4. Thus through all the polished nations, that we have hitherto considered, or shall hereafter consider, a chain of cultivation may be drawn, flying off in extremely divergent curves. In each it designates increasing and decreasing greatness, and has maximums of every kind. Many of these exclude or limit one another, till at length a certain symmetry takes place in the whole; so that were we to reason from one perfection of any nation concerning another, we should form very treacherous conclusions. Thus, because Athens had exquisite orators, it does not follow, that its form of government must likewise have been the best possible; or that, because the Chinese moralize so excellently, their state must be a pattern for all others. Forms of government refer to a very different maximum, from that of beautiful morals, or a pathetic oration; notwithstanding, at bottom, all things in any nation have a certain connection, if it be only that of exclusion and limitation. No other maximum, but that of the most perfect bond of union, produces the most happy states; even supposing the people are in consequence obliged to dispense with many shining qualities.
5. But in one and the same nation every maximum of its commendable endeavors ought not and cannot endure for ever; since it is but one point in the progress of time. This incessantly moves on; and the more numerous the circumstances, on which the beautiful effect depends, the sooner is it liable to pass away. Happy if its master pieces remain as rules for future ages; since those that immediately succeed approach them too near, and will probably obliterate by attempting to excel them. Even the most active people frequently sink most speedily from the boiling to the freezing point.
The history of particular sciences and nations has to calculate these maxima, and I wish we had such a history only of the most celebrated nations during the periods best known. At present we speak only of human history in general, and of its state of permanence in every form and climate. This is nothing else than humanity, that is, reason and equity in all conditions, and in all occupations of men. And this indeed it is, not through the will of a sovereign, or the persuasive power of tradition, but through natural laws, on which the essence of man reposes. Even his most corrupt institutions cry aloud: “had not a glimmering of equity and reason been retained in us, we should long have ceased to be, nay we never should have existed.” As the whole tissue of human history proceeds from this point, to it we must carefully bend our view.
First. What it is we esteem, and after which we inquire, in all human works? Reason, plan, and purpose. If these be wanting, nothing human is accomplished, a blind power is displayed. Wherever our understanding roams throughout the wide field of history, it seeks only itself, it finds only itself. The nearer it approaches pure truth, and the good of mankind, in all its undertakings; the more durable, useful, and beautiful are its works, and the more their rules meet the hearts and minds of all people, in all ages. Socrates and Confucius, Plato, Cicero, and Zoroaster, agree unanimously in what constitutes clear understanding, and just morals: in spite of their various differences, they have all labored to one point, on which our whole species rests. As the wanderer enjoys no greater delight, than when he everywhere discovers, even unexpectedly, the traces of a thinking, feeling mind, like his own; so are we delighted when in the history of our species the echo of all ages and nations reverberates nothing from the noblest minds, but truth and benevolence towards man. As my reason seeks the connection of things, and my heart rejoices when it perceives it; so has every honest man fought it: though, probably, from the point of view which his situation afforded, he saw it differently, and differently described it. Where he erred, he erred both for himself and me, as he warned me against similar errors. Where he guides me truly, instructs, solaces, animates me, he is my brother; a sharer in the same soul of the World, the one human reason, the one human truth.
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