The Complete Essays (215 page)

134
. Seneca,
Epist. moral
. LXX, 15–16 (adapted); Cicero,
Tusc. disput.
, V, xli; Horace,
Epist.
, II, ii, 213; Lucretius, III, 1039 (Lambin, pp. 266–7); Plutarch,
Contre les Stoïques
, 564 CD; Diogenes Laertius,
Lives
, Crates; Plutarch, tr. Amyot,
Comment l’on pourra apparcevoir si l’on amende et profite en l’exercice de la vertu
, 114 EF; for Seneca’s praise of Quintus Sextius the Elder, cf. Seneca,
Epist. moral.
, XCVIII, 13.

135
. H.C. Agrippa,
De Vanitate omnium scientiarum et de excellentia verbi Dei
, 1537, I. St Paul is loosely paraphrased here, not quoted, on Christian Folly.

136
.
Idem
(where
Valentian
also appears for
Valentinian
).

137
. Ariosto,
Orlando furioso
, XIV, § 84.

138
. Varro
apud
Nonius Marcellus,
Opera
, 201, 6.

139
. ’88: not thinking
anything
of itself.

140
. Genesis; then Socrates
apud
John Stobaeus,
Apophthegmata
, Sermo XXII (a saying inscribed in Montaigne’s library).

141
. Plato,
Apology for Socrates
, 6.

142
. Sayings inscribed on Montaigne’s library; the first from Ecclesiasticus 10:9; the second, ascribed to ‘Eccl. 7’, may perhaps be a paraphrase of Ecclesiastes 7:1 (Vulgate) or a loose rendering of the Septuagint.

143
. Augustine,
De ordine
, II, xvi, and Tacitus,
De Moribus Germanorum
, XXXIV, both cited in Justus Lipsius,
Politicorum sive Civilis Doctrinae
, 1584,I, ii.

144
. Plato,
Laws
, VII (Ficino, 1546, p. 837); tr. Cicero,
Timaeus
, II (
in Fragmentis
).

145
. Lucretius, V, 121 (Lambin, pp. 383–4).

146
. Cicero,
De nat. deorum
, III, xv, 38, and quoting from I, xvii, 45. (Aristotle,
Nicomachaean Ethics
, VII, i. 1–2 may be in mind also.)

147
. I Corinthians, 1:19–21, a key text for Christian Folly (cf. Erasmus,
In Praise of Folly
, LXV).

148
. ’88: his own
vileness and his
weakness…

149
. Plutarch,
Comment l’on peut apparcevoir si l’on amende et profite en l’exercice de la vertu
: 116 EF.

150
. Cicero,
De nat. deorum
, I, vii, 17.

151
. Diogenes Laertius,
Lives
, Pherecides, I, 122.

152
. Socrates; cf. Plato,
Apology for Socrates
, Lucretius, ed. Lambin, 309, etc.
’88: ever was (
and who had no other just cause to be called wise apart from this saying
), when…

153
. Plato,
Politicus
, 19, 277.

154
. Cicero,
Academica
, I, xii, 44.

155
. According to H. C. Agrippa,
De Vanitate omnium scientiarum
, I.

156
. Cicero,
De divinatione
, II, iii, 8.

157
. Lucretius, III, 1048; 1046 (Lambin pp. 266–8).

158
. ’88: knowledge.
Aristotle, Epicurus
, Stoics…

159
. Sextus Empiricus,
Hypotyposes
, I, i, I; xix, xxii, xxiii. With the opening words of this book Montaigne begins his first major borrowing from one of the main sources of scepticism.

160
. Lucretius, IV, 469–70 (Lambin, p. 308). With these words begin Lucretius’ dense criticism of scepticism. Montaigne borrows much from him and the commentary of Lambin.

161
. Cicero,
Acad.: Lucullus
, II, xlvii, 144–45.

162
. Sextus Empiricus,
Hypotyposes
, I, XII, 30; XIII, 33; cf. Rabelais,
Tiers Livre
, TLF, XXXVI.

163
. Cicero,
Acad… Lucullus
, II, iii, 8–9, the source of both quotations.

164
. For Plato,
Forms
are created: for Aristotle, they exist from all eternity.

165
. Cicero,
Acad.: Lucullus
, II, xxxiii, 107, and I, xii, 45–6.

166
. These and similar aphorisms from Sextus Empiricus were inscribed in Montaigne’s library;
Hypotyposes
, I, 6, 21, 23, 26 and 27.

167
. Sextus Empiricus,
Hypotyposes
, I, xi, 23–24, followed by quotation from Cicero,
De divinat.
, I, xviii, 35.

168
. ’88: himself.
Laertius in the Life of Pyrrho says (and both Lucianus and Aulus Gellius incline the same way)
describe him… (Laertius’
Life
was printed in Montaigne’s copy of Sextus.)

169
. Major borrowings follow from Cicero,
Acad.: Lucullus
, II, xxxi, 99–101.

170
. ’88: greater
probability
nor a greater appearance…
    ’88: the divine
instruction and belief
, annihilating…

171
. This ‘quotation’ from Ecclesiastes figures in Latin in Montaigne’s library as
‘Fruere jucunde praesentibus, caetera extra te’
. (Its actual source is unknown.) Then, [C], Psalm 94 (93): II.

172
. Plato,
Timaeus
, 29 (Ficino, p. 705). The Latin quotation is from Livy,
Hist.
, xxvi, 22, 14. A marginal note authorized by Marie de Gournay reads, ‘Perhaps Seneca in
Epistles’ –
a wrong guess.

173
. Cicero:
Tusc. disput.
, I, ix.;
Timaeus
, III (in
Fragmentis
).

174
. ’88: obscurity, (
as for example on the subject of the immortality of the soul
) so deep…

175
. Cicero,
De nat. deorum
, I, v, 10 (adapted).

176
. Plato called a dog ‘philosophical’ since it strives to get at the marrow of a bare bone (
Republic
, III, 375E; cf. Rabelais,
Gargantua
, TLF, p. 13).

177
. Cicero,
Acad.: Lucullus
, II, xlv, 139.

178
. Lucretius, I, 639–42, incorporating matter in Lambin, p. 63 (Vitruvius, Cicero, etc.).

179
. Cicero,
De officiis
, I, vi, 19: Diogenes Laertius,
Lives:
Aristippus, II, 91; Zeno, VII, 32; Plutarch, tr. Amyot,
Life of Alexander
.

180
. Sallust
apud
Justus Lipsius,
Politicorum
, 1584, I, 10.

181
. ’88: Learning
and philosophy have
despised… (Sextus Empiricus,
Hypotyposes
, I, XXXI, 221.)

182
. Cf. Seneca,
Epist
, LXXXVIII; Diogenes Laertius,
Lives
, Socrates
(ad fin.).
.

183
. Plato,
Theaetetus
, 150–1.
’95:
circumscribed
for
circumcised
.

184
. ’88 (in place of [C]) they do interlard them
often with traits, dogmatist in form. In whom can one see that more clearly than in our Plutarch? How differently he treats the same subjects! How many times does he present us with two or three incompatible causes and divers reasons for the same subject, without selecting the one we ought to follow?
What else can that refrain mean…

185
. Cited from Plutarch, tr. Amyot,
Des oracles qui ont cessé
, 348B:
‘Les oeuvres de Dieu en diverses/Façons nous donnent des traverses.’

186
. Cicero,
Acad.: Lucullus
, II, V, 14; Wisdom of Solomon 9:14. Cf. Augustine,
City of God
, XII, 16.

187
. ’88: mind;
and desire moderation
. Democritus… (Seneca,
Epist.
, LXXXVIII, 36.)

188
. Plutarch, tr. Amyot;
Propos de Table
, 368 G-H.; King Philopappus (Plutarch, loc.
cit.
); Seneca,
Epist.
, LXXXVIII, 45.

189
. Cicero,
Acad.: Lucullus
, II, xli, 127.

190
. Plutarch, tr. Amyot:
Que l’on ne sçauroit vivre selon la doctrine d’Epicurus
, 282H-283A.

191
. Marcus Annaeus Seneca,
Suasoriae
, IV.

192
. Diogenes, cf. Diogenes Laertius
apud
Guy de Brués,
Dialogues, contre les nouveaux Academiciens, que tout ne consiste point en opinion
, 1557, p. 46.

193
. ’88: public, their
account of religions
, for example:
for it is not forbidden for us to draw advantage even from a lie, if needs be
. With that…

194
. Diogenes Laertius,
Lives
, Plato, II, lxxx; Plato,
Republic
, II (end), III (beginning); ibid., V, p. 459, tr. Ficino, p. 591.

195
. Quintilian, II, 17, 4.

196
. Valerius Soranus
apud
Augustine,
City of God
, VII, 11.
’88 (in place of [C] ):
For the deities to which men have wished to give a form of their own invention are harmful, full of errors and impiety
. That
is why of
all the religions…

197
. Paul’s sermon in Acts 17:23: ‘I found also an altar with this inscription
“TO AN UNKNOWN GOD”.’
By adding
hidden
Montaigne links this text to God as
Deus absconditus
(Introduction, p. xxx). Even good natural religion requires grace if it is to take root and grow.

198
. Plutarch, tr. Amyot,
Life of Numa
.

199
. ’88: required,
because of the people’s conception
), I think…

200
. Ronsard,
Remonstrance au peuple de France
, 64 f.

201
. There follows a massive borrowing, condensed, from Cicero,
De nat. deorum
, I, X, 25-xii, 30 (with some errors), with additions from
ibid.
, I, viii, 18 f.; xxiv, 63, and
De divinat.
, II, XVII, 40.

202
. Ennius
apud
Cicero,
De divinat
. II, 1, 104.

203
. ’88: deify:
for adoring things of our own kind, sickly, corruptible and mortal
, as
all
Antiquity did,
of men whom they had seen living and dying and disturbed by our passions
surpasses…

204
. Lucretius, V, 123 (Lambin, pp. 383–4); Cicero,
De nat. deor.
, II, xxviii, 70 (cited with Augustine,
City of God
, IV, xxx, in mind); Cicero,
De nat. deorum
, II, xxiii, 59 ff.; I, xi. 28; xvi, 42; Persius,
Satires
, II, 62 and 61.

205
. St Augustine,
City of God
, XVIII, v.

206
. Cicero,
De nat. deorum
, I, xxxii, 90; also
Tusc. disput.
, I, xxvi, 65,
apud
Augustine,
City of God
, IV, xxvi.

207
. Plato,
Gorgias
, 524a;
Repub.
, 614E; Plutarch,
De la face qui apparoist dedans le ronde de la lune
, 626 CD. For the implications of this passage for Montaigne’s conception of the after-life, see
Montaigne and Melancholy
, pp. 131–2, and note 1.

208
. ’88: has
justly
clung to him… (From Antiquity onwards we find the term
Divinus Plato
: in the Renaissance it acknowledges Plato’s inspiration and sometimes his preoccupation with the world of the soul.)