No More Learning

Technically, one of his representative
works, the 'Influence of Sea Power upon
History,' is but a naval history of Europe
from the restoration of the Stuarts to the
end of the American Revolution. But the
freedom with which it digresses on general
questions of naval policy and strategy, the
attention which it pays to the relation of
cause and effect between maritime events
and international politics, and the author's
literary method of treatment, place this
work outside the class of strictly profes-
sional writings, and entitle it already to be regarded as an American
classic.

ALFRED T. MAHAN
The contents of Captain Mahan's great studies of naval history
were originally given forth in a course of lectures delivered before
the Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island; and Captain Ma-
han's prime object, in establishing the thesis that maritime strength
is a determining factor in the prosperity of nations, was to reinforce
his argument that the future interests of the United States require a
departure from the traditional American policy of neglect of naval-
military affairs. Captain Mahan has maintained that, as openings to
immigration and enterprise in North America and Australia diminish,
a demand will arise for a more settled government in the disordered
semi-barbarous States of Central and South America. He lays down
the proposition that stability of institutions is necessary to commer-
cial intercourse; and that a demand for such stability can hardly


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ALFRED THAYER MAHAN
9581
be met without the intervention of interested civilized nations. Thus
international complications may be fairly anticipated; and the date
of their advent will be precipitated by the completion of a canal
through the Central-American isthmus. The strategic conditions of
the Mediterranean will be reproduced in the Caribbean Sea, and in
the international struggle for the control of the new highway of
commerce the United States will have the advantage of geographical
position. He points out that the carrying trade of the United States.
is at present insignificant, only because the opening of the West
since the Civil War has made maritime undertakings less profitable
than the development of the internal resources of the country. It is
thus shown to be merely a question of time when American capital
will again seek the ocean; and Captain Mahan urges that the United
States should seek to guard the interests of the future by building
up a strong military navy, and fortifying harbors commanding the
Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
Captain Mahan's biography is simple and professional.
He was
born September 27th, 1840. A graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy,
he served in the Union navy as a lieutenant throughout the Civil
War, and was president of the Naval War College from 1886 to 1889
and from 1890 to 1893. He has been a voluminous writer on his
peculiar subject or its closely kindred topics. Besides the work al-
ready mentioned, his writings include The Gulf and Inland Waters'
(1883); Life of Admiral Farragut' (1892); and 'Influence of Sea
Power upon the French Revolution and Empire' (1892), a continuation
of the Influence of Sea Power upon History. ' He is not a brilliant
stylist, but possesses a clear and solid literary technique; and even
in dealing with naval science as well as naval episodes, he holds the
attention with the serious merits of a descriptive historian.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CRUISERS AND OF STRONG FLEETS
IN WAR
From The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783. ' Copyright 1890,
by Captain A. T. Mahan. Reprinted by permission of the author, and
of Little, Brown & Co. , publishers.
THE
HE English, notwithstanding their heavy loss in the Four
Days' Battle, were at sea again within two months, much
to the surprise of the Dutch; and on the 4th of August
another severe fight was fought off the North Foreland, ending
in the complete defeat of the latter, who retired to their own
coasts. The English followed, and effected an entrance into


## p. 9582 (#614) ###########################################

9582
ALFRED THAYER MAHAN
one of the Dutch harbors, where they destroyed a large fleet
of merchantmen as well as a town of some importance. Toward
the end of 1666 both sides [England and Holland] were tired
of the war, which was doing great harm to trade, and weaken-
ing both navies to the advantage of the growing sea power of
France. Negotiations looking toward peace were opened; but
Charles II. , ill disposed to the United Provinces, confident that
the growing pretensions of Louis XIV. to the Spanish Nether-
lands would break up the existing alliance between Holland and
France, and relying also upon the severe reverses suffered at sea
by the Dutch, was exacting and haughty in his demands. To
justify and maintain this line of conduct he should have kept
up his fleet, the prestige of which had been so advanced by its
victories. Instead of that, poverty, the result of extravagance
and of his home policy, led him to permit it to decline; ships in
large numbers were laid up; and he readily adopted an opinion
which chimed in with his penury, and which, as it has had advo-
cates at all periods of sea history, should be noted and con-
demned here. This opinion, warmly opposed by Monk, was:—
"That as the Dutch were chiefly supported by trade, as the sup-
ply of their navy depended upon trade, and as experience showed,
nothing provoked the people so much as injuring their trade, his
Majesty should therefore apply himself to this, which would effectu-
ally humble them, at the same time that it would less exhaust the
English than fitting out such mighty fleets as had hitherto kept the
sea every summer. . . Upon these motives the King took a
fatal resolution of laying up his great ships, and keeping only a few
frigates on the cruise. "
a
In consequence of this economical theory of carrying on
war, the Grand Pensionary of Holland, De Witt, who had the
year before caused soundings of the Thames to be made, sent
into the river, under De Ruyter, a force of sixty or seventy ships
of the line, which on the 14th of June, 1667, went up as high
as Gravesend, destroying ships at Chatham and in the Medway,
and taking possession of Sheerness. The light of the fires could
be seen from London; and the Dutch fleet remained in possession
of the mouth of the river until the end of the month. Under
this blow, following as it did upon the great plague and the
great fire of London, Charles consented to peace, which was
signed July 31st, 1667, and is known as the Peace of Breda. The
most lasting result of the war was the transfer of New York and


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ALFRED THAYER MAHAN
9583
New Jersey to England, thus joining her northern and southern
colonies in North America.
commerce.
Before going on again with the general course of the history
of the times, it will be well to consider for a moment the theory
which worked so disastrously for England in 1667; that, namely,
of maintaining a sea war mainly by preying upon the enemy's
This plan, which involves only the maintenance of a
few swift cruisers and can be backed by the spirit of greed in a
nation, fitting out privateers without direct expense to the State,
possesses the specious attractions which economy always presents.
The great injury done to the wealth and prosperity of the enemy
is also undeniable; and although to some extent his merchant
ships can shelter themselves ignobly under a foreign flag while
the war lasts, this guerre de course, as the French call it,- this
commerce-destroying, to use our own phrase,-must, if in itself
successful, greatly embarrass the foreign government and distress
its people. Such a war, however, cannot stand alone: it must be
supported, to use the military phrase; unsubstantial and evanes-
cent in itself, it cannot reach far from its base. That base must
be either home ports or else some solid outpost of the national
power on the shore or the sea; a distant dependency or a
powerful fleet. Failing such support, the cruiser can only dash
out hurriedly a short distance from home; and its blows, though
painful, cannot be fatal. It was not the policy of 1667, but
Cromwell's powerful fleets of ships of the line in 1652, that shut
the Dutch merchantmen in their ports and caused the grass to
grow in the streets of Amsterdam. When, instructed by the suffer-
ing of that time, the Dutch kept large fleets afloat through two
exhausting wars, though their commerce suffered greatly, they
bore up the burden of the strife against England and France
united. Forty years later, Louis XIV. was driven by exhaustion.
to the policy adopted by Charles II. through parsimony. Then
were the days of the great French privateers,- Jean Bart, For-
bin, Duguay-Trouin, Du Casse, and others. The regular fleets of
the French navy were practically withdrawn from the ocean dur-
ing the great War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1712). The
French naval historian says:
――――
"Unable to renew the naval armaments, Louis XIV. increased the
number of cruisers upon the more frequented seas, especially the
Channel and the German Ocean [not far from home, it will be noticed].


## p. 9584 (#616) ###########################################

9584
ALFRED THAYER MAHAN
In these different spots the cruisers were always in a position to inter-
cept or hinder the movements of transports laden with troops, and of
the numerous convoys carrying supplies of all kinds. In these seas,
in the centre of the commercial and political world, there is always
work for cruisers. Notwithstanding the difficulties they met, owing
to the absence of large friendly fleets, they served advantageously the
cause of the two peoples [French and Spanish]. These cruisers, in
the face of the Anglo-Dutch power, needed good luck, boldness, and
skill. These three conditions were not lacking to our seamen; but
then, what chiefs and what captains they had! "
The English historian, on the other hand, while admitting
how severely the people and commerce of England suffered from
the cruisers, bitterly reflecting at times upon the administration,
yet refers over and over again to the increasing prosperity of
the whole country, and especially of its commercial part. In the
preceding war, on the contrary, from 1689 to 1697, when France
sent great fleets to sea and disputed the supremacy of the ocean,
how different the result! The same English writer says of that
time:-
"With respect to our trade, it is certain that we suffered infinitely
more, not merely than the French, for that was to be expected from
the greater number of our merchant ships, but than we ever did in
any former war.
This proceeded in great measure from the
vigilance of the French, who carried on the war in a piratical way.
It is out of all doubt that, taking all together, our traffic suffered
excessively; our merchants were many of them ruined. "
Macaulay says of this period: "During many months of 1693
the English trade with the Mediterranean had been interrupted
almost entirely. There was no chance that a merchantman
from London or Amsterdam would, if unprotected, reach the Pil-
lars of Hercules without being boarded by a French privateer;
and the protection of armed vessels was not easily obtained. "
Why? Because the vessels of England's navy were occupied
watching the French navy, and this diversion of them from the
cruisers and privateers constituted the support which a commerce-
destroying war must have. A French historian, speaking of the
same period in England (1696), says: "The state of the finances
was deplorable: money was scarce, maritime insurance thirty
per cent. , the Navigation Act was virtually suspended, and the
English shipping reduced to the necessity of sailing under the
Swedish and Danish flags. " Half a century later the French


## p. 9585 (#617) ###########################################

ALFRED THAYER MAHAN
9585
government was again reduced, by long neglect of the navy, to
a cruising warfare. With what results? First, the French his-
torian says:
"From June 1756 to June 1760, French privateers
captured from the English more than twenty-five hundred mer-
chantmen. In 1761, though France had not, so to speak, a single
ship of the line at sea, and though the English had taken two
hundred and forty of. our privateers, their comrades still took
eight hundred and twelve vessels. But," he goes on to say,
"the prodigious growth of the English shipping explains the
number of these prizes. " In other words, the suffering involved
to England in such numerous captures, which must have caused
great individual injury and discontent, did not really prevent the
growing prosperity of the State and of the community at large.
The English naval historian, speaking of the same period, says:
"While the commerce of France was nearly destroyed, the trad-
ing fleet of England covered the seas. Every year her com-
merce was increasing; the money which the war carried out was
returned by the produce of her industry. Eight thousand mer-
chant vessels were employed by the English merchants. " And
again, summing up the results of the war, after stating the
immense amount of specie brought into the kingdom by foreign
conquests, he says: "The trade of England increased gradually
every year; and such a scene of national prosperity, while waging
a long, bloody, and costly war, was never before shown by any
people in the world. "
On the other hand, the historian of the French navy, speaking
of an earlier phase of the same wars, says: "The English fleets,
having nothing to resist them, swept the seas. Our privateers
and single cruisers, having no fleet to keep down the abundance
of their enemies, ran short careers. Twenty thousand French
seamen lay in English prisons. When, on the other hand, in
the War of the American Revolution, France resumed the policy
of Colbert and of the early reign of Louis XIV. , and kept large
battle fleets afloat, the same result again followed as in the days
of Tourville. " "For the first time," says the Annual Register, for-
getting or ignorant of the experience of 1693, and remembering
only the glories of the later wars, "English merchant ships were
driven to take refuge under foreign flags. " Finally, in quitting
this part of the subject, it may be remarked that in the Island of
Martinique the French had a powerful distant dependency upon
which to base a cruising warfare; and during the Seven Years'
XVI-600


## p. 9586 (#618) ###########################################

9586
ALFRED THAYER MAHAN
War, as afterward during the First Empire, it, with Guadaloupe,
was the refuge of numerous privateers. "The records of the
English admiralty raise the losses of the English in the West
Indies during the first years of the Seven Years' War to four-
teen hundred merchantmen taken or destroyed. " The English
fleet was therefore directed against the islands, both of which
fell, involving a loss to the trade of France greater than all the
depredations of her cruisers on the English commerce, besides
breaking up the system; but in the war of 1778 the great fleets
protected the islands, which were not even threatened at any
time.
So far we have been viewing the effect of a purely cruis-
ing warfare, not based upon powerful squadrons, only upon that
particular part of the enemy's strength against which it is theo-
retically directed,-upon his commerce and general wealth, upon
the sinews of war. The evidence seems to show that even for its
own special ends such a mode of war is inconclusive,—worrying
but not deadly; it might almost be said that it causes needless
suffering. What, however, is the effect of this policy upon the
general ends of the war, to which it is one of the means and to
which it is subsidiary? How, again, does it react upon the people
that practice it? As the historical evidences will come up in
detail from time to time, it need here only be summarized.
The result to England in the days of Charles II. has been
seen, her coast insulted, her shipping burned almost within
sight of her capital. In the War of the Spanish Succession,
when the control of Spain was the military object, while the
French depended upon a cruising war against commerce, the
navies of England and Holland, unopposed, guarded the coasts
of the peninsula, blocked the port of Toulon, forced the French
succors to cross the Pyrenees, and by keeping open the sea high-
way, neutralized the geographical nearness of France to the seat
of war.
Their fleets seized Gibraltar, Barcelona, and Minorca;
and co-operating with the Austrian army, failed by little of redu-
cing Toulon. In the Seven Years' War the English fleets seized,
or aided in seizing, all the most valuable colonies of France and
Spain, and made frequent descents on the French coast.
The War of the American Revolution affords no lesson, the
fleets being nearly equal. The next most striking instance to
Americans is the War of 1812. Everybody knows how our pri-
vateers swarmed over the seas; and that from the smallness of
-


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ALFRED THAYER MAHAN
9587
our navy the war was essentially, indeed solely, a cruising war.
Except upon the lakes, it is doubtful if more than two of our
ships at any time acted together. The injury done to English
commerce, thus unexpectedly attacked by a distant foe which had
been undervalued, may be fully conceded; but on the one hand,
the American cruisers were powerfully supported by the French
fleet, which, being assembled in larger or smaller bodies in the
many ports under the Emperor's control from Antwerp to Venice,
tied the fleets of England to blockade duty; and on the other
hand, when the fall of the Emperor released them, our coasts
were insulted in every direction, the Chesapeake entered and con-
trolled, its shores wasted, the Potomac ascended, and Washington
burned. The Northern frontier was kept in a state of alarm,
though there, squadrons absolutely weak but relatively strong
sustained the general defense; while in the South the Mississippi
was entered unopposed, and New Orleans barely saved. When
negotiations for peace were opened, the bearing of the English
toward the American envoys was not that of men who felt their
country to be threatened with an unbearable evil.
The late Civil War, with the cruises of the Alabama and
Sumter and their consorts, revived the tradition of commerce-
destroying. In so far as this is one means to a general end, and
is based upon a navy otherwise powerful, it is well; but we need
not expect to see the feats of those ships repeated in the face of
a great sea power. In the first place, those cruises were power-
fully supported by the determination of the United States to
blockade, not only the chief centres of Southern trade, but every
inlet of the coast, thus leaving few ships available for pursuit;
in the second place, had there been ten of those cruisers where
there was one, they would not have stopped the incursion in
Southern waters of the Union fleet, which penetrated to every
point accessible from the sea; and in the third place, the un-
deniable injury, direct and indirect, inflicted upon individuals
and upon one branch of the nation's industry (and how high that
shipping industry stands in the writer's estimation need not be
repeated), did not in the least influence or retard the event of
the war.
Such injuries, unaccompanied by others, are more irri-
tating than weakening. On the other hand, will any refuse to
admit that the work of the great Union fleets powerfully modified
and hastened an end which was probably inevitable in any case?
As a sea power the South then occupied the place of France in


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9588
ALFRED THAYER MAHAN
the wars we have been considering, while the situation of the
North resembled that of England; and as in France, the suffer-
ers in the Confederacy were not a class, but the government and
the nation at large.
It is not the taking of individual ships or convoys, be they
few or many, that strikes down the money power of a nation: it
is the possession of that overbearing power on the sea which
drives the enemy's flag from it, or allows it to appear only as a
fugitive; and which, by controlling the great common, closes the
highways by which commerce moves to and from the enemy's
shores. This overbearing power can only be exercised by great
navies; and by them (on the broad sea) less efficiently now than
in the days when the neutral flag had not its present immunity.
It is not unlikely that in the event of a war between maritime
nations, an attempt may be made by the one having a great
sea power, and wishing to break down its enemy's commerce, to
interpret the phrase "effective blockade" in the manner that
best suits its interests at the time; to assert that the speed and
disposal of its ships make the blockade effective at much greater
distances and with fewer ships than formerly. The determination
of such a question will depend, not upon the weaker belligerent,
but upon neutral powers: it will raise the issue between bel-
ligerent and neutral rights; and if the belligerent have a vastly
overpowering navy he may carry his point,-just as England,
when possessing the mastery of the seas, long refused to admit
the doctrine of the neutral flag covering the goods.


## p. 9589 (#621) ###########################################

9589
-
MOSES MAIMONIDES
(1135-1204)
BY RABBI GOTTHEIL
T
HE Conclusion of the whole matter is, Go either to the right,
my heart, or go to the left; but believe all that Rabbi Moses
ben Maimon has believed, the last of the Gaonim [religious
teachers] in time, but the first in rank. " In such manner did the
most celebrated Jewish poet in Provence voice in his quaint way the
veneration with which the Jewish Aristotle of Cordova was regarded.
For well-nigh four hundred years, the descendants of Isaac had lived
in the Spanish Peninsula the larger life opened up to them by the
sons of Ishmael. They had with ardor cultivated their spiritual pos-
sessions the only ones they had been able to save-as they passed
through shipwreck and all manner of ill fortune from the fair lands
of the East. The height of their spiritual fortune was manifested in
this second Moses, whom they did not scruple to compare with the
first bearer of that name.
-
Abu Amram Musa ibn Ibrahim Ubeid Allah, as his full Arabic
name ran, was born in the city of Cordova, "the Mecca of the West,"
on March 30th, 1135. His father was learned in Talmudic lore; and
from him the young student must have gotten his strong love of
knowledge. At an early period he developed a taste for the exact
sciences and for philosophy. He read with zeal not only the works
of the Mohammedan scholastics, but also those of the Greek philoso-
phers in such dress as they had been made accessible by their
Arabian translators. In this way his mind, which by nature ran in
logical and systematic grooves, was strengthened in its bent; and he
acquired that distaste for mysticism and vagueness which is so char-
acteristic of his literary labors. He went so far as to abhor poetry,
the best of which he declared to be false, since it was founded upon
pure invention - and this too in a land which had produced such
noble expressions of the Hebrew and Arab Muse.
It is strange that this man, whose character was that of a sage,
and who was revered for his person as well as for his books, should
have led such an unquiet life, and have written his works so full
of erudition with the staff of the wanderer in his hand. For his
peaceful studies were rudely disturbed in his thirteenth year by the


## p. 9590 (#622) ###########################################

9590
MOSES MAIMONIDES
invasion of the Almohades, or Mohammedan Unitarians, from Africa.
They not only captured Cordova, but set up a form of religious per-
secution which happily is not always characteristic of Islamic piety.
Maimonides's father wandered to Almeria on the coast; and then
(1159) straight into the lion's jaws at Fez in Africa,-a line of conduct
hardly intelligible in one who had fled for the better exercise of the
dictates of conscience. So pressing did the importunities of the Almo-
had fanatics become, that together with his family Maimonides was
compelled to don the turban, and to live for several years the life of
an Arabic Marrano. This blot upon his fair fame—if blot it be - he
tried to excuse in two treatises, which may be looked upon as his
"apologia pro vita sua": one on the subject of conversion in general
(1160), and another addressed to his co-religionists in Southern Arabia
on the coming of the Messiah. But the position was an untenable
one; and in 1165 we find Maimonides again on the road, reaching
Accho, Jerusalem, Hebron, and finally Egypt. Under the milder rule
of the Ayyubite Caliphs, no suppression of his belief was necessary.
Maimonides settled with his brother in old Cairo or Fostat; gaining
his daily pittance, first as a jeweler, and then in the practice of medi-
cine; the while he continued in the study of philosophy and the elab-
oration of the great works upon which his fame reposes. In 1177 he
was recognized as the head of the Jewish community of Egypt, and
soon afterwards was placed upon the list of court physicians to Sala-
din. He breathed his last on December 13th, 1204, and his body was
taken to Tiberias for burial.
Perhaps no fairer presentation of the principles and practices of
Rabbinical Judaism can be cited than that contained in the three
chief works of Maimonides. His clear-cut mind gathered the various
threads which Jewish theology and life had spun since the closing of
the Biblical canon, and wove them into such a fabric that a new
period may fitly be said to have been ushered in. The Mishnah had
become the law-book of the Diaspora: in it was to be found the sys-
tem of ordinances and practices which had been developed up to the
second century A. D. In the scholastic discussions in which the Jew-
ish schoolmen had indulged their wit and their ingenuity, much of
its plain meaning had become obscured. At the age of twenty-three
Maimonides commenced to work upon a commentary to this Mishnah,
which took him seven years to complete. It was written in Arabic,
and very fitly called The Illumination'; for here the philosophic
training of its author was brought to bear upon the dry legal mass,
and to give it life as well as light. The induction of philosophy into
law is seen to even more peculiar advantage in his Mishnah Tōrāh
(Repeated Law). The scholastic discussions upon the Mishnah had in
the sixth century been put into writing, and had become that vast


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MOSES MAIMONIDES
9591
medley of thought, that kaleidoscope of schoolroom life, which is
known by the name of Talmud. Based upon the slender framework
of the Mishnah, the vast edifice had been built up with so little plan
and symmetry that its various ramifications could only be followed
with the greatest difficulty and with infinite exertion. In turn, the
Talmud had supplanted the Mishnah as the rule of life and the direct-
ive of religious observance. Even before the time of Maimonides.
scholars had tried their hand at putting order into this great chaos;
but none of their efforts had proved satisfactory. For ten years
Maimonides worked and produced this digest, in which he arranged
in scientific order all the material which a Jewish jurist and theo-
logian might be called upon to use. Though this digest was received
with delight by the Jews of Spain, many were found who looked upon
Maimonides's work as an attempt to crystallize into unchangeable law
the fluctuating streams of tradition. The same objection was made
to his attempt to formulate into a creed the purely theological ideas
of the Judaism of his day. His 'Thirteen Articles' brought on a war
of strong opposition; and though in the end, the fame of their author
conquered a place for them even in the Synagogue Ritual, they were
never accepted by the entire Jewry. They remained the presentation
of an individual scholar.
But his chief philosophical work, his 'Guide of the Perplexed'
(Dalalat al Hāïrīn), carried him still further; and for centuries fairly
divided the Jewish camp into two parties. The battle between the
Maimonists and anti-Maimonists waged fiercely in Spain and Provence.
The bitterness of the strife is represented in the two inscriptions
which were placed upon his tombstone. The first read:-
"Here lies a man, and still a man;
If thou wert a man, angels of heaven
Must have overshadowed thy mother. "
This was effaced and a second one placed in its stead:
"Here lies Moses Maimuni, the excommunicated heretic. "
In the Guide of the Perplexed' Maimonides has also produced a
work which was "epoch-making" in Jewish philosophy. It is the best
attempt ever made by a Jew to combine philosophy with theology.
Aristotle was known to Maimonides through Al-Farābi and Ibn Sînâ
(Avicenna); and he is convinced that the Stagyrite is to be followed
in certain things, as he is that the Bible must be followed in others.
In fact, there can be no divergence between the two; for both have
the same end in view,-to prove the existence of God. The aim of
metaphysics is to perfect man intellectually; the same aim is at the
core of Talmudic Judaism. Reason and revelation must speak the
―


## p. 9592 (#624) ###########################################

9592
MOSES MAIMONIDES
-
same language; and by a peculiar kind of subtle exegesis – which
provoked much opposition, as it seemed to do violence to the plain
wording - he is able to find his philosophical ideas in the text of
the Bible. But he is careful to limit his acquiescence in Aristotle's
teaching to things which occur below the sphere of the moon. He
was afraid of coming into contact with the foundations of religious
belief, and of having to deny the existence of wonders. The Bible
teaches that matter was created, and the arguments advanced in favor
of both the Platonic and Aristotelian views he looks upon as insuffi-
cient. The Jewish belief that God brought into existence not only the
form but also the matter of the world, Maimonides looks upon much
as an article of faith. The same is true of the belief in a resurrec-
tion. He adduces so little proof for this dogma that the people of
his day were ready to charge him with heresy.
Maimonides is able to present twenty-five ontological arguments
for his belief in the existence, unity, and incorporeality of God. What
strikes one most is the almost colorless conception of the Deity at
which he arrives. In his endeavor to remove the slightest shadow of
corporeality in this conception, he is finally led to deny that any
positive attributes can be posited of God. Such attributes would only
be "accidentia"; and any such "accidentia" would limit the idea
of oneness. Even attributes which would merely show the relation of
the Divine Being to other beings are excluded; because he is so far
removed from things non-Divine, as to make all comparison impossi-
ble. Even existence, when spoken of in regard to him, is not an
attribute. In his school language, the "essentia" of God involves
his "existentia. " We have therefore to rely entirely upon negative
attributes in trying to get a clear concept of the Deity.
If the Deity is so far removed, how then is he to act upon the
world? Maimonides supposes that this medium is to be found in the
world of the spheres. Of these spheres there are nine: "the all-
encompassing sphere, that of the fixed stars, and those of the seven
planets.
" Each sphere is presided over by an intelligence which is
its motive power. These intelligences are called angels, in the Bible.
The highest intelligence is immaterial. It is the nous poiētikós, the
ever-active intellect. It is the power which gives form to all things,
and makes that which was potential really existent. "Prophecy is
an emanation sent forth by the Divine Being through the medium of
the active intellect, in the first instance to man's rational faculty and
then to his imaginative faculty. The lower grade of prophecy comes
by means of dreams, the higher through visions accorded the prophet
in a waking condition. The symbolical actions of the prophets are
nothing more than states of the soul. " High above all the prophets
Maimonides places Moses, to whom he attributes a special power, by


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MOSES MAIMONIDES
9593
means of which the active intellect worked upon him without the
mediation of the imagination.
The psychological parts of the 'Guide' present in a Jewish garb
the Peripatetic philosophy as expounded by Alexander of Aphrodisia.
Reason exists in the powers of the soul, but only potentially as latent
reason (noûs húlikos). It has the power to assimilate immaterial forms
which come from the active reason. It thus becomes acquired or
developed reason (noûs epíktētos); and by still further assimilation it
becomes gradually an entity separable from the body, so that at
death it can live on unattached to the body.
In ethics Maimonides is a strong partisan of the doctrine of the
freedom of the will. No one moves him, no one drives him to cer-
tain actions. He can choose, according to his own inner vision, the
way on which he wishes to walk. Nor does this doctrine involve any
limitation of the Divine power, as this freedom is fully predetermined
by the Deity. But Maimonides must have felt the difficulty of squar-
ing the doctrine of the freedom of the will with that of the omnis-
cience of God; for he intrenches himself behind the statement that
the knowledge of God is so far removed from human knowledge as
to make all comparison impossible. Again, in true Aristotelian style,
Maimonides holds that those actions are to be considered virtuous
which follow the golden mean between the extremes of too much
and too little. The really wise man will always choose this road;
and such wisdom can be learned; by continued practice it can become
part of man's nature. He is most truly virtuous who has reached
this eminence, and who has eliminated from his own being even the
desire to do wrong.
The daring with which Maimonides treated many portions of
Jewish theology did not fail to show its effect immediately after the
publication of the 'Guide. ' His rationalistic notions about revela-
tion, his allegorizing interpretation of Scripture, his apparent want of
complete faith in the doctrine of resurrection, produced among the
Jews a violent reaction against all philosophical inquiry, which lasted
down to the times of the French Revolution. Even non-Jews looked
askance at his system. Abd al-Latif, an orthodox Mohammedan, con-
sidered the 'Guide' "a bad book, which is calculated to undermine the
principles of religion through the very means which are apparently
designed to strengthen them"; and in Catholic Spain the writings of
"Moyses hijo de Maymon Egipnachus" were ordered to be burned.
In Montpellier and in Paris, his own Jewish opponents, not content
with having gotten an edict against the use of the master's writings,
obtained the aid of the Church (for the 'Guide' had been translated
into Latin in the thirteenth century), and had it publicly consigned
to the flames. But all this was only further evidence of the power


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9594
MOSES MAIMONIDES
which Maimonides wielded. The Karaites copied it; the Kabbalah
even tried to claim it as its own. Many who were not of the House
of Israel, as Thomas Aquinas and Albertus Magnus, acknowledged the
debt they owed the Spanish Rabbi; and Spinoza, though in many
places an opponent, shows clearly how carefully he had studied the
'Guide of the Perplexed. '
Gustad Gottheet
EXTRACT FROM MAIMONIDES'S WILL
F
EAR the Lord, but love him also; for fear only restrains a
man from sin, while love stimulates him to good.
Accustom yourselves to habitual goodness; for a man's
character is what habit makes it.
The perfection of the
body is a necessary antecedent to the perfection of the soul; for
health is the key that unlocks the inner chamber. When I bid
you attend to your bodily and moral welfare, my object is to
open for you the gates of heaven.
Measure your words;
for the more your words, the more your errors. Ask for expla-
nations of what you do not understand; but let it be done at a
fitting moment and in fitting language.
Speak in refined
language, in clear utterance and gentle voice. Speak aptly to
the subject, as one who wishes to learn and to find the truth, not
as one whose aim is to quarrel and to conquer.
Learn
in your youth, when your food is prepared by others, while heart
is still free and unincumbered with cares, ere the memory is
weakened. For the time will come when you will be willing to
learn but will be unable. Even if you be able, you will labor
much for little result; for your heart will lag behind your lips,
and when it does keep pace, it will soon forget.
find in the Law or the Prophets or the Sages a hard saying
which you cannot understand, which appears subversive of some
principle of the religion, or altogether absurd, stand fast by your
faith, and attribute the fault to your own want of intelligence.
Despise not your religion because you are unable to understand
one difficult matter.
Love truth and uprightness,- the
If you
·


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MOSES MAIMONIDES
9595
ornaments of the soul, -and cleave to them; prosperity so ob-
tained is built on a sure rock. Keep firmly to your word; let
not a legal contract or witness be more binding than your verbal
promise even privately made. Disdain reservation and subter-
fuges, sharp practices and evasions. Woe to him who builds
his house thereon!
Bring near those that are far off;
humble yourselves to the lowly and show them the light of your
countenance. In your joys make the desolate share, but put no
one to the blush by your gifts.
I have seen the white
become black, the low brought still lower, families driven into
exile, princes deposed from their high estate, cities ruined, as-
semblies dispersed, all on account of quarrelsomeness. Glory in
forbearance, for in that is true strength and victory.
Speech, which distinguishes man from beasts, was a loving gift,
which man uses best in thinking, and thanking and praising God.
Ungraceful should we be to return evil for good, and to utter
slanders or falsehoods.
Eat not excessively or raven-
ously. Work before you eat, and rest afterwards. From a man's
behavior at a public meal you can discern his character. Often
have I returned hungry and thirsty to my house, because I was
afraid when I saw the disgraceful conduct of those around
The total abstinence from wine is good, but I will
not lay this on you as an injunction. Yet break wine's power
with water, and drink it for nourishment, not for mere enjoy-
At gambling the player always loses. Even if
wins money, he is weaving a spider's web round himself.
Dress as well as your means will allow, but spend on
your food less than you can afford.
Honor your wives,
for they are your honor. Withhold not discipline from them, and
let them not rule over you.
me.
ment.
.
·
FROM THE GUIDE OF THE PERPLEXED'
A PROOF OF THE UNITY OF GOD
IT
HAS been demonstrated by proof that the whole existing
world is one organic body, all parts of which are connected
together; also, that the influences of the spheres above per-
vade the earthly substance and prepare it for its forms. Hence
it is impossible to assume that one deity be engaged in forming


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9596
MOSES MAIMONIDES
one part, and another deity in forming another part, of that
organic body of which all parts are closely connected together.
A duality could only be imagined in this way: either that at
one time the one deity is active, the other at another time; or
that both act simultaneously, nothing being done except by both
together. The first hypothesis is certainly absurd, for many
reasons: if at the time the one deity be active the other could
also be active, there is no reason why one deity should then act
and the other not; if on the other hand it be impossible for the
one deity to act when the other is at work, there must be some
other cause [besides these deities] which [at a certain time]
enables the one to act and disables the other. [Such differ-
ence would not be caused by time,] since time is without change,
and the object of the action likewise remains one and the same
organic whole. Besides, if two deities existed in this way, both
would be subject to the relations of time, since their actions
would depend on time; they would also in the moment of act-
ing pass from potentiality to actuality, and require an agent for
such transition; their essence would besides include possibility
[of existence]. It is equally absurd to assume that both together
produce everything in existence, and that neither of them does
anything alone; for when a number of forces must be united for
a certain result, none of these forces acts of its own accord, and
none is by itself the immediate cause of that result, but their
union is the immediate cause. It has furthermore been proved
that the action of the Absolute cannot be due to a [an external]
cause. The union is also an act which presupposes a cause
effecting that union, and if that cause be one, it is undoubtedly
God; but if it also consists of a number of separate forces, a
cause is required for the combination of these forces, as in the
first case. Finally, one simple being must be arrived at, that is
the cause of the existence of the universe, which is one whole;
it would make no difference whether we assumed that the First
Cause had produced the universe by creatio ex nihilo, or whether
the universe co-existed with the First Cause. It is thus clear
how we
can prove the Unity of God from the fact that this
universe is one whole.


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MOSES MAIMONIDES
9597
AN ARGUMENT CONCERNING THE INCORPOREALITY OF GOD
EVERY corporeal object is composed of matter and form (Prop.
xxii. ); every compound of these two elements requires an agent
for effecting their combination. Besides, it is evident that a body
is divisible and has dimensions; a body is thus undoubtedly sub-
ject to accidents. Consequently nothing corporeal can be a unity,
because everything corporeal is either divisible or a compound,
- that is to say, it can logically be analyzed into two elements;
for a body can only be said to be a certain body when the dis-
tinguishing element is added to the corporeal substratum, and
must therefore include two elements: but it has been proved
that the Absolute admits of no dualism whatever.
Among those who believe in the existence of God, there are
found three different theories as regards the question whether
the universe is eternal or not.
First Theory. - Those who follow the Law of Moses our
teacher hold that the whole universe (i. e. , everything except God)
has been brought by him into existence out of non-existence.
In the beginning God alone existed, and nothing else; neither
angels, nor spheres, nor the things that are contained within the
spheres existed. He then produced from nothing all existing
things such as they are, by his will and desire. Even time itself
is among the things created; for time depends on motion,—
i. e. , on an accident in things which move,—and the things upon
whose motion time depends are themselves created beings, which
have passed from non-existence into existence. We say that God
existed before the creation of the universe, although the verb
"existed" appears to imply the notion of time; we also believe
that he existed an infinite space of time before the universe was
created: but in these cases we do not mean time in its true sense.
We only use the term to signify something analogous or similar
to time. For time is undoubtedly an accident, and according to
our opinion, one of the created accidents, like blackness and
whiteness; it is not a quality, but an accident connected with
motion. This must be clear to all who understand what Aris-
totle has said on time and its real existence.
Second Theory. -The theory of all philosophers whose opin-
ions and works are known to us is this: It is impossible to
assume that God produced anything from nothing, or that he
reduces anything to nothing; that is to say, it is impossible that


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9598
MOSES MAIMONIDES
an object consisting of matter and form should be produced
when that matter is absolutely absent, or that it should be
destroyed in such a manner that that matter be absolutely no
longer in existence. To say of God that he can produce a thing
from nothing or reduce a thing to nothing is, according to
the opinion of these philosophers, the same as if we were to say
that he could cause one substance to have at the same time
two opposite properties, or produce another being like himself, or
change himself into a body, or produce a square the diagonal of
which should be equal to its side, or similar impossibilities. The
philosophers thus believe that it is no defect in the Supreme
Being that he does not produce impossibilities, for the nature of
that which is impossible is constant; it does not depend on the
action of an agent, and for this reason it cannot be changed.
Similarly there is, according to them, no defect in the greatness
of God when he is unable to produce a thing from nothing,
because they consider this as one of the impossibilities. They
therefore assume that a certain substance has coexisted with
God from eternity, in such a manner that neither God existed
without that substance nor the latter without God. But they do
not hold that the existence of that substance equals in rank that
of God; for God is the cause of that existence, and the substance
is in the same relation to God as the clay is to the potter, or
the iron to the smith: God can do with it what he pleases; at
one time he forms of it heaven and earth, at another time he
forms some other thing. Those who hold this view also assume
that the heavens are transient; that they came into existence
though not from nothing, and may cease to exist although they
cannot be reduced to nothing. They are transient in the same
manner as the individuals among living beings, which are pro-
duced from some existing substance that remains in existence.
The process of genesis and destruction is, in the case of the
heavens, the same as in that of earthly beings.
Third Theory. -—Viz. , that of Aristotle, his followers and com-
mentators. Aristotle maintains, like the adherents of the second
theory, that a corporeal object cannot be produced without a cor-
poreal substance. He goes further, however, and contends that
the heavens are indestructible. For he holds that the universe
in its totality has never been different, nor will it ever change:
the heavens, which form the permanent element in the universe,
and are not subject to genesis and destruction, have always been


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MOSES MAIMONIDES
9599
so; time and motion are eternal, permanent, and have neither
beginning nor end; the sublunary world, which includes the tran-
sient elements, has always been the same, because the materia
prima is itself eternal, and merely combines successively with
different forms,- when one form is removed another is assumed.
This whole arrangement, therefore, both above and here below, is
never disturbed or interrupted; and nothing is produced contrary
to the laws or the ordinary course of Nature.
He further says —
though not in the same terms that he considers it impossible
for God to change his will or conceive a new desire; that God
produced this universe in its totality by his will, but not from
nothing. Aristotle finds it as impossible to assume that God
changes his will or conceives a new desire as to believe that
he is non-existing or that his essence is changeable. Hence it
follows that this universe has always been the same in the past,
and will be the same eternally.
-
THE OBJECT OF LAW
THE general object of the Law is twofold: the well-being of
the soul and the well-being of the body. The well-being of the
soul is promoted by correct opinions communicated to the people
according to their capacity. Some of these opinions are there-
fore imparted in a plain form, others allegorically; because certain
opinions are in their plain form too strong for the capacity of
the common people. The well-being of the body is established
by a proper management of the relations in which we live one
to another. This we can attain in two ways: first by removing
all violence from our midst; that is to say, that we do not do
every one as he pleases, desires, and is able to do, but every one
of us does that which contributes towards the common welfare.
Secondly, by teaching every one. of us such good morals as must
produce a good social state.
Of these two objects, the former-the well-being of the soul,
or the communication of correct opinions-comes undoubtedly
first in rank; but the other-the well-being of the body, the gov-
ernment of the State, and the establishment of the best possible
relations among men- is anterior in nature and time. The lat-
ter object is required first; it is also treated [in the Law] most
carefully and most minutely, because the well-being of the soul
can only be obtained after that of the body has been secured.


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9600
MOSES MAIMONIDES
For it has always been found that man has a double perfection:
the first perfection is that of the body, and the second perfec-
tion is that of the soul. The first consists in the most healthy
condition of his material relations, and this is only possible
when man has all his wants supplied as they arise: if he has
his food and other things needful for his body,-e. g. , shelter,
bath, and the like. But one man alone cannot procure all this;
it is impossible for a single man to obtain this comfort; it is only
possible in society, since man, as is well known, is by nature
social.
The second perfection of man consists in his becoming an
actually intelligent being; i. e. , when he knows about the things
in existence all that a person perfectly developed is capable of
knowing. This second perfection certainly does not include any
action or good conduct, but only knowledge, which is arrived at
by speculation or established by research.
It is clear that the second and superior kind of perfection can
only be attained when the first perfection has been acquired; for
a person that is suffering from great hunger, thirst, heat, or cold,
cannot grasp an idea even if communicated by others, much less
can he arrive at it by his own reasoning. But when a person is
in possession of the first perfection, then he may possibly acquire
the second perfection, which is undoubtedly of a superior kind,
and is alone the source of eternal life. The true Law, which as
we said is one, and beside which there is no other Law,— viz. ,
the Law of our teacher Moses,-has for its purpose to give us
the twofold perfection. It aims first at the establishment of good
mutual relations among men, by removing injustice and creating
the noblest feelings. In this way the people in every land are
enabled to stay and continue in one condition, and every one can
acquire his first perfection. Secondly, it seeks to train us in
faith, and to impart correct and true opinions when the intellect
is sufficiently developed. Scripture clearly mentions the twofold
perfection, and tells us that its acquisition is the object of all
Divine commandments. Cf. "And the Lord commanded us to
do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good
always, that he might preserve us alive this day" (Deut. vi. 24).
Here the second perfection is first mentioned because it is of
greater importance; being, as we have shown, the ultimate aim
of man's existence. This perfection is expressed in the phrase
"for our good always. " You know the interpretation of our


## p. 9601 (#633) ###########################################

MOSES MAIMONIDES
9601
sages: "that it may be well with thee' (ibid. , xxii. 7),—
namely, in the world that is all good; and thou mayest prolong
thy days' (ibid. ),—i. e. , in the world that is all eternal. " In the
same sense I explain the words "for our good always" to mean
"that we may come into the world that is all good and eternal,
where we may live permanently"; and the words "that he might
preserve us alive this day" I explain as referring to our first and
temporal existence, to that of our body, which cannot be in a
perfect and good condition except by the co-operation of society,
as has been shown by us.
TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
AFTER a man has acquired the true knowledge of God, it
must be his aim to surrender his whole being to him and to have
his heart constantly filled with longing after him. Our intellect-
ual power, which emanates directly from God, joins us to him.
You have it in your power to strengthen that bond, or to weaken
it until it breaks. It will be strengthened if you love God above
all other things, and weakened if you prefer other things to him.
All religious acts, such as the reading of Scripture, praying, and
performing of ordinances, are only means to fill our mind with
the thought of God and free it from worldliness. If however
we pray with the motion of our lips and our face toward the
wall, but think all the while of our business; read the Law, and
think of the building of our house; perform ceremonies with our
limbs only, whilst our hearts are far from God,-then there is
no difference between these acts and the digging of the ground
or the hewing of wood.
SUPERFLUOUS THINGS
THE Soul, when accustomed to superfluous things, acquires a
strong habit of desiring others which are neither necessary for
the preservation of the individual nor for that of the species.
This desire is without limit; whilst things which are necessary
are few and restricted within certain bounds. Lay this well to
heart, reflect on it again and again: that which is superfluous is
without end, and therefore the desire for it also without limit.
Thus you desire to have your vessels of silver, but gold vessels
are still better; others have even vessels studded with sapphires,
emeralds, or rubies. Those therefore who are ignorant of this
XVI-601


## p. 9602 (#634) ###########################################

9602
MOSES MAİMONIDES
truth, that the desire for superfluous things is without limit, are
constantly in trouble and pain. They expose themselves to great
dangers by sea voyages or in the service of kings. When they
thus meet with the consequences of their course, they complain of
the judgments of God; they go so far as to say that God's power
is insufficient, because he has given to this universe the proper-
ties which they imagine cause these evils.
EVIL THINGS CONTRASTED WITH GOOD THINGS
MEN frequently think that the evils in the world are more
numerous than the good things; many sayings and songs of the
nations dwell on this idea. They say that the good is found only
exceptionally, whilst evil things are numerous and lasting. The
origin of this error is to be found in the circumstance that men
judge of the whole universe by examining one single person,
believing that the world exists for that one person only. If
anything happens to him contrary to his expectation, forthwith
they conclude that the whole universe is evil. All mankind at
present in existence form only an infinitesimal portion of the per-
manent universe. It is of great advantage that man should know
his station. Numerous evils to which persons are exposed are
due to the defects existing in the persons themselves. We seek
relief from our own faults; we suffer from evils which we inflict
on ourselves; and we ascribe them to God, who is far from con-
nected with them. As Solomon explained it, "The foolishness of
man perverteth his way, and his heart fretteth against the Lord"
(Prov. xix. 3).
THOUGHT OF SINS
THERE is a well-known saying of our sages: "The thoughts
about committing a sin are a greater evil than the sin itself. "
I can offer a good explanation of this strange dictum. When a
person is disobedient, this is due to certain accidents connected
with the corporal element in his constitution; for man sins only
by his animal nature, whereas thinking is a faculty connected
with his higher and essential being. A person who thinks sinful
thoughts, sins therefore by means of the nobler portion of his
self; just as he who causes an ignorant slave to work unjustly,
commits a lesser wrong than he who forces a free man or a
prince to do menial labor. That which forms the true nature of


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MOSES MAIMONIDES
9603
man, with all its properties and powers, should only be employed
in suitable work,- in endeavoring to join higher beings,— and
not to sink to the condition of lower creatures.
LOW SPEECH CONDEMNED
You know we condemn lowness of speech, and justly so; for
the gift of speech is peculiar to man, and a boon which God
granted to him, that he may be distinguished from the rest of
living creatures. This gift, therefore, which God gave us in
order to enable us to perfect ourselves, to learn and to teach,
must not be employed in doing that which is for us most degrad-
ing and disgraceful. We must not imitate the songs and tales of
ignorant and lascivious people. It may be suitable to them, but
it is not fit for those who are told "And ye shall be unto me
a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation" (Ex. xix. 6).
CONTROL BODILY DESIRES
MAN must have control over all bodily desires. He must
reduce them as much as possible, and only retain of them as
much as is indispensable.