Omniana/Volume 2/Souls of Brutes

by Robert Southey

234. Souls of Brutes.

I have somewhere read of an odd hypothesis, or heresy, as it would be called, of Father Bougeant, who endeavoured to deduce from reason, and prove by scripture, that the spirits of brutes are devils sentenced to punishment in that shape; a doctrine which would admirably accord with the old belief in familiars. It might also afford considerable comfort to the epicures, who used to have their pigs whipt to death, and the gentlemen of the present day who amuse themselves with Welsh mains, riding against time, and other such worthy recreations, if it did not follow as a corollary, that they who make their own spirits evil in one state of existence must afford amusement and occupation in the next to such beadles and executioners of divine retribution as themselves.

The practice which the Tupinambas^[1] founded upon their theory of generation is a memorable proof that speculative follies of this kind may lead to dreadful consequences. Father Bougeant, perhaps, was not aware of this. I can easily imagine that he may have been a man of quick sensibility and lively imagination, who feeling a keen sympathy for the sufferings of domestic animals, took shelter in this hypothesis from the pain and indignation, and possibly from the momentary doubt or distrust of providence, which the contemplation of those sufferings excited. Gomez Pereira, from whom Descartes is said (I know not with what justice,) to have adopted the paradoxical opinion that animals are non-sentient, certainly had this feeling, and it led him to use a most curious argumentum ad hominem to his countrymen the Spaniards, asking^[2] them, how,

1. History of Brazil, Vol. 1, p 213.
2. Si bestiis datum esset sensationibus exterioribus at organicis interioribus nobiscum convenire, inhumanum, sævum ac crudele fieri ab hominibus passim concedendum esset. Quid enim atrocius quam veterina animalia sub gravibus oneribus et prolixis itineribus fessa, vapulis cædere, et ferro adeo crudeliter pungere, donec sanguis e vulneribus manet, ipsis non rarô gemitibus ac vocibus quibusdam (si ex nutibus eorum licet elicere animorum suorum affectus) miserationem petentibus? Ac ultra hanc immanitatem, quæ tantô atrocior, quantô frequentior habetur, crudelitatis apicem obtineret taurorum agitatorum tormentum, sudibus, ensibus, lapidibusque cæsis ipsis; nec in alium humanum usum, quam ut iis flagitiis humanus visus delectetur, quibus bestia vindictam mugitu supplex poscere videtur. Atque non tantum hominis pravus affectus culpandus offertur, dum hæc ita percipi à tauris, ut nutus corum indicant, creduntur, sed omnis benignitas naturæ aboletur et culpatur, quæ genuerit viventia illa, ac quamplurima alia, ut vitam adeô ærumnis et miseriis plenum agant.
   
   Antoniana Margarita, 21. Methymnæ Campi, 1554.