The Complete Essays (218 page)

324
. The duration of pregnancies was a question of great actuality: in general doctors accepted as legitimate children born after eleven (or even thirteen) months; some lawyers denied the possibility. Cf. Rabelais,
Gargantua
, TLF, III and notes. Also discussed in Melanchthon. Montaigne was born after a prolonged pregnancy of eleven months.

325
. Pliny, II, I.

326
. For Protagoras, the arch-Sceptic and agnostic who introduced total relativism by making each individual man the measure of all things, see Plato,
Theaetetus
, 152 A–C: 166D; 174 A–B; Aristotle,
Metaph
., XV, v, 6, (1062 b). Later, Montaigne draws on these pages as well as on Sextus,
Hypotyposes
, I, XXXII, 216 ff.

327
. Thales (Diogenes Laertius,
Lives
, Thales, I, XXXV, 36), as cited by Erasmus in his Socratic adage
Nosce teipsum
. (For Justus Lipsius, Montaigne was ‘our Thales’.)

328
. See above, p. 529. Montaigne undermines the case of deriving knowledge from sense-data – a central contention of Pyrrhonism.

329
. Herodotus, III, 73, cited by Plutarch, tr. Amyot,
Comment on pourra discerner le flatteur d’avec l’amy
, 41 B–C.

330
. Cf. S. Goulart,
Hist. du Portugal
, XII, xxiii, 366r°; similar but not identical account.
’95: gunpowder, which were
in the place where they were kept
. Here we have now…

331
. Petrarch,
Canzoniere
, XXII, 48.
’88: effectively
and who would have used, in piling up his case, other authors besides our Plutarch
. When… (Cf. Erasmus’ adages
Ne quid nimis and Medium sequere.)

332
. Epicurus, cf. p. 543; Plato,
Laws
, 874 (tr. Ficino, p. 862).

333
. R. Sebond is a prophylactic against the ‘poison’ of Lutheranism (see p. 490 ff). The rest of the
Apology
uses scepticism as the ultimate defence of Catholicism.
’88: a
dangerous
sword…

334
. Cicero,
Tusc. disput.
II, ii.

335
. Cf. H. C. Agrippa,
De Vanitate
, I.

336
. Ovid,
Metam.
, X, 284.

337
. Cicero,
Acad.: Lucullus
, II, xli, 128 (adapted).

338
. Ovid,
Tristia
, I, ii, 5.

339
. ’88: more
true and more firm
. For…

340
. St Augustine advanced such arguments against Academic theories of probability
(Contra academicos
, e.g., II, 7); they had long been current.

341
. Cicero,
Acad.: Lucullus
, II, xxviii, 90.

342
. From here Montaigne takes on Lucretius, the defender of the senses as true guides. Cf. Introduction, p. xxxv ff. He relies mainly on his own experience, in sickness and in health, against which he judges the established Classical authorities.

343
. Lucretius, V, 1414 (Lambin, pp. 462–3 – explained with Montaigne’s sense).

344
. Plutarch,
Les Dicts notables des Lacedaemoniens
, 218 C; also a general influence of Pyrrhonism
(Hypotyposes
, I, xxxii, 217–19 etc.).
Chagrin
was a technical word for melancholic depression.

345
. Homer,
Odyssey
, XVIII, 135, translated by Cicero,
apud
St Augustine,
City of God
, V, 8. (Montaigne has already cited this in II, I, ‘On the inconstancy of our actions’.)

346
. Horace,
Odes
, I, xxvi, 3.

347
. ’88: does not always get
better, but floats and rolls about
… (Catullus, XXV, 12.)

348
. Cf. Plutarch, tr. Amyot,
De la Vertu Morale
, 37 F–G.

349
. Cicero,
Tusc., disput.
, IV, xxiii; the rest of [C] follows closely ibid., xix. For the role of passion and anger in bravery, cf. Aristotle,
Eudemian Ethics
, III, 15–19, 1229a.

350
. ‘80 (in place of [B]): stimulus to
liberality and justice…

351
. Cicero,
Tusc. disput.
, V, vi.
’88 (in place of [C]): actions?
At least we know only too well that the passions produce innumerable and ceaseless changes in our soul and tyrannize over it wondrously; is the judgement of an angry man or a fearful one the same judgement as he will have later when he has calmed down?
What varied…

352
. The ideal of
tranquillity of mind
is indeed, for Platonizing philosophers, subordinated to visions, dreams and philosophical ecstasy; cf. Rabelais,
Tiers Livre
, TLF, XIIII and XXXVII.

353
. That is, philosophical ecstasy cannot claim to reveal infallible truth. Montaigne proceeds to emphasize the ‘asinine’ aspect of his own melancholy complexion (an antidote to all melancholic ecstasies).

354
. Virgil,
Aeneid
, XI, 624.

355
. Plutarch,
De la face qui apparoist dedans le rond de la Lune
, 615 E; Cicero,
Acad.: Lucullus
, II, xxxix, 123 (reading
Nicetas
for
Hicetas)
. Montaigne’s
three thousand years
means from the Creation (dated about 4000
BC
) to the time of Cleanthes and Nicetas.

356
. The theory of Copernicus ‘saved the appearances’ as did that of Ptolemy: but Galileo later claimed to describe reality.

357
. Lucretius, V, 1276 (Lambin, pp. 454–5).

358
. Paracelsus (1493–1541). His works appeared posthumously (1575–88). He scorned traditional medicine absolutely.

359
. Peletier, a poet and mathematician, doubtless explained the conic hyperbola and asymptotes (lines which draw ever nearer to a given curve but do not meet it within a finite distance). He was actively opposed to the renewal of Pyrrhonism.

360
. Cicero suspended judgement over the Antipodes
(Acad.: Lucullus
, II, xxxix, 123); St Augustine rejected the idea
(City of God
, XVI, 9); but it never was heretical to believe in them.

361
. Lucretius, V, 1412, (Lambin, pp. 462–3).

362
. ’88 (in place of [C]): saying now?
Aristotle says that all human opinions have existed in the past and will do so in the future an infinite number of other times: Plato, that they are to be renewed and come back into being after thirty-six thousand years
. Epicurus… (Taken from Varchi,
L’Hercolano
. Montaigne replaced this with authorities taken from St Augustine or thought of because of him.)

363
. Plato,
Politicus
, XIII, 270 AC; cf. St Augustine,
City of God
, XII, 14.

364
. Herodotus, II, 142–3 (cf. St Augustine,
City of God
, XII, 13; J. Bodin,
Methodus ad Hist. cognit.
, 1595, p. 293).

365
. Origen,
De Princ
, 3, 5, 3; cf. St Augustine,
City of God
, XII, 14 (citing Solomon and Ecclesiastes; Isaiah is in the notes of Vivès), and XI, 23. The doctrine of a Creator who had not yet created was rejected by Neo-Platonists such as Proclus.

366
. Plato, in the
Timaeus
, 33D–41E.

367
. Texts cited after St Augustine,
City of God
, VIII, 5; XII, 10, 11, including the notes of Vivès.

368
. Plutarch,
Des oracles qui ont cessé
, 342 D.

369
. All the above compiled from Lopez de Gomara,
L’Histoire générale des Indes
.

370
. A regular theme for reflection. Cf. J. Bodin,
Methodus
, V.

371
. Vegetius, I, ii,
apud
Justus Lipsius,
Politicorum
, V, 10.

372
. Cicero,
De fato
, IV, 7.

373
. Plutarch, tr. Amyot,
Les Dicts notables des Anciens Roys…
188E; Herodotus, IX, 121. Erasmus,
Apophthegmata, Cyrus Major
, II.

374
. Juvenal,
Sat.
, X. 4.

375
. Xenophon,
Memorabilia
, II, iii, 2: Plato,
Alcibiades
, II, 148 B–C.
’88: That is why
the Christian, wiser and more humble and more aware of what he is, refers himself to his Creator to choose and command what he needs
. Conjugium…

376
. Juvenal,
Sat.
, X, 352. Then [B]:
he
says… done’
and may chance
not to…

377
. The Lord’s Prayer (‘Thy will be done’) glossed with Ovid,
Metam.
, XI, 128.

378
. Cicero,
Tusc. disput.
, I, xlvii.

379
. Psalm 23 (22): 4; Juvenal,
Sat.
, X, 346.

380
. Xenophon,
Memorabilia
, I, iii, 2.

381
. St Augustine,
City of God
, XIX, I – also exploited in the following paragraphs.
(ibid.
, 1–4).

382
. Cicero,
De fin.
, V, v, 14.

383
. Horace,
Ep.
, II, ii, 61.

384
. Cicero,
De fin.
, V, v, 14, citing Hieronymus, the pupil of Aristotle.

385
. Horace,
Ep.
, I, vi, I.

386
. Greatness of Soul is the subject of
Nicomachaean Ethics
, IV, iii, and of
Eudemian Ethics
, III, v (1232a f.).

387
. Sextus Empiricus,
Hypotyposes
, I, xxxiii, 223–34 (for Archesilas), I, iv, 8; vi, 12; xii, 25–30 (for
Ataraxia)
.

388
. Justus Lipsius, the neo-Stoic moralist (1547–1606) was read by Montaigne and admired by him. After a period of conforming to Protestantism he became a Roman Catholic fundamentalist. For Turnebus, see pp. 157 and 491.

389
. ’88: country,
as Socrates’ oracle had taught him, that to do punctiliously one’s duty of piety according to the uses of one’s nation is equivalent to serving God
. But…

390
. Aristotle,
Nicomachaean Ethics
, V, vii, 1–3. Cf. La Boëtie on p. 219.

391
. Allusion to religious settlements by Parliaments under Henry VIII, Edward VI, Bloody Mary and Elizabeth I.

392
. Allusions to changing alliances and legitimacies in the French Wars of Religion.

393
. Apollo (n. 389 above); Xenophon,
Memorabilia
, I, iii, I.

394
. The conviction of Lambin also; cf. Introduction, p. xxxv ff.

395
. Cf. Erasmus,
The Complaint of Peace (Opera
, 1703–1706, IV, 628 DE).

396
. Aristotle’s doctrine of Natural Law came in for increased criticism as new peoples were discovered, but also because of inner inconsistencies; cf. Jeremy Taylor,
Ductor Dubitantium
, 1660, p. 221.

397
. Protagoras was allegedly banished for atheistic impiety: Cicero,
De nat. deorum
, I, xxiii, 63; Ariston of Chios was a Stoic inclined to cynicism; Thrasimacus, in Plato,
Republic
, 338 (Ficino, p. 535).

398
. Ovid.
Metam.
, X, 331, in Tiraquellus,
De legibus connubialibus
, VII, 38. For context cf. Sextus Empiricus,
Hypotyposes
, III, xxiv, 203–17.

399
. Cicero:
De fin.
, V, xxi, 60 (now parsed differently).

400
. Cf. ‘On habit: and on never easily changing a traditional law’, I, 23, after Herodotus, III, xii, etc.

401
. Sextus Empiricus,
Hypotyposes
, III, xxiv, 204.