Wanli Xinming

Chapter 357
Dear Miss De Gooney: [Note 1]
Thank you for putting "On Pride, Prejudice, and Truth" in Chapter 1 of the first volume when you sorted out my manuscript, because when I presented "Essays", I was very grateful to see it from the face of Earl Siris Appreciation: He at least thinks we are not incorrigible.

"A man who has never seen a river thinks that the first river he encounters is an ocean."These maxims, which once made me smug, have undoubtedly saved the honor of Europe.

Otherwise, the Duke of Tuscany, Bishop Ferdinando and I, and even all the Europeans present at the time, could only save face as a "self-proclaimed civilized man" by committing suicide - although Count Xu Guangqi has since softened his tone considerably , can even be said to be very gentle.

I've written so much, you must be wondering what happened in the Signialia Palace that made me feel so emotional.You know, I am on a sacred mission to pursue the embassy from the East.Through the introduction of the Archduke, I was very honored to meet His Excellency Count Sirius, a true sage.

Through talking with him, I sincerely think that I am the clown who "never saw a river", a typical megalomaniac, a role model for all Europeans.Because the "true knowledge" we have is so shallow and ridiculous compared to what Sirius has.

At the beginning, the Earl emotionally attacked the bad habits of Europeans, that is, they did not distinguish themselves from animals in terms of cleanliness and "sanitation".Of course, I explained to him the religious significance of our reluctance to cleanse our bodies - but the Count, who was about to be baptized to God, scoffed at this, citing the book of Leviticus to which I retorted:

"The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying: If a man suffers from a disease, the bed on which he lies, the stool on which he sits, the clothes, and the things he touches are unclean. He must bathe and wash his clothes. Just do it; if you touch the leaking patient and his clothes or utensils, or get on his vomit, etc., you should take a bath and wash your clothes. If the leaking patient is cured, it is the same as other diseases. Observe for seven days and wash the clothes with running water. And the body' is a very long paragraph, and I won't quote it in its entirety here."

"Count Xu Guangqi said, 'The infectious disease in Bordeaux, if we had followed the instructions of God, would have been controlled long ago. The Seris people did not believe in God, but the methods used to control the infectious disease had nothing to do with what was recorded in the Bible. Essentially different, it’s just done more thoroughly.”

He followed by telling me about the pathogenesis of several infectious diseases that Serris had discovered: including smallpox, schistosomiasis, dehydration, and the plague that was spreading in Bordeaux.You would never have guessed that the infectious diseases that are going on in Bordeaux are spread by rats and fleas, unfortunately both of which are ubiquitous in Europe, and our filthy living conditions and flea-infested hair and bodies have become a breeding ground for the spread of the disease.

Thanks to the almighty God, the angels he sent will save Bordeaux.I am about to return to France from Florence, and I will arrive before me with my orders - cleaning, disinfection, isolation and protection. As long as the above four points are fulfilled, it is entirely possible to overcome the continued epidemic of this disease in a short period of time.

Of course, for the citizens who have already suffered from the disease, the necessary treatment is indispensable, and Count Xu Guangqi generously provided the prescriptions, but now I am worried that these complicated medicines cannot be collected in a short period of time. Importing these life-saving herbs from Sirius, rather than shipping back luxury spices and china, was a far better deal.

Dear Mademoiselle de Gournet, if—I mean if, I had met the Count when he arrived in Lisbon, then the plague in Bordeaux would probably not have happened. Death disease is a type of plague. Its symptoms have also appeared in Seris, but it has been extinguished before it becomes popular.

"Hygiene" - protecting people's lives and maintaining people's health is a manifestation of civilization.I learned this at Palazzo Vecchio.His Excellency the Count has eloquently demonstrated how tragic our ignorance and fallacy on this subject will be by comparing what he has seen since his visit to Europe with the hygienic habits of the Seris: the Black Death and the infectious diseases that are now prevalent in Bordeaux It should happen, and even if it does, reasonable steps can be taken to wipe it out quickly.

What amazes me even more is that the achievements of the Seris people in philosophy and humanistic thought have broken through the limits of human thought.I can't describe to you in the letter the shock that the Count brought me when he argued that "the Dao can be said, but the Dao is very Dao; the name can be famous, but it's very famous".

I guess the proverbs that made me smug were nothing but wisecracks in the eyes of the Count, because he casually uttered a Confucius remark that contained enough meaning and ramifications to write a two-thousand-word article—in fact, In Sirius, that's how they select officials.

When it comes to selecting officials, Siris is at least 1000 years ahead of us—in my opinion, there is no doubt about it.Seris has no tradition of using nobles to govern the country at all. They have started to "meritocracy" since 2000 years ago when the countries were fighting for hegemony. In a special period, talented people can serve as the prime ministers of six countries. Before such achievement, he was just an ordinary scholar without any bloodline that he could be proud of.

Miss Goune, if the current Europe can achieve the "Nine-Rank Zhongzheng System" that the Seris people have long since abandoned, in short, it is to use "Zhongzheng officials" to select officials among the people through "filial piety and integrity" and other methods, our The king and the people can wake up laughing when they dream.

The people of Seres used the "imperial examination" to select talents as early as 1000 years ago. All officials must pass the examination instead of his origin and bloodlines to determine his status--Wang Jiaping, the deputy envoy who followed the earl, passed the examination to become A high-ranking official of the empire, even though he was able to receive a good education and possess amazing wealth before he became an official, he was no different from a peasant in Seris in terms of status.

It's a terrible equality.What an irony that the lambs are treated the same where the light of the Lord does not shine.
God, I can't write any more.After talking to Earl Xu Guangqi, I felt my whole faith was shaken.He is not the "skeptic" I was when I was 30 years old. In my opinion, his belief in the Lord is very firm, but I have another feeling-he may not use the method taught by the church to believe in the Lord. of.

For example, he said that Emperor Sirius had a proverb that explained the essence of all religions: "Do not multiply the substance if it is not necessary." If something could not be falsified, the emperor suggested that everyone should listen to Confucius and adopt a "respectful distance" approach. Strategy.

Earl Xu Guangqi said that God is something we cannot keep away from, although in fact his existence cannot be falsified.But humans cannot imagine God, because He is invisible.The limits of our human imagination cannot exceed our own.Therefore, in the matter of believing in God, we can only rely on our own hearts and moral precepts-to place our beliefs in others, which in itself is unbelief.

my God!I really can't keep writing.

When I return to France, I will sort out the contents of this letter, which I am sure will become immortal in the Essays, for it will be the beginning of our escape from ignorance.

Thinking of your father, Montaigne, November 1584, 11.

　Note: Mademoiselle de Gooney is a huge fan of Montaigne and his goddaughter.Well you understand.After Montaigne's death, his daughter inherited Montaigne's property, and Miss Gouet inherited all of Montaigne's manuscripts.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)