That section so numerous in England, the pseudo-pagans,
crypto-Christians, or whatever obscurantists like Messrs.
A. J. Balfour
and Mallock like to call themselves (the men who, with disastrous
effects, transport into realms of pure intelligence the spirit of
compromise which should be restricted to practical concerns) - that
section has no representatives hereabouts.
Fully to appreciate their attitude as opposed to ours, we must also
remember that the south Italian does not trouble himself about the
objective truth of any miracle whatever; his senses may be perverted,
but his intelligence remains outside the sphere of infection. This is
his saving grace. To the people here, the affair of Moses and the
Burning Bush, the raising of Lazarus, and Egidio's cow-revival, are on
the identical plane of authenticity; the Bible is one of a thousand
saints' books; its stories may be as true as theirs, or just as untrue;
in any case, what has that to do with his own worldly conduct? But the
Englishman with ingenuous ardour thinks to believe in the Burning Bush
wonder, and in so far his intelligence is infected; with equal ardour he
excludes the cow-performance from the range of possibility; and to him
it matters considerably which of the miracles are true and which are
false, seeing that his conduct is supposed to take colour from such
supernatural events. Ultra-credulous as to one set of narratives, he has
no credulity left for other sets; he concentrates his believing energies
upon a small space, whereas the Italian's are diffused, thinly, over a
wide area. It is the old story: Gothic intensity and Latin spaciousness.
So the Gothic believer takes his big dose of irrationalism on one fixed
day; the Latin, by attending Mass every morning, spreads it over the
whole week. And the sombre strenuousness of our northern character
expects a remuneration for this outlay of faith, while the other
contents himself with such sensuous enjoyment as he can momentarily
extract from his ceremonials. That is why our English religion has a
democratic tinge distasteful to the Latin who, at bottom, is always a
philosopher; democratic because it relies for its success, like
democratic politicians, upon promises - promises that may or may not be
kept - promises that form no part (they are only an official appendage)
of the childlike paganism of the south. . . .
Fifteen francs will buy you a reliable witness for a south Italian
lawsuit; you must pay a good deal more in England. Thence one might
argue that the cult of credulity implied by these saintly biographies is
responsible for this laxness, for the general disregard of veracity. I
doubt it. I am not inclined to blame the monkish saint-makers for this
particular trait; I suspect that for fifteen francs you could have
bought a first-class witness under Pericles. Southerners are not yet
pressed for time; and when people are not pressed for time, they do not
learn the time-saving value of honesty.
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