OXFORD MODERN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE MONOGRAPHS Editorial Committee A. M. BARNES
R.FARGHER
M. JACOBS
C. A. JONES
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OXFORD MODERN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE MONOGRAPHS Editorial Committee A. M. BARNES
R.FARGHER
M. JACOBS
C. A. JONES
T. B. W. REID
THE STYLE OF Oxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs VOLTAIRE: Historian By J.
H. BRUMFITT.
1958
THE PETRARCHAN SOURCES OF LA CELESTINA By
A. D. DEYERMOND.
1961
JOHN CALVIN IN HIS FRENCH POLEMICAL TREATISES
THE TRAGEDIES OF GIAMBATTISTA CINTHIO GIRALDI By
P. R. HORNE.
1962
PONTUS DE TYARD AND HIS DISCOURS PHILOSOPHIQUES By
KATHLEEN M. HALL.
BY
FRANCIS M. HIGMAN
1962
PIERRE BAYLE AND VOLTAIRE By
H T. MASON.
1963
THE GENESIS OF LE COUSIN PONS By
DONALD ADAMSON.
1966
LAMENNAIS AND ENGLAND By w. G. ROE. 1966
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 19 6 7
Oxford University Press, Ely House, London W.l GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON CAPE TOWN SALISBURY IBADAN NAIROBI LUSAKA ADDIS ABABA
PREFACE
BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI LAHORE DACCA KUALA LUMPUR HONG KONG TOKYO
© Oxford University Press 1967
Printed in Great Britain at the University Printing House, Cambridge (Brooke Crutchley, University Printer)
book is a revised version of a thesis presented for the Degree of Bachelor of Letters at Oxford in 1964. It is a pleasure to be able to acknowledge the patient guidance and invaluable counsel given me in the preparation of the thesis by Dr. R. A. Sayee, without whose help it would never have been written. I should also like to thank many others who have assisted at one stage or another with suggestions, advice, and criticisms: Professor J. J. Seznec, Dr. Richard Griffiths, and M. Alain Dufour; Dr. T. D. Hemming and Mr. I. Macdonald, who read the work in manuscript; the Monographs Committee of the Modern Languages Faculty Board of Oxford, and especially its Chairman, Professor Reid; and the library staffs of the Bodleian and Taylorian Libraries, the British Museum, the Universite de Geneve, and the University of Bristol, for their unflagging help. I would also gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to the Department of Education and Science, or its predecessor the Ministry of Education, for the research grant on the strength of which the basic work was carried out. F.M.H. Bristol, 1966
T
HIS
\1'-'..-.----~
CONTENTS page viii
Abbreviations Introduction I II
III IV
I
Organization and Argument
14
Vocabulary
47
Syntax
83
Imagery
12
Conclusion
153
Appendixes: A Calvin's reading public
165
3
B The styles of other Reformation polemists
17°
BIBLIOGRAPHY
177
INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES
18 3
GENERAL INDEX
188
INTRODUCTION
ABBREVIATIONS BHR: Bibliotheque d'Humanisme et Renaissance BSHP: Bulletin de la Societe d' histoire du protestantisme franfais
BW: Bloch and Vvartburg: Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue franfaise FEW: Wartburg: Franzosisches Etymologisches W orterbuch HLF: Brunot: Histoire de la langue franfaise Hum. et Ren.: Humanisme et Renaissance (continued as BHR) RCC: Revue des Cours et Conferences RHLF: Revue d'histoire littes.aire de la France R.XVI: Revue du seizieme siecle THR: Travaux d'Humanisme et Renaissance
Abbreviations used in reference to works by Calvin are given on pp. 12 and 13
HE importance of Calvin's writings in the history of French literature needs no stressing today. The most influential leader of the French Reformation, expositor of a doctrinal system more close-knit than that of any other theologian of the period, he was also the most prolific, and indisputably the best, promulgator of his thought in written form at the time. I The publication of his Institution, at least of the second Latin edition in 1539 and its French translation in 1541, established his position as the leader of the French Reformation; and to him, as such, believers turned more and more for authoritative guidance on all matters of faith and morality. In consequence, Calvin had a wide, and attentive, reading public. Moreover, that public-for the first time in matters of theologywas largely without Latin, without extensive education, and literate only in French. The contribution of the Reformation to the development of the French language is well enough known;2 and in that contribution Calvin had the most important, though not the earliest, part. It is as a writer of French that Calvin had his widest direct influence: while his Latin works have had a deeper influence on theologians, his French works were responsible for spreading the Gospel as widely as possible among the people themselves. Since Calvin's reading public was so extensive, it is natural that we should wonder what sort of literary influence Calvin may have had, in addition to his theological influence. Even in modern times an author may introduce a new usage which, through its adoption by other authors in other contexts, may develop into a standard linguistic form. But in the sixteenth century, with the printed book still in its infancy, an individual author of originality could influence much more strongly the way in which the language developed,
T
I An inventory of Genevan book stocks in 1570 shows that of 34,912 volumes listed, 97 items, totalling 10,418 volumes, were by Calvin; second on the list was Viret, with 21 items, totalling 3,472 volumes. (P. Chaix, Recherches sur l'imprimerie a Geneve (Geneva, 1954), p. 92.) That nearly one third of all the books stocked in Geneva were by Calvin implies a very large demand for his writings; Viret, one of the most 'popular' of the Reformation writers, comes as a poor second. 2 See F. Brunot, Histoire de la langue franfaise, 3rd edition (Paris, 1947), vol. II, pp. 14-21.
HSO
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
not only by provoking direct imitation but also, perhaps even more, by exemplifying certain qualities of prose, which could be assimilated-almost unconsciously-by the reader. This, in general, is the sort of indirect influence with which Calvin is implicitly credited by the literary historians who describe his Institution as the first monument of French prose. One of the intentions in the present study is to define some of the characteristics of Calvin's style which could have formed the basis of such a literary influence. Some definition of this potential influence has been given by the many critics who have commented on Calvin's style. A full survey of past comment would be superfluous here, since an excellent summary exists in J. Pannier's Calvin ecrivain. I I shall here summarize the consensus of opinion shown by Pannier, and then try to supplement his review where it appears to be incomplete. It is agreed that in many respects, especially in matters of syntax, Calvin is about a century ahead of his time: Pascal, Descartes and Bossuet are the nearest points of comparison. Almost every critic mentioned by Pannier emphasizes Calvin's clarity of thought, the precision of his vocabulary, and his brevity, or rather the concentration of meaning in his prose. Most of them comment on the logical cohesion of his argument and of his syntax, emphasizing Calvin's achievement in having 'taught the French language to reason' .2 The austerity and lack of ornamentation of his language is also prominent; and several critics note his striving (not always successful) towards simplicity in syntax. The resultant impression is a grave and massive dignity in the prose, heavy but noble: a prose which has its roots in Cicero, but which avoids the' Ciceronianizing' excesses of other Renaissance writers. Most of these comments arise from a consideration of the Institution only. Examination of Calvin's minor works, especially those written originally in French, makes it possible to add some details; commentators here tend to concentrate on Calvin's predilection for striking comparisons, familiar phrases and proverbs, and colloquialisms. The vivacity of Calvin's polemical style, and his frequent use of direct speech, are also noted.
To these generally eulogistic comments it should be added that many critics, while admiring much in Calvin's style, have stressed two faults. His polemic is not only vivacious, but unpleasantly violent;I and secondly, it is not only austere and unornamented, but cold and humourless. 2 Little has been added to these general comments on Calvin's style since Pannier wrote in 1930. The most succinct recent comment is perhaps that by L. Cazamian, 3 who gives in three pages a balanced and perceptive summary of Calvin's style, pointing in particular to the court-room quality of some of Calvin's argumentation. 4 Finally, there is a brief article by M. Raymond on 'Calvin prosateur',S which notes four dominant features: the fact that language was to Calvin an instrument for the expression of truth, not (as with Rabelais and Montaigne) a means of exploration and discovery; the logic, and the legal phraseology, in Calvin's absolute formulations of his claims; the liveliness of his illustrations from 'la condition la plus quotidienne de l'homme'; and the sonorous rhythm of which he is capable: 'la spiritualite de Calvin donne a sa prose des ailes, des prolongements inattendus, elle la conduit a des trouvailles d'expression'. This tradition of criticism is concerned with the characterization in general terms of Calvin's style. The most significant features are described and illustrated by brief quotations. In all cases the critics are writing of the literary effects produced by the prose rather than of the linguistic means used to achieve those effects. Alongside the literary critics, another school of writers has examined selected aspects of his language. The earliest scholars in the field were two
2
I Paris, 1930, pp. 14-31. I list the relevant critical material in the Bibliography. 2 Cf. A. Tilley, The Literature of the French Renaissance, 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1904), vol. I, p. 224.
3
I As Bossuet wrote, 'son eloquence n'a este en rien plus feconde qu'en injures'. Cf. Brunetiere, 'L'ffiuvre de Calvin', Revue des deux mondes (Oct. 1900), pp. 905-6. 2 'Son stile qui estoit plus triste [que celui de Luther] estoit aussi beaucoup plus suivi et plus chatie' (Bossuet, Histoire des variations (Paris, 1688), vol. II, p. 52); 'sa parole est amere, incisive, saccadee ; partout vous retrouverez ce fond d'acrete bilieuse et penetrante ' (Lenient, La. Satire. en France . .. au. seizieme siecle (Paris, 1866), p. 169); 'cette plalsantene lourde et maSSIve, tres rare du reste' (E. Faguet Le Seizieme Siecle (Paris, n.d.), p. 193). ' 3 A History of French Literature (Oxford, 1955), pp. 71-74. 4 'The born-and-bred lawyer wants to put his case aptly and to destroy error, as an adversary's fallacy is crushed ... That Calvin has no objection to the tricks of special pleading we realize from the clever management of his dedicatory" Epistre au Roy", in which the burden of proof is so deftly shifted to the other party' (p. 73). 5 Journal de Geneve, 11-12 July 1959.
1-2
1 INTRODUCTION
4
Germans: Karl Grosse, 'Syntaktische Studien zu Calvin', I and F. Haase, 'Syntaktische Notizen zu Jean Calvin'2 (a reply to the first article). These articles are purely descriptive, without summaries or conclusions of any sort. A more valuable contribution is Huguet's Etude sur la syntaxe de Rabelais comparee d celie des autres prosateurs de 1450 a 155°,3 in which Calvin is one of the authors studied. As one would expect, Calvin proves in many respects to be more' advanced' than most of his contemporaries; but also-and even though the Calvin text used is the 1560 Institution, in which the language had been modernized-Huguet finds many cases where Calvin's French, like that of Rabelais, is archaic for its time. In almost all cases, however, a reason can be found in his striving for clarity of expression. 4 Huguet is also responsible for the closest study of colloquial elements in Calvin's language, in 'La Langue familiere chez Calvin'.5 This article, which prefigures in arrangement the author's more general work Le Langage figure au seizieme siecle, 6 gives extensive examples to illustrate the main elements of popular language (almost entirely a matter of figurative sxpressions) used by Calvin: proverbs, idiomatic expressions and comparisons, scenes from everyday life; he then analyses some of the uses to which these expressions are put-vivacity of pace, striking descriptions of his adversaries, and the castigation of vice. We shall return to this article in the chapter on Calvin's imagery. A further article on more or less the same subject is that by Ch. Guerlin de Guer, 'Sur la langue du Picard Jean Calvin'. 7 This adds a few examples to Huguet's collection of colloquialisms; but on the other hand it is full of inaccuracies of fact and unwarranted I Archiv jur das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen (Herrigs Archiv), LXI (1879), 243-9 6 . 2 Zeitschrijt jur jranzosische Sprache und Literatur, XXII (1900), 193-
23°·
Paris, 1894. For example, Calvin, like Rabelais, makes much use of such forms as icelui, icelle and soi instead of disjunctive lui, elle, and of lequel, etc., for relative qui; but Rabelais's picturesque archaisms such as arrive qu'il jut are rarely found in Calvin; and in some cases (almost invariable use of pronoun subject, avoidance of inversion of verb and noun direct object, and in general the adoption of a standardized word order) Calvin is in advance of his contemporaries. 5 RHLF, XXIII (1916), 27-52. 6 Paris, 1933. . 7 Le Franfais moderne, v (1937), 303-16. 3
4
I
INTRODUCTION
5
deductions; and some of its best general comments are copied without acknowledgement from Abel Lefranc. I Finally, among these linguistic studies, is the more specialized work by J.-W. Marmelstein, Etude comparative des textes latins et franfais de l'Institution de la Religion chrestienne par Jean Calvin,2 an exhaustive and scholarly examination of the successive editions of the Institution, primarily intended to prove (successfully, I think) the authenticity of the 1560 translation. Thus we have, on the one hand, surveys of Calvin's work from a literary point of view, in general terms of qualities of style, and concerned with effects rather than with the linguistic means used to achieve those effects; and, on the other, more detailed studies concerned primarily with Calvin's linguistic habits, the vocabulary and syntax which he uses. The only attempt made so far to bridge this gap is H. Ruff's Die franzosischen Briefe Calvins: Versuch einer stylistischen Analyse. 3 Frl. Ruff classifies Calvin's correspondence by recipient or purpose and examines each group, estimating the degree and quality of feeling which inspired them, in relation to the language used; then, in an extended conclusion, 4 she lists the salient features of Calvin's epistolary prose and examines the effects he obtains by them. This study, though entirely different in method, is closely related to the present one. The main difference lies, of course, in the texts on which the analysis is based. The emphases are correspondingly different, and in a sense the studies are complementary.
* *
*
So, while Calvin's style has frequently been the object of general comments, much remains to be done in studying in detail what are the characteristics of that style. Such an examination is invited by the interest that Calvin himself took in questions of style both in other writers and in his own work. Several scholars have demonstrated Calvin's sensitivity to stylistic effects. 5 But while he admires the literary qualities of I Compare de Guer, p. 303, and Lefranc, LaJeunesse de Calvin (Paris, 1888), p. 78; de Guer, p. 304, and Lefranc, Calvin et l'eloquence jranfaise (Paris, 1934), p. 25. 2 Groningen and the Hague, 1921. 3 Glarus, 1937. 4 Pp. 95-II7. 5 For collections of Calvin's remarks on the style of various authors, sacred and secular, see Ruff, Diejranztisischen Brieje Calvins, pp. 7~, and especially L. Wencelius, L'Esthetique de Calvin (Paris, 1937), pp. 345-58.
, INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Seneca and Cicero and of some Church Fathers, he makes an exception in the case of the Bible. Here, he believed that the lack of elegance and polish in the language of most of the books was intentional, so that the truth expressed could be more clearly and more effectively seen,1 without the form distracting the reader's attention (although there was a place for beauty in the Scriptures, for example Isaiah and the Psalms). On a similar principle, he maintained that his own work to present the same truth was also without attractive, and deceptive, ornament:
this gap between the abstract doctrine and the non-intellectual reader? When he states that his aim is 'donner plus claire et facile intelligence', does he imply that the truth, clearly stated, is sufficient to convince? If he does keep within his own definition of his style, how do we explain his marked success? and if he does not, what other factors are allowed to contribute to the effect? Finally, is it possible to ascertain whether and how far his methods, in either case, are conscious applications of a technique of writing, and how far they are natural and spontaneous? We are encouraged to ask these questions by a passage in Calvin's preface to Viret's Disputations Chrestiennes published in 1544. 1 The passage is a long one, but deserves quotation at length, since it is full of implications which may be at variance with the passage quoted on the previous page, and also since it is Calvin's fullest statement of his attitude to polemical writing:
6
Ie me suis efforce Ie plus que i'ay peu, de m'accommoder ala rudesse des petis, pour lesquelz principallement ie travailloye. Ainsi les Anabaptistes ne pourront pas caviller ... que ie les aye voulu gaigner par subtilite, ou les opprimer par artifice d'eloquence humaine: veu que i'ay tenu une fac;on autant populaire et simple qu'on la sauroit souhaiter ... Or pour les. rendre bien confus [les Anabaptistes], il n'y a meilleur moyen, que d'exposer et deduire les matieres distinctement et par certain ordre demenerun poinct apres I'autre: bien poiser et regarder de pres les sentences de l' escriture, pour en tirer Ie vray sens et naturel, user d'une simplicite et rondeur de parolle, qui ne soit point eslongnee du language commun ... Quant a moy, ie cohfesse, qu'en tant qu'en moy est, ie m'estudie a disposer par ordre ce que ie dy, afin d'en donner plus claire et facile intelligence. (Anab. VII, 139-40.) Thus, on the one hand, Calvin is not insensitive to the effects to be obtained by style (in the sense of eloquentia); but on the other, he denies that he has exploited these effects in his writings. This raises a problem. It is generally agreed that Calvin's doctrine is conceived in abstract, intellectual terms to a much greater degree than that of any other leading Reformer (Luther comes particularly to mind). Yet a considerable proportion of the reading public that Calvin is writing to-les petis, he calls them-were untrained in the practice of abstract thought, and a most unpromising field for his doctrine. 2 How then does he achieve the bridging of 1 Cf. for example the following passage from Calvin's Commentary on 1 Corinthians: Videmus Deum ita ab initio ordinasse, ut evangelium omni eloquentiae subsidio nudum administraretur ... Duas potissimum rationes invenio: altera est ut in rudi et impolito sermone magis conspicua appareret veritatis suae maiestas, et sola. spiritus efficacia absque externis adminiculis in hominum animos penetraret. (Op. omn. XLIX,
321.)
2 In Appendix A an analysis of Calvin's potential reading public is given in more detail.
7
11 est a noter qu'on dispute des matieres de la Chrestiente en deux sortes: premierement, en taxant les folIes superstitions qui sont survenues entre les Chrestiens soubz umbre de la religion, lesquelles toutesfoys ne sont que corruptions d'icelle, pour la renverser et destruire. Secondement, en monstrant la simple et pure verite, selon qu'elle nous est revelee de Dieu par sa saincte parolle. Quant a ceste seconde espece, il est certain qu'incontinent que nous avons ouvert la bouche pour parler de Dieu, nulle facetie ne doit entrer en noz propoz: mais devons, en tout ce que nous disons, demonstrer quelle reverence nous portons a sa Maieste, ne prononceant un seul mot que en crainte et humilite. Mais en descifrant les superstitions et folies dont Ie povre monde a este embrouille par cy devant, il ne se peut faire qu'en parlant de matieres si ridicules on ne s'en rie a pleine bouche. Bien est vray qu'il y a bien aussi occasion de plorer et gemir: d'autant que ce n'est pas ieu, que la gloire de Dieu ayt este ainsi obscurcie, et sa verite eternelle, laquelle nous doit estre en singuliere recommandation, ayt este ainsi abolie par mensonges infiniz: que tant de povres ames ayent este menees de Satan en ruine et damnation. Mais I'un ne empesche pas I'autre, qu'en ayant tristesse telle que nous devons, de reduire en memoire comme Dieu a este ainsi blaspheme, ayant aussi pitie et compassion de la calamite OU Ie monde a este si long temps, et est encore a present: neantmoins en racontant des resveries si sottes et des badinages tant ineptes, nous usions de moqueries telles qu'ilz les meritent ... 11 nous est bien licite d'user d'un style plus bas. (IX, 865-6.) 1
The preface is given in Opera omnia,
IX,
863-6.
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Calvin is here approving a separation of styles in accordance with subject matter-a technique of writing which is likely to influence considerably the impression made by the work on the reader. He stresses here the justification of humorous treatment of heterodox subjects, since the book to which this is the preface relies mainly on humour for its effect; but is there a modified version of this theory which would apply to Calvin himself? What influence may a 'style plus bas' have in the economy of Calvin's work of persuasion? I
acknowledged master of prose writing, who is using language as a tool for the expression of what he believes to be the truth, and with the intention of convincing the reader of that truth. What are the techniques and the resources of language which he exploits in order to achieve this 'effective speaking'? What, in fact, are the rhetorical means which Calvin has at his disposal? But, on the other hand, style is more than an outer covering to a core of ideas, more than merely a vehicle for the transmission of a message which existed in a 'pre-literary' form. The style of a work is an integral part of a unique expression of the writer's experience or vision; and this is true whether the work exploits rhetorical effects, or whether it is 'unrhetorical'. Thus we come to the second, psychological level of interpretation. Buffon's statement that' Ie style est l'homme meme', although hackneyed, is still true within certain limits; a writer reveals the cast of his thought in the quality of his language. His conscious choice of literary resources may reveal something of his intellectual or moral standards; and even more, the unconscious selections shown in his normal range of vocabulary may be relevant to the quality of his thoughtabstract or empirical, conditioned by emotion or coldly intellectual. His ability to order syntax will reflect his ability to order thought. His choice of imagery, if any, may have reference to his mode of experience, and may illustrate his imaginative capabilities. Calvin is perhaps outstandingly suited to this approach. The skilful novelist may be revealing more of the mind of his characters than of his own in his images: some of the images in Madame Bovary are processed through Emma's mind as well as through Flaubert's. But Calvin is not concerned with the illusion of fiction; he is writing about a truth of which he is entirely convinced, and which he has made a part of himself, of his own way of thinking. As Cazamian says, I 'there never was a closer association between language and thought. The temper of the man and the doctrine of the teacher are woven with the instincts of the artist into an inseparable unity.' Of course it is hardly to be hoped that any radically new picture of Calvin can be formed, when numerous biographers have assessed Calvin's character time and again. But the very number of biographers, representing a considerable variance of opinion, may justify another attempt to present at least a partial
8
*
*
*
The intention in this study is to attempt an answer to some of these questions. In the first chapter some general qualities of the organization of Calvin's polemical treatises and of the arguments he uses will be examined. This analysis seeks to establish the central importance of questions of style in Calvin's work as a whole, and its relationship to other aspects of that work. This is followed by a study in turn of his vocabulary; syntax and imagery. The starting point is the linguistic categories of parts of speech and syntactic phenomena; but these vyjll be considered not simply as linguistic facts, but rather in terms of their significance-through their frequency of use or emphasis in other ways-as stylistic dominants or style markers. A complete linguistic description will not therefore be presented: only those elements which have stylistic significance will be treated. This significance may be studied at two levels, as we consider the text primarily in relation to the reader-the' literary' plane-or in relation to the author-the 'psychological' plane. Starting as we do from the text itself, it is impossible in practice to separate these two levels, since a linguistic phenomenon may be significant on both levels. However, it is desirable to clarify forthwith this duality of purpose. On the one hand, we are examining the work of an I It is interesting to compare Calvin's principles with those of Pascal in his defence of the light tone of the Lettres provinciales: ' Je vous prie de considerer que, comme les veritez chrestiennes sont dignes d'amour et de respect, les erreurs qui leur sont contraires sont dignes de mepris et de haine ... C'est pourquoy comme les Saints ont toujours pour la verite ces deux sentimens d'amour et de crainte, ... les Saints ont aussi pour l'erreur ces deux sentimens de haine et de mepris, et leur zele s'employe egalement a repousser avec force la malice des impies, et a confondre avec risee leur egarement et leur folie.' (From the eleventh Provinciale, Les Provinciales de Pascal, ed. H. F. Stewart (Manchester, 1951), p. 122.)
I
A History of French Literature, p. 71.
9
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
view of this many-sided man, seen from an angle that has never yet been fully explored. I
played many roles in Geneva: a friend capable of exciting passionate loyalty, pastor, legislator, diplomatist-political as well as ecclesiastical-and theologian. In each of these roles certain traits of character were bound to be uppermost; and we are by no means covering the whole range of Calvin's functions. Even within the limits of his attitude to theological controversy there is a dichotomy: 'so long as the differences were capable of being composed, Calvin shows an admirably eirenical spirit. Once hope of concord was abandoned, he relapses with some suddenness into the prevailing acrimony of tone with which disputes were commonly conducted, as though ... his patience were exhausted.' I Most of the treatises which come within our scope are unfortunately in the second of these categories; and in the resulting picture the eirenical aspect of his character will not appear fully. This is a sense in which the present study is complementary to that of Frl. Ruff.
10
'*' '*'
'*'
The French polemical works of Calvin have been selected as a basis for this study from among the vast range of his literary production because they form a manageable group of relatively homogeneous material, and because-with certain reservationsthey provide particularly clear answers to the questions we are asking. In the polemical works, more directly than elsewhere, Calvin is concerned not only to state but to influence; here, more than anywhere, the effect to be made on the reader is a primary concern. The expository works-most of the Institution, some treatises, and the commentaries-are concerned mainly with an unambiguous statement of doctrine; the letters are so varied in intention and recipient that few general conclusions can be drawn; the sermons, being almost always impromptu commentaries, have less unity of purpose, and in any case hardly any were actually written by Calvin: they were recorded and edited by his secretaries without his aid and indeed without hi~ real approval. The polemical works, on the other hand, represent a concentrated effort to reach out to his readers, to impress on them the truths more technically defined elsewhere; they contain his most direct appeals for a conversion to his way of thought; and they show the greatest effort to refute the errors of his opponents. Not only are they his most forceful works; they also provide the most variety of technique and intention within a clearly defined scope. The range is not unlimited, of course; but we shall find the expository, the hortatory, the argumentative, and the denunciatory all included, and all expressed with a particular urgency which will make their analysis easier and clearer. Because of the directness of their appeal to the reader, the polemical works are thus particularly suited to a study of the modes of that appeal and of the underlying attitudes, the view of the world, of the author. One limitation must, however, be stressed in this respect. Insofar as this study makes suggestions about Calvin's character, reference only to the polemical texts means that some aspects of his character will receive undue prominence. Calvin I Although reference must be made to Doumergue's move in this direction in Le Caractere de Calvin (2nd edit. Neuilly, 193 I), pp. 27 sqq.
11
'*' '*'
'*'
It remains to specify which texts have in fact been used as a basis for this study; and this calls for a clearer definition of 'polemical treatises'. It may be maintained that in a certain sense all of Calvin's writings were polemical. This would however stretch the word beyond usefulness, and our study beyond manageable proportions. Omitting (for the reasons given earlier) the expository works (which must include the Petit Traite de la Sainte Cene, despite its masterly qualities), the letters and sermons, I have selected those works in which Calvin is engaged on questions of direct controversy, with stated opponents, whether these be individuals, heretical sects, or the Roman Church. Of these treatises a number were written in Latin and translated into French (the De Scandalis is the best known). In almost every such case we either know that Calvin did not himself translate the work or have no information on the identity of the translator. Probably they were usually prepared by a secretary and corrected by Calvin. The French text of these treatises thus provides an unsure basis for a stylistic study, and should be omitted. However, the specifically polemical works originally written in French form a large enough group to justify general conclusions, I
J.
K. S. Reid, in the General Introduction to Calvin: Theological
Treatises (London, 1954), p. 16.
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
and these therefore form the corpus for this study. These texts, arranged in chronological order, are as follows: I '
5. 1545· Contre la secte phantastique et furieuse des Libertins. Qui se nomment spirituelz. VII, 145-248. Short title: Contre les Libertins. Republished once. Abbreviation: Lib. 6. 1547. Epistre . .. contre un certain Cordelier suppost de la secte [des Libertins]: lequel est prisonnier a Roan. VII, 341-64. Short title: Epistre contre un Cordelier. (Appeared as an appendix to the second edition of Contre les Libertins. ) Abbreviation: Epis. Cord. 7. 1549· Advertissement contre l'Astrologie, qu'on appelle Iudiciaire: et autres curiositez qui regnent auiourd'huy au monde. VII, 5°9-42. Short title: Contre l'Astrologie Iudiciaire. Abbreviation: Astrol. Iud. 8. 1552. Quatre Sermons de M. Iehan Calvin, traictans des matieresfort utiles pour nostre temps. I Sermon I: Auquel tous Chrestiens sont exhortez de fuir l'idolatrie exterieure. VIII, 369-{)2. Short title: Quatre Sermons. Abbreviation: 4 Serm. 9. 1556. Reformation pour imposer silence a un certain belistre nomme Antoine Cathelan iadis cordelier d'Albigeois. IX, 121-36. Short title: Reformation contre Cathelan. Abbreviation: Ref. Cath. 10. [1557]. Response a certaines calomnies et blasphemes, dont quelques malins s' efforcent de rendre la doctrine de la predestination de Dieu odieuse. LVIII, 199-206. Short title: Response a certaines calomnies. (Castellio made reference to this work in 1557; but the only known edition dates from 1562: see IX, xxvi-xxxi, and the Prolegomena to vol. LVIII.) Abbreviation: Cal. et Bias. I I. 1562. Response a un certain Holandois, lequel sous ombre de faire les Chrestiens tout spirituels, leur permet de polluer leur corps en toutes idolatries. IX, 581-628. Short title: Response a un Holandois. (This is related in subject matter to Contre les Libertins and to the Excuse aux Nicodemites.) Abbreviation: Resp. Hoi.
12
I. 1543. Advertissement tresutile du grand proffit qui reviendroit a la Chrestiente, s'il se faisoit inventoire de tous les corps sainctz, et reliques, qui sont tant en Italie qu'en France, Allemaigne, Hespaigne, et autres VI, 4°5-52. Royaumes et pays. Short title: Traite des Reliques. Republished five times before 1600. 2 Abbreviation used in references: Rei. 2. 1543. Petit traicte monstrant que c'est que doitfaire un homme fidele congnoissant la verite de I' evangile: quand il est entre les papistes, Avec une Epistre du mesme argument. VI, 537-88. Short title: Petit Traite. Republished twice. Abbreviation: Pet. Tr. 3. 1544· Excuse de Iehan Calvin, a Messieurs les Nicodemites, sur la complaincte qu'ilz font de sa trop grand' rigueur. VI, 589-614. Short title: Excuse aux Nicodemites. Republished twice (once in conjunction with above). Abbreviation: Nic.
4. 1544· Brieve instruction, pour ar::ner tous bons fideles contre les erreurs de la secte commune des Anabaptistes. VII, 45-142. Short title: Contre les Anabaptistes. Republished once. Abbreviation: Anab. I Since first, or even contemporary, editions of Calvin's French works are extremely rare and scattered, I use for all references the Corpus Reformatorum edition of his works: Iohannis Calvini Opera quae supersunt omnia, ed. Baum, Cunitz and Reuss, 59 vols. (Brunswick, 1863-1900) (referred to as Opera omnia). All references are by volume and column number (e.g. VII, 163). When it is necessary to refer to the Institution, either the original 1541 version or the 1560 definitive edition has been used. The 1541 version was re-edited in 1911 by A. Lefranc; this edition retains the pagination of the original almost exactly. Reference is by page number (e.g. Inst. 1541, p. 325). There are numerous good editions of the 1560 version of the Institution, the latest being that of Prof. J.-D. Benoit (5 vols., Paris, 1957-63). In accordance with general practice, I give references to this version by part, chapter and paragraph (e.g. Inst. 1560; I. vii. 12). 2 The number of known editions (the details are drawn from the Prolegomena to the respective volumes of the Opera omnia) gives a rough guide to the popularity of the work. The figure does not include translations, nor the Recueil des opuscules, c'est a dire, Petits Traictez de M. lean Calvin (Geneva, Pinereul, 1566), which is a complete French edition of Calvi n's treatises.
13
I I include this work because, unlike the majority of his sermons, it appears to have been published by Calvin himself. Sermon I, with which we are concerned, is related to the Excuse aux Nicodemites and to the Petit Traite.
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
I ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT l' ayme mieux me tenir a la simplicite de l'escriture, pour enseigner ce qui est expedient de savoir, que d'extravaguer en (Anab. VII, 123.) l'air, pour estre veu subtil.
would be vain to look in Calvin's treatises for a formal arrangement which would satisfy modern taste. We would not find an introduction of the theme followed by its subdivisions, nor a symmetrical grouping of parts of chapters with a nice balance between them, nor a gradual progression to a final climax. But while proportion, balance, aesthetic form may be lacking, a form there nonetheless is: a form which suggests that clarity of understanding is a primary aim. From the point of view of structure Calvin's polemical treatises fa11 into two groups. In some cases (Traite des Reliques, Petit Traite, Excu.se aux Nicodemit~s, Contre l'Astrologie Iudiciaire) Calvin creates his own structure; In others (Contre les Anabaptistes, Contre les Libertins, Response a un Holandois, Reformation contre Cathelan) he is writing an ans~er to a pamphlet from the adversary, and the form of the treatise is usually based on that of the work he is refuting. Contre les Anabaptistes attacks in turn the seven points of Anabaptist faith propounded and published by their leade~s, and ad~s two which are not mentioned by them but which are basIc elements of Anabaptist belief. The Response a un Holandois and the Reformation contre Cathelan, both replies to hostile tracts, take points as they arise from the opposition. Contre les Libertins is more developed: in the four major sections of the treatise, Calvin discusses the origins and antecedents of the sect, their general characteristics, their specific doctrines, and quotations from their works. He always ensures that the reader is aware of the overall structure of the work. Contre les Anabaptistes is prefaced by a summary of the contents, which is reflected in the body of the treatise. In Contre les Libertins chapter headings are introduced (' Quelle
I
T
15
auctorite donnent les Libertins ala saincte Escriture', for example); and major changes of subject are announced: II est temps de venir ala deduction des matieres qui sont comme articles de foy en ceste malheureuse secte. (Lib. VII, 178.) The treatises where Calvin does not start from an opponent's text also have a clearly defined structure. The Traite des Reliques opens with a theological introduction discussing the right attitude towards relics; and the rest of the work is a catalogue of the relics, treated in 'order of preference': first Christ (birth, life, Crucifixion, Resurrection); the Virgin Mary; St. Michael (afin qu'ilface compagnie a la vierge Marie); St. John the Baptist, the Apostles, and so on. The Petit Traite and the Excuse aux Nicodemites are attacks on an attitude of mind rather than a specific document or body of teaching, and so are less simply organized; but here too (e.g. in a survey of the Christian's life in the Petit Traite, a discussion in turn of four categories of Nicodemites in the Excuse) the concern with a plan, and a clear plan, is apparent. Calvin varied the structure of his treatises according to each individual case; and thus few generalizations can be made about their pattern. Before their organization is examined in more detail, however, one constant element deserves note. In each work, before any doctrinal discussion is reached, a perspective is provided for the reader from which to view that discussion; the reader is orientated to accept Calvin's viewpoint. Treatises frequently begin with a reference to a biblical text or author, or to a Church Father: St. Augustine in the Traite des Reliques, the Book of Proverbs in the Excuse aux Nicodemites, St. Paul in the preface to Contre les Libertins and Contre I'Astrologie Iudiciaire. Calvin's scriptural stand is clear from the first. In the Excuse, the first point he makes is not concerning doctrine, but his own position: he stresses that those who rejected his arguments in the Petit Traite are not rejecting Calvin, but God: Hz ne pensent point, que ce n'est pas a moy qu'ilz ont a faire: mais que Dieu est leur partie. Or, en repliquant contre luy, il est certain qu'ilz ne font que regimber contre l'esperon. Que gaignent ilz donc amurmurer, que ie leur suis trop rude? veulent ilz que ie les benisse, en ce que Dieu les condamne? Et quand ie Ie feray, dequoy leur servira mon absolution? Car ce n'est pas a moy de vivifier ce que nostre Seigneur condamne a mort: ny d'adoulcir sa sentence, comme pour corriger la rigueur (Nic. VI, 596.) d'icelle.
)
16
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
From the opening pages, the position of Calvin not as an autonomous individual but as the representative of God's Word is emphasized. Calvin's preamble to Contre les Anabaptistes makes this very evident. The Anabaptists, he says, are always protesting their fidelity to the Word of God. He approves the sentiment, agreeing that this attitude is essential to true doctrine. But we must 'try the spirits whether they are of God' :
se cuide faire valoir, desgorgeant ala volee contre nous toutes les iniures qu'il peut forger ou qu'on luy souffle en l'oreille, et faisant gagner quelque Imprimeur affame, a en infecter Ie monde, moyennant que1que escot qu'il en a pour son butin. (Ref. Cath. IX, 125.)
Touchant de ces povres phantastiques, qui se vantent si fort d'avoir la parolle de Dieu pour eux: Ie faict demonstre comment il en va. II y a desia long temps que nous sommes apres a travailler continuellement que ceste saincte parolle soit remise au dessus: et soustenons un combat contre tout Ie monde pour ce faire. Eux, quel advancement ont ilz faict, ou en quoy ont ilz ayde a cela? Mais plustot au contraire ilz nous ont empeschez et destourbez. En sorte qu'on ne sauroit dire, de quoy ilz ont profite, sinon de reculer icelle parolle, d'autant qu'elle estoit advancee par nous. (Anab. VII, 56.) Thus 'we' are workers for the truth; and their claims must be judged by their conformity to our teaching. If the reader accepts this point of view, then Calvin's battle is already won. The Scriptural arguments of the Anabaptists are in fact very skilful, as the reader may perceive later in the work: 'les arguments bibliques des Anabaptistes lui ont donne bien du fil a retordre, quelle qu'ait ete son ingeniosite.' I Thus it is all the more important for Calvin to open the treatise by establishing this view in the reader's mind, that he, and the Reformed Church, represent the true Word, and that if the Anabaptists differ, then they are either povres phantastiques or instruments of the Devil. The corollary of Calvin's establishing of his own position is the denigration of the opponents; and this also features in the opening pages of each treatise. The first part of the Reformation contre Cathelan describes in lurid terms Cathelan's passage through Switzerland; the very first sentence is a resonant diatribe which sets the tone for what is to follow: Combien qu'auiourd'huy beaucoup de sottes bestes se meslent de brouiller Ie papier, tellement que tantost les gens sayans auront honte de faire rien imprimer : toutesfois, a grand'peine trouvera-on qui surmonte un certain belistre, nomme Antoine Cathe1an, iadis cordelier en Albigeois, a present se disant estre Prestre seculier: lequel toutesfois I Fr. Wendel, Calvin, sources et evolution de sa pensee religieuse (Paris, 1950), p. 24 6.
17
Contre les Libertins is the most developed example of Calvin's method in this respect: of the twenty-four chapters of the treatise the first ten are devoted to generalities, and it is only in Chapter XI that we reach any specific discussion of Libertine doctrine. Before that Calvin has compared the Libertines with various heretical sects of the first centuries of our era; given a history of the movement (i.e. a denunciation of the Libertine leaders Quintin and Pocques), an explanation of their success (' Comment il se peut faire, que ceste secte tant bestiale ait si grand nombre d'adherens '), a description of their use of language, and so on. By the time the pious reader reaches the doctrinal differences which are the basis of Calvin's disagreement with the Libertines, he is already persuaded of the totally evil nature of the sect. The first move in every treatise is, then, the discrediting of the adversary, and the corresponding elevation of his own status.
*
*
*
After this preliminary orientation, Calvin proceeds to the argument proper. As has been said, the general pattern of each treatise varies according to the particular circumstances of that treatise's composition, so that generalizations about formal planning are fruitless. What may be achieved, however, is an analysis of the various principles and techniques which underlie Calvin's argument, seen through their various applications. What are the grounds on which he bases his discussion, to what criteria does he appeal? A point of technique arises first, one that is related to the attitudes expressed in his exordium. We may call it a polarization of the subject. That is to say, he will define, or redefine, an opponent's ) viewpoint in such a way as to emphasize its contradiction with what he himself holds. In his attack on Libertine doctrine, he states not only what the Libertines have specifically preached, but also the intention which he ascribes to their teaching. For example, in general, communalism among the extremist Anabaptists had been -after the disaster at Miinster-a cautiously circumscribed principle. But Calvin presents their teaching in the following terms: z
HSO
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
Ces enragez viennent ainsi a renverser tout ordre, voulant oster toute distinction de biens, faisant de tout Ie monde comme d'une forest de brigans, ou sans compter ne sans payer, chacun prenne comme sien ce qu'il pourra avoir ... que tout fust mis en un monceau comme en confus ... Leur but est de mettre tout en confusion. (Lib. VII, 216-18.)
Thus the argument is polarized by Calvin from the outset. Two comments may be made: first, that this process in fact deforms the adversary's case, so that the object of Calvin's attack is frequently not the actual teaching of the heretics at all. As so often happens in polemic, a man of straw is invented in order to make the refutation clearer. I Secondly, the ascription to the adversaries of a specifically diabolical motive is not casual: it has its theological justification in Calvin's thought. This is seen in the first chapter of Contre les Libertins, where two accusations are made side by side: on the one hand the heretics are presented as ignorant (and thus could be wellmeaning); but on the other, they are the tools of the Devil; and as such they enter into the conflict of Good and Evil as active weapons for ill:
18
To him the idea of communal sharing of possessions must lead to a self-interested free-for-all, since sinful humanity is inevitably drawn in this direction: thus, to him, this confusion is their aim. He takes no account of the Libertine point that such communalism is only practicable among the regenerate, those who have been granted spiritual perfection. Such a notion is entirely foreign to his theology, and it is summarily rejected. In consequence the teaching that Calvin is attacking becomes not an attractive, if naive, belief in the Kingdom of God in this world, but a diabolical plan to destroy the very foundation of society. Similarly, the Libertines taught a form of quietism evolved from the doctrine of the Omnipotence of God: all things are in the power of God, and therefore we can do nothing but wait upon the Lord. It could be suggested that, as this stands, it is a more reasonable deduction from Calvin's own teaching on predestination than Calvin himself gave. But it clearly has radical faults in its consequences: and it is the consequences Calvin imputes to the Libertine teaching which he stresses in the following: En somme, il pretend ace seul but, d'oster discretion du bien et du mal, a ce qu'on ne face plus conscience de rien, quand on attribuera Ie tout aDieu. (Epis. Cord. VII, 353·) Objectively the radicals of the Reformation in general did not have this seul but: most of them believed in the purity, and therefore the freedom from sin, of the perfected Christian. But it is an inevitable consequence of their doctrine that such teaching will have such effects, especially to one who does not accept the idea of the perfected Christian in this life: and by stressing the anti-Christian nature of the consequence, the question under debate is placed in the clear light of an opposition. I I Calvin's accusation is not entirely false in all cases. But, significantly, he has grouped together in the Libertins a considerable variety o.f mystica~ tendencies, and ascribed to all the excesses of some. See G. JauJard, Essm sur les libertins spirituels de Geneve (Paris, 1890); H. Busson, Les Sources et le developpement du rationalisme dans la litterature franfaise de la Renaissance (1533-1601) (Paris, 1922), pp. 315-44; and G. H. Williams, The Radical Reformation (London, 19 6 2), pp. 35 1-5, 59 8- 60 1.
19
II est vray que ce sont gens ignorans et idiotz, qui n'ont pas tant visite les papiers qu'ilz ayent peu apprendre leurs follies de la ... Mais Ie mesme maistre, qui avoit iadis suscite les anciens heretiques, que i'ay diet, leur a bien peu apprendre une telle le90n qu'il avoit appris a ceux lao (Lib.
VII,
153.)
On this level any view expressed by those in disagreement with the 'official' Reformation doctrine is not only erroneous: it is a positive act of wickedness, since it is ultimately inspired by the Devil. Hence the simple parish priest, showing, in all sincerity, what he believes to be the venerable relics of a saint for the edification of the faithful, becomes a liar, directly attacking the honour of God and intentionally betraying his congregation. 2 Thus the Anabaptist who claims that he should not be a magistrate, since the physical, temporal sword should not be wielded by the Christian, is renouncing God ;3 likewise a single fault on our part is proof of our active denial of God's supremacy: La faute se doit mesurer et poiser de ce que nous contrevenons au plaisir de Dieu, aneantissant son auctorite par contemnement entant qu'en nous est. (Pet. Tr. VI, 567.) I 'II faut remarquer du reste que ni les uns ni les autres ne tenaient compte des positions veritables de l'adversaire, et qu'ils s'obstinaient it. combattre des theses que Ie parti adverse n'avait, Ie plus souvent, jamais songe it. defendre.' (Wendel, Calvin, p. 73.) Wendel is here discussing the controversy with Westphal, but the same principle is frequently at work. 2 See the Traite des Reliques, passim: words like menteur, mensonge, 3 Anab. VII, 84. falsifier, siduire appear on almost every page.
2-2
20
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
When therefore Calvin approaches a theological debate, he is not concerned to sort out the wheat from the chaff, to separate valid elements of, say, Anabaptist doctrine from erroneous elements: he is upholding the truth of the Gospel against a structure erected by the Devil and therefore inevitably, in its totality, an attack on the Christian religion. I The first move in discussion is thus the polarization of the opponent's position, making th~ confrontation cl~ar-cut, and also ascribing the worst possible motives to the other side. To tUrI~ now to the principles of the argument: in what ways does Calvin set about the upholding of the truth?
*
*
*
There are occasions where the main burden of a refutation is carried by simple common sense. The whole of the Traite des Reliques, apart from the introductory section. de:oted to a theological discussion of the proper attitude to rehcs, .IS based on such an appeal. Two questions consta~tly reappear: If tW? (or ~ore~ places claim to have the same rehc, 'how can we beheve either. And is it likely that a given object should hav.e been preserved ~s a relic? Of the first question examples are avadable everywhere In the treatise: six churches claim the shroud of Our Lord; there are fourteen nails said to have been used on the Cross; at least two churches claim to have the body of any given Apostle. An example of the second question is Calvin's discussion of the seamless robe for which the soldiers cast lots at the foot of the Cross. The soldiers were sharing Christ's garments for their own use, says Calvin: Qu'ilz me sachent adire, qui a este Ie Chrestien qui les ayt rachepte des (Rel. VI, 42 3.) gendarmes, tant Ie saye que les autres vestemens. . . Moreover, why did the writers of the Gospels not mention so important a fact as the recovery of the robe? Car c'est une chose absurde, de dire que les gendarmes ont butine ensemble les vestemens, sans adiouster qu'on les a racheptez de le~rs mains, pour en faire des reliques. (Ib'ld.) I Thus also, the only motives which the preacher,s of heresy can have are such as may have been instigated by the DevIl: e.g. the frequent allusions to financial gain, cf. Nic. VI, 597, Ref· Cath. IX, 128, 133·
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
21
This expression pour en faire des reliques becomes something like a refrain in the treatise: for it is clear from the Scriptures that the first disciples were not concerned with the treasuring of relics. The use of down-to-earth realism is particularly well seen in the case of the fish eaten by the disciples by the Lake of Galilee after the Resurrection (John xxi): II faut dire qu'il ayt este bien espice, ou qu'on y ait fait un merveilleux saupiquet, qu'il s'est peu garder si longtemps. Mais, sans risee, est il a presumer que les Apostres ayent faict une relique du poysson qu'ilz (Rel. VI, 429.) avoyent apreste pour leur disner? One more relic, seen in the light of pedestrian common sense, becomes merely a ludicrous trickery. Contre l'Astrologie Iudiciaire is also in large part a refutation based on common sense, once again of the most obvious kind. Calvin accepts as axiomatic the truth of certain aspects of 'astrology'-namely astronomy, the understanding of the movements of stars and planets, and the use of this knowledge in such realms as weather forecasting and medicine. What he attacks is what we would call horoscopy: the belief that the stars determine one's character, and that they indicate the future course of one's life and one's success in activities undertaken. A considerable part of the treatise (Astrol. Iud. VII, 516-25) is based on an appeal to common sense: after his definition of the 'true' uses of astrology (which are supported with no arguments at all), he makes the following points: if the stars condition our character, then the significant moment for an observation is not that of birth, but of conception-and that cannot be determined. In any case, heredity is a far stronger influence than the stars: Prenons deux hommes de natures fort diverses, ayans chacun sa femme de nature pareillement repugnante, qui engendrent enfans en une mesme heure, que les femmes acouchent a une mesme heure; il adviendra ordinairement que les enfans tiendront chacun de la complexion de son pere et sa mere, plustost que du regard des astres qu'ilz ont eu pareilz tous deux. Et la raison y est si patente, que nul de sain iugement n'yra a l'encontre. (Astrol. Iud. VII, 519.) He then adds the theological point that any influence there may have been is overruled by the gift of God's grace, and by His predestination. On the forecasting of future events, Calvin points to catastrophes
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
in which hundreds of thousands of people died at one time: their stars must have been entirely contradictory. And so on. The later part of the treatise moves to other ground, when Calvin reaches the real subject of his attack, namely the theological point that such astrology is based on a non-Christian notion of determinism, and derogates from the authority of God. But in this section of ' groundwork', theology hardly enters, and the argument is purely on the basis of common sense. Occasionally, but not frequently, common sense appears in a doctrinal discussion. In chapter XI of Contre les Libertins Calvin considers the first of his 'principles of Libertine doctrine', which is an Averroistic notion of a universal soul; God's spirit permeates all things, and the human soul participates in, or is part of, this divine Spirit. Calvin underlines the fundamental Christian distinction between Creator and Creation, and reduces the opponents' argument to an absurdity:
-certainly in Calvin's hands-is based on some form of incongruity between what is said and what the reader expects to be said; it disrupts the normal criteria of common sense. Calvin excels in the use of incongruous names for his opponents. He quotes from a Libertine treatise in barely coherent French, I and introduces the extract:
22
Voila des argumens bien valides, pour tellement confondre toutes choses, que Dieu devienne creature, et que l'ame humaine ne soit plus rien. (Lib.
VII, 180.)
After this polarization, Calvin goes on to show the falsehood of any suggestion that Man and God are of the same essence: Les raisons y sont tant evidentes, qu'il n'est ia besoing de s'armer des tesmoignages de l'Escriture. L'arne· humaine est subiecte a ignorance: ce1a ne peut competer aDieu. Elle est subiecte a passions: ce qui ne convient a Dieu non plus. Et que dirons nous de l'inconstance et (Lib. VII, 180.) variete? que dirons nous de la fragilite et foiblesse? If the Libertines mean what Calvin says they ,mean, the refutation is too obvious to demand a more developed argument. These examples illustrate the way in which Calvin may use common sense to carry the weight of his argument; but they are not untypical in their very rudimentary quality. It is only when the point at issue is as immediately accessible to common sense as in the examples above, or when Calvin has polarized his arguments to the extent of establishing a direct contradiction between his adversaries' teaching and the accepted truth, that he appeals to the reader in this way. A form of argument which, in essence, is not far removed from the appeal to common sense is the appeal to humour. For humour
23
Escoutons un peu harenguer ce grand docteur messire Antoine Pocque, a leur fa<;on accoustumee. (Lib. VII, 226.) After a refutation of one of the Holandois's arguments in which Calvin has demonstrated his opponent's ignorance of Hebrew and Latin: Qu'on croye maintenant a ce venerable Theologien. (Resp. HoI.
IX,
596.)
Sardonic epithets abound in his work. The name of the Nicodemites is the most obvious example; but throughout his treatises the names or titles he gives to the other side are varied in form but unified in effect; the astrologers whom he attacks, for example, are messieurs les Genethliaques, nos Astrologues contreJaictz, ces Mathematiciens masquez; their teaching, ceste astrologie bastarde or ceste astrologie erratique. Ridicule, the reduction of an idea to the absurd, is equally an indirect appeal to the common sense of the reader. Calvin's first attack on the Libertines' Platonic notion that after death the soul is reabsorbed into God is an ironical application of their teaching: [Quintin] ... estoit acompaigne d'un Bertrand des Moulins, qui puis n'agueres est devenu Dieu ou rien, selon leur opinion: c'est a dire qu'il est decede de ce monde. (Lib. VII, 160.) In other cases, ridicule may be effective as a means of persuasion, where proof may be lacking. The Libertines teach that the faithful should 'have all things in common', sharing freely with each other. Calvin-after a Scriptural refutation-maintains that in any case I For example: 'Premier ie n'entendoye point, comment nous sommes creez de rien, et seront remis noz corps comme cendre esteincte: mais l'esprit sera comme l'air clair, et espars comme la nuee, non entendant aussi comme ie suis de genre terrestre, c'est a dire, de celuy qui premier fut faict en ame vivante : Dieu ne faict nulle chose sans cause, et comment nous sommes sortis du ventre de nostre mere la terre, OU est toute douleur.' (Lib. VII, 227-8.)
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
the Libertines are only interested in receiving charity, not in making sacrifices in order to help others:
Elsewhere he writes of the loppins of various Apostles' bodies found in various places. In contrast to the adoration given to these relics by the faithful, Calvin wants to 'be finished with them'; and Lazarus 'only' has three bodies, while his sister has but two ... because she was a woman. ~he humour of these passages is in general heavy and fairly ObVIOUS. Of course, the standards of humour of the sixteenth century are considerably different from our own. But, also, some more delicate effects, in particular real irony, are practically absent from Calvin's writing. Irony depends on a tacit appeal to an ac~ept~d standard which the reader can be expected to apply to an lfomcal statement; but Calvin, it seems, could not or did not count on such a standard. Thus, in those places where he indulges in irony, it is usually of a particularly exaggerated nature. The clearest example is in a treatise which does not enter into our examination of style, the translated work Articles de la Faculte de Theologie. This is partly a serious refutation of twenty-five articles of faith laid down by the Sorbonne in 1543; but partly it is a parody of the sort of reasons the Catholic theologians might have used, according to Calvin. I The subject here is the truth of nonscriptural doctrine:
24
Parquoy i'ay accoustume de les appeller docteurs de la charite passive: d'autant qu'ilz souffrent qu'on leur face tant de bien qu'on pourra. (Lib. VII, 220.) Whether this is true or not could hardly be demonstrated: nor does it need to be, when the bon mot achieves the desired effect in any case. Similarly, the relics of the Apostles' combs are more ridiculous than anything else, and are treated with ridicule: Mais Ie ioyau Ie plus ferial est des douze peignes des Apostres, qu'on monstre a nostre Dame de l'Isle, sus Lyon. Ie pense bien qu'ilz ont este du commencement la mis, pour faire a croire qu'ilz estoyent aux douze Pers de France; mais depuis, leur dignite s'est acreue, et sont devenuz apostoliques. (Ret. VI, 442 .)
It scarcely matters whether the combs have in fact had this history or not; the entertaining quality of the.story, pointed by the singularly inappropriate use of apostoliques at the end, is sufficient to discount the relics as anything other than laughable. Ridicule of this type is frequently used to discomfit an adversary, by" implying that he is not worthy of more serious treatment. The title of a Libertine tract mentioned by Calvin gives him an opportunity to deride it: ... La lunette des Chrestiens: qui a la verite est beaucoup plus propre a troubler qu'ayder la veue. (Lib. VII, 242.)
In the Traite des Reliques Calvin uses the technique because it emphasizes the contempt merited by the supposedly venerable relics under discussion. Thus, on the one hand, he writes frequently of ces sainctes reliques and in particular of les vrayes croix (in the plural); and on the other, he treats them in the most offhand manner: Nous traicterons en commun de tous les autres Apostres, pour avoir plus tost faict ... 11 y a puis apres Ie Lazare, et la Magdaleine sa soeur. Touchant de luy, il n'a que troys corps, que ie sache ... Pource que la Magdaleine estoit femme, il falloit qu'e1le fust inferieure a son frere: pourtant e1Ie n'a eu que deux corps. (Rel. VI, 440, 442 -3.)
25
Ie Ie prouve par l'inconvenient ou absurdite qui seroit au contraire: car autrement il faudroit presque faire un nouveau monde: veu et considere qu'a grand peine la centiesme partie de tout ce que nous tenons sans . difficult~, ne scru~ule, se pourroit expressement prouver par les Escntures samctes. Mals pource que ce sont resolutions tirees de loin par d~ductions subtiles des bons docteurs speculatifs, nous les reputon~ mdubltables, et les avons pour articles de foy: dont il n'est licite d'enquei"ir. 2 The theologians, incapable of drawing the right conclusion from the unscripturality of their teaching, are effectively ridiculed; but the humour is crude. Humour of a sort, then, may serve as a form of argument, or rather to achieve a refutation without argument. Calvin's humour, however, is of a particular, and limited, kind, evocative more of I Much of the effect of the original Latin is drawn from the fact that these caricatures are written in dog-Latin of the worst sort while the refu!ations are in clas~i~al Latin. The French reproduce; this only partIally; ~d, also, addItIOns make the irony even more heavy-footed. 2
Recuezl des Opuscules, p. 494.
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
scorn and contempt than of a hearty laugh. As Calvin suggested in the preface to Viret's Disputations chrestiennes quoted in the introduction, I there is a place for humour in theological writings; but that place is in strict subordination to a serious overriding concern, it is a weapon to achieve an effect, not to be enjoyed in itself. Significantly enough, in the preface to the Disputations chrestiennes, Calvin seems to equate humour with moquerie. A more substantial form of argument, which is again related to a use of common sense, is Calvin's exploitation of the example or analogy. Examples in themselves do not prove anything; but they do help to make an abstract, generalized point of doctrine clear in human terms. At the same time the particular examples chosen by Calvin often serve an additional purpose: by their very nature they restrict attention to certain aspects of an argument, to the aspects, in fact, which Calvin is particularly concerned with. Thus, for example, the Libertines teach that man's natural abilities, given by God, therefore represent his vocation. This doctrine could be made to sound very much like that of some modern Churchmen, that the Christian life entails the realization and expression of the whole individual personality. Calvin's examples, however, direct the reader's attention to a different aspect:
The Dutch heretic in the Response a un Holandois asserts that, since the essential point in worship is the attitude in the believer's heart, external ceremonies are irrelevant, neither good nor bad: you can worship God in a Mass as much as elsewhere. Calvin replies:
26
Comme si un homme est enclin a yvrognerie, il n'est loisible de Ie vituperer en cela. Car il y est appelle. Si quelqu'un de nature est friant au ieu, passe. Car il ne convient point Ie retirer de sa vocation. (Lib. VII, 212.) Such examples make further refutation unnecessary. More important as an actual form of argument is the analogy. An analogy may express an abstract relationship in cruder, human terms in which the spiritual truth is more clearly understandable: Si on ne fait point mal en idolatrant pour eviter la rage des Papistes, celuy qui sera macquereau de son maistre n'offensera point. Un homme sera excuse quand il empoisonnera son prochain ou qu'il fera quelque trahison pour crainte d'offenser celuy auquel il est subiect. (4 Serm. VIII, 38 3.)
If, in satisfying your earthly master, you commit a sin, you are guilty-the sin may be procuring or idolatry. The two cases are assimilated to each other. 1
P.7.
27
Ce que ie luy confesse bien, quand il est question du chef ou du principal. Mais c'est autant comme s'il disoit qu'on peut bien coupper la gorge a un homme sans luy oster la vie, d'autant que la vie gist en l' arne. (Resp. Hoi. IX, 610-1 I.) Likewise, the Dutchman claims that if idolatrous thoughts can be disguised under the form of holiness, the converse is also true: that sincere worship can be hidden under the appearance of idolatry: ... qui vaut autant comme s'il disoit: Puis qu'un homme peut bien estre meurtrier de coeur, combien qu'il ne tue personne de sa main, il s'ensuit qu'une bonne amitie et fraternite peut bien estre cachee sous (Resp. Hol. IX, 612.) un meurtre exterieur. Apart from the obvious stylistic effect to be obtained from comparing the Dutchman's views to murder, the thought to be expressed is reduced to its crudest, most obvious-and most absurd -form. The Dutchman's position may be defensible in its original version; but the analogy which Calvin uses renders it untenable. This cannot in any real sense be called argument, and certainly not logical argument: the appositeness of the analogy cannot be demonstrated, and thus its relevance cannot be proved. However, as an effective means of refutation its value is considerable. Such analogies are usually employed to refute the argument of an opponent by associating it with an idea so absurd that no further rejection is necessary. Calvin also uses analogies in presenting his own teaching. Here again their function is not usually to provide proof: he is explaining a point of doctrine by reference to known facts. Thus the very difficult doctrine which says that God causes evil in men without Himself being tainted, and without diminishing man's responsibility for his sin, is explained by means of an analogy: Car tout ainsi que Ie soleil, donnant de ses rayons sur une charongne, et causant en icelle quelque putrefaction, n'en tire point de corruption ne macule aucune, et ne faict point par sa purete que la charongne ne soit puante et infecte: aussi Dieu faict tellement ~es oeuvres par les meschans, que la sainctete qui est en luy ne les iustifie point, et l'infec(Lib. VII, 190 .) tion qui est en eux ne Ie contamine en rien.
28
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
An interesting example appears in Contre les Anabaptistes, which shows well the function, and the limitations, of analogy in argument. The Anabaptists contend that after death the soul remains in a sleep-like, unconscious state until the Last Judgement. Calvin insists on the real, conscious life of the soul during this period, although the soul is at rest. How can this be presented without derogating from the importance of the Last Judgement? Si quelcun veut que cela luy soit dec1aire par similitude, Ie temps auquel nous habitons en ce corps mortel, est comme Ie temps de guerre: quand nous sommes despouillez de nostre chair, la bataille cesse et prend fin, et avons la victoire: mais Ie iour du triumphe, quand Iesus Christ apparoistra en sa maieste, afin que nous regnions eternellement avec luy. [sic] (Anab. VII, 124-5.) Likewise the state of the damned after death is that of a criminal awaiting the execution of his sentence. Calvin does not regard analogy as providing proof. He states the doctrine; and the analogy simply makes it apprehensible and acceptable to the reader. He says as much in the passage considered here, which continues: Mais pour ce que telles similitudes sont ~ulement pour esc1aircir, et ne sont pas autentiques: prenons en de l' escriture, qui servira non seulement a enseigner, mais aussi aprouver nostre dire. (Anab. VII, 125.) There follows a long description of the Exodus as an analogy of human life: baptism is compared to the crossing of the Red Sea; life to the wanderings in the wilderness; death to crossing the Jordan; and the final triumph of the just to the building of Jerusalem, the Holy City. This is an unusual case, not only in being an analogical interpretation of Scripture, but also because, owing to its origin, it is regarded by Calvin as a proof. For the sake of the point to be made, Calvin accepts the very sort of exegesis against which he normally fought (although of course this particular analogy is a standard one). However, the difference is significant between the Scriptural analogy and the others: on the one hand, the everyday analogy is used to explain and express a truth arrived at by other means; on the other, the introduction of the Scripture takes us to another plane, that on which proof of the truth, not only an explanation of the truth, may be found.
*
*
r
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
29
'Dans une Eglise qui ne voulait avoir d'autre fondement que la Bible, il ne suffisait pas d'avoir raison, il fallait avoir raison avec Isaie et S. Paul. Dans une controverse, Calvin triomphe rarement seul; il confond si bien sa cause avec celIe des auteurs sacres, et par eux avec celIe de Dieu, qu'il s'avance au combat avec une assurance qui est dej a un gage de victoire.' I Calvin's constant reliance on Scripture to provide the real content of his argument is so obvious, and so well known, as to need no stressing. 2 Whenever, in fact, he reaches the real heart of a matter of discussion, whenever a tangible opposition of doctrines is reached, the argument becomes strictly Scriptural. Having outlined a series of arguments proposed by his adversary, he simply contrasts it with a Scriptural text, and the matter is closed: II dit pour ses excuses qu'il entend bien que Ie mal est en nous. Mais quoy? II dit et maintient que nous ne faisons rien. Au contraire, David confesse: I'ay fait mal devant toy, Seigneur, afin que tu sois iustifie (Epis. Cord. VII, 35 2.) contre ceux qui te condamnent. This is the simplest form of Scriptural argumentation: on the underlying assumption that Scripture has absolute authority, one Scriptural text has more influence than whole chapters of argument. In the opening chapter of the 1541 Institution, likewise, the vital question of the relative authority of Church and Word is really settled in one quotation: Mais telz menteurs sont aisement refutez par un seul mot de Sainct Paul, leque1 testifie, I'Eglise estre soustenue sus Ie fondement des Prophetes et Apostres. Si la doctrine des Prophetes et Apostres est Ie fondement de l'Eglise: il fault qu'elle ait premierement sa certitude, que I'Eglise commence d'apparoistre. (Inst. 1541, p. 20.) Of course the implications of this text are then worked out; but the basic point is in this one text. Calvin's well-known reliance on Scripture has a significant consequence. Far from being a rational construction of unique perfection, as is sometimes claimed, Calvin's argumentation is often less A. Bossert, Calvin, p. 2 0 7. E.g.: 'Ie me submectz voiontiers a ceste condition, qu'on ne croye rien de ce que ie diray, sinon qu'on aye Ie tesmoignage de I'escriture.' (Anab. VII, 66.) I
2
\ \
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
logical than that of his opponents. This is most clearly seen in his oft-repeated conflicts on predestination: how can it be that, at the same time, God can will all things and all man's actions; and yet man can remain responsible for those actions? A clear example of Calvin's method in this position is the chapter in Contre les Libertins on this subject (Lib. VII, 192-4). In this chapter Calvin uses a form of simulated dialogue; if we remove the polemical overgrowth, I the arguments may be summarized as follows: Calvin Libertines The Law, given in the Scripture, God wills all things, He causes is the will of God: sins are all things to happen: therefore there stated to be displeasing to Man is not responsible. God. Reference to Deut. iv. 10.
the same point, with minor modifications. The dialogue has little inherent part to play in the development of Calvin's argument, other than to provide a fresh starting point for each further element of Calvin's refutation, and to emphasize the contrast between the Libertine position and the statements of Scripture. More significantly, it is the Libertine position which is more defensible in rational terms: they argue from the all-pervasive action of God (accepted by Calvin just as much as by themselves) to the reduction of human responsibility. Calvin's answer to this is simple: in each case he presents a Scriptural text, or more frequently several, to show that the deduction is not in accordance with the Word of God. There is then no more to be said. 'La contradiction est flagrante, peu importe; Calvin ne s'en met point en peine; il affirme d'une meme haleine et la souverainete de Dieu et la responsabilite humaine. II trouve ces deux donnees dans la Bible, aussi les maintient-il l'une et l'autre, sans vouloir sacrifier 1'une a l' autre.' I When reason is opposed to Calvin, then, his answer is a Scriptural text which carries more authority than all the reasoning in the world. Very frequently, however, the confrontation is between two sides, both of which support their contentions with Scriptural texts. How can one side prevail? Chapter XVI of Contre les Libertins is a refutation of the Libertine tenet that it is not for man to judge what is good and what is bad. This follows on from the passage analysed above; but it also has the clear biblical justification of Matt. vii. I: 'Judge not, that ye be not judged.' Calvin introduces the Libertine teaching, but, significantly, does not immediately mention the Scriptural justification. Instead, he confronts it with Isa. v. 20-' ceste sentence de Dieu, OU il maudict tous ceux qui diront Ie mal estre bien.' The argument continues as follows:
30
All things are done by the will of God, therefore nothing is displeasing to Him.
Is God contradictory, commanding and forbidding the same thing? Paul, Isaiah, refer to God's anger at sin. All Scripture commends the fear and service of tlte Lord.
How can we fear offending God, since He does all things in us?
Paul writes of the gift of conscience, which accuses us.
Of what can we be accused, since God does all things in us?
Moses condemns and curses this negation of conscience (Deut. xxix. 18).
Nothing can be done save by the will of God.
What is the will of God as He has declared it to us? It is the Law: we know what is pleasing and what is displeasing, and should ask no further.
Can anything be done save by the will of God?
No: but we should not enquire too closely into God's secret providence (Prov. xxv. 27); we know the will of God in Scripture, and this must satisfy us.
Libertines Un Chrestien doit faire son profit de tout. (? refers to Romans viii. 28-no ref. given.)
It will be noticed that the Libertine side in this argument is in fact static; each interjection from the opponents is a repetition of I
Which will be examined in chapter
III
(see pp. 94-95).
I
Calvin In what sense should this be understood ? We should learn from our own faults and from those of others- I Cor. x. I I. Cf. David, St. Paul.
J.-D. Benoit, Calvin, directeur d'ames (Strasbourg, 1947), p. 83.
31
32
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
Calvin
Libertines
It is written, Judge not. .. (Matt. vii. I).
Matt. vii. 5: 'Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye ... '
Mais
a quel propos? This text
is attacking those who usurp God's authority by judging things which God has not condemned. Calvin justifies this by Romans xiv, on the subject of judging others in 'indifferent' matters such as food: here our opinion must not anticipate the future decision of God. On the other hand, where this judgement is already known (i.e. in the Law), it is right and necessary that we should judge. (Analogy given from law-courts.) This is directed against hypocritical judgement only. Cf. the woman taken in adultery (John viii. 7). Hypocrisy in the judge does not alter the fact of sin in the sin~er who is judged.
Calvin closes the chapter with a vituperative denunciation of the , motive' behind this Libertine doctrine, namely that they wish to suppress the God-given faculty of conscience, so that they may enjoy themselves. In this passage each Libertine text is refuted on the grounds of misinterpretation; and in each case, Calvin explains the meaning of the text used against him by reference to another text treating the same subject. The constantly recurring question is ' In what sense should this text be understood?' Thus, frequently, Calvin's Scriptural argument is in fact an argument on Scriptural interpretation, on exegetical method primarily; and to this we must now turn. A thorough investigation of Calvin's hermeneutical principles lies outside the scope of the present study and the capacity of its author. I Nor is it our proper concern. On a more restricted scale, I A full statementof Calvin's exegeticalprinciples may be found in Niesel, The Theology of Calvin, pp. 22 sqq., and the authorities there referred to; R. S. Wallace, Calvin's Doctrine of the Word and Sacrament (Edinburgh, 1953); see also Newport, An Investigation of Factors influencing John Calvin's Use of the linguistic and historical Principles of Biblical Exegesis (unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, Edinburgh, 1953), for an extensive bibliography.
!
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
33
an attempt will be made here to illustrate some of the exegetical techniques which Calvin employs most frequently in his theological controversies. Weare concerned not so much with the general principles governing Calvin's exegesis in an abstract situation as with the particular weapons which he finds most useful in polemics. For instance, in his Commentaries, Calvin constantly appeals to the philological data of Greek or Hebrew vocabulary and syntax in the exegesis of texts. But this is rare and insignificant in the polemical treatises: evidently such criteria would be of less weight to the public whom Calvin had in mind; and such references to ancient languages as we find usually serve as much to indicate the ignorance of the opponent as to aid the understanding of a passage. I In the exegetical practice of his polemical works, two major features stand out as significant. One is of particular importance in the negative aspect of Calvin's exegesis, i.e. in the refutation of opponents' biblical arguments, and the other in the positive side, the establishment of Calvin's own position. They may be described respectively as the use of context and parallel texts, and the establishment of definitions and distinctions. First, the use of context. The Libertines, in justification of their doctrine that God is the doer of all things, quote I Cor. xii. 6: 'There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.' Ie respons qu'ilz appliquent mal et faulsement l'escriture a ce propos. Car quand sainct Paul use de ceste sentence, il ne parle sinon des graces du sainct Esprit. Qu'ainsi soit, Ie passage Ie monstre: auque1 il exhorte les Corinthiens, d'en bien user, puis que ce sont dons de Dieu ... (Lib.
VII,
191.)
The true sense of the passage is thus that all good works are of the Holy Spirit: Paul makes no statement about evil works. Similarly, the Anabaptists taught that the Christian should never swear oaths, and based this doctrine partly on Matt. v. 34-7: 'But I say unto you, swear not at all ... ' Calvin's reply sets out to establish that Christ's words here are not the absolute rule of life they appear to be if removed from their context: 11 est mestier d'exposer les parolles de nostre Seigneur Iesus, pource qu'il semble de premiere entree, que il vueille interdire tous sermens. Or pour en avoir bonne et seure intelligence, il convient de savoir (A nab. VII, 96.) l'occasion qui l'a esmeu d'ainsi parler. I Cf. for example Epis. Cord. VII, 351. 3
HSO
34
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
He then explains that the whole of this passage of the Sermon on the Mount is a series of attacks on Pharisaic abuses of the Law, and that this text is simply an explanation of the third Commandment: it forbids taking the Name, or the attributes, of God in vain; but has nothing to do with oaths in general. Thus to take Our Lord's words as an absolute rule of conduct is to falsify their intention. The text, as a doctrinal argument against all oaths, is eliminated. Underlying this explanation is Calvin's oft-reiterated principle that Scripture is necessarily consistent with itself: in this particular passage, that Christ is not superseding the Law of Moses, but clarifying it. The principle is in a sense basic to all modern exegesis; but in Calvin it is particularly rigid: to him the whole of Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and therefore every Scriptural passage is ultimately the work of a single, divine author. l Calvin frequently introduces a text by saying, not'S. Paul dit ... ', but 'Le Saint Esprit dit par la bouche de S. Paul ... ' The message of Scripture is therefore necessarily consistent throughout: apparent contradictions must be superficial, and can be understood by means of other texts.i()f equal status. The Libertine rejection of man's responsibility for sin is refuted in the following by one text, which then receives further clarification by two other texts:
the meaning of one text by reference to others: Matt. vii. 1, 'Judge not, that ye be not judged', is explained by Romans xiv, and so on. A development of this exegesis by parallel passages, implying the consistency of Scriptural doctrine, is a method of refuting an opponent's argument on the ground of inconsistency in the latter's exegesis. The argument he uses may be expressed schematically as follows:
I
Le sainct Esprit parle bien autrement des hommes, comme quand il dit par la bouche de sainct Paul, que chascun recevra son loyer selon qu'il aura fait en ce corps, soit bien ou mal. Ie n'entend pas toutesfois que Ie bien que nous faisons soit de nous. S'il replique qu'il y a une pareille raison du mal, Ie prophete dit bien autrement, pronon<;ant en la personne de Dieu: Ta perdition est de toy, Israel: seulement ton aide est a moy. Pourtant sainct Paul, en un autre passage, distingue notamment entre les deux, disant que la mort est Ie loyer de peche: que la vie eternelle est un don gratuit de Dieu. (Epis. Cord. VII, 354.) The passage analysed earlier from Contre les Libertins, chapter XVI, is, as we have seen, entirely based on this principle of explaining I This can be maintained without entering into the theological battle over Calvin's theory of inspiration (cf. Niesel, Theology of Calvin, pp. 22 sqq.); and in particular it is true in the concrete situation of controversy, where the need for an absolute authority may even have influenced Calvin's evaluation of the Bible (see Newport, An investigation . ..
of Calvin's exegesis, p.
210).
35
if A, then B; B is unscriptural and therefore false; therefore A is false. For example, Calvin, maintaining that the soul is alive and conscious between death and the Last Judgement, quotes Luke xxiii. 43: 'Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.' The Anabaptists do not accept this interpretation: Ilz ont encore une autre cavillation: Auiourdhuy signifie Ie temps du nouveau Testament. Et pour prouver cela, ilz abusent de ceste sentence qui est en l'epistre aux Ebrieux, que Iesus Christ, qui estoit hier, est auiourdhuy, et sera eternellement. Mais ilz ne voyent point, que si on exposoit ainsi Ie mot d'auiourdhuy, Ie mot d'hier signifiroit Ie temps de l'ancien Testament, et par ce moyen il s'ensuivroit que nostre Seigneur Iesus auroit commence d'estre, qui seroit une grande absurdite: d'autant que nous savons qu'il est nostre Dieu eternel, et mesme selon son humanite, il est nomme l' aigneau sacrifie des Ie commencement (Anab. VII, II8.) du monde. [Rev. xiii. 8.] A similar case is Calvin's attack on the Pelagians in chapter II of the 1541 Institution. The Pelagians had taught that original sin is to be understood in the sense that we are all sinners like Adam, not because sin is inherited from Adam. Calvin insists that the effects of the death of Christ are of the same nature as the effects of the Fall: Tout ainsi ... que Ie peche est entre par un homme au monde universel, et par Ie peche la mort: laquelle a este espandue sur tous hommes: entant que tous ont peche: semblablement par la grace de Christ Iustice et vie nous est restituee. [Romans v.] Que babilleront icy les Pellagiens; que Ie peche a este espars au monde par l'imitation d'Adam? N'avons nous done autre proffit de la grace de Christ? sinon qu'elle nous est proposee en exemple pour ensuyvre? Et qui pourroit endurer tel blaspheme? Or s'il n'y a nulle doubte, que la grace de Christ ne soit nostre, par communication: et que par icelle nous ayons vie: il s'ensuit 3- 2
36
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
pareillement, que l'une et l'autre a este perdue en Adam, comme nous les recouvrons en Christ: et que Ie peche et la mort ont este engendrez en nous par Adam, comme ilz sont abolis par Christ. (Inst. 1541, p. 35.)
con9ue~'.I Here, in fact, we see the other side of Calvin's argu-
Thus all Scripture is a doctrinal unity, and any part of Scripture can be illuminated and explained by other parts of the Bible. But, conversely, no part of Scripture can be left out of the system; if Calvin rejects inconsistency in others, he must himself achieve consistency in his interpretation. How does he do so? Wendel has given a number of instances where Calvin's theological structure has led him into serious difficulties in the explanation of certain biblical texts. I The necessity for coherence in his doctrine sometimes drives him to exegesis by very delicate definitions of the words he is using; and on occasions the argument becomes purely verbal. One point in Calvin's argument against Transubstantiation is that Christ's body is essentially material, and that the notion of a corporeal but invisible Presence is a contradiction in terms. In reply to the examples of the appearance of Christ to the disciples in the upper room, when the doors were closed, and to the disappearance of Christ at Emmaus, Calvin said: D'entrer en une chambre, les huys estant fermez, ce n'est pas a dire transpercer Ie bois, mais seulement qu'il s'est fait ouverture par sa vertu divine, en sorte que d'une fayon miraculeuse il s'est trouve au milieu de ses disciples, combien que les portes fussent serrees. Ce qu'ils ameinent de saint Luc, assavoir qu'il s'est esvanouy soudain des yeux des disciples qui alloyent en Emmaiis, ne leur sert de rien, et fait a nostre avantage. Car pour leur oster la veue de son corps il ne s'est point fait invisible, (Inst. 1560; IV. xvii. 29.) mais seulement s'est disparu. In another passage, Calvin rejects the Anabaptist claim that those who were baptized in the Roman Church should be rebaptized in the' true' Church. The Anabaptists cite in justification Acts xix. 3-6, which appears to state that Paul baptized a number of men who claimed to have received the baptism of John. Calvin denies that St. Paul rebaptized them: les graces visibles du sainct Esprit leur furent donnees par l'imposition des mains. Lesquelles graces sont assez souvent en l'Escriture nommees (Inst. 1560; IV. xv. 18.) Baptesme. Wendel's remark on this passage is illuminating: 'on touche du doigt a cet exemple ce que pouvait avoir d'aventureux l'exegese de I Cf. Wendel, Calvin, pp. 167-9, 212-13, 246, 262, 267, etc.
37
Calvin, lorsqu'il la mettait au service d'idees dogmatiques prementatIOn. The way in which his own quotation of Scriptural passages can refute a whole chapter of argument brought against him has been seen above. But here the structure of argumentation is his, and the Scriptural quotations those of the opposition. On specific texts his method of refutation is by the sort of distinction illustrated in the above quotations (although, of course, they are usually much better founded than these extreme examples). On wider points of doctrine Calvin will establish a structure that attempts to co-ordinate and combine the seemingly contradictory points he derives from Scripture. For example, every Christian must face at some point the paradox of an all-powerful God controlling all creation, and simultaneously man's responsibility for his own actions. The fact that Calvin developed the doctrine of predestination in clearer and firmer terms than did his contemporaries means that the paradox becomes particularly apparent in his case. How is he to combine together the numerous Scriptural texts which teach the working of God through Providence and through His predestination, with those which insist on the responsibility of man? His clearest answer is given in Contre les Libertins chapters XIIXVI, and especially chapter XIV, which is an extensive definition of the concept of Providence. It is true, he says, that all things occur by the will of God, that God is active in Creation. But to understand what this means, 'nous avons a considerer que Dieu besongne en trois sortes, quant au gouvernement du monde'. He then establishes a threefold distinction in the workings of God's Providence. First: il y a une operation universelle, par laquelle il conduict toutes creatures, selon la condition et propriete qu'il leur a donnee a chacune en les formant.
That is to say, the laws of Nature are grounded in the will of God. But since such a working is done through the nature of each creature, Calvin can add: toutesfois ceste operation universelle de Dieu n'empesche point, que chacune creature, tant au ciel comme en la terre, n'ait et ne retienne sa qualite et nature, et suyve sa propre inclination. I
Calvin, p. 246.
38
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
The second form of Providence is that of particular interventions by God in order to perform His will:
faire que Ie mal: cela est de la corruption du peche. Ce que nous desirons de bien faire, et avons Ie pouvoir de l'executer, c'est de la grace supernaturelle de l'esprit, leque1 nous regenere en une vie divine. Voila donc comment Dieu besongne en ses enfans. C'est qu'en abolissant leur perversite, illes conduit par son Esprit en son obeissance. (Lib. VII, 191.)
La seconde espece ou fayon par laquelle Dieu opere en ses creatures, est qu'il les faict servir a sa bonte, iustice et iugement, selon qu'il veut maintenant aider ses serviteurs, maintenant punir les meschants, maintenant esprouver la patience de ses fideles ou les chastier paternellement ... Parquoy ce que les Payens et ignorans attribuent afortune, nous Ie devons assigner a la providence de Dieu: non pas seulement a ceste vertu universelIe, dont nous avons parle, mais aune ordonnance speciale, par laquelle il conduit les choses, selon qu'il voit estre expedient. (Lib. VII, 187.) Under this heading Calvin explains the numerous Scriptural passages which indicate God as creating darkness and light, or as using the Devil in order to tempt Saul, or Ahab, or Job. In reply to the obvious objection that clearly in these passages God is willing eva, Calvin establishes two further distinctions: La premiere est, que Sathan et les meschans ne sont pas tellement instrumens de Dieu, que ce pendant ilz n'operent aussi bien de leur coste. Car il ne faut pas imaginer que Dieu besongne par un homme inique, comme par une pierre ou par un "tronc de bois: mais il en use comme d'une creature raisonnable, selon la qualite de sa nature qu'il luy a donnee. Quand donc nous disons que Dieu opere par les meschans, cela n'empesche pas que les meschans n'operent aussi en leur endroict ... La seconde exception alaquelle n'ont point d'esgard ces malheureux est qu'il y a bien grande diversite entre l'oeuvre de Dieu, et celIe d'un homme meschant, quand il s'en sert pour un instrument. Car Ie meschant est incite ou de son avarice, ou d'ambition, ou d'envie, ou de cruaute afaire ce qu'il fait, et ne regarde aautre fin. Pourtant selon la racine qui est l'affection du cueur, et Ie but OU il pretend, l'oeuvre est qualifiee, et abon droict est iugee mauvaise. Mais Dieu a un regard tout contraire. C'est d'exercer sa iustice pour Ie salut et conservation des bons, d'user de sa bonte et grace envers ses fide1es, de chastier ceux qui l'ont merite. (Lib. VII, 188-<).) There follow examples which indicate that Job, and David, accepted suffering as being from the hand of God and His will, but nonetheless condemned the human or diabolical instruments of that suffering. The third form of Providence is the saving action of grace, by which the Elect are purged of Original Sin: Ce donc que nous sommes propres a discerner, a vouloir, a faire cecy ou cela, c'est de don naturel. Ce que nous ne pouvons eslire, desirer, ne
39
Thus any text cited on the Providence of God can be ascribed to one or other of these' categories' or distinctions, and what appeared to be contradictory is harmonized. The structure provided by Calvin here is not necessarily satisfying. For example, when Calvin says that God uses an evil being in such a way that it works selon la qualiie de sa nature qu'£l luy a donnee, that gift of original powers and qualities is also part of God's Providence, and therefore of God's will; and in the third aspect of God's Providence, Calvin omits any mention of the reprouves, those who are rejected by predestination. But what is significant is the type of structure which Calvin has built in order to corroborate the various data of Scripture into a whole, the effort to make sense of what appeared to be contradictory. Similar techniques are found throughout his works; some of the simpler ones are his explanation of the relationship of Christ to the Law, where Scripture appears to state both that Christ fulfils the Law and that He abolishes the Law; and his distinction between various sorts of ceremonies, in answer to a series of Pauline quotations used by the N£codem£tes and denying the significance of ceremonies, as long as the worship of the heart is sincere. On the first, Calvin establishes a distinction between the doctrine of the Law and the rigour of the Law: the former is the way in which we should live, the will of God for us-and this remains; the latter, the Law as a standard of judgement, has been abolished by New Testament grace. (Lib. VII, 206-10.) On the second, Calvin says: Nous avons donc anoter qu'en choses qui d'elles-mesmes ne sont point vicieuses, nous avons liberte d'en user, ou nous en abstenir. Mais ou Ie mal est tout notoire, il faut bien tenir une autre reigle. (Resp. HoI. IX, 600.) And since, he says, Roman ceremonies come into the latter category, it cannot be maintained that the Christian has any choice.
40
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
The main stream of modern biblical criticism would accept that the statements made by Scripture are not entirely consistent as a body of doctrine: in various parts of the Bible a series of different standpoints appear which represent a whole. range of varied and sometimes contradictory statements about the basis of our faith. Thus Benoit is right in his statement (p. 3 I above) that Calvin sometimes insists on both of two contradictory, mutually exclusive statements when he finds them both in the Bible. However, Calvin would not accept this attitude. In all the examples given above, his intention is to present his doctrines not only as Scripturally founded but also as co-ordinated in rational terms. The assumption behind his exegesis is, as we have said, that Scripture, being the work of the divine Author, must be selfconsistent. The other premiss in his doctrinal structure is that human reason, being vitiated by the Fall, is incapable of truly rational processes, at least as far as spiritual truths are concerned, as opposed to matters of temporal life. Hence, the contradiction between the structure of thought provided by Scripture and that achieved by human reason is due to the error inherent in human reason itself. The statements of Scriptttre, being in all parts true, represent true, uncorrupted reason. Just as we cannot ask whether the will of God is just or good, since the fact that God wills something thereby makes it justice or goodness; so also we cannot judge Scripture by reason: for Scripture makes true reason what it is. The human skills have their part to play in establishing the true meaning of the text by philological methods and so on; but when we have understood the words of Scripture rightly, then we have the starting point for the establishment of our truly rational system. From this standpoint, it follows that any structure which coordinates the various statements of Scripture, any argument which is capable of holding together the apparent contradictions of the data, will itself be in line with true reason. If we say that Calvin's exegesis is on occasions 'purely verbal', we are missing the point, which is not that it appears casuistic to us-our reason is incapable of judging correctly-but that the truth is as Calvin expresses it, and his means of expression are simply explaining the fact which is already there. Reason, in fact, and all Calvin's argument, is explanatory, not exploratory. He is not discovering truths, he is describing them. Just as his analogies are intended to elucidate a point, but can
never prove one, so the argument of his treatises is intended not as a proof in terms of human logic so much as an explanation of the truth in terms which are apprehensible and convincing.
41
'*' '*'
'*'
To illustrate the importance of this rhetorical aim of Calvin's polemical treatises, the need to convince rather than to prove, we may conclude this analysis of his methods of argument by examining briefly the order in which he presents the various elements of his case. A characteristic method of presentation is exemplified by the discussion of the Anabaptist teaching on oaths (Anab. VII, 93-8). Following the normal pattern of this treatise, Calvin starts with a quotation from an Anabaptist tract defining their doctrine, and citing Matt. v. 34-7: 'But I say unto you, "Swear not at all ... ". ' The opening of the refutation is in notably moderate terms: 'il semble bien de premiere face, qu'il n'y ait rien de mal en cest article ... ' However, Calvin says, we should be careful in correcting vices: Toutesfoys nous avons a noter, que Ie moyen de reprendre et corriger un abus, n'est pas de Ie mesler et confondre avec Ie bon usage, pour condamner indifferemment l'un et l'autre ensemble.
He then exposes in reasonable tones what in fact the Anabaptists should have taught: Voicy donc la droite fa90n de bien traicter du serment. Pour Ie premier, il faudroit monstrer ...
He ' rewrites their essay' in sober language, establishing distinctions between good and bad uses of oaths. No authorities are cited; the appeal so far is to the reader's reason. He then continues: Mais les Anabaptistes se iectans aux champs a l'estourdie condamnent tous sermens sans exception: sans discerner s'il y a bien ou mal. Et pourtant il appert que leur dire n'est nullement fonde en raison. Venons maintenant a l'authorite: assavoir s'ilz ont quelque tesmoignage de la parolle de Dieu.
Now he takes the Anabaptist proof texts in turn, refuting each by means of other texts or by reinterpretation; and only at the end of the passage do we come to a final confrontation with the original
42
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
justification from St. Matthew's Gospel. This is refuted (as has been seen, p. 33 above) on the grounds of context. Thus by the time the textual argument is under way, and long before we reach the refutation of the Anabaptists' main evidence, the reader is seeing the question through the eyes of Calvin. From the beginning of the passage, Calvin presents himself as the sensible, balanced, reasonable man, and the Anabaptists are made to appear as unstable extremists, making immature generalizations from insufficient evidence and insufficient thought: 'ces povres phantastiques, qui prennent pour revelations du ciel toutes les fables qu'ilz ont ouy conter a leurs grans meres.' (Anab. VII, 95.) The demolition is not only competent; in addition, the whole design and arrangement of the argument is in terms of persuasive impact. One important element in this impact is the cumulative effect of Calvin's arguments about one text after another for pages at a time. It is rare for Calvin to refute an argument on one ground only; and he never leaves a biblical argument unanswered (that, at least, is the impression). In Contre les Anabaptistes he says:
4· Noone is recorded as having taken the shroud away. Did the soldiers present it to the faithful pour en faire une relique? 5· The' images' are obviously hand-painted. 6. Lastly, the raison peremptoire: none of the shrouds exhibited has the form of a Jewish burial shroud, and therefore none of them can be genuine. The first five arguments cast more than a little doubt on the authenticity of the relic, but prove nothing. Only the last provides a full refutation of the whole matter. While the final, scientific, argument could make Calvin's immediate point on its own, the effect would have been weaker. As it is, the proliferation of arguments raising doubts prepares for the full persuasion and conviction of the reader when the final proof is reached, as well as giving Calvin an opportunity to emphasize once again that the showing of such relics is consciously intended to deceive.
Mais afin qu'il ne semble advis que ie qissimule rien, de ce qui leur pourroit servir, ie produiray tout ce qu'ilz pourroyent amener pour donner couleur a leur phantasie. (Anab. VII, 108.)
There has been considerable discussion in recent years of the logicality or illogicality of Calvin's thought. John P. Le Coq, in an article entitled 'Was Calvin a Philosopher? ' ,I answers his own question negatively: 'Calvin destroys philosophy by his lack of rationality.' As regards logic: 'If logic consists of argumentation alone, Calvin is an outstanding logician, but if it rests on demonstrable and scientifically analyzed premises, Calvin is not a logician. '2 C. Calvetti, in La Filosofia di Giovanni Calvino,3 describes Calvin as 'l'ennemi implacable de la raison', 'un anti-humaniste ... intentionnellement applique afouler aux pieds les droits imprescriptibles de la raison'. 4 More recently Jean Boisset, in Calvin et la souverainete de Dieu 5 has provided a counterblast to these critics, asserting the phil~ sophical intention of the Institution and its' architecture rationnelle d'une solide valeur', 6 and giving a more delicate definition of Calvin's assessment of human reason than was provided by Le Coq. Boisset stresses Calvin's distinction between purely temporal
Certainly the explanation of each 'hostile' text in turn shows that Calvin is not hiding anything. But just as important is the total effect of such systematic refutations: the reader goes away with the impression that Calvin can answer anything, that he must be right. Indeed, where several arguments are available for the task of refutation, the best is frequently kept until last. In the Traite des Reliques, Calvin's argument about the shroud in which the body of Our Lord was wrapped contains six points: I I. He lists the towns which claim to have the shroud; the extent of the list indicates that there must be deception somewhere, and throws doubt on all of them. 2. Why, he asks, is there no mention in the Gospels of the fact that the image of Christ's face was left on the kerchief of 'leur Veronique' ? 3. Similarly, why is there no mention in the Gospels of the imprint of the body on the burial shroud? I
Rel.
VI,
424-6.
43
*
*
*
The Personalist, XXIX (1948), pp. 252-60. Pp. 254, 256. 3 Milan, 1955. 4 Pp. 272, 2.71, qu;oted from Boisset, Calvin . .. , p. 20. : In the serIes Phzlosophes de tous les temps (Paris, Seghers, 19 64). P.20. I
2
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
matters, in which reason, even the reason 0 f fallen man, can achieve valid results, and spiritual matters, in which fallen human reason is capable only of desiring knowledge, but not of attaining it. 'Pour Ie Reformateur fran9ais, la raison est un bien inalienable a l'homme. Corrompue par la chute, elle est suffi sante pour Ie gouvernement des choses de la terre, insuffisante po ur la connaissance des biens superieurs. Son droit usage consiste asavoir distinguer les deux niveaux de la nature et de la surnature; a reconnaitre son insuffisance et a accueillir ce qui lui manque. Le droit usage de la raison consiste en une soumission doctement ignorante a la Raison souveraine, qui est Dieu.'! With the exception of the Traite des Reliques where, as has been mentioned, common sense plays a larger part than in the other writings, our treatises are all concerned with questions of theology -with matters which fall into the second category of 'la surnature' . Our analysis of the type of argument used by Calvin-which, unlike the previous studies, has considered not so much what he says about reason as how he actually applies it in concrete situations-suggests that the place of logic is indeed a subsidiary one in his presentation of theological questions. Reason appears in two ways: in the basic appeal to common sense, at a rudimentary level; and in argument co ncerned with the interpretation of Scriptural texts. In this latter, and more significant, form, reason has the task not of discovering a truth by its own powers but of explaining a truth which is given, revealed in Scripture; and if the truth appears unreasonable, th en reason must be sacrificed:
It was the return to the contemplation of brute fact, and it was based on a recoil from the inflexible rationality of medieval thought.'! It is the 'brute facts' of Scriptural statements which form the basis of Calvin's argumentation: these are (from his point of view) precisely the 'demonstrable and scientifically analyzed premises' which Le Coq denies him. But the logic which is based on these facts cannot be the logic of 'pure' human reason: for that is incapable of grasping divine truth, and Calvin is not free to draw his own conclusions from his logical processes. Instead it is logic applied to the explanation of what is given, to making acceptable to the human mind the dictates of Divine reason; it is logic designed to teach and to persuade. As has been said of the Institution : 'There is a logic in the Institutes. In fact, it is full of logic. But the logic is not syllogistic. It is rhetorical logic. '2 This expression 'rhetorical logic' suggests a comparison with an important aspect of humanist thought of the period, particularly associated with the names of Rudolph Agricola, Sturm and Melanchthon, and leading to the new thinking of Ramus. All of these were concerned with the relationship between rhetoric and logic in terms of teaching. Reviving Cicero's insistence that 'wisdom must go hand in hand with eloquence', 3 the first three named at least tended to feel that' la verite, les criteres de certitude, la valeur scientifique de la dialectique etaient d'importance secondaire';4 that there was a need for a philosophy conceived in terms which were at the same time true and persuasive. For, to the humanists, as to Calvin in his ministry, teaching was of primary importance. Walter J. Ong says of Agricola:
44
Pourtant c'est arguer contre Dieu, d'alleguer que cela contrevienne a raison, qu'un Sacrement, qui est tesmoignage de repentance et de salut, soit communique aux petis enfans. (Anab. VII, 61.) The confrontation h ere is perfectly clear. Reason says that an infant cannot particip ate in a sacrament which entails repentance. But Calvin believes th at the Bible says the opposite. If the data of faith appear irrational, th en it is reason which must be rejected. This is exactly in keeping with A. N. Whitehead's observation on the scientific thought of the period: 'it is a great mistake to conceive this historical revolt as an appeal to reason. On the contrary, it was through and through an anti-intellectualist movement. I
P.27.
45
As,wielded by Agricola, the concept of teaching helps amalgamate the logic of science and the various logics of probability. 'Sometimes we teach in order to make a person understand [science], but at other times just to persuade him [rhetoric].' Even discourse which others would consider rhetorical or persuasive, whether a man is being led to persuasion willingly, or forced to it against his will, is seen by Agricola as Science and the Modern World (C.D.P. 1926), p. 12. J. Q. Breen, 'John Calvin and the Rhetorical Tradition', in Church History, XXVI (1957), 13. 3 Ibid. p. 7. 4 M. Dassonville, La Dialectique de Pierre de la Ramee (Geneva, 1964), P·17· I
2
46
ORGANIZATION AND ARGUMENT
fundamentally a teaching process. Teaching, and hence producing conviction, is 'making what is unknown more known'. I Clearly Calvin's polemical works must be regarded as teaching in this sense. And in this case, the style of his treatises becomes an important subject of study. Teaching and persuasion involve not only the intellectual faculty of ratiocination but the conviction of the heart. Calvin's aim is total conviction; and much of the persuasive impact of his teaching may well, perhaps must, lie outside the argumentation as such, in the linguistic means by which he expresses that argumentation. The style of his treatises becomes an integral part of their message.
*
*
*
W. J. Ong Ramus Method and the Decay of Dialogue (Harvard V.P. 195 8), p. 103. Ong reg~rds Ramus as.the culminati?g point of ~he humar:tist movement to make logic subservIent to rhetorIc; DassonvI1le (op. czt. I
pp. 16-18) holds that Ramus stands in opposition to this trend.
II
VOCABULARY ... User d'une simplicite et rondeur de parolle, qui ne soit point eslongnee du language commun. (Anab. VII, 140.) HE first stage in our exploration of Calvin's style must be his vocabulary. Without the words, without the matter of his language, the teaching process which is the basis of his work cannot even begin. The study of his vocabulary is the first step, and also one of the most important. For Calvin's problem was no ordinary one. The novelty of his undertaking in the Institution has been stressed time and again and needs no further demonstration today. In a sense he 'created' philosophical French, he 'taught the French language to reason'. But does this imply extensive neologism to provide the tools of abstract thought? If so, how does he remain clear to the reader unfamiliar with the Latin equivalents? One of the characteristics of the period when Calvin was writing, the period of Rabelais and the PIeiade, is the rapidly expanding use of French in areas hitherto reserved to Latin; and the natural result was a rapid lexical expansion. But expansion of this sort implies a certain lack of stability in the vocabulary, a considerable fluidity of meaning, before the newly acquired terms have been satisfactorily distinguished from each other. It has often been pointed out that Calvin stands in opposition to this expansive tendency. 'Son vocabulaire charme Ie lettre par sa justesse et son exactitude' (Lefranc); 'cette precision et cette propriete de termes' (Brunetiere)-these are the salient features observed by the majority of critics. How is this clarity achieved? What is the range of resources on which he draws? How does he use these resources to achieve his aim of teaching, of convincing the reader and refuting the opponents? These are the questions which this chapter will examine. The questions themselves suggest two main lines of enquiry: we shall analyse the elements which constitute Calvin's vocabulary (what areas of vocabulary are particularly well represented, how much
T
48
VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY
Calvin uses neologism and in what ways, and so on); and secondly, some aspects of meanings and semantic development will be considered. A final section studies the chronological evolution of his vocabulary during the twenty years of his life as a writer of polemic.
*
*
*
French vocabulary in the sixteenth century-leaving aside the relatively limited case of more recent borrowings from other languages-may very broadly be considered in two categories. On the one hand is the main stream of modern French, the direct descendant of the Latin of Gaul; but on the other this had been constantly enriched and influenced by contact with classical Latin, through the Church, scholarship and so on. The vocabulary is either 'indigenous' or learned. Learned words are themselves a vast and heterogeneous category. But it is natural that, within this category, most abstract words in French are learned in origin. Since the central considerations of all Calvin's treatises (with th~ exception of the Traite des Reliques) are theological, and hence abstract, obviously a considerable proportion of the meaning is expressed by learned words. Intellectual terms (affinite, ignorant, mediter, verite and so on), terms referring to moral qualities and judgements (affection, appetit, convoitise, cupidiie, diligent, imprudence, inhumain, vehemence . .. ):1 in all these cases Calvin's vocabulary is inevitably learned. This is not surprising. But more significant is the fact that all of these words, and very large numbers of a similar nature, had been taken into French well before the sixteenth century. Most of the standard tools of Calvin's thought and argument were already at hand, and well established in French. Within the general category of learned words, certain groups of more specialized vocabulary stand out in Calvin's works. First, many terms associated with mediaeval philosophy often appear in Calvin's theological arguments: substance, essence, nature, espece, qualite, subsister, propriete. These words are used by Calvin in their technical meanings, usually with no prior explanation of their I The lists which follow are based on a detailed study of the Traite des Reliques, the Petit Traite, the Excuse aux Nicodemites, Contre les Anabaptistes and Contre les Libertins, which represent the most prolific period of Calvin's French polemical writing.
~
philosophical implications. One may be justified in wondering how or otherwi~e, some of them were to the great mass of CalVIn s Intended readIng public. Another group of vocabulary closely connected to this is formed by t~e l~n~uage of Scholastic debate: induire, deduire, distinguer, defimr, znczdent, correspondant, signification, vocable, similitude. I The influ~nc~ of Calvin's early training in dialectic at the College ~e ~ontalgu IS clear. The frequent occurrence of such expressions IndIcates the extent to which Calvin's argument is cast in the mould of Scholastic forms; and one of the qualities most valuable to him in his attack on Catholicism was his familiarity with the modes of thought of contemporary Catholic theology. Legal terms are another group of semi-specialized vocabulary. The presence of a number of legal expressions in Calvin's work, although of considerable interest, is not altogether surprising. There has always been a tendency to· express Judaeo-Christian thought in legal forms: the Bible itself furnishes many examples, from the Law of Moses to Paul's great cloud of witnesses and the Last Judgement; thus absouldre, advocat, moyenneur are as religious as they are legal; Calvin refers to both an article de loi and an article de foi; and Ie siege iudicial de Dieu is a current expression in French long before Calvin's age. ~any legal expressions had ceased to bear exclusively the imprIn: of the law court before the sixteenth century; and although ~alvI~ has a marked predilection for them, their stylistic contribut~on, In themselves, is slight: heritage, impetrer, enquerir, accessoire, s amender, etc. . Howeve.r, a number of examples are more directly and palpably mf?s~? WIth a legal. atmosphere. Practically all aspects of legal actIVItIes are evoked In the course of Calvin's argumentation:
signi~~a~t,
the law, its functions and servants: legitime, ordonnance, octroyer, competer, instrument (in both senses, as 'minion of the law', and as 'document '), executeur, inquisition (in its original, legal sense of 'enquiry', 'investigation '), passer procuration; participators in a lawsuit: partie, particulier, plaider, tesmoing, tesmoignage, testification, testifier; I Cf. L: Goumaz, La Doctrine du salut d'apres les Commentaires de Jean Calv~n sur ~e Nouveau Tes!ament (Nyon, 1917), pp. 92-4, for a list of the Latm eqUIvalents found m Calvin's commentaries.
4
HSO
VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY
the pattern of a law case: pratique, procedure, proces, ~ompar0.istre, contumace, se complaindre, intendit, alleguer, allegatwn, replzquer, obiecter, contester, altercation, adiourner; I legal decisions, civil: appoinctement, contracter, transaction; and criminal: assoir iugement, sentence, coulpable, preiudicier, denoncer, revoquer, rescinder, jorclore; the criminal, and his insufficient excuses: delinquent,jorjaire,jraude, 2 jrauduleux, cautele, cavillation, querimonie, colorer, couleur.
Calvin has absorbed into his approach to theological battle not only the training in dialectic he received at Montaigu but the terminology and technique of the court-room. His attitude to argument is often that of a lawyer-in the Epistre au Roy, preface to his Institution, he stresses that he is not undertaking his deffence particuliere . .. mais i'entreprens la cause comme de tous les fideles. (Inst. 1541, pp. viii-ix.) And-as in the extract from Contre les Libertins just quoted-his faith often appears to be conceived in legal terms; we seem to hear more from Calvin about God as a judge than we do about God as a father. It is to be expected that religious terminology should form a large part of Calvin's vocabulary. Three main divisions may be made in words drawn from this source: I words which came into French from the Bible; words drawn from ecclesiastical Latin and earlier theology; and words associated with devotional literature. (We have already noted the contribution from another properly ecclesiastical source, namely the techniques of Scholastic argument.) Words which appear to have reached French from the Bible include: abomination, acception (de personnes), achopper, discretion (' discernment '),perdition, sacrifice, tabernacle, transgression, tribulation. 2 Calvin's most prominent stylistic use of such words is in passages where, presenting his own doctrine, he infuses it with Scriptural authority by means of a markedly' canonical' vocabulary. In the following passage he quotes no actual proof texts verbatim; but the language is full of allusions to Scripture:
SO
Plattard comments on the prominence of legal terms in sixteenthcentury literature, which he relates to the important place which legal matters held in life at the time: ' C'est que la vie juridique ava~t une telle importance au seizieme siecle que tout Ie monde entendalt la chicane, peu ou prou, et connaissait les termes de pratique, comme l'on disait alors.' 3 Calvin, in using the terminology of the law courts, was expressing his theological argument against heretics and others in a form which would be familiar to the reader, peu ou prou. We may add, however, that Calvin's legal language is more than an aid to clarity. It forms a very important polemical weapon; for it sets the argument on the level, aDd in the context, of a legal battle, with all that implies of justice and right, of fraud and wrong; and Calvin, with his consummate lawyer's skill, is capable of formulating an impressive and convincing case for the prosecution. On occasions where he is arguing a point of doctrine concerning the Law of God, the effect is particularly striking, by the way.in which the subject permeates the whole approach and the quahty of the argument: Ie vous demande: si apres qu'un iuge souverain auroit prononce sa sentence, un particulier disoit: 11 faut laisser la chos~ en doute, co~me s~ iamais il n'en eust este decide, et ne faut pas temr la cause qm a este condamnee, pour mauvaise; ne meriteroit il pas d'estre puny estroic~em~nt, comme un seditieux et mutin, voulant rescinder tout onlre de zustzce? Or ces meschans chiens, soubz ombre de dire qu'il ne faut point iuger, revoquent tous les arrestz que Dieu a faictz et publiez: et disent que toutes les condamnations qu'il a iamais faictes, sont frustratoires. (Lib. VII, 196.)
Most of the words in this group are listed and explained by J. Plattard, 'La Procedure au seizieme siecle, d'apres Rabelais', in R. XVI, 1 (19 1 3), I
28-49· 2
3
See below, pp. 68-69, for the legal use of colorer and couleur. 'La Procedure au XVle siecle', p. 29·
51
Qu'il fust necessaire que ce1uy qui devoit estre nostre mediateur, fust vray Dieu et vray homme, il appert par l'office du mediateur, qui est de reconcilier les hommes avec Dieu et abolir l'inimitie mortelle, qui y estoit au paravant. Or il n'y avoit nulle esperance que cela se fist, sinon que La maieste de Dieu decendit iusques anous, se conioignant avec l'infirmite de nostre nature. (Anab. VII, 1°7-8.) Calvin's debt to his theological predecessors in the Roman Church has been analysed by Wende1 3 and others. It is natural I No consideration need be given to the many words of religious or ecclesiastical origin which had lost their religious connotation by the sixteenth century: adiurer, clarifier, dedier, endurer, etc. 2 For details of the biblical origins of these words, see Bloch and Wartburg, Dictionnaire itymologique de la langue franfaise (3rd edit. Paris, 1960); and Trenel, L'Ancien Testament et la langue franfaise du Moyen 3 Calvin, pp. 88 sqq. Age (Paris, 1904).
52
VOCABULARY
that a large number of theological terms should have reached Calvin's French from this source: anathematizer, blaspheme, charnel, concupiscence, confesser, diabolique, expositeur, fiageller, immacuIe, etc. Some of these words are of course given a new significance by the Reformers-in particular regeneration, justification, foi and the like; this will be examined shortly. I But apart from changes of meaning in these key words of Protestant theology, these words are not neologisms introduced by Calvin. His debt to existing theological terminology is remarkably extensive; and this is an important factor in the achieving of his aim of clarity. The language of devotional literature is more difficult to characterize than that of theology; for it is in large part made up of words from various sources (not only learned) which have acquired an element of devotional connotation. Their identification thus has a large element of subjective judgement, all the more dangerous for being practised at a remove of four centuries. It may nonetheless be suggested that certain words have received, and had already received in works of popular piety at Calvin's time, a religious association, often character~ed by an element of hyperbole. Calvin sometimes uses such terms in a sudden, concentrated wave, when he is making an appeal to his readers to 'turn to the Lord'. The result is a passionate encouragement to an attitude of prayer and humility, in which the character of the language plays an important part: Ie les ay exhortez a prier Dieu continuellement, voire confessant leur povrete avec gemissemens et douleur, pour en obtenir pardon: se recommander a luy, et Ie prier que par sa bonte infinie illes vueille delivrer de ceste captivite, ou leur donner force et constance, de preferer l'honneur de son nom a leur propre vie: et cependant se soliciter par chacun iour, de se mettre en devoir. Ie persevere encor apresent en cela: et desire de tellement reconforter ceux qui faillent, que ce pendant ilz ne s'endorment point en nonchalance, et ne s'endurcissent point contre Dieu. Et de faict les consolations Chrestiennes,2 ne sont pas d'endormir les pecheurs, leur faisant a croire que Ie mal est bien: mais apres les avoir humiliez, et mesme abatuz devant Dieu, les induire pour remede unique, aprier Dieu, demander mercy et implorer son ayde, pour sortir de la fange ou on est. (Nic. VI, 6II.) I
2
Pp. 74 sqq.
The actual words of the title of a devotional book by Luther.
VOCABULARY
53
Such then ~re the mai~ characteristics of learned vocabulary used .by CalVIn. It constItutes the most important part of his meamng, expressing the religious, moral, and intellectual values which form the matter of most of his treatises. Beyond this unrem~rkable statement, it may be added that certain groups of predomInantly learned vocabulary appear on occasion in unusual concentration, and here a stylistic effect is involved: his use of legal terms may ascribe a particular quality to the argument; he resorts to language with a biblical flavour to express his own doctrine; passages of exhortation show a high proportion of words with devotional connotations which give a certain pulpit eloquence to the discourse. . ~he other major constituent factor in French vocabulary is the IndIgenous element. The main stylistic characteristic of these words is that, whether .derived from Vulgar Latin or other sources, they have no perceptIble connexion with written Latin. As we have seen, those human activities normally regarded as higher or nobler-intellectual and moral concepts, and so on-find their natural expression in learned terms. Conversely, the material aspects of life are more frequently expressed in indigenous terms. Moreover, Latin was at the time still the normal medium of sophisticated communication: for example, Calvin, Farel and Viret, whose maternal tongue was French, corresponded with each other in Latin. Now these two factors suggest the possibility of a relationship between learned and indigenous vocabulary whereby learned words may have a certain aura of dignity, in contrast to which indigenous or 'popular' words appear, if not barbarous, then at least less respectable: the difference in Rabelais's vocabulary between the letters and speeches of the giants and the military narratives illustrates this effect. In the case of Calvin the exploitation ofthis possible distinction of styles is of fundamental importance. There are, first, areas of meaning where vocabulary is mainly and naturally indigenous: it is natural for violent pejorative language to be drawn from the less sophisticated sources of popular speech: such words as belistre, embabouiner, garnement, ordure, tripotaige. Abuse of the adversaries is very frequently achieved in popular language: the violence of vermine, ecerveIes, pouacre, touasse, puante bouche needs no stressing. More recent borrowings from modern languages, in
S4
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VOCABULARY
particular Italian, likewise often provide strongly derogatory senses: brigant, canaille, ruffien, saccager (although of course some borrowings have no such connotation: lustre, revolter). On the other hand, there seems to be no trace of the use of Italian borrowings to achieve elegance. These are on the whole non-stylistic choices: I abusive terms are usually from indigenous sources, just as intellectual terms are usually learned. But in other cases a stylistic choice is involved. We have seen that Calvin's theological thought is naturally expressed in predominantly learned vocabulary. There are occasions, however , when he has to state the doctrine of his opponentshowever inadequately-before refuting it. In these cases, does he use the same learned vocabulary? In some cases he must, for the non-stylistic reason that these are the only terms available: Ilz ne font point difficulte d'aller aconfesse, non seulement pour sati.sfaire au commandement tyrannique de l' Antechrist, mais pour consenttr aux blasphemes qu'il plaira au prestre de prononcer, et quasi les signer (Pet. Tr. VI, 557·) en y consentant.
SS
ne peusse fuyr l'idolatrie; and the words of the prayer are heavily learned: confermast, constance, preferer. It is in the treatises against the left-wing heretics that the distinction becomes most clear. Calvin gives only the barest outline of Anabaptist and Libertine doctrines; in the case of Contre les Anabaptistes, the Anabaptist side of the argument is stated in brief textual quotations from their works. But where the Reformer presents in his own words the views of both sides, a contrast is evident. He introduces the Libertine doctrine of the universal Spirit thus: Ilz tiennent, qu'il n'y a qu'un seul esprit, de Dieu, qui soit et qui vive en toutes creatures. (Lib. VII, 178-9.) The italicized words, common and indigenous, are of the sort found almost invariably when Calvin states an opponent's point of view. On the same subject, he expresses his own doctrine thus (and this time learned words are italicized): Quand nous exposons pourquoy il [Dieu] est dict tout puissant, nous luy attribuons une puissance active en toutes creatures. (Lib. VII, 186.)
But elsewhere a differentiation begins to be apparent. The Nicodemites attack Calvin, saying, as he reports it,
Ilz tiennent / nous exposons; un esprit . .. qui vive / une puissance active: ideas of the same sort, but in markedly different vocabulary.
qu'il m'est bien facile de parler ainsi quand ie suis loing ~u dangie~, mais que si i'estoye en leur lieu, ie ne feroye pas tant du valllant, malS que i'en feroye comme eux. (Pet. Tr. VI, 573·)
Similarly, on the question of judging others, the Libertines are made to say:
Calvin replies:
Calvin's more developed exposition of the same text (Matt. vii. I) is:
Si i'estoye en lieu ou ie ne peusse point fuyr l'idolatrie sans dangier, ie prieroye nostre Seigneur, qu'il me confermast, et qu'il me donnast ceste constance de preferer, comme la raison Ie veut, sa gloire a ma (Ibid.) propre vie. Here the vocabulary ascribed to the opponents is intentionally popular: loing du dangier, en leur lieu, faire Ie vaillant, ie feroye comme eux. The tone in Calvin's reply is more dignified: lieu ou ie I A choice is non-stylistic when it is determined by the choice of meaning to be expressed; a stylistic choice is p~ssib~e only when the same meaning (approximately) may be expressed.m dIfferent ways. However, a stylistic choice, if it has any significa~ce, WIll alter the effect (as .oppose.d to the meaning) of the statement, despIte the apparent synonymIty. T~l1s is the process which interests us here; the examples on the followmg pages will show its importance.
C'est mal fait de iuger.
(Lib.
VII,
194.)
C'est pour reprendre la temerite de ceux qui usurpent l' auctorite de Dieu, en iugeant des choses qui leur sont incongneues. (Lib. VII, 196.) In these cases-similar examples appear throughout the worksCalvin is dealing with the same order of ideas on both sides: heretical doctrine and his doctrine. But different ranges of vocabulary are ascribed to each side; quite apart from the inadequacy with which Calvin puts the opponents' viewpoint, the indigenous vocabulary reduces the authority of that viewpoint in the reader's mind. Conversely, the dignity of the vocabulary in those passages where Calvin expresses his own doctrine, quite apart from the greater detail and delicacy of his exposition, ennobles it.
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VOCABULARY
This effect of a lowering of tone is implicit almost everywhere in Calvin's treatment of the views of the adversaries. When he describes the astrologers' claim to foretell the future, he begins the paragraph with this:
abuse and common language discredit the opposition. Examples are frequent:
56
Si quelcun a affaire cent lieux loing d' OU il est, monsieur l'astrologue espiera Ie ciel pour savoir quand il sera bon. (Astrol. Iud. VII, 522 .)
a
Here he could have written something like une grande distance, but prefers the more concrete and more popular cent lieux loing d'ou il est; the astrologer could be said to contempler les planetes, but Calvin chooses espiera Ie ciel; instead of the apt word propice, he prefers the more vulgar quand il sera bon. Rather than saying that the Libertines intentionally mystify their converts, he puts it thus: Ce pendant qu'ilz tienent encor un homme comme novice, ilz Ie laissent baiUer et transir Za bouche ouverte sans intelligence aucune. (Lib. VII, 168.) Here the popular language is characterized by its concreteness, by the gestural or pictorial element whiGb enlivens the tone while lowering it. In Calvin's treatment of the persons, rather than the doctrines, of his opponents, this enlivenment and lowering by the use of plebeian language where more neutral terms could have been chosen is striking. He writes of the doubly apostate ex-monk Cathelan and his putain: Se voyans desnichez d'ici tant viste, passerent plus loin, et luy tire droit a Berne: auquellieu, par faute d'estre cognu, il impetra pension d'escolier, pour estre nourri en l'escole de Lausann~. Est.ant. la venu, pource qu'?n descouvrit tantost queUe sorte de beste c estOlt, II ne fut pas trop bun receu a son gre. Mesme monsieur de Besze estant pour lors Recteur, voyant un vieil homme sans nul savoir, esperer folement d'estre employe en quelque estat, pour luy coupper broche, luy ordonna d'apporter (Ref· Cath. IX, 127.) quelque theme ala fac;on des enfans. There is the distinct impression that the subject under discussion is not worthy of dignified treatment. The effect of this lowering of tone is strongest, however, when a passage of popular vocabulary describing the opponents and their teaching is immediately juxtaposed with Calvin's own teaching. In one sentence the biblical allusions abound, learned words give the discourse dignity and solemnity; in the next, popular
57
Pareillement ceste doctrine nous est tant souvent reiteree, que Ie Seigneur Iesus viendra lors en maieste avec ses Anges, pour prononcer la sentence derniere, et appeller les enfans de Dieu en leur pleine possession de leur heritaige celeste, et envoyer les meschans en enfer, pour separer les boucz des agneaux, pour accomplir en ses membres l'oeuvre de la redemption qu'il a faicte./! Ces pourceaux au contraire renversent avec Ie groing toute ceste doctrine: disant, qu'il ne reste plus rien apres que Ie cuider est aboly: et qu'il suffist que l' esprit s'en retourne a Dieu, en partant du corps. (Lib. VII, 224.) II est donc convenable, que quand e1le [l'ame] est sortie d'une telle servitude en liberte, qu'elle soit plus disposee de contempler Dieu plus privement. Et quand elle est soulagee d'un tel fardeau, qu'elle soit plus allaigre, pour s'eslever aDieu.// C'est donc une trop grande bestise, de les coucher mollement, comme font les Anabaptistes, pour les faire dormir iusques au iour de la resurrection. (Anab. VII, 121.) Voila donc comment Dieu besongne en ses enfans. C'est qu'en abolissant leur perversite, illes conduit par son Esprit en son obeissance.// Or ces estourdis en gasouillant que Dieu faict tout, Ie font autheur de tout mal: et puis apres, comme si Ie mal changeoit de nature, estant couvert soubz ce manteau du nom de Dieu, disent qu'il est bon. (Lib. VII, 191.) Quite apart from the doctrinal content of what is being expressed on one side and the other, this manipulation of levels of style is a powerful element in the persuasive impact of the argument; its frequency makes it one of Calvin's major stylistic dominants. A note may be added at this point on the possible existence of Picard elements in Calvin's French. I The evidence in favour of dialect influence in his written work is in fact negligible. A small number of words used by him appear to have had little currency outside northern France: aloine for absinthe, musser for cacher. 2 However, examples in Huguet's dictionary show that these words are examples of the spreading use of dialect words at the time;3 their stylistic influence, in adding an element of individual colour to the prose, is negligible. I The question has been raised by Ch. Guerlin de Guer, 'Sur la langue du Picard Jean Calvin'. 2 See W. von Wartburg, Franzosisches Etymologisches Worterbuch (Bonn, Leipzig, Basle, 1928- ), under *aloxinum; and BW under
cachero 3
See also Brunot, Histoire de la langue franfaise,
II,
174 sqq.
58
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Results of an examination of Calvin's orthography for Picard elements are equally inconclusive, since spellings such as ahurter, bende, gergon, guarir, poiser are by no means limited to Calvin; and in any case, the orthography of his printed works is more justifiably ascribed to the printer than to the author, in accordance with standard practice until a much later date. I Indeed it is clear that Calvin avoided dialect forms in his work. The picturesque effects he could have obtained by them were irrelevant to his concerns; on the other hand, just as, in choosing Latin, he used the lingua franca of universal scholarship, so in French he wrote in a language which would be most widely accessible to the country as a whole. 2 In the interest of clarity and universality of comprehension, he excluded the local and the regional. Finally, Calvin shows in Contre les Libertins another reason for avoiding dialect forms. On several occasions he quotes in direct speech from the arguments of the Libertine leader Quintin; and ceste grosse touasse de Quintin is represented as speaking in broad Picard dialect: Comme une fois i' estois present, quand Qw.intin dict a un homme fort malade, qui avoit seulement dict: Helas! mon Dieu, que ie sens de mal, ayde moy: Yore dia? est che bien parle chela? de dire que Christ se porte rna? tou Ie rna n'est y mye passe en ly? n'est y mye en Ie gloire de (Lib. VII, 199·) sen pere? est che la tou che que vous avez aprin? The implication is clear that to Calvin dialect was the mark of the unlettered, uneducated, ignorant: the stylistic effect of emphasizing Quintin's Picard origin is to brand his doctrine as the work of such a man;3 and, conversely, Calvin maintains a purity of French which adds to his own authority and status. Such then are some general qualities of the vocabulary used by Calvin. To supplement these, two additional sources of vocabuSee Brunot, HLF, IV, lere partie, p. 15°· In the Argument du present livre prefaced to the Institution in 154 1, Calvin presents his translation of the work as springing f~om a conc,ern for nostre Nation Franfoise: his interest transcends the reglOnal and rIses to a level as advanced and 'modern' as the edict of Villers-Cotterets of I
2
1539· b y attn'b' 3 An effect made all the stronger utmg t h e same d'IaIect to
Libertine statements even when Quintin is not in question: S'ilz voyent un homme craindre Ie iuge!Dent de Dieu : Tu sens, di,sent-ilz, encoire Ie gou de la pumme. Vuarde bIen que che morcheau ~e t estranle Ie gosie. (Lzb. VII, 201.)
59
lary much exploited in the sixteenth century need attention: archaism and neologism. I Archaisms, as advocated and used by the poets of the Pleiade and by Rabelais, served two functions. Firstly they enriched the French language by exploiting its own resources instead of borrowing wholesale from abroad. Secondly, they could provide stylistic effe~ts of dignity, as Du Bellay claimed,2 or perhaps of colour or quaIntness. An examination of Calvin's use of archaisms will indicate his relationship to this general mid-century trend. 3 Certain words appear to have been fairly widely in use but to have disappeared rapidly in the course of the century. These may already have had an archaic character, providing a stylistic nuance of one sort or another, but it is almost impossible to determine their nat:ure at the time when Calvin used them. They are in g~neral eIther Old French words replaced by other forms during the sIxteenth century-malheurte, malegrace, destourber, onc, hastivete, mauvais~ie-or unsuccessful borrowings from Latin during the later MIddle Ages-conquester, controversie, excommuniment, invader, contumelie. Several possibly archaic words appear in passages where Calvin is citing biblical texts: in these cases the 'archaism' is in fact a Latinism resulting from a literal translation (a translation, we may add, from the Vulgate):4 firmament: '[L'Eglise] est la coulomne etfirmament de verite.' (Pet. Tr. VI,
583.) Cf.
I
Tim. iii. 15: ' ... ecc1esia Dei vivi, columna et
firmamentum veritatis.' Godefroy cites mediaeval examples. Replaced in 16u edition by apui. I
Cf. Brunot, HLF,
II,
168, 182 sqq.
II, ch. vi: 'Ne doubte point que Ie modere vswge de telz vocables ne donne grande maieste au vers comme a la Prose· ains~ que font les Reliques des Sainctz aux Croix, et autres sacrez Ioyau~ dedlez aux Temples.' 3 A note of caution should be added at this point: the identification ?f what. was an arc~aism in the sixteenth century is delicate and sometimes ImpossIbl~. ArchaIc words are frequently indistinguishable from dialectal forms, owmg to the tenden~y of dialects to retain words which have passed out of g~neral use..A survI~al of such words may thus be ascribed either to ~rchaic or to dIalectal mfluence, and divergences of opinion on the subject are found even among sixteenth-century commentators. Cf. Brunot, HLF, II, 178-9. , 4 C;f. ~armelstein, Etude comparative des textes latins et franfais de ?Instzt,,!twn , . " pp. ~8-9, for the versions from which Calvin quoted In Latm and French m the Institution. 2,
Deffence et Illustration . .. ,
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VOCABULARY
genre: 'Nous sommes en luy, dict sainct Paul, et y vivon~: P?ur laquelle cause nous sommes abon droict nommez son genre. (Lzb. V~I, 179·) Cf. Acts xvii. 28: 'Ipsius enim et genus sumus.' Replaced 10 1611 edition by lignage.
sixteenth century, some air of novelty. The identification of such words must inevitably be somewhat hypothetical, since a first attestation of a word need not tell us much about its propagation: the attestation may be an early and isolated example of a word which only later became current, or on the contrary may be only the first literary use of a word long established in the non-literary language. Moreover, it is unlikely, for example, that the word bracquemart (first attested 1495) spread-and thus lost its air of novelty-with the same rapidity as the word papiste (first attested 1526). However, words first attested later than 1500 have been included in the following analysis, as a rough indication of those words which probably had at the time a stylistic aura of novelty or unfamiliarity. I Such words form three groups: terms borrowed from other languages; neologisms by derivation, in which a new form is created on the analogy of an already familiar cognate word; and what we may call 'semantic neologism', where a current word receives a new meaning. The period in which Calvin was writing was one of vast creation -'plus nous aurons de mots en nostre langue, plus elle sera parfaitte', in Ronsard's words. 2 It is thus natural to find a number of recently introduced words in the works of any writer of the period. In Calvin's case, certain characteristics deserve particular mention. His neologisms fall into two broad categories, those with pejorative qualities and those without. Of those without pejorative qualities, very few indeed are in the first of the three groups outlined above, simple borrowings from other languages. The occasional technical theological term appears, almost always caused by the presence of a Latin original: 3
W
A few words are undoubted archaisms: dormitoire: 'et de 130 vient aussi Ie mot de Cym~tiere dont nous usons, qui signifie dormitoire: non pas que les anCIens ayent entendu qu~
les ames fussent 130 couchees, mais d'autant que les corps s~nt ,la estenduz, pour reposer en leurs sepulchres, comme en des lIctz. (Anab. VII, 13 0.) Godefroy and FEW indicate spasmodi~ mediaeval appearanc~s of this word; but it never replaced dortmr. No trace of uses of It later than this. essorber: ' d'ensepvelir toutes les concupiscences de nostre nature viti~use, et toute la perversite qui est en la terre, soubz ,Ie mo~ de CUlder, n'est ce pas vouloir essorber la mer en souffiant? .(Lzb. VII,. 182.) FEW: 'essorber "aussaufen", bei Huls 1614, wlrd von diesem se1ber als ungebra~chlich bezeichnet und ist vielleicht ein ge1egentlicher studentischer Latinismus.' se truf!er: 'car quand sainct Paul dict: C~ ne suis-ie pas qui ,!ay.le mal, mais Ie peche qui habite en moy, ce ne .est pas pour se lU~t1fier ou pour reiecter ailleurs la coulpe de ses VIces en se truf!a:zt. (Lzb. VII, 204.) . Godefroy gives examples from Rabe1ais; no later known attestations. Such cases are, however, surprisingly rare: Calvin clearly makes no attempt to exploit archaisms for stylistic or any other reasons-:-only the last example above has any stylistic colourin~ about It. In general, on the contrary, Calvin seems to have aVOl.ded th~ use of archaism. Two reasons could be suggested: archaIsms mIght b.e a hindrance to understanding, and would also detract ~rom ~h~ aI~ of immediate relevance and contemporaneity of hIS wnting. Characteristically, as we have noted, some archaic words are replaced in later editions. . . . , . More interesting than archaIsms In CalvIn s vocabulary are hIS neologisms. Although particular interest attaches to. words act~al~y coined by Calvin, this study is more concerned ~Ith t~e StyhS:IC effects obtainable from words which probably retaIned, In the mIdI Marmelstein Etude comparative . .. , pp. 96-8, reaches a similar conclusion as regards the Institution. He gives several examples where an archaism is replaced in a later edition.
61
aenigme (first attested 1500): ' .. .1a beatitude celeste, qu'il nous a
promise: laquelle nous contemplons maintenant comme en un (Anab. VII, 126.) miroir, et par aenigme.' The reference is to 1 Cor. xiii. 12 (Vulgate, per speculum in The facts about attestations are drawn mainly from FEW and BW. See Brunot, HLF, II, 168-9, for more details, including the few voices raised against the,extravagant application of this principle. 3 Cf. Marmelstein, Etude comparative .. . , pp. 91-6 and 120-8, for a list of neologisms in the Institution. Marmelstein's lists should be treated with caution, since more recent scholarship has revealed that many 'neologisms' mentioned by him occur, in fact, much earlier. The same warning attaches of course to all such lists, including my own. I
2
62
VOCABULARY
aenigmate). The so-called Calvin Bible avo.ids th.e expression;1 ~t is
used here and elsewhere in the French treatises without explanatlOn. A comparable case is the relatively rare technical term symbole in Ie Symbole des Apostres (first attested 1496): once. again it is a d~re~t borrowing from ecclesiastical Latin, and Calvin first uses It In the 1541 Institution. Such new creations demand either explanation or a knowledge of Latin on the part of the reader. It is significant that they are infrequent in Calvin's French works: once again, as ~ith a~ch~ism~, a concern for clarity of meaning seems to have gUIded hIm In hIS choice of words. This explanation is strengthened by the far greater liberty wh~ch he takes in new coinages in cases where cognate forms, whIch would help to explain the new term, already existed in French: verisimilitude (first attested 1538): Calvin. uses it in ~o.njunc~ion with vraisemblable, which helps to explam the Latmlsm: Quelcu.n
pourroit icy obiecter qu'il n'est pas vray-semblable ... A.. cela I.e pourroye respondre en un mot, qu'en me~~o~~es ta~t eVldens, 11 n'est pas possible de pretendre aucune verzszmzlttude. ",. (ReI. VI, 428.)
reiection: FEW gives attestations of 1522 and 1541 (the latter from
Calvin), and adds: 'Lehnwort, das wiederholt auftaucht, urn dann wieder zu verschwinden, und nur in Genf heimisch geworden zu sein scheint.' rejeter from OF would help to explain it in the following: 'il est un ver et non plus homme, l'opprobre du peuple et la reiection du commun populaire.' (A~ab .. VII, .II~.) The passage refers to Ps. xxii. 7; the Vulgate readmg IS abJectw. engraver: 'Comment auroyent ilz honte de renverser l'Escriture, :eu qu'ilz sont si hardis d'oster du cueur de l'homme ceste persuaslOn, que Dieu a engravee de nature en nous tous?' (Lib. VII, 193) graver, dating from the twelft~ centur~, woul~ help to explam this word, a neologism in Rabelals (1532) m the hteral sense, used metaphorically (as here) first by Calvin (FEW). There are considerable numbers of words such as these (mescontentement, timide, combat, for example); in most cases it is not Calvin himself who is responsible for the innovation. They are 1 Where it is useful to refer to the French text of the Bibl.e" I h~ve ~sed the 1546 edition printed in Geneva, probably ~nder Calvl~ s directIOn. This has been republished as La Bzble jranfalSe de Calvzn, ed. Reuss (2 vols., Paris, 1 8 97).
VOCABULARY
63
useful extensions of existing linguistic resources and, being derivatives, give no problems of meaning. However, their stylistic significance as neologisms is small. The same is true of another considerable group of words, those which receive new meanings in the sixteenth century. For example: conference, 'comparison': 'et premierement, nous racompterons ou il y en a des corps entiers, afin que en faisant conference de l'un a l'autre, on iuge quel arrest on peut prendre sur leur dire.' (Re!. VI, 440.) Found in other senses from 1464; in this meaning from Lemaire de Belges (FEW). indifferent, 'morally neither good nor bad': 'ce mesme argument est traicte par sainct Paul au 14. des Romains: ou il reprend ceux qui veulent condamner leurs freres en actes indifferens.' (Lib. VII, 196.) Found in other senses from 1314; in this meaning from 1529 (FEW). liquide, 'clear (intellectually)': ' [La doctrine] est claire et facile a decider si on veut acquiescer a la verite. Et les probations sont tant liquides, que c'est impudence de tergiverser au contraire.' (Nic. VI, 594-5.)
Found in other senses from the thirteenth century; in this meaning from 1540 (FEW). imagination, 'wrong opinion': 'quand il n'y auroit que ceste imagination diabolique, de sacrifier Iesus Christ aDieu: ... n'est ce pas un renoncement tout manifeste de sa mort et passion?' (Pet. Tr. VI, 553.) Found in other senses from the twelfth century; FEW gives the earliest attestation in this sense as 1564, but the above would amend this to 1543. Neologism was fashionable at the time when Calvin was writing; and Calvin's own work was breaking new ground in its subject matter. Yet what is most noteworthy about these neologisms is their relative scarcity and lack of importance in the French works, and their almost invariable derivative nature when they do appear. In several cases the influence of biblical or ecclesiastical Latin has been apparent-which may be related to the fact that far more linguistic innovation is found in the 1541 translation of the Institution than in the French works. But in the French treatises neologism, and the stylistic effects to be obtained from it, play a very small part. At the same time as Rabelais is revelling in the new, exuberant riches at his disposal, and writing his famous description ofwhat Diogenes did with his barrel, Calvin consistently
M
VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY
restricts himself to language that is familiar and defined, or simple and recognizable, except in cases where he is forced to seek a new form for the sense he wishes to express. This holds good until Calvin's other broad categ?ry, ~h~t of pejorative neologisms, is cons~dered. !he pattern 1S. stnkmgly different in the case of words w1th emotive rather than 1ntellectual impact. They are, first, roughly twice as common in the French works as the more neutral neologisms quoted above. Secondly, a much greater proportion of these are borrowed directly ~rom ot~er languages; and the source language is only rarely c.lass1cal ~ati~. Here are some illustrations from the Traite des Reltques, wh1ch 1S particularly rich in such forms (the language of origin is given in parentheses): faribole (first attested 1532, possibly from Proven<;al): 'Ce seroit ~onc une chose a desirer, que d'avoir certitude de toutes les fartboles qu'on tient <;a et la pour reliques.' (Re!. VI, 4 1 4.) caffard (1512, from Arabic): 'Et de faict, les Caffars, tant P:estres, que
Moynes, confessent bien que ainsi est, en les appelant plas fraudes.' (Re!. VI, 416.) manigances (BW notes as 1541, Calvin; prissibly from ~roven<;al): '~e~
Apostres et les vrays chrestiens de leur temps n ont pas este SI badins que de s'amuser a telles manigances.' (ReI. VI, 433·) festin (1526, from Italian): '1' en ay baise une partie [du corps de Ste Anne] en l'Abbaye d'Orcamps, pres Noyon, dont on faict grand festin.' (Re!. VI, 44 2 .) Two comments may be made: these borrowings are possible because in these cases the exact meaning is not vital to the effect; far more important is the general polemical impression. And. t~e source of so many of these words in languages other than Lat~n 1S a striking illustration of the hierarchization of style desc~1bed earlier: the sources other than Latin provide the strongest peJorative material. Neologism by derivation from existing French words is also frequent in pejorative senses: ravauder (1530; raval, 1445): 'les principaux doc~eur.s, et com~e les patriarches de toute la Synagogue, apres avon bIen ravaude, ont faict une conclusion finale.' (Anab. VII, 54·) fourmillere (1530; fourmi OF): 'II n'y a si petite eglise cathedrale qui n'ayt comme une fourmillere d'ossemens.' (ReI. VI, 4 1 3.)
65
bastelerie (1539; baastel OF): 'La OU il devoit se representer devant
Dieu et son Eglise, pour benir son mariage, premierement il usera de tout-plein de basteleries, qui sont plustost pour Ie souiller.' (Pet. Tr. VI, 555-6.) antiquailles (1507; antique, thirteenth century): according to BW, antiquailles is a borrowing from Italian anticaglia, meaning in
French' antiques', 'ancient objects', the pejorative use being first attested in Corneille. Brunot however (HLF, II,190) lists other forms in -aille of clearly pejorative meaning (e.g. prestraille). Calvin uses it thus (giving a new date for the pejorative use of 1543): 'il est a noter qu'en toute la Grece ... on monstre avec grande asseurance toutes ces antiquailles, que les povres idolatres pensent avoir alentour de nous.' (ReI. VI, 429.) In a few cases, existing words receive new, emotive overtones: volerie, 'thieving': the word, already used in falconry, first attested in this sense in 1541 (voler, 'to steal', is not attested until 1549, but must have existed earlier). In Anab. VII, 79, the noun is 'created' for syntactic purposes: 'reprenons les cruautes, voleries, rapines,
violences ... ' voltiger, 'to move about rapidly': the word, known from 1532 in the sense 'to guide ahorse in a circle', is noted in this meaning by FEW from 1563. Calvin's use of it in Contre les Libertins would date it
from 1545: 'ne se contentans de la simplicite de l'escriture, voltigeoyent en l'air en des speculations frivoles.' (Lib. VII, 164.) These few examples taken from Calvin's major French treatises! illustrate the types of neologism found and their respective importance. Neologism is evidently more important in Calvin's works than archaism as a stylistic element. On the whole, when Calvin is concerned with argument or with intellectual communication generally, he clearly avoids neologism, in particular neologism which would not be immediately comprehensible to a French reader. He is freer in his use of words with already existing cognate forms, where the problem of understanding is less acute. And above all, the more popular vocabulary of the polemical passages is the setting for far more numerous neologisms, including borrowings. For the reader can sense the general impression, even without knowing the precise meaning, of fariboles, manigances, or caffard. And the I
5
On neologisms in later writings, see pp. 78-79 below. HSO
67
VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY
strangeness or novelty-value of such forms greatly increases the emotional force of the words. Here, in fact, appears to be by far the most frequent stylistic function served by neologism in Calvin's polemical works: to an already derogatory sense (the meaning alone of fourmillere when used of a collection of relics, or of bastelerie of Catholic ceremonial, is derogatory enough), is added the aura of strangeness (bizarre or comic) of the unfamiliar word. Calvin is not averse to seeking a piquant or expressive term to describe his opponents. But this lack of inhibition only manifests itself when he is concerned with the derogatory; in other aspects of his works, neologism is a relatively unimportant trait.
minute: 'En cela nous monstrerons que nous Ie craingnons et luy voulons estre subiectz, si nous ne obmettons point une seule minute de tout ce qu'il nous a recommande.' (Pet. Tr. VI, 567.)
66
oJ!: oJ!:
oJ!:
Such then are the major elements that constitute Calvin's vocabulary. What, now, does he do with his fund of words? This is the central question, especially when studying an author famed for the clarity and precision of his meanings, and writing a century before Vaugelas established that ideal of definition for which modern French is often praised. The '~anguage of the period was in a state offlux; no dictionaries existed, no codification of meanings; how, or to what extent, did Calvin achieve precision in this fluid medium? Our study of neologism has already shown that many words already current in French received new meanings during the sixteenth century, frequently taken from Latin, and sometimes introduced by Calvin himself; conference, imagination, indifferent, liquide are examples. Other cases in which Calvin's usage of words shows that he has the Latin meaning in mind are: approuver, 'to prove', probation, 'proof': 'Quelque chose qu'ilz
s'arment du nom de Constantin, ou du Roy Loys, ou de quelque Pape, tout cela ne fait rien pour approuver que Iesus Christ ayt este crucifie avec quatorze c1oux.' (ReI. VI, 428 .)1 inspiration: 'non seulement ilz parlent du Diable comme des Anges, les tenans comme inspirations sans essence: mais ilz veulent dire (Lib. VII, 181.) que ce sont vaines pensees.' (Cf. also ibid. 179. A technical term from ecc1. Latin.) I
But cf. ' ... beaucoup de corruption que nous ne pouvons approuver.'
(Pet. Tr.
VI,
553.)
(This usage may be peculiar to Calvin: I find no trace of other examples.) superstition, superstitieux: found either in the normal sense: '1'idolatrie procede de superstition' (Pet. Tr. VI, 548); or as follows: 'mais pour oster toute superstition [Lat. translation omne cavillum]: qu'est-ce qu'un homme peut pretendre en cest endroict?' (Ibid.) By the use of such forms Calvin was able to enrich and broaden the scope of his language, although there is no assurance that he would be better understood except by those who knew their Latin. Certainly some of these words provided a depth of meaning not easily available in other ways. One of the neologisms mentioned above is the term indifferent in its Latin sense of 'morally neither good nor bad'. The only word which could have replaced this at the time was moyen, a term so elastic as to need special explanation: c'estoit donc une chose moyenne, c'est adire, ne bonne, ne mauvaise ... (Resp. HoI. IX, 601; the 16u ed. replaces by indifferent). Clarity to the French reader is not always guaranteed by the use of a Latin meaning; but in almost all cases the context leaves little doubt. One possible exception may be the word vocation, meaning either the inner witness of the Holy Spirit to the elect,! or a man's career, his God-given task in life. 2 A confusion on the part of later readers between these two meanings may have contributed to the common, but erroneous, belief that Calvin taught that commercial success was a proof of election. We need no more than note the existence of many other words endowed with several meanings in the sixteenth century; some will be examined later. Such words as demener (either demener un argument, 'to argue something out at length', or demener une pelote, 'to play pat-ball ') provide no problem or significant facts. I ~nst; 151'1, p. 487:, La vocation is called 'Ie tesmoignage d'icelle electl?n . Ibzd.. p. 493: II nous fault noter, qu'il y a double espece de vocat~on. Car d y a. la vocation universelle, qui gist en la predication ~xt~rteure de l'Evangde: par laquelle Ie Seigneur invite a soy taus hommes mdlfferemment ... P. y en a une autre speciale de laquelle il ne faict quasi que les fideles partlclpans: quand par la lumiere interieure de son Esprit il faict que la doctrine soit enracinee en leurs coeurs.' ' 2 '.Or Ie mot ~e vocation sig,nifie toute maniere de vivre, au estat estably de Dleu etfonde en saparolle. (Lib. VII, 210; cf. also Inst. 1541, pp. 821-2.)
5-2
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Perhaps, however, this prevalence of polysemy in the sixteenth century is not altogether unconnected with the vogue of the pun, the play on words (as exemplified in Rabelais and, of course, Shakespeare). Certainly Calvin makes use of many double meanings in order either to produce a bon mot, or to emphasize his meaning by referring back from a metaphorical usage to an original concrete significance. Thus the double meaning of forger, as in Mod. Fr., is used in writing of the devil (boutique meant 'forge', besides other things, at the time):
his act'. I Calvin frequently fortifies this sense by combining this meaning of 'pretext' with associations of the word's normal significance, as in:
68
II n'y a doute, que tous les erreurs qui ont iamais este, et sont encor a present, n'ayent este forgez en sa boutique. (Lib. VII, 153-4·)1 Devotion: besides the usual meaning of the word, it also signified , dhir' in the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries (FEW). Calvin ironically comments on the Anabaptist idea that all ministers should be itinerant:
Mais ie pense bien qu'ilz faisoyent cela pour la bonne devotion qu'ilz avoyent que les ministres qui enseignent fidelement leur laissassent la place vuide. (Anab. VII, 79·) Monstre, besides its surviving meaning, was also the noun from the verb monstrer (d.. English 'monstrance ') :
Le sens humain repugne aces monstres qu'ilz mettent en avant. (Anab.
VII,
54.)2
The word jargon originally meant gazouillement, and retained this meaning in the sixteenth century alongside its modern sense: lIz avoyent un gergon obscur pour gasouiller des choses spirituelIes, (Lib. VII, 157.) sans qu'on y entendist note. In other cases Calvin is not so much aiming at the effect of a pun, as adding force to a dying metaphor by recalling its proper meaning. The words couleur, colorer, for example, revived during the late Middle Ages a meaning taken from legal Latin, that of 'the pleas alleged by the accused in explanation or extenuation of I As frequently with Calvin, so happy an expression finds repeated uses: cf. Lib. VII, 177; Inst. 1560; I. xi. 8, and other examples given in Huguet. 2 Cf. also: 'Ie diz qu'il faudroit que sainct Iehan eust este un monstre, ou que ce sont abuseurs effrontez de monstrer tant de pieces de sa teste. ' (Re!. VI, 437.)
69
Quelle response me donneront a cela ceux qui veulent colorer leur peche, et pour ce que ilz ne Ie peuvent blanchir du tout, Ie veulent obscurcir aucunement, afin qu'il n'aparoisse point? (Pet. Tr. VI, 569.)2 Se couvrir, like colorer, had the metaphorical meaning' to excuse oneself' :
[11] ne parle pas en sa personne, mais en celIe des Corinthiens, qui se couvroyent de telle excuse comme d'un sac mouille. (Resp. Hol. IX, 606.) Calvin's uses of the ambiguity inherent in sixteenth-century French are, however, much less significant than the ways in which he appears to have reacted against the resulting imprecision in vocabulary. In order to make an authoritative statement on the actual extent of Calvin's vocabulary, how many words he in fact uses, it would be necessary to compile a complete word-list, having available similar lists from other authors for comparison. No such wordlists exist, and so statistical evidence is not available; but it does seem in general that Calvin's vocabulary is relatively limited; and that, apart from the new terms necessarily introduced to deal with a new subject, his vocabulary appears to remain remarkably constant and undiversified throughout his French works. Almost all the terms in which he carries on polemical discussion are already present, if not in the Traite des Reliques (which by content lies apart from the main stream of his works), then at least in the Petit Traite; and the same arguments, in the same words, are still used in the Response a un H olandois two years before his death. Such developments as there are will be discussed shortly; but in the main, little seems to have changed. We shall see some examples of Calvin's frequent re-use of the same expressions when we examine his imagery later; for the moment certain points which exemplify this linguistic parsimony may be mentioned. I
The' Suasoriae' of Seneca the Elder, ed. W. A. Edward (Cambridge
1928), Introduction, p. xxxv. 2 Cf. also. Pet. Tr. VI, 562; Nic.
couleurs . .. ').
VI,
' 602 ( ... 'en Ie fardant de belles
71
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Occasional stylistic slips seem to indicate that Calvin did not take much trouble over diversifying his vocabulary:
the contexts in which they most frequently appear. On the danger of the cult of relics:
70
... de quoy ie laisseray iuger les plus bigots de la Papaute, leur laissant la charge a leur devotion de charger sur Ie dos de ce galand avec bons (Ref. Cath. IX, 130.) coups de leurs chappelets. Cependant il songe, en disant que i'ay songe ce qui est creu en son (Resp. HoI. IX, 602.) cerveau. [Les livres des Juifs] monstrent l'usage ancien [de l'ensevelissement]: c'est d' envelopper a part Ie corps iusques aux espaules, puis envelopper la teste dedans un couvrechef, Ie liant a quatre coingz. Ce qu'aussi l'Evangeliste exprime, quand il dit que sainct Pierre veit les linges d'un (ReI. VI, 426.) coste, ou Ie corps avoit este enveloppe. Examples as obvious as these are however not common. More clearly illustrative of the limited scope of Calvin's vocabulary is his use of adjectives. First, they are sparse in his work. Some rough word-counts show that he uses approximately 35-40 attributive adjectives per 1000 words-slightly more in the later works than in the earlier. A similar cak;ulation on passages from Rabelais gives a figure of 60-65 per 1000 words. Secondly, such adjectives as are found are not varied: the same words are repeated with notable frequency. And one characteristic of these is particularly striking: the number of conventional adjectives implying moral or theological judgement, approval ormore frequently-condemnation. For example: des blasphemes execrables, une malheureuse secte, des resveries diaboliques, des cauteles malicieuses, l'idolatrie execrable. The list could be continued indefinitely. Many others, while not demanding a moral judgement, are equally emphatic, and serve to underline the sense of the noun: une peste mortelle, une impudence desesperee, la malice venimeuse, une impudence trop extreme. These expressions are all taken from Calvin's earlier treatises; but they can be found, unchanged, throughout his works. One has the impression that usually Calvin's adjectives are there not to alter or modify the sense, but to emphasize it, to stretch the force of the nouns to the limit, with little linguistic variety. Emphatic, absolute, and limited in choice: these are the characteristic features of Calvin's adjectives. Some examples will show
Voila donc comme lafoUe curiosite qu'on a eu du commencement afaire tresor de reliques, est venue en ceste abomination toute ouverte, que non seulement on s'est detourne du tout de Dieu, pour s'amuser a choses corruptibles et vaines, mais que, par sacrilege execrable, on a adore les creatures mortes et insensibles, au lieu du seul Dieu vivant. (ReI. VI, 41 I .) A marginal note indicates that this is a reference to Rom. i. 25, which says much the same thing, but without a single adjective. The sudden wave of adjectives is clearly the effect of the moral indignation Calvin wishes to express. One of the most violent passages in Contre les Libertins is the chapter where Calvin characterizes the followers of the sect: C'est que les uns estoyent adonnez aunefoUe curiosite, appliquans leur esprit a questions vaines et superfiues, au lieu de chercher les choses d'edification: ... Les autres ayans eu quelque commencement en la pure doctrine de l'Evangile, en avoyent abuse, non seulement comme d'une science profane, mais aussi pour se lascher la bride, a une licence charneUe, et a mener vie dissolue. (Lib. VII, 164-5.)
It is in the expression of righteous indignation that adjectives appear in significant numbers. The weight of Calvin's thought is carried by other parts of speech-nouns and verbs. Adjectives have little to contribute there: they serve not so much to modify the sense as, at moments of climax, to raise the moral temperature, or the tone of the preacher's voice. A similar usage which provides the maximum of stress with little variety of resources is Calvin's use of tout. If we include all uses of the word (pronouns and adverbs as well as adjectives) we may, for example, establish the following list from one short passage of Contre les Anabaptistes: toute la Synagogue, toute la secte, tous amateurs de verite, tous Anabaptistes, semer leur poison par tout, que ie leur impose tous, tout ce qu'on leur dit, toute evidente. (Anab. VII, 54-5.) Similar effects are found throughout
a
his works. We may add that not only tout, but the opposite, the negatives in Calvin's writings, are very emphatic, and they deserve attention here. By their sheer frequency and force in his polemical treatises they would constitute a dominant trait of his prose.
n
VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY
Numerous forms of the negative appear: besides the isolated ne, common enough in the sixteenth century, we find ne . ..pas andvery frequently-ne . ..point; and also less common forms such as: Ne sonnerois ie mot voyant abuser du nom de Iesus Christ?
(Lib.
VII, 162.)
Et afin que nous n'y voyons goutte, ilz nous mettent ce bendeau devant les yeux. (Lib. VII, 192 .) Such forms naturally provide greater emphasis than more common expressions which could replace them; in addition to which, their colloquial quality adds an element of liveliness to the negation. It is common in Calvin's works to find thought expressed in emphatically negative terms where affirmative forms could have been used. The negative formulation here provides a clarity of division, a rigidity of category, which would have been lost in an equivalent positive statement: Nous n'entendons pas que nulle autre doctrine soit recongneue pour vraye et certaine, sinon qu'elle vienne de ceste fontaine de toute verite. (Anab. VII, 55.) In the following, a series of negatives'1Jrogressively excludes all positive qualities from the Libertine sect, until ultimately only one feature remains-shamelessness. Here the negatives are perfectly fitted to the attitude: ... il se trouvera desia une garenne de docteurs ... dont il n'y a nul qui ne vueille estre Ie plus grand. Et n' est point de merveilles. Car ce n'est pas comme s'il falloit estre savant ou de bon esprit, pour y parvenir a quelque estime. II n'y a que l'impudence qui Ie gaigne. (Lib. VII, 160-1.) The effect of these strong, reiterated negatives goes beyond firm expression with minimal resources. In combination with the use of tout which we have already noted, they frequently provide an atmosphere, a framework of thought, which is rigid and absolute. Here, for example, the combination of tout, totalement, and the negatives shows how Calvin is moving in a realm where points of view are represented as extremes: C'est donc faulsement qu'ilz abusent de ceste couleur, faisant a croire aux simples, qu'ilz se veulent gouverner totalement selon l'~scriture: veu qu'ilz n'en tiennent du tout rien, mais de la seule phantasle de leur (Anab. VII, 56.) cerveau.
73
The lines of argument are clear-cut, the contrast between the claims of the Anabaptists and 'reality' becomes an absolute one of black and white. Here, as often, Calvin's thought seems to be concerned with absolutes; the substance of his treatises, even if they are a reply to an individual heretic, represents eternal truth, in conflict with the totally evil forces of the Devil. It is not a coincidence that Calvin, more than any other Reformer, saw certain theological tenets in an absolute form: the total sovereignty of God, the total depravity of Man. A most significant reaction of Calvin to the fluidity of the ~ language at the time is his technique of definition, or redefinition, d of terms, in particular of theological terms. We have already seen I,~ that most of the theological terminology used by Calvin was . already well established in French. That is, the words are attested from a much earlier date, mainly in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. Their usual way of reaching French seems to have been through translations of the Psalter! or through sermons. 2 In these contexts it is probable that they had not received any very precise definition, 3 which is usually the task of the professional theologian; and all such wrote in Latin. The Scholastics, of course, had excelled in the technique of defining terms; and in any case definitio is a significant factor in the normal rhetorical training of any sixteenth-century humanist. Calvin, with his Scholastic and humanist upbringing, had mastered the art; and one of his great contributions to the language is a systematic definition of terms in French, a work in which he was certainly a pioneer. Naturally, the most important definitions are found in the Institution, translated as it was from Latin; but the technique, once established, reappears in his works originally written in French. In many cases such definitions show no departure from previously accepted doctrine. For example: ame: Selon l'escriture, l'ame de l'homme est une substance spirituelle,
douce de sens et raison, pour entendre et iuger: douce aussi de voluntc, pour eslire et appeter les choses ou son mouvement la poulse. (Lib. VII, 183.)4 Cf. Trenel, L'Ancien Testament et la langue franfaise. Cf. Gilson, 'La Technique du sermon medieval', in Les Idees et -les Lettres (Paris, 1932), pp. 93 sqq. 3 Gilson, op. cit. p. 113. 4 St. Thomas Aquinas, following St. Augustine, had defined the soul in very similar terms, as 'an individual spiritual substance' (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 75. a. 2). I
2
74
VOCABULARY
conscience: Sainct Paul remonstre que les payens mesmes, estans sans doctrine et sans escriture, ont une loy imprimee en leurs cueurs, qui est leur conscience, par laquelle ilz s'accusent ou defendent en la presence de Dieu. (Lib. VII, 193.)1
esprit: while not giving a full definition, or series of definitions, to this ambivalent word, much of his Contre les Libertins (who were known as Libertins spirituels) is concerned with his opponents' confusion of the various senses of the word, notably chap. x: 'Que les Libertins abusent en plusieurs sortes du mot d'Esprit, lequel ilz ont tousiours en la bouche': quand [on] ne les orra parler que d'esprit, et que la parolle de Dieu n'est qu'esprit, et que Jesus Christ semblablement est esprit, et qu'il nous faut estre espritz avec luy, et que nostre vie doit estre esprit ... (Lib. VII, 177.) These orthodox definitions (orthodox as far as they go: other parts of Calvin's doctrine of the soul, for example, were not in accordance with Catholic theology) appear in the works written against the' left-wing' heretics of the Reformation. In other cases words are not only being treated in ,*,rench by a theologian for the first time: they are redefined as well, in Protestant terms. foi: we must turn here to the Institution (1541 edition, pp. 1899 I) for a full definition. La vraye Foy chrestienne, laquelle seule merite d'estre appellee Foy: n'est pas contente d'une simple congnoissance de l'hystoire: et prend siege au coeur de l'homme, Ie nettoyant de fard, de fiction, et Hypocrisie: et l'occupant tellement, qu'elle ne s'en evanouyst pas de legier ... (p. 189.) The definition is then built up by the addition of further qualities
(' il appert done, que nous n'avons pas encores la deffinition pleine ... ') until finally: Maintenant nous avons une pleine deffinition de la Foy: si nous determinons, que c'est une ferme et certaine congnoyssance de la bonne volunte de Dieu envers nous: laquelle estant fondee sur la promesse I 'La conscience est Ie reflet interieur de la loi objective et superieure ... ' (Diet. de Theologie Catholique). Cf. also Glossa ordin. on Rom. ii. 14:' si [gentes] non habent legem scriptam, habent tamen legem naturalem, qua quiIibet intelligit et sibi conscius est quid sit bonum et quid malum.'
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75
gratuite donnee en Jesus Christ, est revelee scellee en nostre coeur par Ie Sainct Esprit.
a nostre entendement, et (p. 191.)1
justification: celuy est dict estre iustifie devant Dieu, qui est repute iuste devant Ie iugement de Dieu et est aggreable pour sa iustice ... Ce1uy donc est iustifie, qui n'est point estime comme pecheur, mais comme iuste ... Ainsi nous dirons l'homme estre iustifie devant Dieu, leque1, estant separe du nombre des pecheurs, ha Dieu pour tesmoing et approbateur de sa iustice. En ceste maniere nous dirons, l'homme estre iustifie devant Dieu par ses oeuvres: en la vie duquel il y aura une telle purete et sainctete, qu'elle meritera tiltre de iustice devant Dieu: ou bien, lequel par integrite de ses oeuvres, pourra respondre et satisfaire au iugement de Dieu. Au contraire, celuy sera dict iustifie par Foy: lequel estant exc1uz de la iustice des oeuvres, apprehende par Foy, la iustice de Jesus Christ: de laquelle estant vestu, apparoist devant la face de Dieu nompas comme pecheur, mais comme iuste. (Inst. 1541, p. 355.) peche originel: nous dirons donc, que Ie peche originel est une corruption et perversite hereditaire de nostre nature, laquelle nous faict coulpables, premierement de l'ire de Dieu, puis apres produit en nous les oeuvres, que l'Escriture appelle oeuvres de la chair, et est proprement cela que Sainct Paul appelle souventesfois peche, sans adiouster originel. (Inst. 1541, p. 36.) Such definitions are natural to a theological work in Latin and thus to the translation of that work. More interesting is Calvin's subsequent introduction of similar definitions into his French treatises:
penitence: ... ceste doctrine de penitence: qui emporte ... que en la vertu de l'esprit de Dieu, et par sa grace, nous mortifions les oeuvres de la chair: que Ie peche ne regne point en nous, que nous soyons transformez de nostre entendement et propre courage, pour estre reduictz en l'obeissance de Dieu, nous gardans des souillureset pollutions de ce monde, pour nous entretenir en nostre vocation. (Lib. VII, 203-4.) perfection: Ainsi la perfection des Chrestiens, pour Ie dire en trois motz, est que sans feintise ilz ayent leur affection a servir Dieu: qu'ilz ne soyent point de cueur double, mais qu'ilz ayent une rondeur entiere: tellement qu'ilz puissent protester que leur principal desir est de plaire I The pattern of this definition follows closely that prescribed, for example, in Cicero, Topiea, VI, 29: after a basic statement, there follows: 'adde quod sequitur nondum est definitio ... unum adde verbum ... nondum est satis; adde confectum est.'
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77
aDieu. Cependant, comme dit sainct Augustin, leur plus grande perfection est, de recongnoistre et confesser combien ilz sont imparfaictz, et de (Lib. VII, 205.)1 confesser tousiours leurs infirmitez devant Dieu.
Calvin some of these words are only used In a given type of context. For example:
providence: the whole of chapter XIV of Contre les Libertins
bouclier: used in the period to mean a defence, either of oneself or of one's
(VII,
186-92: 'Comment il nous convient considerer la providence
de Dieu, par laquelle il faict toutes choses ') is devoted to a definition of Providence and its threefold operation. 2 regeneration: Pour avoir une brieve et claire definition du total, la doctrine de l' escriture est, que la regeneration consiste en penitence. Car penitence, a proprement parler, n'est autre chose que de renoncer a nous mesmes, pour estre nouvelles creatures a vivre selon Dieu. Or chacun sait que cela emporte: Si c'est pour faire bonne chere, sans nous soucier de rien, en changeant les noms des choses: ou bien de faire force ou violence a nostre couraige, pour Ie retirer de son inclination naturelle, et Ie reduire en l' obeissance de Dieu, et nous redarguer en toutes mauvaises affections. (Lib. VII, 202-3.) vocation: definitions of the two senses in which Calvin uses the term are given above, p. 67, notes 1 and 2. There is nothing original in the idea or method of definition; its use in classical rhetoric and Scholastic th~ology has been mentioned. But in terms of Calvin's polemical method these definitions play an important part. The French reader had no dictionaries or encyclopaedias to refer to; and Calvin's definitions, backed with all his authority and scholarship, come as statements of incontro..;. vertible fact. Here the combination of 'proof' and' persuasion' in the teaching process is evident; for if Calvin's rigid definition of justification, for example, is accepted, with its strict dichotomy between justification by works (which requires perfect fulfilment of every commandment) and justification by faith, then his exclusion of our reliance on our works is unavoidable. The preliminary definition of terms predetermines the outcome of the argument. Finally, as a way of countering the imprecision of French at the time, of making the word into a sharp two-edged sword in the service of the truth, we may note Calvin's contribution towards a stabilization of the language into castes or classes. A number of words appear to have been used by sixteenthcentury writers indifferently in approval or condemnation. But by I Cf. also Inst. 1541, p. 167: 'Ce n'est point sans cause, que Sainct Paul constitue toute la perfection du fidele en charite.' 2 See pp. 37-39 above.
enemy. Calvin almost invariably uses it of the adversary: 'ilz font semblablement un bouclier d'une sentence de Salomon.' (Anab. VII, 130.)1 suppost: still meant 'subaltern' of any sort; the pejorative meaning was
only established from the seventeenth century. Calvin's use is consistently pejorative: 'Cependant par une calomnie supposee il voudroit faire a croire qu'il est grand suppost de la Foy catholique.' (Resp. HoI. IX, 594.) 'Ce suppost de taverne pour tout potage dit ... ' (Ref. Cath. IX, 130.) devotion, devot: Calvin's use of these words is interesting and sometimes
a little ambiguous. While in general they only received their pejorative implications at the time of the Cabale des Divots (according to BW), Calvin's usual intention is to indicate misguided devotion or piety. He writes of the cult of relics as an aberration of true worship: 'Ie s9ay bien que cela a quelque espece et couleur de bonne devotion et zele, quand on allegue qu'on garde les reliques de Iesus Christ pour I'honneur qu'on luy porte.' (ReI. VI, 409.)2 Later in the same treatise: 'Tant y a que ce fut une folIe curiosite a elle, ou une sotte devotion et inconsideree.' (Ibid. 4 1 9.) Related words are used in ways such as this: 'On chante la iournellement messe: ceux qui veulent estre veuz devotz plus que lesautres, la vontouyr.' (Pet. Tr. VI, 552.) 'Si quelqu'un va alamesse devotement . .. ' (Ibid. 569.) Calvin seems to have mistrusted the normal concept of devotion as belonging to a somewhat vague religiosity, the uninformed mediaeval faith symbolized in Villon's ballade for his mother. Certainly he rarely speaks of devotion with approval, despite the striking effects he himself obtains from the use of devotional language, as we have seen above. These examples illustrate a tendency to stabilize the language by ascribing a more definite range of connotations to a word the basic meaning of which is not changed. At the same time this is another I Cf. also Pet. Tr. VI, 573, Nic. VI, 596, etc. This word is particularly significant: Calvin rarely found himself on the defensive. The point is nicely made in the title of a pamphlet by a Rouen monk-Un Bouclier de Defense . .. -and that of FareI's reply: Le Glaive de la ParoUe veritable tire
contre le Bouclier de defense. 2 Cf. similar uses, ibid. cols. 429, 435, 446, 450, etc.
VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY
factor contributing towards a separation of styles in Calvin's work. The words noted above are all devalued, are all reduced from neutral uses to pejorative ones. They thus take their place alongside the words usually of popular origin which we have noted as the mark of Calvin's style in dealing with his adversaries. Significantly, there is little trace of a movement in the opposite direction. The upper reaches of his vocabulary, in which he expresses his own position and exhorts his readers, are drawn from the much less 'experimental' ranks of learned or religious terminology; their effect relies to some extent on their traditional associations. But it is curious that, while things may be devalued in Calvin's prose, little seems to be raised up or ennobled which was not so before.
brouillasser: 'to scribble on': 'ce rustre trousse ses quilles, ... quand il eust brouillasse encore une demi-fueille de papier.' (Ref. Catk. IX, 131.) A sixteenth-century coinage, related to brouillon (which is ascribed to Calvin by BW). The bizarre form, and the pejorative
78
* *
*
The above comments are based on a study of Calvin's earlier polemical works, those which appeared before 1550. It is worth considering what changes are perceptible in the later works, and if Calvin's treatment of vocabulary evolves in any way. The four French works written after"'J:550 which are included in this study-the Quatre Sermons, Reformation contre Cathelan, Response a certaines calomnies and Response a un Holandois-are much less important than the earlier treatises. The Response a certaines calomnies, on the problem of predestination, is only seven columns long; the Quatre Sermons is a repetition of the arguments of the Petit Traite and of the Excuse aux Nicodemites; the Response aun Holandois is a reply to an individual, again covering some of the ground of the Nicodemite group and of the Anabaptistes series; the Reformation contre Cathelan is even more a piece d'occasion, of very little theological importance. As regards vocabulary, there are few points at which notable changes from the earlier works are perceptible. In the very minor works attacking the Dutch heretic and Cathelan the tone is more full of verve in proportion as the content is less doctrinal: and here in particular we find a certain number of neologisms: badaud: 'ce qu'il a ouy avoir este amene par quelque autre, ille descharge sur moy a l' estourdie. Mais encore ne Ie fait-il pas sans quelque finesse, quelque badaud qu'il soit.' (Ref. Catk. IX, 129.)
First attested
1532,
Rabelais.
79
ending, add greatly to the effect of the statement. cottation: 'reference': 'il farcit toutes les marges de son livre de force cottations comme s'il ne parloit que par la bouche des Apostres.' (Resp. Hol. IX, 590.) FEW gives attestations from Marot to 1639; here the unfamiliar form seems to add a note of contempt or irony to the reference to the Dutchman's learning. Of archaisms there seem to be fewer than before-translater is still used, but rembarrer is preferred to the archaic redarguer (or the too modern refuter). Derivatives appear with greater frequency than before: fiaterie, forcenerie, fierte, vanteries, menteries, gaudisserie, souspefonneux, facetieux, impollu, docilite. The most notable characteristic of these late works is the increased violence of the polemical tone. The first page of the Response aun Holandois, for example, contains the following passage: Et a la verite il n'y a yvrogne qui ne parlast en plus grande sobriete: comme aussi l' esprit de forcenerie, duque1 Dieu menace d' abruver ses ennemis et les contempteurs de sa parole, surmonte toute la bestise des yvrognes. Et d'autant plus qu'il estkardi, son impudence se descouvre, pour estre ridicule iusqu'aux petis enfans. (Resp. Hol. IX, 585.) The Reformation contre Cathelan-the liveliest of all Calvin's polemical works-abounds in similar passages. The syntax of these later works has developed noticeably, as we shall see; but apart from the points already made, the vocabulary offers little variation from his earlier treatises. There is a greater flexibility in the use of words (the derivatives, for example); as we have come to expect, there is a greater concentration of , popular' language owing to the increased polemical tone, and correspondingly fewer of the seemingly gauche Latinisms. I I The increase in popular language may also be related to the fact that Calvin probably dictated these treatises, whereas the earlier ones were written by his own hand.
80
VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY
This increased violence of tone has frequently been ascribed to Calvin's growing testiness, and illness, in his last years. It should also be said that there is a linguistic reason: his constant seeking for a stronger, more emphatic way of expressing himself, which we have seen with reference to his adjectives, naturally leads to a sort of semantic erosion. As a result he constantly had recourse to a greater concentration of polemical terms-where one adjective sufficed before, two or three appear; where one image was used earlier, several are produced. It is in fact curious to note that in content Calvin's vocabulary has changed little: it is the concentration of stylistic effects that has increased. The adjectives are still the same ones, the pejorative nouns are the same; the images, as we shall see, are the same. There is indeed a close parallelism between the constancy of his vocabulary and the well-known fact that, from the first edition of the Institution until the end of his life, Calvin's theological position remained strictly unaltered. It is true that the fluency of his language increases (a matter of syntax on the whole). But the terms of his discussion, the concepts in which he argues, the attitudes which he adopts-that which affects his vocabulary above all-undergo a cert~n amount of expansion and improvement, but never any innovation or radical change.
. 'significant' Calvin's is, where every word has its meaning fully known and used (ef. the double meanings of words). The language is consistent, the words are clearly defined; there is little change in his use of vocabulary over a period of twenty years. His vocabulary is in fact very stable. A corollary to this is the paucity of adjectives which would qualify (as opposed to strengthening) the force of the nouns. In a sense, the concepts from which he starts are as stably delimited as the concepts of Scholastic philosophy. Thus, while in the patterns of argument found in these writings there is little that resembles a syllogism, Calvin is conceiving his thought in a terminology not dissimilar to that of Scholastic writings. The elements of his discourse are to him firm, almost tangible realities, though the structure into which they are built is different in nature from that taught him at the College de Montaigu. For there are other persuasive factors involved in his vocabulary. A definite correlation may be established between various subjects and the types of words in which those subjects are discussed; and this correlation goes beyond the natural, non-stylistic choice of vocabulary based purely on the different meanings involved. For Calvin's own thoughts, and his appeals to his readers, a heavily biblical or pious vocabulary is used; for the battle of theological debate, legal terms abound; in the treatment of his adversaries and of their teachings, the language is primarily indigenous. The atmosphere of the prose mirrors the subject and ascribes to it a certain status. Of these groups the first two give little scope for liberty and innovation, since their appeal relies partly on their traditional associations. It is in Calvin's use of pejorative language that most flexibility and variety are found: neologisms are frequent, and colour by means of concrete expressions and lively verbs of action is added. This separation of language into castes, or levels of style, is a linguistic counterpart of the technique of argument described in chapter I as polarization of the subject. Just as the doctrines of Calvin's adversaries are reduced to trivialities or to satanic machinations, while he upholds the Scriptural basis of his own standpoint, so this is reflected in the ranges of vocabulary in which he treats these subjects. Calvin's vocabulary is functional in the sense that colour and variety are not sought for their own sake, and also in the sense that
*
*
In summary, then, the following points are particularly significant in Calvin's use of vocabulary. Calvin takes care to avoid words the meanings of which are not clear (technical terms, archaisms, unfamiliar neologisms) in favour of words of known content. By means of neologisms, cognate forms of which already existed, he acquires the increased range of meaning he needs for his subjects without making his language unduly difficult; by definitions, he clarifies exactly what is understood by his fundamental terms. Occasionally he uses Latinisms which may have provided some difficulty to a certain class of reader, but which do serve to give a content and a consistency of meaning that could scarcely otherwise be obtained at the time. These elements make Calvin's language remarkable for its succinctness and its concentration of meaning. One need only compare his prose with that of Viret to see how much more
6
81
HSO
82
VOCABULARY
the elements which constitute it are exploited to the full. The scope is restricted-there is no linguistic embroi~ery as ,":ith '!ess serious' writers no concession to the reader's desire for dIversIOn, as with Viret, ~o earthy presentation of the Gospel as. in. Luther. I Calvin's language is hierarchical and restricted to the hmlts of.that hierarchy; but within them the stylistic effects to be .obtalned from the vocabulary are developed with coherence and smgleness of purpose.
III
SYNTAX Ie m'estudie a disposer par ordre ce que ie dy, afin d'en (Anab. VII, 140 .) donner plus claire et facile intelligence.
:II: :II:
:II:
I Appendix B gives some short passages from other Reformation polemists for comparison.
ROM the point of view of linguistics Calvin's syntax is the most interesting and significant aspect of his language: for it is here that his prose makes perhaps the most outstanding and durable contribution to the development of French. I Our present task is not however to make a complete linguistic examination of Calvin's syntax; Huguet's Etude sur la syntaxe de Rabelais has already covered much of this ground in the course of his comparisons between various writers of the period. Weare concerned here with those features of Calvin's sentence structure which seem particularly significant, and which constitute the stylistic dominants of his syntax.
F
:II: :II:
*
First some general comments may be made. An immediately noticeable feature of his syntax is its variety. Marcourt, Farel and Viret, the best known of the other writers of this period of the French Reformation, have widely differing syntactic styles: but in each case the same basic patterns appear with little variation throughout their works; rhythms, the pace of the language, the organization of sentences change only a little. Just as in secular literature we may contrast the polished monotony of Margaret of Navarre with the unending variety of Rabelais, so Calvin stands out from among his contemporaries in the religious field, although not for the same reasons. In what follows, then, there will be necessarily an element of schematization, of generalization; while this study is of the themes of Calvin's syntax, it must be borne in mind that there are infinite variations on those themes. I
Cf. Introduction, p.
2.
6-2
SYNTAX
SYNTAX
'Es ist der hypotaktische Satzbau, der in der Prosa Calvins iiberwiegt.' I By modern standards Calvin's prose strikes us as perhaps overloaded with subordinates, with too rich an overgrowth of accessory thoughts and phrases. As the critics never tire of saying, he derived much of his style from Latin, with its manifold forms of subordination, and in his French it is not surprising to find something of the same hypotactic pattern. 2 A hypotactic style is far from being exclusive to Calvin; it could be ascribed to everyone of his contemporaries. However, within the general description 'hypotactic' there are many possible qualities. Viret's style is hypotactic in the following:
This type of prose could be called 'formless hypotaxis': and it is true to say that such French cannot be found anywhere in Calvin's writings. On the contrary, however extensive the degrees of subordination become, however involved the meaning, Calvin's prose retains a strong sense of form and direction. This control is primarily a matter of syntactic organization. We sha!l examine below Calvin's use of the various parts of speech which relate clauses to each other-conjunctions, relatives and certain adverbs; I the importance of these forms in binding his prose together may be seen in the following:
84
Ie t'asseure, sans te mentir d'un mot, qu'un commissaire, demourant en Ia Papisterie mesme, m'en a fait Ie conte, qui disoit sur sa foy, qu'il l'avoit ouy Iuymesme, estant en Ia messe, en Iaquelle ce sermon se fit au prosne, au milieu d'icelle, quand Ie prestre fut venu aI'offertoire ... 3 The same can be said for this extract from Castellio's Traite des Heretiques:
Et apd.$ pource qu'etant puissant Princ~ et de grande autorite, cela l' est utile, et expedient, de bien connaitre cette affaire, afin que tu puisses justement, et sans aucune iniquite regner, et presider sur tes sujets, et que tu viennes a persuader aux autres Princes voisins, et principalement au Roi de France, de faire Ia meme chose, si par quelque moyen il se peut faire, que l'etat de Ia Republique Chretienne, Ieque1 dej a par tant d'annees a ete si miserablement dissipe, puisse etre restitue, en quelque tranquille etat, et Ies peuples rappeles apenitence, et amendement de vie, pour voir, si d'aventure Ie Seigneur voudra point detourner son ire, de Iaquelle il est tant enflambe contre Ie genre humain, et nous illuminer de Ia Iumiere de sa face. 4 But Viret's conversational narrative loses itself in a web of relatives and subordinates which reflects a lack of order in the author's thought; and Castellio's exhortation, while syntactically one sentence, lacks any unity of thought as one subject leads to another in an uncontrolled series of steps. Ruff, Die jranzosischen Brieje Calvins, p. 113· Cf. J.-B. Baum, who prefers Farel's style to that of Calvin, 'dont Ie style indique a chaque phrase qu'il pensait habituellement en latin' (cited by Doumergue, Calvin, II, 154)· 3 Le Requiescant in pace de Purgatoire (Geneva, 1552), pp. 3 66 -']. 4 Traite des Heretiques, ed. Olivet (Geneva, 1913), pp. 22-23· I
85
Quant a I'homme I'escriture nous enseigne bien, que depuisqu'il s'est destourne de Dieu, son arne est pleine d'ignorance et de vanite, pleine de perversite et rebellion contre Dieu, adonnee a mal, oppressee et veincue par infirmite. Mais pour cela e1Ie ne Iaisse point de Ia nommer cr~ature .de Dieu, ayant en soy Ies conditions naturelles que Dieu y a mlses: sznon que Ie tout est corrumpu et deprave par Ie peche. Parquoy, selon l'escriture, l'ame de l'homme est une substance spirituelle, douee de .sens et raison, pour entendre et iuger: douee aussi de volunte, pour eshre et appeter les choses ou son mouvement Ia pouise. Bien est vray, que I'escriture puis apres nous admoneste, que I'intelligence est pervertie en nous a cause du peche: tellement que nous sommes aveugles, et que Ia volunte est mauvaise, tellement qu'il n'en peut sortir qu'iniquite. Mais pour cela I'ame ne Iaisse point de tousiours demeurer en son essence ... (Lib.
VII,
183.)
In contrast to the passages from Viret and Castellio, this prose has a clear pattern. Each sentence is closely knit; the syntactic form is often strengthened by parallel constructions (pleine d'ignorance . pleine de perversite . .. ; adonnee a mal, oppressee et veincue ; or later the repeated douee de . .. ); and the relationship between
these strong units is equally firmly indicated, whether the next step is a qualification-mais pour cela-or a consequenceparquoy.2
At the same time, there is in Calvin's prose a sense of rhythmical control, of the use of word order, sequence of clauses, repetitions and the like for stylistic effects, which is entirely lacking in the type of prose quoted from other authors. A word or expression to
2
See pp. 98 sqq. Cf. Wartburg, Evolution et structure de la languejranfaise, 5th edition (Berne, 195 8), pp. 163-5. I
2
86
SYNTAX
SYNTAX
be strongly accented is frequently en rejet at the end of the sentence, as here, where it is isolated after two intercalated phrases: 11 declaire par ces motz qu'il ne s'estime pas estre adore deuement: sinon qu'on luy rende a luy seul, mesmes par euvre exterieure, toute gloire. (Pet. Tr. VI, 547,) A series of violent pejorative expressions, all rejected by Calvin as not being strong enough, build the following sentence up to a resonant climax, which is excellently pointed by the final heavy irony: Nous verrons puis apres que nul ruffien de bordeau, ne brigant de bois, mesme Ie plus desespere qu' on pourroit choisir au monde, ne seroit iamais si debride, d'approuver tous crimes tant execrables qu'ilz soyent, (Lib. VII, 177-8.) comme font ces bons spirituelz. Other places in the sentence may also receive a strong emphasis by the manipulation of clauses and word order. By lengthening the participial clauses in the following example, Calvin gives the verb carrying the main sense a high relief which enhances the contrast and bathos after the earlier part of the sentence: ~.
Et nous en avons l'experience en ceux cy, lesquelz voulans monter pardessus les nues, pour chercher la volunte de Dieu, au lieu de se tenir a la revelation qui nous en est faicte en la saincte escriture, tombent en des absurditez si brutalles, que c'est horreur que d'en ouyr parler. (Lib. VII, 194·) There is, then, a clear sense of form and organization about Calvin's prose, showing itself alike in the strong syntactic structure and the use of rhythms and word order to produce the right emphasis. We may go further and try to define the characteristic shape of Calvin's sentence structure. Underlying the variety of sentence structure we have noted, Calvin's prose has a basic binary rhythm. In its simplest form, this pattern raises a question, or posits a fact in the first part of a sentence, and in the second gives a reply to it: (a) Que il y eust aucune pourtraicture miraculeuse, (b) il n'en parle point. (Rel. VI, 42 5.)
Usually the pattern is complicated by subordinate clauses; but the balance remains between the preliminary statement, the protasis, and the resulting conclusion, the apodosis:
87
(a) Car voyans qu'une grande partie du monde est faschee de l'asnerie des caffart~, et se mo~ue de leur sotte fayon d'enseigner: (b) ilz ne voyent pomt de meilleur moyen d'acquerir bruit et reputation, que d'user de ceste amorse, pour attirer les gens aeux. (Nic. VI, 597.)
Such a pattern is related to several characteristics of Calvin's writings. First, it is the natural form of a deduction: (a) Puisq~~ Die~ par sa Parole offre a tous pecheurs grace et pardon, se recon~lhant a eux" moyennant qu'avec humilite et repentance ils se cognolssent tels qu tls sont, sans adiouster nulle queue de murmurer en l'aureil,le d'un Prestre, (b) ie di que c'est une audace trop enorme et un. sacnlege que l~s creatures restraignent a leur appetit Ie benefice de Dleu, et se constItuent en sa place pour adiouster une condition de laquelle il n'a iamais parle. (Ref. Cath. IX, 131.)
It is also the natural form of an analogy: (a) Car tout ains.i que Ie solei!, donnant de ses rayons sur unecharongne, et c~usant en lcelle quelque putrefaction, n'en tire point de corrupt1o~ ne macule aucune, et ne faict point par sa purete que la charongne ne SOlt puante et infecte: (b) aussi Dieu faict tellement ses oeuvres ~~r les ,mesch.ans, que la sainctete qui est en luy ne les iustifie point, et I mfectIOn qUI est en eux ne Ie contamine en rien. (Lib. VII, 190.) In the following example the first sentence illustrates how suspense can be increased by prolonging the series of subordinate cl.auses in the protasis; and the rest of the quotation shows the bmary pattern used to produce resonant antitheses: Mais ~i tost}u'?n a tourne Ie fueillet',on Ie voit enRe de tell~ presomption, on VOlt qu tl s esleve en telle fierte et audace, on Ie VOlt confit en si ~rand~ temerite, qu'illuy sied tresmal de louer les vertus desquelles il ne t1~nt nen. C.a~ ~omment celuy qui creve d'orgueil sera-il propre a enselgne~ humlhte? Comment celuy qui mesprise tout Ie monde, pourra-il re~uenr q~' on e~coute paisiblement ce qu'il propose? Comment celuy qUi sans dIscretIOn desgorge toutes les fantasies qui luy viennent au cerveau, pourra-il donner loy qu'on soit de sens rassis et pose? (Resp. Hol. IX, 586.) The antithesis is, of course, an obvious form of this type of rhythm, and it is often exploited by Calvin: Est-ce Ie moyen d'entrer au royaume celeste de Dieu, que de nous veautrer au bordeaude Satan? (4 Serm. VIII, 381.) Mais qui est-ce qui voudra estre condamne de Dieu pour estre absouls .. ~ , (Lib. VII, 195.) de Q umtm.
88
SYNTAX
These antitheses illustrate very clearly one of the basic qualities of Calvin's mode of thought: the opposition of good and bad, drawn in violently contrasting tones. The juxtaposing of the good and the bad is effective in encouraging both the acceptance of one and the rejection of the other: that is t~e eff~ct t~ the reader. B~t the facility with which thought presents Itself In thIS form to CalvIn is relevant to a study of the writer as well. Negatives are absolute, affirmatives are total, as we have seen. Truth and falsehood are as easily distinguishable as white and black. I The oppositi~n between the Gospel and heretical teaching is clear-cut, and ObVIOUS: Finalement tout homme de moyen esprit pourra iuger quel credit merite ce babillard du tout profane, quand i1 oppose a l' authorite de nostre Seigneur Iesus Christ, et de tous les Ap?stres, de t~us les ~artyrs et Docteurs anciens, les songes d'un fantastlque nomme. Sebas;Ien Franc, leque1 on cognoit avoir este sans cerveau, et du tout msense. (Resp. Hol. IX, 596-7.) This binary pattern, though basic to much of Calvin's sentence structure and to his thought, is frequently overlaid and obscured by other elements. For a more detai1~d study, it will be worth taking in turn the various elements which go to make up all the polemical treatises and seeing what characteristics of ~ynta: are most significant in each. In any treatise four elements Invanably occur, although the order and importance vary: these ar~ ~he exposition of the problem; the argument pr~per; the CO~vIctIOn of the opposition; and the exhortation to the faIthful to aVOId error. Of course, these are not found principally in four autonom?us sections: they are scattered throughout, as each new questIOn requires its own exposition, and each point established may lead either to an outburst of condemnation or to an exhortation.
*
*
*
Exposition is the first element to be considered. ~ertain qualities are necessary in an exposition: the facts must be lUCIdly expounded, the problem must be clearly seen, and the attention of the reader I Cf. ch. II, p. 73, and ch. IV, pp. 134-5 below. Iy.lario Richter points out that antithesis in both thought and style, and chzaroscuro, are characteristics of much Protestant literature of the sixteenth century, as ~ ~esult of this rigid dichotomy established by Calvin. See ' 11 Processo splrltuale e stilistico nella poesia di Jean de Sponde', in Aevum, XXXVI (19 62), p. 310.
SYNTAX
89
must be engaged and held. Here we see Calvin at his most conversational and relaxed, his most simple and unsophisticated. For, unlike the argument proper, exposition does not require precise consequence of thought, but rather succinctness and clarity of explanation, and a lively style. This is particularly noticeable where Calvin is introducing an argument not about doctrine but about the persons of his opponents. Polemic in the sixteenth century was frequently a battle waged on personal rather than on doctrinal grounds, and Calvin's is no exception. In such passages of exposition only the simplest forms of subordination appear; sentences are short; and the pronoun subject is sometimes omitted when the antecedent is clear: II y a aussi des moines, qui se contentent bien d'avoir grasses questes et bons repas, par faute de mieux. Ayans ce but, ilz n'ont garde de faillir ame condamner comme trop rigoreux, et se plaindre de moy: veu que ie leur arrache Ie pain des mains. (Nic. VI, 597.) The numerous finite verbs (numerous by comparison with other parts of his work) and the short sentences give the prose a lively character; and phrases and expressions like par faute de mieux, ilz n'ont garde de faillir a me condamner are set expressions of conversational discourse rather than in the serious tone of elevated prose. In another place Calvin remarks on the number of leaders produced by the Libertine sect: Car ce n'est pas comme s'il faUoit estre savant au de bon esprit, pour y parvenir a quelque estime. II n'y a que l'impudence qui Ie gaigne. Et de faict tous ceux dont i'ay parle sont autant ignorans qu'on sauroit dire. Et n'y a ne rhyme ne raison en leurs propos, non plus que si des (Lib. VII, 160-1.) harangieres vouloyent disputer d'astrologie. Once again, autant ignorans qu'on sauroit dire, n'y a ne rhyme ne raison have a distinct conversational character. The conjunctions, car and et, are the simplest and the most common; no sentence has more than two clauses. These qualities give the prose a casual appearance, a lightness of tone, which is attractive to the reader. There is also another function in the tone: it gives the impression that the subject, the persons of the opponents, is not really worthy of serious attention: there is often an implication of contempt in this conversational manner.
SYNTAX
SYNTAX
The Traite des Reliques does not rely for its force on argumentation, as many of Calvin's other treatises do. The exposition itself, the factual enumeration of the relics, forms the body of the treatise. The syntax of some of this more extensive expository prose deserves mention:
Les gestes et propos de Ia damoiselle monstroyent bien qu'e1Ie avoit trop hante Ie monde ... Puis ils ne se purent tenir de diabler en l'hoste1erie, et se prendre au poil pour essayer qui seroit Ie plus fort. Nous, en moins de deux iours, ayans desia telle espreuve, ne pensons pas qu'il faille plus differer a les examiner de plus pres ... Car du commencement iis faisoyent bien semblant d'estre mariez: mais quand on les interroga a part de Ia paroisse, l'un nous mena a sainct Honore, et I'autre a sainct (Ref. Calk. IX, 126.) Severin.
W
Car outre Ie suaire de Ia Veronique, qui se monstre a Rome a sainct Pierre, et Ie couvre chef que Ia vierge Marie, comme ilz disent, mist sur les parties honteuses de nostre Seigneur, qui se monstre a sainct Iehan de Latran, Iequel aussi bien est de rechef aux Augustins de Carcasonne; item, Ie suaire qui fut mis sur sa teste au sepulcre, qui se monstre Ia mesme; il y a une demy douzaine de villes, pour Ie moins, qui se vantent d'avoir Ie suaire de la sepulture tout entier: comme Nice, ce1uy qui a este transporte Ia de Chambery; item, Aix en Allemaigne; item, Ie Trect; item, Besanson; item, Cadoin en Limosin; item, une ville de Lorraine, assise au pors d'Aussoys; sans Ies pieces qui en sont dispersees d'un coste et d' autre, comme a sainct Salvador en Hespaigne, et aux Augustins d'Alby. (ReI. VI, 4 2 4,) The structure of this sentence is unusually loose for Calvin. Before the main clause is reached he has used seven subordinate clauses on two levels of subordination, a,pd there are three more to follow; and the syntax is further disrupted by the repeated item. There is, however, no danger of ambiguity. Indeed Calvin seems to have increased the complication intentionally. He is treating four different shrouds here, only two of which are involved in the duplication of relics he is attacking at this point. By incorporating them all into one barbarous sentence, and by reducing the major part of the sentence to a dry inventory (item ... item . .. ), he succeeds in reflecting in the syntax a sense of the labyrinth of iconographic detail through which he is leading us. An extension of his lively, conversational approach to discussion is the use of narrative, in which Calvin shows considerable skill. Part of the exposition of the Reformation contre Cathelan is a summary of Cathelan's activities in Geneva, Berne and Lausanne, in a style which equals anything written by the conteurs of the period: C'est, qu'estant arrive a Geneve en la compagnie d'une putain qu'il trainoit par tout, il commenya par demander l'aumosne, s'offrant toutesfois a enseigner Ies enfans en Arithmetique et chifres. En attendant qu'on se fust enquis de Iuy, ie croy bien qu'on Iuy donna quelque repas. Mais a fin qu' on ne fust trop empesche a prendre Iongues informations, luy-mesme avec son bon parti s'avancerent sans estre solicitez d'ailleurs.
91
Subordinate clauses are few, the conjunctions are simple; an anacoluthon characteristic of conversation appears in the second sentence; in addition, the speed of the narrative is increased by the use of participial phrases (estant arrive a Geneve, ayans desia telle espreuve) which compress the action; and the narrative use of the present tense enhances the dramatic element. It is perhaps worth quoting at length another example of Calvin's narrative prose (this time used as an illustration rather than in exposition), to show its effect in a more sustained passage. In the following the points already mentioned appear again; and the use of direct speech adds to the vivacity of the story. Calvin is out to show that, while the Libertines teach that God does all things and one must therefore accept suffering as God-given, they are less willing to accept the consequences for themselves: II y avoit un certain cordonier a Paris, leque1 fut embabouine de ceste secte, tellement que rien ne Iuy estoit plus mauvais, a son semblant. Or il advint un iour, que Iuy estant venu voir Estienne de Ia Forge, auque1 i1 avoit eu que1que acoinctance, HIe trouva tout fasche, a cause qu'un sien serviteur l'avoit laisse, et avoit emporte quelque argent. Mais Ia principalle cause de sa tristesse, estoit la crainte qu'il avoit, qu'il n'abusast quelque part de son credit. Ce cordonier Iuy demanda qu'il Iuy failloit. 11 Ie Iuy dist en trois motz, comme il estoit homme de peu de parolles. Mon cordonier incontinent de se guinder sur ses esles, pour voler par dessus les nues, et d'arguer Estienne de la Forge, qu'il blasphemoit Dieu, d'appeller son oeuvre meschancete: et que, puis que Dieu faisoit tout, on ne devoit estimer rien mauvais. Estienne de la Forge, sachant qu'il ne gaigneroit rien as'araisonner avec Iuy, et entrer en dispute, luy couppa Ia broche en un mot. Dieu voulut quelques iours apres que ce philosophe de cordonier fust derobe d'un sien serviteur. Incontinent, comme phrenetique il court ya et la, pour en savoir des nouvelles. Ne Ie trouvant point il arrive ches Estienne de Ia Forge, pour alleger son couraige, en faisant ses complaintes. Comme il commen<;oit a desranger force iniures contre ce Iarron, et estoit desia en bon train:
n
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Estienne de la Forge luy rompit son propos, disant: Comment? faut il ainsi blasphemer? pouvons nous accuser Dieu? puis que c'est Dieu qui l'a faict, ille faut plustost louer. Ce phantastique, estant confus par ses parolles mesmes, dont il avoit use, s'en alla tout peneux, la 9-ueue entre deux iambes: et toutesfois ne s'amenda point pour ce1a. (Ltb. VII, 185.) Prose of this sort does much to enliven the style of Calvin's treatises. In an age whose tastes are illustrated by the fact that a Doctor of Medicine and a monk could write the chronicles of Gargantua, and the Queen of Navarre short stories in imitation of Boccaccio, the attraction of such passages, and not only to the less . • literary of Calvin's readers, is obvious. I In Calvin's exposition, then, the reader has been Introduced In lively and conversational tones to the questions to be discussed. His attention is captured, the problem is made real, almost visible (as Calvin would say) to him; there is ~ometi~es at lea~t an implication that the opponents, and thus theIr teachmg or attitude, are not worthy of serious treatment. Clearly, however, the .substance of Calvin's treatises is most serious. The syntax of his arguments proper reflects the development of this seriousness. . The tone in which his argument is .£onducted, unhke the dry theology of a later age, has great energy and life; but here it is no longer the pleasant, interesting tone of conversation, but the cut and thrust of debate. This is seen in the way in which he introduces his argument. In the Response a un Holandois, for example, one paragraph of argument and counter-argument contains the following introductory verbs: II y a encore un autre erreur trop lourd en ce docteur subtil: Car void comment il argue ... Pour Ie premier ie luy respon ... Pour Ie second ie l'advertiray apres avoir mieux pense asoy, de cogn~istre ... : Or nostre homme voyant bien que ce qui est contenu. au chapltre dlxleme d~ la premiere aux Corinthiens luy est fort contralre, trouve un eschapatOlre, leque1 iamais il n'eust ose amener, s'il avoit une goutte de honte ou d'honestete. II ne peut nier que mais il dit ... Plustost donc nous avons a retenir Mais il replique Pour approuver son dire il veut faire a croire Voire, mais que respondra-il a la conclusion qui est adioustee? .. Car n'a-i1 point honte de parler ainsi mot a mot? (Resp. Hol. IX, 607-8.) I The qualities of this narrative prose are ~emarkably similar t~ those of the simple style, genus adtenuatum,. ~escrIbed and I1~ustrat~d ill, for example, Rhetorica ad Herennium, IV, .Vlll, 1 ~ and x, 14; ill partIcular the example given there deserves comparIson wIth the story quoted above.
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93
In a discussion of any kind the present tense is the normal tense to use. But the quality of these verbs clearly goes beyond this 'expository' present. The meanings of the verbs (parler, respondre, dire), the tenses (here heightened by the use of two future tenses, ie I'advertiray, que respondra-il), and the pattern of question and answer all denote that the argument is here presented as a viva voce debate, and a legal debate at that (arguer, repliquer). Occasionally, indeed, Calvin presents his arguments not in reported but in direct speech. He raises questions by abruptly breaking into the syntax with them, as if he himself were asking the question rhetorically from the pulpit: Quel remede donc pour obvier atelz inconveniens? C'est que la sobriete que sainct Paul nous recommande nous soit comme une bride ... (Astrol. Iud. VII, 540 .) This form, reminiscent of St. Paul as the thought refers to him, is common. A similar pattern is: Quand donc Ie contraire se faict: c'est qu'on s'agenouille devant une image, assavoir si ce n'est pas deroguer a sa maieste? (Pet. Tr. VI, 547.) The assavoir has exactly the function of the Latin an in the introduction of a Scholastic argument; but, coming as it does in a place which breaks the syntax of the sentence, the question is put in sudden relief, and gains in emphasis thereby. On other occasions Calvin argues a point in direct speech: Quelqu'un me dira: C'est pour ce que ie n'y ay point Ie vouloir ne Ie courage: mais ie Ie faiz par contrainte, desirant de faire autrement s'il m'estoit loisible. Ie demanderay donc acestuy qui parle ainsi: Mon amy, si pour crainte de desplaire, ou pour paour de quelque dangier, tu faisois un gros outrage ou opprobre a ton pere. . . (Pet. Tr. VI, 568.) Sometimes he interrupts the flow of his own argument with an interjection (in this example I have added quotation marks for clarity) : 'Qui est celuy qui se soucie d'avoir ses serviteurs et chambrieres droictement instruictz a servir Dieu selon sa parolle? N' est-ce pas plustost une chose toute commune de les laisser vivre en ignorance comme paovres bestes, sans tacher de les retirer de leur idolatrie?' 'Mais il y a grand dangier de leur en parler.' 'Laissons Ie dangier pour ceste heure.' (Pet. Tr. VI, 556.)
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All these characteristics of dialogue, of the spoken word, found throughout Calvin's passages of argument, raise the level of the conflict out of the inanimate world of the written page, and introduce it as something real, where protagonists of each side face each other and give battle in the presence of the reader. It will be recalled that at least in the earlier days of the Reformation the colloque, the public debate between representatives of the conflicting parties, was common; and here Calvin repro~uces so~e thing of the same atmosphere of actual, present, hve conflict, representing in living terms the fundamental battle between Good and Evil. The tone of Calvin's argument is thus basically one of confrontation of debate between the representatives of Evil (the heretics) and of Good (Calvin). The terms of argument are il allegue, il replique, and ie respons, ie di. This basic pattern of indirect speech in debate now needs closer analysis, since the use of introductory clauses lends itself to considerable manipulation. In fact the syntactic forms in which Calvin introduces his argument are a most important polemical weapon. If Aquinas's Summa is taken as an£xample of the basic, 'unstylistic' form of theological argument, it wil~ be seen. that. the~e each objection is stated simply, without any IntroductIOn, In fair terms; it is then refuted, also without an introduction, and without any emotive colouring. In Calvin's writings the argument itself is frequently set back from the foreground. of the stat~ment ?y its relegation to a subordinate clause, the main clause bemg an Introduction to the 'indirect speech' in which it is given. An example may illustrate the importance of this meth?d. !n chapter II a passage of simulated dialogue from Contre les Lzbertzns was taken to illustrate the way in which Calvin handles argument from Scripture. Here are three of the interjections from the Libertine side in this argument, given first as they might have appeared had Calvin followed a Scholastic method of presentation:
There is little doubt that at least the first two of these statements are heretical; but St. Thomas quotes arguments quite as erroneous without accompanying them by any comment. However, this is how these arguments are introduced by Calvin (Lib. VII, 193-4):
~
Ce est follie de craindre d'offenser Dieu, veu que nous ne faisons ne bien ne mal, mais luy faict tout en nous. 11 faut que Dieu s'accuse Ie premier, s'il nous veut accuser: veu qu'il faict tout en nous. Rien ne se faict que par la volunte de Dieu. I
P.3 0 .
95
Ces enragez disent de l'autre coste: Ce est follie de craindre d'offenser Dieu, veu que nous ne faisons ne bien ne mal ... Ces phrenetiques, en supprimant ce tesmoignage, disent qu'il faut que Dieu s'accuse Ie premier ... Toutesfois ilz ont tousiours ce subterfuge, que rien ne se faict que par la volunte de Dieu.
Similar examples can be found on almost every page of Calvin's polemical treatises: Parquoy c'est une calumnie trop impudente qu'ilz nous imposent, voulans faire accroire que nous destruisons l'ordre que Dieu a estably, en ostant (Astrol. Iud. VII, 52 9.) aux astres la propriete de signifier. Ce phantastique abuse de ce qui est dit au huitiesme des Romains,
assavoir, qu'il n'y a plus de damnation sur ceux qui sont en lesus Christ. . . (Epis. Cord. VII, 359.) Consistently, almost without exception, each suggestion by the opposition is presented in such a way that the reader already knows that it is a calumnie, produced by a phantastique, before he knows what it is. The syntactic form thus repe~ts at sentence level exactly the pattern found in the broader lines of Calvin's treatises: the orientation of the reader takes place before the doctrinal discussion begins. On the other hand there are variations in Calvin's presentation of his own point of view. First, abandoning the imaginary reported speech, Calvin may state his case with no introduction: Ce mot ne se peut prendre qu'en son propre sens et naturel, assavoir, pour la reverence qu'on fait aux idoles en derogant au service de Dieu. Et sainct lean en exhortant les fideles de se garder non seulement de l'idolatrie, mais aussi des idoles, ne parle point d'avarice, mais condamne toute profanation contraire a la purete du service de Dieu. (Resp. Hol. IX, 614.) In this case there is no need for an indication to the reader of the light in which to view the arguments: they are presented with no prior 'orientation', but as simple facts. This is especially true of
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arguments taken, as here, from the Bible. There is no need to indicate the truth of such statements. A similar effect is derived from Calvin's use of the most colourless of all verbs, estre. After all the obliquity of the introductory verbs when describing the opponents' point of view, we find the following introductions to Calvin's own case:
length to justify his action; and this is repeated in the Epistre contre un Cordelier two years later. These are the terms in which
96
N'est ce rien que Ie Canon qui est quasi la principale substance de la messe, est plein de blasphemes execrables? Item, qu'il s'y fait priere pour les ames de Purgatoire, laquelle nous ss;avons estre du tout superstitieuse? (Pet. Tr. VI, 553·) Puis que ainsi est donc, que Ie mystere de la Cene y [en la Messe] est prophane etaneanty: iene ss;aycomme nousla pourrionsavoir au lieu de la Cene. (Pet. Tr. VI, 584.) Et mesme c' est Ie principal but auquel ilz pretendent, que d'endormir les consciences, a fin que sans soucy chacun face ce qui luy viendra en (Lib. VII, 19 2 .) avant, et ce que son cueur appetera. These statements would of course be hotly disputed by a Catholic or a Libertine: here, they are given in the briefest, most factual way possible: 'these things are'. "Unobtrusively and without emphasis certain things are presented as facts, and the argument works from the basis of those' facts'. If they are accepted, there is no replying to Calvin. Impersonal verbs may also be used to a similar end. In the second example above the thought is so presented, as an absolute, with no human motivation. And time and again, while the opponents ont encore une autre cavillation, or se desbordent encore plus en disant . .. , while they thus represent nothing but their own imaginations or fantasies, the positive side, Calvin's own arguments, appear thus:
a noter que Dieu, quand il parle aux hommes, s'accommode a leur sens. (Anab. VII, 117·) Il est vray que ce sont gens ignorans et idiotz, qui n'ont pas tant visite les papiers qu'ilz ayent peu apprendre leurs follies de la. (Lib. VII, 153.)
Il est
This method is perhaps most strikingly seen in passages where Calvin is defending a decision he himself has taken. When, in Contre les Libertins, he chooses to name and denounce the Libertine leaders Pocques and Quintin, knowing at the time of writing that they were being protected by Margaret of Navarre, he writes at
97
he writes: Il est expedient, que des bestes si dangereuses soyent marquees, a ce que (Lib. VII, 161.) chacun les congnoisse. Puis qu'il faut qu' ainsi soit, que pour les empescher de mal faire ie les monstre au doigt, il n'y a nul qui s'en doyve offenser. (Lib.
VII,
162.)
Et cela, ie ne Ie dy point par hayne de l'homme, mais pource qu'il nous faut discerner entre Ie blanc et Ie noir, et sur tout quand il y a dangier (Epis. Cord. VII, 362.) d'estre seduitz par telz suppostz de Satan. In these uses the perspective given to the statement is not that of one protagonist against another, but of an absolute statement overriding all human objections and motives. Calvin, unlike his opponents, is not his own master going his own way: he appears only as an instrument of the absolute authority. As he wrote to the Genevan authorities: Quant a moy, magnifiques seigneurs, estant asseure en rna conscience que ce que iay enseigne et escript nest point creu en mon cerveau, mais que ie Ie tiens de Dieu, il fault que ie Ie maintienne, si ie ne voulois estre traistre a la verite, comme ie pense en avoir desia suffisamment respondu. (Op. Omn. XIV, 382.)1 In this technique of presentation of arguments from the two sides by way of introductory main verbs, Calvin's syntax takes on a positive function it did not have elsewhere: in exposition the syntactic structure was frequently an agrement, a sugaring of the theological pill, or at most a way of providing an implication about Calvin's attitude to his subject. Here, on the other hand, the syntactic form enters into the task of persuasion proper. Going now beyond the introductions to the core of the argument itself, certain elements of syntax also serve an intrinsic I Prof. R. Stauffer has examined Calvin's references to himself in his sermons: 'Les Discours a la premiere personne dans les sermons de Calvin', in Revue d'histoire et de philosophie religieuses, XLV (1965), pp. 46-']8. In some thousand sermons Prof. Stauffer finds less than one ~undred places wJ:e~e Calvin refers to himself more than incidentally; III almost all cases It IS a reference to his position as a minister rather than a personal reference which is involved, in terms similar to the extract quoted here.
7
HSO
%
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~
purpose in the argument. First, Calvin's use of what may be called connectives. I Few of Calvin's sentences in his normal prose of an argumentative nature begin with the real subject of the sentence. We have already seen, in the description of the binary rhythm, how the sentence frequently begins with a subordinate clause stating a premiss from which the main thought of the sentence is to spring. We have also seen how verbs of introduction, either introducing indirect speech or impersonals, may intrude into the first position in the sentence. And in numerous cases where neither of these conditions applies, the sentence is introduced by a connective of one sort or another. The passage already quoted on p. 85 above illustrates this, where only one sentence does not begin with some form of connective, and that one sentence starts with an impersonal, Bien est vray, que . .. This frequent use of connectives is of course characteristic not of Calvin's prose only, but of that of the period; and it is also a prominent feature of Latin prose style, in particular of Cicero's. Furthermore, it is not unnatural that, in prose presenting a series of arguments and reasonings, words expressing the cohesion and sequence of the various steps in the argument should abound. Despite these reservations, however, there is still a marke.d difference between Calvin's use of these forms and that of hiS contemporaries. We have seen (p. 84) how the hypotactic structure of some other writers of the period, for all the connectives they use, fails to present a sense of form and direction in their sent~nces. Even Rabelais at his most hypotactic, with his sentences weighed down by ponderous connectives and multiple subordinate clauses, does not show the same clear pattern in his sentences as we find in such passages as this:
These strong connectives, used at every step, every turn in the sentence, give to Calvin's prose a sense of angularity, of strong contours, which is characteristic. The articulations of the sentence , and between the sentences, stand out: each is intimately connected to the last; each is a deduction from the preceding one. Parquoy, tellement que, pourtant (usually meaning' therefore') are his most typical connectives. The effect is that the argument provides a closely woven mesh which leaves no gaps, no pauses, no opportunity for the opponent to take breath and reply. The thought runs on in an unbroken, inexorable line, each sentence leading necessarily to the next. At no point can the reader stop and say' thus far, but no further'. This tense. grip on the development of the prose makes something of a contrast to the looser, more relaxed syntax seen in Calvin's expository passages. There a number of facts were being presented, or a question was being raised in the mind of the reader: some parataxis was justified, since what was important was more the facts or the problems than the relationship between various aspects of them. Here, on the other hand, nothing stands on its own, nothing is autonomous: each part of the thought is related in some way-consequence, extension, contradiction-to what has gone before. The prose is tense, articulated, close-knit. It is also clear: for we are left in no doubt as to the relationship of one fact to the next. The connexion of one sentence to another is clear and expressed; the reader is not required to supply his own connectives. I Calvin's concern for clarity in his argumentative prose is illustrated by the frequency with which he uses pleonastic constructions such as the following: 2
Mais encores leur impudence est par trop lourde, tellement que i'ay honte de disputer al'eneontre, comme s'il y avoit quelque eouleur. Si Ie fault-il faire neantmoins, veu qu'ils s'y plaisent tant et y sont eomme enyvrez. (4 Serm. VIII, 381.)
Car en tel abisme qui n'y seroit eonfuz. (Rel. VI, 441.) II y eut premierement un Cerdo, lequel mettoit deux prineipes, dont il en nommoit l'un bon,l'autre mauvais. (Lib. VII, 156.) II dit done que si Ie Pere n'estoit habitant en luy, qu'il ne seroit point (Epis. Cord. VII, 354.) possible qu'il fit les miracles.
I Normal grammatical terminology makes a. di~tinction. ben:veen various parts of speech-relative pronoun~ 3;Ild adJectIves, c~nJunctlOns, and certain sentence adverbs like done, aznsz, eependant-whIch all have in common one function, that of indicating the relationship between clauses or sentences. We are here concerned with this single function of these parts of speech rather than with their other d~stinguis~ing, char~c teristics: I therefore group them all under the term connectIves, whIch is more helpful for our present purpose.
At every point the shape of the sentence is kept in mind; the structural clarity which .in complex sentences was in danger of I This is in str.ong. cont~ast to the style of Montaigne, for example. See Auerbach, Mzmeszs (Prmceton, 1953), pp. 288-9, for an illustration. 2 Such forms are of course found in most French works of the period. Cf. Huguet, La Syntaxe de Rabelais, pp. 373-4.
100
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being lost is restored. The reader can follow each step in the argument-indeed it is hard for him not to follow. Two small linguistic points may also be mentioned as contributing to this quest for clarity. First, the almost invariable use of expressed pronoun subjects with verbs: 'c'est un moyen de donner plus de clarte a la phrase, et il ne neglige rien pour se faire comprendre Ie mieux possible'. I There are of course exceptions, in particular for the impersonal if (bien est vray que . .. ); but more than in any of his contemporaries, pronoun subjects are expressed. Secondly, in the agreement of present and past participles, Calvin makes more frequent, and more regular, agreements than his contemporaries. In the case of present participles he is archaic: Nous luy attribuons une puissance active en toutes creatures: enseignans que comme une fois il a cree Ie monde, qu'aussi i1le gouverne. (Lib. VII, 186.)2 In the case of past participles the agreement, with rare exceptions, is as in Modern French. In neither case is his practice absolutely regular; but there is a tendency in his prose towards a more standardized, and thus more clear anet precise, language. In his use of connectives, and of these smaller syntactic elements like pronouns and participial agreement, the same concern is apparent: first for clarity, and secondly for coherence. The relationships between various aspects of the thought are prominently established; just as in theological terms Calvin imposed a form, a structure, on the aspirations of Protestantism, and gave it a coherent body of doctrine, so also his prose is marked by its sense of structure and coherence. What is the effect, in the organization of the sentence, of the numerous connectives Calvin uses? Clearly the frequency of connectives implies that his prose in argument is more hypotactic than in the simple expository prose analysed earlier. Now we frequently find several degrees of subordination: L' Apostre aussi en l'Epistre aux Hebrieux monstre autant ou plus expressement ce1a mesme, quand i1 dict que les peres qui nous ont
engendrez en ce monde, sont les peres de nostre chair, mais que Dieu . seul est pere de noz espritz. (Anab. VII, II3·) I
Huguet, La Syntaxe de Rabelais, p. 347·
2
Cf. ibid. pp. 383-4.
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101
In itself this increased hypotaxis is related· to the greater need to express relationships, to present things in function of others-this is the nature of argument. But some of the characteristic uses of hypotaxis in Calvin's prose need closer attention, because of their intrinsic contribution to the argument itself. From what has been said about introductory main clauses, the protasis of the binary rhythm, and the importance of connectives which introduce sentences, it is clear that often the main weight of Calvin's hypotactic sentences tends to be displaced towards the end of the sentence, either by holding back the main clause or by putting the main sense into a subordinate clause. This last method is by no means uncommon at the time: 'jusqu'au debut du dixseptieme siecle, les ecrivains franc;ais-suivant en cela, sans Ie savoir, une habitude du grec-ne se feront aucun scrupule, de rendre par une proposition relative ou par un participe, l'idee essentielle d'un developpement' .I An extreme example of the same trait in English is the first sentence of the Prayer of Consecration in the Anglican service of Holy Communion, in its present version (written 1552). In this sentence, one of the highest expressions of faith in our language, I italicize the main clauses: Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of thy tender mercy didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; who made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; and did institute, and in his holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that his precious death, until his coming again; Hear us, 0 merciful Father, we most humbly beseech thee,. and grant that we receiving these thy creatures of bread and wine, according to thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ's holy institution, in remembrance of his death and passion, may be partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood: who, in the same night that he was betrayed, took bread; and, when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is my Body which is given for you. In Calvin's work, as here, the main clause in syntactic terms is often insignificant in terms of content; it serves simply as an introduction, or an expression of attitude, or sometimes merely a sort of peg from which to hang the real statement, which is provided in I R. Sturel: Jacques Amyot, traducteur des Vies paralleles de Plutarque (Paris, 1908), p. 203.
1m
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the 'subordinate' clauses. Some examples will illustrate the particular use to which Calvin puts this syntactic trait. The treatise Contre les Libertins opens with the following two sentences:
~ind and his attitude, and imply the authority of what is to follow; In the second the preparation is followed by a statement of 'fact' in the main clause, but without a pause the reader is drawn on from there to the conclusion, which in essence is more important than the fact itself. Another variation is illustrated by the following extract from a later chapter of the same treatise. Here each sentence begins with an indication of the truth or factuality of what follows: we cannot but accept. I also italicize the part of each sentence that expresses the real sin of the Libertines: in each case it appears at the end of the sentence, prepared by all that came before:
Combien que toutes sectes d'heretiques soyent pestes mortelles en la Chrestiente: toutesfois nous ne lisons point en toutes les histoires anciennes qu'il y en ait iamais eu une si pernicieuse, que celle qui se nomme auiourdhuy des Libertins. Mais si e11e est meschante, encor est elle plus enorme et brutale, tellement qu'il n'y a homme de sain iugement (Lib. VII, 153.) qui y puisse penser sans en avoir horreur. The first sentence begins with a subordinate clause reminding the reader of the mortal danger of all heretical sects: the right attitude towards heresy is evoked. The toutesfois indicates that worse is to come than all previous heresy; but the main clause does not state this. N ous ne lisons point en toutes les histoires anciennes: this is still part of a process of orientation, for it tells us that the statement is authoritative, based on an all-embracing knowledge of Church history. It is in the two following subordinate clauses that the main sense is conveyed, with the name Libertins held back until the final word. What Calvin has said is: 'La secte des Libertins est la plus pernicieuse de toutes les sectes d'heretiques qui aient jamais existe.' The sense is the same; but the omission in this paraphrase of the reminder how dangerous heretical sects are, and of the histoires anciennes, has greatly weakened the force of the statement. It is this perspective which is important, and it is to the provision of this perspective that the first, and syntactically most important, parts of the sentence are given over. The second sentence likewise opens with a subordinate clause which provides a perspective for the rest: si elle est meschante . .. (for which we have as yet no proof, only the author's word). The implication is 'as if that were not enough ... ' Encor est elle plus enorme et brutale: once again the use of the verb estre is significant: this sect simply is monstrous. The rest of the sentence is the inevitable consequence which must follow: any sane man (and that must of course include the reader) must feel revulsion. Just as this conclusion is what the rest of the sentence was leading to, so also the whole of the treatise is directed to this end. Thus here we have two patterns of sentence: in the first the opening clause and the main clause prepare the reader's frame of
100
Nous avons desia diet, que du commencement ilz se moquoyent apertement, quand on leur alleguoit l'Escriture, ne dissimulans point qu'ilz la te~oyent p,our(able. Bi~n est vray que ce pendant ilz ne laissoyent pas de sen serVlr, s II y aVOlt quelque passage qu'ilz peussent destourner en leur sens. Mais ce n'estoit pas qu'ilz y adioustassent foy: ains seulement pour troubler les simples, et les esbranler pour les gaigner plus aysement. (Lib. VII, 173.) In the last sentence in particular the final stage of subordination penetrates beyond the 'factual' accusation which Calvin makes to their motives. This quality of penetration is sometimes very significant, as in the following complex sentence: Car outre ce 9u 'ilz ne parlent que d'esprit, ils ont un language si estrange que ceux qUI les oyent en sont estonnez du premier coup: et affectent cela de propos delibere, pour ravir les auditeurs en admiration, et les esblouyr par telles fumees: afin d'entrer dedans les cueurs, devant qu'on s'apperyoive de l'abomination qui est en leur doctrine. (Lib. VII, 155.) The primary fact described here, the language estrange, has little intrinsic importance. The second main verb (affectent) leads on to suggest that they practise this speech intentionally, the motive being given in the dependent infinitive phrases (pour ravir les auditeurs . .. et les esblouyr); this-in another infinitive dependent in turn on the preceding ones (dfin d'entrer)-is in order to seduce their hearers before-final subordinates dependent on entrertheir true nature is known. Thus, from the point of view of content, the original linguistic peccadillo, by this process of penetration through their motives, becomes a weapon of the Devil in his struggle to seduce the faithful; and this is paralleled on the syntactic plane by the progressive unfolding of the layers of dependent verbs.
lW
SYNTAX
SYNTAX
These examples indicate some of the ways in w~ich Calvin's hypotactic syntax serves to underpin the pattern. of hIs ar~ume~t: the highly' consequential' thought is expressed In pr~se In w~Ich each part prepares the statement of fact, presents It, and I~ mediately draws a conclusion on one or more lev~ls, each follm~TIng from the last. Obviously only a few sentences fit Into ~hese ~artIc~ lar patterns; but these illustrations show the wa! In whIch thIs sort of syntactic form contributes to the persuasIve ~orce. of the argument. There is a constant feeling that the re~der IS beIng led inevitably towards certain conclusions, fr~m w.hIch further steps will follow. This constant process of onentatlOn of the ~eader, preparing him for the right reception of each sta~~ment, I~ e~ bedded in the steady line of development, the unfaIhng contInuIty of argument provided by the strong connectives. T~e en~ of each sentence marks the establishment of one more sohd pOInt; an.d immediately the next leads on et pourtan~, il s' e~suit do~c; .. Here .IS the blend of reason and persuasion, the rhetoncallo~Ic,?f~~I:In seen at its clearest; the argument gives the feeling of uresistIbIhty, of inevitability from which the reader cannot escape. . This steady,'inexorable progress from"point to point could easl1! lead to a certain monotony, as the steady flow of t~e preacher s tones can lull the congregation to sleep. The effect I~ not a?s~nt from Calvin's works; but almost always he succeeds In provIdmg such variations in rhythm and syntactic structure that no pattern becomes too clearly established. 'Were one to name ~h~ most constant excellence of Calvin, it could well be that of vIvIdness; . he tries his utmost to keep the reader awake.'I Certain rhythms that interrupt the normal flow of the dIsc~u:se may reawaken the reader's attention. O~e ~ay of emphasIzIng a statement is the rejection of one expresslOn In favour of another, the rhetorical device of correctio. 2 Examples are common: Alors ilz commencent adegorger leurs puants et execrabl~s blas?hem~s, pour renverser, ie ne dis pas toute cra~nt~ de Dieu, et samctete de VIe, mais toute honnestete, qui est mesme mVlOlable entre les P~yens. (Ltb.
VII, 200.)
J. Q. Breen, 'John Calvin and the R?etori~al Tradition', p. 8. Cf. Rhetorica ad Herennium, IV, ~VI, 36: Commoy-etur hoc geneJe animus auditoris. Res enim C0mI?um ver?o ela~a ~evI:Us tant~mo 0 dicta videtur; ea post ipsius oratorIS correctlOnem InSIgmor magIS Idonea fit pronuntiatione.' I
2
105
In the following the correctio is further heightened by the rejection of even the modified expression in the final verb: Ie suis donc contraint de crier a haute voix: que si iamais il y a eu heretiques, qui se soyent debordez a mettre en avant, ie ne dis pas faulses opinions et perverses, mais blasphemes enormes et horribles, (Lib. VII, 162.) ceux-cy les ont surmontez. In each case the first term should be sufficient to send shudders down the pious reader's spine; to reject it in favour of something even more emphatic-and, in the second example, to reject even that as inadequate-is an effective way of driving home the full force of the statement. Not unlike correctio is that common (and Ciceronian) form 'not only ... but also ... '. Here again the first term is found to be inadequate, and it thus places in higher relief a more violent second term. Examples abound: Oraisons y sont faictes non seulement folIes et ineptes, mais pleines de blasphemes. (Pet. Tr. VI, 585.) Par cela on peut voir, de quel esprit sont menez ces malheureux, de vouloir non seulement obscurcir ceste doctrine tant necessaire, mais l'aneantir du tout. (Lib. VII, 182.) Variations in the length of sentences are of course the standard way of making prose less monotonous. These variations are rarely found in most of the Reformation writers; in Calvin, they are constant. Few men can have spent more time than Calvin in the pulpit or on the public speaker's platform; and the voice of the preacher shows through in such abrupt interruptions of the flow as this: Voila Ie simple sens de sainct Paul, duquel on ne peut tirer autre chose, sinon qu'il nous faut apprendre de ne point separer la parolIe de Dieu, et comme la retrancher de Iesus Christ, qui en est l'arne, comme il admoneste puis apres, et par lequel seul elle a vigueur de nous estre salutaire. Ces bons expositeurs, quoy? lIz nous veulent par ce passage introduire une fa90n de faire de l'Escriture un nez de cire, ou la demener (Lib. VII, 175.) comme une plotte. Cependant ie laisse passer qu'il saute si habilement du coq a l'asne, qu'on ne sait de quel coste il se rue, disant que c'est un blaspheme insupportable quand ie di que Dieu regenere ses esleus quand bon luy semble, selon l'election eternelIe. La raison, dit-il, c'est que Dieu seroit menteur, qui a promis de ne laisser les siens orphelins. Devinez OU il en est.
(Ref. Cath.
IX,
133.)
1~
SYNTAX
Such expressions are like the sudden loud interjection from the preacher which rouses the congregation from their torpor; or like an unexpected parry or lunge in fencing. Sometimes he abruptly ends an argument with an unexpected blow, leaving no more to be said: Mais encore, quand tous ceux qui ne peuvent vivIe en un pays en repos de conscience, d'autant qu'il ne leur est licite de y vivre selon Dieu, s'en departiroyent: pensons nous que la semence de Dieu y fust esteincte pourtant? Plustost on devroit esperer, que Dieu, au lieu d'un, en susciteroit quatre. Conclusion, nous serons tousiours ridicules, voulans arguer contre Dieu. (Pet. Tr. VI, 572-3.) An abrupt close to a sentence can have the same effect; here, for example, the end of an argument concerning the use of vestments is an emphatic expression of contempt: [Cathelan] adiouste que les femmes en ceci me monstrent bien rna le<;on, lesquelles ne prophanent pas aux iours ouvriers leurs habillements de festes. Si la sainctete de la Messe est fondee sur les cottes, robes, manchons, collets et affiquets des femmes, ie quitte Ie ieu. (Ref. Catk. IX, 136.) As in exposition, so also in argument questions can be used to enliven the rhythm of the prose and make the discussion strike home:
Ou est-ce qu'est escrit ce qu'il allegue? C'est une faulsete manifeste ... 11 est vray, que si nous sommes membres de Christ, quant a mener saincte vie, nous devons estre desia mortz et ressuscitez: renonceant, dis-ie, a nous mesmes, et vivant aDieu. Mais est-ce dutout? Aucontraire toute l' escriture monstre que ce n'est qu'en partie. Est-ce aussi a dire que la mort naturelle soitabolie ?Est-ce a dire qu'il n'yait plus d'esperance de ressusciter? Mais aucontraire S. Paul dict. . . (Lib. VII, 230.) Qu'est-ce que l'Eucharistie? C'est un Sacrement que le Fils de Dieu a establi, auquel il accomplit en verite ce qu'il y promet par figure. Qu'est-ce que la Messe? une fripperie de blasphemes, laquelle n'a rien de commun avec les promesses de Dieu, non plus que les enchantemens de sorciers. (Ref. Catk. IX, 135.) The questions could be omitted altogether in these passages; their introduction serves to emphasize the answers given and to make the refutation more powerful. Questions of one sort or another are in fact one of the most
1~
SYNTAX
common characteristics of Calvin's polemical style. There are few pages of all his polemical writings on which at least one question does not appear, and sometimes whole series of them are used. !heir most important function is, however, neither in rousing the Interest of the reader in exposition, nor in helping along the course of the argument. Most important of all are the questions which challenge the reader, which demand a reaction a decision from him: 'Faire appel au jugement implicite de l'a~diteur, comme si nous lui laissions Ie soin de porter lui-meme la sentence qui jugera Ie cas; c'est alors lui-meme qui decide, et sa conviction s'en trouve renforcee:'I This description, significantly taken from an analysis of preachmg rather than of writing, is precisely true of Calvin. For example, a question follows a statement of doctrinal fact in the following form: [La Paro~e] doit redarguer l'homme, ainsi que dit sainct Paul, ace qu'il aprenne a se condamner et donner gloire a Dieu en se humiliant. Si on la t~urne. a vante~i~ et vaine gloire, n'est-ce pas un desguisement qui mente gneve p~mtlOn? Elle nous doit transfigurer en l'image de Dieu, reformant ce qUI est du nostre en nous. Si on prend occasion souz ombre d'icelle, de s'entretenir en ses vices, ne faut il pas que Die; corrige non seulement un tel abus d' avoir converty la viande en poison, mais aussi un tel sacrilege d'avoir fait servir la reigle de bien vivre a une licence de tout mal? (Astrol. Iud. VII, 5 1 4.) The question arises out of the established fact; there is no choice in the answer: its function is to demand that the reader follow and aC9uiesce in the moral judgement. In practice, the repeated use of thIS method at intervals throughout the development of a treatise ~nsures t~at the reader. can at no point' opt out': he is continually ~nvolved In the matter In hand; he must take sides, for the subject IS made relevant to him; he participates in the battle.
*
*
*
More ~mportant in c~eating variations in rhythm and tempo than these pOInts, . . however, IS the fact that, as has been said, the various categones In a treatise-exposition, argument, etc.-do not fall into monolithic blocks, but are dispersed and intermingled throughout the treatise. The basic content of a treatise, the meat I
E. Gilson, 'La Technique du sermon medieval', p.
I3I.
1~
SYNTAX
SYNTAX
of it, resides in the argumentative content, where the real tas~ of refuting error, of answering quotation by counter-~uotatlon, argument by counter-argument, takes place. But each pomt established each error refuted, leads to one of two resul~s: to the complete discomfiture of the opposition, in an emphatic s~atement of their conviction before the court; or to an exhortation to the faithful not to fall into error. . The titles of many of Calvin's polemical works-Brteve ~nstr~ction . .. contre les Anabaptistes, Contre la secte .... des Ltberttns, Epistre . .. contre un certain Cordelier, Adverttssement. c~ntre l'Astrologie. .. and so on-and the content o~ all .of them ~ndlcate the extent to which the function of these treatises IS a nega~lve o~e, the refutation and defeat of heterodox teaching. In keepmg. with this is the fact that the climax of Calvin's argument, the aim to which it leads, is the negative one of denunciation, mo~e freque~tl,y than the establishment of his own point of view. ~ertalnly Calvl~ s prose is at its most forcefl~l w~ere a refutation IS brought to ItS conclusion, and the lesson IS dnven hom.e. . . Syntactically these points are highly slgmficant m the study of Calvin's style. They bear the marks ,'Of the strongest fo~~ of righteous indignation, of moving emotion, of complete con;lctlOn. The means by which these attitudes are conveyed are a part1c~larly clear illustration of the extent of Calvin's debt to the techmques of classical rhetoric. . . One of the hallmarks of Calvin's style is his outbursts of Indignation. He reaches a point in an argument when th~ s.tatements he attributes to the opposition pass the bounds of ~hnst1an.tolerance. For instance, he claims that the Libertine teachmg en~al1s that the true Christian, being spiritually a new man, cannot sm: Ie leur demande si en la loy nous n'avons pas declaration de la volunte de Dieu. Or 13. il prononce que paillardise, larcin, meurtre, et par consequent avarice, haine, envie, ambition, et choses sem~lables, luy (Lzb. VII, 19 2 .) · t desp1alsen. This staccato juxtaposition of a series of words, the comma or articulus of classical rhetoric, I disrupts the norma~ flow of ~he syntax, provides a pounding effect which sets .the ~nmes ~n~ sms concerned in high relief, and at the same time lmphes the Indignation of the writer. I
Cf. Ad Herennium,
IV,
xix, 26.
109
Just as words are here set side by side, so also phrases and clauses maybe placed in parallel constructions, with something of the same effect : Mais tout Ie but de ceux cy est de mesler Ie ciel et la terre, aneantir toute religion, effacer toute congnoissance de l'entendement des hommes, amortir les consciences, et ne laisser nulle difference entre les hommes et les bestes. (Lib. VII, 162.) Once again, the change from the normal, direct flow of the syntactic structure gives the impression of the indignation with which Calvin views the objectives of the Libertines. At the same time, the five infinitive phrases are not interchangeable: each represents a further step in the diabolical intrigue of the Libertines; each charge, in a strictly ordered sequence, destroys one more human characteristic, until the brutishness of the heretics' aim remains in the final cadence majeure. Emotional force has been given to the prose: but it is far from being a simple and unformed outburst. It is moulded and shaped, and once again owes something to the precepts of rhetoric, in this case to the figure of disjunction. I The effect of this rhythmic pattern which interrupts the sentence as if the emotion were becoming too strong for normal expression is clearly seen in the following conclusion to a passage of argument, where what has gone before is summed up: Quand ie vois quatre garnemens qui sont desia cause de la ruine de quattre mil hommes, estre encor depresent tousiours apres, au moins les trois, pour renverser la verite de Dieu, dissiper la povre Eglise, abuser tous ceux qu'ilz peuvent attraper en leurs filez, semer des blasphemes execrables, qui pis est, mettre tout Ie monde en une confusion plus que (Lib. VII, 161.) brutale: me dois ie taire ou dissimuler? The effect, building up to the final rhetorical question, is that of righteous indignation at a pitch which compels action-the action which Calvin takes in denouncing by name the quatre garnemens. But so far the sentence has not actually been disrupted; the rhythm has only been modified. In other cases, and very frequently, in his urge to give the fullest possible expression to his feeling, Calvin deserts the balanced shape of the complete sentence and chooses this exclamatory form: Ces canailles disent, qu'un mariage est charnel et par consequent de nulle valeur, quand la femme est faschee contre Ie mary ... Comme si I Cf. Ad Herennium, IV, xxvi, 37.
110
SYNTAX
SYNTAX
111
c'estoit envain que l'escriture dict, qu'ilz seront deux en une chair ... Comme si nostre Seigneur avoit donne sa loy envain, OU il defend de convoiter la femme d'autruy. Comme s'il avoit condamne sans propos les adulteres et paillardises. Comme si sainct Paul parloit envain, quand il exhorte chascun estre content de sa femme. (Lib. VII, 213-14.)
lumie~e. Ii ies a~verti~t de ne se laisser point decevoir de parolles de flattenes. II ies tnstrUtct de cheminer en leur vocation, en crainte et ~r:mbleme.n~. ,ll ie~r ~eduict en memoire qu'ilz ~e sont point appellez (Lib. VII, 20 3.) a Immondlclte, malS a sanctification.
It is as if language, in its normal, balanced form, is no longer strong enough to carry the fervour of Calvin's indignation. The above example, incidentally, follows almost immediately after another case of the same disruption:
In prose such as this, hypotaxis is again reduced to a minimum' each statement stands on its own, complete and telling in itself: '
Que maintenant un chacun considere, que c'est qui restera plus de sauf au monde, quel ordre, quelle loyaute, quelle honnestete, quelle asseurance il y aura plus: si Ie mariage qui est la plus saincte alliance, et qui doit estre la plus fide1ement gardee, se peut ainsi violer. Le mariage, dis-ie, que Dieu a institue ... Le mariage que Iesus Christ a prononce estre indissoluble. Le mariage qui est consacre au nom de Dieu ... Le (Lib. VII, 213.) mariage, qui est appelle par Salomon alliance divine. The conjunction of this construction with particularly solemn utterances (appeals to the Law of the Lord, to the words of God, of Christ, the Apostles and Patriarchs) shows precisely the relationship between the moment of high monit tension and the disruption of normal syntax. The stock rhetorical device of a series of sentences or clauses 'in parallel', then, is frequently the means whereby Calvin expresses moments of indignation. A similar use of repetition appears in Calvin's most conclusive argunlents, those with which he finally reduces his adversary to silence: Voicy leurs argumens. Si tous les fide1es vouloyent fuyr l'idolatrie, que seroit-ce? Les pays OU il Y a grande semence de Dieu, demeureroyent desers. Ie respons que c'est aDieu d'y prouvoir. Ie respons secondement que Ie partement d'un homme presche aucunefois en plus grande efficace, qu'il ne pourroit pas faire de sa bouche. Tiercement ie respons, que ie ne demande pas qu'on s'en aille ... Quartement ie respons que c'est follie a un chacun, de plaider ainsi pour tous ... Finallement ie respons que de penser a ce danger, c'est penser de quel yin nous beuvrons d'icy a mil' ans. (Nic. VI, 606.) Sainct Paul exhorte tous Chrestiens de mortifier leurs membres terrestres ... Pour les faire craindre, il les renvoye au iugement de Dieu, disant que son ire vient sur les rebelles pour telles choses. Illeur commande de se renouveler de iour en iour, renonceant au vieil homme. Illeur remonstre qu'ilz doyvent cheminer sobrement comme enfans de
II nous commande de conserver a chacun Ie sien, sans faire tort ne
domm~ge a pe~sonne',.v0ila sa volunte toute claire. II ne faut plus donc
enquenr que c est qu l~ luy plaist. Car en faisant cela, nous savons que nous ferons sa volunte: semblablement nous savons que Ie contraire luy desplaist. (Lib. VII, 194.) The connectives that were so characteristic a feature of his argumentative prose ar~ now almost entirely absent. Similarly the general pattern of an Introductory clause aligning the reader is lost. The result .is that the main weight of the meaning is brought fur~her forward In the sentence: the parataxis, making each sentence an Isolated utteranc~, gives the feeling that each is a single, firm bl.ow, as of a b.attenng-ram. For Calvin is no longer concerned wIth ar?ument In o:d~r to. ~ersuade the reader: he is relentlessly destroyIng the heretICs pOSItIOn by the power of plain, indisputable fac~s, each one a new weapon in the fight. Everything irrelevant is excIsed: each sentence is a direct statement and receives full emphasis bef?re the nex~ is introduced. Wher~as in argument he con!ronted hIS reader WIth a persuasive, irresistibly progressing chaIn of arguments and deductions, inviting him at every step to follow, ~ere we find a dogmatic, rigid firmness of thought and style, as he dnves home an unanswerable refutation. . The refut.at:on an~ defeat o~ the opponents may be the primary aIm o~ CalVIn s treatIses; but It would be far from satisfactory to leave It at that. For t~ere is a po~itive side expressed in his writings as well; there are pOInts at whIch he presents, in contrast to the murk of heretical teaching, the pure Gospel of the Lord' at which he exhorts his readers to 'cast off the works of darkne~s' and to follow the truth. ~uch passag~s show syntactic features quite different from those ,;hlch we ha:~ Just exa~ined. Whereas in his moments of indignatIOn and. of ngld refutatIOn Calvin writes in a disrupted, jerky style, paratactic and bludgeoning, here on the other hand all is designed to achieve balance, evenness, pattern, and harmony.
SYNTAX
SYNTAX
This is perceptible at all levels of syntax. It appears firstly in the use of pairs of words-adjectives, verbs, or nouns. This is a common device in the sixteenth century; but in Calvin it is generally reserved, at least in any concentration, for passages expounding the pure Gospel, or exhorting the faithful. For example:
Isocolon in cases wher<1 the syntactic structure is different is not a striking figure; when however it is used in a series of sentences of similar construction, the rhythm and balance is very clear:
112
La troisiesme espece de l'operation de Dieu gist et consiste en ce qu'il gouverne ses fideles, vivant et regnant en eux par son sainct esprit. Car entant que nous sommes corrompus par Ie peche originel, nous sommes comme une terre seche et sterile, qui ne peut produire aucun bon fruict. Car nostre iugement est pervers, nostre volunte est rebelle contre Dieu, encline et adonnee a mal: toute nostre nature en somme est vitieuse ... Et pourtant c'est luy qui faict en nous Ie vouloir et Ie parfaire, ce est luy qui nous illumine, pour venir a sa congnoissance: c'est luy qui nous tire: ce est luy qui forme nouveaux cueurs en nous, amollissant nostre durete: c'est luy qui nous inspire aprier: c'est luy qui nous donne la grace et la force de resister atoutes les tentations de Sathan: c'est luy qui nous faict cheminer en ses commandemens. Mais ce pendant il nous faut noter que de nature nous avons en nous election et volunte. Au reste d'autant que par Ie peche 1'une et J'autre est depravee: nostre Seigneur les reforme et les change de mal e; bien. (Lib. VII, 19°-1.) There is no one reason to which all cases of words used in pairs can be ascribed: sometimes a familiar term may explain an unfamiliar one; sometimes the two words provide together a composite sense unobtainable in one word; sometimes the reason is that the expression is borrowed: seche et sterile, Ie vouloir et Ie parfaire are both biblical. But an overriding reason is often one of rhythm: these expressions provide a balance, a resonance, a depth which a single word, even giving the full meaning, would not have. The stability and balance provided by pairs of words is found at a higher level of syntax. Isocolon, the use of a series of clauses of approximately equal syllabic length, I is a rhetorical device which produces this effect: Voila donc OU gist et se repose nostre confiance, pour nous faire tenir a Iesus Christ, et Ie chercher pour mediateur. (Anab. VII, 107.) Ne soyons pas si inconstans ne muables, de souhaiter chacun iour quelque changement: mais estantz adressez au vray chemin, tenons nous y: ayans la verite de Dieu, adherons fermes aicelle. (Lib. VII, 248.) I
Cf. Ad Herennium,
IV,
xx, 27·
113
Q~~ s'il y en a. d'aucuns qui ayent desia este seduictz par legierete, qu l1z ne .se plals,~nt pas en leur mal: qu'ilz ne s'endurcissent point contre Dleu: qu dz ne bouschent point leurs oreilles aux sainctes ~dmonitio.ns qu'ilz pourront icy voir [sic]: qu'ilz ne s'enyvrent point a leur esclent, pour. ne plus savoir rien iuger: que ilz n'abrutissent pas du t?ut leurs c~nsclences, lesqu~lles sont desia endormies: mais qu'ilz se lalssent resveiller par celuy qUl est Ie Soleil de iustice, lequel est venu au monde pour nous esclairer. (Lib. VII, 168.)
This is a~ain the stock rhet?rical device of setting a series of sentences In parallel constructlOns; but whereas in other cases the effect was a crescendo of indignation, here each clause, renewing the rhythm of the previous one, provides harmony and balance. In the following, the similarity of construction is continued right through the sentences: Nous, devons avoir ~n tel zele a 1'honneur de Dieu, que quand il est blesse, nous en sentlOns une angoisse, qui nous brusle Ie cueur. Nous devons porter ~ne telle affection a noz prochains, que quand naus les voyons en dangler de se ruiner, et principalement quant a 1'ame nous soyons esmeuz de pitie et compassion. (Lib. VII: 197.) The C~ristian life is one in which harmony between man and his Ma~er lnfuse~ all his actions and his outlook, so that stability and punty are hIS characteristics. This is exactly reflected in the harmony and rhythm of these sentences. Th~s type of s!ntax i~volves once again more hypotaxis than we sometImes find In CalVIn's passages of denunciation. It is however, not identica~ with the hypotaxis ofhis argumentative pa~sages. There the functlOn was that of providing a close sequence of thought, ~ coherent expression of a series of intellectual steps. Here-as In the passage above-there are no significant connectives from the point of view of reason: rather the subordinate clauses make the prose more resonant, fuller, and more stable. The same may.be seen in the following, where the main lines of the syntax prOVIde a sense of balance in the sentence: Brief, ceste est la doctrine perpetuelle qui a tousiours este tenue en l' eglise Chrestienne sans aucune contradiction, que comme nous vivons 8
HSO
SYNTAX 114 en Dieu par foy, durant ceste vie mortelle: aussi apres la mort nous avons ioye et consolation, en congnoissant plus clairement, et quasi voyant a l' oeilla beatitude celeste, qu'il nous a promise: laquelle nous contemplons maintenant comme en un miroir, et par aenigme. (Anab. VII, 126.)
Where Calvin is expressing the true doctrine, or calling on his readers to accept it and submit to the will of God, his prose thus takes on a particular quality of dignity and elegance, characterized above all by balance and harmony. The effect is a striking one, especially when-as often happens-a passage in this language is immediately followed by one in a contrasting style. The same abrupt juxtaposition of two levels of discourse which was seen in Calvin's use of vocabulary is also apparent in his syntax. For example, the passage above from Contre les Libertins, VII, 197, with its resonant repetition of a balanced form of syntax, continues as follows: ... nous soyons esmeuz de pitie et compassion. Sathan, par ces galans, voudroit rendre Ie monde stupide, afin que quelque confusion que nous voyons, il ne nous en chaille, que nous ne soyons aucunement touchez de voir Ie nom de Dieu estre blaspheme, ses siinctz commandemens violez, les ames perdues, l'iniquite regner. The initial stress on Sathan marks a strong break from the harmony of the preceding sentence; the syntax is broken up, the sentence ends with the sort of asyndeton which we have associated with Calvin's indignation. Thus, while the previous sentences emphasized the harmony of the Christian life, now we see the disruption and dislocation introduced by the Devil. The two parts of this quotation illustrate the division running through the syntax of all Calvin's works: the division between passages in which he is talking as man to man, or when he is dealing with heretics, treated as something less than human (the word abrutir has appeared several times in our examples concerning the Libertines); and on the other hand, passages where, speaking to or with the faithful, he is concerned with the things of God, is in the Presence of God. This is the best in man, and man at his best, in humility before his Maker, in spiritual elevation together with his brothers. The prose is sober, noble, and uplifting: it is Calvin's nearest approach to the style noble, or to the oratio gravis of classical rhetoric. Elsewhere we have talked of liveliness or of emphasis as stylistic effects: here we may talk of beauty.
SYNTAX
115
~et at the same .time this is the least personal of Calvin's prose vanants; whereas In other cases the presence of the author could be felt, in discussion or in conversation, here, humilie et mesme abatu devant Dieu, he withdraws his presence. Where we might have looked for a warm personal call from the leader of the French Reformation himself to his fellow-seekers after truth, the stage is l~ft .bare, only the Word of the Lord itself is expressed. Farel, in SImIlar passages, can exhort his readers in these terms:
Pourtant, Chrestiens, retirez vous de la cruelle tyrannie de celluy qui a myz sur voz doz et espaulles charges importables, ou il ne les touche a tout ung doigt. Venez a celluy qui a prins nostre charge, et la myz sur ses espaulles, et la porte. I The call is warm and personal: the reader is addressed directly in the second person. Calvin, in a similar position, uses another form: in a passage of exhortation very similar in content which was quoted earlier, 2 the pattern is Ie les ay exhortez, ie .. . desire de tellement reconforter ceux qui fail/ent. .. The same is true in the passage of exhortation on p. I 13 above: qu'ilz ne s' endurcissent point contre Dieu . .. The prose is eloquent and moving; yet it is not so much the call of Christ, 'Follow Me', as an admonition to the faithful to perform their duty to the Lord, to hold fast to the faith, to perform what is required of them. Partly this is ascribable to Calvin's doctrinal attitude: nothing human has survived the corruption of the Fall, and the only true Good is Divine and to that extent less personal; partly also to the fact that in this, the second generation of the Reformation, the personal enthusiasm of the early days-which had itself led to such aberrations as extreme An~baptism-is being replaced by the organization and systematizatIOn of the New Church not only as a family of believers but as the Army of God, with the discipline and duties of an army.
*
*
*
The examples illustrating the various aspects of Calvin's syntax above have been drawn from all periods of his life as a writer. As with his vocabulary, there is no fundamental change during his life in the character of his syntax, so that the same basic characteristics I
Summaire et briefve declaration ... , pp. H. 3v -4r . Ch. II, p. 52. 8-2
116
SYNTAX
can be found in each of his works. However, nineteen years separate the first and the last of the French works considered here, nineteen years in which Calvin was constantly writing and preaching. He had in a sense to create the language in which he wrote his French translation of the Institution in 1541, and the first of our treatises dates from two years after that. By the end of his life the linguistic tool had passed far beyond the stage of creation; it had been polished and refined, it was familiar and well worn. What evolution can be perceived within the general unity of his prose style? The later works are all minor, they are pieces d'occasion, a curt reply to an individual person or writing rather than a refutation of the teaching of a sect; there is consequently less variety of subject matter, and hence of tone: for the most part they are negative in content, refuting the heretical point of view, but simply referring to earlier writings by Calvin for the positive doctrine. It is therefore not surprising that the more elevated tone of Calvin's 'positive' style is lacking: there is no call for it. Moreover, the Quatre Sermons, although revised by Calvin before publication, were originally delivered from the pulpit; and in his later years he relied more and more on dictation to a secretary. Consequently, it is partly natural that some of the qualities of his prose which are associated more with the spoken than with the written word should appear more frequently in the later than in the earlier works. Despite these reservations, certain differences are apparent in the later writings that indicate the way in which Calvin's syntactic style itself had developed. Some characteristics of the earlier style appear less frequently. They do not disappear entirely, but they are less significant and more widely scattered. Most noticeable is the reduction in the frequency of the connectives found in argument, and of the introductory clauses which orientate the reader in the attitude he is to take: Le troisiesme article est des voeus, OU il m'accuse de ce que ie ne trouve pas bon qu'on voue, sinon ce qui est permis par la saincte Escriture. Voyla ses propres mots. En cela que1 mal y auroit-il? Car il n'est pas licite de rien faire que ce que Dieu nous permet. Or ne doit-on promettre sinon ce qui est bon d'accomplir. (Ref. Cath. IX, 130.)
SYNTAX
117
The argument has been reduced to its essentials without the introductory gambits. The tone is more direct, mor~ forceful, and more brusque. The arguments and statements themselves are no ~onger .reached through an evaluating filter, but are presented ImmedIately to the reader, often in the main clause. ~he ~entences are more paratactic, shorter and consequently less vaned In len~th and complication of structure. Some long sentences ~re stIll found, but even here the simpler quality of the connectIves and of the structure of subordinate clauses removes some of the Latin atmosphere of the earlier hypotaxis: Car pa: les commandemens que Dieu nous y propose, il nous monstre la perfectIOn de .bien vivre: mais d'autant que cela ne nous serviroit que de con~a~natl?n, .le remede n?us est adiouste en second lieu, qui est de recounr a la mlsencorde de Dleu, afin que nous soyons reconciliez aluy par Ie moyen de ce1uy qu'il nous a donne pour advocat, d'embrasser lesus C?f1st par vraye foy pour. toute nostre iustice, de prier Dieu son Per~ qu en effa<;ant nos pechez 11 nous renouvelle par son Esprit, de Ie glonfier de coeur et de bouche, et faire protestation de cela par l'usage des Sacremens. (Resp. HoI. IX, 587.) This, however, is much rarer than before. Conversely, we more frequently find incomplete sentences of one sort or another, and abrupt changes of construction: Ie laisse les brocars dont ce chien nous a voulu diffamer envers les simples. 1.1 di.t que nous aimons mieux estre confesseurs que martyrs. Comme SI Dleu ne nous avoit pas plusieurs fois de1ivrez de la mort: comme si encore auiourd'huy nous n'avions point Ie cousteau a la gorge ... 11 me fait compagnon de ie ne s<;ay que1 fantastique Menno avec lequel ie n'ay rien de commun, non plus que l'eau avec Ie feu: Qui plus est, il me fait compagnon en heresie avec Servet. Voila pour (Resp. Hot. IX, 593.) monstrer sa belle dilection, laquelle il presche. The result is that the syntax has much more fluidity, more freedom than it did in the earlier works. In some passages there the presence of a Latin model could sometimes be felt: here the prose has something of the succinctness which we associate with modern Fre?~h rather than with the French of the sixteenth century. In addItIon, as we saw earlier, parataxis is associated in Calvin with violence of expression; and in these later works this effect is clear: the short, abrupt, direct sentences are more violent than his earlier more involved prose. '
SYNTAX
SYNTAX
There are also some linguistic features which appear less frequently. Lequel, laquelle, etc., used adjectivally or pronominally, are frequently replaced by qui, que. One characteristic feature of the earlier works which allowed a considerable variation in subordinate clauses is the use of an accusative and infinitive after certain verbs, on the Latin model: I C'est que voyant qu'il ne leur estoit point seur de se manifester devant les hommes estre vrais serviteurs de Dieu pour Ie deuement honorer, ilz s'excusoyent. . . (Pet. Tr. VI, 542.) La pluspart des hommes, apres avoir congneu une chose desplaire aDieu, se donnent neantmoins conge d'aller a l'encontre de sa defense. (Pet. Tr. VI, 541.) This construction is often replaced in the later works by a subordinate clause. The result is that qui and que, in one function or another, become far more frequent in Calvin's later works as marks of subordination: Et possible qu'il y en a qui y vont de bonne affection: pour Ie moins ie suis content de Ie croire: mais que1que desir qu'ils ayent, si n'est-ce pas a dire qu'ils y tiennent droicte reigle, ne bonne mesure ... Sur ce qu'ils disent que c'est pour monstrer qu'ils ne sonfpas gens sans religion, qu'on en demande a leurs consciences, e1les respondront que c'est pour contenter les Papistes. (4 Serm. VIII, 388.) The use of these words is at times in danger of becoming excessive, since so many other forms have been replaced by them. But, at the same time, this tendency to use qui and que in more types of subordinate clause prefigures the similar over-use seen in the following century.2 Indeed, although all these characteristics which are marks of Calvin's later style may be ascribed in part to the external conditions of Calvin's way of composition, at the same time they all lie in the direction which French was subsequently to take. In the later works there is less variety of syntax; there are fewer constructions based on Latin models; there is less subordination and hypotaxis. On the other hand the main clause of the sentence more frequently carries the main sense; the language is consequently more curt and direct, and more violent; and the style is more effortless and more flexible.
In summary, some general points about Calvin's syntax may be made. Much of the prose of the sixteenth century, and especially of the religious writers of the Reformation, is characterized by the formlessness, the rambling nature, of their strongly hypotactic p~ose. The religious writers in particular were concerned exclusively wIth the expression of doctrine, with spreading the word; and for them anything beyond the barest statement of their thought was superfluous. I In the more prominent of these writersMarcourt is the most interesting example-some attempt at literary form is made. But in Calvin there is a consistency of literary effects which is quite different from anything found elsewhere. Calvin's syntax is notable primarily for its quality of control and organization from a formal point of view. The sentences show pattern-not so much a single pattern but a general tendency towards structural cohesion. In this the obvious major influence is that of Latin, where a formal literature was already at hand. Yet it is hardly true to say that his style' indique a chaque phrase qu'il pensait habituellement en latin', as Baum claimed. 2 To a direct Latin influence may be ascribed the strong connectives of the earlier works, and exploitation of certain rhetorical figures like antithesis and disjunction; but many more of his formal qualitiesincomplete, exclamatory sentences, for example-bear much more strongly the imprint of a vernacular tradition, that of the preacher; and in important parts of his works we find a conversational quality far removed from the syntax of Classical Latin. What is true is that the idea of formal, organized syntax, drawn from Latin, has been applied to the vernacular in a striking way by Calvin. 3 This syntactic form shows itself in two interrelated characteristics: in the control of rhythm for intellectual or emotional effect;
118
'*'
'*'
'*'
Cf. Huguet, La Syntaxe de Rabelais, p. 216. 2 Cf. the example quoted in Marouzeau, Precis de stylistique franfaise, p. 158; and see Brunot, Histoire de la languefranfaise, III, ii, 697 sq. I
119
I Margaret Mann writes of translations from Erasmus and Luther at the time: 'En general, ils [les premiers traducteurs] se souciaient infiniment peu de litterature. lIs cherchaient surtout les idees et n'avaient pas Ie temps de penser au style; la souplesse et la Iegerete d'Erasme comme Ie feu de Luther, ne devaient pas passer dans les traductions e~ langue vulgaire.' (Erasme et les debuts de la reforme en France (Paris, 1934), p. 197.) 2 Cf. p. 84, n. 2, above. 3 Cf. ~etit d~ Ju.lleville, Hist~ir.e de la langue et de la litterature franfaises, III, 346: II. salt bIen que Ie geme des deux langues n'est pas tout a fait Ie meme, m surtout leurs ressources ... : aussi prend-il soin de n'embarrasser point sa periode fran9aise de trop longues incises, comme or en trouve encore, cent ans plus tard, dans Descartes.'
lW
~
t
I
Iv-
SYNTAX
and in the control of sentence structure whereby the thought to be presented is 'processed', produced in a syntactic perspective designed to give it the maximum of persuasive power. The first of these two indicates the significance in Calvin's writings of his oratorical work as a preacher, where the persuasive use of rhythm is most constantly employed; and both characteristics imply the great importance of rhetoric in Calvin's style. Some instances have been given where Calvin's syntax can be described in terms of pure classical rhetorical teaching, and it would be possible to analyse a great deal of his style in those terms. Rhetoric relies greatly on the use of rhythms to obtain effects, as for example the use of comma and anaphora to express indignation or gravity. Likewise, the way in which Calvin introduces his sentences, giving them perspective, orientating the reader-all with the intention of persuasion-is in fact a rhetorical technique, although not defined as one in the rhetorical textbooks. What is most interesting is not the use of this or that rhetorical figure, but the use of rhetorical techniques at all. For this bears out the hypothesis suggested in chapter I: that persuasion rather than proof is the basis of these treatises. Of course this is not 'mere rhetoric', as one says today of a bad case eloquently presented; there is a strict coherence imposed on the argument by the frequent use of logical connectives like done, parquoy, pourtant. But Calvin's task here is not only, perhaps not even primarily, an intellectual one. Just as a sentence in Calvin's argument has in its major part a statement not of fact but of attitude, so the object of his treatises is to induce an attitude in his readers even more than to present an intellectual case. In the analysis of Calvin's vocabulary it became clear that a separation of styles, a hierarchization of the language by castes of vocabulary, was present in his use of words. The same process is found in his use of syntax: the conversational elements in exposition, the hypotactic, consequential prose of argument, the noble tones of exhortation, form something of a system, a series of syntactic categories which, set off one against the other, help to create the contrasts and oppositions which Calvin establishes between truth and falsehood, Good and Evil. This too has its counterpart in the threefold division of style in some classical textbooks of rhetoric: oratio gravis for the passages of exhortation or invocation; oratio medioeris for the standard argumentative prose; oratio ad-
SYNTAX
121
tenuata-quae demissa est usque ad usitatissimam puri eonsuetudinem sermonisI-for the lively prose of exposition and narrative. Leon Wencelius has reached a similar conclusion concerning Calvin's style not from an examination of the style itself but from an analysis of Calvin's remarks about language. To him, this classical trait stems from the need for a given thought to be expressed in corresponding language: 'les qualites du style correspondent aux qualites de la pensee. La pensee simple sera exprimee sobrement, la pensee adaptee son objet aura un style tempere et, enfin, la pensee claire montrera sa clarte dans une phrase pure et limpide.' 2 Thus there is a constant harmony between thought and the style in which a thought is expressed; but the style must never exceed the requirements of the thought: 'il peut aussi avoir une grande emphase, mais cette emphase a comme contenu une pensee dont l'objet a plus de realite profonde et plus de dynamisme que les expressions et les phrases, aussi riches fussent-elles.'3 Thus, as rhetoric, the style in which a given passage is written, the impact of its vocabulary and syntax, will ascribe to the subject dealt with a certain level of being: when Calvin writes in conversational tones about the N icodemites or about Cathelan, the reader is being led to regard these people as worthy of consideration in the kitchen or on the market-place, but not in the council chamber or the pulpit. The rhetoric is a means whereby the full impact of the thought is achieved. But this is not to suggest that Calvin consciously followed the precepts of the rhetoricians as he wrote. From his point of view it is the subject which has determined the choice of words and rhythms; they have not been selected in order to convey a certain effect so much as because they are the only fitting ones. The rhetorical techniques have become perfectly natural and instinctive to him, as they are to any great writer. We have seen the variety of rhythms and forms which Calvin introduces into his syntax; we have commented on the eloquence of his style. But the range of his effects is limited. The characteristics of his language have been summarized and illustrated; but each of the figures noted appears again and again, each of the illustrations is paralleled by many others. There is none of the
a
I Z
3
Ad Herennium, IV, viii, 1 I. 'Le Classicisme de Calvin', Hum. et Ren. V (1938) p. 240. Wencelius, L'Esthetique de Calvin (Paris, 1937), 349.
p.'
122
SYNTAX
unending variety of forms of syntax found in Rabelais. Similarly we have seen liveliness, strictly consequential thought, indignation, spiritual uplift expressed; but a wide :ariety.of possible ~od~s of expression has been left untouched, In particular anythmg In the way of more personal feeling and emotion. We should not of course expect too much variety to be found in the limited field of polemical literature, since the subject matter is limited. But the same absence of the personal element is seen elsewhere in Calvin's work, where it might have been expected to be prominent, for example in certa~n of his .letters ; I ,:hich. impli~s that the limitation of polemical hterature IS not as distorting as It may appear. The impression is that the pro~e.is strictly ~unctio~al, as we have said about Calvin's vocabulary: It IS schematic, creatmg a rigid organization of reality, a sense of immutable, Divine feudalism; but it is not human, for by Calvin's own definition the human must be excluded from the conflict of Heaven and Hell: On ne luy fait point [a Dieu] l'honneur qu' on luy doit, si on ne prefere son service a tout regard humain, pour n'espargner ne parentage, ne sang, ne rien qui soit, et qu'on mette en oubli toute humanite, quand il est question de combatre pour sa gloire. ~ (Declaration contre Servet, in Recueil des Opuscules, p. 1334·)
*
*
*
See Ruff, Die jranzosischen Brieje Calvin!, pp. 74,. 81. Th~ coldness of tone noted in Calvin's letters of exhortatIOn to pnsoners In .French prisons is there ascribed to Calvin's humility when confront~d WIt?- 'd~r inneren GroBe dieser Gefangenen'; Ruff suggests that CalVIn dIe Stimme versagte vor dem furchtbaren Schicksale dieser Menschen'. But there too the absence of human warmth is paralleled by the reminder of the duty of the faithful which we have seen in similar situations. I
IV IMAGERY 1 Le Seigneur sachant bien que, s'il parloit a nous selon qu'il convient a sa maieste, nostre intelligence n'est point capable d' atteindre si haut, s'accommode a nostre petitesse: et ... i1 use envers nous d'une fac;on grossiere de parler, a fin (Lib. VII, 169.) d'estre entendu.
w 0 general studies have been made of figurative language in sixteenth-century prose writers: Le Langage figure au seizieme siecle by E. Huguet,2 and Figurative Language in Sixteenth-Century French Literary Prose by R. Coupland. 3 These two studies provide a background for our examination of the place of Calvin's imagery within the general tendencies of the literature of the time. Huguet's work examines the large common stock of proverbs and colloquial figurative expressions found in sixteenth-century writers, treated first by the fields of reference covered by their symbols, and then by the uses which are made of them. Dr. Coupland
T
I The terms to be used in the discussion of imagery always present a problem. A preliminary definition may be useful. An image is properly the whole concept, including the thing to be described and the expression used in the description of it. However, usage has frequently approved its use for the latter only-the figurative termand where there is no confusion, I use 'image' to indicate the figurative element of the expression. . The two parts of an image, sometimes called in French comparant and compare, present the greatest difficulty. The most helpful idea to date, , vehicle' and 'tenor', suggested by I. A. Richards, is not entirely satisfactory, since the two terms, both metaphorical, are drawn from different fields and show no intrinsic relationship to each other. I propose to use instead two terms which have a more direct meaning for the subject: symbol instead of 'vehicle', the figurative expression used, and substance (for' tenor ') to indicate the meaning to be conveyed. These terms have the disadvantage in theory of already being common in their own specific senses; their use in the discussion of imagery, however, may be justified by the fact that here they are hardly transferred usages, but slight extensions of their existing meanings, which do in fact represent very well the concepts we are concerned with. For the rest, they do not seem to present any problems in practice. 2 Paris, 1933. 3 Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Leeds, 1960.
124
IMAG ERY
IMAGERY
follows a similar method of analysis by sources and applications in studying the imagery of the six prose writers he chooses for examination, with the addition of a section concerned with the quality and functions of imagery in the work of each author. Certain significant facts appear in these two works. The proverbs, proverbial expressions and set images described by Huguet, representing as they do a series of crystallized images immediately significant to the reader, derive from the common everyday surroundings of sixteenth-century life: 'elles sont ordinairement expruntees aux occupations les plus habituelles de nos ancetres, et indiquent ce qui, dans leurs actions et dans leurs pensees, avait Ie plus d'importance: par exemple, la religion, la vie domestique, la chasse, les jeux '. I Dr. Coupland's study, including both Rabelais and Montaigne, naturally shows a great variety in the sources from which the symbols of personal imagery are drawn. Nonetheless, certain sources appear to have been particularly fruitful, almost to the exclusion of others: nature, in particular familiar domestic and wild animals (much more than exotic ones) and plants (vegetables rather than flowers); and the human scene-the body, clothing, and types and occupations of all sorts. This is in fact not far removed from the' occupations les plus habituelles' of Huguet's set expressions. Moreover, Dr. Coupland points to the impression of unoriginality in much sixteenth-century nature imagery, whi~h he feels is 'a product of the study rather than of the open aIr, something living a purely rhetorical life'.2 Much of this nature imagery indeed seems to owe something to the medieval tradition of fable and bestiary. From this it would appear that the symbols of sixteenth-century figurative language, whether the accepted colloquial expression or the 'personal' image of the creative writer, tended to be drawn from certain areas of perception to which people turned by preference: the animals of the farm or the countryside; the plants of thepotager; the figures of everyday life-kings or beggars, bakers and butchers (but rarely agricultural occupations); the activities of normal life-cooking, eating, and drinking; games and entertainments; warfare, and the Church. The study of the sources of image symbols does not therefore appear to be a fruitful method of approach, except insofar as a I
P. v.
2
P. 517.
125
writer may show a predilection for some particular aspect of the common fund of symbols. Consequently, in the study of Calvin's imagery we shall refer only incidentally to the sources on which he drew. The further point may be made that it is not always easy to distinguish between figurative expressions in the sense of fixed comparisons from a common stock, and images proper, that is, created by an author: since the former are frequently developed beyond their original form, and the latter often owe something to accepted champs metaphoriques within which the author simply provides a new variant. I We shall, however, consider first those figurative expressions which are clearly drawn from a common stock, then those which tend more towards the personal; we shall then study the ways in which the imagery of the later treatises differs from that of the earlier; and, in conclusion, the importance of the figurative language found in Calvin's writings will be assessed. '*' '*'
'*'
The popularity of proverbial expressions in literature may be traced through the later Middle Ages and into the sixteenth century, illustrated by Villon's Ballade en Proverbes and the chapters of Rabelais and pseudo-Rabe1ais constructed almost
a
I For exam~le, the ~olloquialexpression travers champs (' haphazardly') appears often In CalvIn:
Que! deshonneur font aDieu les premiers, de chercher questions nouvelles travers champs? (Lib. VII, 165.) But it may be rejuvenated by being used in conjunction with another stock phrase:
a
S'il a~vient qu'aucuns, au lieu d'en faire leur profit, ayment mieux de vaguer a travers champs que de se tenir entre les bornes ne meritent ilz pas d'estre chastiez au double? (Astrol. Iud. VII, 516.) , Or somet!mes the same concept in different language represents a more personal Image : Au reste, ie vous prie, a quel propos est-ce qu'il ramasse toutes ces sentences sans ordre ne raison? Sinon pour esblouyr les yeux des lecteurs a fin qu'on ne sache plus ou on en est. Tout ainsi qu'un homme estant esgare de son chemin, et n'ayant ne voye ne sentier devant luy s'en va a l'aventure a tors et a travers. (Lib. VII, 233.) , And sometimes the same image is purely biblical in form: Ilz sont esgarez loing du chemin de vie. (Inst. 1541, p. 430.)
126
IMAGERY
IMAGERY
entirely of proverbs (Gargantua, ch. x and V, xxii),. as well as by the collections of proverbial sayings which have survIved from the period.! . .. . This interest in traditional expreSSIOns IS specIfically assocIated with the popular works of the time, rather than with the higher forms of literature: the writers that Sainean calls the 'ecole de Rabelais' make considerable use of stock expressions, while Ronsard and Du Bellay use almost none. 'L'abondancedes proverbes est un des caracteres habituels du langage populaire et familier.'2 The presence of numerous proverbial expressi?ns in C~lvi~'s writings would thus rank him at once among the popular wnters of the sixteenth century; as Huguet says, 'Calvin a souvent pa:le. la langue de Rabelais et des autres conteurs, la langue des ecnvams . . comiques.'3 The article by Huguet just quoted provIdes a consIderable repertory of Calvin's proverbial sayings, traditional images and expressions as well as a number of 'slang terms' which do not concern us h~re. The texts on which Huguet bases this study are, for the most part, Calvin's sermons, which were extempore., less organ~zed than the written works, and perhaps evea more copIOusly provIded with colloquial expressions than the treatises-a natural result ~f the quick thinking needed in the pulpit, and the consequent .rehance on ready-made thought-forms rather than on new. creatIOns. Of actual proverbs in their traditional form there are In fact few examples in the treatises: Coppin, Flameng, natif de I'Isle, commen<;a a- remuer ceste ordure au lieu de sa nativite, homme ignorant, et n'ayant autre moyen de se avan~er que son audace seIon que dit Ie proverbe, qu'un fol ne doute de rzen. ,
(Lib.
VII,
159-60.)
Combien que ce proverbe soit commun au monde, qu'il faut uller [hurler] avec les loups ... Ces malheureux non seulement excusent I'iniquite, en confessant que c'est uller avec les loups, de se desbau~her par compaignie, mais aussi l' ornent de ce tiltre honnorable ?e vocatlOn. (Ltb.
VII,
210.)
Combien que du commencement encor Hz ont d' assez bons propoz: comme en condamnant les superstitions Papales, et defendant a- tous Chrestiens de s'y mesler. Mais en la queue gist le venin, comme dit Ie Cf. Sainean La Langue de Rabelais, I, 35 6-9. 2 Huguet 'L~ Langue familiere chez Calvin', in RHLF, p. 2 7 . ' 3 Ibid. p. 51.
proverbe. Car finalement ilz concluent que tout usage d'armes est chose (Anab. VII, 77.)1 Diabolique. The proverbs fit into the sense with great pertinence-that is our first impression. In each case, however, there is the underlying association of the Libertine leader with /ol, the heretics with loups, the Anabaptist tract with venin. An affective overtone very helpful to the polemical effect is added. If proverbs as such are relatively infrequent, the case is different for proverbial or colloquial expressions and comparisons. To what uses does Calvin put these expressions, and what do they contribute to his stylistic effects? A remarkably clear-cut division is at once apparent. When he is writing of the believer, of his attitudes and responsibilities, proverbial images scarcely ever appear. Occasionally an exhortation may be phrased in terms such as this: Ainsi que chacun se fortifie en la fiance de Dieu, pour avoir meilleur courage a- mettre la main a la paste, comme on dit: c'est a- dire mettre peine a- exalter Ie regne de nostre Seigneur Iesus, bataillant contre toutes les resistances de Sathan. (Nic. VI, 614.) The challenge to 'get down to work' fits naturally into an image of physical action (cf. 'to put one's shoulder to the wheel '); but even here Calvin has to explain in non-figurative language the spiritual task he has in mind. Somewhat more frequently a warning to the faithful against a wrong course of action may be figuratively expressed: Surquoy ie dy brievement, que nulle bonne science n'est repugnante ala crainte de Dieu ny a- la doctrine qu'il nous donne pour nous mener en la vie eternelle, moyennant que nous ne mettions point la charrue devant les beufz: c'est a- dire que nous ayons ceste prudence de nous servir des artz tant liberaux que mechaniques en passant par ce monde, pour (Astrol. Iud. VII, 540-2.) tendre tousiours au Royaume celeste. The image clarifies the abstract point he is making, and lightens the reading. Similarly, his condemnation of garrulousness is expressed in a vivid colloquial image: Comme si nous disions que les langues des Chrestiens doivent tousiours resonner comme cliquets de moulin.
XXIII (19 16),
(Resp. Hol.
IX,
626.)
Elsewhere this expression becomes a simile: 'Mais encore, afin que chascun entende mieux l'impiete qui est icy cachee comme le venin en la queue d'un serpent . .. ' (Astrol. Iud. VII, 533.) I
I
127
IMAGERY
IMAGERY
But these uses of figurative expressions, addressed to the faithful, are surprisingly rare. Even when they are so addressed, they more frequently characterize a wrong action than a right one. When, on the other hand, figurative expressions applied to the opponents are considered, the pattern is very different. The extent to which colloquial images appear in references to the adversaries, and their effect, can best be shown by means of an extensive selection. Practically every aspect of the opponents' activities serves as a centre of attraction. The foolishness of their teaching is treated scornfully by such images as this, comparing it to the so-called evangile des quenouilles,1 at the time a byword for an improbable story:
Ilz usent ~ouv~nt de ma?ieres de parler lourdes et sauvaiges, et de p:opos dehbere saultant a chacune foys du cocq I'asne, entrelaceant dIvers propoz, amenent passages de l'escriture couppez ou rompus. (Anab. VII, 140.)1 Leu~ office seroit de ne permettre point leurs povres subiectz estre ainsi se~ulct~, non seuleme~t par fa~lse doctrine, mais visiblement en leur falsant a croyre que vesszes de belzer sont Ianternes, comme dit Ie proverbe. (Rei. VI, 414.)2
128
a
If t?e teaching is confused, then the teacher is ignorant; on this subject also colloquial images abound:
Puis il se mesle d'exposer la langue latine, en laquelle il s'entend comme au haut Allemant. (Epis. Cord. VII, 351.)3
In ~ll of thes~ ex~mples the stylistic effect provided by the ~gurat1ve expreSSIOn IS comedy mixed with contempt. The pejoratIve element of incongruity forcibly expresses the ridicule which Calvin pours on his opponents. Sometimes the effect of the image is not so much ridicule as indignation. He condemns moral licence in terms such as:
Incoherence and self-contradiction in the adversaries' arguments are commonly described in figurative terms. The number of expressions Calvin finds for these traits is surprising: En cela il y a contradiction: car, a son Q.j.re, Dieu se nomme autheur du mal, ce que luy nie; et pourtant que il apprenne aaccorder ses fieutes. (Epis. Cord. VII, 351.)
a
Ce~ enra~ez mettent a l'homme la bride sur Ie col, fin qu'il n'y ait rien qUI Ie retlenne ou empesche de se donner du bon temps. (Lib. VII, 206.)4
Ce qu'il adiouste, emporte une contradiction si lourde, qu'il pourroit sembler, qu'il eust un peu trop hume. Car il est impossible qu'un homme de cerveau rassis crache ainsi contre son nez. (Resp. Hoi. IX, 618.)
a iouer
du rebec et dire que l'un (Astro!. Iud. VII, 540.)3
I 'C'est Ie recueil Ie plus precieux. des croyances et superstitions qui avaient cours dans les campagnes, vers Ie milieu du XVe siecle, et que l'auteur anonyme a mis dans la bouche meme des femmes du menu peuple, en reproduisant fideIement leur langage et leur tour de pensee.' (Sainean, La Langue de Rabelais, I, 340.) 2 The teaching of the opponents is again associated with popular literature in the following: 'Ils retournent encores au refrain de leur ballade: c'est qu'ils ne renoncent point la mort et passion de Iesus Christ, pource que leur intention n'est pas telle.' (4 Serm. VIII, 385.) 3 Huguet, Le Langage figure au seizieme siecle, pp. 137-8, explains this expression as a verbal pun on se rebequer, 'to resist', and the instrument rebec. Other expressions with a similar function include: 'lIz prennent plaisir a beffier Ie monde, et retourner leur robbe a tout propos: tellement qu'on ne sache par quel coste les prendre.' (Lib. VII, 170.) 'Ceulx qui nagent entre deux eaues alleguent, puisque Dieu veuIt estre adore en esprit, qu'on ne peut adorer les idoles sans y [a Dieu] avoir sa confiance.' (4 Serm. VIII, 380.)
a
a
Quant ce phantastique, il luy est bien aise d'en caquetter comme un clerc d'armes, car il n'a iamais gouste que c'est. (Epis. Cord. VII, 359.)
Voyez l'audace de ce pendard, de n'avoir nulle honte de contrefaire Ie grand docteur, en racomptant des fables du livre des quenouilles, pour expositions mystiques de l'Escriture. (Lib. VII, 229.)2
Ie say bien qu'ilz ne faudront point n'empesche point l'autre.
129
I
I Very.commonly found in. Calvin to indicate a self-contradictory argument. ef. Anab. VII, 98; Lzb. VII, 226; Ref. Cath. IX, 128, 129, 133; Resp. Hol. IX, 588, 602, 606, 61 7. 2 .The same graphic image f?r !10nsense al?pears frequently: cf. Lib. VII, 166, Ref· ~ath. I~, 1 J+; and slmllar expreSSIOns of the same type are also found, e.g. on VOlt eVldemment que c'est la plus sotte fable du monde et laque,lle a autant d'apparence que si on disoit que les nuees sont peaw; de veau..(Rel. VI, 443.) .Found characteristically in writers such as Rabelais and Vlllon, and also m the Farce de Maitre Pathelin. 3 Cf. also: '.Nous sommes contraincts de nous arrester d'avantage a monstrer ce.qu~ en est, a fi? 9~e ... nul ne s'abuse, cuidant estre eschappe par se couvrzr d un sac ,!"ouzlle. (4 Serm. VIII, 377.) '1l se iette du tout hors des g)ons, concluant qu'll n'y a point donc d'Eglise visible.' (Resp. Hol. IX, 59 8. • 4 V ~riations on this pertinent image often appear: '[Ceste invention dlaboh~ue] ne pe,ut estre receue que toute l'Escriture saincte ne soit renversee ... et 9u o~ n~ lasche aux hommes la bride de mal faire.' (Astrol. Iud. .VII, 5 2 5.) Mats 11 faut regarder si Dieu permet a ses enfans de courlr a travers champs a bride avallee.' (Resp. Hol. IX, 59 0 .)
9
HSO
130
IMAGERY
IMAGERY
The evasion of one's moral responsibility is described in a figurative expression of biblical origin and of considerable affective force: Que ceulx qui font semblant d'y accorder lavent leurs mains tant qu'ils vouldront, si ne seront-ils pas ala fin plus iustes que Pilate. (4 Serm. VIII, 386 .)1 The same thought can be expressed more violently-and more vulgarly: Ie vous prie, quand l'honneur de Dieu est viole ... que nous sommes doubles et nous polluons es choses que Dieu a mauldictes, est-ce pour torcher nostre bouche et dire que nous avons faict une petite faulte? (4 Serm. VIII, 380-1.) Not only the teachings and attributes of the adversaries, but also Calvin's refutation and discomfiture of them are often expressed in colourful figurative expressions. In the Reformation contre Cathelan, one of the most succinct collections of figurative language in Calvin's works, there is a group of images which express with great verve and disdain 1;pe Reformer's attitude to Cathelan. Cathelan is presented throughout as a charlatan: Ce rustre voyant qu'ilestoit au bout de son role, tascha par nouvelles (Ref. Cath. IX, 127.)2 pratiques a s'insinuer de nouveau. He thus deserves to be sent back for punishment to the monastery from which he came: Que feroit-on a un tel galand, sinon de Ie remettre a son chapitre, ou sa lec;on luy soit chantee, selon Ie proverbe des Moynes, Usque ad vitulos? (Ref. Cath.
IX, 127.)3
Having made what profit he can, Cathelan 'packs his bags': En ceci voit-on que ce rustre trousse ses quilles, voyant bien qu'il n'y (Ref. Cath. IX, 131.)4 a plus d'escot franc pour luy. Cf. also Pet. Tr. VI, 561; Lib. VII, 191. Cf. au bout de son rouZet, noted in the sermons of Michel Menot; J. Neve, 'Proverbes et neologismes dans les sermons de Michel Menot', in Rev. XVI, VII (1920), p. 101. 3 For an explanation of this saying, see Huguet, Le Langage figure au I
2
seizieme siecle, p. 6. 4 Cf. also Pet. Tr.
VI,
572.
131
When defeated in argument, he tries to retreat as best he can:
a travers des (Ref. Cath. IX, 129.)
Car se voyant desnue de response, il a cerche d'eschapper marets.
Calvin has other colourful expressions for the refuting of his enemies. They dislike being admonished: Si on demande la cause de leur mescontentement: c'est d'autant qu'ilz (Nic. VI, 594.) ne peuvent souffrir qu'on leur gratte leur rongne. But they must be silenced: Semblablement il faut que chacun chrestien soit adverty, quand illes orra ainsi gergonner, de leur coupper incontinent la broche. (Lib.
VII,
169.)
Their cackling must be stopped: Mais tant s'en faut que ce1a serve a noz devins, que plustost c'est pour (Astrol. Iud. VII, 534.) leur r'abbaisser Ie caquet. Counter-arguments must be forced upon them: Ie metz done en barbe aux Anabaptistes, Moyse, David ... (Anab.
VII, 91.)1
Although frequently argument with them is a waste of time: Tellement que ce seroit battre l'eaue, que de vouloir proceder avec eux (Anab. VII, 55.) par raisons.
*
*
*
In summary, then, Calvin uses proverbial and colloquial images for the most part in attacking the enemy, their teaching, their ignorance, their confusion, and their immoral motives. They are not described, they are caricatured; and most frequently the attitude expressed is one of contempt. Conversely, the passages in his treatises which deal with his own point of view, with the faithful, with the exposition of Scriptural doctrine, have few traces of these colloquial images. The article by Huguet on Calvin's use of colloquialisms draws a parallel conclusion. Calvin's sermons are the material used there; and, in keeping with their less polemical nature, the attacks which I Cf. Neve, 'Proverbes et neologismes dans les sermons de Michel Menot', p. 105.
9-2
IMAGERY
IMAGERY
Calvin mounts are less organized and single-minded. I Vice is presented as the 'ennemi Ie plus hal', then the Catholic Church and other opponents of the Genevan reform. Here, where these last groups are the central subject of our treatises, they also have the most extensive figurative treatment. Huguet finds as the most significant function of these colloquial expressions 'Ie desir, la volonte, d'etre compris de tous, des ignorants comme des lettres, et souvent une locution familiere lui fournissait un moyen d'eclaircir un developpement trop abstrait' ;2 thus clarification of difficult thought is to him the most significant characteristic. In addition, the lively tone provided by these expressions makes for interesting reading; we need only recollect the popularity of Rabelais, Bonaventure des Periers or Noel du Fail to see that by exploiting the same language Calvin was using an effective strategy to encourage the reader on his way. A delightful book will attract, even if the contents are questionable. However, if clarification and liveliness were the only functions of these expressions we would expect them to be evenly distributed over the whole range of Calvin's subjeGt matter. This is far from being the case; the images appear almost exclusively in passages dealing with the enemy. More than clarification, the stylistic function of these images is to give a tone to the prose: on the one hand, true doctrine is set out in uncolloquial language; on the other, all the stock-in-trade of the comic writer rains upon the adversaries. The latter are assimilated to the trivialities of the conteur's tale; the astrologers, or Cathelan, are reduced to the status of Panurge or Frere Jean. 'These are not theologians, but clowns' is the implication. Thus this stylistic use of figurative expressions to denigrate the opponents is at least as important as their function in making the meaning clear.
be examined here in terms of the relationship between symbol and substance in the image: is this relationship, the 'ground' of the image, intellectual or affective; what purposes does it serve; in what ways does imagery contribute to the total effect of his treatises? First, an image may often serve to clarify the meaning of an argument: the ground of the image is intellectual, and it usually associates a concrete symbol with an abstract substance, the argument itself. I Sometimes the result is a colourless, familiar image which, even in the sixteenth century, was banal, if not dead:
132
133
Maintenant ie prie tous ceux qui cherchent Dieu d'affection, et ayment d'obeir asa verite, qu'ilz considerent bien icy comme en un miroir, queUe et combien pernicieuse peste c'est de se laisser divertir de la pure simplicite de Iesus Christ. (Lib. VII, 247.) Nous qui avons si ample congnoissance, laquelle nous devroit enfiamber, sommes plus frois que glace. (Pet. Tr. VI, 574.)
But, more often, the image used is more personal, and its effect is greater. Calvin often writes of intelligence in terms of concrete measurement, which gives emphasis to the statement: he writes of those 'qui ont quelque goutte de sens naturel', of anyone 'qui a une seule once de cervelle', 'quiconque aura un seul grain de crainte de Dieu ' . Many images are striking formulations of the sense Calvin wishes to convey. He expresses the relationship between the Law of Moses and the Law of Grace in these terms: Ie confesse bien donc, que de s'abstenir un iour de la sepmaine de travailler, et estre sous un ioug tant servile ... que cela estoit une escorce de la substance spirituelle, qui est encore auiourd'huy en usage. (Resp. Hol. IX, 589.)
Creatures insensibles is a technical term, precise in its meaning, but not as accessible and as forcible as Calvin wishes:
'*' '*'
'*'
Imagery in which the part of personal creation by the author is greater than it is in the case of these semi-proverbial set expressions is naturally more varied in character. Calvin's imagery will I See p. 10 above, and A. Cruvellier, Etude sur les predications de Calvin (Montauban, 1895). 2 'La Langue familiere chez Calvin', p. 5 I •
Ces miserables sont insensez, d'avoir moins de congnoissance que les creatures insensibles: que les pierres, dis-ie, et les troncz de bois. (Lib. VII, 225.) I As A. Bossert says of Calvin's sermons: 'II s'adresse a des croyants en partie novices, encore peu affermis ou peu eclain~s dans leur foi: comment leur faire saisir certaines verites abstraites, sinon par comparaison et sous une forme sensible?' (Calvin (Paris, 1906), p. 209.) Cf. also the examples given there, pp. 209-1 I.
lU
IMAGERY
IMAGERY
The abstract concepts solidify, take on a concrete shape, become real and familiar. Even a relatively unlettered reader can see what is meant, and can evaluate the concepts involved. Calvin's vivid representation of the Libertines' mystification of their converts has already been quoted (p. 56): ilz Ie laissent bailler et transir la bouche ouverte . .. Equally graphic are images like this:
Car ilz ont beaucoup gaigne quand ilz ont. tellement bende les yeux aleurs auditeurs, ou plustost creve, que nul n'entreprenne plus de iuger.
Ayans ce but, ilz n'ont garde de faillir a me condamner comme trop rigoreux, et se plaindre de moy: veu que ie leur arrache Ie pain des mains. (Nic. VI, 597.) The violence of the action here symbolizes the violence of the conflict in progress. The same people, the Nicodemites, are also seen using the Gospel as a bait to trap the unwary: lIz ne voyent point de meilleur moyen d'acquerir bruit et reputation, que d'user de ceste amorse, pour attirer les gens a eux. (Nic. VI, 597·) The clarification of meaning which is achieved by the use of these concrete images is an important factor in the answer to the question asked at the beginning of th~ study: how does Calvin make his abstract thought accessible to the French reader? It would be wrong, however, to conclude that in all cases Calvin set out consciously to provide these images for the benefit of les simples. On the contrary, the feeling that this imagery so often gives-partly owing to its very frequency, and to the effortless way in which it blends into the prose-is that truth, intelligence, the fear of God, are as real and substantial as everyday objects around us-which indicates the way in which Calvin actually conceived them. This is particularly well illustrated by his repeated references to understanding in terms of sight, and to ignorance in terms of blindness: Ie produiray seulement quelques tesmoignages de l'escriture tant evidens qu'il n'y aura nul si idiot, qui n'entende et ne voye al'oeil, que ce mot de regeneration, comme en abusent ces meschans, est aussi contraire a la vraye regeneration Chrestienne, que Ie feu a l' eaue. (Lib. VII, 203.)1 I In this case the final image, of the distinction between water and fire, adds to the emphasis and concreteness.
135
(Lib. VII, 194.)1
The frequency and the emphasis with which such expressions are used indicate more than a casual use similar to cela saute aux yeux; to Calvin spiritual truth is-and must be-obvious, visible, and indubitable. Thus the metaphor of sight to indicate understanding is natural to him; and spiritual and abstract concepts, always somewhat imprecise to the modern mind, are naturally conceived by Calvin in terms of concrete images: for they are just as 'real'. The imagery is the same in a key passage of the Institution: Quant a ce que ces canailles demandent dont et comment nous serons persuadez que I'Escriture est procedee de Dieu si nous n'avons refuge au decret de l'Eglise, c'est autant comme si aucun s'enqueroit dont nous apprendrons a discerner la darM des tenebres, Ie blanc du noir, Ie doux de l' amer. Car l'Escriture a de quoy se faire cognoistre, voire d'un sentiment aussi notoire et infaillible comme ont les choses blanches et noires de monstrer leur couleur, et les choses douces et ameres de monstrer leur saveur. (Inst. 1560; I. vii. 2.) Imagery, then, may serve to give a seemingly tangible shape to the concepts involved in Calvin's argument. This use of figurative language is a common one, partly because it accords so well with Calvin's cast of thought. Various secondary elements in imagery used for clarification sometimes become important. Frequently the instructive element in an image may be strengthened by its picturesque character: the intellectual ground of the image is seconded by an affective element. Allegorical interpretations, for example, may have as much solidity as a soap-bubble: Car il n'y a non plus de fermete aux allegories, qu'aux bouteilles d'eaue que font les petis enfans avec un festu.
(Lib. VII, 175.)
The image goes beyond the simply explanatory, to provide a pictorial aspect-in which not only are allegories compared to bubbles, but, by implication, the Libertines to the urchins who blow them. I Cf. also images from being dazzled: 'Au reste, ie vous prie, a quel propos est-ce qu'ilrarnasse toutes ces sentences sans ordre ne raison? Sinon pour esblouyr les yeux des lecteurs, a fin qu'on ne sache plus OU on en est.' (Lib. VII, 233.) Cf. also Lib. VII, 2°3; Epis. Cord. VII, 347; Astrol. Iud. VII, 539; and the curious expression in Ref. Cath. IX, 134: ' a fin d' esblouir les yeux des aveugles . .. '.
IMAGERY
IMAGERY
Calvin attacks the Anabaptist teaching that after death the soul waits in a sleep-like state until the Last Judgement:
It is expressed in concrete, pictorial terms; and sometimes this is reinforced by an affective element of caricature or violence, to strengthen the impact on the reader or to influence his attitude. More substantial than these images used to clarify details in the exposition are images which convey major points of doctrine. For the Christian writer the Bible is the source-book of an inexhaustible fund of images: it also gives a pattern of teaching method which relies heavily on images-the parables are the most obvious examples. It is natural, and almost invariably the case, that imagery is used in Christian apologetics as a major vehicle of teaching: imagery drawn directly from the Bible, and imagery used in a way similar to biblical methods. The symbols of some biblical images find their way almost verbatim into Calvin's writings:
136
N ous voyons donc combien cela repugne a l' erreur des Anabaptistes, qui au lieu de robbes blanches, donnent des coussins aux ames pour les faire dormir. (Anab. VII, n6.)
The fishwife seems traditionally to be known as a gossip, and provides Calvin with several useful images: . II conc1ud que celuy qui est Chrestien en apparence ayant este baptise, et observe les ceremonies rna poste, ne doit pas estre tenu pour tel. Une harengere auroit honte de babiller si sottement. (Resp. Hoi. IX, 597.)1
a
Apart from the addition of a comic or picturesque element to the intellectual value of these clarifying images, Calvin also uses imagery which, in its violence, makes a powerful emotive impact on the reader: Celuy doncques qui s'addonne au service des idoles ne foulle-il point aux pieds Ie sang de Iesus Christ? (4 Serm. VIII, 38 1.)2
On the misuse of Scripture:
,i>
Mais ce malheureux ne se soucie de deschirer I' Escriture par pieces. (Epis. Cord. VII, 350.)
In such examples the effect is greatly enhanced not only by the physical violence of the symbols (deschirer, fouler aux pieds), but by their immediate juxtaposition to objects of the highest religious value-I' ecriture, Ie sang de Iesus Christ. The discordance and harshness of the metaphors give a vivid sense of the moral indignation of the true Christian in the face of such blasphemy. Imagery, then, is an important means by which the abstract matter of Calvin's argument is given a sense of immediate reality. Cf. also Lib. VII, 161 (quoted on p. 89 above). The attitude is by no means limited to Calvin; cf. Montaigne, Essais, III, 8 (Belles Lettres ed., III, i, 204): 'Voit-on plus de barbouillage au caquet ~es h~rengeres qu'aux disputes publiques des hommes de cette professIOn [I.e. teachers of rhetoric] ?' 2 Cf. also Lib. VII, 174, 182; 4 Serm. VIII, 383; Cal. et Blas. LVIII, 2 0 3. The concision of this expression may be contrast,ed with the following by Farel: 'Mais donnez vous garde en la lisant [1'Ecriture] que ne la tirez a vostre sens la faisant servir a vos affections, en foulant la pasture des brebis, la pa;olle de dieu, qui est contenue en Lescripture, et marchant sus, aux piedz.' (Summaire et briefve declaration . .. , p. A. 3r .) I
137
[La Parole] doit estre vive et d'une telle efficace qu'elle transperce les coeurs pour examiner tout ce qui est dedans 1'homme, ouy, iusqu'aux mouelles des os, comme dit 1'Apostre. (Astrol. Iud. VII, 513-14.)
Lafontaine et racine de tous maux est incredulite. (Inst. 1541, p. 431.)1 En repliquant contre luy [Dieu], il est certain qu'ilz ne font que regimber contre l'esperon. (Nic. VI, 596.)
In the last example Calvin has modified the original (Acts ix. 5), which (in the Calvin Bible) reads regimber contre l'esguillon. The effect of the change is to make the image more directly relevant to the sixteenth-century style of horseback travel. The result is a combination of the aura of biblical language (which, as we have seen, frequently enhances the authority of Calvin's own statements) and a contact with the immediate reality of the everyday situation. 2 This flavour of biblical reminiscence is an important factor in creating an impression of orthodoxy. To condemn a deceptively I The allusion is to I Tim. vi. 10, where the love of money is given as the root of all evil. 2 Cf. also a passage from a translated work (possibly not by Calvin, but a remarkable illustration of this technique): 'Si nous sommes semblables a des moutons qu'on traine a la boueherie, et que nos adversaires sont non seulement comme bouehers pour nous eoupper la gorge: mais comme loups ravissans pour nous devorer, tout cela a este predit.' (Des Seandales, in Reeueil des Opuseules, p. 1174.) The references are to Isa. liii. 7: 'il est mene a l'occision comme l'agneau', and Matt. vii. 15: 'les faux prophetes qui viennent a vous en vestimens de brebis, mais par dedans sont loups ravissans.' The substitution of moutons for agneau, boueherie for oecision, relates the prophetic poetry to the violent reality of daily life.
IMAGERY
IMAGERY
attractive pamphlet from the opposition is one thing; to do so in the words of Our Lord Himself is far more effective:
There are certain images which are particularly significant in the expression of Christian thought, which appear throughout Christian literature. One of these great 'teaching images' is that of the Way of Life. We have already seen (p. 125, n. 1) how Calvin uses and develops this image. Another application of the same thought-form is used to refute a Nicodemite who argues from one particular instance; Calvin replies to him:
138
Vray est, qu'il a de belles prefaces pour colorer son cas. Mais quand ce vient a entrer en matiere, on trouve que cela n'est sinon une beaute apparente d'un sepulchre qui est au dedans remply de toute corruption et puanteur. (Epis. Cord. VII, 346.) The images of the Bible sometimes lend their authority directly to Calvin's argument. But frequently it is not the actual symbols, but the atmosphere of the imagery, which has a biblical ring about it. As in the New Testament we find many homely, simple pictures as teaching images (a woman sweeping her room, the sower, etc.), so in Calvin symbols of an everyday character are frequent in the expression of doctrine: Comme une nourrisse begaye avec son enfant, aussi [Ie Seigneur] use (Lib. VII, 169.) envers nous d'une fa<;on grossiere de parler.
The Anabaptists claimed that the soul, after death, existed in a state of suspended animation until the Last Judgement, and quoted Job iii. 11-13 as proof. Calvin's answer is that Job's suffering had led him to discount anything that wdUld happen after death as being preferable to the present: Car si aux grandes chaleurs d'este nous desirons une bonne gelee, et derechef en yver, ayant oublie combien la chaleur est facheuse, desirons qu'il face chaut: ce n'est point merveille si une passion vehemente nous (Anab. VII, 138.) poulse a un tel desir. The middle-class merchant of the sixteenth century will certainly have had a strong-box for his valuables. What better way of illustrating the correct attitude to the Gospel: De fait, puis que ceux qui ont de l'argent sont tant soigneux a Ie bien garder, c'estoit bien raison que ce thresor inestimable de l'Evangile, quand Dieu nous en a enrichis, fust comme enferme en bonne conscience, qui est, par maniere de dire, Ie vray cofre, pour Ie tenir en bonne garde et seure, a ce qu'il ne nous soit ravy par Sathan. (Astrol. Iud. VII, 513.)1 The symbols are familiar to every reader, and they are concrete: the result is a directness of communication, a sense that the thought presented is as real as daily life. I
Cf. Matt. vi. 19-21.
139
Mon amy, ie m'esbahis, veu que tu as la parolle de Dieu generale, comme un grand chemin tout faict et bien hante, auquel tu ne pourrois
faillir, comment tu aymes mieux decliner a un exemple particulier, qui est comme un sentier estroict et peu battu, auquel il t'est facile de te fourvoyer. (Pet. Tr. VI, 559.)
A related image is that of the blind leading the blind (Matt. xv. 14); those who preach a gospel of compromise are portrayed in a vivid series of images from this source: Mais en nourrissant toute idolatrie par leur feintise, ilz sont cause de faire rompre Ie col aux uns, et de faire blesser griefvement les autres, de faire cheoir les uns, et de faire clocher les autres, ou de s'esgarer hors du droict chemin. Et par ainsi tous ensemble, depuis Ie premier iusque au dernier, sont aveugles et conducteurs des aveugles. Car en suyvant l'un l'autre comme grues, ilz se seduisent mutuellement. (Pet. Tr. VI, 564.) The strongly active verbs-rompre, blesser, clocher, cheoir-give the picture a grotesque aspect reminiscent of Brueghel's painting on the same theme. Light as a symbol for truth or the Gospel is one of the commonest religious images throughout the world. I Calvin sometimes uses the biblical image without much modification (cf. p. 143 below). However, the only striking example of this image as a vehicle of teaching that I have noted is found in the Traite des Scandales, a translation from Latin: 2 S'il y a des nues qui obscurcissent l'air, nul n'est si insense ne si effronte de dire pourtant que Ie soleil soit obscur. Or il y a grande difference entre la clairte du soleil et de l'Evangile. Car les nuees obscurcissent bien Ie soleil: mais la perversite des hommes ne peut faire que la clairte de la doctrine de Dieu ne reluise.. . (Recueil des Opuscules, p. 1188.) Cf. J. Lhermet, Pascal et la Bible (Paris, 1931), pp. 316 sqq. I include this and a few other images from the Traite des Scandales since the images appear in the original, and thus were Calvin's work, whoever the translator may have been. I
2
140
IMAGERY
IMAGERY
Elsewhere an image of the sun representing purity rather than light has been quoted (p. 87); but in general Calvin's use of the symbol of light is not so much in images of epic proportions as in the constantly reiterated images of light and dark as understanding or ignorance which permeate his writings. The' Fountain of Truth' (d. John iv) appears somewhat more frequently in Calvin:
The disgust aroused by the symbol is easily transferred to the substance of the image. Libertine teaching claimed that if, as in traditional theology, the sin of Adam made all men a priori guilty of original sin, then the omnipotence of God as Creator is diminished. Calvin replies:
Mais encores que l'homme ne soit point cause de te1s vices, si est-ce qu'il ne sera point it excuser, quand il en sera destourne d'approcher de Iesus Christ. Car c'est comme si un homme ne vouloit point boire it la fontaine, pource qu'elle seroit environnee d'espines et buissons: combien qu'il y eust acces pour y entrer: ou bien que sans grande difficulte il peust eniamber par dessus les espines. (Des Scandales: Recueil des Opuscules, p. u88.) The image is an intellectual one, and a little forced in the final adjustments to it; but underneath there is the implication that although the faults of the Reformed Church may be thorny bushes, what lies behind those bushes is nevertheless the same pure fountain of which the Bible speaks. The theme of Christ as the Great Pl1ysician, of true doctrine as health and error as illness, is found frequently in Calvin's works: Quelle temerite est-ce donc de se rebecquer it l'encontre et reiecter ce remede qu'il donne, comme un vice damnable?
(Anab.
VII, 100.)
Ce que tiennent ces povres gens ... pour fondement invincible de leur Foy, est une abusion mortelle, de laquelle il se faut garder comme d'une peste. (Anab. VII, 55.) Disease can be fatal, but it is a natural phenomenon: poison on the other hand implies a positive intention to do evil: Mais en vous presentant ceste couppe d'or, it la fin il ne pretend qu' a (Epis. Cord. VII, 346.)
vous empoisonner.
An image from a similar source, more striking in its vividness, is that used to show how the sources of erroneous teaching must be closely examined: Parquoy il n'y a rien meilleur que de presser l' apostume it bon escient, it fin que par la bouii qui en sort, on puisse iuger du mal interieur. (Des Scandales: Recueil des Opuscules, p. U57.)I I Similar images are frequent in Calvin's sermons, and the same symbol is used by Rabelais (Tiers Livre, p. 296, ed. Lefranc).
141
Quand, pour reprouver ce que nous tenons du peche originel, il allegue que nous faisons Adam nostre createur, c'est une impudence trop sotte. Car si un enfant engendre d'un pere ladre attire la corruption de luy, ce n'est pas it dire que l'honneur de Dieu soit diminue pourtant. (Epis. Cord. VII, 353.) In such images as these Calvin frequently develops the symbol with the effect of rejuvenating the central theme, of the Fountain, the Way of Life and so on. Rarely, however, is this done independently of the doctrinal content of the image: the bushes surrounding the fountain have a specific doctrinal significance; the various injuries inflicted on the faithful by their blind guides, although less specifically doctrinal and more grotesquely vivid, suggest the various degrees of spiritual danger involved. There is little colour for its own sake: all is subordinated to the requirements of the theological sense. This single-mindedness and concentration is one of the factors which distinguish Calvin's writings from, for example, those of Viret, where the conversational element supplied by anecdote and colourful detail often has simply the function of making the reading more attractive. A general comment arises from Calvin's 'instructive imagery'. The most significant of these images are analogies, intellectual images in which one term illustrates the meaning of the other, sometimes-in particular, when referring to evil-with the additional effect provided by their strong affective connotations (apostume, ladre); and many of these, as also of the concrete homely similes described, are not original, but drawn from the Bible. However, there is a perceptible contrast between the imagery of the Bible and similar images in Calvin's hands. In John iv. 14 there is the poetic metaphor: 'The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.' Calvin converts the idea into a simile: 'C'est comme si un homme ne vouloit boire a la fontaine ... ' What was poetic and representational in the Bible becomes intellectual and illustrative with Calvin.
IMAGERY
IMAGERY
To the biblical writer, the figurative terms in which teaching was described symbolized in a very real way the subjacent truths: we may compare the doctrine of transubstantiation and of the Real Presence in the Eucharist. To Calvin there is a dichotomy, a great gulf fixed between the things of this world and the things spiritual: this life may illustrate truths of the world above, it may never stand for them~ The service of Holy Communion, to Calvin, is a symbolic gesture in which parallel streams of occurrence, the material and the spiritual, take place simultaneously-but are not essentially identical; the spiritual value of the Communion depends in no way on the material symbol, but rather on the faith of the participants, a spiritual quality. We may say that the Gospel is like food, it nourishes the soul: we avoid saying that the Gospel is the Bread of Life. In this there is a distinction not only from the medieval Church tradition but also from Luther. The basis of Luther's teaching is his personal experience, the coming of Christ into his everyday life: his Christian attitude is a concrete one, and he expresses his faith in concrete, figurative terms, falling over each other in their profusion-Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gotl, to mention only the most famous of all. I And at the same time, Luther, unlike Calvin, upheld the doctrine of the Real Presence. In fact Calvin's imagery here reflects one of the great philosophical conflicts of the sixteenth century, one which goes beyond the division between Catholic and Reformed, and is prolonged in the thought of Montaigne: the conflict between Aquinas and Augustine in theological thought. 'S'elever du sensible aDieu, c'est legitime dans une doctrine oil Ie spirituel est connu par analogie avec Ie sensible, pas dans l'Augustinisme oil c'est dans
l' ame et par l' ame que la pensee connait Dieu.'I Calvin's position in this is quite clear:
142
I 'Pour Luther l'ancienne distinction entre Ie sacre et Ie profane n'existe plus: a tout moment il fait entrer Ie sacre dans Ie domaine du profane; ille convoit souvent sous les traits du profane.' (W. G. Moore, La
Reforme allemande et la litterature franfaise, p. 28.)
We may also compare the attitude of Servetus, whose interest in the circulation of the blood was as much theological as physiological: 'Par l'esprit de Dieu a travers la bouche et les oreilles dans Ie coeur et Ie cerveau d'Adam et de ses descendants, Ie souffle celeste de I'Esprit, l'etincelle de l'idee, se sont essentiellement conjoints a la matiere du sang spiritualise, et l' arne fut creee. Exactement de la meme maniere que Dieu rend Ie sang plus rouge, ainsi Ie Christ fait-il briller Ie Saint-Esprit.' Cited from the Restitutio by R. H. Bainton, Michel Servet hiretique et martyr, p. 75, who adds the comment: 'c'etait bien la cette foi de la Renaissance en l'unite de toute realite.'
143
La parole de I'homme est nommee I'effigie de I'arne. Est-ce pource qu'elle ait certaine forme pour la pouvoir contempler al'oeil, ou qu'elle prenne quelque masque semblable a un visage humain? Si une representation si lourde et espesse ne convient point mesme a la parole de l'homme, que sera-ce de celle de Dieu, de laquelle il n'est pas lieite de rien imaginer de terrien? (Declaration eontre Servet: Reeueil des Opuseules, p. 1407.)
*
*
*
A counterweight to the imagery in which Calvin expresses his spiritual doctrine is that by which he describes his opponents and their teaching. It will be seen that the dichotomy whereby the spheres of the spiritual and the material are not assimilated to each other in the exposition of doctrine now has a corollary, whereby that which is not true doctrine is kept at, or reduced to, a strictly material level. Here Calvin's imagery finds its most important function. We shall examine examples grouped according to the effect intended, whether comic, picturesque, grotesque or revolting. A general point must first be made: namely that the polemical images in Calvin outweigh the instructive images by a considerable proportion. One has only to study any chapter of one of his polemical writings to notice that, whereas a doctrinal or exhortative passage contains the occasional, isolated, image, passages attacking his opponents show a profusion of images. A clear example of this is chapters VI and VII of Contre Ies Libertins, two chapters of the same length. The first (Des remedes pour ne point tomber aux erreurs des Libertins), an exhortation to the faithful, has four unimportant biblical images (e.g. si nous desirons de venir [uy, tenons ce chemin), and one more significant:
a
qu'ilz se laissent resveiller par celuy qui est Ie Soleil de iustice, lequel (Lib. VII, 168.) est venu au monde pour nous esc1airer. The same chapter contains two stronger metaphors warning the believer of the wiles of the Libertines. Chapter VII, on the language of the Libertines, includes four striking pejorative similes for the I E. Gilson, Introduction a['etude de saint Augustin (Paris, 1929), p. 102. Cf. also M. Dreano: ' L'Augustinisme dans l' Apologie de Raymond Sebond', in BHR, XXIV (19 62), pp. 559-'75.
IMAGERY
IMAGERY
Libertines, five less significant images in the same vein, and a further five common figurative expressions of the sort described earlier in this chapter. Calvin frequently uses what we must call, for want of a better word, trivialization, the reduction of an object's status or importance by the triviality of the symbol to which it is compared. To compare the Bible to fable or legend, for example, contrasts strongly with the respect due to Holy Writ. Calvin exploits this effect in two ways. Either the blasphemous nature of Libertine teaching is emphasized by the suggestion that the Libertines reduce Scripture to the level of idle tales:
A curious compound image compares the Libertine usage of the word esprit to the over-use of 'idols' by the Catholic clergy; in case marmousets does not provide sufficient denigration, an even humbler image is added:
144
Ceste secte se nomme des Libertins. Et contrefont tant les spirituelz, qu'ilz ne tiennent conte de la saincte parolle de Dieu, non plus que de fables. (Anab. VII, 53·) or, conversely, the heretics' lofty asseverations are reduced to old wives' tales: Pourtant de dire que Moyse n'eust enseigne Ie peuple d'Israel d'honorer et servir Dieu qu' a demy: c'est un blaspheme forge premierement des Papistes, et maintenant renouvelle de c£s povres phantastiques, qui prennent pour revelations du ciel toutes les fables qu'ilz ont ouy conter
aleurs grans meres.
, ( A n a b . VII, 95·)
145
Comme les curez de village font quelques fois servir un marmouset qui sera en leur paroisse, a cinq ou six sainctz, pour avoir autant :d'offrandes diverses: aussi ces rustres appliquent Ie nom d'esprit a tout ce que bon leur semble, pour en faire leur profit e~ toutes sortes: ou bien ilz en (Lib. VII, 176.) font une saulse commune a toutes viandes. In such cases as these the symbol of the image is relatively innocuous in itself, it provides no violent affective connotation. It does serve to reduce the tone to the level of petty material aspects of life, to the chicken-run or the kitchen, quite separate from the heights of spiritual doctrine. When the symbol itself contains a further element of, for example, deception, the effect is heightened. Such is the case with the theatre, one of the most natural fields from which to draw symbols representing the illusion and deception of false doctrine, and, more aptly still, the ceremonial aspects of Catholic practices. It is exploited liberally by Calvin, for example with reference to vestments:
This effect of trivialization is found frequently in Calvin's pejorative imagery. The Libertines' language is treated with as much respect as the chattering of birds:
D'une mesme forge est sortie sa tunique ... les mesmes acoustremens dont leurs Diacres se desguisent, en iouant leur personnage a la messe.
Les Quintinistes ont une langue sauvaige, en laquelle ilz gasouillent tellement qu'on n'y entend quasi non plus qu'au chant des oiseaux.
The Dutchman against whom Calvin wrote his last polemical treatise tried to twist the words of St. Paul, thereby falsifying the Apostle's teaching as well as his own:
(Lib.
VII,
168.)
The relics of the Crucifixion, which should be treated with the greatest veneration, are proved by Calvin to be spurious (too many different places claim to have them); Calvin therefore underlines the contempt due to such forgeries by the images he chooses in the following: Tout cela ne fait rien pour approuver que Iesus Christ ayt este crucifie avec quatorze cloux, ou qu'on eust employe une haye toute entiere a luy faire sa couronne d'espines; ou qu'un fer de lance en ayt enfante depuis troys autres, ou que son saye se soit multiplie en troys, et ayt change de fayon pour devenir une chasuble, ou que d'un suaire seul il en soit sorty une couvee, comme des poucins d'une poule. (Rel. VI, 4 28 .)
(Rel.
VI,
445.)
Par quoy que ce badin aille iouer sa farce ailleurs: composant ici un rolle a sainct Paul pour luy faire iouer un personnage, lequel ne luy pourroit (Resp. Hol. IX, 601.) convenir. More significant still, through the effect of contrast, is the likening of the Libertine attempt to reduce the Crucifixion to a purely symbolic act, to the treatment of the whole doctrine of the Incarnation as if it were a morality play: Mais Ie tout revient la, que ce qu'il [Jesus-Christ] a faict et souffert n'est qu'une farce ou une moralite iouee sur un eschafaut, pour nous (Lib. VII, 199.) figurer Ie mystere de nostre salut. 10
HSO
1%
IMAGERY
IMAGERY
The blasphemous nature of such a view is forcibly expressed, especially at a time when the theatre was considered to be so disreputable as to be practically banned from Geneva. I Another form of entertainment relying equally on deception is conjuring, which again provides many images: Mais Ie Prestre, a la fa~on des enckanteurs ou ioueurs de gobeletz, souffie (Pet. Tr. VI, 554·) sur Ie pain pour l'ensorceler. Ceux cy mettent peine non seulement a entortiller leur doctrine, en sorte qu'on n'y voye ne fin ne commencement: mais aussi a la tourner ~a et la, et faire des ioueurs de passe passe. (Lib. VII, 17 2.)2 A more direct form of attack is represented by images in which the symbols have unpleasantly pejorative implications, which are transferred to the substance. Denigration is achieved by an explicit or implied equation. The officers of a Jewish synagogue had never since the New Testament been held in high repute; the Anabaptists are ironically grouped with them in the following:
1~
nature imag~ry in the s~xte~nth century (see p. 124 above). Three popular tradItwns prOVIde Images which illustrate this: Illeur advient comme aux perdris: lesquelles pensent estre bien mussees ' quand elles peuvent trouver un trou pour fourrer la teste. (Nic. VI, 608.)1 Si nous som~es desi.a ~ntrez au Royaume de Dieu, quel propos y a il de nous en falre sortlr a la mort ou pour Ie moins, nous faire aller en reculons, comme les escrevices? (Anab. VII, 119.) Mais ~n diroit que c'est ~n Paon qui estend ses esles, quand il parle (Epis. Cord. VII, 351.) temeralrement des choses mcogneues. T?e inaccuracy of describing a crab's progress as en reculons is mInor.' b.ut scarcely S? the mention of a peacock's wings! Clearly ther~ IS lIttle observatI~n behind these images: but as popular conceptwns they serve theIr purpose well, by adding an element of the picturesque or the comic to the characterization of the opponents. In cases, however, where the animals are more common and less exotic, the pejorative element is uppermost:
Les principaux docteurs, et comme les patriarckes de toute la Synagogue, apres avoir bien ravaude, ont faict une conclusion finale.
I'appelle ~e bro~illon un coc~ a.l'asne, pource que les propos qui y sont tralctez, s entretlennent aUSSI bIen que crottes de ckievres. (Lib. VII, 226.)
Here the tone is almost jocular, in keeping with the irony of docteurs, ravaude, and the pleonastic conclusion finale. In other cases the effect is one of contempt:
The serpent has always served as a symbol for the Devil a connotation which adds force to the following: '
(Anab. VII~ 54.)
Voyla comment ce tavernier ou marmiton de cloistre [Cathelan was an ex-monk] a bien apprins a arguer. (Ref· Catk. IX, 135·) Ilz ont un gergon, comme gueux de l'kostiere, qu'on ne sait que c'est qu'ilz veulent dire, et aussi ne s'entendent-ilz pas. (Anab. VII, 53-54·) More debasing still than the association with human riff-raff in these examples is the association with animals. 3 Much of this imagery illustrates Dr. Coupland's remark on the unoriginality of See Jonker, G. D., Le Protestantisme et Ie theatre de langue franfaise au seizieme siecle (Groningen, 1939), pp. 193-202 . 2. Similar uses are by no means restricted to Calvin. Cf. Viret, Actes des Successeurs de Iesus Christ (Geneva, Giraud, 1554), p. 32: 'Ioindre maintenant les bras et puis les estendre, et les tourner et retourner plus I
habilement qu'un ioueur de passe-passe . .. '
3 The pejorative use of animal imagery appears to be a universal tradition: it can be seen in the Bible, in classical rhetoric (cf. Ad Herennium, IV, xxxix, 51), and in modern literature. (See G. O. Rees, 'Animal Imagery in Andre Malraux', French Studies, IX (1955), pp. 129-41.)
C'est signe d'une nature du tout perverse, quand un homme s'adonne ainsi a se plier ~a et la, comme un serpent, pour glisser des mains de ceux qui Ie pensent tenir. (Lib. VII, 170.) Similarly the ass represents stupidity: I~ touche ces choses en un mot, pour monstrer que ce vilain est autant dlgne de response que le cri d'un asne. (Ref. Catk. IX, 134.)
~ost.suitabl~ of all animals for human comparisons is the monkey, WIth Its quaSI-human gestures, yet without human intelligence:
Car ilz estoyent au paravant en ceste resverie, que c'estoit contre Dieu qu:un pasteur fust depute a certain lieu: mais vouloyent que tous ceux qUI seroyent en l'estat courussent d'un coste a l'autre contrefaisans les Apostres comme singes, et non pas comme vrays imita~eurs. (Anab. VII, 79.) I I fi?d no. ot~er trac~ of this c~rious trait more normally ascribed to the ostrIch, ~lth Just as htt~e truth In both cases. Guerlin de Guer (' Sur la l~ngue du PIcard Jean CalvIn', p. 309) cites this image as one of the indications of Calvin's familiarity with' les choses de la ferme'! 10-2
IMAGERY
IMAGERY
1~
For violence of pejorative effect the most notable members of the animal kingdom are the dog and the pig, and Calvin uses them for some of his most powerfully expressive images, to indicate contempt: Car il n'est pas
a moy
de faire taire tous les chiens qui abbayent parmi
le monde.
(Ref· Cath.
IX,
13 6 .)
(i.e. it is not his responsibility to silence the like of Cathelan); or to indicate disgust, by using the connotations of vulgarity, ignorance and indiscriminate destruction of the pig: Et pourtant ceux qui ne distinguent point cela, sont comme pourceaux qui renversent tout de leur groing, et font une confusion OU il Y avoit Ie plus bel ordre du monde. (Lib. VII, Ig0.)1 Both animals can convey intense disgust, as in the image Calvin borrows from 2 Pet. ii. 22: Les autres se revoltoient, comme chiens retournans pourceaux
a leurs fanges.
aleurs vomissemens, et
(Inst. 1541, p. xxxviii.)
Finally, on the limit of Calvin's polemical imagery are his most outspoken images, of the obscene, the filthy, and the immoral, containing all the violence of (usually gratuitous) associations of the worst kind: the robber and the prostitute: Ainsi ilz se cachent par astuce soubz ces ambages, comme brigans en leurs cavernes.
(Lib.
VII,
16g.)
On pourroit dire que les Messes qui se disent tant par les fallourdiers que par les chanoines et chapelains, et toutes celles qui sont fondees ala devotion d'un particulier, ... sont comme des putains de bordeau. La Messe parochiale est comme une paillarde, laquelle se couvre du nom de son mari pour se tenir en reputation de femme de bien. (4 Serm.
VIII,
385.)2
the drunkard and his vomit: En la fin, comme un yvrongne, apres avoir bien roUe, desgorge le villain brouet qui luy charge l' estomac: ainsi ces malheureux, apres avoir detracte de ce sainct estat que nostre Seigneur a tant honnore [i.e. magistrates], vomissent finalement a pleine gorge des blasphemes beaucoup plus desordonnes. (Anab. VII, 90 -1.) 1
A favourite image; cf. Anab.
VII,
98; Lib.
VII, 224;
Epis. Cord.
VII,
defecation and latrines: Apres avoir forge un Dieu aleur guise, qui soit comme une telle peinture pour cacher toutes leurs abominations: ilz forgent un Iesus Christ, au mesme moule, qui ne soit pas seulement comme un idole, faulsement esleve contre Ie Filz de Dieu: mais un sac de toutes villanies, et un retraict pour recevoir toute puantise.
(Lib.
VII, Ig8.)
and sewage: Ie ne saurois user de comparaison plus propre qu'en les accouplant avec les cureurs de retretz. Car comme un maistre Fifi, apres avoir long temps exerce Ie mestier de remuer l'ordure, ne sent plus la mauvaise odeur, pource qu'il est devenu tout punetz, et se moque deceux qui bouchent leur nez: pareillement ceux-cy, s'estans par accoustumance endurcis ademeurer en leur ordure, pensent estre entre des roses, et se moquent de ceux qui sont offensez de la puanteur, laquelle ilz ne sentent pas. (Nic. VI, 595.) The offence of the victims of the last comparison is in fact to have gone to Mass on Sunday: which illustrates the gratuitous denigration of some of Calvin's imagery.
*
*
*
There is little to comment on in the chronological development of Calvin's imagery. The characteristics of the images, and the methods of using them, remain basically the same throughout his work. One aspect, however, is of interest and may be best illustrated by an example. It has been seen 1 that Calvin sometimes uses the same image on several occasions, or the same symbol in various similar applications. In the earlier treatises these images are frequently used in the form of similes, and developed to produce the full affective force of the comparison. Thus the symbol of the gueux de I'hostiere is fully developed in Contre les Libertins: Comme les gueux de l'hostiere, qu'on appelle ont un gergon a part, qui n'est entendu que de leur confrairie: tellement qu'ilz trahiroyent un homme parIans en sa presence, sans qu'il s'en apperceust: aussi les Quintinistes ont une langue sauvaige,en laquelle ilz gasouillent tellement qu'on n'y entend quasi non plus qu'au chant des oiseaux. (Lib.
350; Resp. Hol. IX, 597·
The various modifications of this image are of course a commonplace throughout the Reformation period, and not only in French.
149
2
I
E.g. p. 148, n.
I,
VII,
168.)
and in the notes to the section on proverbial imagery.
150
IMAGERY
The sinister implications of this cryptic language, used by untrustworthy beggars to betray the innocent, are clearly brought out and transferred to the exalted language of the Libertines. In the same way the violent image of the drunkard as representing a blasphemer (p. 148) is developed at length. However fa:fetched the image may be intellectually, we are called on to aSSOCIate the statements of the Anabaptist with vomit, and the speaker with a drunkard in his cups. In such uses these images are full of significance. They stand isolated, and effective. The same symbols reappear in the Reforma- , tion contre Cathelan, in conjunction with another common expres-' sion found frequently in Calvin (d. p. 129 above): Et ce vilain gueux de l'hostiere, en routtant Ie vin qu'il a beu, cuide persuader que vessies sont nuees. (Ref· Cath. IX, 134·) In this example the' catchwords' of previous live similes have been used; but they have lost all their original force. The imagery here and in numerous similar cases has been schematized, and as a result it has been reduced to the level of simple vituperation, less dependent on precise implications and'i'more on outright ab~se. This in turn has another consequence, namely that the figuratIve, polemical expressions are far more concentrated here th~n i~ ~he earlier works: the ten columns of text in the Opera Omnza edItIOn of the treatise against Cathelan give as many examples of polemical imagery as twenty of Contre les Libertins. .The images are piled Ol~e on another in order to make up in quantIty what they have lost In individual force. This may indeed explain in part what Wendel says about the 1560 Institution: 'Bien plus lo~rdemen~ ~ue dans les premieres editions, il gratifie les adversanes des InjUreS les plus diverses et les plus malsonnantes, qui tranchent sur Ie reste de l'expose tres mesure et qui se voudrait scientifique.'I
IMAGERY
151
grotesque, or disgusting aspects of the symbols chosen are more important than the intellectual content: intellectually the retraict pour recevoir toute puantise has no connexion with the passage in which it appears, and the same is true of the yvrogne (in the examples on p. 148); uppermost are the feelings of disgust and revulsion aroused by the symbol, which Calvin expects the reader to transfer to the substance. In most cases there is a more organic reason for the image, it can be justified; but-and this is especially perceptible in the last examples given in our survey-the powerful affective connotations, lowering the subject under discussion to the level of the basest sphere of life, are the primary impression received by the reader. I This has two significant effects. First, the constant association of the adversaries with a variety of repulsive, or sometimes sinister, symbols serves to condition the mind of the reader to receive the intellectual arguments which Calvin subsequently presents. Without risking a direct accusation, Calvin sometimes implies an evil intention in his adversaries-as in the example from Contre les Libertins on p. 149. This, with its serious implication of treachery, is the first suggestion of the sort in the treatise, and, being indirect, does not necessitate proof from Calvin. A few lines later Calvin says directly: Or est il vray qu'ilz font cela par malice: par trahison.
afin de surprendre les simples (Lib.
VII,
168.)
The or est il vray prefaces an accusation for which no justification whatever has been offered: but the reader is already disposed to believe it because of the preceding figurative implication. Imagery may in this way be used as a valuable weapon of argument, in preparing the reader for the reception of Calvin's ideas. Secondly, Calvin is performing the twofold task of refuting false doctrine and replacing it by biblical truth: and this process, carried
'*' '*'
'*'
Various significant aspects of Calvin's imagery may now .be summarized. In his polemical imagery, the most outstandIng characteristic appears to be its associative function. Whereas in teaching images the intellectual content of the image was u~p~r most, or the element of biblical elevation of style, here the tnvlal, I
Calvin, p. 88.
I The distinction is that made by 1. A. Richards, Principles of literary criticism (2nd edit. London, 1948), p. 267: 'A statement may be used for the sake of the reference, true or false, which it causes. This is the scientific
use of language. But it may also be used for the sake of the effects in emotion and attitude produced by the reference it occasions. This is the emotive use of language ... We may either use words for the sake of the references they promote, or we may use them for the sake of the attitudes and emotions which ensue ... Usually references are involved as conditions for, or stages in, the ensuing development of attitudes, yet it is still the attitudes, not the references, which are important,'
152
IMAGERY
out by argument on the rational plane, is reinforced on an affective level by the dichotomy in his imagery. On the one hand we have the opponents and their doctrine, purely material in nature. Here metaphors are frequent: for one material object can rightly stand for and represent another material object. Not only so, but the materiality that Calvin implies throughout his pejorative imagery is a base and contemptible thing: the nature to which his adversaries are assimilated is essentially sinful, Fallen Nature. On the other hand the true doctrine is spiritual, transcendental, supernatural: it is given from above. It may sometimes be illustrated by similes, but its essence is above comparison with les choses d'ici-bas. The strict separation which Calvin establishes between the state of fallen human nature and the state of grace is thus found at all levels of Calvin's style. We have seen its influence on the vocabulary he uses, in the distinction between learned and popular words which reflects the different aspects of his subject; in the syntactic rhythms of his sentences, whether rhetorical or conversational; and here in the imagery, where the dichotomy has the additional function of extending the contrast bet~een sacred and secular to include a directly emotional element, and of supplementing the intellectual force of the argument by orientating the reader's feelings towards the desired response, especially in producing an almost physical revulsion from heretical teaching.
*
*
*
CONCLUSION IT H I N the total range of the resources of a language, every writer must make a selection, conscious or unconscious. He may tend to use words of a certain type in preference to other words-popular rather than learned, and so on; he may use certain constructions predominantly-personal rather than impersonal verbs, hypotactic rather than paratactic sentences, or co-ordinate rather than subordinate clauses; he may use metaphor rather than simile, he may invent images, or use wellknown figurative expressions current at the time. From the constant exercise of choices of this nature, a certain number of characteristics emerge as the basic elements of that author's style. These elements, however, do not exist in isolation: the style itself of a work of literature is the combination and organization of elements to form a structure or pattern. Depending on the consistency with which an author makes his various choices, the pattern will be clear-cut or indistinct; and, depending on how coherently the various stylistic elements are combined with one another, the pattern will be loose or close-knit, regular or irregular. The pattern of an author's style may be related to two things, the personality of the writer and the nature of the subject on which he is writing. One of the least unsatisfactory criteria of 'good style' and 'bad style' is perhaps that which establishes whether or not there is a discrepancy between these three elements, of style, personality, and subject.
W
*
*
*
In the case of Calvin's polemical treatises, this study has tended to show that the structure of his style is particularly strongly and formally delineated. This has been seen in his methods of argument, which rely extensively on the assembly and co-ordination of the data of various texts into a coherent, or seemingly coherent, pattern. It has been seen in his vocabulary, where definition and the use of Latin meanings give to the constituent parts of his argument a certain stability; and where certain words are restricted to certain contexts, and thus obtain their stylistic force partly from the setting off of the various levels against each other. In particular,
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Calvin's syntax is structured: his hypotactic sentence has form, usually binary, and his control of clauses, giving his sentences organization and direction, his use of connectives, and his constant exploitation of rhetorical techniques of rhythm and balanceall these basic elements give Calvin's prose a strong sense of pattern. At all levels of style-vocabulary, syntax, imagery-this structure has been shown to be hierarchical. On the one hand are passages in which Calvin is facing God, so to speak: his vocabulary relies heavily on biblical or devotional expressions and imagery; classical rhetoric provides harmonious rhythms and oratorical modulations of tone, elegant without ever becoming flamboyant, which present an image of dignity, sobriety, and simplicity. On the other hand Calvin writes of his opponents and of their doctrine in markedly popular language: the vocabulary is drawn from the indigenous stock of the common people, not the learned sources of scholarship; bizarre neologisms caricature them; the syntax is conversational, or broken and discordant; figurative colloquial expressions and vulgar images degrade them. These levels of style are remarkabl~ as an introduction into French of something like the classical distinction between oratio gravis and oratio adtenuata (in Calvin as in classical schemes there are naturally more than two levels: we are here looking only at the two extremes of his stylistic range). This in itself is not original to Calvin: although he is highly skilled in writing prose of various levels, he has of course been preceded by some writing in a high style, and by others writing in low style; and by Rabelais in both. What is significant, and perhaps unique for the period, is the way in which this hierarchy of styles is constantly exploited by the juxtaposition of different levels, so that the stylistic values of each are enhanced by the contrasts. The high style, if used uninterruptedly, has no particular importance; nor has a low style if it never deviates from its level. But the two in juxtaposition establish a structural relationship which gives stylistic meaning to each. The structure of Calvin's style is, however, limited in its scope. Certain areas of expressivity are frequently, and clearly, represented: the high and low styles just mentioned; the argumentative, lively style of debate; the disrupted style of indignation. But just as Calvin's images freque"ntly refer to black and white or light and dark, but almost never to colour, so also his stylistic structure
omits many areas of mood and expression. Appendix B gives some brief extracts from the works of some of the other most influential polemists in the French Reformation: Luther (in translation), Farel, Viret, and Marcourt; these illustrate some of the qualities of style which never appear in Calvin. Luther's human sympathy for suffering; Farel's personal expressions of horror; Viret's impertinent wit; Marcourt's Rabelaisian pleasure in grotesque collections of words-all these things, themselves limited enough in their range, lie outside the scope of Calvin's polemical prose. Here, stylistic elements which provide emphasis, which increase the impact of the statement on the reader, which evoke an ethical response-an attitude of prayer, or of righteous indignation -have often been singled out; but elements that might be called poetic, that, through a striking metaphor or an original use of words or rhythms, suddenly throw a new light on our experience of life, broaden our vision of the world-such elements have not appeared; and in his writings, the more human qualities of sympathy, of an understanding of human weakness, and of personal exhortation seem to be lacking. If Calvin's stylistic structure is limited, it is correspondingly all the more unified. A notable fact about his vocabulary is the absence of anything superfluous, anything which does not contribute to the immediate purpose; no colour is sought for its own sake (we may contrast Viret and Marcourt); the language is not diversified if a repetition of the same word will serve. But the stylistic effects are concentrated; the contrasts are exploited to the full between learned and popular vocabulary, between figurative and non-figurative language. And, also, the stylistic effects do not appear only at climactic moments or in 'purple passages'; they permeate the whole work. The methods of introducing arguments on one side or the other are used with complete consistency. The connectives in argument provide a closely knit series of steps which leaves no gaps, no loopholes. The opponents are steadily and systematically denigrated through derogatory images and descriptions. Throughout, there is a close relationship between the thought to be expressed and the expression of it. There is no question in Calvin of finding a conflict between content and style such as that of William Cowper's notorious' galloping lament': 'The poplars are felled, farewell to the shade ... ' The unity of thought and style, and the concentration of effects, make Calvin's
154
155
156
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
French outstandingly economical: every part has a function, there is no padding designed simply to attract or to entertain. Most clearly of all, Calvin's stylistic structure is stable, to the point of rigidity. The most striking feature of his use of vocabulary proves to be his use of definitions and other means for the stabilization of the meanings of his words. Adjectives which modify the sense of the nouns rarely appear: the nouns contain sufficiently a firm, definable reality which may be 'magnified' by emphasis, but not changed. The violent contrasts seen at all levels of stylefor example his use of tout and of negatives, and his predilection for antithesis-enhance the rigidity of the structure. Stability is likewise apparent in the fact that little change may be observed in Calvin's style during some twenty years of writing. His medium becomes more flexible-there are more derivatives, the syntax is freer and less complicated; the later works have become more violent because of the progressive devaluation of pejorative elements through over-use. But there is no radical change in the stylistic character of the later works, nor are there any significant added techniques. Any new creation is restricted to details within the general pattern mapped out in the .farly treatises. This stability and boldness of line is in large part the same thing as the clarity for which Calvin is pre-eminently noted. A structure like his, presented in terms of absolute contrasts, strongly articulated to show the clear pattern of thought, is a prerequisite for clarity. For in such a structure the thought cannot lose itself in vaguely defined ambiguous terms, imprecisely related to each other. Ideas become precisely outlined, definite, almost tangible. A structure which is hierarchical, limited but unified, and rigid: this is the overall effect of Calvin's polemical style. There is little of the warmth of human sympathy and feeling in these works. This sort of structure is at root an intellectual one; the various elements of style are all expressible in intellectual terms; there is no need for the poetic vision to be able to understand them. Yet emotion of a sort there certainly is. It might be called moral emotion; and it is essential to the impact of these works. For clearly total conviction-more than intellectual acceptance, rather an affective, emotional affirmation from the heart-is what Calvin demands from his readers. Thus the arguments are so organized that affective elements precede intellectual argument, and all ideas are 'processed' and emotionally prejudged by weighted introductions;
much of Calvin's imagery has as its major function the ascription of affective connotations to the subject of discussion; the constant use of questions insistently demands the reader's acquiescence in the argument. Integral to the whole structure of Calvin's style is the rhetorical need to move, to persuade the reader of the rightness of Calvin's cause.
*
*
157
*
The question was raised in the Introduction whether stylistic techniques found in Calvin are the result of conscious choice or not. Clearly every word and expression an author writes must be ultimately the result of a choice; but, just as clearly, in Calvin's case this choice has appeared so natural, so unstrained, that a conscious choice of 'techniques' to achieve his purpose must be rejected. A distinction between learned and indigenous vocabulary can be found, not because Calvin perceived the stylistic value of a separation of styles and then set out to establish one by these means, but because learned terms came naturally to him for the consideration of certain subjects, and just as naturally indigenous terms presented themselves for other subjects. His syntax owes much to classical rhetoric not merely because he had learned in school that, for example, by 'embellishing our style by means of this figure [antithesis] we shall be able to give it impressiveness and distinction'. I Far more it is that antithesis is a natural form for the expression of his thought. He does not choose the symbol of a sewer-cleaner in order to denigrate his opponents. He thinks of them naturally in such terms. Calvin's style at all levels is, in fact, a supremely natural one. He is obeying no external convention, and following no external criterion; he is not writing in terms of an imagined experience, but in terms of complete personal conviction. To him there is no artifice, no rhetoric in his prose: as he wrote in Contre les Anabaptistes (see p. 6 above), his only concern is for simplicity and clarity. Nevertheless his mode of thought, his way of approaching theological debate is such that the stylistic techniques and methods we have seen result naturally. In Calvin's case, a psychological approach to the study of style is justified by the completeness of the identification between the man and his stylistic method. Naturally the polemical works alone would be an insufficient I
Rhetorica ad Herennium,
IV,
xv,
21.
158
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
basis on which to attempt a full portrait of Calvin from stylistic data; but certainly some important aspects of his personality are illustrated here. In particular the quality of emotion seen in his style, the' moral emotion', is significant. Weare more accustomed today to emotions being aroused by personality than by ideas; but Calvin's very real emotion is stimulated primarily by ideas and doctrines; only secondarily does he attack the purveyors of those doctrines:
This consideration of the nature of truth in Calvin's eyes leads naturally to a study of the relationship between his style and his theological teaching.
Ie n'ay escrit aucune chose par haine a l'encontre d'aucun, m~is tousiours ay propose fidellement ce que i'ay estime estre pour la glO1re de Dieu.! The way in which abstract ideas are capable of arousing Calvin's emotions is linked to the clarity with which he conceives such ideas. The characteristic expression on voit l'oeil and its variants illustrate the way in which abstract ideas seem just as real and tangible to Calvin as concrete objects: one can as little dispute the truth of one as of the other. Calvin conceives the truth as being something definable, ordered, patterned: the structure of his style re~ects the ordered nature of his thought. There is no doubt, no mysfery, no flux. These are the terms of his theological knowledge:
a
11 y a un autre fantastique ... lequel ... dit qu'il ne faut point punir les heretiques, pource que chacun ameine telle exposition que bon luy semble sur l'Escriture, et que la verite est comme cachee dedans nuees obscures. Ainsi ce bon theologien aime mieux effacer la foy du coeur des hommes, que souffrir qu'on punisse ceux qui la renversent.. Car que~le religion demeurera plus au monde? qUelle marque y aura-d pour dIScerner la vraye Eglise? Brief, que sera-ce de Dieu et de Iesus Christ, si la doctrine est incertaine et comme mise en suspend? Et quelle opprobre fait-on a Dieu, en disant qu'il a tellement entortille son langage en l'Escriture saincte, qu'il ne s'est fait que iouer des hommes, leur tenant Ie bec en l' eau? Or si nous n'avons religion certaine et resolue en l'Escriture saincte, il s'ensuyvra que Dieu nous a voulu occuper en vain par ie ne say quelles fallaces, comme s'il nous parloit de cocquecigrues. (Declaration contre Servet, in Recueil des Opuscules, p. 1321.)2 1
From Calvin's last address to the pastors of Geneva, 28 April 1564,
Gp. omn.
IX,
893.
"
.
.
We may contrast the style, and the epIstemologIcal Ideas, of Montalgne : 'II n'y a aucune constante existence, ny de nostre estre, ny de celuy des objects. Et nous, et nostre jugement, et toutes choses mortelles, vont 2
159
'*' '*'
'*'
Calvin of course was not alone in the sixteenth century in holding that truth can be, and is, known. Luther held that the fears and doubts of the Christian are the direct work of the Devil; I the famous inaugural speech by Nicholas Cop to the University of Paris stated: ... Deus cum dubitatione coli non potest. Sumque ex evange1io in earn adductus opinionem, ut homini christiano nihil magis impium accidere posse existimem dubitatione. (Op. omn. xb, 34.) This sentiment of religious conviction was powerful enough to lead to nearly half a century of bloodshed in the French Wars of Religion. Nonetheless, in no one else did this absolute conviction of truth take the form of a doctrinal structure so firm and so extensively developed. Williston Walker's biography of Calvin has the significant subtitle: 'the Organizer of Reformed Protestantism'. The facts that Calvin provided the fullest and most coherent structure of doctrine of the Reformation and that he established in Geneva, and in France, a whole organized edifice of church government are other facets of the same theme of structure which we have identified throughout his prose style. Like his prose style, Calvin's theology may well be described as rigid in its structure, with its emphasis on the Law, on the righteousness of God, on eternal predestination. The legalism of his definitions is the same thing as the legalism of his doctrine on, say, justification. Just as his style hardly changed during the years of his ministry in Geneva, so his doctrine remains immutable. He intends the presentation of his teaching to be impersonal, just as the doctrine is absolute truth. Calvin, like Flaubert, might have coulant et roulant sans cesse. Ainsin il ne se peut establir rien de certain de l'un a l'autre, et Ie jugeant et Ie juge estans en continuelle mutation et branle.' (Essais, II, xii; ed. Belles Lettres, II, i, 399.) As a result Montaigne's style shows a characteristic desordre which is the expression of this flux. Cf. Floyd Gray, Le Style de Montaigne (Paris, 195 8), pp. 24 8-9. I Cf. Moore, La Reforme allemande et la litteraturefranfaise, pp. 116- 17.
160
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
said that his style was une maniere absolue de voir les choses; and yet, as with Flaubert, the imprint of his personality on his prose and on his ideas is none the less obvious. Again, the hierarchical nature of Calvin's style has a direct equivalent in the field of doctrine. In Protestantism, and in Calvinism in particular, the scale of values is weighted heavily in favour of the spiritual at the expense of the material. Just as Calvin's style reaches its heights when Calvin faces God, so also his doctrine lays stress on the total sovereignty of God, whose glory must be preferred to all human considerations. The central act of the religious life is the spiritual action of faith, not material works of any sort. Material elements are excluded from worship: there are no images, no statues in St. Peter's Cathedral at Geneva, only a pulpit and a table. Just as the things of the spirit may not be compared to human, worldly objects, so also worship is essentially a spiritual affair, devoid of physical gesture or of the 'theatrical' element of the Mass. On the other hand, the things of this world, the material side of life, are lowered in status. Man is totally depraved: not merely material, but degraded. The jaundiceq.yiew of life reflected in the fact that most of Calvin's imagery is made up of comparisons with basely material aspects of life, which have the specific effect of debasing and discrediting the substances of his images, may be laid alongside the attitude of Calvin to this life as a place of toil and suffering, of sadness, and of· conflict: a desert to be crossed, not the field of the Lord to be tilled. Calvin did not, of course, entirely deny the pleasures of life; the 1541 Institution mentions in its last pages the beauty of the flowers and of nature, and in Contre les Anabaptistes he calls total abstention from alcohol blasphemous. I But these things can never be more than minor, accessory pleasures, temporary encouragements, accidentals which must never interfere with the real business of life. 2 At root the relationship between the material state of man and the spiritual doctrine is expressed in these words from the Institution:
vile. Tellement qu'il ne nous reste rien de quoy nous glorifier devant Dieu, sinon sa seule misericorde : par laquelle sans que1que merite nostre, nous sommes sauvez. Ne envers les hommes sinon nostre infirmite c'est a dire, ce que tous estiment grande ignominie. Mais toutesfoi~ il fault que nostre doctrine consiste eslevee et insuperable par dessus toute la gloire et puissance du monde. Car e1le n'est pas nostre: mais de Dieu vivant et de son Christ: lequelle Pere a constitue Roy, pour dominer d'une mer a l' autre, et depuis les fleuves iusques aux fins de la terre. (Inst. 1541, pp. x-xi.)
Certes nous recongnoissons assez combien nous sommes povres gens et de mespris: c'est ascavoir, devant Dieu miserables pecheurs, envers les hommes contemnez et deiectez, et mesme si tu veux, l'ordure et ballieure du monde: ou si on peut encores nommer que1que chose plus I
Cf. Anab.
VII,
93.
2
Inst. 1541, p. 820.
161
The separation of styles reflects perfectly the separation between the material, degraded, fallen nature of this world and the purity and transcendental nature of the realm of the spirit. Finally, the blend of intellect, in the notion of structure, and of emotion, in the affective aim to which Calvin's style is directed, has its counterpart in the two aspects of his concept of theological truth. On the one hand the structure of doctrine is given , revealed , unquestionable. The rigidity of the doctrinal structure is partly a result of its irrational-or suprarational-origin: for since it is not a structure derived from human reason, but comes from the illumination of divine wisdom, it cannot be discussed or modified: it can only be accepted, or imposed. Thus no argument tells us of the truth of Scripture; it is self-evident. In the words already quoted: L'Escriture a de quoy se faire cognoistre, voire d'un sentiment aussi notoire et infaillible comme ont les choses blanches et noires de monstrer leur couleur, et les choses douces et ameres de monstrer leur saveur. (Inst. 1560; 1. vii. 2.) Yet Calvin goes on to add that, in terms of the individual, the truth of the Scripture needs the intervention of the Holy Spirit in order to penetrate to the heart: Ie respon que Ie tesmoignage du sainct Esprit est plus excellent que toute raison, car combien que Dieu seul soit tesmoing suffisant de soy en sa paralle, toutesfois ceste parolle n'obtiendra point foy aux coeurs des hommes si elle n'y est seelee par Ie tesmoignage interieur de l'Esprit. (Inst. 1560; 1. vii. +)
If the stylistic/doctrinal structure is autonomous and absolute, it must also have, simultaneously, not an intellectual, but a moral or emotional impact. The structure is a rhetorical structure, its aim is to convince, just as the essential message of Calvinist doctrine is II
HSO
162
CONCLUSION
to have faith. What, on the spiritual plane, is the action ofthe Holy Spirit, touching the heart, disposing the mind to believe, is, on the psychological plane, the function of the various stylistic techniques and qualities: opening a way by rhetoric for the penetration and triumph of the doctrine. The remark by Cazamian quoted at the beginning of this study is thus amply demonstrated: 'There never was a closer association of language and thought. The temper of the man and the doctrine of the teacher are woven with the instincts of the artist into an inseparable unity.'I This has been shown not only in terms of the structure of Calvin's thought and doctrine, already familiar in part to most writers on Calvin; but also in terms of the place of the emotions in Calvin's thought and in his style, and of the hierarchy of reality in relation to the separation of styles in his work, which have not before been the subject of comment. The relationship between personality, doctrine, and style, forming a classic example of Spitzer's 'philological circle', is intimate indeed.
*
*
*
One final point may be made. Critics have frequently characterized the major contribution of Calvin to French literature as being his clarity, his syntactic structure, and a certain classical element: Objectivite dans la visio~, humilite de l'expression, simplicite, equilibre et purete de la pensee; sobriete, mesure, c1arte du style. N'est-ce pas la tout l'ideal vers lequel tendra Ie c1assicisme du dix-septieme siec1e?2 With most of this we may agree, though with reservations about the objectivite dans la vision, unless by that is meant the impersonality of Calvin's conception of his doctrine. But to this summary we may add that, in Calvin's polemical works, the point of view may be described as specifically modern. The contrast is exemplified by a comparison of two attitudes towards relics. In 1517-18 Cardinal Luigi of Aragon travelled through Germany, the Low Countries, France and Upper Italy; and in the course of his journey many cases were found of two or I
A History of French Literature, p. 71.
2
L. Wencelius, 'Le Classicisme de Calvin', in Hum. et Ren. v (1938),
P·24S·
CONCLUSION
163
more churches claiming to possess the same relics. The chronicler of the journey, Antonio de Beatis, frowns on the confusioni ed ambiguita caused by these reduplications; but lays stress on the devotional value of relics, and concludes that the situation must necessarily be tolerated. I In contrast, the Traite des Reliques views the same abuse in the clear light of everyday realism, and rejects false relics as the frauds that they are; there is no mystery of devotion here, only the factual world of scientific truth and falsehood. 2 Similarly, the Legenda aurea, the favourite popular reading of many generations before and during the sixteenth century, is accepted and approved despite the known fact that it is in large part legend. It may not present facts; but it does demonstrate an attitude of mind and an ideal of piety and asceticism which has devotional value. In the Calvinist view of life, this attitude is regarded as vague religiosity, and must be replaced by factual knowledge; Crespin's Actes des Martyrs, with its much more realistic description of the lives of the Protestant heroes, is the Reformation equivalent. In the same way, throughout Calvin's works, the clearly delineated structure of his thought and style is suited to the treatment, not of attitudes of mind or of the mysteries of the faith, but of 'stubborn and irreducible facts'. In his works is illustrated the movement away from a concept of knowledge as it has been enveloped in disputation and teaching (both forms of dialogue belonging to a personalist, existentialist world of sound) toward a concept of knowledge which associated it with a silent object world, conceived in visualist, diagrammatic terms. 3 A whole range of values is lost to thought by this reduction; but at the same time, this 'visualist, diagrammatic' structure has been at the root of modern thought ever since. The word devotion becomes a term of mockery; but the spirit which imbues Calvin's I V. Die Reise des Kardinals Luigi d'Aragona durch Deutschland, die Nederliinde, Frankreich und Oberitalien, 1517-1518, beschrieben von Antonio de Beat~s, .ed. and translated L. Pastor (Fre~burg i. B., 1905), pp. IS6-'7.
2 ThIS IS not to say, of course, that all WrIters before Calvin were overcredulous in their attitude to relics-one has only to think of Chaucer and hi~ 'pigge~ bones '. But it is true that relics were frequently treasured for theIr devotIOnal value even though their authenticity was questionable: it is this that Calvin cannot accept.
3
Ong, Ramus, Method, and the Decay of Dialogue, p.
lSI.
164
CONCLUSION
structured prose appears' in Pascal, demanding that the word suffisante in la grace suffisante should mean what it says, and not need to be supplemented by la grace efficace; I or the same Pascal making factual observations with his primitive barometer for the Traite du Vide. 2 And, ironically, the background to much of the thought of the eighteenth-century philosophes is a very similar approach to reality: J'avoue qu'un ~tre qui existe que1que part et qui ne correspond a aucun point de l' espace; un ~tre qui est inetendu et qui occupe de l' etendue; qui est tout entier sous chaque partie de cette etendue; qui differe essentiellement de la matiere et qui lui est uni; qui la suit et qui la meut sans se mouvoir; qui agit sur e1le et qui en subit toutes les vicissitudes; un ~tre dont je n'ai pas la moindre idee; un 1hre d'une nature aus."i contradictoire est difficile aadmettre. 3
The modernity of Calvin's prose has often been noted from a linguistic viewpoint. We may add that his style and method, the quality of his thought and its expression, are likewise modern, in the type of structure which they show, in what is included in that structure, and in what is omitted. Ind~ed, Calvin's style not only illustrates the emergence of modern thought forms; it may be claimed that the style which we have been studying was itself instrumental in the establishment of those forms. V. the Seconde Provinciale. (Euvres, ed. Brunschvicg and Boutroux, vol. II (Paris, 1908 ), pp. 5II sqq. 3 Entretien entre d'Alembert et Diderot, in (Euvres completes de Diderot, vol. II (Paris, 1875), p. 105· I
2
APPENDIX A CALVIN'S READING PUBLIC our study of Calvin's style we have tried to imagine the effect his writings may have had on his public. Exactly what that public was, from what classes of society it came and what its educational level was, deserves some examination. Historical works on the period provide several analyses of the class structure of the Reformation, and no more than an outline of their general conclusions is needed here. I On many points the authorities are agreed. In the period in question, the aristocracy took little part in the Reformation; the court is described as frivolous (Calvin more than once denounces the 'protonotaires damereaux, ou autres muguetz et mignons de court' (Astrol. Iud. VII, 540)), the rural aristocracy as notoriously ignorant. There were of course exceptions: Margaret of Navarre, Renee of Ferrara long corresponded with Calvin: and Kingdon shows a surprisingly high proportion of noblemen among the missionaries sent from Geneva during the years 1555-63. In the early days of the Reformation in France the most generally agreed fact is the adhesion of a great number of artisans to the Reformation; all the authorities give impressive lists of trades represented in heresy proceedings, in executions, in immigration to Geneva, in the missionaries sent out from Geneva. 2 On
I
N
I The most exhaustive survey of the relevant period (1540-6o) is that of P. Imbart de la Tour, Les Origines de la Reforme (Paris, 1905-35), vol. IV, pp. 219-65. This work may be compared with L. Romier, Le Royaume de Catherine de Medicis (Paris, 1925), vol. II, pp. 241-300, which is mainly concerned with the three years before the outbreak of the Wars of Religion, but which is also valuable in indicating the situation some time earlier. Cf. also H. Hauser, Etudes sur la Reforme franfaise (Paris, 1909), and R. M. Kingdon, Geneva and the coming of the Wars of Religion in France, 1555-1563 (Geneva, 1956). 2 1mbart de la Tour, writing of heresy trials around the year 1540, mentions: 'Charpentiers, tonneliers, tisserands, couturiers, cloutiers, crocheteurs, potiers d'etain, fourreurs, pelletiers ... tous lesmetiers defilent devant Ie pretoire. lei, petits boutiquiers, gens etablis, connus, ayant pignon sur rue et enseigne notoire; Ht, simples compagnons ou apprentis, population nomade, qui va de ville en ville et meme de pays en pays, cherchant du travail et en rapportant les idees nouvelles.' (Les Origines de la Reforme, IV, 255.)
1 APPENDIX A
APPEND IX A
the other hand, the peasants were never involved to any great extent, except when later some followed their aristocratic leaders into the Reformation movement. There is less agreement on the status of the professional classes in the Reformation. There seems little doubt that the higher reaches of most milieux at the time showed little sympathy: in the Church, in the administration, in financial circles, in the senior members of Universities, there is little sign of adherence to the Reformation proper. But, in all these cases, the lower ranks were much more accessible to the Reformation doctrines: the parish clergy, especially the rural clergy, and some of the regular Orders; magistrates and lawyers in the provinces; and students, especially in Law and Medicine, turned to Geneva with enthusiasm and in considerable numbers. However, some variations appear in more precise statements by the historians about these classes. Romier writes of 'les classes moyennes, ou la doctrine de Calvin avait trouve ses adeptes les mieux prepares et les mieux instruits', I and says later:
de la Tour is writing of les premiers adeptesde la foi nouvelle, the people converted not so much to Calvinism as to the earlier Reformation movement; while Romier shows the situation as it had developed by the end of Calvin's life. Secondly, as both Romier and Imbart de la Tour indicate, there was a considerable cleavage between those who adhered fully to the Reformation, and those who, while accepting Reformation teaching, remained as far as possible en cachette: in fact the Nicodemites attacked by Calvin; and in the ranks of the bourgeoisie these latter were far more frequently encountered. From this brief survey it appears that a considerable proportion of the converted and explicit followers of Calvin were in fact relatively unlettered. Numerically the largest group in the Reformed church at the time of Calvin's main work was that of the artisans. These were followed in numerical importance by the lower levels of the professions, lawyers, doctors, chemists, and schoolmasters. Thus, insofar as Calvin was directing his writings towards those who were already in the Reformed church, he would have been addressing primarily the petites gens mentioned by Imbart de la Tour. At the same time, however, he was making an appeal to the higher levels of the bourgeoisie, and to the aristocracy; but in the bourgeoisie, he very soon had to deal with people who had received a classical education (for example among the lawyers); and the challenge of Nicodemisme also faced him in these groups. This distinction is reflected in the treatises, where two groups of subjects are found: on the one hand the theological treatises, written against heresies or heretics-Contre les Anabaptistes, Contre les Libertins, Epistre contre un Cordelier, Reformation contre Cathelan, Response a un Holandois; on the other the Nicodemite group, consisting of the Petit Traiie, Excuse aux Nicodemites and the Quatre Sermons. In the first of these groups, the treatises are written for, and directed to, the converted, the faithful. Frequently they are written at the request of a Church or of individuals in need of guidance (for example the Response aun Holandois is dedicated aux fideles du Pays Bas who had sent Calvin a translation of the Dutchman's work; the Epistre contre un Cordelier is addressed atous ceux qui craignent Dieu en la ville de Rouen). In these cases Calvin is clearly concerned to give guidance to the less educated members of the Church: he wrote the Epistre because, he says, i'ay entendu qu'il y en a aussi
166
Instruite dans les universites, habituee a la critique et a l'interpretation des textes, et en general fort lettree, cette b~urgeoisie formait l'elite intellectuelle de la nation ... et peut-etre aussi elite morale: ses besoins religieux et sa maniere de vivre, en des villes paisibles, s'accordaient parfaitement avec l'esprit de Calvin. Celui-ci n'etait-il pas issu d'un milieu de ce genre? 2 Imbart de la Tour, on the other hand, summarizes his survey thus: Desservants, moines, etudiants, petits regents, maitres d'ecole ou praticiens, compagnons, et avec eux les epouses, les soeurs, les :filles de ces artisans qui les suivent dans les assemblees secretes, au tribunal, et meme au bucher, tels sont les premiers adeptes de la foi nouvelle. Par la s'affirme son caractere democratique, et s'expliquent aussi ses allures libres, ses negations radicales, l'esprit farouche de son proselytisme ... Religion de petites gens, diront Ie roi et ses conseillers. 3 The difference between these two points of view is illuminating in two ways. First, it is to some extent the difference between 1535 and 15 60 : we might almost say before and after Calvin. For Imbart I 2
Le Royaume de Catherine de Medicis, II, 2 69. Ibid. II, 2 8 3. 3 Les Origines de la Rejorme,
IV,
264·
167
168
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX A
aucuns simples qui sont abusez en luy [Ie Cordelier]. More particularly, he says in the introduction to Contre les Anabaptistes:
account of Nicodemus after the death of Christ (Nic. VI, 608-9), ~ith its use of the historic present and its series of parallel sentences, IS more refined than the racy narratives we find in the treatises against heretics (cf. pp. 90-92 above). One passage in the Excuse aux Nicodemites is particularly striking for its literary qualities. Calvin appeals to various professional groups to stop toying with the Gospel and to declare themselves openly; and the words in which he does so are metaphors from their own ways of life:
Ie proteste donc, que mon intention est seulement de remonstrer en brief a tous povres fideles, qui sont rudes et sans lettres, queUe et combien dangereuse poison c'est que la doctrine des Anabaptistes. (Anab. VII, 50.) Thus, whatever other groups may have been potential readers, Calvin's main aim was to be comprehensible to the lowest social level of the Reformed Church: those who, while able to read, had little else in the way of schooling, and certainly no formal training in rhetoric or logic. Abstract thought and argument would not have been the way to convince them. Significantly, it is in Contre les Anabaptistes and Contre les Libertins, the two most important treatises of this group, that we find the most extensive use of nontheological means of persuasion. The second group, the Nicodemite treatises, were written to a wider, and better-educated, public: not so much to the converted as to the waverers. In the Excuse aux Nicodemites I Calvin gives a survey of the principal groups of people, he has in mind-a survey which accords very well with the findfngs of the historians. He divides the Nicodemites into four groups: ecclesiastics, secular and regular; les prothonotaires delicatz . . . les mignons de court, et les Dames qui n'ont iamais apprins que d'estre mignardees (i.e. the Court and the Royal administration); the gens de lettres, in which he includes the professional classes; and the marchans et Ie commun peuple, who, however, are not so affected by Nicodemismed'autant qu'ilz ont plus de simplicite et de rondeur, que ceux qui i'ay recitez cy dessus, et pourtant n'ont point de cavillations pour resister a la verite. (Nic. VI, 601.) Thus here Calvin is no longer concerned exclusively with the povres jideles, qui sont rudes et sans lettres, but with men with some literary and intellectual training. How much difference does this wider public make to Calvin's writing? To what extent does he adjust his style to his readers? And is there any difference in his method? As regards style, certain differences exist. Calvin seems on occasions to have taken a little more literary care over his writing: the I
Nic.
VI,
597-60 2.
169
Ie les prie: si ce sont advocatz, qu'ilz ne prenent point une cause si ruineuse a defendre, de laquelle ilz ne puissent avoir autre fin, que d'en tomber en confusion. Si ce sont iuges: qu'ilz ne s'ingerent point de prononcer sentence sur la parolle de Dieu, laquelle n'est pas subiette a leur iurisdiction: mesme, que se defians d'eux mesmes et se tenans po~r suspectz en propre cause, ilz se deportent d'en iuger: mais qu'avec cramte et reverence ilz s'en tiennent a l'arrest que Dieu Ie souverain iuge en aura donne. Si ce sont medecins, qu'ilz n'appliquent point d'emplastres superflues et de nul profit pour cacher Ie mal, qui ne se peut guarir qu'en Ie descouvrant. Si ce sont philosophes ou dialecticiens, q~'ilz ne convertissent point, a colorer Ie mensonge, les sciences que Dleu a revelees au monde afin de les faire servir comme aydes et instrumens ala verite: et ne pensent point que la verite de Dieu, que l' escriture appelle invincible, soit si foible, qu'ilz la puissent en la fin opprimer par belles apparences de raisons, ou subtilite de subterfuges. (Nic. VI, 600-1.) T?e elegance of such writing, which might be lost on les petis, mIght certainly be attractive to the elite intellectuelle de la nation. On the other hand, there is no pandering to the tastes of the cultured bourgeoisie in these treatises. The Excuse aux Nicodemites begins with the image of maistre Fiji quoted above, p. 149. There is no adjustment of his doctrine or alteration in his point of view when he writes for more cultured and elegant eyes.. He may introduce the occasional literary refinement, like that just quoted; but basically his message remains single and uncompromising.
*
*
*
APPENDIX B
APPENDIX B THE STYLES OF OTHER REFORMATION POLEMISTS HE quotations which follow are in no sense an anthology of Reformation literature. Four short passages have been chosen from the works of Luther, Farel, Viret, and Marcourt respectively; they are not intended to show the whole range of style of the authors in question, but rather to illustrate certain qualities which are absent in Calvin's polemical works. For comparison, an extract from Calvin's treatises accompanies each example: in each case the subject is more or less the same, so that the contrasts of style show more clearly. . 1. Luther. I The following extract is taken from the Antzthese de la vraye et faulse Eglise . . .Par M. Luther [Geneva, 1545]:
T
Car nous sommes tous les iours contraintz qe voir devant nos yeux, noz povres paroissiens et leurs enfans, avec aut;es plusieurs semblables au povre Lazare, endurer tellement la faim, qu'on ~e voit p~us rien e~ eu: que les os, ou pour Ie plus, a grand peine ont I1z du pam et de I ea~e pour substenter leur vie, et sont si tres apovres que c'est beauco~p s'l1z peuvent avoir une petite loge, pour se cacher au couvert. Les cltoyens, bourgeois, et laboureurs n'ont pas un soult. Les gentilz hommes, ne r [B. 2 .] sont que pour prendre Ie bien d'autruy. Luther is evoking the reader's pity for the plight of the faithful; he harps on the pathetic elements-the starved appearance, all skin and bones, the lack of shelter, the lack of money; the concer.n is for the simple, bodily needs of the faithful, and the passage IS imbued with a sense of pity for their suffering, strong even in translation. Luther's religion leads him to champion the cause of social justice. . In the Petit TraiU, Calvin declares that the duty of the faIthful is not to hide their belief, but to reveal and preach it. He then cites a possible objection: For a fuller examination of Luther's style, see Moore, La Reforme allemande et la litthature franfaise, esp. pp. 110 sqq. On this particular treatise, a translation of Wider Hans U"'orst, v. ibid. pp. 300-5. I
171
Que adviendroit il si chascun se vouloit declairer pour servir aDieu purement? Ie respons en un mot: que s'il plaisoit aDieu, il s'en pourroit ensuyvre beaucoup de persecutions: et que les uns seroyent contrainctz de s'en fuyr, quittans tous leurs biens, les autres seroyent monstrez au doigt, les autres mis en prisons, les autres banniz, les autres mesme laisseroyent la vie. I'entens, comme i'ay dict, si Dieu Ie permettoit. Mais nous devrions faire cest honneur a Dieu, de luy commettre ce qui en pourroit advenir: esperant qu'il y donneroit tel ordre, que Ie mal que nous craingnons n'adviendroit pas. (Pet. Tr. VI, 570-1.) Calvin cannot promise that persecutions and the like will not take place. They will if it is the will of God. And, in this case, the Christian should not flee from them. Remorselessly and without emotion, Calvin lists the possible sufferings that the faithful may have to endure if they follow his advice-the repeated les autres emphasizes the element of enumeration, of unflinching statement of the facts. The concern here is quite different from Luther's; whereas Luther wrote of the povres paroissiens, Calvin writes to an army receiving its marching orders; as he says later, 'la gloire de Dieu, de laquelle il est icy question, nous doit bien estre plus precieuse que ceste vie caduque et transitoire: qui n'est a dire vray, fors qu'une umbre.' (Pet. Tr. VI, 576.) 2. Farel. I Le Glaive de la paroUe veritable, tire contre Ie bouclier de defense . .. (Geneva, 1550), is a reply to a Libertine writer who may be the same monk as the one that figures in Calvin's Epistre contre un Cordelier. Certainly the doctrines mentioned in both texts are similar; so a close comparison is possible. For example, Farel describes the Libertine teaching about the cuider (cf. Lib. chap. XII): the basis of sin is presumption, the presumption that our actions are our own, rather than being entirely the will of God; the Christian is regenerate, that is, he acknowledges that he himself is powerless. This extreme quietism has obvious moral consequences. Farel sums up the teaching; then: Or ne passeray ie plus outre pour en reciter d'avantage: car horreur me prend de ce qui s'ensuit: et testifie n'avoir iamais ne leu, ny ouy, et n'eusse iamais pense telz propoz, et ne pense point que iamais il soit advenu, ny ait este fait, comme il escrit. Or au nom de Dieu priez 2 ceux (p. 4.) qui ont este abusez, qu'ilz advisent aces parolles. I For further comment on Farel, see Guillaume Farel, 1489-1565; Biographie nouvelle ecrite d'apres les documents originaux par un groupe d'historiens, professeurs et pasteurs . .. (Neufchatel and Paris, 1930). 2 priez may be a misprint for prie.
APPENDIX B
APPENDIX B
Farel's reaction to the doctrine is a personal one: he describes his own feelings. He makes no attempt to evoke the same feelings in the reader, but simply says' I have never heard anything like it'. The only stylistic effect which does strengthen the general impression is that of the broken, almost uncontrolled syntax-ne leu, ny ouy, et n'eusse iamais pense . .. et ne pense point que iamais . .. By its sheer lack of art, by the naivete of the structure, the sentence adds to the effect of horrified amazement which Farel is trying to characterize. The emotion is there, but no rhetorical means of expressing it. Calvin summarizes the same doctrine, and reacts thus:
at~acks of the Reformation writers. Here is part of a comment by Vtret on these unscriptural traditions:
172
Ie vous prie, cest orgueilla ne merite il point d'estre note a part, quand l'homme, qui n'est qu'un vers de terre, monte sur Ie siege de Dieu pour exercer sur les ames la iudicature qu'il se reserve a luy seul? D'autre coste, quand ce brouillon a bien gazouille pour faire semblant de vouloir glorifier Dieu, Ie tout revient la, que nous recognoissions tout estre bien fait, d'autant que c'est Dieu qui fait tout: et que souz ce manteau toute abomination soit couverte, et que toute ordure soit trouvee de bonne odeur. Brief, que Dieu soit Ie maquereau des paillardz, Ie recelleur des larrons et meurtriers: qui sont blasphemes si espovantables, que toute ,? (Epis. Cord. VII, 361.) creature en doit trembler. The intention is the same-the evocation of pious horror. But, instead of the naive statement of his own horror that Farel gives, in prose which seems almost to lose control, Calvin's reaction is expressed in controlled rhetorical terms; the contrasts with which we are familiar appear, such as vers de terre/Ie siege de Dieu; Dieu/ maquereau. Calvin does not describe his own reaction: he attempts to evoke one in the reader (blasphemes si espovantables, que toute creature en doit trembler). And the theological reason is kept permanently in view: the analogies and similes are constantly characterizing the precise doctrine under review. On the other hand, the personal element in Farel's reaction-the horror he himself feels, and the personal appeal to those who have been led astray-is missing. Farel's prime concern seems to be not so much with the doctrine as with the people who may be deluded by that doctrine; the converse seems to be true of Calvin. 3. Viret. I The element of gesture and ceremonial in the celebration of the Mass was frequently the object of the satire and the I Cf. G. Busino and P. Fraenkel, 'Rediscovering the minor Reformers: Towards a reappraisal of Pierre Viret?' in BHR, XXIV (1962), pp. 611- 19.
173
~r que diroit maintenant S. Paul, s'il entroit en une eglise, et qu'il ouyst la chanter en langage que nul d'entre Ie peuple ne puisse entendre: ... qu'il veist ce mommon iouer alentour d'une oublie, comme un chat avec ~.me souris: faire la Ie marmiteux comme un crocodile, qui ploure quand d veut manger un homme, et puis Ie devore: prendre ce pain, frapper co.ntre sa p~ictrine, comme estant bien marry: l' appeller Agneau de ~leu,. et pUlS Ie manger, et se faire donner a boire apres. Que pourroit ICY dIre ~n personnage qui n'auroit iamais veu tels tournoyemens, et tels tordlOns, ne telle farce? Ne pourroit-il pas bien dire, Ce povre Agneau n'a garde de devenir mouton, car ce loup l'a mange?I
The images of acting-mommon, iouer, farce-are typical of the subject and period; but Viret adds the comic images from the animal kingdom-the cat playing with a mouse, the tears of the crocodile. As with similar images in Calvin's works, these are drawn from a common stock rather than invented; but their comic value, in contrast to the supposed solemnity of the ceremony, is great. Viret can also exploit the rhythm of a sentence for stylistic purposes: after the mock-serious frapper contre sa poictrine, comme estant bien marry, he ends the sentence abruptly with et puis Ie manger, followed by the colloquial se donner boire apres: the most solemn ceremony of the Church is reduced to a snack. Finally, there is the height of impertinence in the last sentence, with its cle,:er allusion to the Agneau de Dieu in relation to the loups ravzssans frequently met in Reformation polemic. The intention is specifically a comic one: the rite is being attacked as false, but the weapon used is ridicule. Viret makes the reader laugh. This is Calvin's version of the same theme:
a
[Jesus-Christ] adiouste que nous celebrions son Sacrement en memoire de luy, annonyant sa mort avec louange et action de graces. Comment cela se peut il faire en la messe ou il n'y a point un seul mot intelligible, mais tout se fait et dit en langue incongneue? D'advantage c'est a nous que Iesus Christ s'adresse, en nous promettant la communion de son corps, quand il nous donne Ie signe du pain. En la messe il n'y a rien de tout cela. Mais Ie Prestre, a la fayon des enchanteurs ou ioueurs de gobe1etz, souffle sur Ie pain pour l'ensorceler. Que pensons nous que I Des Actes des vrais successeurs de Iesus Christ et de ses Apostres . .. (Geneva, 1554), pp. 32-33.
APPENDIX B
APPENDIX B
cela vaille? Brief, tant s'en faut qu'il y ait aucune similitude entre la messe papale et la Cene de nostre Seigneur, que Ie iour n'est pas plus contraire a la nuict. Que peut ce donc estre de l'adoration qu'on fait la au pain, que idolatrie execrable, voire plus lourde et plus sotte que iamais il n'y en a eu entre les Payens. (Pet. Tr. VI, 554·)
des corps, des ames, et esperitz des vivantz, des mortz, des biens visibles, et invisibles, du ciel, de la terre, et des enfers, des viandes, des temps et iours, de mariage, de vestemens, rasures, oinctures, accoustremens, de bulles, de pardons, indulgences, remissions, dossemens, autres reliques et rogatons, expectatives, dispences, exemptions, de sacremens, et sainctes oeuvres de Dieu. De pain, de vin, dhuyle, destouppes de laict, de beurre, de fromage, deaue, de sel, de feu, de fumigations, ceremonies, encensemens, chansons, melodies, de boys, de pierre, de confrairies, inventions, traditions, loix, impostures, et sans nombre de telles choses, par lesquelles ilz scavent merveilleusement bien tirer argent, dont Ie paovre peuple est tant abisme, tant ronge, tant devore, et de son Dieu (A. 6r-6v.) si eslongne, quil nest possible de Ie croire.
174
Here the subject, and even the images from the world of entertainment, are similar. But the spirit of the passage is quite different. Calvin is establishing the contrast between the Mass and the Lord's Supper which is the basis of the Petit Traite: the attack is a doctrinal one, and he never loses sight of the doctrinal basis of his argument. His images are not in themselves intended to produce amusement; they correspond to, and supplement, the 'doctrinal' reaction he seeks. That reaction is indignation (idolatrie execrable, voire plus lourde et plus sotte . .. ), where Viret was content with ridicule. 4. Marcourt. I Marcourt's polemical writings are mostly of an earlier date than those of Farel and Viret; the style of his pamphlets is therefore different. He seems to have specialized in the ambiguous title-Le Livre des marchans, fort utile a toutes gens pour cognoistre de queUes marchandises on se "Joit garder destre trompe; Petit traicte tres utile, et salutaire de la saincte eucharistie de nostre Seigneur Jesuchrist; Declaration de la messe, Ie fruict diceUe, la cause, et Ie moyen, pour quoy et comment on la doibt maintenir-more current before the definitive split between Rome and Reform than after it. The content of his works is however far from ambiguous: the notorious Placards of 1534 are derived from the Petit Traicte de la saincte eucharistie, which thus contributed towards the definitive division in the Church. 2 The Livre des Marchans is also outspoken, although throughout the image of the merchant is maintained: Et pour bien dire, ces bons marchans, de tous autres sont differentz: car on nen voit gueres quilz ne soyent contens de quelque train: les unz de draps: les autres de bestiail, aucuns de soye ou de metaulx, les autres de pain ou de yin. Mais ceulx icy, tout en un coup, ont tout ravy, pour toutes choses mettre en vante: cest un monde que de leurs cas, rien ne leur est eschappe, dequoy a leur plaisir nayent marchande: voire dhommes, de femmes, de petitz enfans, naiz et non point encore naiz: I
Cf. G. Berthoud, Marcourt et Rabelais (Paris, 1929)·
See R. Hari, 'Les Placards de 1534', in Aspects de la propagande religieuse (Geneva, 1957), pp. 79- 14 2 . 2
175
In the first edition of this book, in 1533, the author was given as the sieur Pantopole, prochain voisin du seigneur Pantagruel; and in later, augmented editions, like the 1544 edition from which this quotation is taken, Rabelaisian elements in the language are numerous. I Here, for example, the effect is close to that of some of Rabelais's enumerations. The attack concentrates on the superficial level of abuses found in sixteenth-century· church life; and, even more than with Viret, it depends on linguistic or stylistic effects. There is no great literary effort (the use of de in the list appears arbitrary); but the sheer weight of enumeration is the main factor in the effect. Elsewhere it is the play on words which Marcourt exploits: Et Ie paovre simplicien tout simplement, sen va chanter Ie De fructu a la grande sorte. Et les marchans de gringoter, puis apres de grignoter, et de rire, et de galler ... Dieu scait quelle menee, et comme telz marchans fructiers fructifient Ie tout au proffit de leur table ... Ainsi scavent finement ces bons marchans, par fines finesses, en affinant fructifier ... 0 fins (B.7v-8r.) fructiers. [my italics.] The doctrinal content is small; but Marcourt uses language with comic intentions, to discredit his adversaries. This particular sort of technique we hardly find in Calvin's work: attacks on abuses of this sort appear not as the main point of his writing, but only as accessory to it; and the cumulative effect of Marcourt's list is not economical in stylistic terms, in the way that Calvin's writing has always appeared to be. I See G. Berthoud, 'Le Livre des marchans d'Antoine Marcourt et Rabelais', in Franfois Rabelais, ouvrage publit! pour le quatrieme centenaire de sa mort (Geneva, 1953), pp. 86-92.
176
APPENDIX B
Calvin makes reference to the financial motives of the Roman clergy either in violent images (the putain is a common symbol here) or in brief allusions, one of which we have already seen in part: Leur intention est d'abuser de I'Evangile, et s'en servir a faire un maquerellage, pour leur gaigner quelques benefices, ou remplir leur bourse, comment que ce soit ... II est bien vray, que tous ne se peuvent pas avancer egalement, d' autant que les uns marchent plus grans pas que les autres. Mais celuy qui ne peut attraper une crosse aspire aun priore ou une cure. II y a aussi des moines, qui se contentent bien d'avoir grasses questes et bons repas, par faute de mieux. (Nic. VI, 597.)
The tone is much more serious-the action here is qualified as a maquerellage. But Calvin's own brand of humour, or sarcasm, appears too, in the ironic, concrete pictures he gives of a race-les uns marchent plus grans pas que les autres-or of a grasping freefor-all-attraper; and the final sarcasm against monks who se contentent with a large income and high living, . .parfaute de mieux, adds to the ridicule. N onetheless, thi~. is really secondary to the main contention of the passage: thtt perspective in which the sarcasm is set places the Gospel in the forefront: the pecuniary activities of the adversaries are to be condemned because it is an unworthy, or blasphemous, use of the Gospel for private means. This perspective is not expressed in the Marcourt passage. Instead, we are simply presented with a lively picture of the abuse itself. And the absence of perspective makes it all the more possible for Marcourt to be amused, and to amuse his reader. We can laugh at the fins fructiers who fructijient Ie tout au proffit de leur table; but those who abusent de l' Evangile, et s' en servent faire un maquerellage, pour leur gaigner quelques benefices, can only be condemned with indignation by the faithful.
a
*
*
*
BIBLIOGRAPHY' A. Editions of Calvin's works used: In sections A and B, I give library shelfmarks for sixteenth-century editions. Abbreviations are: BM: British Museum BG: Bibliotheque publique et universitaire, Geneva MHR: Musee historique de la Reforme, Geneva Opera quae supersunt omnia, ed. Baum, Cunitz, Reuss, 59 vols., Brunswick, 1863-19°0. Institution de la religion chrestienne: en laquelle est comprinse une somme de piete, et quasi tout ce qui est necessaire a congnoistre en la doctrine de salut. .. [Geneva,] 1541, re-ed. A. Lefranc, 2 vols., Paris, 191 I. Institution de la religion Chrestienne. Nouvellement mise en quatre Livres: et distinguee par Chapitres, en ordre et methode bien propre: Augmentee aussi de tel accroissement, qu'on la peut presque estimer un livre nouveau . .. Geneva, 1560; ed. J.-D. Benoit, 5 vols., Paris, 1957-63. Recueil des Opuscules, c'est a dire, Petits Traictez de M. lean Calvin. Les uns reveus et corrigez sur le Latin, les autres translatez nouvellement de Latin en Franfois. Geneva, 1566. BM. L. 19. M. 4. Theological Treatises, translated and ed. by J. K. S. Reid, Library of Christian Classics, vol. XXII, London, 1954. La Bible Franfaise de Calvin, ed. Reuss, 2 vols., Paris, 1897.
B. Other sixteenth-century texts used: CASTELLIO, S. Traite des Heretiques. A savoir, si on les doit persecuter, et comment on se doit conduire avec eux, selon l'avis, opinion et sentence de plusieurs auteurs, tant anciens que modernes, ed. Olivet, Geneva, 19 1 3. Epistre Chrestienne aux Freres Mineurs, de lordre de S. Francoys. En laquelle est briefvement et fidelement exposee la regle desdictz freres, par quelcun iadis de leur estat: maintenant de Iesuchrist. [Geneva,] 1540 (bound with the Confession de Beda) MHR. D. Marc. 3. FAREL, G. Le glaive de la parolle veritable, tire contre le Bouclier de defense: duquel un Cordelier Libertin s'est voulu servir, pour approuver ses fausses et damnables opinions. Geneva, 1550. BG. Res. Bc 1200. [FAREL, G.] Summaire et briefve declaration daulcuns lieux fort necessaires a ung chascun chrestien, pour mettre sa confiance en dieu, et ayder son prochain. Turin [Basle], 1525. BM. C. 37. a. 21. Re-ed. Piaget, Paris, 1935. 12
HSO
178
BIBLIOGRAPHY
LUTHER, M. Antithese de la vraye et faulse Eglise extraicte d'un livre envoye au Duc de Brunsvic. [Geneva, 1545.] BG. Be. 3373 Res. [LUTHER, M.] L'alcoran des Cordeliers, tant en latin qu'en Franfois: c'est a dire, la mer des blasphemes et mensonges de cest idole stigmatize, qu'on appelle S. FranfDts, recueilli par Ie Docteur M. Luther, du livre des Conformitez de ce beau S. Franfois, imprime a Milan l'an M.D.X., et nouvellement traduit. Geneva, 1556. BG. Ba 3624. Despite the title, the real author was Erasmus Alberus (v. Moore, La Riforme allemande et la littbature franfaise, pp. 416- 17). MARCOURT, A. Le livre des marchans, fort utile a toutes gens, pour cognoistre de quelles marchandises on se doit garder destre trompe . .. [Geneva,] 1544. MHR. D. Marc. I. [MARCOURT, A.] Declaration de la Messe, Le fruict dicelle, La cause, et Ie moyen, pour quoy et comment on la doibt maintenir . .. [Geneva, 1544.] BG. Be 3367 Res. BM. 701. b. 24. - - La confession et raison de lafoy de Maistre Noel Beda, Docteur en Theologie et Sindique de la sacree Universite a Paris: envoyee au treschrestien Roy de France, Francoys premier de ce Nom. [Neuchatel, c. 1534.] (bound with the Epistre aux Freres Mineurs) MHR. D. Marc. 3. BM. C. 53. a. 29. VIRET, P. Dialogues du desordre qui est a present au monde, et des causes d'iceluy, et du moyen pour y remtdier ... Geneva, 1545. BG. Be 3411. - - Remonstrances aux fideles, qui conversent entre les Papistes: et principalement ceux qui sont en court, et qui ont offices publiques, touchant les moyens qu'ilz doivent tenir en leur vocation, a l'exemple des anciens serviteurs de Dieu, sans contrevenir a leur devoir, ny envers Dieu, ny envers leur prochain .. . Geneva, 1547. BG. Res. Bd.1466. - - Le Requiescant in Pace de Purgatoire, fait par d£alogues, en maniere de devis . .. Geneva, 1552. BG. Res. Be 1207. BM. 3902. aa. 56. - - Des Actes des vrais successeurs de Iesus Christ et de ses Apostres, et des apostats de l'eglise Papale: contenans la difference et conference de la saincte Cene de nostre Seigneur, et de la Messe .. . Geneva, 1554. BG. Be 3097 Res. - - Le Monde a l'empire et Ie monde demoniacle, fait par Dialogues . .. Geneva, 1561. BG. Be 876. BM. 719. d. I.
a
C. Secondary Sources: An exhaustive list of general studies of Calv in's life and works is not given here. Full lists will be found in the bibliographies of Erichson (before 1900) and Niesel (19°0-1959). The few biographies listed are intended as illustrations of the range of possible attitudes to Calvin, from Cadier's admiration to Zweig's violent attack.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
179
AUERBACH, E. Mimesis: dargestellte Wirklichkeit in der abendliindischen Literatur, B.erne, 1946, trans. Willard Trask, Princeton, 1953. BAINTON, R. M'lchel Servet, hbetique et martyr, 1553-1953 (THR, VI), Geneva, 1953. BARNAUD, J. Pierre Viret, sa vie et son ceuvre Saint-Amans 19 11 BENOIT, J.-D. Calvin, directeur d'ames, Stras'bourg, 1947.' . BERTHOUD, G. Marcourt et Rabelais, Paris, 1929. BERTHOUD, G. AND OTHERS. Aspects de la propagande religieuse (THR, XXVIII), Geneva, 1957. BOISSET, J. Calvin et la souverainete de Dieu, Paris, 1964. BOSSERT, A. Calvin, Paris, 1906 . BOSSUET, J.-B. Histoire des variations, 2 vols., Paris, 1688. BREEN, J. Q. John Calvin: a study in French Humanism Grand Rapids Mich. 1931. " - - 'John Calvin and the Rhetorical Tradition' in Church History, XXVI (1957), 3-21. BRUNETIERE, F. 'L'CEuvre litteraire de Calvin' in Revue des Deux Mondes Oct. 1900, pp. 898--923. Reprinted in Histoire de la littbatur; franfaise classique, Paris, 19°4-8, i, 193-23°. BRUNOT, F. Histoire de la langue franfaise, vol. II, 3rd edit. Paris, 1947. BUSSON, H. Les Sources et Ie developpement du rationalisme dans la littbature franfa'lse de la Rena'lssance (1533-1601), Paris, 1922 . CADIER, J. Calvin, l'homme que Dieu a dompte, Geneva, 195 8 . CHAIX, P. Recherches sur l'imprimerie Geneve de 1550 1564 (THR, XVI). Geneva, 1954. CHATELAIN, H. 'Le Style de Calvin', Foi et vie, Oct. 1909. [CICERO] Ad C. Herennium de ratione dicendi, Loeb Classical Library, London, 1954. Comite Farel: Guillaume Farel, 1489-1565: biographie nouvelle ecrite d'apres les docum.ents originaux par un groupe d'h'lstoriens, professeurs et pasteurs de Suzsse, de France et d'Italie, Neufchatel and Paris, 1930. CRESSOT, M. Le Style et ses techniques, 4th edit. Paris, 1959. CRUVELLIER, A. Etude sur les predications de Calvin, Montauban, 18 95. DE VOOGHT, P. Les Sources 1e la doctrine chretienne, Bruges, 1954. DOUMERGUE, E. Jean Calvzn: Les hommes et les choses de son temps 7 vols., Lausanne, 1899-1927. ' - - L'Art et Ie sentiment dans l'ceuvre de Calvin, Geneva, 1902. - - Le Caractere de Calvin, 2nd ed. Neuilly, 1931. ERICHSON? ~. Bibliographia Calviniana. Catalogus chronologicus operum Calv'lm. Catalogus systematicus operum quae sunt de Calvino cum indice auctorum alphabetico, Berlin, 1900. FAGUET, E. Le Seizieme Siecle, Paris, n.d.
a
a
12-2
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
FAVRE-DoRSAZ, A. Calvin et Loyola, deux reformes, Paris, 1951. FRAPPIER, J. 'A propos de l'esthetique de Calvin' in Bulletin de la Faculte de Lettres de Strasbourg, XVII (1938-<), 77-85. GILBERT, N. W. Renaissance Concepts of Method, New York, 1960. GILSON, E. 'La Technique du sermon medieval' in Les Idees et les Lettres, Paris, 1932, pp. 93 sqq. Glossaire dictionnaire des locutions obscures et des mots vieillis qui se rencontrent dans les muvres de Jehan Calvin, Paris, 1855. GOUMAZ, L. La Doctrine du salut d'apres les Commentaires de Jean Calvin sur le Nouveau Testament, Nyon, 1917. GRAY, FLOYD. Le Style de Montaigne, Paris, 1958. GROSSE, K. 'Syntaktische Studien zu Calvin', Archiv fur das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen, LXI ( 1879), 243-<)6. GUERLIN DE GUER, CH. 'Sur la langue du Picard J. Calvin' in Le Franfais moderne, V (1937), 3°3- 16. HAASE, F. 'Syntaktische Notizen zu Jean Calvin', Zeitschrift fur franzosische Sprache und Literatur, XXII (1900), 193-23°. HAUSER, H. 'The French Reformation and the French People in the XVIth century', American Historical Review, IV (1899), 217-27. - - Etudes sur la Reforme franfaise, Paris, 1909. HUGUET, E. Etude sur la syntaxe de Rabelais comparee tl celle des autres prosateurs de 1450 tl 1550, Paris, 1894:1" - - 'La Langue familiere chez Calvin' in RHLF, XXIII (19 16), 27-52. - - Dictionnaire de la langue franfaise du seizieme siecle, in progress, Paris, 1925- . - - Le Langage figure au seizieme siecle, Paris, 1933. - - Mots disparus ou vieillis depuis le XVIe siecle, Paris, 1935. HUNT, R. N. C. Calvin, London, 1935. IMBART DE LA TOUR, P. Les Origines de la Reforme, 4 vols., Paris, 19051935, esp. vol. IV: Calvin et l'Institution Chretienne. JAUJARD, G. Essai sur les libertins spirituels de Geneve, Paris, 1890' Journal de Geneve, 11-12 July 1959, special issue on Calvin, incl. Calvin Prosateur by M. Raymond. KINGDON, R. M. Geneva and the Coming of the Wars of Religion in France, 1555-1563 (THR, XXII), Geneva, 1956. LANSON, G. L'Art de la prose, Paris, 1908. LARWILL, P. H. La Theorie de la traduction au debut de la Renaissance (d'apres les traductions imprimees en France entre 1477 et 152 7), Munich, 1934. LEFRANC, A. La Jeunesse de Calvin, Paris, 1888. - - 'Jean Calvin et Ie texte fran<;ais de son Institution Chrhienne', in Grands ecrivainsfranfais de la Renaissance, Paris, 19 14, pp. 30 5-86 . - - 'Calvin et l'eloquence fran <;aise, in BSHP, LXXXIII (1934), 173-93·
LENIENT, C. La Satire en France ou La Litterature militante au seizieme siecle, Paris, 1866. LEONARD, E. G. AND OTHERS. Calvin et la reforme en France, Aix-enProvence, 1944. MANN, M. Erasme et les debuts de la Reforme franfaise (1517-1536), Paris, 1934. MARMELSTEIN, J.-W. Etude comparative des textes latins et franfais de l'Institution de la Religion Chrestienne par Jean Calvin, Groningen and the Hague, 1921. MAROUZEAU, J. Precis de stylistique franfaise, 4th edit. Paris, 1959. MOORE, W. G. La Reforme allemande et la litterature franfaise, Strasbourg, 1930. NEALE, J. E. The Age of Catherine de Medici, 2nd edit. London, 1957. NEVE, J. 'Proverbes et neologismes dans les sermons de Michel Menot', in R. XVI, VII (1920), 98-122. NEWPORT, J. P. An investigation of factors influencing John Calvin's use of the linguistic and historical principles of Biblical exegesis (unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, Edinburgh, 1953). NIESEL, W. Die Theologie Calvins, Munich, 1938. Trans. H. Knight, London, 1956. - - Calvin-bibliographie 1901-1959, Munich, 1961. ONG, W. J. Ramus, Method and the Decay of Dialogue, Harvard V.P., 195 8 . PANNIER, J. Calvin ecrivain, sa place et son role dans l'histoire de la langue et de la litterature franfaises, 2nd edit. Paris, 1930. - - Recherches sur la formation intellectuelle de Calvin, Paris, 1931. PETIT DE JULLEVILLE, L. Histoire de la langue et de la litterature franfaises des origines tl 19°°; vol. III: Le Seizieme Siecle, Paris, 1897, pp. 31949· PLATTARD, J. 'La Procedure au XVIe Siecle d'apres Rabelais' in R. XVI, I (19 13), 28-49· - - ' L'" Institution chrestienne" de Calvin, premier monument de l'eloquence franc;aise', RCC, annee 37, 1935-6, I, 495-510. - - 'Le "beau" style de Calvin' in Bulletin de l'association Guillaume Bude, LXII (1939), 22-<). RAMEE, P. DE LA. La Dialectique(1555), ed. M. Dassonville(THR, LXVII), Geneva, 1964. RICHARDS, I. A. Principles of Literary Criticism, 2nd edit. London, 1948. RILLIET, J. Calvin 15°9-1564, Paris, 1963. ROMIER, L. Le Royaume de Catherine de Medicis, 4th edit. 2 vols., Paris, 1925. RUFF, H. Die franzosischen Briefe Calvins: Versuch einer stylistischen Analyse, Glarus, 1937.
180
181
182
BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. La Langue de Rabela£s, 2 vols., Paris, 1922-3. R. A. Style £n French Prose, Oxford, 1953. SAYOUS, A. Etudes Utter-aires sur les ecrivains franfais de la reforme, 2nd edit. 2 vols., Paris, 1854, i. 67-180; ii. 349-86. SMALLEY, B. The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages, 2nd edit. Oxford, 195 2. STAUFFER, R. 'Les Discours ala premiere personne dans les sermons de Calvin', in Revue d'histo£re et de ph£losophie religieuses, XLV (1965), 46-7 8. STUREL, R. Jacques Amyot, traducteur des Vies paralleles de Plutarque, Paris, 1908. TAVARD, G. H. Holy Church or Holy Writ, London, 1959. TILLEY, A. The Literature of the French Renaissance, 2 vols., Cambridge, 19°4·
SAINEAN, SAYCE,
TRENEL,
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L'Ancien Testament et la langue franfa£se du Moyen Age,
Paris, 19°4. WALKER, W.
John Calvin: The organizer of Reformed Protestantism,
New York, 1906. Evolution et structure dela languefranfaise, 5thedit. Berne, 1958, pp. 163-6. WENCELIUS, L. L'Esthetique de Calvin, Paris, 1937. - - 'Le Classicisme de Calvin', Hum. et Ren. V (1938), pp. 231-46. WENDEL, F. Calvin, sources et evolution de sa pensee religieuse, Paris, 1950. WILLIAMS, G. H. The Radical Reformation, London, 1962. WARTBURG, W. VON.
ZWEIG, S.
Castellio gegen Calvin oder ein Gewissen gegen die Gewalt,
Vienna, 1936.
INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES DISCUSSED IN THE TEXT The spelling throughout is as found in the treatises, except that initial i and j have been differentiated
abomination, 5 1 absinthe, 57 absouldre, 49 acception, 51 accessoire, 49 accorder ses fleutes, 128 achopper, 51 adiourner, 50 adiurer, 51 n. advocat, 49 aenigme, 61 affection, 48 affinite, 48 ahurter, 58 allegation, 50 alleguer, 50, 94 aloine, 57 altercation, 50 ame, 73 s'amender, 49 amorse, 134 anathematizer, 52 antiquailles, 65 apostume, 140, 141 appetit, 48 appoinctement, 50 approuver, 66 arguer, 93 arracher la pain des mains, 134 arrest, 50 article de foi, article de loi, 49 asne, 147 assavoir, 93 asseoir iugement, 50 attribuer, 55 auctorite, 55 aveugles conducteurs desaveugles, 139
badaud, 78 bailler, 56 bastelerie, 65, 66 battre l'eaue, 131 belistre, 53 bende, 58 bender les yeux, 135 blaspheme, 52, 54 bonte, 52 bouclier, 77 au bout de son role, 130 bouteille d'eaue, 135 bracquemart, () 1 la bride sur le col, 129 brigand, 148 brouillasser, 79 cacher, 57 caffard, 64, 65 calumnie, 95 captivite, 52 cause, 50, 169 cautele, 50 cavillation, 50, 96 charnel, 52 la charrue devant les beufz, 127 chemin de vie, 125fi., 139 chien, 148 clarifier, 5 1 n. clerc d'armes, 129 cliquets de moulin, 127 cofre, 138 colorer, 50, 68-69, 169 combat, 62 comparoistre, 50 competer, 49 se complaindre, 50
184
INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES
concupiscence, 52 condamner, 50 conference, 63, 66 confesse, 54 confesser, 52 confirmer, 54 conquester, 59 conscience, 74 consentir, 54 consolation, 52 constance, 54 contester, 50 contracter, 50 controversie, 59 contumace, 50 contumelie, 59 convoitise, 48 coq a l'asne, 129, 147 correspondant, 49 cottation, 79 couleur, 50, 68 coulpable, 50 coupper broche, 56, 131 coussin, 136 se couvrir, 69 cracher contre son nez, 128 crever les yeux, 135 crottes de chievres, 147 cuider, 171 cupidite, 48 cureur de retretz, 149 dedier, 51 n. deduire, 49 definir, 49 delinquent, 50 delivrer, 52 demener, 67 denoncer, 50 deschirer, 136 desnicher, 56 destourber, 59 devot, devotion, 68, 77, 16 3 diabolique, 52 difficulte, 54 diligent, 48 discretion, 5 1
distinguer, 49 docilite, 79 dormitoire, 60 ecervele, 53 embabouiner, 53 emplastre, 169 empoisonner, 140 endurer, 51 n. engraver, 62 enquerir, 49 escorce, 133 escrevice, 147 espece, 48 espier, 56 esprit, 74 essence, 48 essorber, 60 estre, 96, 102 excommuniment, 59 executeur, 49 exhorter, 52 expose", 55 expositeur, 52, 105 fable, 144 facetieux, 79 faire le vaillant, 54 falsifier, 19n. fantasie, 96 farce, 145, 173 faribole, 64, 65 festin, 64 fierte, 79 firmament, 59 fiageller, 52 fiaterie, 79 foi, 52, 74 un fol ne doute de rien, 126 fontaine, 137, 140, 141 forcenerie, 79 forclore, 50 forfaire, 50 forger, 68 fouler aux pieds, 136 fourmillere, 64, 66 fraude, frauduleux, 50 frustratoire, 50
INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES
garnement, 53 gasouiller, 68, 144 gaudisserie, 79 gemissement, 52 genre, 60 gergon, 58, 68 glace, 133 gratter la rogne, 131 guarir, 58, 169 gueux de l'hostiere, 146, 149-50 harengere, 136 hastivete, 59 haut Allemant, 129 heritage, 49 icelui,4 n . idolatrie, 54 ignorant, 48 imagination, 63, 66, 96 immacule, 52 impetrer, 49 implorer, 52 impollu, 79 imprudence, 48 incident, 49 indifferent, 63, 66, 67 induire, 49 infirmite, 5 1 inhumain, 48 inquisition, 49 inspiration, 66 instrument, 49 intendit, 50 invader, 59 item, 90 se jeter hors des gons, 129 n . jouer du rebec, 128 jouer une farce, 145 jouer un personnage, 145 joueur de gobeletz, 146 joueur de passe passe, 146 juge souverain, 50, 169 justijication, 52, 75 ladre, 141 laver les mains, 130
legitime, 49 lequel, 4n., 1I8 liquide, 63, 66 livre des quenouilles, 128 maistre Fiji, 149, 169 malegrace, 59 malheurte, 59 manigance, 64, 65 marmiton de cloistre, 146 marmouset, 145 mauvaistie, 59 mediateur, 51 mediter, 48 mensonge, 19n., 169 menterie, 79 menteur, 19n. mescontentement, 62 mettre en barbe, 131 mettre la main a la paste, 127 minute, 67 miroir, 133 mommon, 173 monstre, 68 moralite, 145 moyen, 67 moyenneur, 49 musser, 57, 147 mystere, 145 nager entre deux eaues, 128n. nature, 48 nourrisse, 138 obiecter, 50 octroyer, 49 onc, 59 ordonnance, 49 ordure, 53 paon, 147 papiste, 61 particulier, 49, 50 partie, 49 passer procuration, 49 patriarche, 146 peaux de veau, 129 n. peche originel, 75
185
186
INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES
INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES
penitence, 75 perdition, 5 I perdrix, 147 perfection, 75 perseverer, 52 peste, 140 phantastique, 95 pierre, 133 plaider, 49 poiser, 58 pouacre, 53 poucin, 144 pourceau, 148 pourtant, 99, 104 pratique, 50 preferer, 55 preiudicier, 50 probation, 66 procedure, 50 proces, 50 propriete, 48 providence, 76 puante bouche, 53 puissance, 55 putain, 148, 176
revoquer, 50 robbes blanches, 136 role, 145
uller avec les loups, 126 usque ad vitulos, 130 usurper, 55
sac mouille, 69, 129 n. sacrifice,s I saulse, 145 seduire, 19 n. sentence, 50, 169 sepulchre, 138 serpent, 127 n ., 147 siege iudicial de Dieu, 49 signification, 49 similitude, 49 singe, 147 soi,4 n . soleil, 87, 139, 143 se soliciter, 52 souspefonneux, 79 subsister, 48 substance, 48 superstitieux, superstition, 67 suPpostt77 symbole, 62 synagogue, 146
vanterie, 79 vehemence, 48 verisimilitude, 62 verite, 48 vermine, 53
qualite, 48 querimonie, 50 en la queue gist le venin, 126 qui, que, 118
tabernacle, 5 I tavernier, 146 temerite, 55 tesmoing, tesmoignage, 49 testification, testifier, 49 timide, 62 tirer, 56 torcher la bouche, 130 touasse, 53, 58 tout, 71-72, 156 transaction, 50 transgression, 5 I transir, 56 translater, 79 transpercer les coeurs, 137 a travers des maretz, 13 1 tribulation, 5 I tripotaige, 53 tronc de bois, 133 trousser ses quilles, 130 se truffer, 60 tyrannique, 54
rabaisser le caquet, 131 ravauder, 64, 146 reconcilier, 5 I reconforter, 52 redarguer, 79 refrain de leur ballade, 128 n. regeneration, 52, 76 regimber contre l'esperon, 15, 137 reiection, 62 rembarrer, 79 remede, 52, 140 renverser avec le groin, 57, 148 repliquer, 50, 93, 94 rescinder, 50 respondre, 94 retourner leur robbe, 128 n. retraict, 149, 15 1
vessies de belier, 129, 150 vocable, 49 vocation, 67, 76 voir a l'oeil, 134, 158 volerie, 65 voltiger, 65 yvrogne, 79, 148, 150, 151
187
GENERAL INDEX
GENERAL INDEX
Corneille, 65 correctio, 104-5 Coupland, R., 123, 124, 146 Crespin, J., 163 Cruvellier, A., 132n.
Bold figures denote main entries abuse, see denigration accusative and infinitive, I 18 adjectives, 70-71, 80, 81, 156 agreement of participles, 100 Agricola, Rudolph, 45 Anabaptists, 14, 16, 17, 19, 33, 35, 36, 4 1-42, 55, 68, 136 anacoluthon, 91 analogy and example, 26-28, 32,4°, 87, 141-2, 172 antithesis, 87-88, 119,136, 156, 157 apodosis, 86 archaism, 4n., 59-60, 79, 80 argument, syntax of, 88, 92-107, I I I, 120, 154 articulus, 108 astrology, 21, 56, 132 Auerbach, K, 99 n. Augustine, 15, 73n., 142 austerity, see sobriety Bainton, R. H., 142n. Baum, J .-B., 84n., 119 Beatis, A. de, 163 Benoit, J.-D., 12n., 3In., 40 Berne, 90 Berthoud, G., 174n., 175n. Bible, see Scripture binary sentence, 86-88, 98, 101,154 Bloch/Wartburg, 51 n., 57n., 61 n., 64, 77, 79 Boccaccio, 92 Boisset, J., 43 Bossert, A., 29 n., 133 n. Bossuet, 3 n. Breen, J. Q., 45n., 104 n . brevity, see economy Brueghel, 139 Brunetiere, F., 3n., 47 Brunot, F., In., 57n., 58n., 59n., 61 n., 65, 118n.
Buffon,9 Busson, H., 18n. Calvetti, C., 43 Castellio, 13, 84, 85 Cathelan, 16, 56, 78, 90, 121, 130, 132, 148 Cazamian, L., 3, 9, 162 Chaix, P., In. Chaucer, 163 n. Cicero, 2, 6, 45, 75 n ., 98, 105 clarity, 2, 14,47, 50, 58, 62, 65, 67, 80, 89, 99- 100, 132, 133-5, 15 6 , 158, 162 colloquial and conversational elemeqis, 2,4,55-56, 66,72,79, 81, 89, 91, 92, 94, 116, 119, 120, 121, 123, 126-32, 154, 173 colour, 154 comma, 108, 120, 169 common sense, see reason connectives, 85, 98-100, 1°4, II I, 113, 116, 117, 119, 120, 154, 155 Consecration, Prayer of, 101 contempt and ridicule, 21, 22-26, 56, 66, 89, 92, 106, 121, 128-9, 13 1, 132, 144, 146 , 152, 173 contextual argument, 33-36, 4 1, 44, 153 contrast, see polarization Contre l'Astrologie Iudiciaire, 13, 14, 15, 21-22, 108 Contre les Anabaptistes, 12, 14, 16, 42, 48n., 55, 108, 160, 167-8 Contre les Libertins, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19,22,3 0-32,34,37-39,4 8n ., 51, 58, 7 1, 74, 76, 94, 96, 102, 108, 143, 149, 167-8 control of form, 84-86, 98-99, 100, 119, 154, 162 Cop, Nicolas, 159
Dassonville, M., 45n., 46n. definitio, 73 definition, 33,36-39,41, 73-76, 153, 156, 159 denigration and abuse, 53, 148-9, 150, 155 denunciation, 88, 108-11 De Scandalis, I I, 139 Descartes, 2, I 19 n. Devil, 16, 19, 20, 38, 73, 1°3, 114, 159 devotional vocabulary, 52, 77, 81, 154 dialogue, 30-3 I, 92-94 Diderot, 164n. dignity, 2, 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 59, II I, 114, 120, 150, 154 direct speech, 2, 9I, 92-94 disjunction, 1°9, 119 disruption of syntax, 1°9, 114, 117, 119, 154 Doumergue, E., Ion., 84n. Dreano, M., 143n. Du Bellay, 59, 126 Du Fail, N., 132 economy and brevity, 2, 69-72, 80, 81-82,89, 117, 121, 141, 155, 175 Epistre contre un Cordelier, 13, 97, 108, 167, 171 Erasmus, I 19 n. Excuse aux Nicodemites, 12, 13, 14, 15, 4 8n ., 7 8 , 167-9 exegesis and hermeneutics, 16, 32-41 exhortation, 52, 88, 111-15, 120, 143 exposition, 15-17, 88-92, 106, 121 extent of vocabulary, 69-70 Faguet, E., 3 n.
189
Farel, G., 53, 77n., 83, 84 n ., 115, 13 6n ., 155, 170, 17 1-2, 174 Flaubert, 9, 159-60 Geneva, In., 62, 90, 146, 159, 165, 166 Gilson, E., 73n., 107n., 143n. Godefroy, F., 60 Goumaz, L., 49 n. Gray, Floyd, 159n. Grosse, K., 4 GuerlindeGuer,Ch·,4,57 n .,147 n . Haase, F., 4 Hari, R., 174n. Hauser, H., 165n. Herennium, Rhetorica ad, 92n., 104n., 108n., 109n., 112n., 121 n., 157n. hermeneutics, see exegesis Huguet, K, 4,57, 68n., 99n., 118n., 123-4, 126, 130 n. humour, 3,7-8,22-26,147,173-4, 175 Imbartde la Tour, P., I65n., 166-7 impersonality, 97, 115, 122, 155, 159, 162, 171 impersonal verbs, 96-97 indignation, 71, 108-10, 114, 120, 122, 129, 13 6 , 154, 174, 176 Institution, I, 2, 4, 5} 10, 12n., 29, 35, 43, 45, 47, 51, 58 n., 59 n ., 60n., 61 n., 62, 63, 73, 74, 80, 116, 150, 160 introductory clauses, 94-()7, 98, 101, III, 116, 155 irony, 25 isocolon, 112-13 Jaujard, G., 18n. Jonker, G. D., 146n. Kingdon, R. M., 165n. Latininfluence, 2,48-49,5 I-52, 53, 59, 61-62, 63, 66-67, 73, 75, 80, 84,9 8,117,118, 119, 153
190
GENERAL INDEX
Lausanne, 90 Le Coq, J. P., 43, 45 Lefranc, A., 5, 12n., 47 legalism, 3, 51, 159 legal terms, 4~SI, 68, 81 Legenda aurea, 163 Lemaire de Belges, 63 Lenient, C., 3n. Lhermet, J., 139 n . Libertines, 14, 17, 18, 22, 23, 26, 30-32, 33, 34, 55, 56, 72, 9 1, 9 6 , 1°9, 114, 135, 150 logic, see reason Luigi of Aragon, 162 Luther, 6, 52n., 82, 119 n ., 142, 155, 159, 170 - 1 Mann, M., 119n. Marcourt, A., 83, 119, 155, 170, 174-6 Margaret of Navarre, 83, 92, 9 6 , 16 5 Marmelstein, J.-W., 5, 59n., 60n., 61n. Marot, C., 79 Marouzeau, J., 118n. Mass and ceremonial, 27, 39, 66, 145, 149, 160, 172-4 Me1anchthon, 45 Menot, M., 130n. Montaigne, 3, 99 n ., 124, 136n., 142, 158n. Montaigu, 49, 5I, 8 I Moore, W. G., 142n., 159n., 17on. Moses, 30, 34, 49, 133 motives of opponents, 17-20, 32, 1°3, 151, 17 6 Moulins, B. des, 23 M iinster, 17 narrative, 90-92, 169 negatives, 71-72 neologism, 47,52,59,60-66,7 8-79, 80, 154 Neve, J., 13 1n. Newport, J. P., 32n., 34 n . Nicodemites, 15, 23, 39, 54, 121, 134, 139, 168-() Niesel, W., 32n., 34n.
Ong, W. J., 45, 163 n . Pannier, J., 2, 3 parataxis, 89> 99, III, 117 Pascal, 2, 8n., 164 Paul, 15, 29, 30, 3 1, 33, 34, 36 , 49, 93 Periers, B. des, 132 perspective in discussion, IS-17, 94-97, 102, II6, 120, 151, 15 6 , 17 6 Petit de Julleville, L., 119n. Petit Traite, 12, 13n., 14, 15, 4 8n ., 69, 7 8 , 167, 17~ 174 picardisms, 57-58 pictorial elements, 56, 134-6, 139, 147 Placards, 174 Plattard, J., 50 Pleiade, 47, 59 pleonastic constructions, 99 Pocques, 17, 23, 96 polarization and contrast, 17-20, 22, 7.:i--73, 81, 88, 114, 120, 154, 156, 172 polysemy, 68, 81 preaching, influence of, 53, 71, 93, 1°5, 116, 119 predestination and Providence, 18, 21, 30, 37-39, 159 present tense, 91, 93, 169 pronoun subject, 4n., 100 protasis, 86, 87, 101, 102 public, I, 6, 33, 49, 76, 80, 134, 16S-()
Quatre Sermons, 13, 78, 116, 167 questions, use of, 93, 106-'], 157 quietism, 18, 30, 171 Quintin, 17, 23, 58, 96 Rabelais, 3,4,47,59,60,62,63,68, 70, 78, 83, 92, 98, 122, 124, 126, 129 n ., 132, 140n ., 154, 175 Ramus, P., 45, 46n. Raymond, M., 3 reason, logic, common sense, 2, 3, 18, 20-28,30-1,4°,43-46 , 1°4,161
GENERAL INDEX Rees, G. 0., 146n. Reformation contre Cathelan, 13, 14, 16, 78, 79, 90, 150, 167 Reid, J. K. S., II n. relics, 15, 19, 20-21, 24 Renee of Ferrara, 165 repetitions, 85, 90 Response a certaines calomnies, 13, 78 Response a un Holandois, 13, 14,27, 69, 7 8 , 79, 92, 167 re-use of effects, 68n., 69, 70, 80, 121, 125n., 129n., 136n., 148n., 149-5 0 , 156 rhetoric, 9, 4 1,45-6,73, 1°4,108-10, 11~21, 146n., 154, 156-7, 161, 172 rhythm, 3, 85-86, 104-5, II 1-14, II 9-20, 154, 173 Richards, LA., 123n., 151n. Richter, M., 88n. ridicule, see contempt Roman Church, II, 36, 132, 166 Romier, L., 165n., 166-7 Ronsard, 6 I, 126 Ruff, H., 5, II, 84n., 122n. Sainean, L., 126, 128n. Satan, see Devil scholastic and ecclesiastical terms, 4 8-49, 51-52, 63, 73, 81, 93, 94 Scripture and Bible, 6, 15, 16, 25, 2~41, 44, 49, 51, 62n., 94, 9 6 , 137-42, 144, 146n ., 153 Seneca, 6, 69 n. separation of styles, 8,53-57,76-78, 81, 114, 120-2, 132, 142-3, IS2, IS4, 157, 160-1 Servetus, 142n. Shakespeare, 68
191
sobriety and austerity, 2, 3, 6, 63-64, 82, 114, 121, 154 Spitzer, L., 162 stability, 47, 76-78, 81, II2-13, IS3--7 Stauffer, R., 97n. Sturel, R., 101 n. Sturm, J., 45 stylistic and non-stylistic choice, 54 n . teaching images, 137-43, 150 Thomas Aquinas, 73n., 94-95, 142 Tilley, A., 2n. Traite des Reliques, 12,14,15,20-21, 24,42,44,48,64,69,9°,163 translations, I I, 139n. Trene1, J., 5 In., 73n. Villers-Cotterets, Edict of, 58 n. Villon, 77, 125, 129n. violence, 3, 11,53,79,86, II7, II8, 130, 136, 148-9, 156 Viret, P., In., 7, 26, 53, 80, 82, 83, 84,85, 14 1,146n ., 155,170,172-4, 175 vivacity, 2-3, 56,72, 78-79,81, 89, 91-92, 121, 132 vocation, 26 Walker, W., 159 Wallace, R. S., 32n. Wartburg, W. von, FEW, 57n., 60, 61 n., 62, 63, 65, 68, 79, 85 n. Wencelius, L., 5n., 121, 162n. Wendel, F., 16n., 19n., 36,51, 150 Westphal, 19n. Whitehead, A. N., 44 Williams, G. H., 18n. word order, 4n., 85-86