CENTURIA IV · QUATRAIN LVII
The Seditious Pamphlets
Ignare envie au grand Roi supportee,
Tiendra propos deffendre les escripts:
Sa femme non femme par un autre tentee,
Plus double deux ne fort ne cri.
Ignorant envy against the great King sustained,
He will hold forth to defend the writings:
His wife not wife, by another tempted,
Twice double two, neither strength nor cry.
THE MASTER SAYS…
This quatrain relates to Louis XVI and the French Revolution. Translators thought it related to Nostradamus’s writings being banned by the king. No, during the French Revolution many things fell under martial law, including publications of flyers, pamphlets, etc. People who published so-called seditious materials were condemned to death or had serious trouble. He asks you to compare this with the American Revolution. Since it took place in the new world, not on the island of Great Britain, they had more freedom of action. They could print a large number of pamphlets and flyers, inciting bloodshed. But during the French Revolution the king was right there.