The Complete Essays (231 page)
Read The Complete Essays Online
Authors: Michel de Montaigne
Tags: #Essays, #Philosophy, #Literary Collections, #History & Surveys, #General
78
. Plutarch (tr. Amyot),
Comment on pourra recevoir utilité de ses ennemis
, 112 F.
79
. [C]: under
diverse
kinds of
fortune
are lodged…
Then, Virgil,
Georgics
, I, 506.
80
. ’88: may be
similar maladies
among foreigners…
81
. As distinct from. Gascon.
82
. Cicero,
Tusc. disput.
, V, xxxvii, 108.
83
. Plutarch (tr. Amyot),
Du bannissement ou l’exil
, 125 G–H: then, also for Socrates; together with echoes of Plato’s
Apology for Socrates
, etc.
84
. Virgil,
Aeneid
, VI, 114.
85
.
Cyropaedia
, VIII, viii is now considered an addition to the work and not to be by Xenophon. It treats of the birth of luxury and decadence among the subjects of Cyrus’ Persian Empire but does not describe the amenities mentioned by Montaigne.
86
. ’88: expeditions
more than
big ones […] cousin
more than
for a real journey…
87
. A proverb best known from Rabelais’ Good Drinkers, who attribute it in jest to the Bishop of Le Mans
(Gargantua
, TLF, IV, 85 var.).
88
. ’88: married and
soon
old…
89
. ’88: in
pomp and
idleness…
90
. Cf. the maxim ‘woman desires man as matter desires form’; it was taken from Aristotle but traditionally misunderstood. (Cf. Tiraquellus,
De legibus connubialibus
, IX, 92.)
91
. Plutarch (tr. Amyot),
Des communes conceptions contre les Stoïques
, 579 F. (an effect attributed to
amitié
, ‘loving affection’).
92
. Ovid,
Tristia
, III, iv, 57.
93
. Horace,
Epistles
, II, i, 38; 45–7; then, Cicero,
Academica (Lucullus)
, II, xxix, 92.
94
. Perhaps creatures such as the
mustellae
(a kind of weasel) which Ravisius Textor describes as being bound to the female by their testicles
(Officina, Animalia diversa
, s.v.).
95
. Known from Saxo Grammaticus; when the couples lay together this way they could not be separated and became a laughing-stock.
96
. Terence,
Adelphi
, I. i, 7–9.
97
. Montaigne is generalizing from his love for La Boëtie.
98
. Plato,
Laws
, XI, 950 D; 951 D (treating of commissioners sent out officially to report on foreign lands).
99
. The Stoics.
’88: so many
decent
men…
100
. Plutarch (tr. Amyot),
Contredicts des Philosophes Stoïques
, 561 D.
101
. ’88: disloyal to
my portrait
. This public…
102
. Not
Dion
but
Bion
. Cf. Erasmus,
Apophthegmata
, VII,
Bion Borysthenites
, I (after Diogenes Laertius,
Life of Bion)
.
103
. Persius,
Satires
, V, 32.
104
. Plutarch (tr. Amyot),
Comment on pourra discerner le flatteur d’avec l’amy
, 41.
105
. Lucretius, I, 403–4.
106
. The lost friend is La Boëtie.
’88 features.
I well know that I shall leave behind me no guarantor even approximately as devoted to my case, and as knowledgeable, as I was to his. There is nobody with whom I would exchange vows to portray me: he alone had the privilege of my true portrait, which he took with him. That is why I explain my secrets so punctiliously
, to finish…
107
. Both are mentioned by Tacitus:
Annals
, XVI, xix;
History
, I, lxxii.
’88: required
by the Emperors
to kill themselves,
according to the laws of that time
lulling death to sleep…
108
. Cicero,
Tusc. disput.
, V, ix, 25; cf. Plutarch (tr. Amyot),
De la Fortune
, 106 B.
109
. Cited after i) Justus Lipsius,
Saturnalia
, I, vi; ii) – the second sentence – after Cornelius Nepos,
Life of Atticus
.
110
. That is, he has remained in his ‘parish’ – Western Europe – never having travelled to such exotic places as Greece or Persia, let alone China or the Americas.
111
. Seneca,
Epist, moral.
, VI, 4; then, Cicero,
De officiis
, I, xliii, 153.
112
. Cicero,
De amicitia
, XXIII, 88.
113
. Virgil,
Aeneid
, IV, 340–1; then, Horace,
Odes
, III, iii, 34–6.
114
. Henry of Navarre twice visited and stayed at Montaigne.
115
. ’88: so inordinate and so
uncutable
that…
Then, Cicero,
De senectute
, I, 1 (the opening verse, from Ennius), and Quintus Curtius, IV, xxiv.
116
. Cf. Socrates’ quip to the man who had not been improved by travel: ‘Not surprising. You took yourself with you.’ (Erasmus,
Apophthegmata
, III,
Socrates
, XLIV.)
117
. The souls (or forms) of beasts are too low in the chain of being, those of divinities too high, to experience discontent. Man is in between.
118
. Seneca,
Epist. moral.
, LVI, 6.
119
. ’88: man
of the common sort
. ‘Be content…
120
. ’88: qualification and
moderation
[
modification
, ‘limitation,’ replacing
mesure
, ‘moderation]…
121
. Propertius, III, iii, 23.
122
. I Corinthians 3:20, citing Psalm 94 (93):11.
123
. Virgil,
Aeneid
, VI, 743. (Virgil’s sense is by no means clear: the ancient commentator Servius explained
Manes
, ‘spirits’ here as ‘punishments’ or ‘torments’, an interpretation I have followed.) Then, Cicero,
De officiis
, I, xxxi, 110.
124
. Probably Theodore Beza, the erotic poet and successor to Calvin.
125
. Plutarch (tr. Amyot),
Comment il fault ouïr
, 27 CD.
126
. Juvenal,
Satires
, XIII, 124.
127
. Erasmus,
Apophthegmata
, VII,
Antisthenes
, XLVIII; then, III,
Diogenes Cynicus
, XLV.
128
. Cf. Brantôme,
Dames Galantes
, IV (Garnier edition p. 219 and note). The tale is told by Bishop Antonio de Guevara in his work translated as
Les Epistres dorées, moralles et familieres
.
129
. Juvenal,
Satires
, XIV, 233–4; then, Martial,
Epigrams
, VII, ix, 1–2.
130
. Perhaps Henry II, whose confessor the Cardinal de Lorraine persuaded him to persecute the members of the Reformed Church.
131
. Lucan,
Pharsalia
, VIII, 493–4.
132
. Everything in public life is
secundum quid dependens
, ever (in Montaigne’s repeated word)
selon;
‘it all depends’ on something else or on someone else.
133
. Plato,
Republic
, VI, 492 E and 497 A–C.
134
. Catullus, VII, 19.
135
. Plato,
Gorgias
, XXIX, 474A (following the sense of Ficino’s Latin rendering).
136
. Montaigne parodies the kind of praise heaped on Francis I for allowing Charles V to pass in safety through his domains in 1539–40, despite the French humiliation at Pavia in 1524.
137
. That is,
secundum nos, selon nous
.
138
. Juvenal,
Satires
, XIII, 64–6.
139
. Mark Antony, Octavius and Lepidus, the Triumvirate.
140
. Virgil,
Aeneid
, V, 166.
141
. The
Phaedrus
.
142
. Two comedies of Plautus, the titles of which merely hint at their subject. Then, in [C], the surnames given to Lucius Cornelius, the dictator:
Sylla
(‘Freckles’); to Mark Tully:
Cicero
(‘Chickpea’); and Titus Manlius:
Torquatus
(a nickname drawn from
torque
, a Gaulish necklace which he once wore as booty).
143
. In Plato’s dialogue
Ion –
a major source of the French Pléiade’s conception of poetic inspiration, and especially of Ronsard’s (who did not perceive Plato’s irony) in his famous
Ode à Michel de l’Hospital
.
144
. Plato,
Laws
, IV, 719 CD, contrasting inspired poets, who in their daemon-inspired
mimesis
(imitation of nature) pour forth verbal inconsistencies, with lawgivers, whose writings must be consistent and coherent. Montaigne is defending the ecstatic, enraptured, enthusiastic element in high poetry I like Sir Philip Sidney in his
Defence of poesy
Montaigne includes both prose and verse in the category of poetry.
145
. Homer and Hesiod were treated as both poets and philosophers from the earliest times: Plato’s title ‘Divine’ emphasized the role of poetic inspiration in his philosophy.
146
. Seneca,
Epist. moral.
, II, 3.
147
. ’88: were a way of
counteracting
myself…
148
. ’88: a depraved
conception
. It remains to add…
For Aristotle’s wilful opacity, cf. Aulus Gellius,
Attic Nights
, XX, iv.
149
. [B] : to vanity itself – to
dullness
– if it affords me
contentment
and I allow…
The argument here continues that of the [B]–text, ignoring the interpolated [C]–text. It was a little clearer before Montaigne replaced ‘depraved conception (
imagination
)’ by ‘depraved
affectation’
. Montaigne calls Aristotle’s search for obscurity.
raison trouble-feste
, a ‘trouble-feast’ then meaning an importunate buffoon whose idle chatter spoils a merry feast. It was a word which implied a silly incessant talker, not. ‘wet-blanket’.
150
. ’88: visiting the
sick Appelles
he realized…
Plutarch says it was Appelles:
Comment on peult discerner le flatteur d’aveques l’amy
48 GH; Montaigne corrected him after reading Diogenes Laertius.
151
. A major debt to Cicero,
De finibus
, V, i, 2 (translated tacitly by Montaigne in the text and then cited; also V, ii, 5, actually alluding to Athens, not Rome.
152
. Seneca,
Epist. moral.
, LXIV, 10.
