How to Live (53 page)

1
Montaigne’s reading, and not being discouraged by the tutor: I:26 158. For hypotheses on who this tutor was, see Hoffmann, G., “Étude & éducation de Montaigne,” in Desan,
Dictionnaire
357–9.

2
Montaigne’s discovery of Ovid: I:26 158. On Ovid and Montaigne, see Rigolot, and McKinley, M., “Ovide,” in Desan,
Dictionnaire
744–5.

3
Montaigne’s early discoveries, and “but, for all that, it was still school”: I:26 158.

4
Thrill of Ovid wore off: II:10 361. But still emulated style: II:35 688–9. Villey found 72 references to Ovid in the
Essays:
Villey,
Les Sources
I:205–6. See Rigolot 224–6. Virgil could be brushed up a little: II:10 362.

5
The “diversity and truth” of man, and “the variety of the ways he is put together”: II:10 367. Tacitus: III:8 873–4.

6
Montaigne on Plutarch: “He is so universal”: III:5 809. He is “full of
things”:
II:10 364. “Not so bad after all!” and flies on mirrors: Plutarch, “On Tranquillity of Mind,”
Moralia
VI, 467C and 473E, Loeb edn VI: 183, 219. Plutarch points where we are to go if we like: I:26 140. “I think I know him even into his soul”: II:31 657. It does not matter how long a person one loves has been
dead: III:9 927. Montaigne admired the two celebrated French translations of Plutarch by Jacques Amyot: Plutarch,
Vies des hommes illustres
(Paris: M. de Vascosan, 1559), and
Oeuvres morales
(Paris: M. de Vascosan, 1572), both tr. J. Amyot. See Guerrier, O., “Amyot, Jacques,” in Desan,
Dictionnaire
33–4.

7
On Montaigne’s library: Sayce 25–6. The collection was dispersed after his death; attempts have since been made to reconstruct a list. See Villey,
Les Sources
I:273–83; Desan, P., “Bibliothèque,” in Desan,
Dictionnaire
108–11.

8
Petrarch, Erasmus and Machiavelli: Friedrich 42. Machiavelli’s letter is cited in Hale 190. Cicero: II:10 365; Virgil: II:10 362.

9
“I leaf through now one book” and “Actually I use them”: III:3 761–2. “We who have little contact”: III:8 873. “If I encounter difficulties”: II:10 361.

10
Lucretius: Screech, M.A.,
Montaigne’s Annotated Copy of Lucretius
(Geneva: Droz, 1998).

11
“Gentleness and freedom”: I:26 157.

12
“Memory is a wonderfully useful tool”: II:17 598. “There is no man”: I:9 25.

13
Wishing he could remember ideas and dreams: III:5 811. “I’m full of cracks”: II:17 600. Source is Terence,
The Eunuch
, I:105.

14
Lyncestes: III:9 893. Source is Quintius Curtius Rufus,
History of Alexander the Great
VII:1. 8–9.

15
Montaigne on public speaking: III:9 893–4.

16
Tupinambá: I:31 193. La Boétie’s death: Montaigne’s letter to his father, in his edition of La Boétie’s works: La Boétie,
La Mesnagerie
[etc.], and in Montaigne,
The Complete Works
, tr. D. Frame, 1276–7.

17
Irritation that people did not believe him: I:9 25. On his ability to remember quotations, see Friedrich 31, 338. Baudier: from a prose commentary attached to his Latin verses, “To the noble heroine Marie de Gournay,” Baudier, D.,
Poemata
(Leyden, 1607), 359–65. Cited Millet 151–8, and Villey,
Montaigne devant la postérité
84–5. Malebranche: Malebranche 187–8.

18
A bad memory implies honesty: I:92 6–7; II:17 598. It keeps anecdotes brief: I:9 26. It makes for good judgment: I:9 25. It prevents petty resentments: I:9 27.

19
Stewart: Stewart, D.,
Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind
, in
Collected Works
, ed. W. Hamilton (Edinburgh: T. Constable, 1854–60), II:370–1.

20
“I have to solicit it nonchalantly”: II:17 598. The effort to remember makes one forget: III:5 811. The effort to forget makes one remember: II:12 443.

21
“What I do easily and naturally”: II:17 599. “So sluggish, lax, and drowsy”: I:26 157.

22
“There is no subtlety so empty”: II:17 600–1. “Tardy understanding”: I:26 157.

23
What he grasped he grasped firmly: II:17 600. “What I saw, I saw well.”: II:10 31. “Bold ideas”: I:26 157.

24
Nadolny, S.,
Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit
(München: Piper, 1983), translated by R. Freedman as
The Discovery of Slowness
(New York: Viking, 1987). On the Slow Movement, see
http://www.slowmovement.com/
. See also Honoré, C.,
In Praise of Slow
(London: Orion, 2005). There is a World Institute of Slowness:
http://www.theworldinstituteofslowness.com/
.

25
“I am nearly always in place”: III:2 746. “Incapable of submitting”: I:26 159.

26
“I know not which of the two”: III:13 1034.

27
“I remember that from my tenderest childhood”: II:17 582. Only “sprinkled”: II:17 584.

28
“Where smallness dwells” and “Where is the master?”: III:17 590. Lack of respect because of height: II:17 589–90. Horseback ploy: III:13 1025.

29
Strong, solid build: II:17 590. Leaning on stick: II:25 633. Dressing in black and white: I:36 204. Cloak: I:26 155.

30
La Boétie’s poem: this is the second of two poems to Montaigne included in Montaigne’s edition of La Boétie’s works: La Boétie,
La Mesnagerie
[etc.], ff. 102r–103r (“Ad Belotium et Montanum”) and 103v–105r (“Ad Michaëlem Montanum”). They have been published in
Montaigne Studies
3, no. 1, (1991) with an English translation by R. D. Cottrell (16–47).

31
Toulouse: Montaigne says he met the physician Simon Thomas there (I:21 82) and mentions its Martin Guerre trial, though he does not say that he attended it in person: III:11 959. Paris: III:9 903.

32
Montaigne’s magistracy: see Almqvist, K., “Magistrature,” in Desan,
Dictionnaire
619–22. On early years in Périgueux and the transfer to Bordeaux: Frame,
Montaigne
46–51, including Frame’s translation of the report of Montaigne’s speech.

33
Montaigne’s job: five of Montaigne’s interpretations have survived. See Lazard 89.

34
“It is more of a job”: III:13 996. Judge Bridlegoose:
Tiers livre
, chaps 39–44, in Rabelais,
The Complete Works
. Tossing dice: 457.

35
Cases of injustice: III:13 998. Montaigne on the law: see Tournon, A., “Justice and the Law,” in Langer (ed.),
Cambridge Companion
96–117, and “Droit,” in Desan,
Dictionnaire
284–6. On other contemporary critics of the law, see Sutcliffe, F., “Montaigne and the European legal system,” in Cameron (ed.),
Montaigne and his Age
39–47.

36
Fallibility of judges: II:12 514. Fallibility of laws: III:13 1000.

37
Trips to Paris: Montaigne is known to have made several between 1559 and 1561. See Lazard 91, 107.

38
Henri II “could never call by his right name”: I:46 244.

39
On the French political and religious background in the 1550s and 1560s: see Holt; Knecht,
Rise and Fall
and
The French Civil Wars;
Nakam,
Montaigne et son temps
.

40
“It is folly”: Michel de L’Hôpital cited in Knecht,
Rise and Fall
338. “Everyone considers his own God” and
“Un roi, une foi, une loi”:
Elliott, J. H.,
Europe Divided 1559–1598
(London: Fontana, 1968), 93–4, the former a quotation from Pedro Cornejo’s
Compenio y breve relación de la Liga
(Brussels, 1591), f. 6.

41
“A great fear”: Knecht,
Rise and Fall
349. Vassy and the outbreak of war: ibid., 352–5.

42
Pasquier to M. de Fonssomme, Spring 1562: Pasquier, E.,
Lettres historiques
98–100. Cited Holt 50.

43
“I do not believe that God”: II:23 628–9.

44
Monluc’s stories: Monluc 246–72. More wheels and stakes ordered: Nakam,
Montaigne et son temps
144.

45
Montaigne on Monluc: II:8 348.

46
The d’Escars plot and Montaigne’s response: see Frame,
Montaigne
53–5; which also translates the report of Montaigne’s speech, from Payen, J.-F.,
Recherches sur Montaigne. Documents inédits
, no. 4 (Techener, 1856), 20. Montaigne’s admiration for the Lagebâton faction: II:17 609.

47
“By my nature I am subject to sudden outbursts”: III:5 824. The response is discussed in Frame,
Montaigne
52–5.

1
La Boétie: see Cocula; and Magnien, M.,
Montaigne Studies
11 (1999) is mostly devoted to La Boétie.

2
“So entire and so perfect”: I:28 165. “So taken with each other”: I:28 169.

3
La Boétie’s poem was included in Montaigne’s edition of La Boétie’s works: La Boétie,
La Mesnagerie
[etc.], ff. 103v–105r (“Ad Michaëlem Montanum”). It has been published in
Montaigne Studies
3, no. 1, (1991), with an English translation by Robert D. Cottrell (16–47), and is also translated in Frame,
Montaigne
75.

4
Wills plunging and losing themselves: I:28 170. On the question of love and friendship, see Schachter, M. D., “ ‘That friendship which possesses the soul’: Montaigne loves La Boétie,”
Journal of Homosexuality
no. 41 3–4 (2001) 5–21, and Beck, W.J., “Montaigne face à la homosexualité,”
BSAM
6e sér. 9–10 (jan–juin 1982), 41–50.

5
Ugliness: III:12 986. See Desan, P., “Laid-Laideur” in Desan,
Dictionnaire
561. Socrates and Alcibiades: Plato,
Symposium
102 (216a–b).

6
“Our souls mingle,” “If you press me,” and “Our friendship has no other model”: I:28 169. “Many a time I should be glad”: Plato,
Symposium
102 (216a–b).

7
Montaigne on the
Voluntary Servitude:
I:28 175. The original manuscript has never been located, and is known only through copies made of it, of which that by Henri de Mesmes is thought most reliable. It is the basis for most modern editions, including the English translation used here, by D. L. Schaefer: La Boétie, “Of Voluntary Servitude” (see “Sources”). Rimbaud of political sociology: Lacouture 86. See Magnien, M., “Discours de la servitude volontaire,” in Desan,
Dictionnaire
272–6.

8
Nero and Julius Caesar: La Boétie, “Of Voluntary Servitude,” 210–11. Tyranny as mysterious as love: ibid. 194. “A million men serving miserably”: ibid. 192.

9
“You see, love”: Colonel Abdullah Nasur, interviewed for
The Man Who Ate His Archbishop’s Liver
, Channel 4 (UK), March 12, 2004. Thanks to Elizabeth C. Jones for this quotation.

10
“A deep forgetfulness of freedom,” and power of habit: La Boétie, “Of Voluntary Servitude”, 201.

11
A few freed by study of history: La Boétie, “Of Voluntary Servitude,” 205–6.

12
Aims of La Boétie: see Smith, 53.

13
“Contr’un,” in
Reveille-matin des François
(1574) and Goulart, S.,
Mémoires de l’estat de France sous Charles IX
(1577, and 2nd edn 1579). It would also be included in a work called
Vive description de la tyrannie
. See Magnien, M., “Discours de la servitude volontaire,” in Desan,
Dictionnaire
273–4, and Smith, M., introduction to his edition of La Boëtie,
De la Servitude volontaire
(1987), 24–6.

14
Anti-Dictator:
La Boétie,
Anti-Dictator
, tr. H. Kurz (New York: Columbia University Press, 1942). Later such editions include a publication of the Kurz translation as
The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude
(New York: Free Life Editions, 1975), with an introduction by libertarian Murray Rothbard, reissued as
The Politics of Obedience and Étienne de la Boétie
(Montreal, New York & London: Black Rose Books, 2007); and
The Will to Bondage
, ed. W. Flygare, with an introduction by James J. Martin (Colorado Springs: Ralph Myles, 1974), which combines the Protestant French edition of 1577 with an anonymous English translation of 1735.

15
“Anonymous, low-visibility, one-man revolution”: Martin, James J., introduction to La Boétie,
The Will to Bondage
, ed. W. Flygare (Colorado Springs: Ralph Myles, 1974), ix.

16
Opposing female suffrage: Spooner, L., “Against woman suffrage,”
New Age
, Feb. 24, 1877. This
and other texts are available on
http://www.voluntaryist.com/
. The idea that one can bring about a revolution by not voting has inspired a novel by the Portuguese writer José Saramago,
Seeing
, tr. M. Jull Costa (London: Vintage, 2007).

17
“It seemed to me”: Emerson, 92.

18
All Montaigne’s remarks on the
Voluntary Servitude
I:28 175–6.

19
Montaigne’s revelation of its authorship: see Magnien, M., “Discours de la servitude volontaire,” in Desan,
Dictionnaire
274–5.

20
“In exchange for this serious work”: I:28 176. “These verses may be seen elsewhere”: I:29 177. The 29 sonnets, translated into English by R. P. Runyon, can be seen in Schaefer (ed.),
Freedom over Servitude
223–35.

21
Pléiade poets: La Boétie, “Of Voluntary Servitude,” 214. “But to return to our purpose”: ibid. 208. “But to return from where”: ibid. 215.

22
Attribution to Montaigne: Armaingaud, A., “Montaigne et La Boétie,”
Revue politique et parlementaire
13 (mars 1906), 499–522 and (mai 1906), 322–48, later developed in his
Montaigne pamphlétaire: l’enigme du “Contr’Un”
(Paris: Hachette, 1910). Schaefer, D. L., “Montaigne and La Boétie” in Schaefer (ed.),
Freedom over Servitude
1–30, esp. 9–11; and his
Political Philosophy of Montaigne
. On Schaefer, see Supple, J., “Davis Lewis Schaefer: Armaingaud rides again,” in Cameron and Willett (eds),
Le Visage changeant
(259–75). Martin, D., “Montaigne, author of
On Voluntary Servitude,”
in Schaefer (ed.),
Freedom over Servitude
127–88 (flute: 137).

23
Impotence trick: I:21 83–4. Montaigne’s honesty: I:9 25–30. His dull-wittedness in games: II:17 600–1.

24
Montaigne on La Boétie: Travel Journal, in
The Complete Works
, tr. D. Frame, 1207.

25
Montaigne’s letter to his father was published in his edition of La Boétie’s works: La Boétie,
La Mesnagerie
[etc.]; also in
The Complete Works
, tr. D. Frame, 1276–88, from which all following quotations are taken.

26
“His mind was modeled”: I:28 176.

27
Montaigne and La Boétie’s disagreement about the experience of dying: II:6 327.

28
“Nothing but dark and dreary night”: I:28 174. “I was overcome”: “Travel Journal,” in
The Complete Works
, tr. D. Frame, 1207 (entry for May 11, 1581). “I have missed such a man extremely” and “No pleasure has any savor”: III:9 917.

29
Seneca on replacing friends: Seneca,
Letters to Lucilius
, Letter 9. Loeb edn I:45. “Some worthy man”: III:9 911. “Is it not a stupid humor”: III:3 755.

30
“Joined and glued”: I:39 216.

31
Inscription to La Boétie: a conjectural reconstruction was included in the Thibaudet edition of Montaigne’s works (Montaigne,
Oeuvres completes
, Paris: Pléiade, 1962). English versions are found in Starobinski,
Montaigne in Motion
tr. Goldhammer 311 (n.32) (used here) and Frame,
Montaigne
80.

32
Find an admirable man: Seneca,
Letters to Lucilius
, Letter 12. Loeb edn I:63. Live for others, and for a friend: ibid. Letter 48, I:315.

33
“He is still lodged in me”: Montaigne, dedicatory epistle (to Henri de Mesmes) in his edition of La Boétie’s works, La Boétie,
La Mesnagerie
[etc.], in
The Complete Works
, tr. D. Frame, 1291.