The Complete Essays (221 page)
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Authors: Michel de Montaigne
Tags: #Essays, #Philosophy, #Literary Collections, #History & Surveys, #General
34
. Quintilian, I, xii, 19.
35
. Ovid,
Heroïdes
, I, 18.
36
. Livy, LIV, xxii.
37
. Fabius’ delaying tactics in the war against Carthage earned him the hostile nickname
Cunctator
(the Delayer). It later became a title of praise (Livy, XXX, xxvi).
38
. Persius,
Satires
, I, 47–9.
39
. King Gyges’ ring (Cicero,
De officiis
, III, xix, 78).
40
. Horace,
Epistles
, I, xvi, 39–40.
41
. Persius,
Satires
, I, 5–7.
42
. To make himself famous Herostratus set fire to the temple of Diana at Ephesus; Lucius Manlius the dictator sought renown from his imperious bullying (Livy, VII, iii). (Often cited together.)
43
. There are no famous Eyquems in England, though links between families in the Bordeaux region and England were strong ever since both formed part of the Norman domains.
46
. Virgil,
Aeneid
, VII, 646.
47
. Plutarch (tr. Amyot),
Dicts notables des Lacedaemoniens
, 216H-217A.
48
. Virgil,
Aeneid
, V, 302.
49
. Seneca,
Epist. moral.
, LXXXI, 20; Cicero,
De finibus
, II, xxii, 73.
50
. Plato,
Laws
, XII, 950B–C. Plato’s ‘paedagogue’ is Socrates.
51
. Cicero,
De nat. deorum
, I, xx, 53; Diogenes Laertius,
Life of Plato
, II, xxvi, 199 (tr. Timon).
52
. Exodus 20:1 f.
53
. Jean de Joinville,
Cronique de Saint Loys
, LVI; Lucan,
Pharsalia
, I, 461–2.
54
. Cicero,
De finibus
, II, xv, 48.
55
. Ovid,
Amores
, III, iv, 4. (Cf. Christ’s warning in Matthew 5:28.)
56
. Montaigne’s discussion of honour echoes in general Aristotle’s conception of the great-souled man
(Nicomachaean Ethics
, IV, iii, 1124a–b).
1
. Horace,
Satires
, II, 1, 30–4; Tacitus,
Agricola
, 1.
2
. Ammianus Marcellinus, XXI, xvi.
3
. [A] until [C]: the cause
of the movement of the Eighth Sphere and
of the…
Epicycles form part of the system of Ptolomaic astronomy. Rabelais makes a similar point about Empedocles:
Pantagruel
, TLF, X, 24.
4
. Inscribed, in Latin, in Montaigne’s library and attributed there to Eccl. I. This is, at best, but a paraphrase of Ecclesiastes I. (There is nothing relevant in Ecclesiasticus I)
[A]: says
the sacrosanct
Writ…
5
. [A] until [C]: feebleness.
I know myself so well that if anything came from me which pleased me, I would owe it certainly to Fortune
. Nothing of mine…
6
. Horace,
Ars poetica
, 272–3, then Martial,
Epigrams
, XII, lxiii.
7
. Putarch,
Dionysius
. (The
Letuæa
were festivals of Bacchus in Athens with contests between dramatists.)
8
. Ovid,
Ex ponto
, I, v, 15–16; written in exile on the Black Sea.
9
. ’88: And even
in my imagination I do not conceive things in their greatest perfection. From which I know that what I see produced by
those great fertile minds…
10
. Plutarch (tr. Amyot),
Preceptes de mariage
, 147F (Plato tells the severe Xenocrates to ‘sacrifice to the Graces’: a goodwife should do the same). The author and source of the verse are, however, untraced.
11
. Popular Epicurean writers, all of whose works are lost. Montaigne uses Cicero’s description in the preceding lines
(Academica
, I, ii, 5). The first writer was Amafinius not Amafanius.
12
. In his Latin translation of Plato’s
Timaeus
, II. Then, ’80: to
slacken
our string…
15
. Unlike the pagan Greeks, Christians believe in the resurrection of the dead not in the immortality of the soul permanently freed from the body. The major source of Montaigne’s important concept of the ‘marriage’ of body and soul is Raymond Sebond. A secondary influence is doubtless Lucretius. In general, cf. Cicero,
De finibus
, IV, vii, 16–17.
16
. Lucretius, V, 1109–11.
17
. Gaius Marius, the conqueror of Jugurtha (Vegetius,
De re militari
, I, v); Baldassare Castiglione,
Courtier
, Aristotle,
Nicomachaean Ethics
, IV, iii, 1123b.
18
. Aristotle, Politics, IV, xliv; then Virgil,
Aeneid
, VII, 783–4, replacing ’80:
Colloque tenus supereminet omnes
[He stood head and neck above them]. Ovid,
Metamorphoses
, II, 275.
19
. Psalm 44 (45):3. (The application of this psalm to Christ is traditional.) Plato,
Republic
, VII, 535.
20
. Montaigne had first written
Phocion
. (Anecdote from Plutarch’s
Life of Philopoemen.)
21
. Martial,
Epigrams
, II, xxxvi, 5; then Lucretius, II, 1131–2, and Horace,
Epistles
, II, ii, 55. (In the next sentence: [A]: son of
the most
agile father
to be seen in his time
, with an energy…)
22
. Horace,
Satires
, II, ii, 12; then Juvenal,
Satires
, III, 54–5.
23
. Horace,
Epistles
, II, ii, 201–4.
Until [C]: priores,
having been born such that I did not have to go in quest of other advantages
. The only talent…
24
. ’80: of any kind:
I am very badly schooled in self-constraint, unskilled at any sort of business or painful negotiations, having never had to manage anything but myself and being brought up from boyhood
in a manner slack and free…
Following verse from Horace,
Epistles
, I, vi, 45–6.
25
. Seneca, the dramatist;
Agamemnon
, III, i, 29.
26
. Terence,
Adelphi
, II, iii, 11; then Propertius, III, iii, 23 and Seneca, the dramatist,
Agamemnon
, II, i, 47.
27
. Horace,
Epistles
, I, i, 51: then, Propertius III, ix, 5–6 and Juvenal, XIII, 60–3.
28
. Cicero,
Pro Ligario
, X.
29
. Aristotle,
Nicomachaean Ethics
, IV, iii, 1124b; Apollonius’ remark has not been traced, but cf. Plutarch,
Comment il fault nourrir les enfants
, 6H.
30
. Charles VIII. Cf. Plutarch (tr. Amyot),
Du trop parler
, 92E–F; Then, Cicero,
De Officiis
, II, ix, 34.
31
. Montaigne has Machiavelli’s
Prince
in mind throughout this chapter. This anecdote is from the anonymous
Thesoro Politico cioè relationi, instruttioni… di multo importanza per li disegni di principe
(II, v), a major source in several chapters.
32
. Erasmus,
Apophthegmata
, III,
Aristippus
, VI.
33
. Same examples in Ravisius Textor,
Officina
, s.v.
Obliviosi
.
34
. Cicero,
Academica
, II (Lucullus), vii, 22; then, Terence,
Eunuch
, I, ii, 25.
35
. Cicero (
De senectute
, vii, 22), ‘had never known an old man forget where he had hidden his treasure!’
36
. From the
Letters
of Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, the adopted son of Pliny the Elder.
37
. Aulus Gellius, V, iii (Democritus judging Protagoras’ ability).
[A] until [C]: famished!
And, were I to be given a horse with its gear, I very much doubt whether I would know how to harness it for my service
. From these…
38
. ’80: ignobility of my subject,
which is myself, cannot tolerate any fuller or more solid ones: and in addition it is a new and fantastical humour which impels me and we must let it run
. […] worth and the
boldness and rashness
of my design…
Following lines from Martial,
Epigrams
, XIII, 2, attacking censorious critics and know-alls.
39
. ’80: brush?
And may I not portray what I find out about myself, whatever it may be?…
Following line from Petrarch, Sonnet 135.
40
. Diogenes Laertius,
Life of Chrysippus
.
41
. Terence,
Andrea
, I, vi, 32.
42
. Acts 1:26. To choose between Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias as a successor to the apostolate of Judas Iscariot, the Church drew lots.
43
. Cicero,
Academica
, II (Lucullus), xxi, 68; then Tibullus, IV, i, 40–1.
44
. The leader of the opposition to the ruthless
raisons d’état
of
Il Principe
was Innocent Gentillet, whose treatise on government (Geneva?, 1576) was often called
l’Anti-Machiavel
.
45
. Horace,
Epistles
, II, ii, 97. For the argument cf. III, 13, ‘On experience’.
46
. Juvenal,
Satires
, VIV, 183–4.
47
. Many changes from [A]: thought he lacked
judgement?
[…] agility and beauty
and nobility:
but superior judgement […] we think that
they are ours
. The erudition […] it is a
nature
of writing of little
credit. The stupidest man in the world thinks he has as much understanding as the cleverest. That is why
[A] It is commonly held…
48
. Lucretius, V, 959; Montaigne is about to follow the proverbial wisdom of Socrates; cf. Erasmus,
Adages
, I, VII, LXXVI,
In se descendere
, which contains Montaigne’s quotation from Persius,
Satires
, IV, 23 – a major moral commonplace; also
Nosce teipsum
(I, VII, XCV) and
In tuum ipsius sinum inspue
(I, VII, XCIV). These adages form the cream of Socratic wisdom for many Renaissance moralists.
49
. Cicero, De
officiis
, I, xxxi, III.
50
. That is, blind self-love,
philautia
, which leads a man to flatter himself and to condemn others. Erasmus’ adages cited in note 48 support Montaigne’s contention that the wise man, by ‘descending into himself’, far from being selfish can avoid the vices of self-love.
51
. According to Plutarch, the Persians held the two greatest vices to be borrowing and lying
(Qu’il ne faut point emprunter à usure
, 131C). Perhaps the origin of this assertion.
52
. Philosophers study Cicero; doctors, Galen; lawyers, Ulpian; theologians, Jerome. Montaigne is criticizing all the university disciplines.