Opening the text

Essays, or discourses, vol. 1 (of 4) : $b Selected from the works of Feyjoo, and translated from the SpanishFeijoo, Benito Jerónimo

Philosophy

Essays, or discourses, vol. 1 (of 4) : $b Selected from the works of Feyjoo, and translated from the Spanish

Name: Essays, or discourses, vol. 1 (of 4) : $b Selected from the works of Feyjoo, and translated from the Spanish
Author: Feijoo, Benito Jerónimo

Feijoo, Benito Jerónimo

Spanish essays -- Translations into English

XVII. This prince, in that last stage of life, in which a man finding
himself on the verge of eternity, begins to see things in their true
light; and at the period of time, when the eyes of the soul open,
with the same pace with which those of the body proceed to shut;
and when the thoughts of his past victories gnawed his conscience,
without feeding his ambition. At this crisis, either from motives of
repentance, despair, or from a desire to unburthen himself, after
reflecting with horror on the sum of his past actions, in the presence
of many nobles who surrounded his bed--He made this confession: _I have
hated the English, I have dishonoured their Nobility, I have mortified
and oppressed the people, and have been the cause of the death of
infinite numbers, by famine and the sword; and to sum up the whole, I
have desolated this fine and illustrious kingdom, by the murder and
destruction of thousands and tens of thousands of its inhabitants._ In
these few lines, are painted, in their true colours, the exploits of
that conqueror; and the same tints, would serve to delineate those of
most others who have been dignified with that epithet.

XVIII. I had almost said all; for as I observed before, the dropsical
thirst of rule and dominion, which is a disease common to all
conquerors, inclines them to aggrandise and extend their empire with
respect to foreigners; and also, to enlarge and increase their power
among their own subjects. The ambition that agitates them, not only
makes them pant to beat down the boundaries of the crown, but those of
justice also. Not content to govern by law, they aspire at despotism.
They look upon equity as an impediment to, and a restriction of their
grandeur, and can only find enlargements proportioned to the views of
their souls, in tyranny. That kingdom is in an unhappy state, where he
who rules and presides over it, has his head filled with this caprice.
The misfortune is, that many are poisoned with these notions and
dispositions, who are no conquerors, nor entertain the least thoughts
of being such, unless it is in the subjugation of their own subjects.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Essays, or discourses, vol. 1 (of 4) : $b Selected from the works of Feyjoo, and translated from the SpanishFeijoo, Benito Jerónimo

Philosophy

Essays, or discourses, vol. 1 (of 4) : $b Selected from the works of Feyjoo, and translated from the Spanish

Feijoo, Benito Jerónimo

Spanish essays -- Translations into English

XVII. This prince, in that last stage of life, in which a man finding
himself on the verge of eternity, begins to see things in their true
light; and at the period of time, when the eyes of the soul open,
with the same pace with which those of the body proceed to shut;
and when the thoughts of his past victories gnawed his conscience,
without feeding his ambition. At this crisis, either from motives of
repentance, despair, or from a desire to unburthen himself, after
reflecting with horror on the sum of his past actions, in the presence
of many nobles who surrounded his bed--He made this confession: _I have
hated the English, I have dishonoured their Nobility, I have mortified
and oppressed the people, and have been the cause of the death of
infinite numbers, by famine and the sword; and to sum up the whole, I
have desolated this fine and illustrious kingdom, by the murder and
destruction of thousands and tens of thousands of its inhabitants._ In
these few lines, are painted, in their true colours, the exploits of
that conqueror; and the same tints, would serve to delineate those of
most others who have been dignified with that epithet.

XVIII. I had almost said all; for as I observed before, the dropsical
thirst of rule and dominion, which is a disease common to all
conquerors, inclines them to aggrandise and extend their empire with
respect to foreigners; and also, to enlarge and increase their power
among their own subjects. The ambition that agitates them, not only
makes them pant to beat down the boundaries of the crown, but those of
justice also. Not content to govern by law, they aspire at despotism.
They look upon equity as an impediment to, and a restriction of their
grandeur, and can only find enlargements proportioned to the views of
their souls, in tyranny. That kingdom is in an unhappy state, where he
who rules and presides over it, has his head filled with this caprice.
The misfortune is, that many are poisoned with these notions and
dispositions, who are no conquerors, nor entertain the least thoughts
of being such, unless it is in the subjugation of their own subjects.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Essays, or discourses, vol. 1 (of 4) : $b Selected from the works of Feyjoo, and translated from the Spanish

Essays, or discourses, vol. 1 (of 4) : $b Selected from the works of Feyjoo, and translated from the Spanish

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