BENEDICT DE SPIXOZA. 



M7 



of divine justice, outran the zeal of his masters. 

 One evening an unknown assailant set upon Spi- 

 noza with a dagger ; 1 but he was on his guard 

 in time, and the blow pierced only his coat, 

 which he kept afterward as a memorial. This 

 was a sufficient warning that Amsterdam was no 

 safe place for him, and he left the city without 

 waiting for the final decision of the congregation 

 upon the charge of heresy against him. This was 

 given on the 2Tth of July, 1656, to the following 

 effect: 



" The chiefs of the council do you to wit, that 

 having long known the evil opinions and works 

 of Baruch de Espinoza, they have endeavored by 

 divers ways and promises to withdraw him from 

 his evil ways, and they are unable to find a remedy, 

 but on the contrary have had every day more 

 knowledge of the abominable heresies practised 

 and taught by him, and of other enormities * com- 

 mitted by him, and have of this many trustworthy 

 witnesses, who have deposed and borne witness in 

 the presence of the said Espinoza, and by whom he 

 stood convicted ; all which having been examined 

 in the presence of the elders, it has been deter- 

 mined with their assent that the said Espinoza 

 should be excommunicated and cut off from the 

 nation of Israel ; and now he is hereby excommu- 

 nicated with the following anathema : 



"With the judgment of the angels and of the 

 saints we excommunicate, cut off, curse, and anath- 

 ematize Baruch de Espinoza, with the consent of 

 the elders and of all this holy congregation, in the 

 presence of the holy books: by the 613 precepts 

 which are written therein, with the anathema 

 wherewith Joshua cursed Jericho, with the curse 

 which Elisha laid upon the children, and with all 

 the curses which are written in the law. Cursed 

 be he by day and cursed be he by night. Cursed 

 be he in sleeping and cursed be he in waking, cursed 

 in going out and cursed in coming in. The Lord 

 shall not pardon him, the wrath and. fury of the 

 Lord shall henceforth be kindled against this man, 

 and shall lay upon him all the curses which are 

 written in the book of the law. The Lord shall 

 destroy his name under the sun, and cut him off 

 for his undoing from all the tribes of Israel, with 

 all the curses of the firmament which are written 

 in the book of the law. But ye that cleave unto 

 the Lord your God, live all of you this day. 



" And we warn you, that none may speak with 



1 The exact place and circumstances, which, how- 

 ever, are not material, are variously related. 



2 " Ynormes obras que obrava." This I had sup- 

 posed to be a piece of "common form" with no deli- 

 nice meaning; but I learn from a friend possessing 

 special knowledge that it probably refers to distinct 

 breaches of the ceremonial law; some such overt act, 

 beyond mere speculative opinions, being required to 

 justify the excommunication— Cf. Gratz, op. cit., 172,. 

 175. 



him by word of mouth nor by writing, nor show 

 any favor to him, nor be under one roof with him, 

 nor come within four cubits of him, nor read any 

 paper composed or written by him." 



Thus was Baruch de Spinoza cut off from his 

 own people and from his father's house. Not only 

 was he an outcast from Israel and deprived of all 

 fellowship of his nation and kindred — and the 

 ties of kindred are with his people of exceeding 

 strength and sanctity — but he became as it were a 

 masterless man, a member of no recognized com- 

 munity, having none to stand up by him or answer 

 for him. Such a position might well seem a grave 

 one in itself apart from the shock to his personal 

 feelings. 1 Altogether the blow must have been 

 such as it is at this time hard for us to under- 

 stand. Spinoza, however, received the news of 

 the excommunication with perfect equanimity. 

 " This compels me," he said, " to nothing which 

 I should not otherwise have done." Henceforth 

 he disused his Hebrew name Baruch, and adopted 

 the Latin form Benedict, which has the same 

 meaning, and by which he is generally known. 

 He now had to depend on his own work for a 

 livelihood. It was a rabbinical precept that every 

 one should learn a handicraft; and, in compliance 

 with this, Spinoza had learned the trade of mak- 

 ing lenses for optical instruments, which was, no 

 doubt, chosen as congenial to his philosophical 

 and scientific studies. He became so skillful in 

 this art that the lenses of his make were much 

 sought after, and some which were left undisposed 

 of at his death fetched a high price. By this 

 means he earned an income sufficient for his lim- 

 ited wants, and also a reputation for a thorough 

 knowledge of optics, which appears to have spread 

 more quickly than his fame as a philosopher. In 

 this manner he was brought into correspondence 

 with Huygens and Leibnitz. We find Leibnitz, 

 for instance, writing to him in 1671 to ask his 

 opinion on certain optical questions, and treating 

 him as a person of. recognized authority. Leib- 

 nitz's behavior to Spinoza, some years later, can 

 only be called shabby. He professed great inter- 

 est in Spinoza's philosophy, and endeavored to get 

 a sight of the unpublished MS. of the " Ethics," 

 which Spinoza's prudence did not allow him. On 

 his return from a stay in Paris, Leibnitz visited 

 Spinoza in person. In later years he joined the 

 vulgar cry against him, and borrowed a funda- 



1 It is said that the Jewish elders represented to 

 the civil authorities of Amsterdam that Spinoza was a 

 dangerous person, that the Reformed clergy supported 

 their request, and that Spinoza was actually banished 

 from Amsterdam for a time. But Colerus knows noth- 

 ing of this, nor is it in itself probable. 



