The Travels of Cyrus by Chevalier Ramsay
respect , Ramsay remains faithful to Fénelon . Beyond the simple pedagogical exercise , and the docere et placere at the heart of all literature of this nature , the primary mission is to prepare the reader for an enrichment of his or her spiritual life . Summarizing Fénelon ’ s approach to preparatory instruction , Emmanuel Bury writes : “ As far as the tutor is concerned , it is less a case of filling the receptacle than of rendering it capable , in the strongest sense of the term , that is to say giving it the capacity to receive the divine light .” 9
This is precisely the essence of The Travels of Cyrus : not so much a collection of wise insights or a stroll through the historians of antiquity , but rather a real work of personal growth . While the young prince meets a number of fictitious or real legislators , such as Chilon of Sparta and Solon the Greek , the fundamental lessons are undeniably given by priests or pious men . The prince ’ s quest would be incomplete if it were not underpinned by the clarification of metaphysical mysteries . Thus , the foremost idea , the thread guiding the protagonist , is the unity of religions . It is held to be true that all religions propose the idea of a prisca sapientia , a natural original religion that has unfortunately been lost . This assumption is very clearly summarized by Robert Granderoute : “ Leaving aside the embroideries of fiction , the fabric is the same : humans knew a happy age when they had a relationship with spirits and gods ; today they are experiencing a state of decline and degradation , but they will re-establish themselves one day with the help of a mediating God .” 10 The priests of Egypt , moreover , show themselves to be bitterly aware of this situation :
The men of Mercury ’ s time had yet a remembrance of the reign of Osiris , and had divers traditional lights which we have lost . The arts of imitation , poesy , music , painting , every thing within the province of the imagination , are but sports of the mind , in comparison of the sublime sciences known by the first men . [ ... ] We have lost , said the priests to Cyrus , this exalted kind of knowledge . We have only remaining some traces of it upon our ancient obelisks , which may be called , the registers of our divinity , mysteries , and traditions relating to the Deity and to nature , and in no wise the annals of our civil history , as the ignorant imagine .” 11
Thus , each stage , each journey through a foreign land aims to recapture what some would much later describe as Primordial Tradition . Consequently , the travels , as they progress , must allow for the development of a deeper knowledge of local religions and beliefs , not in order to dwell on their differences — which are only superficial — but to arrive at a rediscovery of the past which
9 Emmanuel Bury , “ Fénelon pedagogue ,” Dix-septième siècle 206 ( 2000 ): 53 . ( Our translation ). 10 Granderoute , Le Roman pédagogique , p . 280 . 11 Ramsay , Travels of Cyrus , pp . 90-91 .
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