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MONTAIGNE 23
moral code and the methods of science as to
the Book of Genesis, they clapped her in jail
without more ado. Reason affords no solid
grounds for holding a good world better than
a bad, and the sacred law of cause and effect
itself admits of no logical demonstration.
"
Prison or the Mad House," cried the men of
good sense ; Montaigne was more thorough
"
Tolerance," said he.
Like the man-in-the-street, Montaigne found
refuge from reason in conviction. Until we
have formulated a proposition reason has no
excuse for interference ; and emotional con-
victions precede intellectual propositions.
Only, as we have no means of judging between
convictions, we must remember that the firm
and disinterested convictions of others are as
respectable as our own : again
we must
tolerate. To credit Montaigne with that
sublime liberality which is summed up in the
most sublime of all Christian aphorisms
" Judge not, and thou shalt not be judged "
would be absurd. Montaigne was a Pagan,
and his high conception of tolerance and
humanity was derived entirely from the great
pagan philosophers. Of them he was a
profound and sincere disciple,
so it is not
surprising that his ideas were far in advance
of those of his age, and of ours. For instance,
he hated brutality. Both his own nature