The Complete Essays (213 page)

25
. ’80: The shock of this
pleasure
strikes us so
furiously
that it would be difficult for those who love the hunt to bring their
soul
at this point back
from its rapture. Love gives way to the pleasure of the chase, say the poets: that is why they
make Diana…

26
. Horace,
Epodes
, II, 37–8.

27
. The author is Suetonius (
Life of Julius Caesar
). Related by Erasmus,
Apophthegmata
, IV;
Julius Caesar
, I.

28
. The text of the Bordeaux manuscript addition is partly damaged, but clearly tells of the same event in much the same words. Here [’95] replaces [C] as being more reliable.

29
. Luke 12:4. (Christ’s own words, but cited inexactly from memory).

30
. Cicero,
Tusc. disput.
, I, xliv, 106 (citing Ennius)

31
. Described in Montaigne’s
Journal de Voyage
.

32
. Erasmus,
Apophthegmata
, V,
Artoxerxes
, XVIII. (Similarly cited in Amyot’s Plutarch, but as Artaxerxes).

33
. Herodotus,
History
, II, xlvii.

34
. Seneca,
Epist. moral.
, XC, 45.

35
. Virgil,
Aeneid
, VII, 501.

36
. Erasmus,
Adages
, I, I, II,
Amicitia aequalis;
section
Pythagorae Symbolae: A pisces abstineto;
then, Ovid,
Metamorphoses
, XV, 106–7.

37
. ’80: sympathy
and love
[amitié] which I confess that I feel for
them…
    An echo of the Pythagorean adage of Erasmus,
Amicitia aequalis
(see note 36).

38
. The Druids were the priests and philosophers of the Ancient Gauls: Caesar,
Gallic Wars
, V, xiii ff.

39
. Ovid,
Metamorphoses
, XV, 106–7. The Egyptian origin of metempsychosis is mentioned by Ovid’s commentators (e.g., among many, the Venice edition, 1586, p. 295).

40
. [A]: body more
vile
, or less so…

41
. Claudius Claudianus,
In Ruffinum
, II, 482–7.

42
. Ovid,
Metamorphoses
, XV, 160–1 – from the verses which sympathetically expound Pythagoras’ ideas.

43
. Such ‘cousinship’ is briefly mentioned by Brassicanus in his remarks on Pythagoras’ adage
Ab animalibus abstine
, with an allusion to Ovid’s ‘truly golden’ verses in the
Metamorphoses
, XV, which, throughout the Renaissance, is the source always cited or followed.

44
. Cicero,
De nat. deorum
, I, xxxvi, 101.

45
. Juvenal,
Satires
, XV, 2–6.

46
. Plutarch (tr. Amyot),
De Isis et Osiris
, 333F–334H.

47
. Plutarch (tr. Amyot),
Les demandes des choses Romaines
, 475E. The geese heard the Barbarians scaling the walls while the guard-dogs slept
(Quels animaux sont les plus advisez
, 514 D-E).

48
. The Hecatompedon (‘the Hundred-feet long’) was the regular name for the Parthenon (the temple of Athena Parthenos in the citadel of Athens). It was rebuilt by Pericles on the site of a previous temple of that name.

49
. Same examples in Ravisius Textor,
Officina (Bruta animalia honorata sepulchris out statuis)
.

50
. Plutarch,
Life of Cato
.

1
. Commonplace; cf. Cicero,
De fin.
, II. xiii. 43; Erillus, though a pupil of Zeno the Stoic, was close to Plato (Cicero,
Acad.
, II. xlii. 129).

2
. The Platonic contention. Cf. Socrates in Aristotle,
Nicomachaean Ethics
, VII, i. 6–ii, 7 (a commonplace: cf. Cognatus’ Adages,
Indocto nihil iniquius
and
Nil scientia potentius
); vulgarized by Erasmus’
Apophthegmata
(
Socrates
, XXXIII): ‘He said knowledge is the only good, ignorance the only evil.’ The intemperate, say, believe inordinate reactions to be ordinate. ‘The
summum bonum
is therefore knowledge of what is to be sought or avoided.’

3
. A distinguished scholar and tutor from Toulouse (1499–1546). Similar praise in Lambin’s dedication to him of Lucretius,
De nat. rerum
, V.

4
. ’88: ordinary people (
and virtually everybody is in that category
) lack…

5
. Lucretius, V, 1140 (alluding to regicide).

6
. ’88: a
difficult
undertaking.

7
. ’88: death,
with the carelessness which you can see from the infinite number of misprints left in by the printer, who alone was responsible for its execution
…Montaigne struck out his first printer’s liminary material for the second edition.

8
. He is also highly praised by Montaigne in I, 25, ‘On schoolmasters’ learning’, and II, 17, ‘On presumption’.

9
. ’88: his
sacrosanct
goodness…

10
. A ‘lively’ faith shows itself in good works; Christian ‘mysteries’ are not accessible to unaided human reason: that is standard orthodox doctrine.

11
. Anon. The poem (based on
Aeneid
, VII, 587 ff.) praises the staunchly Catholic Ronsard and accompanies his reply to Protestant critics,
Response aux injures et calomnies
, 1563.

12
. Guillaume Postel, the French orientalist, highly praised the fervour of Moslem believers. He believed that, once converted, they would be the most exemplary of Christians.

13
. Cf. Joinville,
Histoire
, XIX.

14
. Boccaccio,
Decameron
, day I, tale 2.

15
. Matthew 17:20.

16
. Quintilian, XII, 11, 12 – enjoining men to will to achieve natural virtue.

17
. ’88: to
men
. Men take…

18
. J.-A. de Thou in his
Historia sui temporis
relates how Montaigne made similar remarks to him directly.

19
. Many Roman Catholics and Protestants switched positions as their rival candidates drew near to the throne. The Catholic Henry III, assassinated 2 August 1589, was succeeded by the Protestant Henry IV, who became a Roman Catholic in 1593.

20
. ’88: from
our armies
those…

21
. Historical faith (by which one believes historical facts) is a low form of faith, quite insufficient for salvation; Montaigne’s contemporaries fail (he suggests) even to have that.

22
. Diogenes Lacrtius,
Lives
(VI, 4 and 39), a major source of Montaigne’s knowledge of scepticism. (Both anecdotes in Erasmus’
Apophthegmata.
)
    ’95: like you
who does nothing worthwhile
?…

23
. Lucretius, III, 612 f. (Lambin, 1563, p. 230), alludes to the
De divino praemio
, VII, of the Christian writer Lactantius for an answer to these words. Montaigne provides an answer in his own way.

24
. Paul (Philippians 1:23) becomes an answer to Lucretius. For the highly orthodox association of Paul with Platonizing suicides, see my study,
Montaigne and Melancholy
, chapter 5, § 1.

25
. ’88: pressing danger,
extreme pain or closeness of death
do not… Idea taken possibly from Plato,
Laws
, X (cf. Montaigne in I, 56, ‘On prayer’) and Plato, tr, Ficino,
Republic
, I, 330, 532.

26
. Plato,
Republic
(Ficino, III, 391; cf. II, 379).

27
. Diogenes Laertius,
Lives
, Bion.

28
. Cf. Erasmus,
In Praise of Folly
, LXVI.

29
. Plutarch, tr. Amyot,
De la tranquillité de l’âme
, I, 76; Romans I:20; cf. Introduction, p. xxvii.

30
. Manilius, IV, 907;
    ’88 (after quotation, referring to his translation of Sebond):
If my printer were so enamoured of those studied, borrowed prefatory-pieces with which (according to the humour of this age) there is no book from a good publishing-house but has its forehead garnished, he should make use of verses such as these, which are of a better and more ancient stock than the ones he has planted there
.

31
. Horace,
Epistles
, V, 6.

32
. ’88: malicious.
Anyone who is already imbued with a belief more readily accepts arguments which support it than does a man who has drunk draughts from a contrary opinion, as do these people here. Some mental predisposition makes Sebond’s reasons…
    ’95: opinions.
For an Atheist all writings lean towards atheism. He infects
harmless matter…

33
. Herodotus, VII, 10,
apud
John Stobaeus,
Apophthegmata
, 22. This was inscribed by Montaigne on a beam in his library.

34
. I Peter: 5. Cf. Augustine,
City of God
, XVII, 4; Plato, tr. Ficino,
Timaeus
, 1546, p. 715.

35
.
City of God
, XXI, 5.

36
. Colossians 2:8; I Corinthians 3:19; I Corinthians 8:2; Galatians 6:3 (the last two inscribed in Montaigne’s library). For Montaigne, the Bible is the Holy Ghost speaking through men.

37
. From here to the last page, revealed wisdom is left aside. See Introduction, p. xxv ff.

38
. Cicero,
De nat. deorum
, I, ix, 23.

39
. Ibid., II, liii, 133 (where the idea is attributed to Balbus the Stoic).

40
. Lucretius, V, 1203 f.

41
. Manilius, III, 58 (Montaigne mistranscribed
Fata
(fate) as
facta
(deeds).
Fata
makes better sense); then, I, 60–63; I, 55 and IV, 93; IV, 79 and 118.

42
. Cicero,
De nat. deorum
, I, viii, 19.

43
. Ibid., I, xxxi, 87 and 88 (refuting Epicurus).

44
. Plutarch, tr. Amyot,
De la face qui apparoist dedans le rond de la Lune;
Diogenes Laertius, II, viii, 100; Seneca,
De ira
, II, ix; Wisdom of Solomon 9:15,
apud
Augustine,
City of God
, XII, 15.

45
. ’88: moreover,
says Pliny
, the most given… (This quotation is used by Montaigne to conclude II, 14, ‘How our mind tangled itself up’; it was cited in Montaigne’s library.)

46
. ’95: her?
We entertain ourselves with mutual monkey-tricks. If I have times when I want to begin or to say no, so does she.

47
. Plato, tr. Ficino,
Politics
, p. 206;
Timaeus
, p. 274 (cf. Montaigne in I, 11, ‘On prognostications’).

48
. Benedetto Varchi,
L’Hercolano. Dialogo nel qual si ragiona… delle lingue
; Richerius Rhodiginus,
Antiquae Lectiones
XVII, xiii (disapprovingly); Pliny,
Hist. nat.
, VI, xxxv, etc.

49
. Lucretius, V, 1058.

50
. Ibid., V, 1029.

51
. ’88: by means of
gestures
. I have… (Cf. Rabelais,
Tiers Livre
, TLF, XIX–XX and notes.)

52
. Torquato Tasso,
Aminta
, II, 34.

53
. Quintilian, XI, iii, 66, 85–7; 68, 71–2; 78–86. Laughter and/or speech were normally considered the ‘specific characteristic’ (the ‘property’) of Man.

54
. Pliny, VI, 30; cf. Rabelais,
Pantagruel
, TLF, XIII;
Tiers Livre
, XXX; J.-B. della Porta,
De furtivis litterarum notis
, 1563; etc.

55
. Plutarch, tr. Amyot, Les
Dicts notables des Lacedaemoniens
, I, 214 A.

56
. Virgil,
Georgics
, IV, 219 f. For what follows, cf. Plutarch, tr. Amyot,
Quels sont les animaux les plus advisez ceulx de la terre ou ceulx des eaux?
512 CD.