Outlines of a philosophy of the history of man; translated by T. Churchill

Preface

. Every one, who is acquainted with Herder, must be aware of the diffi culty, if not impossibility, of transfusing his spirit, his c words that burn,' into another language. To have undertaken a task so arduous, may be deemed pre sumption in me j and no one can be more sensible than myself, that, in the execution of it, I am far, very far from having done what I wished, and what it would have been the height of my ambition to have .accomplished. Yet I did not engage in it without the encouragement of one, who can ap preciate the merits of Herder j who happily unites a critical knowledge of the english language with that of the german ; and to whose kindness I am indebted for the explanation of many passages, and the improvement of many expressions, as well as some notes distinguished by the signature F. I trust, therefore, I shall have afforded some gratification to the engliso reader, and added to our stock a valuable book : for surely all the merit of Herder, all the beauty and sublimity of his ideas, cannot be obscured by any translation.

For myself, at least, though laborious, it has been a pleasing toil : many moments of bodily pain and mental anxiety has it sweetly beguiled ; and while it has made my breast glow with the fervour of virtuous sentiment, I have al most felt myself the inhabitant of another world. May others feel from the perusal what I have done from the performance; and then no one, I hope, will lay down the book, without being able to say, that he is a happier and a better man. London, Nor. 15, 1799- [ v ]

PREFACE.

. When I publisoed ten years ago the little tract, entitled 'Another Philo sophy of History for the Improvement of Mankind,' this title was by no means intended to proclaim, ' anch' iofonpittore,' * I too am a painter.' It was meant rather as a Supplement to many Supplements of the present Century, and the subjoined motto, as an expression of humility ; implying, that the author far from exhibiting it as a complete philosophy of the history of our species, merely pointed out, amid the numerous beaten roads, that men are perpetually treading, one little foot-path, which had been neglected, and yet was probably worth ex ploring. The works quoted occasionally in the book were sufficient, to show the wellworn paths, from which the author wisoed to turn his steps ; and thus his essay was intended for nothing more than a loose leaf, a supplement to supplements, as it's form likewise evinced.

The whole of the impression was soon fold, and I was encouraged to prepare a new edition ; but it was impossible, that this soould appear before the public in it's former state. I had observed, that some of the ideas contained in my tract had been introduced into other works, and applied in an extent of which I had never thought. It had never entered into my mind, by employing the few figurative expressions,, the childhood, infancy, manhood, and old age of our species, the chain of which was applied, as it was applicable, only to a few nations, to point out a highway,, on which the history of cultivation, to fay nothing of the philosophy of history at large, could be traced with certainty. Is there a people upon earth totally un cultivated ? and how contracted must the scheme of Providence be, if every in dividual of the human species were to be formed to what we call cultivation,. for which refined weakness would often be a more appropriate term ?

Nothing can be more vague, than the term itself; nothing more apt to lead us astray, than the application of it to whole nations and ages. Among a cultivated people, what is the number of those who deserve fhis name ? in what is their preeminence to be placed ? and how far does it contribute to their happiness ? I speak of the happiness of individuals ; for that the abstract being, the state, can be happy, when all the members that compose it suffer, is a contradiction,, or rather a verbal illusion, evident to the slightest view.- Is vi . • p r e i :■ C E. Is the book, therefore, would in any degree answer it's title, it must begin much deeper, and embrace a much wider compass of ideas. What is human happiness ? how far does it exist in this world ' considering the great difference of all the beings upon earth, and especially of man, how far is it to be found in every form of government, in every climate, in every change of circumstances, of age, and of the times ?

Is there any standard of these various states ? .and has Providence reckoned on the well-being of her creatures, in all these situations, as upon her ultimate and grand object; ? All these questions must be investigated, they must be unravelled through the wild whirl of ages and governments, before a general result for mankind at large can be pro duced. Thus we have here a wide field to traverse, and profound depths to explore. I had read almost every thing, that was written upon the subject; and from my youth every new book that appeared, relative to the history of man, and in which I hoped to find materials for my grand work, was to me a treasure discovered. I congratulated myself, that this philosophy became more in vogue of late years, and neglected no collateral assistance, that fgrtune threw into my way.

An author, who produces a book', be it good or bad, in some measure ex hibits his own heart to the world, provided this book contain thoughts, which, if he have not invented, and in our days there is little that is new left for invention, he has at least sound, and made his own, nay which he has enjoyed for years as the property of his own heart and mind. He not only reveals the subjects, that have employed his thoughts ar certain periods, the doubts, that have occurred to perplex him in his journey through life, and the solutions, with which he has removed them; but he reckons upon some minds in unison with his own, be they ever so few, to which these or similar ideas will prove of importance in the labyrinth of life ; for what else could excite him to turn author, and dis close what occurs within his own breast to the eyes of a rude multitude ?

With those he converses ynscen, and to those he imparts his sentiments ; ex pecting from them in return their more valuable thoughts and instructions, when they have advanced beyond him. This invisible commerce ofhearts and minds is the one great benefit of printing, without which it would be of as much in jury as advantage to a literary nation. The author considered himself as in a circle of those, who actually feit themselves interested in the subject on which he wrote, and on which he was desirous of calling forth and participating their better thoughts. This is the most estimable merit of authorsoip ; and a man of a good heart will feel much less pleasure from what he says, than from what he excites. He who reflects, how opportunely this or that book, or 4 merely

PREFACE.

. VII merely this or that hint in a book, has sometimes fallen in his .way ; what plea sure it has afforded him, to perceive a distant mind, yet actively near to him, in his own, or in a better track ; and how such a hint has often occupied him for years, and led him on still farther; will consider an author, who converses with him, and impart-s to him his inmost thoughts, not as one who labours for hire, but as a friend, who confidentially discloses his yet imperfect ideas, that the more experienced reader may think in concert with him, and carry his cru dities nearer to perfection. On a subject like mine, the history of mankind, the philosophy of their history, such a disposition in the reader appears to me a piime and pleasing duty. He, who wrote ir, was a man; and thou, who readest it, art a man also.

He was liable to errour, and has probably erred : thou hast acquired knowledge* which he did not and could not possess ; use, therefore, what thou canst, accept his good will, and throw it not aside with reproach, but improve it, and carry it higher. With feeble hand he has laid a few foundation stones of a building, which will require ages to finiso : happy, if, when these stones may be covered with earth, and he who laid them forgotten, the more beautiful edifice be but erected over them, or on some other spot ! But I have imperceptibly wandered too far from the design, with which I set out, and which was, to give an account of the manner of my falling upon this subject, and returning to it again among other occupations and duties of a very different nature. At an early age, when the dawn of science appeared to my sight in all that beauty, which is greatly diminisoed at the noon of life, the thought frequently occurred to me, whether, as every thing in the world has it's philosophy and science, there must not also be a philosophy and science of what concerns us most nearly, of the history of mankind at large.

Every thing enforced this upon my mind ; metaphysics and morals, physics and natural history, and lastly religion above all the rest. Shall he, who has ordered every thing in nature, said I to myself, by number, weight, and measure ; who has so regulated according to these the essence of things, their forms and relations, their course and sub sistence, that only one wisdom, goodness, and power prevail from the system of the universe to the grain of sand, from the power that supports worlds and funs to the texture of a spider's web ; who has so wonderfully and divinely weighed every thing in our body, and in the faculties of our mind, that, when we attempt to reflect on the only-wife ever so remotely, we lose ourselves in an abyss of his purposes ; soall that God depart from his wisdom and good ness in the general destination and disposition of our species, and act in these without a plan ? Or can he have intended to keep us in ignorance of this, while he

PREFACE.

. VIII he has displayed to us so much of his eternal purposes in the inferiour part of the creation, in which we are much less concerned ? What are the human race upon the whole but a flock without a soepherd ? In the words of the complain ing prophet, are they not left to their own ways, as the fifijes of the sea, as the creeping things that have no ruler over them ? Or is it unnecessary to them, to know this plan ? This I am inclined to believe : for where is the man, who dis cerns only the little purpose of his own life ? though he fees as far as he is to see, and knows sufficiently how to direct his own steps. In the mean time perhaps this very ignorance serves as a pretext for great abuses. How many are there, who, because they perceive no plan, peremp torily deny the existence of one ; or at least think of it with trembling dread, and doubting believe, believing doubt !

They constrain themselves not to con sider the human race as a nest of emmets, where the foot of a stranger, himself but a large emmet, crusoes thousands, annihilates thousands in the midst of their little great undertakings, where lastly the two grand tyrants of the Earth, Time and Chance, sweep away the whole nest, destroying every trace of it's existence, and leaving the empty place for some other industrious community, to be obliterated hereafter in it's turn. Proud man refuses to contemplate his species as such vermin of the Earth, as a prey of all-destroying corruption : yet do not history and experience force this image upon his mind ? What whole upon Earth is completed? What is a whole upon it ? Is not Time ordained as well as Space ? Are they not the twin offspring of one ruling power ?

That is full of wisdom ; this, of apparent disorder : yet man is evidently formed to seek after order, to look beyond a point of time, and to build upon the past ; for to this end is he furnisoed with memory and reflection. And does not this build in» of one age upon another render the whole of our species a deformed gigantic edifice, where one pulls down what another builds up, where what never soould have been erected is left standing, and where in the course of time all becomes one heap of ruins, under which timid mortals dwell with a confidence proportionate to it's fragility ? I will pursue no farther this chain of doubts, and the contradiction of man with himself, with his fellows, and with all the rest of the creation : suffice it, that I have sought for a philosophy of history wherever I could seek it.

Whether I have sound it, let this work, but not its first volume *, decide. This contains only the basis, partly in a general view of the place of our abode, The original is in four volumes 8vo, which in the present translation are included in one ; the volumes, containing five books each, were published separately, and this preface was prefixed to the first. T, partly ■•

PREFACE.

. IX partly in an examination of the different organized beings, that enjoy with us the light of our Sun. No one, I hope, will think this course too long, or beginning at too remote a distance : for, as there can be no other, to read the fate of man in the book of the creation, it cannot be too carefully or too exten sively considered. He, who requires mere metaphysical spec-lations, may have them in a shorter way : but these, unconnected with experience and the analogy of nature, a pear to me aerial flights, that seldom lead to any end. The ways of God in nature, the intentions which the eternal has actually displayed to us in the chain oi his works, form the sacred book, the letters of which I have en deavoured to sp-11, and soall still continue to do so, with skill inferiour to that of a child it is tn:e, but at least with honesty and zeal.

Were I so happy as to impart only to one of my readrrs somewhat of that sweet impression of the eternal wisdom and goodness of the inscrutable creator in his operations, which I have felt with a confidence, for which I know not a name, this feeling of as surance would be a safe clew, with which in the subsequent part of the work we might venture into the labyrinth of human history. Every where the great analogies of nature have led me to religious truths, which, though I find it difficult, I must suppress, since I would not prematurely anticipate, but faithfully follow step by step that light, which every where beams upon me from the hidden presence of the creator in his works. It will be so much the greater satisfaction both to my reader and to myself, if, as we proceed on our way, this obscurely dawning light rise upon us at length with the splendour os an unclouded sun.

Let no one be misled, therefore, by my occasionally employing the term nature, personified. Nature is no real entity ; but God is all in his works : this sa cred name, however, which no creature, that comes under the cognizance of our senses, ought to pronounce without the profoundest reverence, I was de sirous at least not to abuse by employing it too frequently, since I could not in troduce it with sufficient solemnity on all occasions. Let him, to whose mind the term nature has been degraded, and rendered unmeaning, by many writers of the present day, conceive instead of it that almighty power, goodness, and wis dom, and mentally name that invisible being, for whom no language upon Earth can find an expression. It is the fame when I speak of the organic powers of the creation: I do not imao-ine, that they will be considered as occult qualities, since their operations are apparent to us, and I know not how to give them a more precise and deter minate name. At some future period I intend, to enter more fully into b these

PREFACE.

X these and other subjects, at which I must here give no more than a cursory glance. In the mean time I rejoice, that this infantile attempt has been made in an age, when the hands of masters have collected materials, and laboured in so many particular sciences and branches of knowledge, to which it was necessary for me to have recourse. These, I am assured, will not despise the exoteric attempts of one uninitiated in their arts, but improve them; for I have constantly observed, that, the more real and firmly grounded a science is, so much the less empty altercation occurs among them, who are attached to it and cultivate it. Verbal disputes are left to those, who are learned only in words. Most parts of my book soow, that a philosophy of the history of man cannot yet be written, though it will probably before the end of this chiliad, if not in the present century.

Thus, great being, invisible supreme disposer of our race, I lay at thy feet the most imperfect work, that mortal ever wrote, in which he has ventured to trace and follow thy steps. It's leaves may decay, and it's characters vaniso ; forms after forms, too, in which I have discerned traces of thee, and endeavoured to exhi bit them to my brethren, may moulder into dust ; but thy purposes will remain,and thou wilt gradually unfold them to thy creatures, and exhibit them in nobler forms. Happy, if then these leaves soall be swallowed up in the stream of oblivion, and in their stead clearer ideas rise in the mind of man. HERDER. Weimar, April 23, 1784. I a ] CONTENTSbook i. chapter. Page I. Our Earth is a Star among Stars --------- i II. Our Earth is one of the middle Planets - - - . _ - - g III.

Our Earth has undergone many Revolutions ere it became what it now is - 7 IV. Our Earth is an Orb, zvhich revolves round it's own Axis, and in an oblique direction towards the Sun ------__ g V. Our Earth is enveloped with an Atmosphere, and is in conflict with several of the celestial Bodi;s - - -------- i^ VI. The Planet we inhabit is an Earth of Mountains, rising above the Surface of the Waters - - - - - ------- \ ~ VII. The Direction of the Mountains renders our two Hemispheres a Theatre of the most singular Variety and Change ----- 23

Book II

I. Our Earth is a grand Laboratory, for the Organization of very different Beings - - - ------------ 26 II. The Vegetable Kingdom of our Earth considered with respect to the History of Alan - - - - - --------- 29 HI. The Animal Kingdom in relation to the History of Man - - - • 35 IV. Man is a Creature of a middle kind among terrestrial Animals - - 38

Book III

I. The Structure of Plants and Animals compared zvith regard to the Organization of Man - -----. ----- 42 II. A Comparison of the various organic Powers, that operate in Animals 48 III. Examples of the physiological Structure of some Animals - - - 55 IV. Of the Instincts of Animals 59 V. Advancement of the Creature to a combination of several Ideas, and to a particular freer use of the Senses and Limbs - - - - • 63 b 2 VI. Organic CONTENTS. XII chapter. Page VI. Organic Difference between Man and Beasts - - - - --67

Book IV

I. Man is organized lo a Capacity of Reasoning - - - - - - Jl II. Retrospect from the Organization of the human Head to inferiour Creatures, the Heads of which approach it in Form - - - - - 82 III. Man is organized for more perfect Senses, for the exercise of Art, and the use of Language ----------- 85 IV. Man is organized to finer Instincts, and in consequence to Freedom of Action 89 V. Man is organized to the most delicate State of Health, yet at the fame time to the longest Durability, and to spread over the Earth - - 95 VI. Man is formed for Humanity and Religion - - -- ---98 VII. Man is formed for the Hope of Immortality - - - - - - 105

Book V

I. A Series of ascending Forms and Powers prevails in our Earthly Creation - - - ------------ 107 II. No power in Nature is zvithout an Organ ; but the Organ is in no Instance the Power itself that operates by it's Means - - - - no III. The general Composition of Powers and Forms is neither retrograde, nor stationary, but progressive - - - - - ----114 IV. The Sphere of human Organization is a System of spiritual Powers - 117 V. Our Humanity is only Preparation, the Bud of a future Flower - 123 VI. The present State of Man is probably the connecting Link of two Worlds - - - - • ----------- 127

Book VI

I. Organization of the People that dwell near the North Pole - - 132 II. Organization cf the Nations on the asiatic Ridge of the Earth - - 137 III. Organization of the Region of wellformed Nations - - - - - 141 IV. Organization of the People of Africa - - - -_-_. j^S V. Organization of Man in the Istands of the torrid Zone - - - - 152 VI. Organization of the Americans --- - - •..--.__. _>e^, VII. Conclusion - - • - --..-.,-____ I^l BOOK CONTENTS. XIII chapter.

Book VII

- Page. I. Notwithstanding the Varieties of the human Form, there is but one and the fame Species of Man throughout the Whole of our Earth - 163 II. The one Species of Man has naturalized itself in every Climate upon Earth - 167 III. What is Climate P and what Effect has it informing the Body and Mind of Man? - - 172 IV. The genetic Power is the Mother of all the Forms upon Earth, Climate acting merely as an Auxiliary or Antagonist - - ----177 V. Concluding Remarks on the Opposition between Genesis and Climate - 184

Book VIII

I. The Appetites of the human Species vary with their Form and Climate; but a less brutal Use of the Senses universally leads to Humanity - 188 II. The human Fancy is every where organic and climatic, but it is every where led by Tradition - - - - -------194 III. The practical Understanding of the human Species has every where grown up under the Wants of Life ; but every where it is a Blossom of the Genius of the People, a Son of Tradition and Custom - - 202 IV. The Feelings and Inclinations of Men are every where conformable to their Organization, and the Circumstances in which they live ; but they are every where swayed by Custom and Opinion - - - 208 V. The Happiness of Man is in all Places an individual Good; consequently it is every where climatic and organic, the Offspring of Practice, Tradition, and Custom - - -------218 V

Book IX

I. Ready as Man is to imagine he produces every thing from himself, he is nevertheless dependant on others for the Developement of his Faculties - - - ------------ 22^ II. Language is the special Mean of improving Man - - . 232 III. All the Arts and Sciences of Mankind have been invented through Imitation, Reajbn, and Language - --------239 IV. Governments are establisted Regulations among Men, chiefly founded on hereditary Tradition - - - - -------244 V. Religion CONTENTS. chapter. Page V. Religion is the most ancient and sacred Tradition upon the Ear tk • 251

Book X

I. Our Earth is an Earth peculiarly formed for it's animate Creation - 257 II. Where was t/ie Place of the Formation aud most ancient Abode of Man ? 259 III. History, and the Progress of Civilization, afford historical Proofs, that the human Species originated in Asia - - ------ 264 IV. Astatic Traditions on the Creation of the Earth and the Origin of the human Species - ------------- 2^0 V. The most ancient written Tradition concerning the Origin of the History of Man -- 274 VI. Continuation of the most ancient written Tradition concerning the Commencement of the History of Man - - - - ----280 VII. Conclusion of the most ancient written Tradition concerning the Commencement of the History of Man --------- 286

Book XI

I. China 290 II. Cochin-China, Tonquin, Laos, Corea, eastern Tatary, Japan - - 299 III. Tibet - - - - 301 IV. Hindostan ---------------- 305 V. General Reflections on the History of these States - ' - - - - 310

Book XII

I. Babylon, Assyria, Chaldea - - - -------- 3 x 3 II. Medes and Persians - ------------ III. The Hebrews - - - _•-----___ __^ 29 IV. Phenicia and Carthage - - ---------- V. The Egyptians - 342 VI. Farther Hints tozvard a Philosophy of the History of Man - - - 348

Book XIII

I. The Situation and Peopling of Greece 3^4 II. The Language, Mythology, and Poetry of Greece 359 III. The CONTENTS XV chapter. Page. III. The Arts of the Greeks ' 364 IV. The moral and political Wisdom of the Greeks 370 V. Scientific Acquirements of the Greeks - - - -----377 VI. History of the Revolutions of Greece - - - - - - --384 VII. General Reflections on the History of Greece - - - - - - - 391

Book XIV

I. Etruscans and Latins - - - _ 303 II. The Difpofi lions of Rome for a sovereign political and military State - 404 III. Conquests of the Romans ----------- - 410 IV. The Decline of Rome - - - - - 4x6 V. Character, Sciences, and Arts of the Romans - - 423 VI. General Refections on the History and Fate of Rome - - - - 43 r

Book XV

I. Humanity is the End of human Nature ; and, with this End, God has put their own Fate into the Hands of Mankind - - - - - 43 S II. All the destructive Powers in Nature must not only yield in the Course of Time to the maintaining Powers, but must ultimately be subservient to the Consummation of the Whole - ------- 443 III. The human Race is destined to proceed through various Degrees of Civilization, in various Mutations; but the Permanency of if s Welfare is founded solely and essentially on Reason and Justice - - 450 IV. From the Laws of their internal Nature, Reason and Justice must gain more Footing among Men in the Course of Time, and promote a more durable Humanity - ---457 V. A wise Goodness dij'poses the Fate of Mankind ; therefore there is no nobler Merit, no purer and more durable Happinejs, than to cooperate in it's Designs ---------.---462

Book XVI

I. Basques, Gael, & Cimbri --qo------- 46^. a II. Fins, Lettonians, and Prussians - -------- 47^ III. German Nations - ------------- 477 IV. Slavian Nations - ----------- -482 V. Foreign CONTENTS XVI chapter. Page, V. Foreign Nations in Europe - ------- ---48 4 VI. General Reflections and Deductions - --------487

Book XVII

I. Origin of Christianity, zvith the fundamental Principles it included - 492 II. Propagation of Christianity in the East - ------- 500 III. Progress of Christianity in the Grecian Countries ------ 509 IV. Progress of Christianity in the Latin Provinces - - - - - ■■ 517

Book XVIII

I. Kingdoms of the Vis goths, Sueves, Alans, and Vandals - - - - 525 II. Kingdoms of the Ostrogoths aud Lombards - - - - - - - 531 III. Kingdoms of the Allemans, Burgundians, and Franks - - - - 538 IV. Kingdoms of the Saxons, Normans, and Danes - - - - - - 545 V. The Northern Kingdoms, and Germany - - - - - 552 VI. General View of the Institutions of the German Kingdoms in Europe - 557

Book XIX

I. Romi/li Hierarchy -------------- 564 II. Effect of the Hierarchy on Europe - - - ------ 571 III. Temporal Protectors of the Church - - ------- cy6 IV. Kingdoms of the Arabs ------- V. Effects of the Arabian Kingdoms - - - - -----590 VI. General Reflections - - - ---------- 597

Book XX

I. The Spirit of Commerce in Europe - -------- rgo. II. Spirit cf Chivalry in Europe - - - - ------605 III. The Croisades and their Consequences - - - -----612 IV. Cultivation of Reason in Europe - - - - -----620 V. Institutions and Discoveries in Europe - - ------627 VI. Conclusion - --------------- 631 P HI L O- PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY.

Book I. Chapter

I. Our Earth is a Star among Stars. IF our philosophy of the history of man would in any measure deserve that name, it must begin from Heaven. For as our place of abode, the Earth, is of itself nothing, but derives it's figure and constitution, it's faculty of forming organized beings, and preserving them when formed, from those heavenly powers, that pervade the whole universe ; we must first consider it not singly by itself, but as a member of that system of worlds, in which it is placed. It is bound by eternal invisible bonds to it's centre, the Sun ; from which it derives light, heat, life, and vigour. Without this Sun, we can no more conceive our pla netary system, than a circle without a centre. With it, and that beneficial power of attraction, with which the eternal Being has endued it and all matter, we perceive the planets formed in it's domain, according to simple, beautiful, and masterly laws, jocundly and incessantly revolving on their axes, and round one common centre, in spaces proportionate to their magnitudes and densities ; nay, by the fame laws round some of them moons are formed to revolve.