PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR.

The Translator of the following little treatise deems it necessary to say a few words as to the object of its publication. It is given to the world, neither with a view to advocate Scepticism, nor to spread Infidelity, but simply to vindicate the right of private judgment. No human being is in a position to look into the heart, or to decide correctly as to the creed or conduct of his fellow mortals; and the attributes of the Deity are so far beyond the grasp of limited reason, that man must become a God himself before he can comprehend them. Such being the case, surely all harsh censure of each other’s opinions and actions ought to be abandoned; and every one should so train himself as to be enabled to declare with the humane and manly philosopher

“Homo sum, nihil humani me alienum puto.”

Dundee, September 1844.

The Vale production is evidently translated from an edition derived from the Latin manuscript which is the basis of the translation given in this volume. The variations in the text of each not being important, but simply due to the different modes of expression of the translators—the ideas conveyed being the same.

The Treatise in Vale’s edition concludes with the following:

“Happy the man who, studying Nature’s laws,

Through known effects can trace the secret cause;

His mind possessing in a quiet state,

Fearless of Fortune, and resigned to Fate.”

—Dryden’s Virgil. Georgics Book II, l. 700.

There is also in the Library of Congress a volume entitled “Traité des Trois Imposteurs.” En Suisse de l’imprimerie philosophique—1793. Boards 3½ × 5¾ inches, containing the Treatise proper 112 pp. Sentimens sur le traite des trois imposteurs, (De la Monnaye) 32 pp. Response a la dissertation de M. de la Monnaye 19 pp. signed J. L. R. L. and dated at Leyden 1 Jan., 1716, to which this note is appended: “This letter is from Sieur Pierre Frederic Arpe, of Kiel, in Holstein, author of the apology of Vanini, printed at Rotterdam in 8o, 1712.” The letter contains the account of the discovery of the original Latin manuscript at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in substance much the same as the translation given in this edition.

In the copy at the Congressional Library, I find the following manuscript notes which may be rendered as follows: “Voltaire doubted the existence of this work, this was in 1767. See his letter to his Highness Monseigneur The Prince of ——. Letter V, Vol. 48 of his works, p. 312.”

See Barbier Dict. des ouv. anon. Nos. 18250, 19060, 21612.

De Tribus Impostoribus. Anon.

L’esprit de Spinosa trad. du latin par Vroes.

In connection with this latter note, and observing the name written at end of the colophon of the manuscript from which the present edition is translated, it is probable that this same Vroese was the author of another translation.

Another remarkable copy is contained in the Library of Congress, the title page of which is displayed as follows:

TRAITÉ
DES
TROIS IMPOSTEURS
DES
RELIGIONS DOMINANTES
ET DU CULTE
d’apres l’analyse conforme à l’histoire.

CONTENANT

nombre d’observations morales, analogues à celles mises à l’ordre du jour, pour l’affermissement de la République, sa gloire, et l’édification des peuples de tous les pays.

ORNÉ DE TROIS GRAVURES.

À PHILADELPHIE
sous l’auspices du général WASHINGTHON
ET SE TROUVE
A PARIS chez le citoyen MERCIER, homme de lettres, rue du Cocq Honoré, No. 120,
LONDON, at M. Miller, libryre, Boon Street,
PICCADELLY.

M.DCC.XCVI.

Note.—This edition has undoubtedly been translated from the original Latin manuscript.—A. N.

Translation. Treatise of the Three Impostors of the governing Religions and worship, after an examination conformable to history, containing a number of moral observations, analogous to those placed in the order of the day for the support of the republic, its glory, and the edification of the people of all countries. Ornamented with three engravings. At Philadelphia under the auspices of General Washington, and may be found at Paris at the house of Citizen Mercier (Claude Francois Xavier[6]), man of letters, 120 Cocq Honoré street, and at London at Mr. Miller’s, bookseller, Boon street, Piccadelly, 1796.

On the following page may be found the following:

LE PEUPLE
FRANÇAIS
RECONNANT
L’ÊTRE SUPRÊME
L’IMMORTALITÉ DE L’AME
ET LA LIBERTÉ DES CULTES

——[7]

TRAITÉ
DES
Religions Dominantes[8]

ChapterI.Concerning God,6paragraphs.
ChapterII.Reasons, etc.,11
paragraphs.
,,
ChapterIII.Religious,9
paragraphs.
,,

“Les prêtres ne sont pas ce qu’un vain peuple pense

Notre crédulité fait toute leur science.”

Priests are not what vain people think,

Our credulity makes all their science.

ChapterIV.Moses,2paragraphs.
ChapterV.Jesus Christ,10
paragraphs.
,,

Paragraph 2. Politics; paragraph 6. Morals.

ChapterVI.Mahomet,2paragraphs.
ChapterVII.Evident Truths,6
paragraphs.
,,
ChapterVIII.The Soul,7
paragraphs.
,,
ChapterIX.Demons,7
paragraphs.
,,

Facing page twenty-seven is a medallion copper plate of Moses, around which are these words (translated): “Moses saw God in the burning bush,” and beneath the following from Voltaire’s Pucelle (translated):

Alone on the summit of the mysterious mount

As he desired, he closed his fortieth year.

Then suddenly he appeared upon the plain

With buck’s horns[9] shining on his forehead.

Which brilliant miracle in the mind of the philosopher

Created a prompt effect.”

In a note to par. II. occur the following lines which translated read:

“How many changes a revolution makes:

Heaven has brought us forth in happy time

To see the world——Here the weak Italian

Is frightened at the sight of a stole:

The proud Frenchman astonished at nothing

Boldly goes to defy the Pope at his capital

And the grand Turk in turban, like a good Christian,

Recites the prayers of his faith

And prays to God for the pagan Arab,

Having no thought of any kind of expedient

Nor means to destroy altars and idol worship.

The Supreme Being his only and sole support,

Does not exact for offering a single coin

From any sect, from Jew nor plebeian:

What need has He of Temple or archbishop?

The heart of the just and the general good

Shines like a brilliant sun on the halo of glory.”

Then follows a “Bouquet for the Pope”:

“Thou whom flatterers have invested with a vain title,

Shalt thou at this late day become the arbiter of Europe?

Charitable pontiff, and friend of humanity,

Having so many sovereigns as fathers of families,

The successors of Christ, in the midst of the sanctuary

Have they not placed unblushingly, incest and adultery?

Be this the last of imposture and thy last sigh.

Do thyself more honor, esteem and pleasure,

Than all the monuments erected to the glory

Of thy predecessors in the temple of memory.

Let them read on thy tomb ‘he was worthy of love,

The father of the Church and oracle of the day.’”

On the following page is a copper plate profile portrait of Pius VI. surrounded by the words “Senatus Populus Que Romanus.” At the side Principis Ecclesiae dotes vis Cernere Magni. (Senate and People of Rome—Prince of the Church endowed with power and great wisdom.) Beneath:

“The talents of the learned and the virtues of the wise,

A noble and beneficent manner with which all are charmed,

Depict much better than this image

The true portrait of Pius VI.”

Facing page fifty-one is a copper plate portrait of Mahomet, and beneath this tribute:

“Know you not yet, weak and superb man,

That the humble insect hidden beneath a leaf

And the imperious eagle who flies to heaven’s dome,

Amount to nothing in the eyes of the Eternal.

All men are equal: not birth but virtue

Distinguishes them apart.”

Then there are inserted a number of verses, some of the titles reading:

Concluding with “A Picture of France at the Time of the Revolution.”

“Nobility without souls, a fanatical clergy.

Frightful tax gatherers gnawing a plucked people.

Faith and customs a prey to designing persons.

A price set upon the head of the Chancellor (Maupeou).

The skeleton of a perfidious Senate.

Not daring to punish a parricidal conspiracy.

O, my country! O, France! Thy miseries

Have even drawn tears from Rome.[10]

If you have no Republic, and no pure legislators

Like exist in America, to deliver you from the oppression

Of a tyrannous empire of knaves, brigands and robbers;

Like the British cabinet and the skillful Pitt, chief of flatterers,

Who with his magic lantern fascinates even the wise ones.

This clique will soon be seen to fall, if the French become the conquerors

Of this ancient slavery, and show themselves the proud protectors

Of their musical Carmagnole.

In the name of kings and emperors, how much iniquity and horror

Which are recorded in history, cause the reader to shudder with fright.

The entrance of friends in Belgium, to the eyes of those who know,

Is it not an unique epoch?

And this most flattering tie, sustained by a heroic compact,

Will be the desire of all hearts.”

À BOSTON

under the protection of Congress.

Bound in this volume is a pamphlet entitled “La Fable de Christ devoilée.” Paris: Franklin Press. 75 Rue de Clery. 2nd year of the Republic. Also, “Éloge non-funèbre de Jesus et du Christianisme. Printed on the débris of the Bastille, and the funeral pile of the Inquisition. 2nd year of Liberty, and of Christ 1791.”

Another closes the volume: “Lettres Philosophique sur St. Paul: sur sa doctrine, politique, morale, & réligieuse, & sur plusieurs points de la réligion chrétienne considerées politiquement.” (J. P. Brissot de Warville.) Translated from the English by the philosopher de Ferney and found in the portfolio of M. V. his ancient secretary. Neuchatel en Suisse 1783.

Note translated from the edition “En Suisse, de l’imprimerie philosophique,” 1793.

In a response to M. de la Monnoye, who laboriously endeavored to refute the existence of the treatise entitled “The Three Impostors,” and which reply in addition to M. de la Monnoye’s arguments appear in connection with some of the translations of the treatise, occurs the following introduction to the account of the discovery of the original manuscript: “I have by me a more certain means of overturning this dissertation of M. de la Monnoye, when I inform him that I have read this celebrated little work and that I have it in my library. I will give you and the public an account of the manner in which I discovered it, and as it is in my possession I will subjoin a short but faithful description of it.”

Here follows a summary of the contents and the Dissertation, in substance the same as our manuscript; the response concluding as follows:

“Such is the anatomy of this celebrated work. I might have given it in a manner more extended and more minute; but besides that this letter is already too long, I think that enough has been said to give insight into the nature of its contents. A thousand other reasons which you will well enough understand, have prevented me from entering upon it to so great length as I could have done; “Est modus in rebus.”[11]

“Now although this book were ready to be printed[12] with the preface in which I have given its history, and its discovery, with some conjectures as to its origin, and a few remarks which may be placed at its conclusion, yet I do not believe that it will live to see the day when men will be compelled all at once to quit their opinions and their imaginations, as they have quitted their syllogisms, their canons, and their other antiquated modes. As for me I will not expose myself to the Theological stylus[13]—which I fear as much as Fra-Poula feared the Roman stylus—to afford to a few learned men the pleasure of reading this little treatise; but neither will I be so superstitious, on my death bed, as to cause it to be thrown into the flames, which we are informed was done by Salvius, the Swedish ambassador, at the peace of Munster. Those who come after me may do what seems to them good—they can not disturb me in the tomb. Before I descend to that, I remain with much respect, your most obedient servant,

J. L. R. L.

“Leyden, 1st January, 1716.”

This letter was written by Mr. Pierre Frederick Arpe, of Kiel, in Holstein; the author of an apology for Vanini, printed in octavo at Rotterdam, 1712.

[1] The History of the Three Infamous Impostors of this Age.

1. Padre Ottomano, a pretended son of the Sultan of Turkey who flourished about 1650, and who latterly, under the above title, became a Dominican Friar.

2. Mahomed Bei, alias Joannes Michael Cigala, who masqueraded as a Prince of the Ottoman family, a descendant of the Emperor Solyman the Magnificent, and in other characters about 1660.

3. Sabbatai Sevi, the pretended Messiah of the Jews, “the Only and First-borne Son of God,” who amused the Jews and Turks about 1666. [↑]

[2] La vie et l’esprit de M. Benoit de Spinosa was published without the author’s name, in Amsterdam 1719. In the “Preface du Copiste” it is stated that the author of it is not known, but that if a conjecture might be permitted it might be said, perhaps with certitude, that the book is the work of the late Mr. Lucas, so famous for his Quintessences and for his manners and way of living.

Kuno Fischer, in his Descartes und seine Schule. Zweiter Theil, Heidelberg, 1889, p. 101, says:

“The real author of the work is not known with entire certainty; probably the author was Lucas, a physician at the Hague, notorious in his own day; others name as author a certain Vroese.”

Freudenthal, in his Die Lebensgeschichte Spinoza’s. Leipzig, 1899, writing of the various conjectures as to the authorship of the book, states that W. Meyer has lately sought to prove that Johan Louckers, a Hague attorney, was the author, but that the authorship had not been settled.

Oettinger in his Bibliographie Biographie Universelle, Bruxelles 1854, p. 1707, gives Lucas Vroese as the author.

It has also been suggested that Lucas and Vroese were two men and together wrote the book.

The authority for ascribing the book to Vroese, of whose life no particulars seem to have been recorded, appears to be the following passage in the Dictionnaire Historique, par Prosper Marchand, à la Haye, 1758, v. 1., p. 352:

“A la fin d’une copie manuscrit de ce Traité que j’ai vûe et lûe, on lui donne pour véritable Auteur a Mr. Vroese, conseiller de la cour de Brabant à la Haie, dont Aymon et Rousset retouchèrent le langage; et que ce dernier y ajouta la Dissertation ou Réponse depuis imprimée chez Scheurleer.”

The name “Vroese” appears at the side of the colophon at end of our translation, but probably as a reference only. [↑]

[3] This is probably a Latin edition of the original manuscript from which our translation was made.—Ed. [↑]

[4] See translation Chap. 1 “Of God,” first two lines. [↑]

[5] DISRAELI’S CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE.

Title, “Literary Forgeries.”

“The Duc de la Valliere and the Abbe de St. Leger, once concerted together to supply the eager purchaser of literary rarities with a copy of “De Tribus Impostoribus,” a book, by the date, pretended to have been printed in 1598, though probably a modern forgery of 1698. The title of such a book had long existed by rumor, but never was a copy seen by man. Works printed with this title have all been proved to be modern fabrications—a copy however of the ‘introuvable’ original was sold at the Duc de la Valliere’s sale. The history of this volume is curious. The Duc and the Abbe having manufactured a text had it printed in the old Gothic character, under the title ‘De Tribus Impostoribus.’ They proposed to put the great bibliopobet, De Bure, in good humor, whose agency would sanction the imposition. They were afterwards to dole out copies at 25 louis each, which would have been a reasonable price for a book which no one ever saw! They invited De Bure to dinner, flattered and cajoled him, and, as they imagined at the moment they had wound him up to their pitch, they exhibited their manufacture—the keen-eyed glance of the renowned cataloguer of the ‘Bibliographie Instructive’ instantly shot like lightning over it, and like lightning, destroyed the whole edition. He not only discovered the forgery but reprobated it! He refused his sanction; and the forging Duc and Abbe, in confusion suppressed the ‘livre introuvable’; but they owed a grudge to the honest bibliographer and attempted to write down the work whence the De Bures derive their fame.” [↑]

[6] The names are noted on title page in pencil. [↑]

[7] The French nation recognize the Supreme Being, the Immortality of the Soul, and the Freedom of Worship. [↑]

[8] Treatise of the Dominant Religions. [↑]

[9] In old prints Moses is always depicted with horns on his forehead. [↑]

[10] When they weep at Rome, they do not laugh in Paris. [↑]

[11] There is a measure in everything. [↑]

[12] As to the printing of the book they can bring forward no proof whatever of its having being done prior to this date (1716) and it is impossible to conceive that Frederick, surrounded as he was by enemies, would have circulated a work which gave a fair opportunity of proclaiming his infidelity. It is probable therefore that there were only two copies, the original one and that sent to Otho of Bavaria. J. L. R. L. [↑]

[13] This phrase is frequently employed to express ecclesiastical criticism. Its first application however had a more pungent meaning. The individual here alluded to having boldly assailed the errors of the Church was attacked one evening by an assassin. Fortunately the blow did not prove fatal; but the weapon (a stylus, or dagger, which is also the Latin name for a pen) having been left in the wound, on his recovery he wore it in his girdle labelled, “The Theological Stylus,” or Pen of the Church. The trenchant powers of this instrument have more frequently been employed to repress truth, than to refute argument. [↑]