P. 113, l. 15. two sects. Epicureans and Stoics.
P. 113, l. 17. Des Barreaux. Jacques Desbarreaux was an Epicurean poet born at Paris in 1602, died in 1673, who in his poems paraded his unbelief. Curiously enough, his only extant verses were written when he lay ill, and are addressed to God.
P. 113, l. 28. Epictetus concludes. Encheiridion, iv. 7.
P. 113, l. 30. three sects. Pascal no doubt refers the libido sentiendi to the Epicureans, the libido dominandi to the Stoics, and the libido sciendi to the dogmatic schools of Plato and Aristotle, of which Cicero always speaks as though they taught one and the same philosophy.
P. 114, l. 3. two inches under water, are equally drowned with those who are at the bottom.
P. 115. The fragments collected in this chapter are here placed by Molinier according to the plan which Pascal had traced out for his work, in which after he had laid the various philosophical systems before his supposed unbeliever, he brought forward for examination the other religions.
P. 115, l. 20. forbade men to read it. It is not known whence Pascal obtained this statement, which is a complete mistake.
P. 116, l. 15. Jesus Christ wills that his testimony to himself should be of no avail. John v. 31. "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true."
P. 116, l. 30. The Koran says that Saint Matthew. The Koran does not name Saint Matthew, but says in general terms that Mahomet regarded the apostles of Jesus as holy.
P. 117, l. 27. whose witnesses let themselves be slaughtered. After this Pascal had written, but erased the words "which of the two is most to be blamed, Moses or China?" and these aid us in the explanation of this enigmatic passage. The Jesuits had established themselves in China at the end of the sixteenth century, and when Pascal wrote their missions were in a flourishing state. They had studied the language, history, and literature of China. But the difficulty presented itself of reconciling the cosmogony and chronology of the Bible with those of the Chinese sages. It is probable that this passage was inspired by a private conversation with some one who had read letters from a missionary, for no book on the subject appears to have existed in Pascal's day.