The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Introduction
• A Note On the Text
• Acknowledgments
• The Present State of Germany
• Pufendorf’s Preface to the First Edition of 1667 1
• Preface to the Second Edition (1706) 1
• A Letter of Monsieur Mézeray Concerning the Manuscript On the State of the German Empire, Written to a Bookseller of Paris. 1
• To the Reader
• Chapter I: Of the Origine of the German Empire.
• Chapter II: Of the Members of Which the Present German Empire Is Composed .
• Chapter III: Of the Origine of the States of the Empire, and By What Degrees [ Stages ] They Arrived to That Power They Now Have.
• Chapter IV: Of the Head of the German Empire, the Emperor; and of the Election and the Electors .
• Chapter V: Of the Power of the Emperor, As It Now Stands Limited By Treaties; and the Laws and Customs of the Empire; and the Rights of the States of Germany.
• Chapter VI: Of the Form of the German Empire. 1
• Chapter VII: Of the Strength and Diseases of the German Empire.
• Chapter VIII: [of the German State-interest.] a

Edmund Bohun’s translation of Pufendorf’s De statu Imperii Germanici was issued twice: first by an anonymous “person of quality” in 1690 and then with Bohun’s name in 1696.1 Except for their title pages, the two versions appear exactly the same. The 1696 version, which is reissued here, repeats the licensure page of the earlier printing, with its date of January 31, 1689/90, as well as the prefatory “To the Reader” dated January 24, 1689. Moreover, the table of contents, shoulder (margin) titles and notes, pagination, first and last words on each page, the lack of an index—even Bohun’s textual insertions (especially in chapters VII and VIII), which update, expand, or comment on (thus, “continue”) Pufendorf’s account—all are the same. Neither printing indicates which of the numerous Latin “first” editions since 1667 Bohun used as the basis of his translation. In checking its accuracy, I have consulted one of the 1667 printings (viz., the fourth “Geneva” edition) and also the text issued by Fritz Salomon in 1910, which is based on the very first “Geneva” edition.2

When Pufendorf prepared the second edition, which was finished in the early 1690s shortly before his death, he made significant changes in the text. This posthumous edition (editio posthuma, or e.p.) was not published until 1706 by J.= P. Gundling3 and was therefore unavailable to Bohun. However, because of the importance of these emendations for an understanding of Pufendorf’s development, I have included them in this Liberty Fund edition, thus complementing Bohun’s translation with my own renditions of the new material. Indeed, the editio posthuma’s many excisions, additions, and revisions (some quite lengthy) made it a thorough reworking of the original text rather than a mere republication with touch-ups. This complicates the identification of variants by requiring judgments of significance. For these I have also relied on Salomon, who reproduced the first edition and indicated (more extensively than Denzer [Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, ed. Denzer, 1994]) the variations of the second. However, in all such instances, I have directly compared Salomon’s text with Gundling’s editio posthuma as well.

The Monzambano, as Pufendorf’s work came to be called, was translated into French4 and German soon after its appearance. One of these early German translations has been reissued recently in a bilingual edition by Notker Hammerstein, in volume 16 of the series Bibliothek der Geschichte und Politik (Reinhart Koselleck, general editor).5 The editio posthuma received an early eighteenth-century German translation by Petronius Adlemansthal (i.e., Peter Dahlmann), which is notable mainly for its accompanying life of Pufendorf (“Vita, fama, et fata literaria Pufendorfiana”) and its detailed account of the fierce polemic generated by Pufendorf’s work (“Historie von dem wunderlichen Lärmen und Tumult welcher in der gelehrten Welt dieses Buchs wegen entstanden”).6 The nineteenth century saw two more German translations, by Harry Breßlau (1870) and by Heinrich Dove (1877), the latter also using the editio posthuma as its base text.7 More recently, Horst Denzer has provided another parallel edition with a new German translation and the most significant e.p. variants. This appeared first in 1976 (with Reclam) and was reissued in 1994 as volume 4 of Insel Verlag’s Bibliothek des Deutschen Staatsdenkens (Hans Maier and Michael Stolleis, general editors).8 It remains the most accessible edition and translation of Pufendorf’s Monzambano and has done much to redirect attention to the work.

As noted, although Bohun’s 1690/1696 text did not include them, I have added Pufendorf’s important preface to the first (1667) edition, wherein he (as Monzambano/Samuel) dedicates the work to his brother (Laelius/Esaias), and the second preface to the editio posthuma (1706), even though it may be by someone else. The latter includes a short assessment of the work by François Eudes de Mézeray (1610–83), official French historiographer (after 1648) and secretary of the Académie Française (1675),9 who had been approached for his opinion by the Paris printer to whom Esaias Pufendorf first brought the manuscript to be published. Like the other editio posthuma insertions, these pieces appear here in English for the first time.

In general, Bohun’s translation is loose, his choice of terminology insufficiently consistent and attentive to philosophical and political nuance, and his understanding of Pufendorf and the German context in which Monzambano first appeared quite limited. His royalist inclinations are evident throughout, not only in the selection of terms (“princes,” “kingdom,” “rabble,” etc., for “estates,” “empire,” “common people,” etc.) but also in the occasional tendency to complete, color, or emend—according to his own views.10 The translation is hasty, often lazily stacking subordinate clauses in the same order as the Latin (where the practice is less unwieldy), occasionally omitting phrases or clauses, and sometimes translating the same term differently in the same paragraph. Moreover, careless rendition of crucial prepositions or conjunctions sometimes obscures the logic of the original. On the other hand, Bohun often gets it right, and he can be quite sharp in capturing the meaning of the Latin. His intention was to further an English audience’s general acquaintance with the Germany that had recently (1688) assisted William III in acquiring the English throne, and whose affairs would involve England in continental wars for at least another decade. This simply did not require the precision of a work within the German natural law and public law contexts.

Therefore, as with all translations, caution must be exercised when resting an interpretation or argument on specific language, and the Latin original should be consulted.11 Also, when quoting from the current reprint, it seems advisable either to use Bohun’s original wording as is or else to quote the emended or alternative translation provided in the text or footnotes. Of course, either policy should be clearly noted.

CHAPTER VIII

[Of the German State-Interest.]a

The Remedies of these Diseases enquired into.1. |[I suppose by this time it is sufficiently shewn, how many and great the Diseases of Germany are; to assign the Remedies is a Work of [much] greater difficulty, and which will [would] not become a Stranger and a Traveller, if the Humanity of the German Nation were not so great, that she is apter to [trust and admire Foreigners than her own Natives].b I hope too all wise men will easily pardon the innocent [harmless] Freedom of a Man who has no Attachment to any of the contending Parties, and who, next the Prosperity [preservation] of his own Country, wisheth nothing more than [the Prosperity and Welfare of the honest German Nation].c But before I discover my mind in this Affair, I think it is fit [worthwhile] to consider [briefly] the Remedies proposed by [the aforementioned] Hippolithus a Lapide, [for the Cure of the German Calamities];a for though many men have admired his Prescriptions, yet I have ever thought they were ill contrived[, and not likely to contribute to her Cure]⁺.]|b <187>

The Remedies of Hyppolithus a Lapide examined.2. In the first place he prescribes [announces] Six Laws,1 which he calls the Interests of such a State, and saith, They ought [carefully]⁺ to be observed in a [form of] State like to that of Germany, that is, in an Aristocrasie, where the Supreme Soveraign Power is in the [States, or]⁺ great men [optimates], and nothing left to the Emperor [principe], but the Pomps and Images of a King: So (said he) they ought,Six Rules by him prescribed to the Princes of Germany. (1.)c To study the waies and means of Concord, and to avoid Factions, (2.) Not to suffer the Imperial Dignity to continue long in any one Family, lest by the long use of these Pomps and Images, a desire of acquiring a solid and real Soveraignty should grow up in them. (3.) Though the [principate, and with it the] Power of directing and moderating the Offices [functions] of all the Parts to the Common Good is conferr’d upon a [Prince or]⁺ Single Person, for the greater union of the Commonwealth; yet the Nobility [proceribus] ought alwaies to keep the Stern [helm] of the State in their own hands, and the Power of directing and ordering the things of great moment, [is] to be exercised in the Diet, which ought [for this reason] to convene frequently; or at least they ought to appoint some Senate [or Counsel]⁺, which shall be perpetual; which kind of Regiment was in use in the beginning of the last Age [century] before this. (4.) That nothing but the Ensigns [symbols] of Royalty be left to the Prince, but that the [Regal Jurisdiction]a and Power be reserved entire to the Commonwealth [Reipublicae]. (5.) That neither the Life, Fortunes, <188> or Fames of [any of the Princes be trusted to the single Justice or]b Discretion of the Emperor. (6.) That neither the Army, Militia, or Forts, be under his single Jurisdiction or Government.

After this he takes great pains to shew in how many particulars these Laws are violated by the Emperor, and some of the States themselves, being very sharp in his Reflections on [criticism of] the House of Austria, and on some also of the Electors. Now, though these Laws were not wholly to be despised, yet seeing I have above [sufficiently]⁺ proved, that Germany is no Aristocrasie, it is a folly to think the Safety of Germany is only to be found in the observation of these Laws.2

Six Remedies prescribed by that Author rejected.3. The same Author [then] prescribes Six Remedies for the curing [all]⁺ the Diseases of Germany. (1.)c [First,] he recommends the Study of [a striving after] Concord, and a General Pardon [amnesty], and a removing all Grievances by which mutual Hatreds are kept alive and nourished [in the minds of the Princes against each other]⁺; and that they should not divide into Factions on the account of [differences of] Religion, and for that cause neglect the Publick Safety [welfare]. This Remedy affords a Copious Subject for a Scholastick Declamation, but can never be applied to the use of Germany, till all the Nobility [leading men] of that Nation {happen to be wise and good, and} <learn> to govern the Motions of their Minds [exactly] by Rules of Philosophy.

(2.) In the next place, he would have the House <189> of Austria extirpated, and their Estates [bona] brought into the Common [Imperial] Treasury. Now this is the Advice of a Hangman, and not of a Physician: As if every one that happeneth to be a little too rich[, for his Neighbour’s advantage,]⁺ were presently to be rooted out and destroyed [from off the face of the Earth]⁺: But suppose we should obey [the Tyrannical Law],a who will dare to lay the Ax to the Root of a Tree, which has spread its Branches over so many Provinces [lands], [so that it is not for the Interest of Europe to have all its Territories added to those of any one or two other Princes]?b [Besides,]⁺ a part of the Princes [leading men] of Germany are heartily united in their Interest and Affections to this House; a great many [of the rest neither love nor]c hate it; and the rest [of the Princes, when united, are not]d able to overthrow that vast Fabrick [colossus]. They must [then call Foreigners to their assistance],e and who, I pray, but the French and Swedes? For when Hippolithus wrote this Book, those Nations were zealously at work to do this, and the Ignorant much applauded them, because they craftily pretended to defend the German Liberty, which was oppress’d by the House of Austria. But [was it civil to expect they should take so much Pains, and spend so many Men, and so much Money for nothing?]f Nor [was there to]g be found any Lord Treasurer; who would faithfully bring this Prey [booty] into the Treasury. Wise men more rationally conceive [prophesy], <190> that if [they had prospered in their undertakings against the House of Austria, the Princes of Germany would have been forced to]h take up the old Complaint of [Aesop’s]⁺ Froggs, who instead of a Block had got a Stork for their King:3

[And when the House of Austria had been ruined, Germany must have had]a an Head, and therefore our Author would have another Emperor elected, whom from his common Place-book he adorns with the attendance and splendor of all the Virtues, [only that he might be trusted with]b an empty Title, being destitute of all Regal Power, and appointed to be a meer Director [directoris] and a Magistrate. Now, there may be some use of such a President [praeses] or Director in some Aristocratick City [civitate], where the Nobility [leading men] all live within the Walls of the same Town [urbe]: But as for Germany, if he would have spoke [his mind out],c he ought to have said, that it has no need of any Emperor.

[Our Author, after all, has taken care to add as much to the Exchequer of his Emperor, as he has taken from his Power. It was great pity so great a Prince, so virtuous a Man, should live in want. But yet]d the Dominions of the House of Austria were [are] to be employed as the Patrimony of the Empire, and if this was [is] not sufficient, then he would needs have the Electors restore what had been given [or assured] them by Charles IV.4 But [in the mean time,]⁺ this Learned Gentleman seems to know nothing of the nature <191> and temper of Mankind, who thinks that a Prince [someone] who is possessed of so much Power [wealth] as thesee are, will [in the turn of an Hand]⁺ be contentedly reduced to [the state of a private Gentleman];f and when the House of Austria is once dead and buried, [these Electors will be much less]g disposed to part with what they have possessed [without challenge] above 300 years. For besides that, Princes are so dull, that they cannot possibly understand the Doctrine of their Confessors, when they prate to them about restoring ill-gotten Estates; the Electors have here something to say for themselves against all the other States;a for I will suppose that very many of them [the latter] must return to very mean Cottages [or Country-houses]⁺, if they be equally bound to give an exact account how they [and their Ancestors]⁺ got what they now enjoy. And therefore ’tis but just, that all men should possess what they [and their Predecessors]⁺ have a long time possessed.

In the 4th. place, Hippolitus would have a mutual Confidence restored amongst the States [and Princes]⁺, and all Distrust eradicated; which, he supposeth, would certainly follow, if all Grievances [and Injuries were taken away by a friendly Composition; and he thinks the greatest part of these Jealousies have arisen from the different Religions professed in the Empire].b |[Now, when these things had been considered in the first Article, what need was there to repeat them here?]|c

What he <192> further saith of [settling the Civil]d Government, [of convoking diets for important matters,]e of taking away the Chamber at Vienna, of maintaining a [considerable Army in perpetual Pay, of settling a Revenue for the Army and War, of employing the Annats to that purpose],f shall all of them be considered in the following Sections.

The Author’s own Remedies proposed.4. |[It is time now to produce our own Remedies [ointment jars], that it may be tried, whether we are more fortunate in discovering what may abate the German Feaver, and please them [the Germans] too at the same time. I know proffered Advice is seldom well resented [received],a and wise men [undoubtedly] would never counsel any man to offer unasked Remedies to those that are sick, because [they that are invited and hired too for that purpose,]b are often forced to endure the Reproaches of their angry Patients. [Private men do very rarely meet with any other Reward than that of Contempt and Scorn],c when they presume to give Advice to [those that govern others].d [Besides, they will ever pretend],e when the [state’s] Disease is once found out, it is very easie to discover the Cure also. Yet after all, lest this small Piece should end [abruptly and imperfectly],f I will here subjoin a few things.

I lay this as a Foundation to all I shall propose, viz. That the depraved state of Germany is become so inveterate and remediless, that it cannot be reduced back to the state of a Regular Monarchy, without the utter Ruin of the Nation and Government [totius Reipublicae]. But then, seeing it comes very near to the <193> state [status] of aThe German Government nearest to a System of States.System of several Independent States united by a League or Confederacy, the safest course it can possibly take [for its preservation], is to follow those methods which the Writers of Politicks have prescribed for the [well-governing such Societies],g the first of which is, That they should rather be sollicitous to preserve their own [possessions], than think of [taking any thing from their Neighbors].h

[Their next greatest care]i is to preserve Peace at home [internal concord].]|j And to that end it is absolutely necessary to preserve every one in the Possession of his own Rights, and not to suffer any of the stronger [Princes]⁺ to oppress any of the weaker, that so, though they are, as to [other things],a not equal, yet in the point of Liberty they may be all equal each to other, and alike secured; that all old out-dated Pretences should be buried in eternal forgetfulness, and every one for the future be suffered quietly to enjoy what he now possesseth. |[That all new Controversies which may happen to arise, should be referr’d to the Arbitrement of the other Allies [in the League]⁺, who are neither byassed by Love nor Hatred; and those that refused to submit to their Judgment, should be compell’d to do it by all the rest of the Confederates.

And if it be thought fit to appoint a Prince over this System [of allies], great care must be taken, that he [doth not take into his Hands, or pretend at least to a direct]b Soveraignty over them. [That the]c best way to prevent this, is to take care <194> that neither the strong places nor the Souldiery may depend on that Prince. That he is not only to be bounded by certain and accurated Laws [in his Administration]⁺, but [a perpetual Council to be assigned him, which may represent the States, and govern those Affairs with him, which every day happen in the Administration of the Publick Affairs, according to the Laws enacted in the Diets].a That all Foreign Affairs, which concern the whole Body of the Empire [state], should be likewise committed to this Council, who shall [give an account of them to their Principals, that at last they may be determined by the general Consent of all the Parties].b And when any difficult Affairs arise, let this Council have a Power to summon extraordinary Diets, which to the end they may be held with the less expences, and dispatch business the more quickly, [there ought to be a new and more certain form of Proceedings thought of]:c

But then it doth not seem very probable, that the Family of Austria will suffer such a Council to be introduced, because they [will ever labour to keep their Power above controul].d Nor will the Present State of Germany [res Germanicae] permit theThe Empire cannot be transferred to another Family. transferring the Imperial Dignity into another House, as long as there is any Male [offspring] in that of Austria. Therefore their Modesty is to be wrought on, to perswade them to be content with their present Grandeur [might], and not to labour to establish a Soveraign <195> Authority over the [rest of the States and Princes].e And it will become the Princes [Estates] manfully, and with united Hands and Hearts, to oppose and resist all such Encroachments, which tend to their prejudice, and in the first place, to take care that none may league with one another, or with [the Princes of the Empire],f against any of the Members of it; [and if they do so, to render all such Combinations ineffectual; and if any Princes have any Controversie with each other],a to take all the Care [that] is possible, that Germany may not be by that means involved in a War:

But in the first place, Care ought to be taken]|,b that Foreigners may not intermeddle with the Affairs of Germany, nor [possess themselves of the least]c Particle of it; [to that end all waies that are possible are to be considered, that they that border on Germany may not have the opportunity of enlarging their Kingdoms which they so passionately desire, by ravishing its Provinces from it one after another, till their Conquests, like a Gangreen, creep into the very Bowels of the Empire].d If any thing of this nature happen [appears] to be attempted, let Germany presently take the Alarm, provide her Defences, and seek the Alliance and Assistance of those whose Interest it [also] is to keep [any one Kingdom]a from mounting to too great and exorbitant a Power.5

|[And then [Besides], as long as Germany is contented with the defending what is her own, she will <196> have no [great] need to maintain any [standing or, especially,] very numerous Armies, yet she ought in due time to concert [agree about] the Numbers that every one shall send, in case of necessity: And Germany may, from her Neighbour the Swedes, learn the methods of maintaining an Army in the times of Peace with [very] small Expence, which yet shall be ready when occasion serves, at short warning, to draw into the Field for her defence.]|b

[End of editio posthuma]6

The Opinions of some great men, the different5. [Now it were very easie for wise and good men to find out all I have said, and all besides which can be necessary for the Safety of Germany, if they pleased calmly to apply their minds to it, who have the chief handReligions in Germany. in the Government:]a But then, seeing the greatest part of the World think the Differences of Religion the principal Causes of the Distraction and Division of the Empire [Germany], it will well become the Liberty I have taken in this [small] piece to shew [in a few words] what [certain] wise men have said of this thing in my company; for I am not so well acquainted with Church-affairs [theological matters], as to [be able to] interpose my own Judgment [thereon], and therefore I think it will be less [liable to Exception],b to represent the Thoughts of others than my own, [which I submit, &c.]c

When I was once at Cologne, with the most Reverend and Illustrious [Apostolic] Nuncio [of the Holy See]⁺, [whom I had come to see with several others] to pay him my respects, I happened [among other things] to say, That I could not [yet sufficiently] understand the [true]⁺ reason of the great Dissentions in Germany, on the Subject of Religion, whereas [since] in Holland [the Belgian confederation],d <197> where I had lately been,7 there was no such thing, and yet there men had the utmost liberty to think and believe as they themselves pleased. For there every man was intent upon his own Trade and Business, and not at all concern’d of what Religion his Neighbour was.

Upon this an Illustrious Person, who had spent a great part of his Life in the Courts [of several Princes]⁺, but was now retired to live a very private life [otium], begged the Nuncio’s Leave to speak his own mind freely, which being granted: “Since (said he) that travelling Gentleman has mentioned a thing I have very long and seriously thought on, I will now discover what I take to be the most probable cause of this thing, we being now at good leisure, and I am well resolved not to approve my own former Thoughts on this Affair, [if your Eminence should happen to dislike them].”a After this beginning, [at a distance from our present times, he]b shewed how many Heresies had, from the beginning, afflicted and distracted [fragmented] the Church of Christ [res Christiana], the greatest part of which, in process of time, vanished of their own accord. But then[, he said,] there had hardly happened any Schism, that had [spread so far, and ruin’d so many private Families and]c whole Kingdoms as this, which in the last Century arose here in Germany; and was occasion’d by some few Doctors [of that Nation]⁺: There were great Wits on both sides, and [but] <198> they [also] contended against each other with the most furious Passions [hatreds], and to this day there [is not the least]d hope of putting an end to this [dreadful] Quarrel. It is [to no purpose]e to enquire into the secret causes of this Affair, as far as Fate or Providence are concern’d; but it will [did] not misbecome my [his] Profession [ordinis], [he said,] to discourse of the Nature and Temper of Mankind[, as far as the condition of reason allows].

Contempt and Loss exasperates men greatly.6. “It is (saith he)f apparent, that two things above all others exasperate and enrage the Minds of Men, Contempt and Loss [deprivation of advantages]. As to the first of these, I would not be understood here to speak of that Contempt by which the Reputation [existimatio] and Good Name of a Man is directly [oppressed and]⁺ trodden under foot, but of that which every [ordinary man]a thinks is thrown upon him, when another shall but presume to differ from him in any thing; for the Minds of Men are generally infected with this [foolish and unreasonable Distemper]:b And it is hateful to them, to find another disposed not only to contradict, but even to disagree with them in any thing; for he that doth not [presently]⁺ consent to what another saith, [doth tacitely accuse]c him of being[, as to that particular,]⁺ in an Error; and he that differeth [vigorously] in many things from any man, seems to insinuate that he is a Fool.8

This Disease [haunts the sedentary]d part of Mankind, above all others, who are [educated in the Schools, and wholly taken up <199> with solitary Speculations, and consequently not overwell acquainted with the World].e He that shall not reverence all this melancholy man has embraced as an Oracle, is presently his deadly Enemy. Nor was the War between the Romans and Carthaginians, for the Empire of the World, managed [waged] with greater heat than that which we have [often] seen between some of the Learned World [literatos], about some few Syllables or [other] small Distinctions.

An equal, nay, a greater Fury [has taken possession of the Churchmen],f (the Nuncio having [in the beginning of his Discourse promised him the utmost Freedom].)g For whilst [since] every Sect of them [singuli] believes it has God on their side, if any man differeth from them [their opinions] in any thing, besides the affront [injuriam] offered to their [spurned] Authority, they are [also] for accusing him forthwith of Impiety, [Contempt of the Heavenly Truth, Obstinacy, and Unwillingness to be brought over by another from a manifest Error]:a And yet, [in the mean time,]⁺ it is a wonder, that they which [pretend to]⁺ teach others the utmost Clemency and Goodness [kindliness] of the Christian Religion, should [not observe what horrid Passions they carry about them].b Or, let them shew me some other sort of men, more ambitious, covetous, envious, angry, stubborn, and [selfish than they, if this is possible,]⁺ who [make so much of themselves and their opinions that,] so soon as ever they meet a man that differeth a little from them, presently damn him to the Pit of Hell [eternal flames], and will not [suffer <200> God himself]c to reverse their outragious [harsh] Sentence.

But then, for men to [be a little more than ordinarily warm, when they find their beloved Wealth like to be diminished, that (though not often mentioned for good Causes)]d is not altogether so irrational.

The Tempers of the Three Religions in Germ[any].7. But for the more accurate knowledg of the Causes of our Dissentions, it is [also] necessary here to make a close reflection on the Tempers of the three Religions which are now allowed a publick Liberty in Germany. [I shall not trouble my self with a curious Enquiry]e how well each of them can prove their respective Doctrins by the [Authority of the]⁺ Sacred Scriptures, because we [are only allowed the use of them]f for the Improvement of our private Piety, and [so are not allowed to suppose we can understand them, and are besides bound to think our Church loves us too well to destroy us by false Doctrine].a Yet we [may be allowed to see and consider how far the way they teach us of going to Heaven will agree with our other Temporal]b Interests; for I cannot think the [all-gracious] Deity ever intended his Worship should [embroil and disquiet the World].c

The Temper of the Lutherans considered.[That therefore I may begin regularly,]⁺ I will consider the Lutherans in the first place, because they first deserted our [Holy Roman]⁺ Catholick Church: And I say, I could never yet find any thing in their Doctrine [religione] which was contrary to the Principles of [Civil Prudence and Government]:d <201> [The Power they ascribe to Princes, for the governing [of] Religion, is indeed not so favourable to the excessive Grandeur of the Priests; so where it has prevail’d, their Wealth is little, but the Commonwealth has the benefit of that Abatement]:e The People [plebi] are taught by them to reverence their Magistrates [and Princes]⁺, as [the Ministers of God],f and [finally] that all the good works expected from them, is to do the Duties of Good men: Nor [am I displeased],g that they have retained [so much of the Ceremonial Part and the Pomp of Religion, which serves]a to divert [guide] the minds of the [simple] People, who have not sence enough to contemplate [the Beauty of]⁺ simple undress’d Piety: [So that though]b their Religious Mysteries are not adorned to the frightful height of Superstition, [yet they are in a decent and grave Dress, and adapted to teach Mankind, that the Divine Wisdom and Power is able to effect that which we are not able thoroughly to comprehend];c [indeed,] the very Rusticity and Simplicity that appears in the Professors of [those who profess] that Religion, and which is so much blamed by some, [is to me a sign and a testimony of their]d Sincerity and Uprightness:

So that as it is not possible to imagine a Religion that can be more serviceable and useful to the Princes of Germany, [than that of the Lutherans,]⁺ we may from hence conclude, that this is [generally] the best [suited] for a Monarchy of any in the World.9 And[, in fact,] if Charles V. <202> had not been diverted by the consideration of his other States and Kingdoms,10 he must, as Emperor of Germany, have been thought [blind and impolitick],e in not taking the opportunity [the Reformation]⁺ offered him, to enrich the Patrimony of the Empire [from sacred holdings], when so many of the Princes and Free Cities had before shewed him the way, and would very gladly have permitted him to have shared in the Prey, and the People were [generally so]a taken with their new Preachers [teachers][, that he needed not to have feared them]⁺.

The Temper of the Calvinists.As to the [Calvinists, or Presbyterians],b it differeth very little from the Lutheran, but only in their great Zeal for sweeping out all [remainders of] the Roman Catholick Rites and Ceremonies [with the Dust of their Churches],c and in a design to [new-polish the Lutheran Doctrine, and to make it more subtile];d neither of which Intentions are accommodated or suited to the Minds of the meaner People [plebis], for they are apt to fall asleep [lose interest], when the whole [worship] Service of God [in publick]⁺ is reduced to a [paltry] Psalm and a Sermon. And when it is once [made a fashionable thing, to have the meanest of men exercise their Curiosity upon the most Sacred Parts of Religion],e the most perverse and ignorant will soon catch the Itch of Innovating and Inventing [many things], and when they have once started a new Opinion, they will persist in and defend it with invincible stubbornness:11 Yea, some of them have faln into lamentable <203> Follies, and with them it was a great Sin to have a comely Head of Hair: And it has long since been observed by wise men, That the Genius [Spirit] of this Religion [is purely Democratick, and adapted to Popular Liberty and a Commonwealth]:f For when the People [plebe] once are [admitted to a share in the Government and Discipline of the Church],a it will presently seem very unreasonable [unfair] to them, that one Prince should [without them govern the great Affairs of the State].b ,12

The extent of these two Religions.These two [new] Religions having spread themselves over a great part of Germany, by their mutual Enmity each to [the] other, [gave Opportunities to the Roman Catholicks to destroy them both].c ,13 Now what Reason can any [sensible] man assign for this, but [the one we just spoke about, that is,] the Perverseness of their Ministers [clergy], who were [are] on both sides more concern’d to maintain their Reputations than their Doctrine, and they thought [think] that they should certainly much sink in the esteem of Men, if they should [tamely submit their Judgments to such as explained things better than they could, or taught them more Humility and Modesty than they had occasion for]?dThe Differences destructive. For as for these two Parties, there is no Contest between them, which is attended with any Gain or Loss,e it being equally mischievous to both of them, to be forced again to submit to the Church of Rome.

And therefore seeing the Ministers could [clergy can] never be perswaded to [sacrifice their Obstinacy to the Peace of the Publick],f it had= <204> been the Duty of the Princes, by degrees to have laid these Controversies asleep, not by violent methods, [(which commonly exasperate Dissenters) but by oblique ways and Artifice]:a For if Princes, in chusing their Ministers,b would [for the future]⁺ not regard the Names of Mens Parties [sectarum], but the [Abilities and Endowments of their Minds];c and if [the Subjects were inured to bear an equal regard to both the Religions];d if the Ministers [clergy] were forbidden [all Disputes]e in their Sermons, and [especially to anger the opposite side by sharp Reflections];f and [if, finally,] none were suffered to teach in the [public] Schools but moderate and prudent men, I doubt not but, in a few years, all these Debates [lites] would end of themselves: But I believe, [at the same time,]⁺ he would deserve very ill of the Church of Rome, who should give this [wholesome]g Advice to [her Enemies].h ,14

An Addition.//And I believe this Advice would certainly end in the ruin of the Reformation in Germany; for by that time any Parish had been Lutheran and Calvinist in their Worship by turns, two or three times backward and forward, as the Ministers changed, they would care for neither of them, but divide and hate each other mortally; some would persist in one way, and others in the other, and the major part would think this fickle unconstancy in Religion an Argument of the uncertainty of it, and without ever enquiring which were the best, reject <205> both, and sit down in Atheism. Were the difference only in point of Doctrin and Speculation, like that of Predestination amongst us, both Parties might be tolerated; but different waies of Worship can never be allowed in the same Congregations without Heart-burning Envy, Hatred, and Detraction, which would break them into Factions at first, and at last destroy all Religion, the Modes of Worship being visible, and extreamly loved or disgusted.15

The Temper of the Roman Catholicks.8. But now the Temper of our Roman Catholick Religion is extreamly different from these new Religions. For their Clergy own themselves the Servants (Ministers) of the Magistrates and People, that their Souls being [here below] [by their Care and Pains]⁺ endowed with good holy Principles and Manners, they may, after Death, be [fitted to be]⁺ translated into Eternal Life [salvation]: [In the mean time, the great Care of the Roman Catholick Priests is spent in enlarging their own Wealth, Power, and Authority, and not in forming the Minds of the People committed to their Care to Piety and Honesty.]a And in truth, I have a great while admired [wondered at] the Folly of our Priests, in pretending to decide the Controversies depending between them and the [Protestants],b by the Sacred Scriptures, when they might have taken another course, that for certainty and plainness would have been equal to a Mathematical Proposition: For if[, according to the Use and Custom of <206> the Church of Rome, the great design and principal end of all Religion be to promote]a the Riches and Authority of the Priests, our Adversaries are mad if ever they write one word more in a Controversie that has spent [already consumed] such innumerable number of Tuns of Paper, to no purpose. For example sake, let us propose a few Instances.

It is pretended the Sacred Scriptures are very obscure, and all Laymen are forbidden to read them [on that pretence]⁺, that so the Priests may have the sole Power [right] of interpreting them, and that the Laymen may not from thence pick out any thing that shall be contrary to the Priests Interest. Traditions are added [by the latter] to the Sacred Scriptures, that if any thing has happened to be omitted in the Scriptures, which is necessary to the former great Design, it may from thence be conveniently supplied: Nay, that whole Religion is adorned with so many [gaudy]⁺ Ceremonies, that the Splendor and Pomp of them, as well as the excessive number, [may amuse]b the Minds of the common People, that like men in an amazement and wonder, they may never so much as think on [searching for] solid Piety.

To leave the remission [and forgiveness]⁺ of Sin only to God, were a thing that would yield no profit [to the Priest]⁺, and therefore [the Priests challenge that, and know wondrously well how to improve it to the best advantage, for they will not dispense so profitable and gainful <207> an Office, upon]c a general Confession, [to a whole Congregation at once,]⁺ and then be contented with some mean Present or Salary, as the Parties concerned [penitents] shall freely give: No, [they have taken order]⁺ there shall be an exact Enumeration of [individual] Sins, and the Taxing [assessing] them is then left to the Discretion of the Priest. And now, if the Party confessing is rich, [Paradise will go at a good price],d though the Sins be freely remitted[, as they pretend]⁺; for, Who [can be so hard-hearted, as not to]a give liberally to so good [kind] a Father? And if the Party is poor, then the Priest will exercise his [Ghostly]⁺ Authority with the greater severity [confidence].b And [in the mean time,]⁺ what a vast Advantage it is [to the Church and Clergy]⁺ to know all mens Secrets? And who would not revere the Masterc of his Soul and Heart?

[And in short, the Wit of Man can never invent a thing that shall turn more to]d the Gain and Authority of the Priests than the Mass; for, Who can deny the man that performs this saving Office [service] a good Reward? And who can forbear worshipping him that can by a secret whispere produce so venerable a Victim or Sacrifice? It is fit to deny the Laity the use of the Cup to the utmost extremity [bitter end], that they may think the Church [clergy] never did, or can err.f The number of the Sacraments was not encreased for nothing, but to the intent men might the oftner need the assistance of their Priests. <208>

Who can tell what profit the Ecclesiastical Courts have drawn from Matrimonial Cases [alone], all which have been brought under their cognizance, only on the pretence Marriage was a Sacrament? Yet [apart from this doctrine,] one would think married men should [understand all these Cases]g full as well as they.

[The vast Force they ascribe to the Merit of Good Works, as it excites, like a Spur, the ambitious and vain-glorious Piety of Men; so on the other hand, they have craftily taken care to give us such a Catalogue of Good Works, as for the most part tends to the enriching of the Clergy, and doth most incomparably well agree with the rest of their Theological System.]a Nor can I think the Fire of Purgatory was kindled for any other purpose, but only to lay, on that pretence, a Tax upon those who by Death had [escaped all other Jurisdictions, (and to make the separate Souls a Merchandable Commodity, which was never dreamt on before.)]b The Invocation of Saints encreaseth very much the Gaity [splendorem] of their Religion, [and the Authority of their Clergy, who by their Vote advance whom they please to be Nobles]c in the Court of Heaven. To add more [to those who so well know them, were troublesome and needless, and in truth, whoever tries the whole by this Rule, will see this was the only thing that all is levell’d at].d

The [Hierarchy or Ecclesiastick Commonwealth or Government, as they have ordered it, is a <209> wonderful artificial Contrivance, so compacted, so knit, closed, and fixed together],e that I think I may truly say, since the Creation of the World, there never was any [Politick]⁺ Body so well formed and disposed, and which had such strong Foundations as this has. For it is form’d into a most exact Monarchy; and the King [principi] of the Priests has an Authority given him equal to that of God. This Vicar of God cannot err; and administreth the Function of a Turn-key to the Gates of Heaven and Hell, with an Authority above controul, and from which there lies no Appeal. And in the better and more fortunate Ages [of this Church]⁺, it was [most firmly]⁺ believed too, that this King was the Disposer of all Kingdoms; that he could depose Kings, and set others up in their steads; but now, [alas!]⁺ the new Doctors have [so traduced this most useful Doctrin, that it is become hateful and invidious to the very Catholick Princes themselves, and they are fain, in some Kingdoms, to deny they ever taught any such thing]:a And because the Majesty of this King [principate] depends only [mainly] on the Opinion of his [its] Sanctity, [they have wisely contrived, that it should pass]b by Election, [for fear this Royal Blood should degenerate, and that this Throne may ever be filled with a person free from the defects of Youth, and to the end he might be more intent upon the Good of the Church, <210> than the enriching his Family].c [For this last reason they have denied Marriage to all the Members of this Society (the Priests and Clergy) that their Family-concerns might not divert them, (or Wife and Children make them subject to the Wills of their Princes.)]d

The multitude and variety of their Religious Orders is [so] very great, that there might [be many in every place, to take care of their Affairs],e and spread their Nets, and bait their Hooks to catch the Estates and Goods of the Laity. Nor has any Temporal Prince [in the whole World]⁺ so great and profound a Respect and Obedience paid to him by all his Subjects [citizens], [as this Ecclesiastick Monarch]⁺; and although there [are many furious Emulations between his Subjects],f yet the Pope wisely takes such care to moderate and govern them [these], that they never bring any Damage or Disturbance to his Kingdom [reipublicae]. Thus [all]⁺ the old Orders look very discontentedly on the new company of the The reason of inventing the Jesuits Order.Jesuits, because [they believe that] it has much abated the Esteem they enjoy’d before. For after [it appeared that] this wanton Age would no longer be bridled by the simple [ignorant]⁺ Sanctity of the [old] Monks, that holy Society was invented, to the great good of the Church, which [at first with great Art]a supported this falling Fabrick, by undertaking the Instruction of Youth, [Confession of Penitents, and a cunning Scrutiny into the Secrets of all men].b So that many think <211> [all that Job hath said of the Leviathan, may, in a mystick sence, be very aptly]c applied to this Priestly [sacred] Empire:16

No doubt can reasonably be made however, that the Religion is the very best of all others which heaps most Riches and Honours on all its Votaries, and is furnished with the best means of shearing the Sheep to the very Skin, and at the same time keeping them [as quiet, and more obedient than those that have all their Wool left on them to keep them warm].d [I think by this time I have sufficiently proved, that they have hitherto managed the Disputes between the Catholicks and the new Teachers very ignorantly].e For these Catholicks [nostri] have ranged their Antagonists amongst the Hereticks, and raised brutish Cries against them [in all places]⁺, that they ought to be extirpated by Fire and Sword, by which they have made all sincere and hearty reconciliation desperate [hopeless] and impossible.17 This has again forced the Hereticks to take the utmost care for their own safety and security; and when they had once possessed the Laity with a Suspicion of the [Catholic] Priests Sanctity; it was a very easie step, by shewing them the Priests Wealth [would be their reward]⁺, to [draw them on their side, and]⁺ engage them to be their Defenders:

But if at first their [the Catholics] Brains had lain right, there might have been means found out to have sweetned the Minds of the Laity, [before they embraced <212> that side];a and that small Saxon Monk [(Luther)]⁺ might more easily have been won to a reconciliation with the Pope [Pontifice Maximo], by presenting him with a good fat Benefice,18 than by [all the Thunders of the Vatican],b the force of which, by the [great] distance of the place, and the coldness of the German Air, was so much abated[, that by that time it reached the Monk, the noise, the heat, and the terror of it was wholly lost]⁺. And on the other side we cannot enough admire [wonder at] the folly [naivete] of the [modern Protestant Doctors],c that they should, without blushing, perswade [urge] those of the Church of Rome [nostratibus] to leave their present state [conditione], and renounce all their vast Wealth, and to come over to them, that they may there be reduced into the mean condition of the vulgar people, and work hard for a Living, or starve: For [they have some reason for what they say, when they offer the Lay-people more Liberty, and the Princes the Spoils of the Priests].d Yet [to give the Roman Catholicks their due; after the Terror of the first Defection, and the Heat of the first Reformers was abated, they recollected the Remains of their broken Forces with all the Industry and Care that was possible; and they have ever since managed their affairs with more order and subtilty than the Reformed have theirs].e For, to the best of my remembrance, in this present Century none of our [Roman Catholick]⁺Princes have [become Protestants],a <213> but some of theirs have returned into the Bosom of= our [Catholic] Church;” //An Addition.Christina Queen of Sweden, the House of= Newburg now Elector Palatine, and James II. late King of Great Britain.19

This Gentleman was going on, when the [Pope’s] Nuncio put an end to his Discourse, by saying, Sir, you have sufficiently shewed us what Skill you have in Church [theological] affairs, and were you to preach [teach] these things in the publick, you would seldom want Auditors [and Approvers]⁺, though I think [the Protestants would not approve of]bthem. Then looking upon me, he said, [It was not convenient to have thus on a sudden admitted this Lay-Gent, to the knowledge of a Secret which many thousands make it their business to conceal from the most cunning and accomplished Men the World has].c

Some Considerations on the excessive Revenues of the Church.9. [These things were once]d discoursed with this liberty [I have represented them]⁺, in the presence of the [Pope’s]eNuncio, who seemed to approve the Candour of this old Minister of State, [and gave me such encouragement and insight into things, that from thenceforward I became less scrupulous to converse freely with men of the contrary perswasion, whose Hearts are more open than those of our own party are].a Not long after, I met with a man who was well acquainted with [the German]b Affairs, and seem’d not very averse to the Protestant [new] Religion, ([which I speak by way of Apology]c for what I am going to relate, that you may not think I do approve of all he said).

And giving <214> him [by chance]⁺ an account of what I had heard in the fore-recited Conference, he began [a little higher],d and added, That in a well-constituted Government [state] there ought to be some men [personas] set apart, for the [celebration of the Holy Offices of Religion],e who ought to have no other Employment, and yet should be competently [decently] maintained. That it was also fit, that Churches should be built on the publick charge, whose [external beauty and magnificence might create in the Minds of Men an awful regard to Religion,]f for the kindling the Devotion of the Common People. “But then[, he said,] I think no wise man will deny, that those men who [are no way necessary to the Service of God nor employed in his Worship, ought not to be called or thought Churchmen, or of the Clergy],g and that what was employed in the maintaining such men, has nothing of Sanctity in it. But in Germany the Clergy [clerical Estate] were so vastly enriched by the liberality of the [old]⁺ Emperors, [and] the Princes, and the [Common People],a that [at least] one half, if not more, of [the Lands of that Nation]b was in their hands, which [was never heard of in any other];c and an innumerable shole [swarm] of lazy useless men [have] made it their business to live upon and devour [this vast Wealth];d which was neither agreeable to [the Rules of the Christian Religion, nor of sound Policy].e

The Holy Scriptures do indeed command us to provide decently and liberally for <215> the Clergy, and that we should not muzzle the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the Corn;20 but then they never give that name to those who have no share in the [Ministry of the Church]:f Nor do they any where exempt the Persons of the Clergy, or their Revenues [goods], from [the Jurisdiction of the Civil Magistrate, or disable them to attemperate the same in such manner as may be consistent with the Publick Good].g And your Venetian(vi) Republick understands none better, that [the Revenues and Riches of the Church are not to be excessively encreased to the damage of the State],h and she has accordingly [wisely put a stop to that leak, the Pope and Court of Rome opposing her in this Design in vain, and without any success].i In truth, [she saw her self wasted by this means, and as it were brought into a Consumption, whilst her Riches and Lands were engrossed by a sort of men who acknowledge no Authority but that of an Head without their State, and pretended at the same time they were exempted by the Divine Laws from contributing to the publick Burthens].a

As to the number of Bishops, Germany has no reason to complain, except that, considering the extent of the Nation [region], they are [far] too few to discharge their [sacred] Office as they ought, if they were otherwise well disposed to do it: But to what purpose serves the vast Revenues belonging to these few Sees? You <216> will perhaps say they are [also] Princes of the Empire, [as well as Bishops]⁺, and take their share in the Care of the State [with the other Princes]⁺: Why then let them abstain from the Sacred Title of Bishops, because that [holy]⁺ Office is inconsistent with the vast burthen of secular business[, which is necessarily attending on the Office of a Secular Prince]⁺; [let them lay by the first; and stick wholly to the last Title].b For I think the Christian Religion would suffer no detriment if [they did not celebrate one or two Masses in a year, attended with a vast number of their Guards and Retinue in rich Garbs, and with great pomp, as if they designed nothing by it but to reproach the Poverty and mean Circumstances of the first settlers of the Christian Religion].c So let the Bishop of Mentz [(if he will)]⁺ possess his [great Revenues],d to enable him to sustain the Dignity and Charge of his Office of Chancellor of Germany; but then there is no apparent cause can be given why he should have a Bishop’s See assigned to him, when the other Princes of the Empire, who have as great zeal for the welfare of their Country as he, have been contented to take none but Temporal Titles.e

Now what shall I say of the Canons of the Cathedral Churches, which are the Blocks they hew into Bishops? They [perform none of the Sacred Offices];a and this they are not ashamed to own to all the World, <217> by calling themselves Irregular Canons, and [they too, to spare their own precious Lungs, fill their Churches with Noises, made by their mercenary Curates].b And such of them as are not employed in Secular Affairs, are meer useless Burthens of the Earth, serving their Bellies and their Lusts [groins]. Now as to those that are [wholly]⁺ employed in Worldly Concerns, why are they called Holy men? Why are they maintained by the Revenues of the Church?

And what shall I say of the excessive [immense] Riches of the Monasteries, and of the [wonderful]c swarms of shaven Crowns that hover about them? It is certainly necessary [expedient], that there should be Collegesd for the fitting your Youth for the Service of the Church and State; [and I should be well pleased to suffer some few men to spend all their daies in them too, in profound Contemplation, for which only Nature has fitted them; and besides, if they were brought on the stage, the world would lose the benefit of those advantages it might reap from their Studies; so that, as to these men, the State would have no great reason to complain, because at one time or other they would recompence the Charges of maintaining them with good Interest]:e Yet then both these sorts of men are [most happy],f when they have sober and competent Provisions made for them; overgreat ones load them with fat, which stifles and obstructs both their Vigour and <218> Industry. But then there doth not seem to be any good Reason [that can possibly be given by the Wit of Man]⁺, why the Publick should be at the charge of fatting up [a vast number of lubbarly]⁺ lazy fellows, who have betaken themselves to their ugly [shapeless] Cowles out of pure desperation, and are good for nothing but to fill the Church[es] with sensless noises, or Prayers repeated with such cold and unconcerned affections, that they are fain to [must] keep the account of them by their Beads.21

[The only pretence worth the regarding, that is made for the excessive Riches of the Church],a is, That the illustrious and noble-Families [of Germany have a means to provide for their younger Children, who being]bpromoted to Ecclesiastical Benefices, are kept from being a Burthen to their own Families, by which means Estates [patrimonies] are kept from being crumbled into small Particles, [by dividing and subdividing them in every Descent,]⁺and the Riches and Splendor of Families is [better] upholden, nay, sometimes encreased; [the younger Brother],cwho must otherwise have struggled with Want and Penury at home, being advanced to [considerable and rich Dignities in the Church].d And I confess [it was a good Fetch and a crafty Policy in the Church of Rome, thus to chain the noblest Families to her Interest, and purchase their Favour].e

But then, though [it is worth our care to consider how we may preserve the Families of our Nobility and Gentry; yet in all probability, they that first gave these Lands to the Church never dreamt of any such thing, <219> and it is most certain this has nothing of Religion in it].f And as to these younger Children [descendants], if they are men of spirit and courage, they have other means enough to raise their Fortunes, and improve their Estates and Reputations [at home or abroad]⁺, in times of Peace or War: But then, if they are useful to no body [in neither of these],a it were fit to make them understand [they cannot reasonably expect their Sloth should be rewarded with an Entertainment at the Charge of the Publick, in the same manner the Athenians did their most deserving Citizens].b If they will still insist, that at least, by this means, the over-great number of the Nobility is kept from becoming contemptible by their poverty; I reply, That if [they are men of truly noble Endowments],c their multitude can bring no dishonour or disesteem to their Order, or to the State, because Virtue can never want a Station and a [suitable]⁺ Reward: But then, if they fear they[, having been produced by an age worse than that of their grandparents,] should fill the World with a degenerate Posterity worse than themselves, [I think this is true, and they ought to be kept]d from Marriage, that they may not stock the World with useless Drones: [But then others, that are not in Holy Orders, abstain from the use of Women]:e But if they [will not do that, I think the good old men, who gave these Lands to the Church, out of a belief, that whilst they lessened the Inheritances of their Children, <220> they promoted the Glory of God, and the Salvation of their Souls, are now miserably abused in their Graves, to have them now consigned only to the maintenance of a parcel of publick Stallions].f

The Protestant Princes fairly vindicated.10. This being [however the truth of]⁺ the case, I for my part think the Protestant Princes will [easily] be able to give a very good and rational account to God and all wise [reasonable] men, why they [have taken that care they have to employ the Revenues of the Church, which lay within their Dominions, and so was properly under their Jurisdictions, to the education of Youth in Piety and good Arts, and to the maintenance of such Ministers as were truly and in good earnest employed in the Service of God, and what was overplus, to the Service of the State; whereas before the whole was spent in Luxury and Sloth].a And if the Emperor and the rest of the Catholick Princes had [taken the same care in their States, they had disburthened Germany of a number of ill Humours, which now oppress it].b Nor could the Pope [Most Holy Father] have resented it without shewing himself openly [more a Friend to the Vices of the Times than is consistent with his Honour].c Nor was there any necessity that [they should have ever the more changed their Faith in other particulars, though they had retrenched the number of their Clergy, and <221> reduced their Revenues to a narrower Scantling, for the publick good of their States].d For their Christian Ancestors[, too, still] finding Poverty and Piety united [in their days]⁺, long before the Priviledges of the See of Rome were thought of, agreed with the [same] Church of Rome in matters of Faith.

The greatest difficulty, as some [have] thought, [lay in the Bishopricks, which are still extant, because it was not for the Interest of Germany that those large Dominions should be added to the Emperor or any of the other Princes].a [But then this is owing only to the ill constitution of the German State, which]b is subject to very great Commotions on the least change. Let then those Bishopricks continue, and enjoy their large Revenues and Territories; only in the mean time let these Bishops remember that they are German Princes, and that they owe their Dominions to [the Liberality of the Germans],c and therefore ought to love [their Country more than the Pope]:d And let them [genuinely] put an end to their longing desires after [those Bishopricks]e they have lost, and never more think of regaining them, for fear in the attempt they should also lose [what is left them];f [and however, it becomes them not to embroil their native Country [patriam] in any more destructive Wars and Quarrels].g

In truth, [it seems that] in the last Age [century] it would not have been so difficult to have brought the Bishopricks of Germany <222> into a [better state]h than now they are, if either the Archbishop [Elector] of Cologne had not miscarried in his design, or if [more of the German Bishops had conspired with him in the same intention]:i For after the Reverence of the See of Rome was sunk to so low an ebb, it would not have been difficult to have turned the Bishopricks into Hereditary Principalities, [and to have assigned the other Revenues to the Chapters or Prebends];j or if this had not pleased them, these Principalities [dignities] might have stilla passed from one to another by Election. Nor are the Protestants [of such small and contemptible Parts or Understandings],b as that they could not have employed these Revenues [goods] to the same uses [the Roman Catholicks do, if they had thought fit to have so continued them].c It had been more also for the Peace of Germany to have had [the whole Nation embraced the Protestant Religion, than it was to have a part continue in the old, to distract the People by a diversity in their Faith].d And [could any man drive out of the Empire those lazy Drones the Monks, and the cunning Companions of the Society of the Jesuites, Germany would thereby be delivered from a Sett of dangerous Spies; and the Revenues they wastefully devour, would be sufficient to maintain an Army that would defend Germany against both the Eastern and Western Turk].”e <223>

When I had heard this Discourse out, I [was in an horrible fright for the Roman Catholick Religion in Germany, but that I considered it was understood in vain by private men, who could indeed please themselves with specious Counsels],f and assume great Courages under the Covert of their private Walls: [But then, as long as those that were born to command and govern others were for the most part beholden to their Destinies, for giving them more Wealth than Wisdom, I thought again their Ignorance of what was their true Interest, and for their good, would still secure it].g

This[, Sir,]⁺ is what I have in my Travels observed, concerning the Empire of Germany, and having thought fit to set it down in writing, I perswade my self, that if [I miss of Praise and Applause, yet at least the Candor and Sincerity of my Relations will deserve pardon].a

FINIS.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

This book is set in Adobe Garamond, a modern adaptation by Robert Slimbach of the typeface originally cut around 1540 by the French typographer and printer Claude Garamond. The Garamond face, with its small lowercase height and restrained contrast between thick and thin strokes, is a classic “old-style” face and has long been one of the most influential and widely used typefaces.

Printed on paper that is acid-free and meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, z39.48-1992. (archival)

Book design by Louise OFarrell Gainesville, Florida Typography by Apex Publishing, LLC Madison, Wisconsin

Printed and bound by Edwards Brothers, Inc. Ann Arbor, Michigan

[1 ]The Present State of Germany; or, An Account of the Extent, Rise, Form, Wealth, Strength, Weaknesses and Interests of that Empire. The Prerogatives of the Emperor, and the Priviledges of the Electors, Princes, and Free Cities. Adapted to the present Circumstances of that Nation. By a Person of Quality. London, Printed for Richard Chiswel, at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul’s Church-Yard, 1690; and, The Present State of Germany. Written in Latin by the Learned Samuel Puffendorff, Under the Name of Severinus de Monzambano Veronensis. Made English and Continued by Edmund Bohun, Esq. London, Printed for Richard Chiswell, at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul’s Church-Yard, 1696.

The 1690 version is the focus of Heinz Duchhardt’s “Pufendorf in England.” Duchhardt mentions the 1696 printing but does not seem to have examined it, for he does not mention Bohun’s name or explicitly identify the later version with its 1690 “Vorläufer” (150).

[2 ]Severini de Monzambano Veronensis De statu Imperii Germanici ad Laelium fratrem, dominum Trezolani, liber unus (Geneva: Petrus Columesius, 1667) (Salomon, “Literaturverzeichnis,” no. 4, p. 11); and Severinus de Monzambano (Samuel von Pufendorf) De Statu Imperii Germanici: nach dem ersten Druck mit Berücksichtigung der Ausgabe letzter Hand, ed. Fritz Salomon (Weimar: Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger, 1910). Other notable Latin editions include those by Gottlieb Gerhard Titius (Leipzig, 1708), which prefers the editio posthuma, and that by Christian Thomasius (Halle, 1714; first published in 1695), which reprints the first edition but considers the editio posthuma in the notes. (After Pufendorf’s death in 1695, Thomasius, like Gundling [see below], apparently had access to Pufendorf’s revised manuscript through his widow.) Both editions are extensively annotated. Geneva was a fictive place of publication; the work was actually published at The Hague by Adrian Vlacq. See pp. xii–xiii of the introduction above.

[3 ]Samuelis L.B. de Pufendorf De statu Imperii Germanici liber unus, edited with a preface by Jacob Paul Gundling (Coloniae ad Spream: Rüdiger, 1706). The city of Cölln, in which this edition was published, was located on an island in the River Spree, which flows through Berlin; separately established in the Middle Ages and formally distinct, Cölln was finally absorbed by Berlin in 1709.

The editio posthuma left out Pufendorf’s original preface, including the pretended Italian persona, and made similar adjustments throughout the text. In its place, Gundling added his own preface to the work, followed by a second preface whose status remains unclear.

[4 ]Freiherr Samuel von Pufendorf, L’Estat de l’empire d’Allemagne de Monzambane, trans. François-Savinien d’Alquié (Amsterdam: J. J. Shipper, 1669).

[5 ]Monzambano, eines Veronesers ungescheuter offenherziger Discurs, oder Gründlicher Bericht von der wahren Beschafenheit und Zustand des Teutschen Reichs. Geschrieben an seinen Bruder Laelium von Monzambano, Herrn zu Trezolan . . . ins teutsche übersetzt durch ein ungenantes Glied der hochlöblichen Fruchtbringenden Gesellschaft, 1669; in Staatslehre der frühen Neuzeit, ed. Notker Hammerstein (Frankfurt am Main: Deutscher Klassiker Verlag, 1995), 568–931. (The Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft [“fruitbearing society”] had been formed in 1617 to foster the use of German as an academic and literary language.) Also see Hammerstein’s long essay in “Staatslehre der frühen Neuzeit,” 1013–1115, which helps to contextualize Pufendorf’s work.

[6 ]Samuels Freyhrn. von Puffendorff . . . Bericht von dem Zustande des H.R. Reichs Teutscher Nation . . ., von Petronio Harteviggo Adlemansthal [i.e., P(eter) Dahlmann] (Leipzig, 1710; reprinted 1715).

[7 ]Severinus von Monzambano (Samuel von Pufendorf), Über die Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, trans. with an introduction by Harry Breßlau (Berlin: L. Heimann, 1870); and Die Verfassung des deutschen Reiches von Samuel von Pufendorf, trans. Heinrich Dove (Leipzig: Philipp Reclam [1877]).

[8 ]Samuel von Pufendorf, Die Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, ed. and trans. Horst Denzer (Frankfurt: Insel Verlag, 1994).

[9 ]See note 5 of the Preface to the Second Edition.

[10 ]There are three main viewpoints at work in the text: Pufendorf’s (German, Lutheran), Monzambano’s (fictionalized Italian, Catholic), and Bohun’s (Anglican, royalist). Moreover, in the first edition Monzambano attributes some of the more controversial remarks (in chapter 8) to yet other speakers. Pufendorf drops the Monzambano pretense entirely in the editio posthuma, and Bohun generally ignores it before that.

[11 ]A new Latin edition will appear as volume 8 of Samuel Pufendorf, Gesammelte Werke, Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann, general editor (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1996–).

[a ]Rather: On the State-Interest of the German Empire [De ratione status Imperii Germanici] / Status refers to both the political entity and the general condition of Germany. Denzer renders the term as Verfassung (constitution), which is ambiguous in the same way (Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, ed. Denzer, 1994, 235). [Ed.]

[b ]Rather: admire foreign things [opinions] more than her own / Compare VII.2 on the German imitation of foreigners, especially the French. The remark may also be an ironic reference to Pufendorf’s cautious assumption of an Italian persona: that is, he has been speaking as the Italian, Monzambano, whom Germans can trust. [Ed.]

[c ]Rather: that the most upright of nations [integerrima nationum] should enjoy a most flourishing condition / Integer also means “whole” or “unimpaired,” making its use here, in the superlative, ironic in light of the preceding account, which has shown Germany to be anything but whole or integral. [Ed.]

[a ]Rather: to an ailing Germany / The metaphor suggests offering a patient a medicinal drink. [Ed.]

[b ]E.p.: Although others have worked hard to provide remedies for Germany’s ills, a certain personage under the pseudonym Hippolithus a Lapide formerly made special claims for himself in this regard. And even though many people initially admired those remedies, since they have nonetheless always seemed to me somehow badly devised, I decided some time ago that I would dismember them [tear them apart].

[1 ]Lapide, De ratione status, part 2, chapters 1–3, 6, 9, 10 (Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, ed. Denzer, 1994, 235, note 2). See VI.7, note 6, p. 169.

[c ]Parentheses have been added to Bohun’s enumeration to distinguish it from Pufendorf’s section numbers. [Ed.]

[a ]Rather: rights [iura]

[b ]Rather: the Estates of the Empire be subject to the sole

[2 ]Pufendorf considered this totally unrealistic and worthy of dismissal, like other scholastic irrelevancies.

[c ]Parentheses have been added to the enumeration. [Ed.]

[a ]Rather: that harsh decree [of Lapide]

[b ]Rather: and the addition of whose power to one or two others is against the interest of all of Europe

[c ]Rather: do not

[d ]Rather: are by no means

[e ]Rather: therefore acquire allies

[f ]Rather: it would be uncivil to demand from them [i.e., the French or Swedes] such great labor for free.

[g ]Rather: would there

[h ]Rather: the enemies of the house of Austria should succeed in their efforts, the Estates of the Empire would

[3 ]In one of Aesop’s fables the frogs had asked for a king from Zeus, who thereupon threw a log into their swamp. Dissatisfied with this, they complained to Zeus, who responded by sending a stork to rule (and devour) them. Martin Luther alludes to this passage in his On Secular Authority (1523), part 2, saying that frogs (wicked humans) require storks (stern rulers).

[a ]Rather: [3.] After the deposition of the house of Austria, he [Lapide] nonetheless does not wish Germany to be without

[b ]Rather: but so that he shines with only

[c ]Rather: more succinctly

[d ]Rather: Yet whatever Hippolithus subtracts from the Emperor’s power he apparently wishes to add to his income, since it would be shameful for so great a prince to go hungry. Therefore,

[4 ]On Charles IV and the Golden Bull, see IV.3, note 10, p. 101.

[e ]That is, the Austrians, or the Austrian emperor (not the electors). [Ed.]

[f ]Rather: to such a small sphere of power

[g ]Rather: the Electors will not be easily

[a ]That is, if the other estates favor the idea of having the electors give back a portion of their possessions, the latter can reply to them that . . . [Ed.]

[b ]Rather: , most of which originate in religious differences, were removed by a peaceful settlement approved by all sides

[c ]Rather (exploiting the medicinal analogy): But since these things were already contained in the first remedy, what need was there to fill a special jar with them? / e.p.: But those things were already contained in the first remedy.

[d ]Rather: establishing the Imperial

[e ]Omitted by Bohun. [Ed.]

[f ]Rather: standing army and setting up a military fund to be supported by annates

[a ]That is, is generally viewed with suspicion; Pufendorf’s expression echoes Erasmus, Adages, I.9.53: merx ultronea putet (freely offered wares “smell”). [Ed.]

[b ]Rather: even hired physicians prescribing beneficial measures

[c ]Rather: Indeed, private individuals must become the laughing-stock of know-it-alls / That is, of those who pretend to special expertise. [Ed.]

[d ]Rather: helmsmen of the state

[e ]Rather: But for those versed in civil science [sapientiae]

[f ]Rather: as a torso [without a head] / The analogy suggests that the following sections were very important to Pufendorf. [Ed.]

[g ]Rather: observance of such allies [sociis]

[h ]Rather: acquiring those of others

[i ]Rather: Their greatest task [labor].

[j ]E.p.: To discover the true interests [genuinas rationes] of the German state [reipublicae] will be easy for those who have thoroughly examined its structure. It must be laid down as basic here that the present state [status] of Germany is so firmly established in public law and popular custom that it cannot be altered without the greatest convulsions and, perhaps, the overthrow of the Empire. Hence the Emperor must forgo efforts to return that state [respublica] to the exact form of a kingdom, and the Estates must patiently bear the chain by which they are now bound, and not seek a full and independent liberty that will bring servitude, at least to most of them. For if the present bond is broken, the weaker Orders would undoubtedly become the prey of the stronger ones, or of outsiders. And in this consists that harmony between head and members which Germans ordinarily say should be observed.

Now just as it behooves states in which there is some irregularity to be more concerned with preserving their own possessions than with acquiring those of others, so their greatest task is to maintain internal concord among so many who have far surpassed the condition [sortem] of ordinary citizens.

[a ]Rather: power [opes]

[b ]Rather: cannot aspire to

[c ]Rather: The

[d ]That is, clear and precise [certis et accuratis]. [Ed.]

[a ]Rather: also surrounded by a permanent council representing the allies, to which the enactment of daily affairs concerning the entire state [rempublicam] is committed, according to the previous determination of all the allies

[b ]Rather:, after first examining them, refer them to the individual allies, so that at last a general conclusion may be reached

[c ]Rather: should have a certain procedure prescribed for them [by the council]

[d ]Rather: are loath to have their power reduced to the level of a private citizen [ad civilem modum]

[e ]Rather: Estates

[f ]Rather: [external] Estates [Ordinibus] / Bohun’s translation is broadly in line with the Latin, but renditions such as “external powers” or “other states” are contextually more accurate. “Estates” seems even more apt, however, because the thought surely includes the Catholic clergy and their religious ties to Rome. [Ed.]

[a ]Rather: but if those leagues are directed toward others [outside the Empire]

[b ]E.p.: New quarrels should be settled by the intervention of common friends rather than by legal action.

In order that the so-called head of the Empire cannot undermine the liberty of the Estates, precautions should be taken that the common military and the fortresses of the Estates are not dependent on his will [alone]. It also seems necessary in a state [republica] where the supreme authority [summa rerum] does not belong to one person, that there should be a standing [perpetuum] council composed of those who are called to share in the sovereignty [partem Imperii], and that the main domestic affairs, as well as those arising with outsiders, be brought before it, and a common verdict issued after it has first been discussed with the individual [Estates]. The Diets begun in the year 1663, and continued for so many years since then, have now almost taken the place of such a council; and it seems much in Germany’s interest that they acquire the character of a constant gathering, to maintain the common bond of the Empire and facilitate the discussion of public affairs. [See VI.5, note b, p. 165, on the contingent nature of the Diet even after 1663.]

Above all, precautions must be taken to prevent a certain few from entering into treaties directed against a member of the Empire, either among themselves or with outsiders. And if such treaties are directed against others [outsiders], one must take care not to involve Germany in a war on such occasions. Once a war with outsiders has begun, it is by no means allowable that one or other [of the Estates] be able to consult its special interest or remain neutral; rather, any member of the Empire, when attacked by someone else, must be protected by the strength of all, including those who, because of their more remote position, do not consider themselves endangered.

Provision must also be made. . . .

[c ]Rather: break off any further

[d ]Rather: and, indeed, one must prevent more powerful enemies eager to enlarge their borders from absorbing one or other of the neighboring regions, whence the contagion can spread into Germany itself

[a ]Rather: certain kingdoms

[5 ]See On the Law of Nature and of Nations, II.5.3–9, on the limits to self-defense and preemptive violence.

[b ]E.p.: And depending on the military situation of its [Germany’s] neighbors, appropriate military forces that can be set in opposition must be prepared in time, lest recruitment begin only after an incursion has already taken place, which is a remedy too late for border areas already widely devastated.

Finally, lest those who disagree in their opinions about sacred matters disturb the peace [concordia] of Germany through their importunate religious zeal, the provisions established by public law [particularly the Westphalian settlement of 1648] regarding such matters must be exactly observed. Those especially who follow the Roman [Catholic] rites must not take it ill that Protestants enjoy the same right as they, and should deem it impious [profanum] and harmful to subvert by force or stealth those who are no less eager [than they] to equip and defend the common fatherland; for they may be sure that once the Protestants have been suppressed, the rest will also be brought into servitude.

[Notably, this final paragraph of the editio posthuma returns to the theme of religious disagreement as a serious threat to civil order and, thus, human affairs in general, even though that edition omits the extended discussion of Germany’s religious situation (in §§5–10, below) that concluded the work in 1667. (Ed.)]

[6 ]See the introduction, p. x, and the Note on the Text, p. xxx.

[a ]Rather: All these and any other things required for Germany’s welfare would be very easy to discern and apply in practice if those who sit at the state’s helm were well and favorably disposed [thereto].

[b ]Rather: of an infraction

[c ]Rather: especially since I most humbly submit myself to the judgment of Holy Mother Catholic Church.

[d ]Literal translation matters here, since Pufendorf has just (see pp. 216–20) recommended the view of Germany as a confederation. [Ed.]

[7 ]Pufendorf was in Leiden (in the province of Holland) from early 1660 till the fall of 1661, when he assumed his university post in Heidelberg.

[a ]Rather: unless they have also been approved by minds as refined as I take all of yours to be

[b ]Rather: he entered deeply [into the matter] and

[c ]Rather: torn apart the Church as deeply, and ruined not only private individuals but also

[d ]Rather: appears to be no

[e ]Rather: not possible for us

[f ]The quotation continues through §8, p. 237. Even though he has already assumed the persona of an Italian Catholic (i.e., Monzambano) throughout the work, here Pufendorf adds a second layer of distance between himself and the following (critical) remarks by putting them into the mouth of a supposed personage at the papal nuncio’s court, albeit one who had retired from active service and thus posed no threat to actual affairs. [Ed.]

[a ]Rather: hothead [cerebrosissimus]

[b ]Rather: defect [labe]

[c ]Rather: is thought to be tacitly accusing

[8 ]See Hobbes, On the Citizen (1642), I.5, and Leviathan (1651), I.10.

[d ]Rather: afflicts the shadowy [umbraticos] / That is, those who spend their time in dark study halls. [Ed.]

[e ]Rather: nourished by the dust of the schools and have leisure to pursue their solitary speculations / Bohun’s extrapolation is correct, given Pufendorf’s frequent references to the uselessness of scholasticism and the importance of practical knowledge. [Ed.]

[f ]Rather: stirs up the nation of priests [Sacerdotum nationem]

[g ]Rather: nodded quietly when he had asked leave to speak freely

[a ]Rather: as if, because of contempt for heavenly truth or from a profane stubbornness, he refused to put aside even manifest error merely in order to avoid the appearance of having learned something from others

[b ]Rather: carry about dispositions teeming with such horrid passions

[c ]Rather: leave even God the ability [facultas]

[d ]Rather: take it ill, when their advantages are taken away by others,

[e ]Rather: It is not our business to examine

[f ]Rather: deal with such matters only / Pufendorf’s point is twofold: (1) laypersons like him are concerned with doctrinal questions only because of their implications for religious practice; (2) the current discussion does not concern personal religiosity, so there is no need to examine the scriptural foundations of the respective Christian denominations. That task occupied Pufendorf in The Divine Feudal Law, which compares Lutheranism and Calvinism. [Ed.]

[a ]Rather: must not attribute to Holy Mother Church a malice so great that she would willingly serve up fatal errors to those who venerate her so obediently

[b ]Rather: are permitted [fas est] to investigate how far the way to eternal salvation, about which priests are occupied, agrees with our political

[c ]Rather: disturb the tranquillity of civil life / On the compatibility of religion and the state, and the normative importance of the latter, see On the Law of Nature and of Nations, VII.4.8; and Pufendorf’s dissertation De concordia verae politicae cum religione Christiana [On the concord between true politics and the Christian religion] (1673), §2. The latter work is contained in Dissertationes academicae selectiores (see note 2 in the introduction). [Ed.]

[d ]Rather: politics [doctrinae civilis]

[e ]Rather: They attribute authority [potestas] over sacred matters to princes and reduce the wealth of priests to a bare minimum (which you regard as grim), for the great good of the state [reipublicae] / The comment in parentheses, omitted by Bohun, is directed to the Catholic clerics surrounding the nuncio, and the Italian Monzambano. [Ed.]

[f ]Rather: God’s representatives on earth

[g ]Rather: is it displeasing

[a ]Rather: certain empty ceremonies and [external] trappings in their public worship,

[b ]Rather: Moreover, just as

[c ]Rather: so they deem it proper for human subtlety to posit no more divine wisdom and power than supports the belief that the latter can fashion something more sublime than the former is able to grasp / That is, they are theological minimalists. [Ed.]

[d ]Rather: contributes to their reputation for

[9 ]Pufendorf was generally suspicious of the political intentions of Calvinism (which he associated with its monarchomach past) and thought Lutheranism more compatible with civil authority. See his dissertation De concordia verae politicae cum religione Christiana [On the concord between true politics and the Christian religion] (1673), §17, contained in Dissertationes academicae selectiores (see note 2 in the introduction). Yet he served Calvinist ruling families in Heidelberg and Berlin and strongly criticized the Danish court preacher and theologian, Hector Gottfried Masius (1653– 1709), for maintaining that only Lutheranism (not Calvinism or Catholicism) was compatible with civil peace. See his letter to Christian Thomasius (on November 1, 1690), in Briefwechsel, letter 192, pp. 289–90.

[10 ]Beside Germany, the territories of Charles V (1500–1558) included Spain, Austria, and parts of Italy, which were mostly Catholic.

[e ]Rather: very simple-minded

[a ]Rather: very

[b ]Rather: Calvinist religion, as it is called

[c ]Rather: , no matter how small

[d ]Rather: hone the new doctrines more finely than the Lutherans had done

[e ]Rather: considered a virtue to exercise one’s curiosity upon sacred matters

[11 ]Though Pufendorf frowned on theological innovation (see On the Law of Nature and of Nations, preface), he welcomed it in philosophy; see Specimen controversiarum circa jus naturale ipsi nuper motarum [Sampler of recent controversies over natural law] (1678), chapter 2, on “philosophical innovation.” Despite this passage, he supported lay theology and did not see religious interpretation as the sole province of clerics.

[f ]Rather: generally inclines toward democratic liberty

[a ]Rather: allowed a vote on sacred matters and moral standards [censuram morum]

[b ]Rather: decide about all civil affairs

[12 ]See note 9 in this chapter. Pufendorf also associated Calvinism with democracy and attributed the midcentury political turmoils in England to the democratical excesses of the Reformed religion. See Introduction to the History, chap. 12, §27, pp. 420–21, and §24, p. 150.

[c ]Rather: have increased the strength of their common adversaries

[13 ]Pufendorf attempted a theological reconciliation of Lutheranism and Calvinism in his Divine Feudal Law.

[d ]Rather: yield in the slightest to those who teach things more plainly or urge them more moderately [than they]

[e ]That is, their empty disputes are not about anything practically significant, or as important as their common interest of remaining independent of Rome. [Ed.]

[f ]Rather: subordinate their obstinacy to the advantage of the state [reipublicae]

[a ]Rather: to be sure, which stir up dissensions rather than quiet them, but in softer and, as it were, more oblique ways

[b ]That is, ministris in general, not only the clergy, as below. [Ed.]

[c ]Rather: endowments of their hearts [animi] and minds [ingenii] / As Denzer has it, a distinction between dispositional and intellectual components is suggested (Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, ed. Denzer, 1994, 255). [Ed.]

[d ]Rather: the adherents of both religions were considered citizens in equal measure / Bohun obscures Pufendorf’s distinction between religious and secular interests. [Ed.]

[e ]Rather: to stir up those controversies

[f ]Rather: to criticize [i.e., “put down”] the other party with sharp words [nominibus] / That is, name-calling. [Ed.]

[g ]Denzer and Salomon read sana (wholesome, healthy) (Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, ed. Denzer, 1994, 254; Severinus, ed. Salomon, 156). However, some printings have profana (profane) instead: for example, Severini . . . De statu Imperii Germanici, 1667, which is no. 4 in Salomon, “Literaturverzeichnis,” 11. Either reading works, though profana is more apt for the cautious Monzambano, while the bolder sana fits the general frankness of the current speaker. The variation is probably an example of the uncontrolled printing of the first edition by different publishers throughout Germany. [Ed.]

[h ]Rather: those men

[14 ]On the sovereign’s civil management of religion for the benefit of the state, see On the Law of Nature and of Nations, VII.4.8, and Of the Nature and Qualification of Religion, §7, pp. 20–21, and §49, pp. 104–7. Monzambano’s view is an ironic (and distinctively modern) reversal of the medieval church’s attempts (see I.14 and IV.1) to wield secular power through its religious authority.

[15 ]Bohun clearly disapproves here of Pufendorf’s deemphasis of religious differences and his implicit advocacy of mutual toleration and political equality. For Pufendorf’s view on religious toleration and conciliation, see Divine Feudal Law (2002), §§3–12, pp. 14–37; Palladini, “Stato, chiesa e tolleranza”; and Seidler, “Pufendorf and the Politics of Recognition.”

[a ]Rather: The Catholic religion is less concerned about forming morally upright minds than about the boundless increase of the clergy’s wealth, power, and authority.

[b ]Rather: heretics (as they call them)

[a ]Rather: one accepts as an established principle that the end of the Catholic religion is to magnify

[b ]Rather: so overcome

[c ]Rather: that power has been claimed by the priests, who are by no means willing to waste such a useful right by acquiescing in

[d ]Rather: the gain is readily available [paratissimum]

[a ]Rather: would not

[b ]That is, rich penitents are likely to donate on their own, while the clergy can more easily pressure poor ones to do so. [Ed.]

[c ]Arbiter (one who sees and passes judgment). [Ed.]

[d ]Rather: Now, nothing is more suited to promoting

[e ]In the act of consecration. [Ed.]

[f ]The restriction is unjustified on scriptural grounds, but this should never be admitted. [Ed.]

[g ]Rather: be able to understand the nature of marriage

[a ]Rather: The meritorious force ascribed to good works, though notably stimulating men’s pious ambitions, also squares quite well with the rest of their theological system, in that those works are almost all defined in terms of things that enrich the clergy.

[b ]Rather: been otherwise removed from human affairs.

[c ]Rather: and it also makes us admire the authority of the clergy, when we reflect on the fact that their decrees create nobles [proceres]

[d ]Rather: would be tiresome for those well acquainted [with these things], and anyone who has time to probe them more thoroughly will find the rest to be like this sample

[e ]Rather: The commonwealth [respublica] of priests is so artfully contrived, and all its parts so closely interconnected

[a ]Rather: discredited this notion, which they regard as very odious / That is, the Lutherans and Calvinists. [Ed.]

[b ]Rather: it is passed on

[c ]Rather: so that, given the frequent degeneration of royal offspring, that place lies open only to the most worthy individuals, who are beyond the reach of youthful passions and, as well, more intent on the good of the church than that of their family

[d ]Rather: For the same reasons, celibacy is imposed on all members of this commonwealth [reipublicae], so that private considerations do not divert their concerns toward different ends [alio].

[e ]Rather: thereby be more to watch out for the Church’s affairs

[f ]Rather: is no lack of emulation among them

[a ]Rather: successfully [felicissime]

[b ]Rather: and by ascertaining all men’s secrets through confession and, as well, by refined conversation

[c ]Rather: that most things said in a mystic sense about the Leviathan in the book of Job, can be

[16 ]Job 40:20–28 and 41:1–25. Compare Hobbes, Leviathan, I.1 and II.17, on the state as an artificial man and a mortal god, whose role it is to tame proud men. Pufendorf’s use of Hobbes’s secularized biblical metaphor to refer back to the so-called empire of priests is a piece of provocative irony.

[d ]Rather: obedient

[e ]Rather: Even so, I think it apparent from these things that up to now, the religious controversies between Catholics and the new teachers plainly have been dealt with in a dimwitted manner / An ironic tribute followed by a conditional criticism. [Ed.]

[17 ]See note 13 in this chapter and the corresponding text on p. 228.

[a ]Rather: who [still] embraced different sides

[18 ]See V.9.

[b ]Rather: attacking him with bans [of excommunication]

[c ]Rather: new teachers

[d ]Rather: it would have been much more reasonable to draw the people over to themselves with the promise [obtentu] of freedom, and princes with the allure of gain

[e ]Rather: once the intensity of that first attack [impetus] subsided and our side [nostri], following its unanticipated defeat, arrayed its forces more carefully, it has clearly done a better job in managing its affairs than those others [Protestants] have theirs

[a ]Rather: gone over to them

[19 ]The first speaker’s discourse ends here, followed by Bohun’s short insertion. Christina of Sweden (1626–89) converted to Catholicism in 1654, after abdicating. The line of Pfalz-Neuburg became Catholic in 1613 by the conversion of Wolfgang Wilhelm (1578–1653); his son Philipp Wilhelm (1615–90) inherited the Palatinate (Kurpfalz) in 1685, after Elector Karl II (1651–85), son of Karl Ludwig (1618–80), died without issue. James II of England converted to Catholicism in 1672 and inherited the throne after his brother, Charles II, died in 1685. He fled to France in 1688 during the invasion by his brother-in-law, William III (of Orange), also called the Glorious Revolution.

[b ]Rather: that novices [novitiorum] would not be able to grasp them / Protestants like Pufendorf would surely approve many of them. Rather, the nuncio softens the preceding comments by suggesting that there is more to such matters than novices or noninitiates like Monzambano (who is addressed in the next sentence) can grasp. [Ed.]

[c ]Rather: and it would not be proper [fas] for you to be admitted in one short hour to a knowledge of mysteries which thousands of very clever men labor with great care to keep from the common people [plebe]

[d ]Rather: Once these things were

[e ]Rather: Apostolic

[a ]Rather: it so encouraged me that I was less afraid thereafter to listen to men willing to speak their minds

[b ]Rather: his country’s [patriae]

[c ]Rather: I must speak somewhat cautiously here, apologizing

[d ]Rather: to elaborate / The following quotation continues almost to the end of §10, p. 246. A new speaker explicitly sympathetic to Protestants has been introduced because the ideas expressed are even more personal and controversial than the preceding ones. Indeed, Pufendorf demonstrates here some of same sharp wit that is the hallmark of his notorious polemic in Eris Scandica [The Scandinavian quarrel] (1678). [Ed.]

[e ]Rather: public performance of divine worship

[f ]Rather: beauty lends religion a certain external majesty useful

[g ]Rather: contribute nothing to the cultivation of religion cannot rightly [jure] be called holy

[a ]Rather: devotion of private individuals

[b ]Rather: Germany

[c ]Rather: is an example unheard-of among all other nations [gentes]

[d ]Rather: the fruits of those holdings [bonorum]

[e ]Rather: theology, nor to the principles of politics [civilis prudentiae]

[20 ]Deuteronomy 25:4.

[f ]Rather: sacred ministry / That is, the name “clergy” (sacerdotum). [Ed.]

[g ]Rather: oversight [inspectione] by the supreme civil power, or prevent the latter from moderating them for the state’s [reipublicae] welfare / See III.6, note 8, p. 88, on the sovereign’s right of inspection. [Ed.]

[(vi) ]The Author pretends to be a Venetian.

[h ]Rather: an excessive amount of sacred holdings is of no use to the state

[i ]Rather: imposed a limit on their increase, the Pope’s rancour [at this] being in vain

[a ]Rather: states [civitates] must waste away to nothing, as it were, when such great riches are acquired by men who acknowledge another head outside the state [rempublicam] and take themselves to be exempt from public burdens by virtue of a divine right

[b ]Rather: and let them wish to be called [only] what they really are

[c ]Rather: some German bishop failed to celebrate his (at most) one or two Masses a year, while surrounded by a superb retinue and reproaching with his own poverty the first disseminators of the Christian religion / The comment is clearly sarcastic. See II.10, p. 69. [Ed.]

[d ]Rather: domain

[e ]There is a verbal play on the contrast between a holy [sancta] “chair” (i.e., see) and an ordinary [vulgari] one. [Ed.]

[a ]Rather: do no work of any relevance to sacred matters

[b ]Rather: , to spare their own throats, disturbing the church vaults with the noise of their vicars [instead of their own]

[c ]Rather: endless

[d ]Associated with monasteries. [Ed.]

[e ]Rather: and I would not deny that monasteries can be of use to men fitted only for profound speculation, the fruits of whose minds, whereby the state could benefit, are [otherwise] lost in the turbulence of civil life. When these men have been provided with a quiet retreat, they cannot complain that their sensitive nature [ingenii] has been given to them as a punishment, and what the state spends on them is often repaid with much interest / That is, both they and the state benefit. [Ed.]

[f ]Rather: best maintained / That is, the teachers and the sheltered intellectuals. [Ed.]

[21 ]A reference to praying the rosary.

[a ]Rather: Some think that the main argument for the great mass of sacred holdings [bonorum]

[b ]Rather: are thereby provided for, in that those

[c ]Rather: with those

[d ]Rather: the highest dignities

[e ]Rather: that for this reason alone, the Roman Church is able to assure itself of the favor of illustrious families

[f ]Rather: it is perhaps an excellent thing to preserve the splendor of noble families, those from whom the sacred holdings came undoubtedly never thought of procuring such an outcome through them, even in their sleep, nor can we find anything sacred in that end

[a ]Rather: , either at home or in the military

[b ]Rather: that it would cause too much resentment if they were rewarded for their sloth by being maintained as in a public prytaneum / The Prytaneum in ancient Athens was a public hall where benefactors of the state such as Olympic victors were maintained. At Apology 36, Socrates suggests lifelong privileges there as a more suitable punishment than the death penalty demanded by his accusers. [Ed.]

[c ]Rather: the nobility generates descendants worthy of its name,

[d ]Rather: it is certainly right [recte] for them to abstain

[e ]Rather: For those outside Holy Orders are also permitted to abstain from women

[f ]Rather: cannot abate their lust without whores, it seems that one can only pity those good old men who believed they were looking out for their souls by keeping back some of their goods from the state and their heirs, in that they have [merely] provided fodder for black-robed breeding stallions

[a ]Rather: , who exercise the remaining parts of supreme sovereignty in their own domains, have also claimed for themselves the care of sacred matters; at least if they have so restrained themselves as [only] to take the things that previously did nothing but produce fat [lardum] and assign them for the use of those who actively contribute in some way to the real business of the Church, or instruct the youth in piety and wholesome learning [bonis literis], designating for the state whatever is left over

[b ]Rather: imitated them, they would have purged a great source of illnesses from the body of Germany

[c ]Rather: a patron of vices

[d ]Rather: compelled them to change their faith, in whatever way the clergy and their goods were brought a bit more closely into agreement with the good of the state

[a ]Rather: concerns the bishoprics that still remain, whose addition to the Emperor or the other princes is not in the interest of the German state

[b ]Rather: Indeed, it is readily apparent what [alterations] the diseased condition of Germany can bear, since it

[c ]Rather: Germany

[d ]Rather: Germany more than Rome

[e ]Rather: the things

[f ]Rather: their present possessions

[g ]Rather: at least, let them refrain from embroiling their fatherland in any more turmoils

[h ]Rather: different form

[i ]Rather: other bishops had been moved by the desire to attempt something similar / See V.11 and note 10, p. 131. [Ed.]

[j ]Rather: if [some] benefices [praebendis] had been transferred to the cathedral chapters as well / That is, to gain their support for the change. [Ed.]

[a ]As in the former bishoprics. [Ed.]

[b ]Rather: so dull-witted

[c ]Rather: they are intended for by Catholics

[d ]Rather: everyone enroll in the new religion, than to split up into parties [partes] on account of differences in belief

[e ]Rather: if Germany could somehow expell that lazy flock of monks and the devious [prave solertes] Jesuits, it would simultaneously rid itself of very clever spies and have sufficient resources, even in the goods devoured by them alone, to maintain an army formidable to all its neighbors / Though not in Pufendorf, the designation of France as “western Turk” was current in the 1670s and 1680s. See Wrede, “Kaiser,” 108–9. [Ed.]

[f ]Rather: began to fear for the fortunes of the Catholic Church in Germany, until it occurred to me that it is futile for private men to invent attractive schemes [speciosa consilia]

[g ]Rather: as long as those who are placed at the state’s helm by lot of birth— which is more likely to bestow undeserved wealth than wisdom—do not recognize their own interests [bona] / That is, the Catholic Church is safe so long as only private persons (like Monzambano—thus, the “fear”) understand what is in Protestantism’s true interest. [Ed.]

[a ]Rather: its professed candor does not merit praise among the judicious [cordatos], it will at least deserve pardon