Percy Bysshe Shelley Quotes
All spirits are enslaved which serve things evil
Shelley, Percy Bysshe. Prometheus Unbound: A Lyrical Drama in Four Acts. C. and J. Ollier, 1820, p. 88.
Referring to the Arawak natives he found when he landed in the "new world—San Salvador:"
The Catholic Papacy was very ambivalent regarding the morality of slavery. Callistus, in effect authorized the morality of enslaving “infidels.” In the past this was a reaction to the Muslim ethic of banning slavery of Muslims but allowing it for “infidels.” This bull has been used to defend slavery ever since despite the fact that there are several other (before and after) Papal pronouncements condemning slavery. See {617550} , {617880} , {617632}
This is an example of what was one of the worst perversions of slavery. This minister actually argued that Blacks were much better off as slaves and slavery served them well.
What was particularly interesting about this quotation is that Pinkney was a political leader of Maryland, a slave state. He saw the injustice and immorality of slavery but like many others of our founding fathers assumed that ending slavery would infringe on the property rights of the slave holders. Others argued that there can be no right to deny others their basic rights—property and wealth are subordinate to natural rights. See {632258} and {632259} for more on this point.
He was making a generalization based on his historical study of nations and societies.
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets. American literary critic Harold Bloom describes him as "a superb craftsman, a lyric poet without rival, and surely one of the most advanced sceptical intellects ever to write a poem." A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achievements in poetry grew steadily following his death and he became an important influence on subsequent generations of poets including Browning, Swinburne, Hardy and Yeats.
