The Present State of Germany. Samuel Pufendorf

inevitably exists in a context of physical and social needs, which are as essential as they are ordinary. In this sense, those who surround us in our work are as much its authors as we ourselves. Thankfully, all achievements are ultimately shared.

      THE PRESENT STATE OF GERMANY

PUFENDORF’S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF 1667 ¹

      To Laelius of Monzambano, Lord of Trezolano,

       Severinus of Monzambano sends many greetings!²

      You have asked me in many letters, dearest brother Laelius, about my intentions and thoughts while traveling around Germany for so long, and I want now to explain these to you in a few words as I am finally drawn homeward by your insistent requests. For our nation is otherwise known for its disinclination to traveling about, because we believe that our talents shine forth by virtue of their own natural goodness and do not need external refinement. Among those beyond the Alps [i.e., Germans], however, one acquires a certain reputation for wisdom if one has so much as seen Italy from the highest mountains.

      You know how the matter which I crossed the Alps to accomplish detained me at the Bavarian court longer than expected. There, in my eagerness to relieve the boredom, I began to read more carefully the things written by one or other of us [Italians] about the German [Thirty Years’] War. For the Germans themselves have more faith in these authors than in their own citizens, who are either clearly partial toward one or other side, or afraid to tell the whole truth; and their most prominent book about that war, spread over many volumes, deserves more than the Chaos of the ancients to be called “an unfinished and disorderly heap.”³ As I read it I was overcome by astonishment at the great exertion brought bear, at the number and horrors of the battles waged, and at how a land which its citizens no less than outsiders had labored to destroy for thirty years could survive such great disasters. Hence my mind was filled with a desire to examine more closely the strength and wealth of this nation [gens], the variety of its peoples, and also the kind of connection holding so immense a body together.

      I demonstrated great patience in this task, almost more than could be expected from a fastidious Italian. For in addition to learning the German language (which surpasses all European languages in difficulty) required for that end, I began also with the conviction that the state [status] of Germany could not be thoroughly known except by one who had examined from head to toe all writers of that nation [nationis] who have treated of public law, as they call it. Therefore, I asked a certain councillor with a library well-stocked in that field, somewhat presumptuously, to supply me with the authors whom he thought most appropriate for my purpose. This person, seeking to be as accommodating as possible but also to exhibit his extensive holdings, used two strong servants groaning under the weight of several carrying trays to fill my chamber with books, to the point that there was hardly any room left for me. And, he added, these were just an appetizer for the time being, to prepare my stomach for the proper meal that would soon follow. Here I was stunned, like one who has stepped upon an unexpected snake among sharp brambles,⁴ and groaned over the many torments that I had voluntarily brought upon myself. For it did not seem appropriate, on the one hand, that I should be exhausted by a mere glance after having shown such eagerness to learn; yet, on the other hand, the expression of curiosity about another country [respublica] did not seem so great a crime that I deserved to die so cruel a death.

      As I stood there sweating, I was finally relieved by something I once heard from one of our native [Italian] scholars: that Germans are infected by an incurable writer’s itch⁵—even though very few of them can produce anything capable of evoking the applause of their refined contemporaries by virtue of either its inventive cleverness or creative charm. Nonetheless, [he said,] lest they be too sparing of paper, which perishes anyway, most of them combine randomly gathered bits and pieces into a mass to which hardly a grain of judgment has been added. Nor do they consider it plagiarism to sell as new, works of others which have [only] been touched up in a few places. Some of them, finally, believe that they deserve a place among authors because they have reduced a more extensive work to a compendium or—God willing—to tables, as a mnemonic aid or to relieve stupidity. And so, to be honest, I rather expected that by knowing one of these writers I would know the lot of them, because most [also] regard themselves as legal experts, among whom it has become a rule to copy one another faithfully.

      Having steeled my mind in this way, I proceeded patiently to read through from the beginning one of these works that was more conspicuous than the rest on account of its bulk, and that I had heard especially commended by many people.⁶ It was one, as well, about which I correctly believed that, as a compilation of all previous works, it had been treated similarly by those that followed it. In this author, that which could have made me indignant in the case of others somehow seemed like a relief. For the more impertinent things were stuffed randomly into the account, the more quickly I seemed to be carried [through it] toward the end. Now it was certainly possible in this way to gain a sufficient familiarity with the German Empire’s external appearance. It seemed quite absurd, however, that though the author displayed everywhere a feverish knowledge of the Civil [i.e., Roman] Law and attached to it whatever he had ever read or heard, I found nothing there which revealed even a mediocre understanding of sound politics. For annotating those prior works requires only a moderate diligence, and no intelligence, and those who rush before the public in order to explain the structure of so irregular a state [as the German Empire], while barely cognizant of their country’s [Germany’s] history and of civil science, might rightly be described as asses playing the lyre.⁷

      Now after I had made it through that tedious reading and discovered, as well, that most authors go astray playing the same tune, I decided that I should take a different path; and [so], putting aside the inanities of worthless little books, I began rather to examine whatever seemed doubtful by asking men who had been tested in practical affairs. The fruits I derived from this undertaking were not inconsiderable. For beside the fact that I learned many things which you would seek in vain in books, that curiosity also earned me much good will from a people already well inclined toward outsiders. They were especially pleased to find in me none of that revulsion toward their affairs that is so familiar in most [other] outsiders. And the more boldly and frankly they saw me dealing with them, the more generously they embraced me as an imitator, as it were, of the candor for which they themselves so enjoy being praised. So I finally decided to make more use of the good will thus offered to me by this people.⁸

      Having finished the business in Munich to my satisfaction, I therefore betook myself to Regensburg at a time when the recent fear of a Turkish war had drawn many princes there.⁹ Here it was quite easy to behold the character [ingenium] of German affairs with one glance, and [to see] how loosely that structure [i.e., the empire] hangs together. But with my Bavarian friend preparing the way, I was also able to get to know a man whose equal I have hardly ever met in Germany, who was then in charge of the court at Mainz and highly regarded by most Germans.¹⁰ He received me with the greatest kindness, such as an unknown traveller could hardly expect from a man whose favor the learned often thought it honourable to seek even through public flattery. And, indeed, this man’s support not only gained me many friends in Regensburg, but when I had indicated to him my intention to travel through a part of Germany he also equipped me with letters to various courts which, like friendship tokens, generated for me a most gracious hospitality.

      Next I followed the Danube down to Vienna where several of my countrymen, whose fortune there had been very favorable, saw to it that I was not regarded as a foreigner. Then something advantageous happened, in that a certain Imperial minister with whom I had already become friends was sent off to the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg. I was quite pleased to join him as a companion when he invited me, especially once he had assured me that the reputation of Italian sobriety could protect me from drowning in wine because of excessive politeness. For according to that nation’s customs, it is generally regarded as cowardly to value one’s own health over the customary libations thereto.

      After leaving Berlin I was received at the court of the Duke of Braunschweig. There, beside other things, I was most pleased to converse with a professor