4 per cent.; and both he and
Aurelius dedicated to the memory of their
’wives institutions for the support of girls.”
On page 308 of Vol. 1., Lecky states that
Marcus Aurelius decreed that no rope-dancer
should perform without a net, or mattress,
stretched underneath, to prevent injury to
the dancer in case of a fall. Lecky remarks
that it is a curious fact that no Christian
nation has adopted this humane regulation.
Have I acquitted Marcus Aurelius, from
the accusation brought against him by my
Windle?
* . z * , * * *
Now let us consider the case of Seneca
who, according to Mr. Windle held that
* Mercy is a vice of the heart.” The word
that should be used is '‘'•pity.”
The Roman philosopher declared that
clemency is one of the highest virtues, while
mere pity is a weakness and a vice. Clem
ency, he declared to be a habitual tendency to
gentleness in the application of punishments.
On the other hand, he held that emotional
and occasional pity is the weakness of a
feeble mind.
“ The sage will console those who weep, but
without weeping with them; he will succor
the ship-wrecked, give hospitality to the pro
scribed, and alms to the poor, restore the son
to the mothers tears, and save the captive
from the arena. * * He will do good) for
he is born to assist his fellowS) to labor for
the welfare of mankind and to offer to each
one his part. * * He will help those who
are worthy, and, like the gods, his leaning
will be toward the wretched.”
So wrote Seneca, the pagan philosopher—•
whom Mr. M indie so outrageously misrepre
sents. _ ‘ *
Here we have a typical philosopher of the
ancient world teaching the humanities—as
all the others did—at a time when Mr.
Windle says that “Mercy, Love. Justice,
Honor and Truth had been crucified and
entombed.”
Dbesn’t Mr. Windle know that the Stoics,
ages before the Christian era, held that all
crime was ignorance) and treated it as an
involuntary disease— thus anticipating, by
thousands of years, the accepted theory of
recent years?
Doesn’t he know that the Platonists and
Stoics held that the only legitimate purpose
of punishment is prevention?
This humane view never found lodgment
in Roman Catholic ethics. It was not until
the philosophic pagans gained control of
the ancient world that the motive which
prompted the criminal was taken into con
sideration.
No such benevolent, humane and righteous
principle is to be found in the Mosaic code.
Juvenal wrote—
“Oh, give me inborn worth!
“Dare to be just, firm to your word and
faithful to your trust.”
“In the eye of heaven, a wicked deed,
intended, is done.”
This was the identical thought of Christ
when He spoke of the man who, in his
thought and desire) had committed adultery.
Again, Juvenal wrote —
“Virtue alone is true nobility.”
“The path to peace is virtue.”
J uvenal also speaks eloquently of the
whip-cords of outraged conscience ; and, like
Epictetus, he nobly pleads for indulgent
treatment of the slave.
Cicero said, “There never was a great man
without an inspiration from on high.”
Elsewhere he says “A sacred spirit dwells
within US) the observer and guardian of our
good and evil deeds. No man is good with
out God.”
With similar sublime passages, I could
easily fill this entire paper—passages from
Greek pagans, Roman pagans, Hindoo
pagans, Assyrian pagans, attesting the well
known fact that good men have existed
under every different kind of religion.
(My authorities for the foregoing state
ments are the English translations of Juve
nal, Seneca, Cicero, Persius, Marcus Aure
lius, and Lecky’s European Morals. They
are obtainable through any book-dealer.\
Trice, Live Merits.