Justin E. H. Smith

From the Correspondence between G. W. Leibniz and J. G. Sparwenfeld, 1698-99

From V. I. Ger'e, Sbornik pisem i memorialov Leïbnitsa otnosyashchikhsya k Rossii i Petru Velikomu, Saint Petersburg, 1873. Nos. 34-39. To read the original French, click 'keep reading' below.

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Leibniz to Sparwenfeld, 13 July, 1698

What do you have to say, Sir, of the voyage of the Tsar of Muscovy, and of the grand plan he has to de-barbarianize his nation? Is this not something quite extraordinary?

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Leibniz to Sparwenfeld, 27 December, 1698

People criticize me when I attempt to take leave of the study of mathematics, and they tell me that I am wrong to abandon solid and eternal truths in order to study the changing and perishable things that are found in history and its laws.

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Leibniz to Sparwenfeld, 14 (24) March, 1699

The Tsar is without a doubt a great prince, and it is a great pity that domestic strife has recently forced him to resort to such terrible executions. It is reported that his principal aides, both ecclesiastical as well as secular, were obligated to take a direct part in the execution of some criminals. This is a custom that still retains a bit of the Scythian, and I am surprised that this does not put the churchmen in that country out of sorts. But this hardly matters; what I am afraid of is that such tortures, far from squelching the animosity, will in fact only sharpen them by a sort of contagion. The children, parents, and friends of those executed are left with a wounded spirit, and it is a dangerous maxim that says: oderint, dum metuant. I greatly hope that God will protect this prince and that his heir will achieve what he has begun, namely, to civilize the nation.

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Sparwenfeld to Leibniz, Amsterdam, 9 April, 1699

It is true, Sir, that the Tsar is a great warrior, and that he prefers to continue to make war rather than to make peace with the infidels. He was even not very happy with me, because I encouraged making peace with the Turks. It is certain that the domestic strife was very great during his absence, and that he was obligated to take a direct part in the execution of criminals. But there is nothing to fear from the friends of those executed, for the custom is to send the wives, children, and even all of the relatives of those who have been tortured to death to Siberia, or to some other far-away country. I learned many things about what happened in Moscow recently, and I believe, Sir, that you are also well informed. 

I believe that it is true that His Majesty the Tsar, when in Vienna, agreed to give the German Jesuits open passage to China across his territory; but I doubt, as you do, as to the outcome of this. 

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Sparwenfeld to Leibniz, Amsterdam, 5 July, 1699

 

Regarding what you said, Sir, about a certain Muscovite custom that reeks a bit of the Scythian, I cannot refrain from telling you that I recall being in a certain place, not far from the city of Novgorod in Muscovy, where I came across a mountain called Cholobgora, which is to say Slave Mountain, and at the foot of this mountain a small river called Cholobreca, or Slave River. And when I inquired as to the origin of this name, the inhabitants related that, a long time ago, the men of this place had left in order to make war in distant lands, and that after a long absence the women, having befriended the slaves and servants of their husbands, attempted to prevent the return of these latter into their own country. But the husbands beat and chased away these sevants using no other weapons than their whips. In a word, they related to me the whole story that we find in Justin about the Scythian slaves who fought against the return of their masters into their country. However, it must be noted, Sir, that these people understand neither Greek nor Latin, having no knowledge of antiquity. From which I conclude that this region around Novgorod was part of ancient Scythia, as you have remarked. 

G. W. Leibniz, "A Note on the Origins of the Slavic Tribes"

[from V. I. Ger'e, Sbornik pisem i memorialov Leibnitsa otnosyashchikhsya k Rossii i Petru Velikomu, Saint Petersburg, 1873. No. 144, pp. 210-213. To read the original German, please click 'keep reading' below.]

1712

I have recently investigated in depth the origin and the antiquity of the Slavonic peoples, and I find that in this task one has two means available: the languages that the people speak, and the old histories that are available about them. From the languages, one sees that the entire North, to the extent that it is known to us, can be divided into four principle groups, namely, the Tartars, the Sarmatians, the Finns, and the Germans.

Among the Tartars I include the Mughals, the Kalmucks, the inhabitants of ancient Turkey, Turkestan or Bukhara, the ancient Cumanians, and similar groups.

Among the Sarmatians I include all Slavonic peoples, who were called Sarmatas by the ancients, before anything was know of the Slavinis or Slavis. And ages ago they spread from the Volga and the Ob' almost all the way to the Vistula.

Among the Finns I include the Lapps, who were called Scritofinnos by the ancients, and other peoples of the same origins who extend to the North. 

Finally, the Germans have filled Sweden, Norway, and Denmark with their colonies, for the languages of such peoples are in fact certain dialects of the German language.  

Where these peoples, and particularly the Sarmatian peoples, come from goes beyond all [written] histories and it is difficult to say how they can be derived from the descendants of Noah. Learned people have indeed let their thoughts run freely on this subject, but it is no use dweling on all-too uncertain conjectures.

Homer, who is the most ancient pagan author we have, mentions the Cimmerians who live on the Black Sea. Herodotus mentions the Cimmerians, the Scythians, the Sarmatians (or Sauromats) Issedonus and Arimasporus, and other peoples from whose location and circumstances one could make all sorts of observations that might serve to clarify the origins of the Slavonic peoples. This will be handled more extensively elsewhere.

In the Roman period we gain more light [on the subject], and see that the Sarmatians were already at that time neighbors of the Germans, and that they extended far into Asia, as we gather from Tacitus, Ptolemy, and others.

It was indeed a group of Germans from the Baltic Sea or Prussia (which in Tacitus's time was the home of the Goths) that went throughout the land of the West Slavs (or the Antes) and Poland all the way to the Black Sea, and settled between the Don, the Dniepr, the Dniestr, and the Danube. They were however soon driven out by the Huns, in the time of Constantine the Great, compelled to cross over the Danube and to go over to the Roman Empire, as the Visigoths were invading France and Spain, and the Ostrogoths Italy. The power of the Huns reached its peak under Attila, who brought almost everything between the Caspian Sea and the Rhine under his authority. And one sees from the account given by Priscus, who lived at his court along with the embassy from Constantinople, that this was no brute, but a very reasonable ruler.

There are many arguments to show that the Huns are a Sarmatian, or, as is said today, a Slavonic people.

1) They moved over the Don towards the Dniepr, and so in fact inhabited [what is today] greater Russia.

2) There is today in Slavonic the word Huni, or Chuni in some old texts, which means 'rider', and it is known that the Sarmatians and the Huns were always on horseback.

3) There were only two languages at Attila's court, as Priscus relates: Gothic (that is, German) and Hunnic. If Hunnic had been something different from Slavonic, surely Slavonic would also have been noted, for at the time Attila was surrounded by Slavonic peoples. 

4) There are many words known to the ancients that were attributed to the Huns, and that are easy to understand in Slavonic.

5) The Huns who remained in Pannonia after Attila's time and who were first tempered by Charles the Great were a Slavonic nation, according to [?] Methodius, a Pannonian bishop who without doubt spoke Slavonic. Thus almost all of Upper Hungary and a great part of Lower Hungary spoke Slavonic, since after the invasion of the Hungarians (an entirely different nation that comes from deep within Tartary) under Emperor Arnulphus and his son, a great part of the remaining inhabitants preserved the Slavonic language.

After the Goths and the Huns, the so-called Slabini or Slavonians began to spread out in Europe during the time of Emperor Justinian I and later. They came from Poland and Russia, adopting mostly the lands that had been left by the Germans between the Elbe and the Eastern Sea, as well as Moravia and Bohemia, and extending into Croatia, Dalmatia, Slovenia, the Windic March, and all the way to the Adriatic Sea, and the Khazars are also to be included among the Slavonic peoples.

Finally, the Bulgarians (who come from the Volga region) [also] belong among the Slavonic peoples, as their language is spoken not only in Bulgaria, between Serbia and Thrace, but also a number of words from the ancient Bulgarians remain [in the Volga region [?]], such as Bogomili, who were a certain group of heretics, so called by the Bulgarians because they were always saying "God help us."

Last of all, in the ninth century of our era the Russians, who are presumably the ancient Roxolani (so powerful that they too besieged Constantinople), make their appearance. In order to be able to better judge from the ancient histories, one would have to have the ancient book that they possess called paterikon, as well as other monuments.

Various Remarks by Leibniz concerning Russia

From V. I. Ger'e (Guerrier), Sbornik pisem i memorialov Leibnitsa otnosyashchikhsya k Rossii i Petru Velikomu. Saint Petersburg, 1873. (Ger'e does not give a date of composition, but from the content this piece can be placed roughly between 1705 and 1712. Explanatory notes to follow soon.)

No. 42.

A thing of great curiosity is the Mammatovoi Kost [mammoth bone], which was dug out of the earth in Siberia. The inhabitants tell remarkable tales about it; in fact they say that they are the bones of an animal that dwells beneath the earth, and that surpasses in size all the animals that live above the earth.  In medicine they use it for the same purposes as that which is called the horn of the unicorn. A morsel was given to me which seemed to be genuine ivory, and those who are more experienced believe it to be elephant tooth, so that in the universal deluge, the teeth were carried there, and it is necessary that for a great period of time they become more and more woven into the earth.

Likewise the Adamovoi Kost or Adam's wood is obtained from the bowels of the earth on the way towards Arkhangelsk. It is blackish in color, like a stone in hardness, and with respect to its shape and its veins it recalls the branches of a tree. And the common opinion is that it is a petrified stone.

There is in Russia a fruit called a Naliva, which does not delight the appetite so much by the sweetness of its taste, but is greatly alluring to the sight, for it is translucent like woadstone. 

The root of the famous kidney vetch has been observed in Russia, growing in Siberia, as well as the Voltschnoi Koren, which is called [in Latin] the lupina radix [or wolf root], which is said to have the greatest [medicinal] virtue in healing wounds, and some claim that it is beneficial to chew it for the healing of wounds.

Among fish the sturgeon stands out, [as it is] considered among the Russian delicacies.  The head and the tail are so long that the body itself makes up barely half of the fish. It lacks scales, but is provided with a skin akin to that of an eel. Those sturgeons are most prized the interior of whose skin is golden.

The vichochol is a large aquatic mouse that gives off a pleasant odor. Its furs are placed in the case in which linen garments are kept, thanks to which they acquire their odor.

In Slavonic the word Scorbuti is a sort of illness kat' exochen, for in the Slavonic tongue Scorb means 'illness'. The Russians have a truly peculiar term for designating scurvy, which they call tsinga.

The city of Yaroslavl' is celebrated above all for its manufacture of marroquin rouge.

Because the Armenians are able to easily transfer goods obtained in Holland from the Baltic Sea, along the Volga, and into Persia, henceforth the Russians allow this route to no one, unless they are travelling from Persia through Russia to the Baltic Sea.

Previously bananas from India came as far as Moscow; now it is not permitted to transport them beyond Astrakhan.

From China they bring an artificial product, which is golden in color, aromatic, and similar to chalk in texture, [and] which is called Temzui, and reputed to be an excellent medicine for many illnesses.  The Bukharan Muslims, whose capital city is Samarkand, frequently go to Tobolsk, the capital of Siberia.  The Kalmuk Tatars lead horses to Moscow to be sold around the beginning of autumn. A herd of horses, called a tabun, can consist in 6, 8, or 12 thousand. They also sell their children to the Russians. Their religion is the same as that of the Mughal Tatars.

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"Request of the Dogs" (A I 3, N. 67)

[This is a satirical request written by G. W. Leibniz in early 1680 to his employer, the Duke of Hannover, ostensibly on behalf of the dogs residing at the royal court. Leibniz is responding to news of the invention, by Denis Papin, of the pressure cooker, which has been described as being capable of reducing even bones to a soft state in which they can be consumed by humans. For Papin's description of the machine, in the form of a report to the Royal Society of London, see A new digester or engine for softning bones containing the description of its make and use in these particulars: viz. cookery, voyages at sea, confectionary, making of drinks, chymistry, and dying: with an account of the price a good big engine will cost, and of the profit it will afford, by Denys Papin, London: Printed by J.M. for Henry Bonwicke, 1681. For the original version, please click "continue reading" below.]

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Request of the Dogs, presented to Mr. ..., French Agent General of Cuisine, and Secretary of State of this body for foreign affairs, currently located in his professional capacity at the court of Hannover.

We, the undersigned Dogs, the bloodhounds, greyhounds, the sleuth-hounds, the lapdogs, and other dogs, large and small, humbly beg your highness to hear, and to make to hear, our reasons for this important grievance.

Your Highness will no doubt recall, having read so widely and gained such fine knowledge, that the great Diogenes, called the Cynic or the 'canine' in view of the affection that he gave us, had the custom of declaring loudly that there was sometimes a greater difference from one dog to another, than there is between certain men and certain beasts.  Nevertheless, notwithstanding this great diversity among dogs, which makes them seem almost of different species, the entire body [of dogs] is now united in order to defend one of the most glorious rights our nation has ever had, and which they now wish to steal from us in an undertaking that will have very dangerous consequences. For we have learned from our correspondents, that a certain quidam [i.e., Papin] claims to be able to make bones soft and suitable for being eaten by men, without thereby spoling the flesh at all, and that said quidam wishes to send his cooking pots and his entire apparatus to the Court of Hannover so that they may be tried out there.  To which we have deemed it necessary to voice our opposition in a timely fashion. For although we can hardly believe it, and we should take it all for so much fanciful dreaming, nevertheless some malign demon of the canine race or of the human race, wishing to distrub the good understanding that has existed for all time between dogs and men, might have given the idea of this secret to this man, just as another demon no doubt gave the idea of gunpowder to a monk.  There is no room for wondering whether one might be able to call into question the right that we have to the bones that have been stripped of flesh, which have belonged to us since time immemorial without any man or beast undertaking to disturb us in our possession [of them]. Homer and the most ancient authors spoke in explicit terms; and the Scripture, when it says that one must not take bread away from children to give it to the dogs, did not however say such a thing about the bones, which they well knew to belong to us since the flood, that is to say since men began to eat the flesh of animals. And although we have relinquished the marrow to men for love of peace, this was only in order to better preserve for ourselves our right to the bones themselves, which was moreover only strengthened by this arrangement. Good God, how far does the covetousness of men reach, who sometimes do not content themselves with eating all that they have, but also have no shame in devouring our portion. But this gluttony might be punished severely by the guardian gods of our species, and by the great Sirius, or the celestial dog, who merited a place among the stars, [and who] will no doubt plead our cause before Jupiter, if men refuse to do us right. But Sirius himself could avenge the injustice of men for us by intensifying the heat of the dog days, of which he is the master, as you know in view of the great knowledge you have of astronomy. What's more, this new dish could have ill effects among men, and could turn them all into cynics, seeing that they are already today inclined towards impudence. 

After much reflection, we leave it to your prudence to consider whether it should be safe and advantageous to forever cut off ties in such a way with the dogs. You know (you who have read so much history) that a certain king, chased from his land, was brought back in the escort of two hundred dogs, who laid waste to the rebels. [You know too] that dogs have saved the lives of their masters, and that other dogs have avenged their masters' deaths. Finally, there are today cities that are guarded by dogs that would in the future be abandoned along with many others, if we are deprived of the better part of our salary. Hunting dogs will no longer attack, and will not pursue any beast; the other dogs will abandon their homes to the thieves, and the sheep to the wolves. And we little dogs of Boulogne, we will abandon our mistresses to the lovers who pursue them, and we will no longer bark at whatsoever they might undertake. And finally, there will be much disorder in the kitchens, and all you messieurs les chefs, you will often be left wanting for so much as a morsel of lamb: in denying us the bones, you will lose them along with the meat. This is why it is up to you others above all, as much as it is up to the meat carvers, whose art would be useless, if one were able to cut through the meat without concern for the bone, as one cuts through butter. For these reasons, we beseech Your Highness, upon much reflection, to deliberate in the General Assembly upon a matter of such importnce, and to despatch far away this innovator with his whole apparatus, and to forbid him from entering into all kitchens. And as for you, Monsieur, in particular, you will be so kind as to prevent him from meddling in the kitchen at Hannover. We, with all the respect of which dogs are capable,

the most humble sleeping dogs
of Your Highness:

for the hunting dogs, Lelaps

for the guard dogs, Mopse

for the lapdogs, Amarille