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tism. . . . No one was permitted to be useless to the
state. The law assigned to each one his work, which was
handed down from father to son. No one was permit-
ted to have two professions. Nor could a person change
from one job to another. . . . But there was one task to
which all were forced to conform: the study of the laws
and of wisdom. Ignorance of religion and of the politi-
cal regulations of the country was not excused under
any circumstances. Moreover each occupation was
assigned (by whom?) to a certain district. . . . Among
the good laws, one of the best was that everyone was
trained (by whom?) to obey them. As a result of this,
Egypt was filled with wonderful inventions, and noth-
ing was neglected that could make life easy and quiet.
Thus, according to Bossuet, persons derive nothing from
themselves. Patriotism, prosperity, inventions, husbandry, sci-
ence—all of these are given to the people by the operation of the
laws, the rulers. All that the people have to do is to bow to lead-
ership.
A Defense of Paternal Government
Bossuet carries this idea of the state as the source of all
progress even so far as to defend the Egyptians against the
charge that they rejected wrestling and music. He said:
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How is that possible? These arts were invented by
Trismegistus [who was alleged to have been Chancel-
lor to the Egyptian god Osiris].
And again among the Persians, Bossuet claims that all
comes from above:
One of the first responsibilities of the prince was
to encourage agriculture. . . . Just as there were offices
established for the regulation of armies, just so were
there offices for the direction of farm work. . . . The
Persian people were inspired with an overwhelming
respect for royal authority.
And according to Bossuet, the Greek people, although
exceedingly intelligent, had no sense of personal responsibility;
like dogs and horses, they themselves could not have invented
the most simple games:
The Greeks, naturally intelligent and courageous,
had been early cultivated by the kings and settlers who
had come from Egypt. From these Egyptian rulers,
the Greek people had learned bodily exercises, foot
races, and horse and chariot races. . . . But the best
thing that the Egyptians had taught the Greeks was to
become docile, and to permit themselves to be formed
by the law for the public good.
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The Idea of Passive Mankind
It cannot be disputed that these classical theories
[advanced by these latter-day teachers, writers, legislators, econ-
omists, and philosophers] held that everything came to the peo-
ple from a source outside themselves. As another example, take
Fenelon [archbishop, author, and instructor to the Duke of Bur-
gundy].
He was a witness to the power of Louis XIV. This, plus the
fact that he was nurtured in the classical studies and the admira-
tion of antiquity, naturally caused Fenelon to accept the idea
that mankind should be passive; that the misfortunes and the
prosperity—vices and virtues—of people are caused by the
external influence exercised upon them by the law and the legis-
lators. Thus, in his Utopia of Salentum, he puts men—with all
their interests, faculties, desires, and possessions—under the
absolute discretion of the legislator. Whatever the issue may be,
persons do not decide it for themselves; the prince decides for
them. The prince is depicted as the soul of this shapeless mass of
people who form the nation. In the prince resides the thought,
the foresight, all progress, and the principle of all organization.
Thus all responsibility rests with him.
The whole of the tenth book of Fenelon’s Telemachus
proves this. I refer the reader to it, and content myself with
quoting at random from this celebrated work to which, in every
other respect, I am the first to pay homage.
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Socialists Ignore Reason and Facts
With the amazing credulity which is typical of the classi-
cists, Fenelon ignores the authority of reason and facts when he
attributes the general happiness of the Egyptians, not to their
own wisdom but to the wisdom of their kings:
We could not turn our eyes to either shore with-
out seeing rich towns and country estates most agree-
ably located; fields, never fallowed, covered with
golden crops every year; meadows full of flocks; work-
ers bending under the weight of the fruit which the
earth lavished upon its cultivators; shepherds who
made the echoes resound with the soft notes from
their pipes and flutes. “Happy,” said Mentor, “is the
people governed by a wise king. . . .”
Later, Mentor desired that I observe the content-
ment and abundance which covered all Egypt, where
twenty-two thousand cities could be counted. He
admired the good police regulations in the cities; the
justice rendered in favor of the poor against the rich;
the sound education of the children in obedience,
labor, sobriety, and the love of the arts and letters; the
exactness with which all religious ceremonies were
performed; the unselfishness, the high regard for
honor, the faithfulness to men, and the fear of the gods
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