Tetradymus. Containing I. Hodegus ... II. Clidophorus ... III. Hypatia. ... IV. Mangoneutes

PREFACE.

...unmanly, even wicked schemes. Without even looking abroad at the methods of undermining and slander used by the various religious orders of the Roman Church against one another, or going into detail about the atrocious slanders of the Constitutionists The "Constitutionists" were supporters of the 1713 Papal Bull Unigenitus, which condemned certain Jansenist doctrines. This caused a massive rift in the French Catholic Church. against the Anti-constitutionists in France—where the poverty and plague currently prevailing there are blamed by the former on the latter—what shameful examples, I ask, of such foul practices could I produce right here at home? What gossiping, what insinuations, what prying original: "pumping", what twisting and straining of words or actions occurs among both members of the Established Church and Dissenters Dissenters were Protestants who did not belong to the Church of England., all under the guise or pretense of religion?

The examples are too obvious and the subjects too well-known for me to go into specifics, whether I wish to avoid resentment or avoid appearing biased. But between the misrepresentations and insults of enemies, the angry disapproval and abandonment by friends, and the suspensions, removals from office, and expulsions carried out by those in power (to say nothing of the legal disabilities and various other sufferings), people have become suspicious of one another. They are hesitant to speak their minds on most subjects, vague in their language, and compliant in their behavior. Because of this, not only is mutual trust in danger, but all worthy intellectual progress is at risk of being completely destroyed.

What sneaky evasions and wretched excuses and tricks are men of great talent forced to use because of human weakness, simply to escape disgrace or starvation? And this often happens over abstract metaphysical ideas or fantasies that never existed anywhere but in the empty heads original: "hollow noddles" of daydreamers.

Reflecting on these issues—which are fully explained in the work itself—prompted me to publish CLIDOPHORUS. I did this so that people today might see their own likenesses accurately portrayed in the history of past ages and learn both the causes and the cure for their current social sickness, even if they offer no thanks or reward to the "physician" The author likely refers to himself here as a doctor diagnosing a sick society..

However, outrages even worse than those I have already described—such as attempts to mob or even harass men of learning and virtue because they disagree with others on theoretical opinions—led me to write The Life of HYPATIA. I was especially moved to undertake this work by the illegal and unchristian treatment that Mr. WHISTON William Whiston (1667–1752) was a mathematician and theologian who was famously expelled from Cambridge for his unorthodox religious views. received from Dr. SACHEVERELL Henry Sacheverell (1674–1724) was a high-church Anglican clergyman known for his aggressive rhetoric against religious and political dissent., who insisted on forcibly driving him...