Justin E. H. Smith

The Theory of Monads as Utopian Fiction

Abstract of a paper to be presented at Bifröst University, Iceland, May 4, 2013.

In an important recent article, Antonio Nunziante has shown the importance of Cyrano de Bergerac's 1655 satirical work, Les états et empires du soleil, for some of G. W. Leibniz's philosophical reflections, in particular for his mature conceptions of corporeal substance and of nested individuality. In the Nouveaux essais sur l'entendement humain of 1704, Leibniz explicitly invokes Cyrano's story of the composite man who inhabits the surface of the sun as a model and inspiration for his own idea of the relations of domination and subordination in nested corporeal substances. What has not been emphasized as much, however, is that proto-science-fiction rêveries such as Cyrano's --alongside which we may also include Johannes Kepler's Somnium, Margaret Cavendish's Blazing World, and Gabriel Daniel's Voyage du Monde de Descartes-- themselves are rooted in a much older tradition of utopian writing, which reaches back to Thomas More's genre-defining work at the beginning of the 16th century and includes, e.g., Bacon's New Atlantis, and Campanella's City of the Sun. Cyrano, Kepler, and the others use science fiction in order to work through thought experiments about humanity's place in nature and the cosmos. These experiments could very well be seen as radical or heretical if they were not safely projected beyond the sphere of ordinary human reality and into outer space, and in this respect the authors continue the utopian tradition of couching innovative social and political thought in the guise of fiction. In this talk, I would first of all like to sketch out the important respects in which what I am calling 'proto-science fiction' should be seen as a further branching of the tradition of utopian thinking. Second, I would like to show how the continuity of tradition between these two genres helps us to make new sense both of Leibniz's debt to Cyrano in his mature metaphysics, as well of the continuity within Leibniz's own thought, between his mature metaphysics and many of his earlier, more recognizably utopian political writings, notably the Consilium Aegyptiacum of 1671.

Anton Wilhelm Amo: Some Early Sources

Johann Peter von Ludewig (1729):

In this very place a baptized Moor by the name of Mister Anton Wilhelm Amo, in the service of His Highness the Duke of Wolfenbüttel, spent some years for the purpose of studying. And after he had attained a proficiency in the Latin language, he showed such dedication and success in the lessons of private and public law that he became very well versed in this field. After this, with the consent of his most merciful Highness, who had supported him until know, he was permitted by the Chancellor von Ludwig to hold a public disputation under his [the Chancellor's] presidence. So that the argument of the disputation should be appropriate to his situation, the topic De iure Maurorum in Europa, or the law of Moors, was chosen. Therein it was not only shown from books and from history, that the kings of the Moors were enfeoffed by the Roman Emperor, and that every one of them had to obtain a royal patent from him, which Justinian also issued, but it was also investigated how far the freedom or servitude of Moors bought by Christians in Europe extends, according to the usual laws. 

Hieselbst hat sich ein in Diensten Sr. Hochfürstl. Durchl. des regierenden Hertzogs von Wolfenbüttel stehender getaufter Mohr Namens Herr Antonius Wilhelmus Amo, einige Jahre Studirens halber aufgehalten. Und nachdem er vorhero die Lateinische Sprache zum Grund geleget hat er hier die collegis iuris priuati und publici mit solchem Fleiß und succeß getrieben, daß er in solchem studio ziemlich geübet. Solchem nach er sich mit Vorbewußt seiner gnädigsten Herrschaft welche ihn bisher allhier unterhalten bey dem Herrn Cantzler von Ludewig angegeben unter deßen praesidio sich mit einer disputation öffentlich hören zu lassen. Damit nun das argument der disputation seinem Stande gemäß seyn möchte; so ist das thema de iure mavrorum in Europa oder vom Mohrenrecht beliebet worden. Darinnen daß nicht allein ex LL und der Historie gezeuget; daß der Mohren ihr König bey dem Römischen Kayser ehedem zu Lehen gegangen und jeder von denselben ein Königs-Patent welches auch Justinianus augetheilet hohlen müssen; sondern auch vornehmlich dieses untersuchet wie weit den von Christen erkaufften Mohren in Europa ihre Freyheit oder Dienstbarkeit denen üblichen Rechten nach sich erstrecke.

From Wöchentlichen Hallischen Frage- und Anzeigungs-Nachrichten, 28 November, 1729. 

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Johann Heinrich Zedler (1739):

Amo (Anton Wilhelm), a baptized Moor, originally from Guinea in Africa. His Highness the Elector of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, at his own expense, sent Amo to study philosophy and law for some years at Halle. In the year 1729, in the month of November, he defended a dissertation in law, with the Chancellor von Ludwig presiding, entitled De jure Maurorum in Europa, or on the law of Moors. In this work he showed from laws and histories that the kings of the Moors were enfeoffed under the Roman Emperor, and that each of them had to obtain a royal patent, which Justinian also issued. After this, he investigates how far the freedom or servitude of baptized Moors in Europe extends according to the usual laws (see Ludwig's Universal-Historie, Part 5, p. 251). From this he obtained the Master's degree, and for some time gave private lessons in Halle (see Dreyhaupt's Beschreibung des Saalkreises, Part II, p. 28). He must however have subsequently visited the University of Wittenberg, since we possess from him a Disputationem philosophicam, continentem ideam distinctam eorum, quae competunt vel menti vel corpori nostro vivo & organico, which he publicly defended as praeses in Wittenberg on 29 May, 1734. In this dissertation he refers several times to another dissertation he defended, the Dissertatio de humana [sic] mentis apatheia.

From the Großes Universallexicon aller Wissenschaften und Künste, Leipzig, 1739-1750. Online version here. 

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Abbé Henri Grégoire (1808):

Amo (Antoine-Guillaume), born in Guinea, was brought at a very young age to Amsterdam, in 1707, and given to the duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, Anton Ulrich, who gave him to his son August Wilhelm. The latter sent him to pursue his studies to the University of Halle, in Saxony, and to the University of Wittemberg. At the former, in 1729, under the chairmanship of the Chancellor von Ludwig, he defended a thesis, and published a dissertation On the Law of Moors.

Amo was versed in astronomy, and spoke Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Dutch, and German. 

He so distinguished himself by his good morals and by his talents, that the rector and the council of the University of Wittemberg found it fitting, in 1733, to do him public honor through an epistle of congratulations. They recalled that Terence too was from Africa; that many martyrs, doctors, and church fathers were born in that same country, where letters flourished, and that fell back into barbarism when it lost Christianity. 

Amo successfully gave individual courses, praised in the same epistle: in a program publiched by the dean of the faculty of philosophy, it is said of this learned Negro, that having treated of the systems of the ancients and the moderns, he selected and taught what was best in them. 

Amo, having become a doctor, defended a thesis and published a dissertation in 1744 [sic] at Wittemberg on the sensations, considered as absent in the human soul, and present in the human body. In a letter written to him by the president, he is addressed as a vir nobilissime et clarissime; thus the University of Wittemberg did not have, on the basis of a difference of color, the prejudices of so many men who claim to be enlightened. The president states that he never made any changes to Amo's dissertation, since it was so well written. Indeed, the work bespeaks a mind that is well exercised in reflection. He seeks to establish the differences of phenomena between beings that exist without life, and those that have life. A stone exists, but is not alive. 

It appears that abstract discussions held a particular attraction for our author, since, having become a professor, he saw to the defense, the same year, of a thesis that was similar to the preceding one, on the distinction that is to be made between the operations of the mind and those of the senses. The Berlin court conferred upon him the title of Councillor of State, but after the death of the prince of Braunschweig, his benefactor, Amo, having fallen into a deep melancholy, resolved to leave the Europe where he had lived for thirty years, and to return to his native land in Axim, on the Gold Coast. In 1753 he received the visit of the learned voyager and physician David-Henri Gallandat, who speaks of him in the Mémoires de l'Académie de Flessingue, of which he was a member.

Amo, at that time around 50 years old, led a solitary life there. His father and sister were still alive, and his brother was a slave in Suriname. Some time later, he left Axim, and settled in Chama, at the fort of the Dutch Saint-Sebastian Company. 

I made some unfruitful research in order to discover whether Amo published other works, and when he died. 

From De la littérature des Nègres, ou, recherches sur leurs facultés intellectueles, leurs qualités morales et leur littérature: suivies des notices sur la vie et les ouvrages des Nègres qui se sont distingués dans les sciences, les lettres et les arts, Paris, 1808, pgs. 198-202. Online version here.

Anton Wilhelm Amo (c. 1703-c.1753), A Partial Bibliography

Works by Amo:

Antonius Guilelmus Amo, Dissertatio inauguralis de iure Maurorum in Europa, Halle, 1729 (lost).

Antonius Guilelmus Amo, Dissertatio inauguralis de Humanae mentis apatheia, Wittenberg, 1734.

Antonius Guilelmus Amo, Tractatus de arte sobrie et accurate philosophandi, Halle, 1738.

Johannes Theodosius Meiner, Idearum distinctam eorum quae competunt vel menti vel corpori nostro vivo et organico (with Amo as 'Praeses'), Wittenberg, 29 May, 1734.

Translations and editions of Amo:

Burchard Brentjes (Ed.), Antonius Guilelmus Amo Afer, aus Axim in Ghana: Student, Doktor der Philosophie, Magister legens an den Universitäten Halle, Witttenberg, Jena, 1727-1747. Dokumente, Autographe, Belege, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, 1968.

Anton William Amo, Treatise on the Art of Philosophising Soberly and Accurately, ed. and tr. T. Uzodinma Nwala, Nsukka, University of Nigeria Press, 1990.

Antoine Guillaume Amo, De Humanae mentis apatheia; Tractatus de arte sobrie et accurate philosophandi, ed. and tr. Simon Mougnol, Paris, Harmattan, 2010. 

Attacks on Amo:

Johann Ernst Philippi, Belustigende Poetische Schaubühne, und auf derselben I. Ein Poßirlicher Student, Hanß Dümchen aus Norden, nebst Zwölf seiner lustigen Cameraden. II. Die Academische Scheinjungfer, als ein Muster aller Cocketten. III. Herrn M. Amo, eines gelehrten Mohren, galanter Liebes-Antrag an eine schöne Brünette, Madem. Astrine. IV. Der Mademoiselle Astrine, Parodische Antwort auf solchen Antrag eines verliebten Mohren. Cöthen, in der Cörnerischen Buchhandlung, 1747.

Works about Amo (alphabetically ordered, by author):

Burchard Brentjes, "Ein afrikanischer Student der Philosophie und Medizin in Halle, Wittenberg und Jena (1727-1747)," in In memoriam Hermann Boerhaave (1668-1738), Halle, 1969.

Burchard Brentjes, "Anton Wilhelm Amo, First African Philosopher in European Universities," in Current Anthropology 16, 3 (1975): 443-444.

Burchard Brentjes, Anton Wilhelm Amo: der schwarze Philosoph in Halle, Leipzig, Koehler & Amelang, 1976.

Burchard Brentjes, "Der erste afrikanische Student in Halle," in Der Beitrag der Völker Afrikas zur Weltkultur. 32. Kongress und Tagungsberichte, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle, 1977.

Christine Damis, "Le philosophe connu pour sa peau noire: Anton Wilhelm Amo," in Rue Descartes 36, 2 (2002): 115.

Yawovi Emmanuel Edeh, Die Grundlagen der philosophischen Schriften von Amo. In welchem Verhältnis steht Amo zu Christian Wolff, dass man ihn als 'einen führnehmlichen Wolffianer' bezeichnen kann?, Essen, Die blaue Eule, 2003.

Monika Firla, Anton Wilhelm Amo (Nzema, Rep. Ghana). Kammermohr - Privatdozent für Philosophie - Wahrsager, in Tribus 51 (2002): 55-90.

Johannes Glötzner, Anton Wilhelm Amo. Ein Philosoph aus Afrika im Deutschland des 18. Jahrhunderts, Munich, Enhuber, 2002.

Johannes Glötzner, Der Mohr. Leben, Lieben und Lehren des ersten afrikanischen Doctors der Weltweisheit Anton Wilhelm Amo, Stekovics, Dössel, 2003.

Hannelore Heckmann, “Anton Wilhelm Amo (ca. 1707-ca.1756): On the Reception of a Black Philosopher,” in Lessing Yearbook 23 (1991): 149-158.

Ulrich van der Heyden, "Anton Wilhelm Amo, der afrikanische Philosoph," in Unbekannte Biographien. Afrikaner im deutschsprachigen Raum vom 18. Jahrhundert bis zum Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs, Berlin, Homilius-Verlag, 2008.

Paulin J. Hountondji, Un philosophe africain dans l'Allemagne du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1970.

Norbert Lochner, "Anton Wilhelm Amo. Ein Gelehrter aus Ghana im Deutschland des 18. Jahrhunderts," in Übersee-Rundschau (January, 1958): 22-25.

Jacob Emmanuel Mabe, Anton Wilhelm Amo interkulturell gelesen, Nordhausen, Traugott Bautz, 2007.

Simon Mougnol, Amo Afer. Un Noir, professeur d'université en Allemagne au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Harmattan, 2010. 

Marilyn Sephocle, "Anton Wilhelm Amo (Eighteenth-Century African Philosopher)" in Journal of Black Studies 23, 2 (1992): 182-187.

Wolfram Suchier, "Ein Mohr als Student und Privatdozent der Philosophie in Halle, Wittenberg und Jena," in Akademische Rundschau 4 (1916).

Wolfram Suchier, "Weiteres über den Mohren Amo," in Altsachsen: Zeitschrift des Altsachsenbundes für Heimatschutz und Heimatkunde 1-2 (1918).

Brief discussion of Amo in the following sources (chronologically ordered):

Johann Peter von Ludewig, An announcement of Amo's first disputation in Wöchentliche Hallische Frage- und Anzeigungs- Nachrichten, 28 November, 1729. Transcription and translation here.

Carl Günter Ludovici, Entwurf einer vollständigen Historie der wolffischen Philosophie, Bd. 1, Teil 3., (pages 230-232; 361-362), Leipzig, 1738.

Hamburgische Berichte von Gelehrten Sachen, 24 November, 1739, p. 781.

Johann Heinrich Zedler, "Amo (Anton Wilhelm)," in Großes Universallexicon aller Wissenschaften und Künste, Leipzig, 1739-1750. Online version here. Translation here.

Samuel Gotthold Lange, Sammlung gelehrter und freundschaftlicher Briefe, Halle, 1747.

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, "Abschnitt von den Negern," in Magazin für das Neueste aus Physik und Naturgeschichte, Band 4, Teil 3, Gotha, 1787, 9-11.

Henri Grégoire, De la littérature des Nègres, ou, recherches sur leurs facultés intellectueles, leurs qualités morales et leur littérature: suivies des notices sur la vie et les ouvrages des Nègres qui se sont distingués dans les sciences, les lettres et les arts, Paris, 1808, pgs. 198-202. Online version here. Translation here.

"Negroes in the Field of Philosophy," in The Negro History Bulletin 2, 9 (1939): 76.

Kwame Nkrumah, Consciencism: Philosophy and Ideology for De-Colonization, New York and London, Monthly Review Press, 1970.

Robert Fikes Jr., "Black Scholars in Europe during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment," in Negro History Bulletin 43, 3 (1980): 58-60.

Paulin J. Hountondji, African Philosophy: Myth and Reality, Bloomington, University of Indiana Press, 1983. 

Dedicatory Epistles to Amo's De Humanae mentis apatheia (1734)

To the benevolent reader, the Rector and the Council of the University of Wittenberg extend a cordial welcome

In the past, the veneration given to Africa was enormous, whether for its natural genius, its appreciation for learning, or its religious organization. This continent nurtured the growth of a number of men of great value, whose genius and assiduousness have made an inestimable contribution to the knowledge of human affairs and, much more, to the knowledge of divine things. From memory, no one has ever been judged better informed in matters of daily life, nor more a man of refined manners, than Terence of Carthage. Plato himself was reborn in the Socratic interventions of Apuleius of Madaurus. His discourses were so well received in centuries past that learned men were divided into two camps: that of Apuleius contended with that of Cicero for the first prize in eloquence. And in the development of Christian doctrine, how many were its promoters who came from Africa! Only to speak of the greatest of them, let us cite Tertullian, Cyprian, Arnobius, Optatus, Augustine, whose disputed with candor across the full range of the knowledge they had acquired. Monuments, facts, martyrs, councils, all proclaim the fidelity and constancy with which these African doctors labored for the preservation of the integrity of what is sacred. In fact, to suppose that the African church only ever made concessions is to do it an injustice. Even with the Arab invasion of Africa, which brought about great changes, many things did not disappear with the domination of these invaders: all of the radiance of African technical and literary genius was not at all extinguished. In fact, letters were admired among these peoples, where the liberal sciences were cultivated; as the Moors coming from Africa crossed through Spain, they brought knowledge of the ancient thinkers, while also bringing much assistance to the development of letters, which were coming out of the darkness little by little.

African learning thus had, in the most ancient times, something to be well received. This is no less true for us, to whom it is reported that that part of the earth has at its disposition other things richer still than the wealth of books and the applications of the technical arts, as is attested by the example given by the Master in philosophy and in the liberal arts, the very brilliant Anton Wilhelm AMO, an African from Guinea. He first saw the light of day in the most distant region of West Africa, and came to Europe as a small boy. He was introduced to sacred things at Halae Juliae. The most serene princes, dukes of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, August Wilhelm and Ludwig Rudolph, deployed their goodness so that he should not suffer, in his education, from the absence of a father's assistance. After having demonstrated his genius, he was brought to Halle in Saxony: there he was initiated into diverse sciences, after which he came to us. As he showed an equal spirit [in philosophy], he rallied the entire department in his favor, and all of his masters unanimously accorded to him the degree of Doctor in Philosophy.

These encomia took on greater weight still, from the praises he received thanks to his genius, to his rank, and to his admirable sense of honor; to his industry, to the knowledge he demonstrated on the occasion of public or private performances. In conducting himself thus, he brought upon himself the affection of the best men, and of the most learned, surpassing others of his generation by a head. Strengthened by the fascination that he inspired in them, he was at home in explaining philosophy to a number of them, commenting on the positions of the ancients as well as of the moderns, always choosing the clearest explanation and giving the reasons for this choice swiftly and with precision. In so doing, he clearly demonstrated his ability to understand and to teach, indicating by this that he had everything needed to obtain, soon, a post in a university, and also that this would be in line with his natural penchant. It being understood that he has not disappointed us, this is why we cannot refrain from according to him the public judgment that he is right to hope for our appreciation. We place much hope in him, and we are convinced that he is worthy of the Prince whom he piously venerates, and whom he praises in all of his statements. We pray to God to pemit him to benefit for a long time from such happiness as this, and for him to achieve his goals for the glory of the very good and mighty PRINCE LUDWIG RUDOLPH.

We pray to God for the propserity of the whole House of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, so reputed in all of Germany in view of its great merits.

Written publicly and marked with the seal of the University, this 24th of May, 1733

Johannes Gottfried Kraus, current Rector of the University

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The President solemnly salutes the brilliant author of this thesis

We publicly declare that Africa, and Guinea, one of its countries, so far from us, are your homeland. In view of its reserves of gold, this Guinea was previously called Côte d'Or by the Europeans, and was justly celebrated like a mother who bears natural goods and treasures in her womb, as also, still more, men of very great genius and of very great inventiveness. You count among these latter, very noble and very renowned Sir, with your badge of talent, of which fecundity and merit, as well as vigor and elegance, stand out among your intellectual attainments. All this led to your promotion in our university, with the unanimous applause of men of quality. No less, this thesis is today proof of all this. Because you have elegantly and knowledgeably composed it, I return it to you in its entirety and without any modifications, so tha your genius will radiate from it with that much more force. To conclude, I congratulate you with all my heart for this measure of the excellence of your erudition, but know that my esteem is still more affectionate than the words with which I express it. Permit me to sollicit, humbly and with all of my devotion, the grace of God and of the very great and very good prince, LUDWIG RUDOLPH, for whose salvation I shall never tire of calling upon Divine Majesty.

Composed at Wittenberg in Saxony, April, the year of our Lord 1734.

 

François Bernier, from the letter to Jean Chapelain (4 October, 1667)

Among a very great infinity and diversity of fakirs, or, as we will wish to say, of impoverished dervishes, monks, or peaceable figurines of the Indies, there are many who have a sort of convent, where there are superiors and where they take a sort of vow of chastity, poverty, and obedience, and who lead a life so strange that I do not know whether you will be able to believe it. It is they who are ordinarly called 'yogis', which is to say 'united with God'. One sees many of them, entirely naked, sitting on couches during the day, and at night on ashes, and very often underneath some of those great trees that are on the banks of the talabs or reservoirs, or indeed in the galleries that surround their deüras or temples  for their idols. There are some who have hair that falls to half-way down their thigh, and that is matted into branches like the massive hairs of our water-dogs, or rather like the hair of those who suffer from the illness from Poland that we call the 'Polish plait'. I saw in many places ones who held an arm, and sometimes both arms, elevated and stretched continually above their heads, and who had at the ends of their fingers entangled nails that were longer, according to the measure that I took, than the half of my little finger. Their arms were small and thin, as of those people who die emaciated, because they did not adequately nourish themselves in that forced and unnatural position; and they were not able to lower them in order to grasp anything, because the nerves had retreated and the joints had filled up and dried out. They also have young novices who serve them with great respect like holy men. There is no Megaera of Hell who is so horrible to behold as these naked men with their black skin, their big clumps of hair, their spindly arms in the posture I've described, and those long entangled nails...

All of these such extraordinary things, to tell you the truth, surprised me very much at the beginning: I did not know what to think of them. No sooner had I come to think of them as relics, or like the authors of that ancient and infamous sect of Cynics, that I noticed that there was nothing in them but brutality and ignorance, and that they seemed to me sooner to be trees that moved themselves a bit from one place to another, than rational animals. Soon I came to think of them as men made stubborn by religion; but, as I've already said, I could not detect in all this any shadow of true piety; no sooner did I come to think to myself that this lazy, idle, and independant beggar's life could have something attractive about it, than the vanity that insinuates itself everywhere and that is just as often found under the threadbare coat of a Diogenes as under the fine garments of a Plato, could be the coil that makes so many machines move. And then, still reflecting in this way on the miserable and austere life that they led, I no longer knew what judgment to make about them...

Do not be surprised if, although I do not know Sanskrit --which is the language of the learned, about which I'll say a word below, and perhaps even the language of the ancient Brahmins of the Indies, as we will soon see--, I will nonetheless not neglect to tell you many things that are taken from books written in that language. For you should know that my agha, Daneshmend Khan, in part at my request, and in part out of his own curiosity, retained at his own expense one of the most famous pandits that there was in all of the Indies, and who previously had had his pension from Dara, the elder son of the king Shah Jahan, and that this pandit, besides attracting to us all of the most learned pandits, was seated at my side for more than three years. When I had had enough of explaining to my agha these most recent discoveries of Harvey and Pecquet in anatomy, and when I'd had enough of reasoning with him about the philosophy of Gassendi and Descartes, which I had translated for him into Persian (for this had been my principal preoccupation during five or six years), the pandit was our refuge, and then it was his turn to reason and to relate to us the fables that he presented seriously and without ever laughing. It is true that by the end we were very disgusted by these crude reasonings that we could barely stand to hear any more...

There is a sect that calls itself 'Bauté' [i.e., the Buddhists] from which a dozen other sects arise, but this sect is not like the others; its followers are hated and despised, treated as atheists and as men without religion, and do not even live as the others do...

In medicine, they have a number of little books that are sooner collections of recipes than anything else...

In anatomy, one can say that the gentiles [i.e., the Hindus] do not understand anything at all... And it's no wonder that they are so ignorant in this domain: they never open up the bodies of men or animals. They have such a horror of this that when I opened up some living goats and sheep before my agha, in order to make him understand the circulation of the blood and to show him the vessels of Monsieur Pecquet by which the chyle ultimately makes its way to the right ventricle of the heart, all of them ran away, trembling from fear, and nonetheless they do not miss an occasion to affirm that there are five thousand veins in man, neither more nor less, as if they had counted them...

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Entre une infinité et diversité très grande de fakirs ou, comme on voudra dire, de pauvres derviches, religieux ou santons gentils des Indes, il y en a grand nombre qui ont comme une espèce de couvent, où il y a des supérieurs et où ils font une sorte de voeu de chasteté, pauvreté et obéissance, et qui mènent une vie si étrange que je ne sais si vous le pourrez croire. Ce sont pour l'ordinaire ceux qu'on appelle yogis, comme qui dirait unis avec Dieu; on en voit quantité de tout nus assis ou couchés les jours et les nuits sur les cendres, et assez ordinairement dessous quelques-uns de ces grands arbres, qui sont sur les bords des talabs ou réservoirs, ou bien dans des galeries qui sont autour de leurs deüras ou temples d'idoles. Il y en a qui ont des cheveux qui leur tombent jusqu'à mi-jambe et qui sont entortillés par branches comme ce grand poil de nos barbets, ou plutôt comme les cheveux de ceux qui ont cette maladie de Pologne qu'on appelle la plique. De ceux-là, j'en ai vu en plusieurs endroits qui tenaient un bras, et quelquefois tous les deux élevés et tendus perpétuellement en haut par-dessus leurs têtes et qui avaient au bout des doigts des ongles entortillés qui étaient plus longs, selon la mesure que j'en ai prise, que la moitié de mon petit doigt. Leurs bras étaient petits et maigres, comme de ces personnes qui meurent étiques, parce qu'ils ne prenaient pas assez de nourriture dans cette posture forcée et contre nature, et ils ne les pouvaient abaisser pour prendre quoi que ce soit, pour boire ni pour manger, parce que les nerfs s'étaient retirées et les jointures s'étaient remplies et séchées. Aussi ont-ils de jeunes novices qui les servent avec des respects très grands comme de saints personnages. Il n'y a Mégère d'Enfer si horrible à voir que ces gens-là tout nus avec leur peau noire, ces grands cheveux, ces fuseaux de bras dans la posture que j'ai dite et ces longs ongles entortillés...

Toutes ces choses si extraordinaires, à vous dire le vrai, me surprenaient fort dans le commencement: je ne savais qu'en dire et qu'en penser. Tantôt je les considérais comme quelques restes, ou comme les auteurs de cette ancienne et infâme secte cynique, sinon que je ne remarquais en eux que brutalité et ignorance, et qu'ils me semblaient plutôt des arbres qui se remuaient un peu d'un lieu à autre que des animaux raisonnables; tantôt je les considérais comme gens entêtés de religion; mais, comme j'ai déjà dit, je ne pouvais remarquer en tout cela aucune ombre de vraie piété; tantôt je pensais en moi-même que cette vie paresseuse, fainéante et indépendante de gueux pourrait bien avoir quelque chose d'attrayant; tantôt que la vanité, qui se fourre partout et qui se trouve aussi souvent sous le manteau rapetassé d'un Diogène que sous les bons habits d'un Platon, pourrait être ce ressort qui faisait jouer tant de machines. Et puis, faisant encore réflexion sur la misérable et austère vie qu'ils menaient, je ne savais plus quel jugement en porter... (317-19).

Ne vous étonnez pas d'abord si, quoique je ne sache pas le sanskrit, qui est la langue des doctes, dont je dirai un mot ci-après, et peut-être celle-là même des anciens brahmanes des Indes, comme on pourra voir ensuite, je ne laisserai pas de vous dire beaucoup de choses qui sont tirées des livres écrits en cette langue, car vous saurez que mon agha Daneshmend Khan, partie à ma solllicitation, partie pour sa propre curiosité, prit à ses gages un des plus fameux pandits qui fût dans toutes les Indes, et qui autrefois avait eu pension de Dara, le fils aîné du roi Shah Jahan, et que ce pandit, outre qu'il attirait chez nous tous les plus savants pandits, a été plus de trois ans assis à mes côtés. Quand j'étais las d'expliquer à mon agha ces dernières découvertes d'Harveus et de Pecquet sur l'anatomie et de raisonner avec lui sur la philosophie de Gassendi et de Descartes que je lui traduisais en persan (car ç'a été là ma plus grande occupation pendant cinq ou six ans), le pandit était notre refuge, et alors c'était à lui à raisonner et à nous conter les fables qu'il nous débitait sérieusement et sans jamais rire; il est vrai que nous nous dégoûtâmes si fort à la fin de ses raisonnements bourrus que nous ne le pouvions presque plus entendre... (324).

Il y a bien une... secte qui s'appelle Bauté, d'où sortent douze autres sectes différentes, mais cette secte n'est pas si commune que les autres; les sectateurs sont haïs et méprisés, traités d'athées et de gens sans religion, et ne vivent pas même aussi comme les autres (333).

Dans la médecine, ils ont quantité de petits livres qui sont plutôt des recueils de recettes qu'autre chose (334).

Dans l'anatomie, on peut dire que les gentils n'y entendent rien du tout...  [A]ussi n'est-ce pas merveille qu'ils y soient si ignorants: ils n'ouvrent jamais de corps ni d'hommes ni d'animaux. Ils ont une telle horreur de cela que lorsque j'ouvrais des chèvres vivantes et des moutons devant mon agha pour lui faire comprendre la circulation du sang et lui faire voir les vaisseaux de Monsieur Pecquet, par où le chyle vient enfin se rendre dans le ventricule dextre du coeur, ils s'enfuyaient tous et tremblaient de peur, et cependant ils ne laissent pas d'assurer qu'il y a cinq mille veines dans l'homme, ni plus ni moins, comme s'ils les avaient bien comptées (335-6).