THOMAfltUS, CHRISTIAN. 



THOMASIUS, CHRISTIAN. 



country he called 'The Italian Guest' (Der Wclsche GastV and which 

 consists of ten books. This poem, of which there exist many excellent 

 manuscripts, is one of the most splendid productions of German 

 literature during the 13th century, and, although the author is a 

 foreigner, the work breathes throughout a pure German spirit, aud 

 displays all the depth and intensity of German thought and feeling, 

 lu the beginning of his poem Thomasiu admits that he is not a perfect 

 master of the language which he used ; but still the peculiarities are 

 BO few and slight, that it requires a profound knowledge of the old 

 German language to discover the foreigner. Eschonburg therefore 

 supposes that tho author's statement respecting his native country is 

 a mere fiction. But this supposition, as well as another, that the 

 ' Italian Guest* is merely a German translation of the Italian work 

 ' On Courteous Manners,' is without foundation, and contradicted by 

 numerous passages of the former work. The object of this poem is 

 to show in what virtue, piety, and good conduct consist, and why man 

 should strive after them. It shows that a remarkable progre-s had 

 tukeu place in the mind of Thomasiu during the interval between the 

 composition of tho Italian and that of the German work. In the 

 former, as he himself states, ho had proceeded from the idea that 

 courteous conduct and nobility of birth were always combined with a 

 noble wind, or, in other words, that the changeable rules respecting 

 good manners were of greater value than the eternal law of morality 

 which is implanted in every man's heart. This prejudice is altogether 

 given up in his German poem, where he declares that a man is foolish 

 who thinks himself great because he is of noble birth and possesses 

 courteous manners, and that it is only a man's heart and real 

 character that make him worth anything. Virtue with him is now a 

 fundamental principle, and not a mere expedient. He describes virtues 

 and vice*, and their respective consequence?, with a truly Socratic 

 spirit and dignity. Thomasiu was well acquainted with the history 

 of antiquity, and it is among the ancients that he found his best 

 models of really virtuous men. The whole poem is a sublime and 

 altogether practical system of morality : it is a philosophy in the garb 

 of poetry aud occasionally embellished by figurative language. But 

 he does not write in the spirit of any particular school; his object is 

 in general to instruct man on matters concerning his physical and 

 spiritual welfare. 



This masterpiece of early German poetry and philosophy has never 

 yet been published entire. Fragments of it are printed in Eschen- 

 burg's 'Denkmaler Altdeutscher Dichtkunst,' p. 121, &c. ; compare 

 Gervinus, ' Geschichte der Poetischen National Literatur der Deut- 

 schen,' vol. i. p. 456, &c. 



THOMA'SIUS, CHRISTIAN. The real name of this author is 

 Thomas, and in the works which he published in hia mother tongue 

 he always calls himself Christian Thomas. He was born at Leipzig, 

 on the 12th of January 1655, and was the son of Jacob Thomasius 

 (1622-1684), a distinguished professor of philosophy, and some time 

 rector of the celebrated Thomasschule at Leipzig, under whose 

 auspices Leibnitz was educated. The education of Christian Thoma- 

 taus was conducted by his father, whose knowledge of philosophy and 

 its history gave his mind at an early age a decided turn. Christian 

 had scarcely attained his fourteenth year when he was found suffi- 

 ciently prepared to enter the university. In his sixteenth year he 

 obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and the year after that of 

 Master of Arts. The chief subjects of his studies were philosophy 

 and law, more especially the law of nature, which he regarded as the 

 basis of all other laws. The instruction of his father and his own 

 experience at the university had convinced him that the methods 

 of teaching then followed were pedantic and deficient, and he deter- 

 mined to remedy these defects as much as was in his power. In 1675 

 he went to Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, where he began a course of lectures 

 on law, but they do not appear to have been well received by his 

 colleagues, and in 1679, after having obtained the degree of Doctor of 

 Laws, he left Frankfurt, and made a literary journey to Holland. Ou 

 returning to Leipzig he commenced the practice of the law. But 

 this occupation did not offer sufficient scope for him, and he again 

 became an academical teacher, in which capacity he brought about the 

 most beneficial reforms. The law of nature, which had until then been 

 almost entirely neglected in the universities, continued to be the prin- 

 cipal subject of his studies. The older professors, who found them- 

 selves disturbed in their routine of teaching by the energy and 

 boldness of the young man, began to clamour against him. So long 

 as his father lived, violent outbreaks were prevented, partly because 

 he restrained his son's eagerness for reforms, and partly because the 

 other professors esteemed him too much to hurt his feelings by open 

 attacks upon his son. When however his father died, in 1684, the 

 bitterness and boldness with which young Thomasius attacked anti- 

 quated prejudices of all kinds together with their champions, involved 

 him in numerous disputes. The enmity was not only provoked by 

 the matter and the manner of his teaching, but also by several publi- 

 cations which tended to destroy established opinions. One of them, 

 on polygamy, especially gave great offence ; and he asserted that poly- 

 gamy was at least not contrary to any law of nature. 



Up to this time it had been the general custom in all German 

 universities to deliver lectures in Latin, and to make all public 

 announcements of them in the same language. In the year 1687 

 Thoinasius published his programme in German, and announced that 



he would deliver a course of lectures in German, and on a subject which 

 appeared altogether foreign to a university viz. on the manner in 

 which the Germans should follow the example of the French (' Dis- 

 cours, welcher Gestalt man denen Franzosen im gemeinen Leben und 

 Wandel nachahmen soil,' 4to, published at Leipzig, 1687.) This 

 daring innovation was regarded by his colleagues as a perfect heresy, 

 though, after the example was once set, it was gradually followed by 

 other professors, until it became the universal practice in all German 

 universities to lecture in German. It was a necessary consequence of 

 this that books of a scientific character now began to be written in 

 German. Notwithstanding both the open and secret attacks to 

 which Thomasius had thus exposed himself, he continued to combat 

 prejudice, pedantry, and whatever he regarded as error. He was un- 

 sparing in his censure, which was usually combined with wit and satire, 

 and even his former teachers did not escape. In the year after, 1688, he 

 established a German Monthly Review, under the title ' Freimiithige, 

 jedoch vernunft- und gesetzmiissige Gedanken iiber allerhand, fiirnem- 

 lich aber neue Biicher,' which he conducted from 1688 till 1690, and 

 which gave him immense influence in all parts of Germany, and the 

 means of chastising his enemies. His enemies in their turn tried 

 every means to avenge themselves ; and although Thomasius at first 

 succeeded in averting the danger that was gathering around him, yet 

 the disputes became daily more vehement and serious, especially with 

 two divines, Pfeifer and Carpzovius, who charged him with atheism. 

 The theological faculty of Leipzig was likewise gained over to their 

 side. H. G. Masius, court preacher to the king of Denmark, who had 

 been rather severely dealt with by Thomasius in his Journal, and who 

 made a reply, to which Thomasiua answered in a very energetic 

 manner, persuaded the king of Denmark to have all the published 

 parts of Thomasius's Journal burnt in the market-place of Copen- 

 hagen by the hangman, 1689. Such -proceedings in a foreign country 

 were treated by Thomasius with contempt ; but the storm was trather- 

 ing over his head. In the same year he became involved in disputes 

 with the Pietists, and also came forward to justify marriages between 

 two persons of different religions, which enraged the divines of Witten- 

 berg to such a degree, that the chief consistory was induced by 

 various charges which were made against him to issue an order for the 

 apprehension of Thomasius. He escaped the danger and fled to 

 Berlin, where he met with a kind reception and the protection of 

 Frederick III., the great elector of Brandenburg (afterwards King 

 Frederick I.) who not only permitted him to settle at Halle, but also 

 to lecture in the Ritteracademie (academy for young noblemen) of that 

 place. He began his lectures here in 1690, and met with the same 

 approbation on the part of the students as at Leipzig ; and the increase 

 in the number of students induced the elector in 1694 to found the 

 University of Halle, in which he appointed Thomasius professor of juris- 

 prudence, and conferred upon him the title of councillor, with a salary 

 of 500 thalers. In this new position too Thomasius continued to be 

 annoyed by numerous disputes, partly with his former adversaries 

 and partly with others. In the year 1709 he had the satisfaction to 

 receive an invitation to the chair of jurisprudence iu the University of 

 Leipzig, which however he refused. King Frederick I. of Prussia, 

 pleased with the determination of Thomasius not to leave his service, 

 rewarded him with the title of privy-councillor. In 1710 Thomasius 

 was elected rector of the University of Halle, and dean of the faculty 

 of jurisprudence. He died on the 23rd of September 1728, in the 

 seventy-third year of his age. 



If ever a man exercised an influence upon his age and country 

 which will extend to the latest posterity, it is Thomasius. He was 

 one of the few men, like Luther and Lessing, who now and then rise 

 up in a nation, give it an impulse, and determine its course. At the 

 time when Thomasius began to make himself known, philosophy and 

 theology were studied and taught in such a manner that it was evident 

 that the spirit which had been created by the Reformation would soon 

 vanish altogether. All philosophical and scientific works were written 

 in Latin, which formed an inadequate medium for communicating 

 new thoughts and ideas, which were frequently crippled and imperfect 

 on that account, or the language itself was barbarous. In the uni- 

 versities also Latin was the ordinary language for communicating 

 knowledge, which thus remained in the exclusive possession of a small 

 number, and without influence upon the nation at large. Thomasius 

 prepared the way for better things, first by communicating knowledge 

 in his native language, and by extending the sphere within which 

 speculation had until then been carried on. At the same time he 

 urged the necessity of writing in a clear and intelligible style, which 

 many of his countrymen in recent times have greatly neglected. His 

 own style, though not often pure, is precise and vigorous. As in 

 places of learning Thomasius destroyed old prejudices and pedantry, 

 he also boldly combated superstition and hypocrisy in the affairs of 

 common life, such as tho belief in ghosts, spectres, and witchcraft ; 

 and it is almost entirely owing to his exertions that trials for witch- 

 craft and torture were abolished iu Germany. In reference to this 

 Frederick the Great says of Thomasius, "He denounced trials for 

 witchcraft so loudly, that persons began to be ashamed of them, and 

 from that time the female sex has been permitted to grow old and die 

 in peace." All this would alone be sufficient to immortalise his name, 

 even if he had no claim to it by what he did in philosophy. Here he 

 indeed found things in such a state, that it required all his energy to 



