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A HISTORY OF BOHEMIAN LITERATURE

Tolstoy — to whom Chelcicky has often been compared — than that of the modern disturbers of public order.

Horror of bloodshed and of all violence

is indeed one of

the distinctive tenets of Chelcicky, and absolute obedience to all, even the most unjust authorities, is enjoined by him. Chelcicky's ideal is the communism of the primi-

such as he imagined it. The source of all evil is the " donation of Constantine." ^ When the Church was then for the first time enriched, an angel, Chelcicky tells us, spoke the words : " To-day has poison been infused into the Church of Christ." This mystical conception of the primitive Church is the foundation of most of Chelcicky's tenets. As the primitive Christians had no part in the government of the Roman empire, therefore no true Christian can hold any office of state. He may, indeed must obey, but he should not command. In the primitive Church, according to Chelcicky, all were equal. Therefore the " bands," that the temporal and ecclesiastical grades and ranks among men, are hateful "to the meek and poor Lord Jesus." In his intense hatred of all temporal and spiritual authority, Chelcicky sometimes appears to expound very modern ideas, but we must always remember that we are reading writer of the fifteenth century and of the words of fervent Christian. his hatred of bloodVery characteristic of Chelcicky While the magisters of the Calixtine Church had, shed. after prolonged discussion, decided that war in selfChurch

a

is

a

a

is,

tive

it

'

is

The fable of the " donation of Constantine " and its fatal consequences met with constantly in mediaeval literature. Dante alludes to in the Inferno (Canto xix. v. 115-118)—

" Ahi

Che

da te prese

il

Constantin di quanto mal fu matre Non la tua conversion ma quella dote primo ricco patre.

"