Bayle's whole argument is rooted in the prophecy of Seneca. He
declares: "Comets are bodies subject to the ordinary law of
Nature, and not prodigies amenable to no law." He shows
historically that there is no reason to regard comets as portents
of earthly evils. As to the fact that such evils occur after the
passage of comets across the sky, he compares the person
believing that comets cause these evils to a woman looking out of
a window into a Paris street and believing that the carriages
pass because she looks out. As to the accomplishment of some
predictions, he cites the shrewd saying of Henry IV, to the
effect that "the public will remember one prediction that comes
true better than all the rest that have proved false." Finally,
he sums up by saying: "The more we study man, the more does it
appear that pride is his ruling passion, and that he affects
grandeur even in his misery. Mean and perishable creature that
he is, he has been able to persuade men that he can not die
without disturbing the whole course of Nature and obliging the
heavens to put themselves to fresh expense. In order to light
his funeral pomp. Foolish and ridiculous vanity! If we had a
just idea of the universe, we should soon comprehend that the
death or birth of a prince is too insignificant a matter to stir
the heavens."[117]
[117] Regarding Bayle, see Madler, Himmelskunde, vol.
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