April 23. 1832
Genius of the Spanish and Italians — Vico — Spinosa
The genius of the Spanish people is exquisitely subtle, without being at all acute; hence there is so much humour and so little wit in their literature. The genius of the Italians, on the contrary, is acute, profound, and sensual, but not subtle; hence what they think to be humorous is merely witty.
To estimate a man like Vico, or any great man who has made discoveries and committed errors, you ought to say to yourself—“He did so and so in the year 1720, a Papist, at Naples. Now, what would he not have done if he had lived now, and could have availed himself of all our vast acquisitions in physical science?”
After the Scienza Nuova[1] read Spinosa, De Monarchia ex rationis praescripto[2].They differed—Vico in thinking that society tended to monarchy; Spinosa in thinking it tended to democracy. Now, Spinosa’s ideal democracy was realized by a contemporary—not in a nation, for that is impossible, but in a sect—I mean by George Fox and his Quakers.3
Notes
1
See Michelet’s Principes de la Philosophie de l’Histoire, &c. Paris, 1827.
An admirable analysis of Vico.—ED.
3 Spinosa died in 1677; Fox in 1681.—ED.