KING BOMBA'S PHILOSOPHICAL CATECHISM. 625 



they cease to be mere opinions and become overt acts, and are, as 

 such, subject to the scrutiny and control of the public authorities. 

 It is not only the right but also the duty of the supreme power to 

 prevent the promulgation and to punish the diffusion and propa- 

 gation of false and pernicious opinions, which imperil the existing 

 religious, political, and social institutions. " God did not endow 

 men with speech in order that they might utter absurdities and 

 blasphemies, nor favor the invention of printing in order that it 

 might serve to excite scandals, spread abroad impiety, and stir 

 up the people against the powers that be, which are ordained of 

 him." What kind of opinions are dangerous and injurious, it is, 

 of course, for sovereigns, aided and advised by sacerdotal coun- 

 selors to decide, and from their decision there is no appeal. 



The most perfect form of civilization, according to Monsignore 

 Apuzzo, is the mean between extreme ignorance and excessive 

 knowledge. " Of course it is not meant to inculcate absolute 

 ignorance, and to imply that men of the lower classes should live 

 like beasts and blocks of stone, but that each person should be 

 taught what is suitable to his class, and avoid that superfluity 

 which can only prove harmful and troublesome to him. The 

 Holy Spirit says through the mouth of Saint Paul that one 

 should not know more than is convenient, and should be content 

 to know with moderation, * non plus sapere quam oportet sapere 

 seel sapare ad sobrietettem ' ; and these words of the apostle are 

 addressed not only to the learned, but to men of all classes. For 

 laborers and peasants, moderation consists in knowing the cate- 

 chism and the vocal prayers, and nothing more. For mechanics 

 and shopkeepers, moderation consists in knowing how to read, 

 write, and cipher a little, and nothing more. For the professional 

 classes, moderation consists in studying merely what pertains to 

 their professions ; and for the higher classes, moderation consists 

 in learning what they can, provided they do not abuse the teach- 

 ings of man by setting them in opposition to the teachings of 

 God. This is what is called knowing soberly, and these are the 

 limits within which the spread of learning, culture, and enlighten- 

 ment must be kept." 



These are the views of a man who was the highest ecclesias- 

 tical dignitary and the Superintendent of Public Instruction in the 

 kingdom of the Two Sicilies under Ferdinand II ; and this is the 

 sort of sophistical stuff with which the crown prince, who after- 

 ward ascended the throne as Francis II, was systematically 

 crammed. His education was entirely in the hands of Jesuits, and 

 it was in this wise that they carried it on. No wonder that, as 

 king, he was a gloomy and narrow-minded bigot, the helpless 

 puppet of priests, utterly alien to the prevailing spirit of the age 

 and the noblest aspirations of his time, and that Garibaldi's mere 



VOL. XXXVII. 



