Originally published in , this is the first biography of the Marquis de Sade. De Sade called the eighteenth century "the age of complete corruption" Justine 1, 2 and in another place had Noirceuil say: "It is dangerous to desire to be virtuous in a corrupt century" Juliette 1, The consciousness of the general evil of the century was sufficiently impressed upon him as on others.
Hegel in his Philosophy of History has the most pertinent expression for this epoch: "The whole state of France at that time was a dissolute aggregation of privileges against idea and reason; in general, a mad state with which, at the same time, was bound the highest depravity of morals and spirit—an empire of injustice with the growing consciousness of that state.
The eighteenth century belongs to that frivolous era, whose essence was masterfully described by a student of Hegel, Kuno Fischer, in his Diotima : "Frivolous times are those which always conclude a moribund era and completely destroy the life of mankind so that it can start afresh. They are weakened and appear so flabby and impotent, that one despairs of new ones. And in fact, when an era has completely lived itself out, there remains from its customary life but the external shell, and this needs artistic charm to excite it again, for the inward power is lacking which alone can bring it forth in its youthful freshness.
There is no character, no formation in such times; everywhere the prose of selfishness without its power; the impotency of pleasure without its poetry. The second was the complete sinfulness of Catholicism; the last, the complete sinfulness of the monarchy. But the man who wants enjoyment at any cost is the egoist.
The minister Saint Fond, a true copy of a minister under Louis XV, said Juliette 11, 37 : "A statesman would be a fool if he did not let his country pay for his pleasures. What matters to us the misery of the people if only our passions arc satisfied? Before the Revolution this egoism was encountered only in the ruling classes, monarch, nobility and clergy. In the Revolution it seized all ranks of the populace. Adolf Schmidt, who drew his description of the Revolutionary days from authentic contemporary documents, said: "It was the sharp expressed egoism, the selfishness and avarice, which not only pierced the higher ranks of society, but all classes of people and, foremost of all, the overwhelming number of peasants; indeed it was so powerful, that all other feelings, even those of country and of humanity, were deeply submerged and forgotten.
