SPINOZA.*

IT seems a mistake on the part of the translator of Auerbach's work to change his title of Spinoza, Life of a Thinker ("Ein Den- kerlebon "), in to Spinoza, a Novel, than which latter title nothing could be really more misleading. It is a misnomer, and would, on the one hand, probably cause the book to be thrown down with disappointment by those readers who expected to find here entertainment and interest of the kind generally provided by a novel, and on the other hand perhaps repel those more serious readers who would find pleasure in it. This life of Spinoza was Auerbach's first work, it has been lately most care- fully revised by him, and has been a work of love with him from beginning to end. He had felt as it were impelled to write it, his education, as well as his natural temperament, having led him early to a very exhaustive study of Spinoza's life and writings. He had been thoroughly penetrated with the spirit of Spinoza's wisdom and philosophy, and his endeavour has been to follow his master in his life's course, to set before us the rise of doubts and difficulties in his mind, as well as the circumstances and surroundings in which he found himself; and then to trace the development of that spirit of wisdom and true freedom which enabled Spinoza to order his life through reflection and self- knowledge, to maintain his mental independence by the force of self-control, and to feel that he forbore from evil because it was in direct opposition to his special nature, "for wisdom is recognised harmony with nature's laws ; the fulfilment of duty, which is recognition of and obedience to these, becomes inclination."

This life is not, properly speaking, a biography. Mr. Nichol- son has probably termed it a novel because imagination enters into its composition. It might better be called a romance, in the sense in which Mr. Kinglake's History of the Crimean War, may be called a romance, though we feel in both cases that the people portrayed have acted and spoken in the manner in which they are presented to us, and in no other.

The book begins with the impression produced on young Spinoza, then a boy of fifteen, by the funeral of one Acosta, an apostate, a Jew of high birth who had left the land of Spain, where Jews were not allowed to perform their rites, but wore forced to kneel at Christian shrines, and had come to Amster- dam, in order that he might practise freely the religion of his fathers. In course of time, however, doubts entered his mind and he denied the foundation of his faith ; he was excommuni- cated, but continued to speak openly as an apostate, and refused to undergo the penance laid upon him. He was per- suaded by a friend into recantation, and to submit to the sen- tence passed upon him by the Rabbis. His end was tragic ; he repented of his recantation, his mind became disordered, he shunned his friend as the first cause of his sorrows and disgrace, and after attempting his friend's life, blew his own brains out. For this action ho was branded as infamous and accursed. This judgment raised the first expression of doubt in Spinoza's mind. He was troubled and perplexed, and asked where suicide was forbidden in Holy Scripture. His mind was ex- ceedingly subtle and keen, and the Rabbis to whom his edu- cation was entrusted early discovered his great value, He was made a Rabbi at fifteen, and diligently pursued the study of the Holy Scriptures, and perplexed his teachers

• Spinoza. A Novel, by Berthold Auerbach. Prom the German by E. Nicholson. Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz. London : Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and ltivington. 1882.

more and more by his searching and penetrating questions, caused by doubts which arose within him as to the eternal validity and immutability of the law. The account of the boy's home, of the father's pride in his son attaining so young to such distinction, and of the boy's love for his father, is charmingly told. The father, in the joy he felt at Baruch's elevation so young to the rank of Rabbi, granted him his one great wish, viz., to learn Latin. This•wish to learn the wisdom of the Gentiles filled the minds of the Rabbis with distrust and suspicion, and they set on two young spies to try and entrap Baruch into heretical speech. One of the most curious and interesting parts of the book is the description of the family life, with the endless, teasing ceremonial observances ordained by the Law :-

"' What is the matter with you to-day, Baruch ?' asked his father, when the meal was over, you used always to recollect the saying of the fathers,—" When throe sit together at table and speak no holy word, it is as though they partook of a funeral feast." Mast I remind you to read a passage from the Mishna [the written text of the Talmud] before grace ?' Baruch rose, fetched the handsome quarto, and repeated the paragraphs before him. To-day, for the first time, he found it tiresome that he could not put a morsel between his teeth

without some consideration of the old laws. I have already thought about your wishes to-day,' said his father, but go on reading, I will tell you afterwards.' Baruch read the appointed number of verses more quickly than usual ; but not to betray to his father by ending too soon how much interested lie was in the deferred informa- tion, ho read two more paragraphs ; his thoughts, however, did not follow the lines his eyes and mouth read. Ho ascribed this fault to his father's words, for he would not confess to himself, or was not fully conscious, what an immeasurable change had come over him. He closed the book, and looked expectantly at his father, who com- manded him to repeat the long, Hebrew ' grace.' Lucky force of habit ! If Baruch had not repeated this prayer several times daily since his earliest childhood, he would now have made many stumbles therein, for while thanking God for bodily nourishment, and praying for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, his mind passed to the Gods of Rome and Athens, and rejoiced in the intellectual nourishment which Aristotle and the Roman historians would offer him."

Spinoza continued to search for truth, which he hoped to find. in the study of the Cabbala, or secret, magical books. He went through the book of the Secrets of God, whose supposed author was Adam, and the book of the Creation, whose author is said to be the Patriarch Abraham ; but his searching intellect was not satisfied, the incomprehensible was only replaced by more incom- prehensibility. He strove to separate the inner kernel from the out- ward shell of grotesque and extraordinary observances ; but he found with pain that these especially were represented as essen- tials. The Rabbi had once taught Baruch that Jesus of Nazareth had learnt the doctrines of the Cabbala, little thinking what this would lead to in his pupil's mind. Baruch had often before been fascinated by a black-bound book in the library of his Latin master, Nigritius, but had been kept from opening it by an inward fear ; then, again, he said to himself, no one has a right to forbid the tree of knowledge, if it be not deadly poison ; and then, unseen by any one, he opened and read the New Testament; trembling all over, for he felt from force of habit as if such an act were apostacy. " But yet he did not give it up. A quiet power possessed him. He found no new explana- tion of the Cabbala, but other things most unanticipated. He now read a new Bible, and not like a child following the finger of its teacher; but for the first time, with free eyes, and unfettered, independent judgment. It reacted on his conception of what had hitherto been to him the only sacred writings. Must not these, also, be viewed from the stand-point of independent criti- cism P" The next step in Spinoza's development began with lessons from Van den Ende, a celebrated physician, who had taken a great interest in the lad, whose restlessness and active mind had not escaped his notice while he attended his father during a serious illness. Spinoza's teacher in Latin was Olympia, the only daughter of Van den Ende. She was quite at home in the world of Classics, but more inclined to scientific investigation, so that the minds of teacher and pupil penetrated together to the remotest regions and periods, for bath felt the same impulse to discover the origin of the world and its design. Baruch was excommunicated by the Rabbis because he neglected the ordin- ances of the Sabbath, and because he would accept nothing from the ordinary or traditional point of view, but applied his individual reason to solve alike the things of the material and ideal world. He was forbidden to see his own family, and was in consequence thrown more and more into the society of the-Van den Endes and the friends he made at their house ; the bright family circle, and Olympia's joyous jests, and pleasant voice, influenced him more than he liked to acknowledge, even to himself. It was by her that the name "Benedictus" was given to him :— " Yon must have a Hebrew name ; what are you called P'- ' Baruch.'—' Bahruch !' exclaimed Olympia, shaking with laughter, Bahruch I ugh! it makes me quite ill and frightened, it is so like a conjuration. The name would sound lugubrious in music; I should accompany it with F minor; listen.' She went to the organ, and sang Bahruhch ' over and over again, accompanying it with the dreary note. Give up the name, or something bad will happen to you,' she continued; 'I had a dear friend whose beloved was named Balthasar Promponius ; she was very unhappy. " Dear Balthasar." No, that will not do, that cannot be said expressively, it will not come out of your mouth, and it cracks your ear ; my friend was very un- happy, for she was always obliged to say "dear" alone, and at last meant some one else by it. The bad taste of the name had a great deal to do with her misfortunes, it is my firm belief.'—' You are not

such an infidel as you represent yourself,' said Baruch. Bahruch,' chanted Olympia again, and put forth the full power of her deepest notes to lay the most melancholy stress on the name. Baruch ! no that will not do, for your future wife's sake; take care that she does not meet the fate of my poor Matilda; follow my advice, and take another name. Has this cry of woe a meaning P'—' 0 yes, it means

" blessed," Bravo, glorious!' cried Olympia, and clapped her hands. " Benedictus," that is a glorious name. If you were a Pope, you would he the W., seventy.five years after death you would be canonised, and people would make pilgrimages to the wonder-working tomb of St. Benedict, " Dear Benedict," listen how soft and tender that sounds ; but "Bahruoh," brr I Give me your hand, and promise me henceforth to be called " Benedictua." You are a learned man, and you must have a Latin name. You will be very celebrated some day, and then I shall have handed down a name to posterity.' "

Olympia offered to associate him with herself as teacher of classics and philosophy, but Spinoza would not sell his knowledge for money, since he preferred learning the humble but independent trade of lens-grinding, in which his mathematical knowledge was of great use to him, and in which he attained to a remark- able accuracy. Olympia gained a strong hold on Spinoza's affections, but her father persuaded her to accept instead a rich, young Hamburg merchant, Thus it was Spinoza's fate to seek happiness in himself alone. It was a hard conflict, but he conquered at last, with victorious self-control, and now, in quiet peace of mind, he could, first call life really his own. Auerbach gives us no detailed account of Spinoza's life after he left Amsterdam, only stating that he spent it in calm, specu- lative seclusion. His work was fashioning lenses ; his so-called

leisure he spent in philosophical speculation. Auerbach's object has been to portray his master's struggles, doubts, difficulties, and self-development, both as a man and a thinker, and he leaves him when the name of the obscure Jew had become famous all over Europe.

We must say a word on the translation, which is not wholly satisfactory. It lacks the strength of the original, and is often ungrammatical and provokingly inexact. In some places, it is absolutely obscure, sometimes from mere carelessness, some- times from being too literal. We have gone through it, very carefully comparing it with the original, and have come to the conclusion that on the whole it is best in the more diffi-

cult parts where most pains have been taken. The first volume is much more faulty than the second. Many inaccuracies are of small importance, as,—" Antonio slid noiselessly," for " with difficulty," —" miihsam ;" " He closed the window- shutters," for " curtains,"—" Gardinen ;" " Astonished at," for " admire,"—" bewundere •" " Whiskers," for " moustachios,"— " Stutzbart ;" "Whatever he is," for " certainly,"—" allerdings ;" " Laugh," for " smile,"—" lficheln ;" " Freely," for "confiden- tially,"—" vertraulich ;" "Bedaubed fingers," for " spread out," —" aus einander gespreizten." But, on the other hand, the whole

sense is altered by little changes like the following ;—" The most worthy of these martyrs were enumerated and read out at the conclusion of the death-roll of the preceding year," for, "and in conclusion, the death-roll of the preceding year was read out,"—" zum Schluss, das Todtenregister des letzten Jahres verlesen." It is quite wrong to give us " whether she were

right or not in saying any hair wa's like this or that friend's," instead of "if I did not resemble this or that friend to a hair or a tittle,"—" dass ich diesem oder jenein auf's Haar iihnlich

ache," " Oh, it would be well ono' for you, if only I need not suffer for it," is a very bad equivalent for "it serves you quite right,"—" es geschieht ouch ganz milt." "A new reflection that now occurred to Baruch did not, however, alter his ordinary way of life," is quite misleading for "Baruch now found from experience that a new speculation does not alter at once one's ordinary life,"—" ein neues Denizen, dos erfuhr Baruch jetst an sich salbst, vertinclert nicht alsbald das gewohnte Leben."

" What other will be benefited by thy word who has trans- gressed by deed ?" is very bad English for " wilt thou make good by thy word what others have transgressed by deed?" "was ander() durch die That verbrocheu, willst du Burch dein

Wort gut machen ?" " That Olympia felt absolved from the sin of unconscientiousness in neglecting instruction so little needed," is not equivalent to " That Olympia was guilty of forgetfulness of duty in neglecting the instruction more than was right,"—" dass Olympia skit die Pffichtvergessenheit zu schulden kommen Bess, den Unterricht mehr als billig hintan- zusetzen." "Larger growth does not increase the number" is not the same as " numbers do not suffice for the larger growth," —" dem welter schreitenden Aufbau nicht die Zahl nicht mehr." "You have learnt the weapons of both sides in the enemy's camp" is a blunder for " you have both learnt,"—"Ihr habt beide die scharfe Waffenfiihrung in Feincleslager gelernt." Are the deceptions of our senses more numerous than the illusions of our hearts," is careless• translation for " are not,"- " Sind denn die Sinnentauschungen nicht "—. " Yes, you have spoken well," should not be translated " it is easy for you to speak,"—" Ihr habt gut reden." "A tearful thrill was in every voice" is not identical with "a noisy confusion of voices," —" Ein larmendes Stimmengewirre." " A fortnight ago " is not " a few weeks ago,"—" Vor ein paar Woollen." " Laying your books in sight" is not the same as laying them " on their faces,"—" Auf's Gesicht legen." "Felt more and more at ease " is odd translation for " content,"—" Sich befriedigt fiihlte." " I thought I should meet thee here" is slovenly for " I might. have thought I should meet thee here,"—"Ich hiitte mir'a denken sollen doss ich dich hier treffe."