To
historians who wish to relive an era, Fustel de Coulanges recommends that they
blot out everything they know about the later course of history.
There
is no better way of characterizing the method with which historical materialism
has broken. It is a process of empathy whose origin is the indolence of the
heart, acedia, which despairs of grasping and holding the genuine historical
image as it flares up briefly. Among medieval theologians it was regarded as
the root cause of sadness.
Flaubert,
who was familiar with it, wrote:
‘Peu
de gens devineront combien il a fallu être triste pour ressusciter Carthage.’*
* ‘Few will be able to guess
how sad one had to be in order to resuscitate Carthage.’
The
nature of this sadness stands out more clearly if one asks with whom the
adherents of historicism actually empathize. The answer is inevitable: with the
victor. And all rulers are the heirs of those who conquered before them. Hence,
empathy with the victor invariably benefits the rulers.
Historical
materialists know what that means. Whoever has emerged victorious participates
to this day in the triumphal procession in which the present rulers step over
those who are lying prostrate. According to traditional practice, the spoils
are carried along in the procession. They are called cultural treasures, and a
historical materialist views them with cautious detachment. For without
exception the cultural treasures he surveys have an origin which he cannot
contemplate without horror. They owe their existence not only to the efforts of
the great minds and talents who have created them, but also to the anonymous
toil of their contemporaries.
There
is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of
barbarism. And just as such a document is not free of barbarism, barbarism
taints also the manner in which it was transmitted from one owner to another. A
historical materialist therefore dissociates himself from it as far as
possible. He regards it as his task to brush history against the grain.
Ennit ?
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