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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3594.txt b/3594.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..85b3904 --- /dev/null +++ b/3594.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2640 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Essays of Montaigne, Volume 14 +by Michel de Montaigne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Essays of Montaigne, Volume 14 + +Author: Michel de Montaigne + +Release Date: September 17, 2006 [EBook #3594] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ESSAYS OF MONTAIGNE, VOLUME 14 *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +ESSAYS OF MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE + +Translated by Charles Cotton + +Edited by William Carew Hazilitt + +1877 + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME 14. + +I. Of Profit and Honesty. +II. Of Repentance. +III. Of Three Commerces. +IV. Of Diversion. + + + +ESSAYS OF MONTAIGNE + +BOOK THE THIRD + + + +CHAPTER I + +OF PROFIT AND HONESTY + +No man is free from speaking foolish things; but the worst on't is, when +a man labours to play the fool: + + "Nae iste magno conatu magnas nugas dixerit." + + ["Truly he, with a great effort will shortly say a mighty trifle." + ---Terence, Heaut., act iii., s. 4.] + +This does not concern me; mine slip from me with as little care as they +are of little value, and 'tis the better for them. I would presently +part with them for what they are worth, and neither buy nor sell them, +but as they weigh. I speak on paper, as I do to the first person I meet; +and that this is true, observe what follows. + +To whom ought not treachery to be hateful, when Tiberius refused it in a +thing of so great importance to him? He had word sent him from Germany +that if he thought fit, they would rid him of Arminius by poison: this +was the most potent enemy the Romans had, who had defeated them so +ignominiously under Varus, and who alone prevented their aggrandisement +in those parts. + +He returned answer, "that the people of Rome were wont to revenge +themselves of their enemies by open ways, and with their swords in their +hands, and not clandestinely and by fraud": wherein he quitted the +profitable for the honest. You will tell me that he was a braggadocio; I +believe so too: and 'tis no great miracle in men of his profession. But +the acknowledgment of virtue is not less valid in the mouth of him who +hates it, forasmuch as truth forces it from him, and if he will not +inwardly receive it, he at least puts it on for a decoration. + +Our outward and inward structure is full of imperfection; but there is +nothing useless in nature, not even inutility itself; nothing has +insinuated itself into this universe that has not therein some fit and +proper place. Our being is cemented with sickly qualities: ambition, +jealousy, envy, revenge, superstition, and despair have so natural a +possession in us, that its image is discerned in beasts; nay, and +cruelty, so unnatural a vice; for even in the midst of compassion we feel +within, I know not what tart-sweet titillation of ill-natured pleasure in +seeing others suffer; and the children feel it: + + "Suave mari magno, turbantibus aequora ventis, + E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem:" + + ["It is sweet, when the winds disturb the waters of the vast sea, to + witness from land the peril of other persons."--Lucretius, ii. I.] + +of the seeds of which qualities, whoever should divest man, would destroy +the fundamental conditions of human life. Likewise, in all governments +there are necessary offices, not only abject, but vicious also. Vices +there help to make up the seam in our piecing, as poisons are useful for +the conservation of health. If they become excusable because they are of +use to us, and that the common necessity covers their true qualities, we +are to resign this part to the strongest and boldest citizens, who +sacrifice their honour and conscience, as others of old sacrificed their +lives, for the good of their country: we, who are weaker, take upon us +parts both that are more easy and less hazardous. The public weal +requires that men should betray, and lie, and massacre; let us leave this +commission to men who are more obedient and more supple. + +In earnest, I have often been troubled to see judges, by fraud and false +hopes of favour or pardon, allure a criminal to confess his fact, and +therein to make use of cozenage and impudence. It would become justice, +and Plato himself, who countenances this manner of proceeding, to furnish +me with other means more suitable to my own liking: this is a malicious +kind of justice, and I look upon it as no less wounded by itself than by +others. I said not long since to some company in discourse, that I +should hardly be drawn to betray my prince for a particular man, who +should be much ashamed to betray any particular man for my prince; and I +do not only hate deceiving myself, but that any one should deceive +through me; I will neither afford matter nor occasion to any such thing. + +In the little I have had to mediate betwixt our princes--[Between the +King of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV., and the Duc de Guise. See De +Thou, De Vita Sua, iii. 9.]--in the divisions and subdivisions by which +we are at this time torn to pieces, I have been very careful that they +should neither be deceived in me nor deceive others by me. People of +that kind of trading are very reserved, and pretend to be the most +moderate imaginable and nearest to the opinions of those with whom they +have to do; I expose myself in my stiff opinion, and after a method the +most my own; a tender negotiator, a novice, who had rather fail in the +affair than be wanting to myself. And yet it has been hitherto with so +good luck (for fortune has doubtless the best share in it), that few +things have passed from hand to hand with less suspicion or more favour +and privacy. I have a free and open way that easily insinuates itself +and obtains belief with those with whom I am to deal at the first +meeting. Sincerity and pure truth, in what age soever, pass for current; +and besides, the liberty and freedom of a man who treats without any +interest of his own is never hateful or suspected, and he may very well +make use of the answer of Hyperides to the Athenians, who complained of +his blunt way of speaking: "Messieurs, do not consider whether or no I am +free, but whether I am so without a bribe, or without any advantage to my +own affairs." My liberty of speaking has also easily cleared me from all +suspicion of dissembling by its vehemency, leaving nothing unsaid, how +home and bitter soever (so that I could have said no worse behind their +backs), and in that it carried along with it a manifest show of +simplicity and indifference. I pretend to no other fruit by acting than +to act, and add to it no long arguments or propositions; every action +plays its own game, win if it can. + +As to the rest, I am not swayed by any passion, either of love or hatred, +towards the great, nor has my will captivated either by particular injury +or obligation. I look upon our kings with an affection simply loyal and +respectful, neither prompted nor restrained by any private interest, and +I love myself for it. Nor does the general and just cause attract me +otherwise than with moderation, and without heat. I am not subject to +those penetrating and close compacts and engagements. Anger and hatred +are beyond the duty of justice; and are passions only useful to those who +do not keep themselves strictly to their duty by simple reason: + + "Utatur motu animi, qui uti ratione non potest." + + ["He may employ his passion, who can make no use of his reason." + --Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., iv. 25.] + +All legitimate intentions are temperate and equable of themselves; if +otherwise, they degenerate into seditious and unlawful. This is it which +makes me walk everywhere with my head erect, my face and my heart open. +In truth, and I am not afraid to confess it, I should easily, in case of +need, hold up one candle to St. Michael and another to his dragon, like +the old woman; I will follow the right side even to the fire, but +exclusively, if I can. Let Montaigne be overwhelmed in the public ruin +if need be; but if there be no need, I should think myself obliged to +fortune to save me, and I will make use of all the length of line my duty +allows for his preservation. Was it not Atticus who, being of the just +but losing side, preserved himself by his moderation in that universal +shipwreck of the world, amongst so many mutations and diversities? For +private man, as he was, it is more easy; and in such kind of work, I +think a man may justly not be ambitious to offer and insinuate himself. +For a man, indeed, to be wavering and irresolute, to keep his affection +unmoved and without inclination in the troubles of his country and public +divisions, I neither think it handsome nor honest: + + "Ea non media, sed nulla via est, velut eventum + exspectantium, quo fortunae consilia sua applicent." + + ["That is not a middle way, but no way, to await events, by which + they refer their resolutions to fortune."--Livy, xxxii. 21.] + +This may be allowed in our neighbours' affairs; and thus Gelo, the tyrant +of Syracuse, suspended his inclination in the war betwixt the Greeks and +barbarians, keeping a resident ambassador with presents at Delphos, to +watch and see which way fortune would incline, and then take fit occasion +to fall in with the victors. It would be a kind of treason to proceed +after this manner in our own domestic affairs, wherein a man must of +necessity be of the one side or the other; though for a man who has no +office or express command to call him out, to sit still I hold it more +excusable (and yet I do not excuse myself upon these terms) than in +foreign expeditions, to which, however, according to our laws, no man is +pressed against his will. And yet even those who wholly engage +themselves in such a war may behave themselves with such temper and +moderation, that the storm may fly over their heads without doing them +any harm. Had we not reason to hope such an issue in the person of the +late Bishop of Orleans, the Sieur de Morvilliers? + + [An able negotiator, who, though protected by the Guises, and + strongly supporting them, was yet very far from persecuting the + Reformists. He died 1577.] + +And I know, amongst those who behave themselves most bravely in the +present war, some whose manners are so gentle, obliging, and just, that +they will certainly stand firm, whatever event Heaven is preparing for +us. I am of opinion that it properly belongs to kings only to quarrel +with kings; and I laugh at those spirits who, out of lightness of heart, +lend themselves to so disproportioned disputes; for a man has never the +more particular quarrel with a prince, by marching openly and boldly +against him for his own honour and according to his duty; if he does not +love such a person, he does better, he esteems him. And notably the +cause of the laws and of the ancient government of a kingdom, has this +always annexed to it, that even those who, for their own private +interest, invade them, excuse, if they do not honour, the defenders. + +But we are not, as we nowadays do, to call peevishness and inward +discontent, that spring from private interest and passion, duty, nor a +treacherous and malicious conduct, courage; they call their proneness to +mischief and violence zeal; 'tis not the cause, but their interest, that +inflames them; they kindle and begin a war, not because it is just, but +because it is war. + +A man may very well behave himself commodiously and loyally too amongst +those of the adverse party; carry yourself, if not with the same equal +affection (for that is capable of different measure), at least with an +affection moderate, well tempered, and such as shall not so engage you to +one party, that it may demand all you are able to do for that side, +content yourself with a moderate proportion of their, favour and +goodwill; and to swim in troubled waters without fishing in them. + +The other way, of offering a man's self and the utmost service he is able +to do, both to one party and the other, has still less of prudence in it +than conscience. Does not he to whom you betray another, to whom you +were as welcome as to himself, know that you will at another time do as +much for him? He holds you for a villain; and in the meantime hears what +you will say, gathers intelligence from you, and works his own ends out +of your disloyalty; double-dealing men are useful for bringing in, but we +must have a care they carry out as little as is possible. + +I say nothing to one party that I may not, upon occasion, say to the +other, with a little alteration of accent; and report nothing but things +either indifferent or known, or what is of common consequence. I cannot +permit myself, for any consideration, to tell them a lie. What is +intrusted to my secrecy, I religiously conceal; but I take as few trusts +of that nature upon me as I can. The secrets of princes are a +troublesome burthen to such as are not interested in them. I very +willingly bargain that they trust me with little, but confidently rely +upon what I tell them. I have ever known more than I desired. One open +way of speaking introduces another open way of speaking, and draws out +discoveries, like wine and love. Philippides, in my opinion, answered +King Lysimachus very discreetly, who, asking him what of his estate he +should bestow upon him? "What you will," said he, "provided it be none +of your secrets." I see every one is displeased if the bottom of the +affair be concealed from him wherein he is employed, or that there be any +reservation in the thing; for my part, I am content to know no more of +the business than what they would have me employ myself in, nor desire +that my knowledge should exceed or restrict what I have to say. If I +must serve for an instrument of deceit, let it be at least with a safe +conscience: I will not be reputed a servant either so affectionate or so +loyal as to be fit to betray any one: he who is unfaithful to himself, is +excusably so to his master. But they are princes who do not accept men +by halves, and despise limited and conditional services: I cannot help +it: I frankly tell them how far I can go; for a slave I should not be, +but to reason, and I can hardly submit even to that. And they also are +to blame to exact from a freeman the same subjection and obligation to +their service that they do from him they have made and bought, or whose +fortune particularly and expressly depends upon theirs. The laws have +delivered me from a great anxiety; they have chosen a side for me, and +given me a master; all other superiority and obligation ought to be +relative to that, and cut, off from all other. Yet this is not to say, +that if my affection should otherwise incline me, my hand should +presently obey it; the will and desire are a law to themselves; but +actions must receive commission from the public appointment. + +All this proceeding of mine is a little dissonant from the ordinary +forms; it would produce no great effects, nor be of any long duration; +innocence itself could not, in this age of ours, either negotiate without +dissimulation, or traffic without lying; and, indeed, public employments +are by no means for my palate: what my profession requires, I perform +after the most private manner that I can. Being young, I was engaged up +to the ears in business, and it succeeded well; but I disengaged myself +in good time. I have often since avoided meddling in it, rarely +accepted, and never asked it; keeping my back still turned to ambition; +but if not like rowers who so advance backward, yet so, at the same time, +that I am less obliged to my resolution than to my good fortune, that I +was not wholly embarked in it. For there are ways less displeasing to my +taste, and more suitable to my ability, by which, if she had formerly +called me to the public service, and my own advancement towards the +world's opinion, I know I should, in spite of all my own arguments to the +contrary, have pursued them. Such as commonly say, in opposition to what +I profess, that what I call freedom, simplicity, and plainness in my +manners, is art and subtlety, and rather prudence than goodness, industry +than nature, good sense than good luck, do me more honour than disgrace: +but, certainly, they make my subtlety too subtle; and whoever has +followed me close, and pryed narrowly into me, I will give him the +victory, if he does not confess that there is no rule in their school +that could match this natural motion, and maintain an appearance of +liberty and licence, so equal and inflexible, through so many various and +crooked paths, and that all their wit and endeavour could never have led +them through. The way of truth is one and simple; that of particular +profit, and the commodity of affairs a man is entrusted with, is double, +unequal, and casual. I have often seen these counterfeit and artificial +liberties practised, but, for the most part, without success; they relish +of AEsop's ass who, in emulation of the dog, obligingly clapped his two +fore-feet upon his master's shoulders; but as many caresses as the dog +had for such an expression of kindness, twice so many blows with a cudgel +had the poor ass for his compliment: + + "Id maxime quemque decet, quod est cujusque suum maxime." + + ["That best becomes every man which belongs most to him;" + --Cicero, De Offic., i. 31.] + +I will not deprive deceit of its due; that were but ill to understand the +world: I know it has often been of great use, and that it maintains and +supplies most men's employment. There are vices that are lawful, as +there are many actions, either good or excusable, that are not lawful in +themselves. + +The justice which in itself is natural and universal is otherwise and +more nobly ordered than that other justice which is special, national, +and constrained to the ends of government, + + "Veri juris germanaeque justitiae solidam et expressam + effigiem nullam tenemus; umbra et imaginibus utimur;" + + ["We retain no solid and express portraiture of true right and + germane justice; we have only the shadow and image of it." + --Cicero, De Offic., iii. 17.] + +insomuch that the sage Dandamis, hearing the lives of Socrates, +Pythagoras, and Diogenes read, judged them to be great men every way, +excepting that they were too much subjected to the reverence of the laws, +which, to second and authorise, true virtue must abate very much of its +original vigour; many vicious actions are introduced, not only by their +permission, but by their advice: + + "Ex senatus consultis plebisquescitis scelera exercentur." + + ["Crimes are committed by the decrees of the Senate and the + popular assembly."--Seneca, Ep., 95.] + +I follow the common phrase that distinguishes betwixt profitable and +honest things, so as to call some natural actions, that are not only +profitable but necessary, dishonest and foul. + +But let us proceed in our examples of treachery two pretenders to the +kingdom of Thrace--[Rhescuporis and Cotys. Tacitus, Annal., ii. 65]-- +were fallen into dispute about their title; the emperor hindered them +from proceeding to blows: but one of them, under colour of bringing +things to a friendly issue by an interview, having invited his competitor +to an entertainment in his own house, imprisoned and killed him. Justice +required that the Romans should have satisfaction for this offence; but +there was a difficulty in obtaining it by ordinary ways; what, therefore, +they could not do legitimately, without war and without danger, they +resolved to do by treachery; and what they could not honestly do, they +did profitably. For which end, one Pomponius Flaccus was found to be a +fit instrument. This man, by dissembled words and assurances, having +drawn the other into his toils, instead of the honour and favour he had +promised him, sent him bound hand and foot to Rome. Here one traitor +betrayed another, contrary to common custom: for they are full of +mistrust, and 'tis hard to overreach them in their own art: witness the +sad experience we have lately had.--[Montaigne here probably refers to +the feigned reconciliation between Catherine de Medici and Henri, Duc de +Guise, in 1588.] + +Let who will be Pomponius Flaccus, and there are enough who would: for my +part, both my word and my faith are, like all the rest, parts of this +common body: their best effect is the public service; this I take for +presupposed. But should one command me to take charge of the courts of +law and lawsuits, I should make answer, that I understood it not; or the +place of a leader of pioneers, I would say, that I was called to a more +honourable employment; so likewise, he that would employ me to lie, +betray, and forswear myself, though not to assassinate or to poison, for +some notable service, I should say, "If I have robbed or stolen anything +from any man, send me rather to the galleys." For it is permissible in a +man of honour to say, as the Lacedaemonians did,--[Plutarch, Difference +between a Flatterer and a Friend, c. 21.]--having been defeated by +Antipater, when just upon concluding an agreement: "You may impose as +heavy and ruinous taxes upon us as you please, but to command us to do +shameful and dishonest things, you will lose your time, for it is to no +purpose." Every one ought to make the same vow to himself that the kings +of Egypt made their judges solemnly swear, that they would not do +anything contrary to their consciences, though never so much commanded to +it by themselves. In such commissions there is evident mark of ignominy +and condemnation; and he who gives it at the same time accuses you, and +gives it, if you understand it right, for a burden and a punishment. +As much as the public affairs are bettered by your exploit, so much are +your own the worse, and the better you behave yourself in it, 'tis so +much the worse for yourself; and it will be no new thing, nor, +peradventure, without some colour of justice, if the same person ruin +you who set you on work. + +If treachery can be in any case excusable, it must be only so when it is +practised to chastise and betray treachery. There are examples enough of +treacheries, not only rejected, but chastised and punished by those in +favour of whom they were undertaken. Who is ignorant of Fabricius +sentence against the physician of Pyrrhus? + +But this we also find recorded, that some persons have commanded a thing, +who afterward have severely avenged the execution of it upon him they had +employed, rejecting the reputation of so unbridled an authority, and +disowning so abandoned and base a servitude and obedience. Jaropelk, +Duke of Russia, tampered with a gentleman of Hungary to betray Boleslaus, +king of Poland, either by killing him, or by giving the Russians +opportunity to do him some notable mischief. This worthy went ably to +work: he was more assiduous than before in the service of that king, so +that he obtained the honour to be of his council, and one of the chiefest +in his trust. With these advantages, and taking an opportune occasion of +his master's absence, he betrayed Vislicza, a great and rich city, to the +Russians, which was entirely sacked and burned, and not only all the +inhabitants of both sexes, young and old, put to the sword, but moreover +a great number of neighbouring gentry, whom he had drawn thither to that +end. Jaropelk, his revenge being thus satisfied and his anger appeased, +which was not, indeed, without pretence (for Boleslaus had highly +offended him, and after the same manner), and sated with the fruit of +this treachery, coming to consider the fulness of it, with a sound +judgment and clear from passion, looked upon what had been done with so +much horror and remorse that he caused the eyes to be bored out and the +tongue and shameful parts to be cut off of him who had performed it. + +Antigonus persuaded the Argyraspides to betray Eumenes, their general, +his adversary, into his hands; but after he had caused him, so delivered, +to be slain, he would himself be the commissioner of the divine justice +for the punishment of so detestable a crime, and committed them into the +hands of the governor of the province, with express command, by whatever +means, to destroy and bring them all to an evil end, so that of that +great number of men, not so much as one ever returned again into +Macedonia: the better he had been served, the more wickedly he judged it +to be, and meriting greater punishment. + +The slave who betrayed the place where his master, P. Sulpicius, lay +concealed, was, according to the promise of Sylla's proscription, +manumitted for his pains; but according to the promise of the public +justice, which was free from any such engagement, he was thrown headlong +from the Tarpeian rock. + +Our King Clovis, instead of the arms of gold he had promised them, caused +three of Cararie's servants to be hanged after they had betrayed their +master to him, though he had debauched them to it: he hanged them with +the purse of their reward about their necks; after having satisfied his +second and special faith, he satisfied the general and first. + +Mohammed II. having resolved to rid himself of his brother, out of +jealousy of state, according to the practice of the Ottoman family, he +employed one of his officers in the execution, who, pouring a quantity of +water too fast into him, choked him. This being done, to expiate the +murder, he delivered the murderer into the hands of the mother of him he +had so caused to be put to death, for they were only brothers by the +father's side; she, in his presence, ripped up the murderer's bosom, and +with her own hands rifled his breast for his heart, tore it out, and +threw it to the dogs. And even to the worst people it is the sweetest +thing imaginable, having once gained their end by a vicious action, to +foist, in all security, into it some show of virtue and justice, as by +way of compensation and conscientious correction; to which may be added, +that they look upon the ministers of such horrid crimes as upon men who +reproach them with them, and think by their deaths to erase the memory +and testimony of such proceedings. + +Or if, perhaps, you are rewarded, not to frustrate the public necessity +for that extreme and desperate remedy, he who does it cannot for all +that, if he be not such himself, but look upon you as an accursed and +execrable fellow, and conclude you a greater traitor than he does, +against whom you are so: for he tries the malignity of your disposition +by your own hands, where he cannot possibly be deceived, you having no +object of preceding hatred to move you to such an act; but he employs you +as they do condemned malefactors in executions of justice, an office as +necessary as dishonourable. Besides the baseness of such commissions, +there is, moreover, a prostitution of conscience. Seeing that the +daughter of Sejanus could not be put to death by the law of Rome, because +she was a virgin, she was, to make it lawful, first ravished by the +hangman and then strangled: not only his hand but his soul is slave to +the public convenience. + +When Amurath I., more grievously to punish his subjects who had taken +part in the parricide rebellion of his son, ordained that their nearest +kindred should assist in the execution, I find it very handsome in some +of them to have rather chosen to be unjustly thought guilty of the +parricide of another than to serve justice by a parricide of their own. +And where I have seen, at the taking of some little fort by assault in my +time, some rascals who, to save their own lives, would consent to hang +their friends and companions, I have looked upon them to be of worse +condition than those who were hanged. 'Tis said, that Witold, Prince of +Lithuania, introduced into the nation the practice that the criminal +condemned to death should with his own hand execute the sentence, +thinking it strange that a third person, innocent of the fault, should be +made guilty of homicide. + +A prince, when by some urgent circumstance or some impetuous and +unforeseen accident that very much concerns his state, compelled to +forfeit his word and break his faith, or otherwise forced from his +ordinary duty, ought to attribute this necessity to a lash of the divine +rod: vice it is not, for he has given up his own reason to a more +universal and more powerful reason; but certainly 'tis a misfortune: so +that if any one should ask me what remedy? "None," say I, "if he were +really racked between these two extremes: 'sed videat, ne quoeratur +latebya perjurio', he must do it: but if he did it without regret, if it +did not weigh on him to do it, 'tis a sign his conscience is in a sorry +condition." If there be a person to be found of so tender a conscience +as to think no cure whatever worth so important a remedy, I shall like +him never the worse; he could not more excusably or more decently perish. +We cannot do all we would, so that we must often, as the last anchorage, +commit the protection of our vessels to the simple conduct of heaven. +To what more just necessity does he reserve himself? What is less +possible for him to do than what he cannot do but at the expense of his +faith and honour, things that, perhaps, ought to be dearer to him than +his own safety, or even the safety of his people. Though he should, with +folded arms, only call God to his assistance, has he not reason to hope +that the divine goodness will not refuse the favour of an extraordinary +arm to just and pure hands? These are dangerous examples, rare and +sickly exceptions to our natural rules: we must yield to them, but with +great moderation and circumspection: no private utility is of such +importance that we should upon that account strain our consciences to +such a degree: the public may be, when very manifest and of very great +concern. + +Timoleon made a timely expiation for his strange exploit by the tears he +shed, calling to mind that it was with a fraternal hand that he had slain +the tyrant; and it justly pricked his conscience that he had been +necessitated to purchase the public utility at so great a price as the +violation of his private morality. Even the Senate itself, by his means +delivered from slavery, durst not positively determine of so high a fact, +and divided into two so important and contrary aspects; but the +Syracusans, sending at the same time to the Corinthians to solicit their +protection, and to require of them a captain fit to re-establish their +city in its former dignity and to clear Sicily of several little tyrants +by whom it was oppressed, they deputed Timoleon for that service, with +this cunning declaration; "that according as he should behave himself +well or ill in his employment, their sentence should incline either to +favour the deliverer of his country, or to disfavour the murderer of his +brother." This fantastic conclusion carries along with it some excuse, +by reason of the danger of the example, and the importance of so strange +an action: and they did well to discharge their own judgment of it, and +to refer it to others who were not so much concerned. But Timoleon's +comportment in this expedition soon made his cause more clear, so +worthily and virtuously he demeaned himself upon all occasions; and the +good fortune that accompanied him in the difficulties he had to overcome +in this noble employment, seemed to be strewed in his way by the gods, +favourably conspiring for his justification. + +The end of this matter is excusable, if any can be so; but the profit of +the augmentation of the public revenue, that served the Roman Senate for +a pretence to the foul conclusion I am going to relate, is not sufficient +to warrant any such injustice. + +Certain cities had redeemed themselves and their liberty by money, by the +order and consent of the Senate, out of the hands of L. Sylla: the +business coming again in question, the Senate condemned them to be +taxable as they were before, and that the money they had disbursed for +their redemption should be lost to them. Civil war often produces such +villainous examples; that we punish private men for confiding in us when +we were public ministers: and the self-same magistrate makes another man +pay the penalty of his change that has nothing to do with it; the +pedagogue whips his scholar for his docility; and the guide beats the +blind man whom he leads by the hand; a horrid image of justice. + +There are rules in philosophy that are both false and weak. The example +that is proposed to us for preferring private utility before faith given, +has not weight enough by the circumstances they put to it; robbers have +seized you, and after having made you swear to pay them a certain sum of +money, dismiss you. 'Tis not well done to say, that an honest man can be +quit of his oath without payment, being out of their hands. 'Tis no such +thing: what fear has once made me willing to do, I am obliged to do it +when I am no longer in fear; and though that fear only prevailed with my +tongue without forcing my will, yet am I bound to keep my word. For my +part, when my tongue has sometimes inconsiderately said something that I +did not think, I have made a conscience of disowning it: otherwise, by +degrees, we shall abolish all the right another derives from our promises +and oaths: + + "Quasi vero forti viro vis possit adhiberi." + + ["As though a man of true courage could be compelled." + --Cicero, De Offic., iii. 30.] + +And 'tis only lawful, upon the account of private interest, to excuse +breach of promise, when we have promised something that is unlawful and +wicked in itself; for the right of virtue ought to take place of the +right of any obligation of ours. + +I have formerly placed Epaminondas in the first rank of excellent men, +and do not repent it. How high did he stretch the consideration of his +own particular duty? he who never killed a man whom he had overcome; who, +for the inestimable benefit of restoring the liberty of his country, made +conscience of killing a tyrant or his accomplices without due form of +justice: and who concluded him to be a wicked man, how good a citizen +soever otherwise, who amongst his enemies in battle spared not his friend +and his guest. This was a soul of a rich composition: he married +goodness and humanity, nay, even the tenderest and most delicate in the +whole school of philosophy, to the roughest and most violent human +actions. Was it nature or art that had intenerated that great courage of +his, so full, so obstinate against pain and death and poverty, to such an +extreme degree of sweetness and compassion? Dreadful in arms and blood, +he overran and subdued a nation invincible by all others but by him +alone; and yet in the heat of an encounter, could turn aside from his +friend and guest. Certainly he was fit to command in war who could so +rein himself with the curb of good nature, in the height and heat of his +fury, a fury inflamed and foaming with blood and slaughter. 'Tis a +miracle to be able to mix any image of justice with such violent actions: +and it was only possible for such a steadfastness of mind as that of +Epaminondas therein to mix sweetness and the facility of the gentlest +manners and purest innocence. And whereas one told the Mamertini that +statutes were of no efficacy against armed men; and another told the +tribune of the people that the time of justice and of war were distinct +things; and a third said that the noise of arms deafened the voice of +laws, this man was not precluded from listening to the laws of civility +and pure courtesy. Had he not borrowed from his enemies the custom of +sacrificing to the Muses when he went to war, that they might by their +sweetness and gaiety soften his martial and rigorous fury? Let us not +fear, by the example of so great a master, to believe that there is +something unlawful, even against an enemy, and that the common concern +ought not to require all things of all men, against private interest: + + "Manente memoria, etiam in dissidio publicorum + foederum, privati juris:" + + ["The memory of private right remaining even amid + public dissensions."--Livy, xxv. 18.] + + "Et nulla potentia vires + Praestandi, ne quid peccet amicus, habet;" + + ["No power on earth can sanction treachery against a friend." + --Ovid, De Ponto, i. 7, 37.] + +and that all things are not lawful to an honest man for the service of +his prince, the laws, or the general quarrel: + + "Non enim patria praestat omnibus officiis.... + et ipsi conducit pios habere cives in parentes." + + ["The duty to one's country does not supersede all other duties. + The country itself requires that its citizens should act piously + toward their parents."--Cicero, De Offic., iii. 23.] + +Tis an instruction proper for the time wherein we live: we need not +harden our courage with these arms of steel; 'tis enough that our +shoulders are inured to them: 'tis enough to dip our pens in ink without +dipping them in blood. If it be grandeur of courage, and the effect of a +rare and singular virtue, to contemn friendship, private obligations, a +man's word and relationship, for the common good and obedience to the +magistrate, 'tis certainly sufficient to excuse us, that 'tis a grandeur +that can have no place in the grandeur of Epaminondas' courage. + +I abominate those mad exhortations of this other discomposed soul, + + "Dum tela micant, non vos pietatis imago + Ulla, nec adversa conspecti fronte parentes + Commoveant; vultus gladio turbate verendos." + + ["While swords glitter, let no idea of piety, nor the face even of a + father presented to you, move you: mutilate with your sword those + venerable features "--Lucan, vii. 320.] + +Let us deprive wicked, bloody, and treacherous natures of such a pretence +of reason: let us set aside this guilty and extravagant justice, and +stick to more human imitations. How great things can time and example +do! In an encounter of the civil war against Cinna, one of Pompey's +soldiers having unawares killed his brother, who was of the contrary +party, he immediately for shame and sorrow killed himself: and some years +after, in another civil war of the same people, a soldier demanded a +reward of his officer for having killed his brother. + +A man but ill proves the honour and beauty of an action by its utility: +and very erroneously concludes that every one is obliged to it, and that +it becomes every one to do it, if it be of utility: + + "Omnia non pariter rerum sunt omnibus apta." + + + ["All things are not equally fit for all men." + --Propertius, iii. 9, 7.] + +Let us take that which is most necessary and profitable for human +society; it will be marriage; and yet the council of the saints find the +contrary much better, excluding from it the most venerable vocation of +man: as we design those horses for stallions of which we have the least +esteem. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +OF REPENTANCE + +Others form man; I only report him: and represent a particular one, ill +fashioned enough, and whom, if I had to model him anew, I should +certainly make something else than what he is but that's past recalling. +Now, though the features of my picture alter and change, 'tis not, +however, unlike: the world eternally turns round; all things therein are +incessantly moving, the earth, the rocks of Caucasus, and the pyramids of +Egypt, both by the public motion and their own. Even constancy itself is +no other but a slower and more languishing motion. I cannot fix my +object; 'tis always tottering and reeling by a natural giddiness; I take +it as it is at the instant I consider it; I do not paint its being, I +paint its passage; not a passing from one age to another, or, as the +people say, from seven to seven years, but from day to day, from minute +to minute, I must accommodate my history to the hour: I may presently +change, not only by fortune, but also by intention. 'Tis a counterpart +of various and changeable accidents, and of irresolute imaginations, and, +as it falls out, sometimes contrary: whether it be that I am then another +self, or that I take subjects by other circumstances and considerations: +so it is that I may peradventure contradict myself, but, as Demades said, +I never contradict the truth. Could my soul once take footing, I would +not essay but resolve: but it is always learning and making trial. + +I propose a life ordinary and without lustre: 'tis all one; all moral +philosophy may as well be applied to a common and private life, as to one +of richer composition: every man carries the entire form of human +condition. Authors communicate themselves to the people by some especial +and extrinsic mark; I, the first of any, by my universal being; as Michel +de Montaigne, not as a grammarian, a poet, or a lawyer. If the world +find fault that I speak too much of myself, I find fault that they do not +so much as think of themselves. But is it reason that, being so +particular in my way of living, I should pretend to recommend myself to +the public knowledge? And is it also reason that I should produce to the +world, where art and handling have so much credit and authority, crude +and simple effects of nature, and of a weak nature to boot? Is it not to +build a wall without stone or brick, or some such thing, to write books +without learning and without art? The fancies of music are carried on by +art; mine by chance. I have this, at least, according to discipline, +that never any man treated of a subject he better understood and knew +than I what I have undertaken, and that in this I am the most +understanding man alive: secondly, that never any man penetrated farther +into his matter, nor better and more distinctly sifted the parts and +sequences of it, nor ever more exactly and fully arrived at the end he +proposed to himself. To perfect it, I need bring nothing but fidelity to +the work; and that is there, and the most pure and sincere that is +anywhere to be found. I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much +as I dare; and I dare a little the more, as I grow older; for, methinks, +custom allows to age more liberty of prating, and more indiscretion of +talking of a man's self. That cannot fall out here, which I often see +elsewhere, that the work and the artificer contradict one another: +"Can a man of such sober conversation have written so foolish a book?" +Or "Do so learned writings proceed from a man of so weak conversation?" +He who talks at a very ordinary rate, and writes rare matter, 'tis to say +that his capacity is borrowed and not his own. A learned man is not +learned in all things: but a sufficient man is sufficient throughout, +even to ignorance itself; here my book and I go hand in hand together. +Elsewhere men may commend or censure the work, without reference to the +workman; here they cannot: who touches the one, touches the other. He +who shall judge of it without knowing him, will more wrong himself than +me; he who does know him, gives me all the satisfaction I desire. I +shall be happy beyond my desert, if I can obtain only thus much from the +public approbation, as to make men of understanding perceive that I was +capable of profiting by knowledge, had I had it; and that I deserved to +have been assisted by a better memory. + +Be pleased here to excuse what I often repeat, that I very rarely repent, +and that my conscience is satisfied with itself, not as the conscience of +an angel, or that of a horse, but as the conscience of a man; always +adding this clause, not one of ceremony, but a true and real submission, +that I speak inquiring and doubting, purely and simply referring myself +to the common and accepted beliefs for the resolution. I do not teach; I +only relate. + +There is no vice that is absolutely a vice which does not offend, and +that a sound judgment does not accuse; for there is in it so manifest a +deformity and inconvenience, that peradventure they are in the right who +say that it is chiefly begotten by stupidity and ignorance: so hard is it +to imagine that a man can know without abhorring it. Malice sucks up the +greatest part of its own venom, and poisons itself. Vice leaves +repentance in the soul, like an ulcer in the flesh, which is always +scratching and lacerating itself: for reason effaces all other grief and +sorrows, but it begets that of repentance, which is so much the more +grievous, by reason it springs within, as the cold and heat of fevers are +more sharp than those that only strike upon the outward skin. I hold for +vices (but every one according to its proportion), not only those which +reason and nature condemn, but those also which the opinion of men, +though false and erroneous, have made such, if authorised by law and +custom. + +There is likewise no virtue which does not rejoice a well-descended +nature: there is a kind of, I know not what, congratulation in well-doing +that gives us an inward satisfaction, and a generous boldness that +accompanies a good conscience: a soul daringly vicious may, peradventure, +arm itself with security, but it cannot supply itself with this +complacency and satisfaction. 'Tis no little satisfaction to feel a +man's self preserved from the contagion of so depraved an age, and to say +to himself: "Whoever could penetrate into my soul would not there find me +guilty either of the affliction or ruin of any one, or of revenge or +envy, or any offence against the public laws, or of innovation or +disturbance, or failure of my word; and though the licence of the time +permits and teaches every one so to do, yet have I not plundered any +Frenchman's goods, or taken his money, and have lived upon what is my +own, in war as well as in peace; neither have I set any man to work +without paying him his hire." These testimonies of a good conscience +please, and this natural rejoicing is very beneficial to us, and the only +reward that we can never fail of. + +To ground the recompense of virtuous actions upon the approbation of +others is too uncertain and unsafe a foundation, especially in so corrupt +and ignorant an age as this, wherein the good opinion of the vulgar is +injurious: upon whom do you rely to show you what is recommendable? God +defend me from being an honest man, according to the descriptions of +honour I daily see every one make of himself: + + "Quae fuerant vitia, mores sunt." + + ["What before had been vices are now manners."--Seneca, Ep., 39.] + +Some of my friends have at times schooled and scolded me with great +sincerity and plainness, either of their own voluntary motion, or by me +entreated to it as to an office, which to a well-composed soul surpasses +not only in utility, but in kindness, all other offices of friendship: I +have always received them with the most open arms, both of courtesy and +acknowledgment; but to say the truth, I have often found so much false +measure, both in their reproaches and praises, that I had not done much +amiss, rather to have done ill, than to have done well according to their +notions. We, who live private lives, not exposed to any other view than +our own, ought chiefly to have settled a pattern within ourselves by +which to try our actions: and according to that, sometimes to encourage +and sometimes to correct ourselves. I have my laws and my judicature to +judge of myself, and apply myself more to these than to any other rules: +I do, indeed, restrain my actions according to others; but extend them +not by any other rule than my own. You yourself only know if you are +cowardly and cruel, loyal and devout: others see you not, and only guess +at you by uncertain conjectures, and do not so much see your nature as +your art; rely not therefore upon their opinions, but stick to your own: + + "Tuo tibi judicio est utendum.... Virtutis et vitiorum grave ipsius + conscientiae pondus est: qua sublata, jacent omnia." + + ["Thou must employ thy own judgment upon thyself; great is the + weight of thy own conscience in the discovery of virtues and vices: + which taken away, all things are lost." + --Cicero, De Nat. Dei, iii. 35; Tusc. Quaes., i. 25.] + +But the saying that repentance immediately follows the sin seems not to +have respect to sin in its high estate, which is lodged in us as in its +own proper habitation. One may disown and retract the vices that +surprise us, and to which we are hurried by passions; but those which by +a long habit are rooted in a strong and vigorous will are not subject to +contradiction. Repentance is no other but a recanting of the will and an +opposition to our fancies, which lead us which way they please. It makes +this person disown his former virtue and continency: + + "Quae mens est hodie, cur eadem non puero fait? + Vel cur his animis incolumes non redeunt genae?" + + ["What my mind is, why was it not the same, when I was a boy? or + why do not the cheeks return to these feelings?" + --Horace, Od., v. 10, 7.] + +'Tis an exact life that maintains itself in due order in private. Every +one may juggle his part, and represent an honest man upon the stage: but +within, and in his own bosom, where all may do as they list, where all is +concealed, to be regular, there's the point. The next degree is to be so +in his house, and in his ordinary actions, for which we are accountable +to none, and where there is no study nor artifice. And therefore Bias, +setting forth the excellent state of a private family, says: "of which a +the master is the same within, by his own virtue and temper, that he is +abroad, for fear of the laws and report of men." And it was a worthy +saying of Julius Drusus, to the masons who offered him, for three +thousand crowns, to put his house in such a posture that his neighbours +should no longer have the same inspection into it as before; "I will give +you," said he, "six thousand to make it so that everybody may see into +every room." 'Tis honourably recorded of Agesilaus, that he used in his +journeys always to take up his lodgings in temples, to the end that the +people and the gods themselves might pry into his most private actions. +Such a one has been a miracle to the world, in whom neither his wife nor +servant has ever seen anything so much as remarkable; few men have been +admired by their own domestics; no one was ever a prophet, not merely in +his own house, but in his own country, says the experience of histories: +--[No man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre, said Marshal Catinat]--'tis +the same in things of nought, and in this low example the image of a +greater is to be seen. In my country of Gascony, they look upon it as a +drollery to see me in print; the further off I am read from my own home, +the better I am esteemed. I purchase printers in Guienne; elsewhere they +purchase me. Upon this it is that they lay their foundation who conceal +themselves present and living, to obtain a name when they are dead and +absent. I had rather have a great deal less in hand, and do not expose +myself to the world upon any other account than my present share; when I +leave it I quit the rest. See this functionary whom the people escort in +state, with wonder and applause, to his very door; he puts off the +pageant with his robe, and falls so much the lower by how much he was +higher exalted: in himself within, all is tumult and degraded. And +though all should be regular there, it will require a vivid and +well-chosen judgment to perceive it in these low and private actions; to +which may be added, that order is a dull, sombre virtue. To enter a +breach, conduct an embassy, govern a people, are actions of renown; to +reprehend, laugh, sell, pay, love, hate, and gently and justly converse +with a man's own family and with himself; not to relax, not to give a +man's self the lie, is more rare and hard, and less remarkable. By which +means, retired lives, whatever is said to the contrary, undergo duties of +as great or greater difficulty than the others do; and private men, says +Aristotle,' serve virtue more painfully and highly than those in +authority do: we prepare ourselves for eminent occasions, more out of +glory than conscience. The shortest way to arrive at glory, would be to +do that for conscience which we do for glory: and the virtue of Alexander +appears to me of much less vigour in his great theatre, than that of +Socrates in his mean and obscure employment. I can easily conceive +Socrates in the place of Alexander, but Alexander in that of Socrates, I +cannot. Who shall ask the one what he can do, he will answer, "Subdue +the world": and who shall put the same question to the other, he will +say, "Carry on human life conformably with its natural condition"; a much +more general, weighty, and legitimate science than the other.--[Montaigne +added here, "To do for the world that for which he came into the world," +but he afterwards erased these words from the manuscript.--Naigeon.] + +The virtue of the soul does not consist in flying high, but in walking +orderly; its grandeur does not exercise itself in grandeur, but in +mediocrity. As they who judge and try us within, make no great account +of the lustre of our public actions, and see they are only streaks and +rays of clear water springing from a slimy and muddy bottom so, likewise, +they who judge of us by this gallant outward appearance, in like manner +conclude of our internal constitution; and cannot couple common +faculties, and like their own, with the other faculties that astonish +them, and are so far out of their sight. Therefore it is that we give +such savage forms to demons: and who does not give Tamerlane great +eyebrows, wide nostrils, a dreadful visage, and a prodigious stature, +according to the imagination he has conceived by the report of his name? +Had any one formerly brought me to Erasmus, I should hardly have believed +but that all was adage and apothegm he spoke to his man or his hostess. +We much more aptly imagine an artisan upon his close-stool, or upon his +wife, than a great president venerable by his port and sufficiency: we +fancy that they, from their high tribunals, will not abase themselves so +much as to live. As vicious souls are often incited by some foreign +impulse to do well, so are virtuous souls to do ill; they are therefore +to be judged by their settled state, when they are at home, whenever that +may be; and, at all events, when they are nearer repose, and in their +native station. + +Natural inclinations are much assisted and fortified by education; but +they seldom alter and overcome their institution: a thousand natures of +my time have escaped towards virtue or vice, through a quite contrary +discipline: + + "Sic ubi, desuetae silvis, in carcere clausae + Mansuevere ferx, et vultus posuere minaces, + Atque hominem didicere pati, si torrida parvus + Venit in ora cruor, redeunt rabiesque fororque, + Admonitaeque tument gustato sanguine fauces + Fervet, et a trepido vix abstinet ira magistro;" + + ["So savage beasts, when shut up in cages and grown unaccustomed to + the woods, have become tame, and have laid aside their fierce looks, + and submit to the rule of man; if again a slight taste of blood + comes into their mouths, their rage and fury return, their jaws are + erected by thirst of blood, and their anger scarcely abstains from + their trembling masters."--Lucan, iv. 237.] + +these original qualities are not to be rooted out; they may be covered +and concealed. The Latin tongue is as it were natural to me; I +understand it better than French; but I have not been used to speak it, +nor hardly to write it, these forty years. Unless upon extreme and +sudden emotions which I have fallen into twice or thrice in my life, and +once seeing my father in perfect health fall upon me in a swoon, I have +always uttered from the bottom of my heart my first words in Latin; +nature deafened, and forcibly expressing itself, in spite of so long a +discontinuation; and this example is said of many others. + +They who in my time have attempted to correct the manners of the world by +new opinions, reform seeming vices; but the essential vices they leave as +they were, if indeed they do not augment them, and augmentation is +therein to be feared; we defer all other well doing upon the account of +these external reformations, of less cost and greater show, and thereby +expiate good cheap, for the other natural, consubstantial, and intestine +vices. Look a little into our experience: there is no man, if he listen +to himself, who does not in himself discover a particular and governing +form of his own, that jostles his education, and wrestles with the +tempest of passions that are contrary to it. For my part, I seldom find +myself agitated with surprises; I always find myself in my place, as +heavy and unwieldy bodies do; if I am not at home, I am always near at +hand; my dissipations do not transport me very far; there is nothing +strange or extreme in the case; and yet I have sound and vigorous turns. + +The true condemnation, and which touches the common practice of men, is +that their very retirement itself is full of filth and corruption; the +idea of their reformation composed, their repentance sick and faulty, +very nearly as much as their sin. Some, either from having been linked +to vice by a natural propension or long practice, cannot see its +deformity. Others (of which constitution I am) do indeed feel the weight +of vice, but they counterbalance it with pleasure, or some other +occasion; and suffer and lend themselves to it for a certain price, but +viciously and basely. Yet there might, haply, be imagined so vast a +disproportion of measure, where with justice the pleasure might excuse +the sin, as we say of utility; not only if accidental and out of sin, as +in thefts, but in the very exercise of sin, or in the enjoyment of women, +where the temptation is violent, and, 'tis said, sometimes not to be +overcome. + +Being the other day at Armaignac, on the estate of a kinsman of mine, I +there saw a peasant who was by every one nicknamed the thief. He thus +related the story of his life: that, being born a beggar, and finding +that he should not be able, so as to be clear of indigence, to get his +living by the sweat of his brow, he resolved to turn thief, and by means +of his strength of body had exercised this trade all the time of his +youth in great security; for he ever made his harvest and vintage in +other men's grounds, but a great way off, and in so great quantities, +that it was not to be imagined one man could have carried away so much in +one night upon his shoulders; and, moreover, he was careful equally to +divide and distribute the mischief he did, that the loss was of less +importance to every particular man. He is now grown old, and rich for a +man of his condition, thanks to his trade, which he openly confesses to +every one. And to make his peace with God, he says, that he is daily +ready by good offices to make satisfaction to the successors of those he +has robbed, and if he do not finish (for to do it all at once he is not +able), he will then leave it in charge to his heirs to perform the rest, +proportionably to the wrong he himself only knows he has done to each. +By this description, true or false, this man looks upon theft as a +dishonest action, and hates it, but less than poverty, and simply +repents; but to the extent he has thus recompensed he repents not. This +is not that habit which incorporates us into vice, and conforms even our +understanding itself to it; nor is it that impetuous whirlwind that by +gusts troubles and blinds our souls, and for the time precipitates us, +judgment and all, into the power of vice. + +I customarily do what I do thoroughly and make but one step on't; I have +rarely any movement that hides itself and steals away from my reason, and +that does not proceed in the matter by the consent of all my faculties, +without division or intestine sedition; my judgment is to have all the +blame or all the praise; and the blame it once has, it has always; for +almost from my infancy it has ever been one: the same inclination, the +same turn, the same force; and as to universal opinions, I fixed myself +from my childhood in the place where I resolved to stick. There are some +sins that are impetuous, prompt, and sudden; let us set them aside: but +in these other sins so often repeated, deliberated, and contrived, +whether sins of complexion or sins of profession and vocation, I cannot +conceive that they should have so long been settled in the same +resolution, unless the reason and conscience of him who has them, be +constant to have them; and the repentance he boasts to be inspired with +on a sudden, is very hard for me to imagine or form. I follow not the +opinion of the Pythagorean sect, "that men take up a new soul when they +repair to the images of the gods to receive their oracles," unless he +mean that it must needs be extrinsic, new, and lent for the time; our own +showing so little sign of purification and cleanness, fit for such an +office. + +They act quite contrary to the stoical precepts, who do indeed command us +to correct the imperfections and vices we know ourselves guilty of, but +forbid us therefore to disturb the repose of our souls: these make us +believe that they have great grief and remorse within: but of amendment, +correction, or interruption, they make nothing appear. It cannot be a +cure if the malady be not wholly discharged; if repentance were laid upon +the scale of the balance, it would weigh down sin. I find no quality so +easy to counterfeit as devotion, if men do not conform their manners and +life to the profession; its essence is abstruse and occult; the +appearance easy and ostentatious. + +For my own part, I may desire in general to be other than I am; I may +condemn and dislike my whole form, and beg of Almighty God for an entire +reformation, and that He will please to pardon my natural infirmity: but +I ought not to call this repentance, methinks, no more than the being +dissatisfied that I am not an angel or Cato. My actions are regular, +and conformable to what I am and to my condition; I can do no better; +and repentance does not properly touch things that are not in our power; +sorrow does.. I imagine an infinite number of natures more elevated and +regular than mine; and yet I do not for all that improve my faculties, no +more than my arm or will grow more strong and vigorous for conceiving +those of another to be so. If to conceive and wish a nobler way of +acting than that we have should produce a repentance of our own, we must +then repent us of our most innocent actions, forasmuch as we may well +suppose that in a more excellent nature they would have been carried on +with greater dignity and perfection; and we would that ours were so. +When I reflect upon the deportment of my youth, with that of my old age, +I find that I have commonly behaved myself with equal order in both +according to what I understand: this is all that my resistance can do. +I do not flatter myself; in the same circumstances I should do the same +things. It is not a patch, but rather an universal tincture, with which +I am stained. I know no repentance, superficial, half-way, and +ceremonious; it must sting me all over before I can call it so, and must +prick my bowels as deeply and universally as God sees into me. + +As to business, many excellent opportunities have escaped me for want of +good management; and yet my deliberations were sound enough, according to +the occurrences presented to me: 'tis their way to choose always the +easiest and safest course. I find that, in my former resolves, I have +proceeded with discretion, according to my own rule, and according to the +state of the subject proposed, and should do the same a thousand years +hence in like occasions; I do not consider what it is now, but what it +was then, when I deliberated on it: the force of all counsel consists in +the time; occasions and things eternally shift and change. I have in my +life committed some important errors, not for want of good understanding, +but for want of good luck. There are secret, and not to be foreseen, +parts in matters we have in hand, especially in the nature of men; mute +conditions, that make no show, unknown sometimes even to the possessors +themselves, that spring and start up by incidental occasions; if my +prudence could not penetrate into nor foresee them, I blame it not: 'tis +commissioned no further than its own limits; if the event be too hard for +me, and take the side I have refused, there is no remedy; I do not blame +myself, I accuse my fortune, and not my work; this cannot be called +repentance. + +Phocion, having given the Athenians an advice that was not followed, and +the affair nevertheless succeeding contrary to his opinion, some one said +to him, "Well, Phocion, art thou content that matters go so well?"--"I am +very well content," replied he, "that this has happened so well, but I do +not repent that I counselled the other." When any of my friends address +themselves to me for advice, I give it candidly and clearly, without +sticking, as almost all other men do, at the hazard of the thing's +falling out contrary to my opinion, and that I may be reproached for my +counsel; I am very indifferent as to that, for the fault will be theirs +for having consulted me, and I could not refuse them that office. +--[We may give advice to others, says Rochefoucauld, but we cannot +supply them with the wit to profit by it.] + +I, for my own part, can rarely blame any one but myself for my oversights +and misfortunes, for indeed I seldom solicit the advice of another, +if not by honour of ceremony, or excepting where I stand in need of +information, special science, or as to matter of fact. But in things +wherein I stand in need of nothing but judgment, other men's reasons may +serve to fortify my own, but have little power to dissuade me; I hear +them all with civility and patience; but, to my recollection, I never +made use of any but my own. With me, they are but flies and atoms, that +confound and distract my will; I lay no great stress upon my opinions; +but I lay as little upon those of others, and fortune rewards me +accordingly: if I receive but little advice, I also give but little. I +am seldom consulted, and still more seldom believed, and know no concern, +either public or private, that has been mended or bettered by my advice. +Even they whom fortune had in some sort tied to my direction, have more +willingly suffered themselves to be governed by any other counsels than +mine. And as a man who am as jealous of my repose as of my authority, +I am better pleased that it should be so; in leaving me there, they +humour what I profess, which is to settle and wholly contain myself +within myself. I take a pleasure in being uninterested in other men's +affairs, and disengaged from being their warranty, and responsible for +what they do. + +In all affairs that are past, be it how it will, I have very little +regret; for this imagination puts me out of my pain, that they were so to +fall out they are in the great revolution of the world, and in the chain +of stoical 'causes: your fancy cannot, by wish and imagination, move one +tittle, but that the great current of things will not reverse both the +past and the future. + +As to the rest, I abominate that incidental repentance which old age +brings along with it. He, who said of old, that he was obliged to his +age for having weaned him from pleasure, was of another opinion than I +am; I can never think myself beholden to impotency for any good it can do +to me: + + "Nec tam aversa unquam videbitur ab opere suo providentia, + ut debilitas inter optima inventa sit." + + ["Nor can Providence ever seem so averse to her own work, that + debility should be found to be amongst the best things." + --Quintilian, Instit. Orat., v. 12.] + +Our appetites are rare in old age; a profound satiety seizes us after the +act; in this I see nothing of conscience; chagrin and weakness imprint in +us a drowsy and rheumatic virtue. We must not suffer ourselves to be so +wholly carried away by natural alterations as to suffer our judgments to +be imposed upon by them. Youth and pleasure have not formerly so far +prevailed with me, that I did not well enough discern the face of vice in +pleasure; neither does the distaste that years have brought me, so far +prevail with me now, that I cannot discern pleasure in vice. Now that I +am no more in my flourishing age, I judge as well of these things as if I +were. + + ["Old though I am, for ladies' love unfit, + The power of beauty I remember yet."--Chaucer.] + +I, who narrowly and strictly examine it, find my reason the very same it +was in my most licentious age, except, perhaps, that 'tis weaker and more +decayed by being grown older; and I find that the pleasure it refuses me +upon the account of my bodily health, it would no more refuse now, in +consideration of the health of my soul, than at any time heretofore. +I do not repute it the more valiant for not being able to combat; my +temptations are so broken and mortified, that they are not worth its +opposition; holding but out my hands, I repel them. Should one present +the old concupiscence before it, I fear it would have less power to +resist it than heretofore; I do not discern that in itself it judges +anything otherwise now than it formerly did, nor that it has acquired any +new light: wherefore, if there be convalescence, 'tis an enchanted one. +Miserable kind of remedy, to owe one's health to one's disease! Tis not +that our misfortune should perform this office, but the good fortune of +our judgment. I am not to be made to do anything by persecutions and +afflictions, but to curse them: that is, for people who cannot be roused +but by a whip. My reason is much more free in prosperity, and much more +distracted, and put to't to digest pains than pleasures: I see best in a +clear sky; health admonishes me more cheerfully, and to better purpose, +than sickness. I did all that in me lay to reform and regulate myself +from pleasures, at a time when I had health and vigour to enjoy them; +I should be ashamed and envious that the misery and misfortune of my old +age should have credit over my good healthful, sprightly, and vigorous +years, and that men should estimate me, not by what I have been, but by +what I have ceased to be. + +In my opinion, 'tis the happy living, and not (as Antisthenes' said) the +happy dying, in which human felicity consists. I have not made it my +business to make a monstrous addition of a philosopher's tail to the head +and body of a libertine; nor would I have this wretched remainder give +the lie to the pleasant, sound, and long part of my life: I would present +myself uniformly throughout. Were I to live my life over again, I should +live it just as I have lived it; I neither complain of the past, nor do I +fear the future; and if I am not much deceived, I am the same within that +I am without. 'Tis one main obligation I have to my fortune, that the +succession of my bodily estate has been carried on according to the +natural seasons; I have seen the grass, the blossom, and the fruit, and +now see the withering; happily, however, because naturally. I bear the +infirmities I have the better, because they came not till I had reason to +expect them, and because also they make me with greater pleasure remember +that long felicity of my past life. My wisdom may have been just the +same in both ages, but it was more active, and of better grace whilst +young and sprightly, than now it is when broken, peevish, and uneasy. +I repudiate, then, these casual and painful reformations. God must touch +our hearts; our consciences must amend of themselves, by the aid of our +reason, and not by the decay of our appetites; pleasure is, in itself, +neither pale nor discoloured, to be discerned by dim and decayed eyes. + +We ought to love temperance for itself, and because God has commanded +that and chastity; but that which we are reduced to by catarrhs, and for +which I am indebted to the stone, is neither chastity nor temperance; a +man cannot boast that he despises and resists pleasure if he cannot see +it, if he knows not what it is, and cannot discern its graces, its force, +and most alluring beauties; I know both the one and the other, and may +therefore the better say it. But; methinks, our souls in old age are +subject to more troublesome maladies and imperfections than in youth; +I said the same when young and when I was reproached with the want of a +beard; and I say so now that my grey hairs give me some authority. We +call the difficulty of our humours and the disrelish of present things +wisdom; but, in truth, we do not so much forsake vices as we change them, +and in my opinion, for worse. Besides a foolish and feeble pride, an +impertinent prating, froward and insociable humours, superstition, and a +ridiculous desire of riches when we have lost the use of them, I find +there more envy, injustice, and malice. Age imprints more wrinkles in +the mind than it does on the face; and souls are never, or very rarely +seen, that, in growing old, do not smell sour and musty. Man moves all +together, both towards his perfection and decay. In observing the wisdom +of Socrates, and many circumstances of his condemnation, I should dare to +believe that he in some sort himself purposely, by collusion, contributed +to it, seeing that, at the age of seventy years, he might fear to suffer +the lofty motions of his mind to be cramped and his wonted lustre +obscured. What strange metamorphoses do I see age every day make in many +of my acquaintance! 'Tis a potent malady, and that naturally and +imperceptibly steals into us; a vast provision of study and great +precaution are required to evade the imperfections it loads us with, or +at least to weaken their progress. I find that, notwithstanding all my +entrenchments, it gets foot by foot upon me: I make the best resistance I +can, but I do not know to what at last it will reduce me. But fall out +what will, I am content the world may know, when I am fallen, from what I +fell. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +OF THREE COMMERCES + +We must not rivet ourselves so fast to our humours and complexions: our +chiefest sufficiency is to know how to apply ourselves to divers +employments. 'Tis to be, but not to live, to keep a man's self tied and +bound by necessity to one only course; those are the bravest souls that +have in them the most variety and pliancy. Of this here is an honourable +testimony of the elder Cato: + + "Huic versatile ingenium sic pariter ad omnia fuit, + ut natum ad id unum diceres, quodcumque ageret." + + ["His parts were so pliable to all uses, that one would say he had + been born only to that which he was doing."--Livy, xxxix. 49.] + +Had I liberty to set myself forth after my own mode, there is no so +graceful fashion to which I would be so fixed as not to be able to +disengage myself from it; life is an unequal, irregular and multiform +motion. 'Tis not to be a friend to one's self, much less a master 'tis +to be a slave, incessantly to be led by the nose by one's self, and to be +so fixed in one's previous inclinations, that one cannot turn aside nor +writhe one's neck out of the collar. I say this now in this part of my +life, wherein I find I cannot easily disengage myself from the +importunity of my soul, which cannot ordinarily amuse itself but in +things of limited range, nor employ itself otherwise than entirely and +with all its force; upon the lightest subject offered it expands and +stretches it to that degree as therein to employ its utmost power; +wherefore it is that idleness is to me a very painful labour, and very +prejudicial to my health. Most men's minds require foreign matter to +exercise and enliven them; mine has rather need of it to sit still and +repose itself, + + "Vitia otii negotio discutienda sunt," + + ["The vices of sloth are to be shaken off by business." + --Seneca, Ep. 56.] + +for its chiefest and hardest study is to study itself. Books are to it +a sort of employment that debauch it from its study. Upon the first +thoughts that possess it, it begins to bustle and make trial of its +vigour in all directions, exercises its power of handling, now making +trial of force, now fortifying, moderating, and ranging itself by the way +of grace and order. It has of its own wherewith to rouse its faculties: +nature has given to it, as to all others, matter enough of its own to +make advantage of, and subjects proper enough where it may either invent +or judge. + +Meditation is a powerful and full study to such as can effectually taste +and employ themselves; I had rather fashion my soul than furnish it. +There is no employment, either more weak or more strong, than that of +entertaining a man's own thoughts, according as the soul is; the greatest +men make it their whole business, + + "Quibus vivere est cogitare;" + + ["To whom to live is to think."--Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., v. 28.] + +nature has therefore favoured it with this privilege, that there is +nothing we can do so long, nor any action to which we more frequently and +with greater facility addict ourselves. 'Tis the business of the gods, +says Aristotle,' and from which both their beatitude and ours proceed. + +The principal use of reading to me is, that by various objects it rouses +my reason, and employs my judgment, not my memory. Few conversations +detain me without force and effort; it is true that beauty and elegance +of speech take as much or more with me than the weight and depth of the +subject; and forasmuch as I am apt to be sleepy in all other +communication, and give but the rind of my attention, it often falls out +that in such poor and pitiful discourses, mere chatter, I either make +drowsy, unmeaning answers, unbecoming a child, and ridiculous, or more +foolishly and rudely still, maintain an obstinate silence. I have a +pensive way that withdraws me into myself, and, with that, a heavy and +childish ignorance of many very ordinary things, by which two qualities I +have earned this, that men may truly relate five or six as ridiculous +tales of me as of any other man whatever. + +But, to proceed in my subject, this difficult complexion of mine renders +me very nice in my conversation with men, whom I must cull and pick out +for my purpose; and unfits me for common society. We live and negotiate +with the people; if their conversation be troublesome to us, if we +disdain to apply ourselves to mean and vulgar souls (and the mean and +vulgar are often as regular as those of the finest thread, and all wisdom +is folly that does not accommodate itself to the common ignorance), +we must no more intermeddle either with other men's affairs or our own; +for business, both public and private, has to do with these people. The +least forced and most natural motions of the soul are the most beautiful; +the best employments, those that are least strained. My God! how good +an office does wisdom to those whose desires it limits to their power! +that is the most useful knowledge: "according to what a man can," was the +favourite sentence and motto of Socrates. A motto of great solidity. + +We must moderate and adapt our desires to the nearest and easiest to be +acquired things. Is it not a foolish humour of mine to separate myself +from a thousand to whom my fortune has conjoined me, and without whom I +cannot live, and cleave to one or two who are out of my intercourse; or +rather a fantastic desire of a thing I cannot obtain? My gentle and easy +manners, enemies of all sourness and harshness, may easily enough have +secured me from envy and animosities; to be beloved, I do not say, but +never any man gave less occasion of being hated; but the coldness of my +conversation has, reasonably enough, deprived me of the goodwill of many, +who are to be excused if they interpret it in another and worse sense. + +I am very capable of contracting and maintaining rare and exquisite +friendships; for by reason that I so greedily seize upon such +acquaintance as fit my liking, I throw myself with such violence upon +them that I hardly fail to stick, and to make an impression where I hit; +as I have often made happy proof. In ordinary friendships I am somewhat +cold and shy, for my motion is not natural, if not with full sail: +besides which, my fortune having in my youth given me a relish for one +sole and perfect friendship, has, in truth, created in me a kind of +distaste to others, and too much imprinted in my fancy that it is a beast +of company, as the ancient said, but not of the herd.--[Plutarch, On the +Plurality of Friends, c. 2.]--And also I have a natural difficulty of +communicating myself by halves, with the modifications and the servile +and jealous prudence required in the conversation of numerous and +imperfect friendships: and we are principally enjoined to these in this +age of ours, when we cannot talk of the world but either with danger or +falsehood. + +Yet do I very well discern that he who has the conveniences (I mean the +essential conveniences) of life for his end, as I have, ought to fly +these difficulties and delicacy of humour, as much as the plague. I +should commend a soul of several stages, that knows both how to stretch +and to slacken itself; that finds itself at ease in all conditions +whither fortune leads it; that can discourse with a neighbour, of his +building, his hunting, his quarrels; that can chat with a carpenter or a +gardener with pleasure. I envy those who can render themselves familiar +with the meanest of their followers, and talk with them in their own way; +and dislike the advice of Plato, that men should always speak in a +magisterial tone to their servants, whether men or women, without being +sometimes facetious and familiar; for besides the reasons I have given, +'tis inhuman and unjust to set so great a value upon this pitiful +prerogative of fortune, and the polities wherein less disparity is +permitted betwixt masters and servants seem to me the most equitable. +Others study how to raise and elevate their minds; I, how to humble mine +and to bring it low; 'tis only vicious in extension: + + "Narras et genus AEaci, + Et pugnata sacro bella sub Ilio + Quo Chium pretio cadum + Mercemur, quis aquam temperet ignibus, + Quo praebente domum, et quota, + Pelignis caream frigoribus, taces." + + ["You tell us long stories about the race of AEacus, and the battles + fought under sacred Ilium; but what to give for a cask of Chian + wine, who shall prepare the warm bath, and in whose house, and when + I may escape from the Pelignian cold, you do not tell us." + --Horace, Od., iii. 19, 3.] + +Thus, as the Lacedaemonian valour stood in need of moderation, and of the +sweet and harmonious sound of flutes to soften it in battle, lest they +should precipitate themselves into temerity and fury, whereas all other +nations commonly make use of harsh and shrill sounds, and of loud and +imperious cries, to incite and heat the soldier's courage to the last +degree; so, methinks, contrary to the usual method, in the practice of +our minds, we have for the most part more need of lead than of wings; of +temperance and composedness than of ardour and agitation. But, above all +things, 'tis in my opinion egregiously to play the fool, to put on the +grave airs of a man of lofty mind amongst those who are nothing of the +sort: ever to speak in print (by the book), + + "Favellare in puma di forchetta." + + ["To talk with the point of a fork," (affectedly)] + +You must let yourself down to those with whom you converse; and sometimes +affect ignorance: lay aside power and subtilty in common conversation; to +preserve decorum and order 'tis enough-nay, crawl on the earth, if they +so desire it. + +The learned often stumble at this stone; they will always be parading +their pedantic science, and strew their books everywhere; they have, in +these days, so filled the cabinets and ears of the ladies with them, that +if they have lost the substance, they at least retain the words; so as in +all discourse upon all sorts of subjects, how mean and common soever, +they speak and write after a new and learned way, + + "Hoc sermone pavent, hoc iram, gaudia, curas, + Hoc cuncta effundunt animi secreta; quid ultra? + Concumbunt docte;" + + ["In this language do they express their fears, their anger, their + joys, their cares; in this pour out all their secrets; what more? + they lie with their lovers learnedly."--Juvenal, vi. 189.] + +and quote Plato and Aquinas in things the first man they meet could +determine as well; the learning that cannot penetrate their souls hangs +still upon the tongue. If people of quality will be persuaded by me, they +shall content themselves with setting out their proper and natural +treasures; they conceal and cover their beauties under others that are +none of theirs: 'tis a great folly to put out their own light and shine +by a borrowed lustre: they are interred and buried under 'de capsula +totae"--[Painted and perfumed from head to foot." (Or:) "as if they were +things carefully deposited in a band-box."--Seneca, Ep. 115]--It is +because they do not sufficiently know themselves or do themselves +justice: the world has nothing fairer than they; 'tis for them to honour +the arts, and to paint painting. What need have they of anything but to +live beloved and honoured? They have and know but too much for this: +they need do no more but rouse and heat a little the faculties they have +of their own. When I see them tampering with rhetoric, law, logic, and +other drugs, so improper and unnecessary for their business, I begin to +suspect that the men who inspire them with such fancies, do it that they +may govern them upon that account; for what other excuse can I contrive? +It is enough that they can, without our instruction, compose the graces +of their eyes to gaiety, severity, sweetness, and season a denial with +asperity, suspense, or favour: they need not another to interpret what +we speak for their service; with this knowledge, they command with a +switch, and rule both the tutors and the schools. But if, nevertheless, +it angers them to give place to us in anything whatever, and will, out of +curiosity, have their share in books, poetry is a diversion proper for +them; 'tis a wanton, subtle, dissembling, and prating art, all pleasure +and all show, like themselves. They may also abstract several +commodities from history. In philosophy, out of the moral part of it, +they may select such instructions as will teach them to judge of our +humours and conditions, to defend themselves from our treacheries, to +regulate the ardour of their own desires, to manage their liberty, to +lengthen the pleasures of life, and gently to bear the inconstancy of a +lover, the rudeness of a husband; and the importunity of years, wrinkles, +and the like. This is the utmost of what I would allow them in the +sciences. + +There are some particular natures that are private and retired: my +natural way is proper for communication, and apt to lay me open; I am all +without and in sight, born for society and friendship. The solitude that +I love myself and recommend to others, is chiefly no other than to +withdraw my thoughts and affections into myself; to restrain and check, +not my steps, but my own cares and desires, resigning all foreign +solicitude, and mortally avoiding servitude and obligation, and not so +much the crowd of men as the crowd of business. Local solitude, to say +the truth, rather gives me more room and sets me more at large; I more +readily throw myself upon affairs of state and the world when I am alone. +At the Louvre and in the bustle of the court, I fold myself within my own +skin; the crowd thrusts me upon myself; and I never entertain myself so +wantonly, with so much licence, or so especially, as in places of respect +and ceremonious prudence: our follies do not make me laugh, it is our +wisdom which does. I am naturally no enemy to a court, life; I have +therein passed a part of my own, and am of a humour cheerfully to +frequent great company, provided it be by intervals and at my own time: +but this softness of judgment whereof I speak ties me perforce to +solitude. Even at home, amidst a numerous family, and in a house +sufficiently frequented, I see people enough, but rarely such with whom I +delight to converse; and I there reserve both for myself and others an +unusual liberty: there is in my house no such thing as ceremony, +ushering, or waiting upon people down to the coach, and such other +troublesome ceremonies as our courtesy enjoins (O the servile and +importunate custom!). Every one there governs himself according to his +own method; let who will speak his thoughts, I sit mute, meditating and +shut up in my closet, without any offence to my guests. + +The men whose society and familiarity I covet are those they call sincere +and able men; and the image of these makes me disrelish the rest. It is, +if rightly taken, the rarest of our forms, and a form that we chiefly owe +to nature. The end of this commerce is simply privacy, frequentation and +conference, the exercise of souls, without other fruit. In our +discourse, all subjects are alike to me; let there be neither weight, nor +depth, 'tis all one: there is yet grace and pertinency; all there is +tinted with a mature and constant judgment, and mixed with goodness, +freedom, gaiety, and friendship. 'Tis not only in talking of the affairs +of kings and state that our wits discover their force and beauty, but +every whit as much in private conferences. I understand my men even by +their silence and smiles; and better discover them, perhaps, at table +than in the council. Hippomachus said, very well, "that he could know +the good wrestlers by only seeing them walk in the street." If learning +please to step into our talk, it shall not be rejected, not magisterial, +imperious, and importunate, as-it commonly is, but suffragan and docile +itself; we there only seek to pass away our time; when we have a mind to +be instructed and preached to, we will go seek this in its throne; please +let it humble itself to us for the nonce; for, useful and profitable as +it is, I imagine that, at need, we may manage well enough without it, and +do our business without its assistance. A well-descended soul, and +practised in the conversation of men, will of herself render herself +sufficiently agreeable; art is nothing but the counterpart and register +of what such souls produce. + +The conversation also of beautiful and honourable women is for me a sweet +commerce: + + "Nam nos quoque oculos eruditos habemus." + + ["For we also have eyes that are versed in the matter." + --Cicero, Paradox, v. 2.] + +If the soul has not therein so much to enjoy, as in the first the bodily +senses, which participate more of this, bring it to a proportion next to, +though, in my opinion, not equal to the other. But 'tis a commerce +wherein a man must stand a little upon his guard, especially those, where +the body can do much, as in me. I there scalded myself in my youth, and +suffered all the torments that poets say befall those who precipitate +themselves into love without order and judgment. It is true that that +whipping has made me wiser since: + + "Quicumque Argolica de classe Capharea fugit, + Semper ab Euboicis vela retorquet aquis." + + ["Whoever of the Grecian fleet has escaped the Capharean rocks, ever + takes care to steer from the Euboean sea."--Ovid, Trist., i. i, 83.] + +'Tis folly to fix all a man's thoughts upon it, and to engage in it with +a furious and indiscreet affection; but, on the other hand, to engage +there without love and without inclination, like comedians, to play a +common part, without putting anything to it of his own but words, is +indeed to provide for his safety, but, withal, after as cowardly a manner +as he who should abandon his honour, profit, or pleasure for fear of +danger. For it is certain that from such a practice, they who set it on +foot can expect no fruit that can please or satisfy a noble soul. A man +must have, in good earnest, desired that which he, in good earnest, +expects to have a pleasure in enjoying; I say, though fortune should +unjustly favour their dissimulation; which often falls out, because there +is none of the sex, let her be as ugly as the devil, who does not think +herself well worthy to be beloved, and who does not prefer herself before +other women, either for her youth, the colour of her hair, or her +graceful motion (for there are no more women universally ugly, than there +are women universally beautiful, and such of the Brahmin virgins as have +nothing else to recommend them, the people being assembled by the common +crier to that effect, come out into the market-place to expose their +matrimonial parts to public view, to try if these at least are not of +temptation sufficient to get them a husband). Consequently, there is not +one who does not easily suffer herself to be overcome by the first vow +that they make to serve her. Now from this common and ordinary treachery +of the men of the present day, that must fall out which we already +experimentally see, either that they rally together, and separate +themselves by themselves to evade us, or else form their discipline by +the example we give them, play their parts of the farce as we do ours, +and give themselves up to the sport, without passion, care, or love; + + "Neque afl'ectui suo, aut alieno, obnoxiae;" + + ["Neither amenable to their own affections, nor those of others." + --Tacitus, Annal., xiii. 45.] + +believing, according to the persuasion of Lysias in Plato, that they may +with more utility and convenience surrender themselves up to us the less +we love them; where it will fall out, as in comedies, that the people +will have as much pleasure or more than the comedians. For my part, +I no more acknowledge a Venus without a Cupid than, a mother without +issue: they are things that mutully lend and owe their essence to one +another. Thus this cheat recoils upon him who is guilty of it; it does +not cost him much, indeed, but he also gets little or nothing by it. +They who have made Venus a goddess have taken notice that her principal +beauty was incorporeal and spiritual; but the Venus whom these people +hunt after is not so much as human, nor indeed brutal; the very beasts +will not accept it so gross and so earthly; we see that imagination and +desire often heat and incite them before the body does; we see in both +the one sex and the other, they have in the herd choice and particular +election in their affections, and that they have amongst themselves a +long commerce of good will. Even those to whom old age denies the +practice of their desire, still tremble, neigh, and twitter for love; we +see them, before the act, full of hope and ardour, and when the body has +played its game, yet please themselves with the sweet remembrance of the +past delight; some that swell with pride after they have performed, and +others who, tired and sated, still by vociferation express a triumphing +joy. He who has nothing to do but only to discharge his body of a +natural necessity, need not trouble others with so curious preparations: +it is not meat for a gross, coarse appetite. + +As one who does not desire that men should think me better than I am, +I will here say this as to the errors of my youth. Not only from the +danger of impairing my health (and yet I could not be so careful but that +I had two light mischances), but moreover upon the account of contempt, +I have seldom given myself up to common and mercenary embraces: I would +heighten the pleasure by the difficulty, by desire, and a certain kind of +glory, and was of Tiberius's mind, who in his amours was as much taken +with modesty and birth as any other quality, and of the courtesan Flora's +humour, who never lent herself to less than a dictator, a consul, or a +censor, and took pleasure in the dignity of her lovers. Doubtless pearls +and gold tissue, titles and train, add something to it. + +As to the rest, I had a great esteem for wit, provided the person was not +exceptionable; for, to confess the truth, if the one or the other of +these two attractions must of necessity be wanting, I should rather have +quitted that of the understanding, that has its use in better things; +but in the subject of love, a subject principally relating to the senses +of seeing and touching, something may be done without the graces of the +mind: without the graces of the body, nothing. Beauty is the true +prerogative of women, and so peculiarly their own, that ours, though +naturally requiring another sort of feature, is never in its lustre but +when youthful and beardless, a sort of confused image of theirs. 'Tis +said that such as serve the Grand Signior upon the account of beauty, who +are an infinite number, are, at the latest, dismissed at two-and-twenty +years of age. Reason, prudence, and the offices of friendship are better +found amongst men, and therefore it is that they govern the affairs of +the world. + +These two engagements are fortuitous, and depending upon others; the one +is troublesome by its rarity, the other withers with age, so that they +could never have been sufficient for the business of my life. That of +books, which is the third, is much more certain, and much more our own. +It yields all other advantages to the two first, but has the constancy +and facility of its service for its own share. It goes side by side with +me in my whole course, and everywhere is assisting me: it comforts me in +old age and solitude; it eases me of a troublesome weight of idleness, +and delivers me at all hours from company that I dislike: it blunts the +point of griefs, if they are not extreme, and have not got an entire +possession of my soul. To divert myself from a troublesome fancy, 'tis +but to run to my books; they presently fix me to them and drive the other +out of my thoughts, and do not mutiny at seeing that I have only recourse +to them for want of other more real, natural, and lively commodities; +they always receive me with the same kindness. He may well go a foot, +they say, who leads his horse in his hand; and our James, King of Naples +and Sicily, who, handsome, young and healthful, caused himself to be +carried about on a barrow, extended upon a pitiful mattress in a poor +robe of grey cloth, and a cap of the same, yet attended withal by a royal +train, litters, led horses of all sorts, gentlemen and officers, did yet +herein represent a tender and unsteady authority: "The sick man has not +to complain who has his cure in his sleeve." In the experience and +practice of this maxim, which is a very true one, consists all the +benefit I reap from books. As a matter of fact, I make no more use of +them, as it were, than those who know them not. I enjoy them as misers +do their money, in knowing that I may enjoy them when I please: my mind +is satisfied with this right of possession. I never travel without +books, either in peace or war; and yet sometimes I pass over several +days, and sometimes months, without looking on them. I will read +by-and-by, say I to myself, or to-morrow, or when I please; and in the +interim, time steals away without any inconvenience. For it is not to be +imagined to what degree I please myself and rest content in this +consideration, that I have them by me to divert myself with them when I +am so disposed, and to call to mind what a refreshment they are to my +life. 'Tis the best viaticum I have yet found out for this human +journey, and I very much pity those men of understanding who are +unprovided of it. I the rather accept of any other sort of diversion, +how light soever, because this can never fail me. + +When at home, I a little more frequent my library, whence I overlook at +once all the concerns of my family. 'Tis situated at the entrance into +my house, and I thence see under me my garden, court, and base-court, and +almost all parts of the building. There I turn over now one book, and +then another, on various subjects, without method or design. One while +I meditate, another I record and dictate, as I walk to and fro, such +whimsies as these I present to you here. 'Tis in the third storey of a +tower, of which the ground-room is my chapel, the second storey a chamber +with a withdrawing-room and closet, where I often lie, to be more +retired; and above is a great wardrobe. This formerly was the most +useless part of the house. I there pass away both most of the days of my +life and most of the hours of those days. In the night I am never there. +There is by the side of it a cabinet handsome enough, with a fireplace +very commodiously contrived, and plenty of light; and were I not more +afraid of the trouble than the expense--the trouble that frights me from +all business--I could very easily adjoin on either side, and on the same +floor, a gallery of an hundred paces long and twelve broad, having found +walls already raised for some other design to the requisite height. +Every place of retirement requires a walk: my thoughts sleep if I sit +still: my fancy does not go by itself, as when my legs move it: and all +those who study without a book are in the same condition. The figure of +my study is round, and there is no more open wall than what is taken up +by my table and my chair, so that the remaining parts of the circle +present me a view of all my books at once, ranged upon five rows of +shelves round about me. It has three noble and free prospects, and is +sixteen paces in diameter. I am not so continually there in winter; for +my house is built upon an eminence, as its name imports, and no part of +it is so much exposed to the wind and weather as this, which pleases me +the better, as being of more difficult access and a little remote, as +well upon the account of exercise, as also being there more retired from +the crowd. 'Tis there that I am in my kingdom, and there I endeavour to +make myself an absolute monarch, and to sequester this one corner from +all society, conjugal, filial, and civil; elsewhere I have but verbal +authority only, and of a confused essence. That man, in my opinion, is +very miserable, who has not at home where to be by himself, where to +entertain himself alone, or to conceal himself from others. Ambition +sufficiently plagues her proselytes, by keeping them always in show, like +the statue of a public, square: + + "Magna servitus est magna fortuna." + + ["A great fortune is a great slavery." + --Seneca, De Consol. ad. Polyb., c. 26.] + +They cannot so much as be private in the watercloset. I have thought +nothing so severe in the austerity of life that our monks affect, as what +I have observed in some of their communities; namely, by rule, to have a +perpetual society of place, and numerous persons present in every action +whatever; and think it much more supportable to be always alone than +never to be so. + +If any one shall tell me that it is to undervalue the Muses to make use +of them only for sport and to pass away the time, I shall tell him, that +he does not know so well as I the value of the sport, the pleasure, and +the pastime; I can hardly forbear to add that all other end is +ridiculous. I live from day to day, and, with reverence be it spoken, I +only live for myself; there all my designs terminate. I studied, when +young, for ostentation; since, to make myself a little wiser; and now for +my diversion, but never for any profit. A vain and prodigal humour I had +after this sort of furniture, not only for the supplying my own need, +but, moreover, for ornament and outward show, I have since quite cured +myself of. + +Books have many charming qualities to such as know how to choose them; +but every good has its ill; 'tis a pleasure that is not pure and clean, +no more than others: it has its inconveniences, and great ones too. The +soul indeed is exercised therein; but the body, the care of which I must +withal never neglect, remains in the meantime without action, and grows +heavy and sombre. I know no excess more prejudicial to me, nor more to +be avoided in this my declining age. + +These have been my three favourite and particular occupations; I speak +not of those I owe to the world by civil obligation. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +OF DIVERSION + +I was once employed in consoling a lady truly afflicted. Most of their +mournings are artificial and ceremonious: + + "Uberibus semper lacrymis, semperque paratis, + In statione subatque expectantibus illam, + Quo jubeat manare modo." + + ["A woman has ever a fountain of tears ready to gush up whenever + she requires to make use of them."--Juvenal, vi. 272.] + +A man goes the wrong way to work when he opposes this passion; for +opposition does but irritate and make them more obstinate in sorrow; the +evil is exasperated by discussion. We see, in common discourse, that +what I have indifferently let fall from me, if any one takes it up to +controvert it, I justify it with the best arguments I have; and much more +a thing wherein I had a real interest. And besides, in so doing you +enter roughly upon your operation; whereas the first addresses of a +physician to his patient should be gracious, gay, and pleasing; never did +any ill-looking, morose physician do anything to purpose. On the +contrary, then, a man should, at the first approaches, favour their grief +and express some approbation of their sorrow. By this intelligence you +obtain credit to proceed further, and by a facile and insensible +gradation fall into discourses more solid and proper for their cure. +I, whose aim it was principally to gull the company who had their eyes +fixed upon me, took it into my head only to palliate the disease. And +indeed I have found by experience that I have an unlucky hand in +persuading. My arguments are either too sharp and dry, or pressed too +roughly, or not home enough. After I had some time applied myself to her +grief, I did not attempt to cure her by strong and lively reasons, either +because I had them not at hand, or because I thought to do my business +better another way; neither did I make choice of any of those methods of +consolation which philosophy prescribes: that what we complain of is no +evil, according to Cleanthes; that it is a light evil, according to the +Peripatetics; that to bemoan one's self is an action neither commendable +nor just, according to Chrysippus; nor this of Epicurus, more suitable to +my way, of shifting the thoughts from afflicting things to those that are +pleasing; nor making a bundle of all these together, to make use of upon +occasion, according to Cicero; but, gently bending my discourse, and by +little and little digressing, sometimes to subjects nearer, and sometimes +more remote from the purpose, according as she was more intent on what I +said, I imperceptibly led her from that sorrowful thought, and kept her +calm and in good-humour whilst I continued there. I herein made use of +diversion. They who succeeded me in the same service did not, for all +that, find any amendment in her, for I had not gone to the root. + +I, peradventure, may elsewhere have glanced upon some sort of public +diversions; and the practice of military ones, which Pericles made use of +in the Peloponnesian war, and a thousand others in other places, to +withdraw the adverse forces from their own countries, is too frequent in +history. It was an ingenious evasion whereby Monseigneur d'Hempricourt +saved both himself and others in the city of Liege, into which the Duke +of Burgundy, who kept it besieged, had made him enter to execute the +articles of their promised surrender; the people, being assembled by +night to consider of it, began to mutiny against the agreement, and +several of them resolved to fall upon the commissioners, whom they had in +their power; he, feeling the gusts of this first popular storm, who were +coming to rush into his lodgings, suddenly sent out to them two of the +inhabitants of the city (of whom he had some with him) with new and +milder terms to be proposed in their council, which he had then and there +contrived for his need: These two diverted the first tempest, carrying +back the enraged rabble to the town-hall to hear and consider of what +they had to say. The deliberation was short; a second storm arose as +violent as the other, whereupon he despatched four new mediators of the +same quality to meet them, protesting that he had now better conditions +to present them with, and such as would give them absolute satisfaction, +by which means the tumult was once more appeased, and the people again +turned back to the conclave. In fine, by this dispensation of +amusements, one after another, diverting their fury and dissipating it in +frivolous consultations, he laid it at last asleep till the day appeared, +which was his principal end. + +This other story that follows is also of the same category. Atalanta, a +virgin of excelling beauty and of wonderful disposition of body, to +disengage herself from the crowd of a thousand suitors who sought her in +marriage, made this proposition, that she would accept of him for her +husband who should equal her in running, upon condition that they who +failed should lose their lives. There were enough who thought the prize +very well worth the hazard, and who suffered the cruel penalty of the +contract. Hippomenes, about to make trial after the rest, made his +address to the goddess of love, imploring her assistance; and she, +granting his request, gave him three golden apples, and instructed him +how to use them. The race beginning, as Hippomenes perceived his +mistress to press hard up to him; he, as it were by chance, let fall one +of these apples; the maid, taken with the beauty of it, failed not to +step out of her way to pick it up: + + "Obstupuit Virgo, nitidique cupidine pomi + Declinat cursus, aurumque volubile tollit." + + ["The virgin, astonished and attracted by the glittering apple, + stops her career, and seizes the rolling gold." + --Ovid, Metam., x. 666.] + +He did the same, when he saw his time, by the second and the third, till +by so diverting her, and making her lose so much ground, he won the race. +When physicians cannot stop a catarrh, they divert and turn it into some +other less dangerous part. And I find also that this is the most +ordinary practice for the diseases of the mind: + + "Abducendus etiam nonnunquam animus est ad alia studia, + sollicitudines, curas, negotia: loci denique mutatione, + tanquam aegroti non convalescentes, saepe curandus est." + + ["The mind is sometimes to be diverted to other studies, thoughts, + cares, business: in fine, by change of place, as where sick persons + do not become convalescent."--Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., iv. 35.] + +'Tis to little effect directly to jostle a man's infirmities; we neither +make him sustain nor repel the attack; we only make him decline and evade +it. + +This other lesson is too high and too difficult: 'tis for men of the +first form of knowledge purely to insist upon the thing, to consider and +judge it; it appertains to one sole Socrates to meet death with an +ordinary countenance, to grow acquainted with it, and to sport with it; +he seeks no consolation out of the thing itself; dying appears to him a +natural and indifferent accident; 'tis there that he fixes his sight and +resolution, without looking elsewhere. The disciples of Hegesias, who +starved themselves to death, animated thereunto by his fine lectures, and +in such numbers that King Ptolemy ordered he should be forbidden to +entertain his followers with such homicidal doctrines, did not consider +death in itself, neither did they judge of it; it was not there they +fixed their thoughts; they ran towards and aimed at a new being. + +The poor wretches whom we see brought upon the scaffold, full of ardent +devotion, and therein, as much as in them lies, employing all their +senses, their ears in hearing the instructions given them, their eyes and +hands lifted up towards heaven, their voices in loud prayers, with a +vehement and continual emotion, do doubtless things very commendable and +proper for such a necessity: we ought to commend them for their devotion, +but not properly for their constancy; they shun the encounter, they +divert their thoughts from the consideration of death, as children are +amused with some toy or other when the surgeon is going to give them a +prick with his lancet. I have seen some, who, casting their eyes upon +the dreadful instruments of death round about, have fainted, and +furiously turned their thoughts another way; such as are to pass a +formidable precipice are advised either to shut their eyes or to look +another way. + +Subrius Flavius, being by Nero's command to be put to death, and by the +hand of Niger, both of them great captains, when they lead him to the +place appointed for his execution, seeing the grave that Niger had caused +to be hollowed to put him into ill-made: "Neither is this," said he, +turning to the soldiers who guarded him, "according to military +discipline." And to Niger, who exhorted him to keep his head firm: "Do +but thou strike as firmly," said he. And he very well foresaw what would +follow when he said so; for Niger's arm so trembled that he had several +blows at his head before he could cut it off. This man seems to have had +his thoughts rightly fixed upon the subject. + +He who dies in a battle, with his sword in his hand, does not then think +of death; he feels or considers it not; the ardour of the fight diverts +his thought another way. A worthy man of my acquaintance, falling as he +was fighting a duel, and feeling himself nailed to the earth by nine or +ten thrusts of his enemy, every one present called to him to think of his +conscience; but he has since told me, that though he very well heard what +they said, it nothing moved him, and that he never thought of anything +but how to disengage and revenge himself. He afterwards killed his man +in that very duel. He who brought to L. Silanus the sentence of death, +did him a very great kindness, in that, having received his answer, that +he was well prepared to die, but not by base hands, he ran upon him with +his soldiers to force him, and as he, unarmed as he was, obstinately +defended himself with his fists and feet, he made him lose his life in +the contest, by that means dissipating and diverting in a sudden and +furious rage the painful apprehension of the lingering death to which he +was designed. + +We always think of something else; either the hope of a better life +comforts and supports us, or the hope of our children's worth, or the +future glory of our name, or the leaving behind the evils of this life, +or the vengeance that threatens those who are the causes of our death, +administers consolation to us: + + "Spero equidem mediis, si quid pia numina possunt, + Supplicia hausurum scopulis, et nomine Dido + Saepe vocaturum . . . . + Audiam; et haec Manes veniet mihi fama sub imos." + + ["I hope, however, if the pious gods have any power, thou wilt feel + thy punishment amid the rocks, and will call on the name of Dido; + I shall hear, and this report will come to me below."--AEneid, iv. + 382, 387.] + +Xenophon was sacrificing with a crown upon his head when one came to +bring him news of the death of his son Gryllus, slain in the battle of +Mantinea: at the first surprise of the news, he threw his crown to the +ground; but understanding by the sequel of the narrative the manner of a +most brave and valiant death, he took it up and replaced it upon his +head. Epicurus himself, at his death, consoles himself upon the utility +and eternity of his writings: + + "Omnes clari et nobilitati labores fiunt tolerabiles;" + + ["All labours that are illustrious and famous become supportable." + --Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., ii. 26.] + +and the same wound, the same fatigue, is not, says Xenophon, so +intolerable to a general of an army as to a common soldier. Epaminondas +took his death much more cheerfully, having been informed that the +victory remained to him: + + "Haec sunt solatia, haec fomenta summorum dolorum;" + + ["These are sedatives and alleviations to the greatest pains." + --Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., ii. 23.] + +and such like circumstances amuse, divert, and turn our thoughts from the +consideration of the thing in itself. Even the arguments of philosophy +are always edging and glancing on the matter, so as scarce to rub its +crust; the greatest man of the first philosophical school, and +superintendent over all the rest, the great Zeno, forms this syllogism +against death: "No evil is honourable; but death is honourable; therefore +death is no evil"; against drunkenness this: "No one commits his secrets +to a drunkard; but every one commits his secrets to a wise man: therefore +a wise man is no drunkard." Is this to hit the white? I love to see +that these great and leading souls cannot rid themselves of our company: +perfect men as they are, they are yet simply men. + +Revenge is a sweet passion, of great and natural impression; I discern it +well enough, though I have no manner of experience of it. From this not +long ago to divert a young prince, I did not tell him that he must, to +him that had struck him upon the one cheek, turn the other, upon account +of charity; nor go about to represent to him the tragical events that +poetry attributes to this passion. I left that behind; and I busied +myself to make him relish the beauty of a contrary image: and, by +representing to him what honour, esteem, and goodwill he would acquire by +clemency and good nature, diverted him to ambition. Thus a man is to +deal in such cases. + +If your passion of love be too violent, disperse it, say they, and they +say true; for I have often tried it with advantage: break it into several +desires, of which let one be regent, if you will, over the rest; but, +lest it should tyrannise and domineer over you, weaken and protract, by +dividing and diverting it: + + "Cum morosa vago singultiet inguine vena," + + ["When you are tormented with fierce desire, satisfy it with the + first person that presents herself."--Persius, Sat., vi. 73.] + + "Conjicito humorem collectum in corpora quaeque," + + [Lucretius, vi. 1062, to the like effect.] + +and provide for it in time, lest it prove troublesome to deal with, when +it has once seized you: + + "Si non prima novis conturbes vulnera plagis, + Volgivagaque vagus venere ante recentia cures." + + ["Unless you cure old wounds by new."-Lucretius, iv. 1064.] + +I was once wounded with a vehement displeasure, and withal, more just +than vehement; I might peradventure have lost myself in it, if I had +merely trusted to my own strength. Having need of a powerful diversion +to disengage me, by art and study I became amorous, wherein I was +assisted by my youth: love relieved and rescued me from the evil wherein +friendship had engaged me. 'Tis in everything else the same; a violent +imagination hath seized me: I find it a nearer way to change than to +subdue it: I depute, if not one contrary, yet another at least, in its +place. Variation ever relieves, dissolves, and dissipates. + +If I am not able to contend with it, I escape from it; and in avoiding +it, slip out of the way, and make, my doubles; shifting place, business, +and company, I secure myself in the crowd of other thoughts and fancies, +where it loses my trace, and I escape. + +After the same manner does nature proceed, by the benefit of inconstancy; +for time, which she has given us for the sovereign physician of our +passions, chiefly works by this, that supplying our imaginations with +other and new affairs, it loosens and dissolves the first apprehension, +how strong soever. A wise man little less sees his friend dying at the +end of five-and-twenty years than on the first year; and according to +Epicurus, no less at all; for he did not attribute any alleviation of +afflictions, either to their foresight or their antiquity; but so many +other thoughts traverse this, that it languishes and tires at last. + +Alcibiades, to divert the inclination of common rumours, cut off the ears +and tail of his beautiful dog, and turned him out into the public place, +to the end that, giving the people this occasion to prate, they might let +his other actions alone. I have also seen, for this same end of +diverting the opinions and conjectures of the people and to stop their +mouths, some women conceal their real affections by those that were only +counterfeit; but I have also seen some of them, who in counterfeiting +have suffered themselves to be caught indeed, and who have quitted the +true and original affection for the feigned: and so have learned that +they who find their affections well placed are fools to consent to this +disguise: the public and favourable reception being only reserved for +this pretended lover, one may conclude him a fellow of very little +address and less wit, if he does not in the end put himself into your +place, and you into his; this is precisely to cut out and make up a shoe +for another to draw on. + +A little thing will turn and divert us, because a little thing holds us. +We do not much consider subjects in gross and singly; they are little and +superficial circumstances, or images that touch us, and the outward +useless rinds that peel off from the subjects themselves: + + "Folliculos ut nunc teretes aestate cicadae + Linquunt." + + ["As husks we find grasshoppers leave behind them in summer." + --Lucretius, v. 801.] + +Even Plutarch himself laments his daughter for the little apish tricks of +her infancy.--[Consolation to his Wife on the Death of their Daughter, +c. I.]--The remembrance of a farewell, of the particular grace of an +action, of a last recommendation, afflict us. The sight of Caesar's robe +troubled all Rome, which was more than his death had done. Even the +sound of names ringing in our ears, as "my poor master,"--"my faithful +friend,"--"alas, my dear father," or, "my sweet daughter," afflict us. +When these repetitions annoy me, and that I examine it a little nearer, +I find 'tis no other but a grammatical and word complaint; I am only +wounded with the word and tone, as the exclamations of preachers very +often work more upon their auditory than their reasons, and as the +pitiful eyes of a beast killed for our service; without my weighing or +penetrating meanwhile into the true and solid essence of my subject: + + "His se stimulis dolor ipse lacessit." + + ["With these incitements grief provokes itself." + --Lucretius, ii. 42.] + +These are the foundations of our mourning. + +The obstinacy of my stone to all remedies especially those in my bladder, +has sometimes thrown me into so long suppressions of urine for three or +four days together, and so near death, that it had been folly to have +hoped to evade it, and it was much rather to have been desired, +considering the miseries I endure in those cruel fits. Oh, that good +emperor, who caused criminals to be tied that they might die for want of +urination, was a great master in the hangman's' science! Finding myself +in this condition, I considered by how many light causes and objects +imagination nourished in me the regret of life; of what atoms the weight +and difficulty of this dislodging was composed in my soul; to how many +idle and frivolous thoughts we give way in so great an affair; a dog, a +horse, a book, a glass, and what not, were considered in my loss; to +others their ambitious hopes, their money, their knowledge, not less +foolish considerations in my opinion than mine. I look upon death +carelessly when I look upon it universally as the end of life. I insult +over it in gross, but in detail it domineers over me: the tears of a +footman, the disposing of my clothes, the touch of a friendly hand, a +common consolation, discourages and softens me. So do the complaints in +tragedies agitate our souls with grief; and the regrets of Dido and +Ariadne, impassionate even those who believe them not in Virgil and +Catullus. 'Tis a symptom of an obstinate and obdurate nature to be +sensible of no emotion, as 'tis reported for a miracle of Polemon; but +then he did not so much as alter his countenance at the biting of a mad +dog that tore away the calf of his leg; and no wisdom proceeds so far as +to conceive so vivid and entire a cause of sorrow, by judgment that it +does not suffer increase by its presence, when the eyes and ears have +their share; parts that are not to be moved but by vain accidents. + +Is it reason that even the arts themselves should make an advantage of +our natural stupidity and weakness? An orator, says rhetoric in the +farce of his pleading, shall be moved with the sound of his own voice and +feigned emotions, and suffer himself to be imposed upon by the passion he +represents; he will imprint in himself a true and real grief, by means of +the part he plays, to transmit it to the judges, who are yet less +concerned than he: as they do who are hired at funerals to assist in the +ceremony of sorrow, who sell their tears and mourning by weight and +measure; for although they act in a borrowed form, nevertheless, by +habituating and settling their countenances to the occasion, 'tis most +certain they often are really affected with an actual sorrow. I was one, +amongst several others of his friends, who conveyed the body of Monsieur +de Grammont to Spissons from the siege of La Fere, where he was slain; +I observed that in all places we passed through we filled the people we +met with lamentations and tears by the mere solemn pomp of our convoy, +for the name of the defunct was not there so much as known. Quintilian +reports as to have seen comedians so deeply engaged in a mourning part, +that they still wept in the retiring room, and who, having taken upon +them to stir up passion in another, have themselves espoused it to that +degree as to find themselves infected with it, not only to tears, but, +moreover, with pallor and the comportment of men really overwhelmed with +grief. + +In a country near our mountains the women play Priest Martin, for as they +augment the regret of the deceased husband by the remembrance of the good +and agreeable qualities he possessed, they also at the same time make a +register of and publish his imperfections; as if of themselves to enter +into some composition, and divert themselves from compassion to disdain. +Yet with much better grace than we, who, when we lose an acquaintance, +strive to give him new and false praises, and to make him quite another +thing when we have lost sight of him than he appeared to us when we did +see him; as if regret were an instructive thing, or as if tears, by +washing our understandings, cleared them. For my part, I henceforth +renounce all favourable testimonies men would give of me, not because I +shall be worthy of them, but because I shall be dead. + +Whoever shall ask a man, "What interest have you in this siege?" +--"The interest of example," he will say, "and of the common obedience to +my prince: I pretend to no profit by it; and for glory, I know how small +a part can affect a private man such as I: I have here neither passion +nor quarrel." And yet you shall see him the next day quite another man, +chafing and red with fury, ranged in battle for the assault; 'tis the +glittering of so much steel, the fire and noise of our cannon and drums, +that have infused this new rigidity and fury into his veins. A frivolous +cause, you will say. How a cause? There needs none to agitate the mind; +a mere whimsy without body and without subject will rule and agitate it. +Let me thing of building castles in Spain, my imagination suggests to me +conveniences and pleasures with which my soul is really tickled and +pleased. How often do we torment our mind with anger or sorrow by such +shadows, and engage ourselves in fantastic passions that impair both soul +and body? What astonished, fleeting, confused grimaces does this raving +put our faces into! what sallies and agitations both of members and +voices does it inspire us with! Does it not seem that this individual +man has false visions amid the crowd of others with whom he has to do, +or that he is possessed with some internal demon that persecutes him? +Inquire of yourself where is the object of this mutation? is there +anything but us in nature which inanity sustains, over which it has +power? Cambyses, from having dreamt that his brother should be one day +king of Persia, put him to death: a beloved brother, and one in whom he +had always confided. Aristodemus, king of the Messenians, killed himself +out of a fancy of ill omen, from I know not what howling of his dogs; +and King Midas did as much upon the account of some foolish dream he had +dreamed. 'Tis to prize life at its just value, to abandon it for a +dream. And yet hear the soul triumph over the miseries and weakness of +the body, and that it is exposed to all attacks and alterations; truly, +it has reason so to speak! + + "O prima infelix finger ti terra Prometheo! + Ille parum cauti pectoris egit opus + Corpora disponens, mentem non vidit in arte; + Recta animi primum debuit esse via." + + ["O wretched clay, first formed by Prometheus. In his attempt, + what little wisdom did he shew! In framing bodies, he did not + apply his art to form the mind, which should have been his first + care."--Propertius, iii. 5, 7.] + + + + + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + A little thing will turn and divert us + Abominate that incidental repentance which old age brings + Age imprints more wrinkles in the mind than it does on the face + Always be parading their pedantic science + Am as jealous of my repose as of my authority + Anger and hatred are beyond the duty of justice + Beast of company, as the ancient said, but not of the herd + Books go side by side with me in my whole course + Books have many charming qualities to such as know how to choose + But ill proves the honour and beauty of an action by its utility + Childish ignorance of many very ordinary things + Common consolation, discourages and softens me + Consoles himself upon the utility and eternity of his writings + Deceit maintains and supplies most men's employment + Diverting the opinions and conjectures of the people + Dying appears to him a natural and indifferent accident + Every place of retirement requires a walk + Fault will be theirs for having consulted me + Few men have been admired by their own domestics + Follies do not make me laugh, it is our wisdom which does + Folly to put out their own light and shine by a borrowed lustre + For fear of the laws and report of men + Gently to bear the inconstancy of a lover + Give but the rind of my attention + Grief provokes itself + He may employ his passion, who can make no use of his reason + He may well go a foot, they say, who leads his horse in his hand + I do not consider what it is now, but what it was then + I find no quality so easy to counterfeit as devotion + I lay no great stress upon my opinions; or of others + I look upon death carelessly when I look upon it universally + I receive but little advice, I also give but little + I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare + I understand my men even by their silence and smiles + Idleness is to me a very painful labour + Imagne the mighty will not abase themselves so much as to live + In ordinary friendships I am somewhat cold and shy + Leaving nothing unsaid, how home and bitter soever + Library: Tis there that I am in my kingdom + Malice sucks up the greatest part of its own venom + Malicious kind of justice + Miserable kind of remedy, to owe one's health to one's disease! + Miserable, who has not at home where to be by himself + More supportable to be always alone than never to be so. + My fancy does not go by itself, as when my legs move it + My thoughts sleep if I sit still + Nearest to the opinions of those with whom they have to do + No evil is honourable; but death is honourable + No man is free from speaking foolish things + Noise of arms deafened the voice of laws + None of the sex, let her be as ugly as the devil thinks lovable + Obliged to his age for having weaned him from pleasure + Open speaking draws out discoveries, like wine and love + Perfect men as they are, they are yet simply men. + Preachers very often work more upon their auditory than reasons + Public weal requires that men should betray, and lie + Ridiculous desire of riches when we have lost the use of them + Rowers who so advance backward + Season a denial with asperity, suspense, or favour + So that I could have said no worse behind their backs + Socrates: According to what a man can + Studied, when young, for ostentation, now for diversion + Swim in troubled waters without fishing in them + Take a pleasure in being uninterested in other men's affairs + The good opinion of the vulgar is injurious + The sick man has not to complain who has his cure in his sleeve + The virtue of the soul does not consist in flying high + Tis an exact life that maintains itself in due order in private + Tis not the cause, but their interest, that inflames them + Titillation of ill-natured pleasure in seeing others suffer + To be a slave, incessantly to be led by the nose by one's self + Truly he, with a great effort will shortly say a mighty trifle + We do not so much forsake vices as we change them + We much more aptly imagine an artisan upon his close-stool + What more? they lie with their lovers learnedly + What need have they of anything but to live beloved and honoured + Wisdom is folly that does not accommodate itself to the common + You must let yourself down to those with whom you converse + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Essays of Montaigne, Volume 14 +by Michel de Montaigne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ESSAYS OF MONTAIGNE, VOLUME 14 *** + +***** This file should be named 3594.txt or 3594.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/3594/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.08.01*END** +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +ESSAYS OF MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE + +Translated by Charles Cotton + +Edited by William Carew Hazilitt + +1877 + + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME 14. + +I. Of Profit and Honesty. +II. Of Repentance. +III. Of Three Commerces. +IV. Of Diversion. + + + +ESSAYS OF MONTAIGNE + +BOOK THE THIRD + + + +CHAPTER I + +OF PROFIT AND HONESTY + +No man is free from speaking foolish things; but the worst on't is, when +a man labours to play the fool: + + "Nae iste magno conatu magnas nugas dixerit." + + ["Truly he, with a great effort will shortly say a mighty trifle." + ---Terence, Heaut., act iii., s. 4.] + +This does not concern me; mine slip from me with as little care as they +are of little value, and 'tis the better for them. I would presently +part with them for what they are worth, and neither buy nor sell them, +but as they weigh. I speak on paper, as I do to the first person I meet; +and that this is true, observe what follows. + +To whom ought not treachery to be hateful, when Tiberius refused it in a +thing of so great importance to him? He had word sent him from Germany +that if he thought fit, they would rid him of Arminius by poison: this +was the most potent enemy the Romans had, who had defeated them so +ignominiously under Varus, and who alone prevented their aggrandisement +in those parts. + +He returned answer, "that the people of Rome were wont to revenge +themselves of their enemies by open ways, and with their swords in their +hands, and not clandestinely and by fraud": wherein he quitted the +profitable for the honest. You will tell me that he was a braggadocio; I +believe so too: and 'tis no great miracle in men of his profession. But +the acknowledgment of virtue is not less valid in the mouth of him who +hates it, forasmuch as truth forces it from him, and if he will not +inwardly receive it, he at least puts it on for a decoration. + +Our outward and inward structure is full of imperfection; but there is +nothing useless in nature, not even inutility itself; nothing has +insinuated itself into this universe that has not therein some fit and +proper place. Our being is cemented with sickly qualities: ambition, +jealousy, envy, revenge, superstition, and despair have so natural a +possession in us, that its image is discerned in beasts; nay, and +cruelty, so unnatural a vice; for even in the midst of compassion we feel +within, I know not what tart-sweet titillation of ill-natured pleasure in +seeing others suffer; and the children feel it: + + "Suave mari magno, turbantibus aequora ventis, + E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem:" + + [It is sweet, when the winds disturb the waters of the vast sea, to + witness from land the peril of other persons."--Lucretius, ii. I.] + +of the seeds of which qualities, whoever should divest man, would destroy +the fundamental conditions of human life. Likewise, in all governments +there are necessary offices, not only abject, but vicious also. Vices +there help to make up the seam in our piecing, as poisons are useful for +the conservation of health. If they become excusable because they are of +use to us, and that the common necessity covers their true qualities, we +are to resign this part to the strongest and boldest citizens, who +sacrifice their honour and conscience, as others of old sacrificed their +lives, for the good of their country: we, who are weaker, take upon us +parts both that are more easy and less hazardous. The public weal +requires that men should betray, and lie, and massacre; let us leave this +commission to men who are more obedient and more supple. + +In earnest, I have often been troubled to see judges, by fraud and false +hopes of favour or pardon, allure a criminal to confess his fact, and +therein to make use of cozenage and impudence. It would become justice, +and Plato himself, who countenances this manner of proceeding, to furnish +me with other means more suitable to my own liking: this is a malicious +kind of justice, and I look upon it as no less wounded by itself than by +others. I said not long since to some company in discourse, that I +should hardly be drawn to betray my prince for a particular man, who +should be much ashamed to betray any particular man for my prince; and I +do not only hate deceiving myself, but that any one should deceive +through me; I will neither afford matter nor occasion to any such thing. + +In the little I have had to mediate betwixt our princes --[Between the +King of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV., and the Duc de Guise. See De +Thou, De Vita Sua, iii. 9.]-- in the divisions and subdivisions by which +we are at this time torn to pieces, I have been very careful that they +should neither be deceived in me nor deceive others by me. People of +that kind of trading are very reserved, and pretend to be the most +moderate imaginable and nearest to the opinions of those with whom they +have to do; I expose myself in my stiff opinion, and after a method the +most my own; a tender negotiator, a novice, who had rather fail in the +affair than be wanting to myself. And yet it has been hitherto with so +good luck (for fortune has doubtless the best share in it), that few +things have passed from hand to hand with less suspicion or more favour +and privacy. I have a free and open way that easily insinuates itself +and obtains belief with those with whom I am to deal at the first +meeting. Sincerity and pure truth, in what age soever, pass for current; +and besides, the liberty and freedom of a man who treats without any +interest of his own is never hateful or suspected, and he may very well +make use of the answer of Hyperides to the Athenians, who complained of +his blunt way of speaking: "Messieurs, do not consider whether or no I am +free, but whether I am so without a bribe, or without any advantage to my +own affairs." My liberty of speaking has also easily cleared me from all +suspicion of dissembling by its vehemency, leaving nothing unsaid, how +home and bitter soever (so that I could have said no worse behind their +backs), and in that it carried along with it a manifest show of +simplicity and indifference. I pretend to no other fruit by acting than +to act, and add to it no long arguments or propositions; every action +plays its own game, win if it can. + +As to the rest, I am not swayed by any passion, either of love or hatred, +towards the great, nor has my will captivated either by particular injury +or obligation. I look upon our kings with an affection simply loyal and +respectful, neither prompted nor restrained by any private interest, and +I love myself for it. Nor does the general and just cause attract me +otherwise than with moderation, and without heat. I am not subject to +those penetrating and close compacts and engagements. Anger and hatred +are beyond the duty of justice; and are passions only useful to those who +do not keep themselves strictly to their duty by simple reason: + + "Utatur motu animi, qui uti ratione non potest." + + ["He may employ his passion, who can make no use of his reason." + --Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., iv. 25.] + +All legitimate intentions are temperate and equable of themselves; if +otherwise, they degenerate into seditious and unlawful. This is it which +makes me walk everywhere with my head erect, my face and my heart open. +In truth, and I am not afraid to confess it, I should easily, in case of +need, hold up one candle to St. Michael and another to his dragon, like +the old woman; I will follow the right side even to the fire, but +exclusively, if I can. Let Montaigne be overwhelmed in the public ruin +if need be; but if there be no need, I should think myself obliged to +fortune to save me, and I will make use of all the length of line my duty +allows for his preservation. Was it not Atticus who, being of the just +but losing side, preserved himself by his moderation in that universal +shipwreck of the world, amongst so many mutations and diversities? For +private man, as he was, it is more easy; and in such kind of work, I +think a man may justly not be ambitious to offer and insinuate himself. +For a man, indeed, to be wavering and irresolute, to keep his affection +unmoved and without inclination in the troubles of his country and public +divisions, I neither think it handsome nor honest: + + "Ea non media, sed nulla via est, velut eventum + exspectantium, quo fortunae consilia sua applicent." + + ["That is not a middle way, but no way, to await events, by which + they refer their resolutions to fortune."--Livy, xxxii. 21.] + +This may be allowed in our neighbours' affairs; and thus Gelo, the tyrant +of Syracuse, suspended his inclination in the war betwixt the Greeks and +barbarians, keeping a resident ambassador with presents at Delphos, to +watch and see which way fortune would incline, and then take fit occasion +to fall in with the victors. It would be a kind of treason to proceed +after this manner in our own domestic affairs, wherein a man must of +necessity be of the one side or the other; though for a man who has no +office or express command to call him out, to sit still I hold it more +excusable (and yet I do not excuse myself upon these terms) than in +foreign expeditions, to which, however, according to our laws, no man is +pressed against his will. And yet even those who wholly engage +themselves in such a war may behave themselves with such temper and +moderation, that the storm may fly over their heads without doing them +any harm. Had we not reason to hope such an issue in the person of the +late Bishop of Orleans, the Sieur de Morvilliers? + + [An able negotiator, who, though protected by the Guises, and + strongly supporting them, was yet very far from persecuting the + Reformists. He died 1577.] + +And I know, amongst those who behave themselves most bravely in the +present war, some whose manners are so gentle, obliging, and just, that +they will certainly stand firm, whatever event Heaven is preparing for +us. I am of opinion that it properly belongs to kings only to quarrel +with kings; and I laugh at those spirits who, out of lightness of heart, +lend themselves to so disproportioned disputes; for a man has never the +more particular quarrel with a prince, by marching openly and boldly +against him for his own honour and according to his duty; if he does not +love such a person, he does better, he esteems him. And notably the +cause of the laws and of the ancient government of a kingdom, has this +always annexed to it, that even those who, for their own private +interest, invade them, excuse, if they do not honour, the defenders. + +But we are not, as we nowadays do, to call peevishness and inward +discontent, that spring from private interest and passion, duty, nor a +treacherous and malicious conduct, courage; they call their proneness to +mischief and violence zeal; 'tis not the cause, but their interest, that +inflames them; they kindle and begin a war, not because it is just, but +because it is war. + +A man may very well behave himself commodiously and loyally too amongst +those of the adverse party; carry yourself, if not with the same equal +affection (for that is capable of different measure), at least with an +affection moderate, well tempered, and such as shall not so engage you to +one party, that it may demand all you are able to do for that side, +content yourself with a moderate proportion of their, favour and +goodwill; and to swim in troubled waters without fishing in them. + +The other way, of offering a man's self and the utmost service he is able +to do, both to one party and the other, has still less of prudence in it +than conscience. Does not he to whom you betray another, to whom you +were as welcome as to himself, know that you will at another time do as +much for him? He holds you for a villain; and in the meantime hears what +you will say, gathers intelligence from you, and works his own ends out +of your disloyalty; double-dealing men are useful for bringing in, but we +must have a care they carry out as little as is possible. + +I say nothing to one party that I may not, upon occasion, say to the +other, with a little alteration of accent; and report nothing but things +either indifferent or known, or what is of common consequence. I cannot +permit myself, for any consideration, to tell them a lie. What is +intrusted to my secrecy, I religiously conceal; but I take as few trusts +of that nature upon me as I can. The secrets of princes are a +troublesome burthen to such as are not interested in them. I very +willingly bargain that they trust me with little, but confidently rely +upon what I tell them. I have ever known more than I desired. One open +way of speaking introduces another open way of speaking, and draws out +discoveries, like wine and love. Philippides, in my opinion, answered +King Lysimachus very discreetly, who, asking him what of his estate he +should bestow upon him? "What you will," said he, "provided it be none +of your secrets." I see every one is displeased if the bottom of the +affair be concealed from him wherein he is employed, or that there be any +reservation in the thing; for my part, I am content to know no more of +the business than what they would have me employ myself in, nor desire +that my knowledge should exceed or restrict what I have to say. If I +must serve for an instrument of deceit, let 1t be at least with a safe +conscience: I will not be reputed a servant either so affectionate or so +loyal as to be fit to betray any one: he who is unfaithful to himself, is +excusably so to his master. But they are princes who do not accept men +by halves, and despise limited and conditional services: I cannot help +it: I frankly tell them how far I can go; for a slave I should not be, +but to reason, and I can hardly submit even to that. And they also are +to blame to exact from a freeman the same subjection and obligation to +their service that they do from him they have made and bought, or whose +fortune particularly and expressly depends upon theirs. The laws have +delivered me from a great anxiety; they have chosen a side for me, and +given me a master; all other superiority and obligation ought to be +relative to that, and cut, off from all other. Yet this is not to say, +that if my affection should otherwise incline me, my hand should +presently obey it; the will and desire are a law to themselves; but +actions must receive commission from the public appointment. + +All this proceeding of mine is a little dissonant from the ordinary +forms; it would produce no great effects, nor be of any long duration; +innocence itself could not, in this age of ours, either negotiate without +dissimulation, or traffic without lying; and, indeed, public employments +are by no means for my palate: what my profession requires, I perform +after the most private manner that I can. Being young, I was engaged up +to the ears in business, and it succeeded well; but I disengaged myself +in good time. I have often since avoided meddling in it, rarely +accepted, and never asked it; keeping my back still turned to ambition; +but if not like rowers who so advance backward, yet so, at the same time, +that I am less obliged to my resolution than to my good fortune, that I +was not wholly embarked in it. For there are ways less displeasing to my +taste, and more suitable to my ability, by which, if she had formerly +called me to the public service, and my own advancement towards the +world's opinion, I know I should, in spite of all my own arguments to the +contrary, have pursued them. Such as commonly say, in opposition to what +I profess, that what I call freedom, simplicity, and plainness in my +manners, is art and subtlety, and rather prudence than goodness, industry +than nature, good sense than good luck, do me more honour than disgrace: +but, certainly, they make my subtlety too subtle;, and whoever has +followed me close, and pryed narrowly into me, I will give him the +victory, if he does not confess that there is no rule in their school +that could match this natural motion, and maintain an appearance of +liberty and licence, so equal and inflexible, through so many various and +crooked paths, and that all their wit and endeavour could never have led +them through. The way of truth is one and simple; that of particular +profit, and the commodity of affairs a man is entrusted with, is double, +unequal, and casual. I have often seen these counterfeit and artificial +liberties practised, but, for the most part, without success; they relish +of AEsop's ass who, in emulation of the dog, obligingly clapped his two +fore-feet upon his master's shoulders; but as many caresses as the dog +had for such an expression of kindness, twice so many blows with a cudgel +had the poor ass for his compliment: + + "Id maxime quemque decet, quod est cujusque suum maxime." + + ["That best becomes every man which belongs most to him;" + --Cicero, De Offic., i. 31.] + +I will not deprive deceit of its due; that were but ill to understand the +world: I know it has often been of great use, and that it maintains and +supplies most men's employment. There are vices that are lawful, as +there are many actions, either good or excusable, that are not lawful in +themselves. + +The justice which in itself is natural and universal is otherwise and +more nobly ordered than that other justice which is special, national, +and constrained to the ends of government, + + "Veri juris germanaeque justitiae solidam et expressam + effigiem nullam tenemus; umbra et imaginibus utimur;" + + ["We retain no solid and express portraiture of true right and + germane justice; we have only the shadow and image of it." + --Cicero, De Offic., iii. 17.] + +insomuch that the sage Dandamis, hearing the lives of Socrates, +Pythagoras, and Diogenes read, judged them to be great men every way, +excepting that they were too much subjected to the reverence of the laws, +which, to second and authorise, true virtue must abate very much of its +original vigour; many vicious actions are introduced, not only by their +permission, but by their advice: + + "Ex senatus consultis plebisquescitis scelera exercentur." + + ["Crimes are committed by the decrees of the Senate and the + popular assembly."--Seneca, Ep., 95.] + +I follow the common phrase that distinguishes betwixt profitable and +honest things, so as to call some natural actions, that are not only +profitable but necessary, dishonest and foul. + +But let us proceed in our examples of treachery two pretenders to the +kingdom of Thrace --[Rhescuporis and Cotys. Tacitus, Annal., ii. 65]-- +were fallen into dispute about their title; the emperor hindered them +from proceeding to blows: but one of them, under colour of bringing +things to a friendly issue by an interview, having invited his competitor +to an entertainment in his own house, imprisoned and killed him. Justice +required that the Romans should have satisfaction for this offence; but +there was a difficulty in obtaining it by ordinary ways; what, therefore, +they could not do legitimately, without war and without danger, they +resolved to do by treachery; and what they could not honestly do, they +did profitably. For which end, one Pomponius Flaccus was found to be a +fit instrument. This man, by dissembled words and assurances, having +drawn the other into his toils, instead of the honour and favour he had +promised him, sent him bound hand and foot to Rome. Here one traitor +betrayed another, contrary to common custom: for they are full of +mistrust, and 'tis hard to overreach them in their own art: witness the +sad experience we have lately had. --[Montaigne here probably refers to +the feigned reconciliation between Catherine de Medici and Henri, Duc de +Guise, in 1588.] + +Let who will be Pomponius Flaccus, and there are enough who would: for my +part, both my word and my faith are, like all the rest, parts of this +common body: their best effect is the public service; this I take for +presupposed. But should one command me to take charge of the courts of +law and lawsuits, I should make answer, that I understood it not; or the +place of a leader of pioneers, I would say, that I was called to a more +honourable employment; so likewise, he that would employ me to lie, +betray, and forswear myself, though not to assassinate or to poison, for +some notable service, I should say, "If I have robbed or stolen anything +from any man, send me rather to the galleys." For it is permissible in a +man of honour to say, as the Lacedaemonians did, --[Plutarch, Difference +between a Flatterer and a Friend, c. 21.]-- having been defeated by +Antipater, when just upon concluding an agreement: "You may impose as +heavy and ruinous taxes upon us as you please, but to command us to do +shameful and dishonest things, you will lose your time, for it is to no +purpose." Every one ought to make the same vow to himself that the kings +of Egypt made their judges solemnly swear, that they would not do +anything contrary to their consciences, though never so much commanded to +it by themselves. In such commissions there is evident mark of ignominy +and condemnation; and he who gives it at the same time accuses you, and +gives it, if you understand it right, for a burden and a punishment. +As much as the public affairs are bettered by your exploit, so much are +your own the worse, and the better you behave yourself in it, 'tis so +much the worse for yourself; and it will be no new thing, nor, +peradventure, without some colour of justice, if the same person ruin +you who set you on work. + +If treachery can be in any case excusable, it must be only so when it is +practised to chastise and betray treachery. There are examples enough of +treacheries, not only rejected, but chastised and punished by those in +favour of whom they were undertaken. Who is ignorant of Fabricius +sentence against the physician of Pyrrhus? + +But this we also find recorded, that some persons have commanded a thing, +who afterward have severely avenged the execution of it upon him they had +employed, rejecting the reputation of so unbridled an authority, and +disowning so abandoned and base a servitude and obedience. Jaropelk, +Duke of Russia, tampered with a gentleman of Hungary to betray Boleslaus, +king of Poland, either by killing him, or by giving the Russians +opportunity to do him some notable mischief. This worthy went ably to +work: he was more assiduous than before in the service of that king, so +that he obtained the honour to be of his council, and one of the chiefest +in his trust. With these advantages, and taking an opportune occasion of +his master's absence, he betrayed Vislicza, a great and rich city, to the +Russians, which was entirely sacked and burned, and not only all the +inhabitants of both sexes, young and old, put to the sword, but moreover +a great number of neighbouring gentry, whom he had drawn thither to that +end. Jaropelk, his revenge being thus satisfied and his anger appeased, +which was not, indeed, without pretence (for Boleslaus had highly +offended him, and after the same manner), and sated with the fruit of +this treachery, coming to consider the fulness of it, with a sound +judgment and clear from passion, looked upon what had been done with so +much horror and remorse that he caused the eyes to be bored out and the +tongue and shameful parts to be cut off of him who had performed it. + +Antigonus persuaded the Argyraspides to betray Eumenes, their general, +his adversary, into his hands; but after he had caused him, so delivered, +to be slain, he would himself be the commissioner of the divine justice +for the punishment of so detestable a crime, and committed them into the +hands of the governor of the province, with express command, by whatever +means, to destroy and bring them all to an evil end, so that of that +great number of men, not so much as one ever returned again into +Macedonia: the better he had been served, the more wickedly he judged it +to be, and meriting greater punishment. + +The slave who betrayed the place where his master, P. Sulpicius, lay +concealed, was, according to the promise of Sylla's proscription, +manumitted for his pains; but according to the promise of the public +justice, which was free from any such engagement, he was thrown headlong +from the Tarpeian rock. + +Our King Clovis, instead of the arms of gold he had promised them, caused +three of Cararie's servants to be hanged after they had betrayed their +master to him, though he had debauched them to it: he hanged them with +the purse of their reward about their necks; after having satisfied his +second and special faith, he satisfied the general and first. + +Mohammed II. having resolved to rid himself of his brother, out of +jealousy of state, according to the practice of the Ottoman family, he +employed one of his officers in the execution, who, pouring a quantity of +water too fast into him, choked him. This being done, to expiate the +murder, he delivered the murderer into the hands of the mother of him he +had so caused to be put to death, for they were only brothers by the +father's side; she, in his presence, ripped up the murderer's bosom, and +with her own hands rifled his breast for his heart, tore it out, and +threw it to the dogs. And even to the worst people it is the sweetest +thing imaginable, having once gained their end by a vicious action, to +foist, in all security, into it some show of virtue and justice, as by +way of compensation and conscientious correction; to which may be added, +that they look upon the ministers of such horrid crimes as upon men who +reproach them with them, and think by their deaths to erase the memory +and testimony of such proceedings. + +Or if, perhaps, you are rewarded, not to frustrate the public necessity +for that extreme and desperate remedy, he who does it cannot for all +that, if he be not such himself, but look upon you as an accursed and +execrable fellow, and conclude you a greater traitor than he does, +against whom you are so: for he tries the malignity of your disposition +by your own hands, where he cannot possibly be deceived, you having no +object of preceding hatred to move you to such an act; but he employs you +as they do condemned malefactors in executions of justice, an office as +necessary as dishonourable. Besides the baseness of such commissions, +there is, moreover, a prostitution of conscience. Seeing that the +daughter of Sejanus could not be put to death by the law of Rome, because +she was a virgin, she was, to make it lawful, first ravished by the +hangman and then strangled: not only his hand but his soul is slave to +the public convenience. + +When Amurath I., more grievously to punish his subjects who had taken +part in the parricide rebellion of his son, ordained that their nearest +kindred should assist in the execution, I find it very handsome in some +of them to have rather chosen to be unjustly thought guilty of the +parricide of another than to serve justice by a parricide of their own. +And where I have seen, at the taking of some little fort by assault in my +time, some rascals who, to save their own lives, would consent to hang +their friends and companions, I have looked upon them to be of worse +condition than those who were hanged. 'Tis said, that Witold, Prince of +Lithuania, introduced into the nation the practice that the criminal +condemned to death should with his own hand execute the sentence, +thinking it strange that a third person, innocent of the fault, should be +made guilty of homicide. + +A prince, when by some urgent circumstance or some impetuous and +unforeseen accident that very much concerns his state, compelled to +forfeit his word and break his faith, or otherwise forced from his +ordinary duty, ought to attribute this necessity to a lash of the divine +rod: vice it is not, for he has given up his own reason to a more +universal and more powerful reason; but certainly 'tis a misfortune: so +that if any one should ask me what remedy? "None," say I, "if he were +really racked between these two extremes: 'sed videat, ne quoeratur +latebya perjurio', he must do it: but if he did it without regret, if it +did not weigh on him to do it, 'tis a sign his conscience is in a sorry +condition." If there be a person to be found of so tender a conscience +as to think no cure whatever worth so important a remedy, I shall like +him never the worse; he could not more excusably or more decently perish. +We cannot do all we would, so that we must often, as the last anchorage, +commit the protection of our vessels to the simple conduct of heaven. +To what more just necessity does he reserve himself? What is less +possible for him to do than what he cannot do but at the expense of his +faith and honour, things that, perhaps, ought to be dearer to him than +his own safety, or even the safety of his people. Though he should, with +folded arms, only call God to his assistance, has he not reason to hope +that the divine goodness will not refuse the favour of an extraordinary +arm to just and pure hands? These are dangerous examples, rare and +sickly exceptions to our natural rules: we must yield to them, but with +great moderation and circumspection: no private utility is of such +importance that we should upon that account strain our consciences to +such a degree: the public may be, when very manifest and of very great +concern. + +Timoleon made a timely expiation for his strange exploit by the tears he +shed, calling to mind that it was with a fraternal hand that he had slain +the tyrant; and it justly pricked his conscience that he had been +necessitated to purchase the public utility at so great a price as the +violation of his private morality. Even the Senate itself, by his means +delivered from slavery, durst not positively determine of so high a fact, +and divided into two so important and contrary aspects; but the +Syracusans, sending at the same time to the Corinthians to solicit their +protection, and to require of them a captain fit to re-establish their +city in its former dignity and to clear Sicily of several little tyrants +by whom it was oppressed, they deputed Timoleon for that service, with +this cunning declaration; "that according as he should behave himself +well or ill in his employment, their sentence should incline either to +favour the deliverer of his country, or to disfavour the murderer of his +brother." This fantastic conclusion carries along with it some excuse, +by reason of the danger of the example, and the importance of so strange +an action: and they did well to discharge their own judgment of it, and +to refer it to others who were not so much concerned. But Timoleon's +comportment in this expedition soon made his cause more clear, so +worthily and virtuously he demeaned himself upon all occasions; and the +good fortune that accompanied him in the difficulties he had to overcome +in this noble employment, seemed to be strewed in his way by the gods, +favourably conspiring for his justification. + +The end of this matter is excusable, if any can be so; but the profit of +the augmentation of the public revenue, that served the Roman Senate for +a pretence to the foul conclusion I am going to relate, is not sufficient +to warrant any such injustice. + +Certain cities had redeemed themselves and their liberty by money, by the +order and consent of the Senate, out of the hands of L. Sylla: the +business coming again in question, the Senate condemned them to be +taxable as they were before, and that the money they had disbursed for +their redemption should be lost to them. Civil war often produces such +villainous examples; that we punish private men for confiding in us when +we were public ministers: and the self-same magistrate makes another man +pay the penalty of his change that has nothing to do with it; the +pedagogue whips his scholar for his docility; and the guide beats the +blind man whom he leads by the hand; a horrid image of justice. + +There are rules in philosophy that are both false and weak. The example +that is proposed to us for preferring private utility before faith given, +has not weight enough by the circumstances they put to it; robbers have +seized you, and after having made you swear to pay them a certain sum of +money, dismiss you. 'Tis not well done to say, that an honest man can be +quit of his oath without payment, being out of their hands. 'Tis no such +thing: what fear has once made me willing to do, I am obliged to do it +when I am no longer in fear; and though that fear only prevailed with my +tongue without forcing my will, yet am I bound to keep my word. For my +part, when my tongue has sometimes inconsiderately said something that I +did not think, I have made a conscience of disowning it: otherwise, by +degrees, we shall abolish all the right another derives from our promises +and oaths: + + "Quasi vero forti viro vis possit adhiberi." + + ["As though a man of true courage could be compelled." + --Cicero, De Offic., iii. 30.] + +And 'tis only lawful, upon the account of private interest, to excuse +breach of promise, when we have promised something that is unlawful and +wicked in itself; for the right of virtue ought to take place of the +right of any obligation of ours. + +I have formerly placed Epaminondas in the first rank of excellent men, +and do not repent it. How high did he stretch the consideration of his +own particular duty? he who never killed a man whom he had overcome; who, +for the inestimable benefit of restoring the liberty of his country, made +conscience of killing a tyrant or his accomplices without due form of +justice: and who concluded him to be a wicked man, how good a citizen +soever otherwise, who amongst his enemies in battle spared not his friend +and his guest. This was a soul of a rich composition: he married +goodness and humanity, nay, even the tenderest and most delicate in the +whole school of philosophy, to the roughest and most violent human +actions. Was it nature or art that had intenerated that great courage of +his, so full, so obstinate against pain and death and poverty, to such an +extreme degree of sweetness and compassion? Dreadful in arms and blood, +he overran and subdued a nation invincible by all others but by him +alone; and yet in the heat of an encounter, could turn aside from his +friend and guest. Certainly he was fit to command in war who could so +rein himself with the curb of good nature, in the height and heat of his +fury, a fury inflamed and foaming with blood and slaughter. 'Tis a +miracle to be able to mix any image of justice with such violent actions: +and it was only possible for such a steadfastness of mind as that of +Epaminondas therein to mix sweetness and the facility of the gentlest +manners and purest innocence. And whereas one told the Mamertini that +statutes were of no efficacy against armed men; and another told the +tribune of the people that the time of justice and of war were distinct +things; and a third said that the noise of arms deafened the voice of +laws, this man was not precluded from listening to the laws of civility +and pure courtesy. Had he not borrowed from his enemies the custom of +sacrificing to the Muses when he went to war, that they might by their +sweetness and gaiety soften his martial and rigorous fury? Let us not +fear, by the example of so great a master, to believe that there is +something unlawful, even against an enemy, and that the common concern +ought not to require all things of all men, against private interest: + + "Manente memoria, etiam in dissidio publicorum + foederum, privati juris:" + + ["The memory of private right remaining even amid + public dissensions."--Livy, xxv. 18.] + + "Et nulla potentia vires + Praestandi, ne quid peccet amicus, habet;" + + ["No power on earth can sanction treachery against a friend." + --Ovid, De Ponto, i. 7, 37.] + +and that all things are not lawful to an honest man for the service of +his prince, the laws, or the general quarrel: + + "Non enim patria praestat omnibus officiis.... + et ipsi conducit pios habere cives in parentes." + + ["The duty to one's country does not supersede all other duties. + The country itself requires that its citizens should act piously + toward their parents."-- Cicero, De Offic., iii. 23.] + +Tis an instruction proper for the time wherein we live: we need not +harden our courage with these arms of steel; 'tis enough that our +shoulders are inured to them: 'tis enough to dip our pens in ink without +dipping them in blood. If it be grandeur of courage, and the effect of a +rare and singular virtue, to contemn friendship, private obligations, a +man's word and relationship, for the common good and obedience to the +magistrate, 'tis certainly sufficient to excuse us, that 'tis a grandeur +that can have no place in the grandeur of Epaminondas' courage. + +I abominate those mad exhortations of this other discomposed soul, + + "Dum tela micant, non vos pietatis imago + Ulla, nec adversa conspecti fronte parentes + Commoveant; vultus gladio turbate verendos." + + ["While swords glitter, let no idea of piety, nor the face even of a + father presented to you, move you: mutilate with your sword those + venerable features "--Lucan, vii. 320.] + +Let us deprive wicked, bloody, and treacherous natures of such a pretence +of reason: let us set aside this guilty and extravagant justice, and +stick to more human imitations. How great things can time and example +do! In an encounter of the civil war against Cinna, one of Pompey's +soldiers having unawares killed his brother, who was of the contrary +party, he immediately for shame and sorrow killed himself: and some years +after, in another civil war of the same people, a soldier demanded a +reward of his officer for having killed his brother. + +A man but ill proves the honour and beauty of an action by its utility: +and very erroneously concludes that every one is obliged to it, and that +it becomes every one to do it, if it be of utility: + + "Omnia non pariter rerum sunt omnibus apta." + + + ["All things are not equally fit for all men." + --Propertius, iii. 9, 7.] + +Let us take that which is most necessary and profitable for human +society; it will be marriage; and yet the council of the saints find the +contrary much better, excluding from it the most venerable vocation of +man: as we design those horses for stallions of which we have the least +esteem. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +OF REPENTANCE + +Others form man; I only report him: and represent a particular one, ill +fashioned enough, and whom, if I had to model him anew, I should +certainly make something else than what he is but that's past recalling. +Now, though the features of my picture alter and change, 'tis not, +however, unlike: the world eternally turns round; all things therein are +incessantly moving, the earth, the rocks of Caucasus, and the pyramids of +Egypt, both by the public motion and their own. Even constancy itself is +no other but a slower and more languishing motion. I cannot fix my +object; 'tis always tottering and reeling by a natural giddiness; I take +it as it is at the instant I consider it; I do not paint its being, I +paint its passage; not a passing from one age to another, or, as the +people say, from seven to seven years, but from day to day, from minute +to minute, I must accommodate my history to the hour: I may presently +change, not only by fortune, but also by intention. 'Tis a counterpart +of various and changeable accidents, and of irresolute imaginations, and, +as it falls out, sometimes contrary: whether it be that I am then another +self, or that I take subjects by other circumstances and considerations: +so it is that I may peradventure contradict myself, but, as Demades said, +I never contradict the truth. Could my soul once take footing, I would +not essay but resolve: but it is always learning and making trial. + +I propose a life ordinary and without lustre: 'tis all one; all moral +philosophy may as well be applied to a common and private life, as to one +of richer composition: every man carries the entire form of human +condition. Authors communicate themselves to the people by some especial +and extrinsic mark; I, the first of any, by my universal being; as Michel +de Montaigne, not as a grammarian, a poet, or a lawyer. If the world +find fault that I speak too much of myself, I find fault that they do not +so much as think of themselves. But is it reason that, being so +particular in my way of living, I should pretend to recommend myself to +the public knowledge? And is it also reason that I should produce to the +world, where art and handling have so much credit and authority, crude +and simple effects of nature, and of a weak nature to boot? Is it not to +build a wall without stone or brick, or some such thing, to write books +without learning and without art? The fancies of music are carried on by +art; mine by chance. I have this, at least, according to discipline, +that never any man treated of a subject he better understood and knew +than I what I have undertaken, and that in this I am the most +understanding man alive: secondly, that never any man penetrated farther +into his matter, nor better and more distinctly sifted the parts and +sequences of it, nor ever more exactly and fully arrived at the end he +proposed to himself. To perfect it, I need bring nothing but fidelity to +the work; and that is there, and the most pure and sincere that is +anywhere to be found. I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much +as I dare; and I dare a little the more, as I grow older; for, methinks, +custom allows to age more liberty of prating, and more indiscretion of +talking of a man's self. That cannot fall out here, which I often see +elsewhere, that the work and the artificer contradict one another: +"Can a man of such sober conversation have written so foolish a book?" +Or "Do so learned writings proceed from a man of so weak conversation?" +He who talks at a very ordinary rate, and writes rare matter, 'tis to say +that his capacity is borrowed and not his own. A learned man is not +learned in all things: but a sufficient man is sufficient throughout, +even to ignorance itself; here my book and I go hand in hand together. +Elsewhere men may commend or censure the work, without reference to the +workman; here they cannot: who touches the one, touches the other. He +who shall judge of it without knowing him, will more wrong himself than +me; he who does know him, gives me all the satisfaction I desire. I +shall be happy beyond my desert, if I can obtain only thus much from the +public approbation, as to make men of understanding perceive that I was +capable of profiting by knowledge, had I had it; and that I deserved to +have been assisted by a better memory. + +Be pleased here to excuse what I often repeat, that I very rarely repent, +and that my conscience is satisfied with itself, not as the conscience of +an angel, or that of a horse, but as the conscience of a man; always +adding this clause, not one of ceremony, but a true and real submission, +that I speak inquiring and doubting, purely and simply referring myself +to the common and accepted beliefs for the resolution. I do not teach; I +only relate. + +There is no vice that is absolutely a vice which does not offend, and +that a sound judgment does not accuse; for there is in it so manifest a +deformity and inconvenience, that peradventure they are in the right who +say that it is chiefly begotten by stupidity and ignorance: so hard is it +to imagine that a man can know without abhorring it. Malice sucks up the +greatest part of its own venom, and poisons itself. Vice leaves +repentance in the soul, like an ulcer in the flesh, which is always +scratching and lacerating itself: for reason effaces all other grief and +sorrows, but it begets that of repentance, which is so much the more +grievous, by reason it springs within, as the cold and heat of fevers are +more sharp than those that only strike upon the outward skin. I hold for +vices (but every one according to its proportion), not only those which +reason and nature condemn, but those also which the opinion of men, +though false and erroneous, have made such, if authorised by law and +custom. + +There is likewise no virtue which does not rejoice a well-descended +nature: there is a kind of, I know not what, congratulation in well-doing +that gives us an inward satisfaction, and a generous boldness that +accompanies a good conscience: a soul daringly vicious may, peradventure, +arm itself with security, but it cannot supply itself with this +complacency and satisfaction. 'Tis no little satisfaction to feel a +man's self preserved from the contagion of so depraved an age, and to say +to himself: "Whoever could penetrate into my soul would not there find me +guilty either of the affliction or ruin of any one, or of revenge or +envy, or any offence against the public laws, or of innovation or +disturbance, or failure of my word; and though the licence of the time +permits and teaches every one so to do, yet have I not plundered any +Frenchman's goods, or taken his money, and have lived upon what is my +own, in war as well as in peace; neither have I set any man to work +without paying him his hire." These testimonies of a good conscience +please, and this natural rejoicing is very beneficial to us, and the only +reward that we can never fail of. + +To ground the recompense of virtuous actions upon the approbation of +others is too uncertain and unsafe a foundation, especially in so corrupt +and ignorant an age as this, wherein the good opinion of the vulgar is +injurious: upon whom do you rely to show you what is recommendable? God +defend me from being an honest man, according to the descriptions of +honour I daily see every one make of himself: + + "Quae fuerant vitia, mores sunt." + + ["What before had been vices are now manners."--Seneca, Ep., 39.] + +Some of my friends have at times schooled and scolded me with great +sincerity and plainness, either of their own voluntary motion, or by me +entreated to it as to an office, which to a well-composed soul surpasses +not only in utility, but in kindness, all other offices of friendship: I +have always received them with the most open arms, both of courtesy and +acknowledgment; but to say the truth, I have often found so much false +measure, both in their reproaches and praises, that I had not done much +amiss, rather to have done ill, than to have done well according to their +notions. We, who live private lives, not exposed to any other view than +our own, ought chiefly to have settled a pattern within ourselves by +which to try our actions: and according to that, sometimes to encourage +and sometimes to correct ourselves. I have my laws and my judicature to +judge of myself, and apply myself more to these than to any other rules: +I do, indeed, restrain my actions according to others; but extend them +not by any other rule than my own. You yourself only know if you are +cowardly and cruel, loyal and devout: others see you not, and only guess +at you by uncertain conjectures, and do not so much see your nature as +your art; rely not therefore upon their opinions, but stick to your own: + + "Tuo tibi judicio est utendum.... Virtutis et vitiorum grave ipsius + conscientiae pondus est: qua sublata, jacent omnia." + + ["Thou must employ thy own judgment upon thyself; great is the + weight of thy own conscience in the discovery of virtues and vices: + which taken away, all things are lost." + --Cicero, De Nat. Dei, iii. 35; Tusc. Quaes., i. 25.] + +But the saying that repentance immediately follows the sin seems not to +have respect to sin in its high estate, which is lodged in us as in its +own proper habitation. One may disown and retract the vices that +surprise us, and to which we are hurried by passions; but those which by +a long habit are rooted in a strong and vigorous will are not subject to +contradiction. Repentance is no other but a recanting of the will and an +opposition to our fancies, which lead us which way they please. It makes +this person disown his former virtue and continency: + + "Quae mens est hodie, cur eadem non puero fait? + Vel cur his animis incolumes non redeunt genae? + + [ What my mind is, why was it not the same, when I was a boy? or + why do not the cheeks return to these feelings?" + --Horace, Od., v. 10, 7.] + +'Tis an exact life that maintains itself in due order in private. Every +one may juggle his part, and represent an honest man upon the stage: but +within, and in his own bosom, where all may do as they list, where all is +concealed, to be regular, there's the point. The next degree is to be so +in his house, and in his ordinary actions, for which we are accountable +to none, and where there is no study nor artifice. And therefore Bias, +setting forth the excellent state of a private family, says: "of which a +the master is the same within, by his own virtue and temper, that he is +abroad, for fear of the laws and report of men." And it was a worthy +saying of Julius Drusus, to the masons who offered him, for three +thousand crowns, to put his house in such a posture that his neighbours +should no longer have the same inspection into it as before; "I will give +you," said he, " six thousand to make it so that everybody may see into +every room." 'Tis honourably recorded of Agesilaus, that he used in his +journeys always to take up his lodgings in temples, to the end that the +people and the gods themselves might pry into his most private actions. +Such a one has been a miracle to the world, in whom neither his wife nor +servant has ever seen anything so much as remarkable; few men have been +admired by their own domestics; no one was ever a prophet, not merely in +his own house, but in his own country, says the experience of histories: +--[No man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre, said Marshal Catinat]--'tis +the same in things of nought, and in this low example the image of a +greater is to be seen. In my country of Gascony, they look upon it as a +drollery to see me in print; the further off I am read from my own home, +the better I am esteemed. I purchase printers in Guienne; elsewhere they +purchase me. Upon this it is that they lay their foundation who conceal +themselves present and living, to obtain a name when they are dead and +absent. I had rather have a great deal less in hand, and do not expose +myself to the world upon any other account than my present share; when I +leave it I quit the rest. See this functionary whom the people escort in +state, with wonder and applause, to his very door; he puts off the +pageant with his robe, and falls so much the lower by how much he was +higher exalted: in himself within, all is tumult and degraded. And +though all should be regular there, it will require a vivid and well- +chosen judgment to perceive it in these low and private actions; to which +may be added, that order is a dull, sombre virtue. To enter a breach, +conduct an embassy, govern a people, are actions of renown; to reprehend, +laugh, sell, pay, love, hate, and gently and justly converse with a man's +own family and with himself; not to relax, not to give a man's self the +lie, is more rare and hard, and less remarkable. By which means, retired +lives, whatever is said to the contrary, undergo duties of as great or +greater difficulty than the others do; and private men, says Aristotle,' +serve virtue more painfully and highly than those in authority do: +we prepare ourselves for eminent occasions, more out of glory than +conscience. The shortest way to arrive at glory, would be to do that for +conscience which we do for glory: and the virtue of Alexander appears to +me of much less vigour in his great theatre, than that of Socrates in his +mean and obscure employment. I can easily conceive Socrates in the place +of Alexander, but Alexander in that of Socrates, I cannot. Who shall ask +the one what he can do, he will answer, "Subdue the world": and who shall +put the same question to the other, he will say, "Carry on human life +conformably with its natural condition"; a much more general, weighty, +and legitimate science than the other.--[Montaigne added here, "To do for +the world that for which he came into the world," but he afterwards +erased these words from the manuscript.--Naigeon.] + +The virtue of the soul does not consist in flying high, but in walking +orderly; its grandeur does not exercise itself in grandeur, but in +mediocrity. As they who judge and try us within, make no great account +of the lustre of our public actions, and see they are only streaks and +rays of clear water springing from a slimy and muddy bottom so, likewise, +they who judge of us by this gallant outward appearance, in like manner +conclude of our internal constitution; and cannot couple common +faculties, and like their own, with the other faculties that astonish +them, and are so far out of their sight. Therefore it is that we give +such savage forms to demons: and who does not give Tamerlane great +eyebrows, wide nostrils, a dreadful visage, and a prodigious stature, +according to the imagination he has conceived by the report of his name? +Had any one formerly brought me to Erasmus, I should hardly have believed +but that all was adage and apothegm he spoke to his man or his hostess. +We much more aptly imagine an artisan upon his close-stool, or upon his +wife, than a great president venerable by his port and sufficiency: we +fancy that they, from their high tribunals, will not abase themselves so +much as to live. As vicious souls are often incited by some foreign +impulse to do well, so are virtuous souls to do ill; they are therefore +to be judged by their settled state, when they are at home, whenever that +may be; and, at all events, when they are nearer repose, and in their +native station. + +Natural inclinations are much assisted and fortified by education; but +they seldom alter and overcome their institution: a thousand natures of +my time have escaped towards virtue or vice, through a quite contrary +discipline: + + "Sic ubi, desuetae silvis, in carcere clausae + Mansuevere ferx, et vultus posuere minaces, + Atque hominem didicere pati, si torrida parvus + Venit in ora cruor, redeunt rabiesque fororque, + Admonitaeque tument gustato sanguine fauces + Fervet, et a trepido vix abstinet ira magistro;" + + ["So savage beasts, when shut up in cages and grown unaccustomed to + the woods, have become tame, and have laid aside their fierce looks, + and submit to the rule of man; if again a slight taste of blood + comes into their mouths, their rage and fury return, their jaws are + erected by thirst of blood, and their anger scarcely abstains from + their trembling masters."--Lucan, iv. 237.] + +these original qualities are not to be rooted out; they may be covered +and concealed. The Latin tongue is as it were natural to me; I +understand it better than French; but I have not been used to speak it, +nor hardly to write it, these forty years. Unless upon extreme and +sudden emotions which I have fallen into twice or thrice in my life, and +once seeing my father in perfect health fall upon me in a swoon, I have +always uttered from the bottom of my heart my first words in Latin; +nature deafened, and forcibly expressing itself, in spite of so long a +discontinuation; and this example is said of many others. + +They who in my time have attempted to correct the manners of the world by +new opinions, reform seeming vices; but the essential vices they leave as +they were, if indeed they do not augment them, and augmentation is +therein to be feared; we defer all other well doing upon the account of +these external reformations, of less cost and greater show, and thereby +expiate good cheap, for the other natural, consubstantial, and intestine +vices. Look a little into our experience: there is no man, if he listen +to himself, who does not in himself discover a particular and governing +form of his own, that jostles his education, and wrestles with the +tempest of passions that are contrary to it. For my part, I seldom find +myself agitated with surprises; I always find myself in my place, as +heavy and unwieldy bodies do; if I am not at home, I am always near at +hand; my dissipations do not transport me very far; there is nothing +strange or extreme in the case; and yet I have sound and vigorous turns. + +The true condemnation, and which touches the common practice of men, is +that their very retirement itself is full of filth and corruption; the +idea of their reformation composed, their repentance sick and faulty, +very nearly as much as their sin. Some, either from having been linked +to vice by a natural propension or long practice, cannot see its +deformity. Others (of which constitution I am) do indeed feel the weight +of vice, but they counterbalance it with pleasure, or some other +occasion; and suffer and lend themselves to it for a certain price, but +viciously and basely. Yet there might, haply, be imagined so vast a +disproportion of measure, where with justice the pleasure might excuse +the sin, as we say of utility; not only if accidental and out of sin, as +in thefts, but in the very exercise of sin, or in the enjoyment of women, +where the temptation is violent, and, 'tis said, sometimes not to be +overcome. + +Being the other day at Armaignac, on the estate of a kinsman of mine, I +there saw a peasant who was by every one nicknamed the thief. He thus +related the story of his life: that, being born a beggar, and finding +that he should not be able, so as to be clear of indigence, to get his +living by the sweat of his brow, he resolved to turn thief, and by means +of his strength of body had exercised this trade all the time of his +youth in great security; for he ever made his harvest and vintage in +other men's grounds, but a great way off, and in so great quantities, +that it was not to be imagined one man could have carried away so much in +one night upon his shoulders; and, moreover, he was careful equally to +divide and distribute the mischief he did, that the loss was of less +importance to every particular man. He is now grown old, and rich for a +man of his condition, thanks to his trade, which he openly confesses to +every one. And to make his peace with God, he says, that he is daily +ready by good offices to make satisfaction to the successors of those he +has robbed, and if he do not finish (for to do it all at once he is not +able), he will then leave it in charge to his heirs to perform the rest, +proportionably to the wrong he himself only knows he has done to each. +By this description, true or false, this man looks upon theft as a +dishonest action, and hates it, but less than poverty, and simply +repents; but to the extent he has thus recompensed he repents not. This +is not that habit which incorporates us into vice, and conforms even our +understanding itself to it; nor is it that impetuous whirlwind that by +gusts troubles and blinds our souls, and for the time precipitates us, +judgment and all, into the power of vice. + +I customarily do what I do thoroughly and make but one step on't; I have +rarely any movement that hides itself and steals away from my reason, and +that does not proceed in the matter by the consent of all my faculties, +without division or intestine sedition; my judgment is to have all the +blame or all the praise; and the blame it once has, it has always; for +almost from my infancy it has ever been one: the same inclination, the +same turn, the same force; and as to universal opinions, I fixed myself +from my childhood in the place where I resolved to stick. There are some +sins that are impetuous, prompt, and sudden; let us set them aside: but +in these other sins so often repeated, deliberated, and contrived, +whether sins of complexion or sins of profession and vocation, I cannot +conceive that they should have so long been settled in the same +resolution, unless the reason and conscience of him who has them, be +constant to have them; and the repentance he boasts to be inspired with +on a sudden, is very hard for me to imagine or form. I follow not the +opinion of the Pythagorean sect, "that men take up a new soul when they +repair to the images of the gods to receive their oracles," unless he +mean that it must needs be extrinsic, new, and lent for the time; our own +showing so little sign of purification and cleanness, fit for such an +office. + +They act quite contrary to the stoical precepts, who do indeed command us +to correct the imperfections and vices we know ourselves guilty of, but +forbid us therefore to disturb the repose of our souls: these make us +believe that they have great grief and remorse within: but of amendment, +correction, or interruption, they make nothing appear. It cannot be a +cure if the malady be not wholly discharged; if repentance were laid upon +the scale of the balance, it would weigh down sin. I find no quality so +easy to counterfeit as devotion, if men do not conform their manners and +life to the profession; its essence is abstruse and occult; the +appearance easy and ostentatious. + +For my own part, I may desire in general to be other than I am; I may +condemn and dislike my whole form, and beg of Almighty God for an entire +reformation, and that He will please to pardon my natural infirmity: but +I ought not to call this repentance, methinks, no more than the being +dissatisfied that I am not an angel or Cato. My actions are regular, +and conformable to what I am and to my condition; I can do no better; +and repentance does not properly touch things that are not in our power; +sorrow does.. I imagine an infinite number of natures more elevated and +regular than mine; and yet I do not for all that improve my faculties, no +more than my arm or will grow more strong and vigorous for conceiving +those of another to be so. If to conceive and wish a nobler way of +acting than that we have should produce a repentance of our own, we must +then repent us of our most innocent actions, forasmuch as we may well +suppose that in a more excellent nature they would have been carried on +with greater dignity and perfection; and we would that ours were so. +When I reflect upon the deportment of my youth, with that of my old age, +I find that I have commonly behaved myself with equal order in both +according to what I understand: this is all that my resistance can do. +I do not flatter myself; in the same circumstances I should do the same +things. It is not a patch, but rather an universal tincture, with which +I am stained. I know no repentance, superficial, half-way, and +ceremonious; it must sting me all over before I can call it so, and must +prick my bowels as deeply and universally as God sees into me. + +As to business, many excellent opportunities have escaped me for want of +good management; and yet my deliberations were sound enough, according to +the occurrences presented to me: 'tis their way to choose always the +easiest and safest course. I find that, in my former resolves, I have +proceeded with discretion, according to my own rule, and according to the +state of the subject proposed, and should do the same a thousand years +hence in like occasions; I do not consider what it is now, but what it +was then, when I deliberated on it: the force of all counsel consists in +the time; occasions and things eternally shift and change. I have in my +life committed some important errors, not for want of good understanding, +but for want of good luck. There are secret, and not to be foreseen, +parts in matters we have in hand, especially in the nature of men; mute +conditions, that make no show, unknown sometimes even to the possessors +themselves, that spring and start up by incidental occasions; if my +prudence could not penetrate into nor foresee them, I blame it not: 'tis +commissioned no further than its own limits; if the event be too hard for +me, and take the side I have refused, there is no remedy; I do not blame +myself, I accuse my fortune, and not my work; this cannot be called +repentance. + +Phocion, having given the Athenians an advice that was not followed, and +the affair nevertheless succeeding contrary to his opinion, some one said +to him, "Well, Phocion, art thou content that matters go so well?"--"I am +very well content," replied he, "that this has happened so well, but I do +not repent that I counselled the other." When any of my friends address +themselves to me for advice, I give it candidly and clearly, without +sticking, as almost all other men do, at the hazard of the thing's +falling out contrary to my opinion, and that I may be reproached for my +counsel; I am very indifferent as to that, for the fault will be theirs +for having consulted me, and I could not refuse them that office. +--[We may give advice to others, says Rochefoucauld, but we cannot +supply them with the wit to profit by it.] + +I, for my own part, can rarely blame any one but myself for my oversights +and misfortunes, for indeed I seldom solicit the advice of another, +if not by honour of ceremony, or excepting where I stand in need of +information, special science, or as to matter of fact. But in things +wherein I stand in need of nothing but judgment, other men's reasons may +serve to fortify my own, but have little power to dissuade me; I hear +them all with civility and patience; but, to my recollection, I never +made use of any but my own. With me, they are but flies and atoms, that +confound and distract my will; I lay no great stress upon my opinions; +but I lay as little upon those of others, and fortune rewards me +accordingly: if I receive but little advice, I also give but little. I +am seldom consulted, and still more seldom believed, and know no concern, +either public or private, that has been mended or bettered by my advice. +Even they whom fortune had in some sort tied to my direction, have more +willingly suffered themselves to be governed by any other counsels than +mine. And as a man who am as jealous of my repose as of my authority, +I am better pleased that it should be so; in leaving me there, they +humour what I profess, which is to settle and wholly contain myself +within myself. I take a pleasure in being uninterested in other men's +affairs, and disengaged from being their warranty, and responsible for +what they do. + +In all affairs that are past, be it how it will, I have very little +regret; for this imagination puts me out of my pain, that they were so to +fall out they are in the great revolution of the world, and in the chain +of stoical 'causes: your fancy cannot, by wish and imagination, move one +tittle, but that the great current of things will not reverse both the +past and the future. + +As to the rest, I abominate that incidental repentance which old age +brings along with it. He, who said of old, that he was obliged to his +age for having weaned him from pleasure, was of another opinion than I +am; I can never think myself beholden to impotency for any good it can do +to me: + + "Nec tam aversa unquam videbitur ab opere suo providentia, + ut debilitas inter optima inventa sit." + + ["Nor can Providence ever seem so averse to her own work, that + debility should be found to be amongst the best things." + --Quintilian, Instit. Orat., v. 12.] + +Our appetites are rare in old age; a profound satiety seizes us after the +act; in this I see nothing of conscience; chagrin and weakness imprint in +us a drowsy and rheumatic virtue. We must not suffer ourselves to be so +wholly carried away by natural alterations as to suffer our judgments to +be imposed upon by them. Youth and pleasure have not formerly so far +prevailed with me, that I did not well enough discern the face of vice in +pleasure; neither does the distaste that years have brought me, so far +prevail with me now, that I cannot discern pleasure in vice. Now that I +am no more in my flourishing age, I judge as well of these things as if I +were. + + ["Old though I am, for ladies' love unfit, + The power of beauty I remember yet."--Chaucer.] + +I, who narrowly and strictly examine it, find my reason the very same it +was in my most licentious age, except, perhaps, that 'tis weaker and more +decayed by being grown older; and I find that the pleasure it refuses me +upon the account of my bodily health, it would no more refuse now, in +consideration of the health of my soul, than at any time heretofore. +I do not repute it the more valiant for not being able to combat; my +temptations are so broken and mortified, that they are not worth its +opposition; holding but out my hands, I repel them. Should one present +the old concupiscence before it, I fear it would have less power to +resist it than heretofore; I do not discern that in itself it judges +anything otherwise now than it formerly did, nor that it has acquired any +new light: wherefore, if there be convalescence, 'tis an enchanted one. +Miserable kind of remedy, to owe one's health to one's disease! Tis not +that our misfortune should perform this office, but the good fortune of +our judgment. I am not to be made to do anything by persecutions and +afflictions, but to curse them: that is, for people who cannot be roused +but by a whip. My reason is much more free in prosperity, and much more +distracted, and put to't to digest pains than pleasures: I see best in a +clear sky; health admonishes me more cheerfully, and to better purpose, +than sickness. I did all that in me lay to reform and regulate myself +from pleasures, at a time when I had health and vigour to enjoy them; +I should be ashamed and envious that the misery and misfortune of my old +age should have credit over my good healthful, sprightly, and vigorous +years, and that men should estimate me, not by what I have been, but by +what I have ceased to be. + +In my opinion, 'tis the happy living, and not (as Antisthenes' said) the +happy dying, in which human felicity consists. I have not made it my +business to make a monstrous addition of a philosopher's tail to the head +and body of a libertine; nor would I have this wretched remainder give +the lie to the pleasant, sound, and long part of my life: I would present +myself uniformly throughout. Were I to live my life over again, I should +live it just as I have lived it; I neither complain of the past, nor do I +fear the future; and if I am not much deceived, I am the same within that +I am without. 'Tis one main obligation I have to my fortune, that the +succession of my bodily estate has been carried on according to the +natural seasons; I have seen the grass, the blossom, and the fruit, and +now see the withering; happily, however, because naturally. I bear the +infirmities I have the better, because they came not till I had reason to +expect them, and because also they make me with greater pleasure remember +that long felicity of my past life. My wisdom may have been just the +same in both ages, but it was more active, and of better grace whilst +young and sprightly, than now it is when broken, peevish, and uneasy. +I repudiate, then, these casual and painful reformations. God must touch +our hearts; our consciences must amend of themselves, by the aid of our +reason, and not by the decay of our appetites; pleasure is, in itself, +neither pale nor discoloured, to be discerned by dim and decayed eyes. + +We ought to love temperance for itself, and because God has commanded +that and chastity; but that which we are reduced to by catarrhs, and for +which I am indebted to the stone, is neither chastity nor temperance; a +man cannot boast that he despises and resists pleasure if he cannot see +it, if he knows not what it is, and cannot discern its graces, its force, +and most alluring beauties; I know both the one and the other, and may +therefore the better say it. But; methinks, our souls in old age are +subject to more troublesome maladies and imperfections than in youth; +I said the same when young and when I was reproached with the want of a +beard; and I say so now that my grey hairs give me some authority. We +call the difficulty of our humours and the disrelish of present things +wisdom; but, in truth, we do not so much forsake vices as we change them, +and in my opinion, for worse. Besides a foolish and feeble pride, an +impertinent prating, froward and insociable humours, superstition, and a +ridiculous desire of riches when we have lost the use of them, I find +there more envy, injustice, and malice. Age imprints more wrinkles in +the mind than it does on the face; and souls are never, or very rarely +seen, that, in growing old, do not smell sour and musty. Man moves all +together, both towards his perfection and decay. In observing the wisdom +of Socrates, and many circumstances of his condemnation, I should dare to +believe that he in some sort himself purposely, by collusion, contributed +to it, seeing that, at the age of seventy years, he might fear to suffer +the lofty motions of his mind to be cramped and his wonted lustre +obscured. What strange metamorphoses do I see age every day make in many +of my acquaintance! 'Tis a potent malady, and that naturally and +imperceptibly steals into us; a vast provision of study and great +precaution are required to evade the imperfections it loads us with, or +at least to weaken their progress. I find that, notwithstanding all my +entrenchments, it gets foot by foot upon me: I make the best resistance I +can, but I do not know to what at last it will reduce me. But fall out +what will, I am content the world may know, when I am fallen, from what I +fell. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +OF THREE COMMERCES + +We must not rivet ourselves so fast to our humours and complexions: our +chiefest sufficiency is to know how to apply ourselves to divers +employments. 'Tis to be, but not to live, to keep a man's self tied and +bound by necessity to one only course; those are the bravest souls that +have in them the most variety and pliancy. Of this here is an honourable +testimony of the elder Cato: + + "Huic versatile ingenium sic pariter ad omnia fuit, + ut natum ad id unum diceres, quodcumque ageret." + + ["His parts were so pliable to all uses, that one would say he had + been born only to that which he was doing."--Livy, xxxix. 49.] + +Had I liberty to set myself forth after my own mode, there is no so +graceful fashion to which I would be so fixed as not to be able to +disengage myself from it; life is an unequal, irregular and multiform +motion. 'Tis not to be a friend to one's self, much less a master 'tis +to be a slave, incessantly to be led by the nose by one's self, and to be +so fixed in one's previous inclinations, that one cannot turn aside nor +writhe one's neck out of the collar. I say this now in this part of my +life, wherein I find I cannot easily disengage myself from the +importunity of my soul, which cannot ordinarily amuse itself but in +things of limited range, nor employ itself otherwise than entirely and +with all its force; upon the lightest subject offered it expands and +stretches it to that degree as therein to employ its utmost power; +wherefore it is that idleness is to me a very painful labour, and very +prejudicial to my health. Most men's minds require foreign matter to +exercise and enliven them; mine has rather need of it to sit still and +repose itself, + + "Vitia otii negotio discutienda sunt," + + ["The vices of sloth are to be shaken off by business." + --Seneca, Ep. 56.] + +for its chiefest and hardest study is to study itself. Books are to it +a sort of employment that debauch it from its study. Upon the first +thoughts that possess it, it begins to bustle and make trial of its +vigour in all directions, exercises its power of handling, now making +trial of force, now fortifying, moderating, and ranging itself by the way +of grace and order. It has of its own wherewith to rouse its faculties: +nature has given to it, as to all others, matter enough of its own to +make advantage of, and subjects proper enough where it may either invent +or judge. + +Meditation is a powerful and full study to such as can effectually taste +and employ themselves; I had rather fashion my soul than furnish it. +There is no employment, either more weak or more strong, than that of +entertaining a man's own thoughts, according as the soul is; the greatest +men make it their whole business, + + "Quibus vivere est cogitare;" + + ["To whom to live is to think."--Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., v. 28.] + +nature has therefore favoured it with this privilege, that there is +nothing we can do so long, nor any action to which we more frequently and +with greater facility addict ourselves. 'Tis the business of the gods, +says Aristotle,' and from which both their beatitude and ours proceed. + +The principal use of reading to me is, that by various objects it rouses +my reason, and employs my judgment, not my memory. Few conversations +detain me without force and effort; it is true that beauty and elegance +of speech take as much or more with me than the weight and depth of the +subject; and forasmuch as I am apt to be sleepy in all other +communication, and give but the rind of my attention, it often falls out +that in such poor and pitiful discourses, mere chatter, I either make +drowsy, unmeaning answers, unbecoming a child, and ridiculous, or more +foolishly and rudely still, maintain an obstinate silence. I have a +pensive way that withdraws me into myself, and, with that, a heavy and +childish ignorance of many very ordinary things, by which two qualities I +have earned this, that men may truly relate five or six as ridiculous +tales of me as of any other man whatever. + +But, to proceed in my subject, this difficult complexion of mine renders +me very nice in my conversation with men, whom I must cull and pick out +for my purpose; and unfits me for common society. We live and negotiate +with the people; if their conversation be troublesome to us, if we +disdain to apply ourselves to mean and vulgar souls (and the mean and +vulgar are often as regular as those of the finest thread, and all wisdom +is folly that does not accommodate itself to the common ignorance), +we must no more intermeddle either with other men's affairs or our own; +for business, both public and private, has to do with these people. The +least forced and most natural motions of the soul are the most beautiful; +the best employments, those that are least strained. My God! how good +an office does wisdom to those whose desires it limits to their power! +that is the most useful knowledge: "according to what a man can," was the +favourite sentence and motto of Socrates. A motto of great solidity. + +We must moderate and adapt our desires to the nearest and easiest to be +acquired things. Is it not a foolish humour of mine to separate myself +from a thousand to whom my fortune has conjoined me, and without whom I +cannot live, and cleave to one or two who are out of my intercourse; or +rather a fantastic desire of a thing I cannot obtain? My gentle and easy +manners, enemies of all sourness and harshness, may easily enough have +secured me from envy and animosities; to be beloved, I do not say, but +never any man gave less occasion of being hated; but the coldness of my +conversation has, reasonably enough, deprived me of the goodwill of many, +who are to be excused if they interpret it in another and worse sense. + +I am very capable of contracting and maintaining rare and exquisite +friendships; for by reason that I so greedily seize upon such +acquaintance as fit my liking, I throw myself with such violence upon +them that I hardly fail to stick, and to make an impression where I hit; +as I have often made happy proof. In ordinary friendships I am somewhat +cold and shy, for my motion is not natural, if not with full sail: +besides which, my fortune having in my youth given me a relish for one +sole and perfect friendship, has, in truth, created in me a kind of +distaste to others, and too much imprinted in my fancy that it is a beast +of company, as the ancient said, but not of the herd. --[Plutarch, On the +Plurality of Friends, c. 2.]-- And also I have a natural difficulty of +communicating myself by halves, with the modifications and the servile +and jealous prudence required in the conversation of numerous and +imperfect friendships: and we are principally enjoined to these in this +age of ours, when we cannot talk of the world but either with danger or +falsehood. + +Yet do I very well discern that he who has the conveniences (I mean the +essential conveniences) of life for his end, as I have, ought to fly +these difficulties and delicacy of humour, as much as the plague. I +should commend a soul of several stages, that knows both how to stretch +and to slacken itself; that finds itself at ease in all conditions +whither fortune leads it; that can discourse with a neighbour, of his +building, his hunting, his quarrels; that can chat with a carpenter or a +gardener with pleasure. I envy those who can render themselves familiar +with the meanest of their followers, and talk with them in their own way; +and dislike the advice of Plato, that men should always speak in a +magisterial tone to their servants, whether men or women, without being +sometimes facetious and familiar; for besides the reasons I have given, +'tis inhuman and unjust to set so great a value upon this pitiful +prerogative of fortune, and the polities wherein less disparity is +permitted betwixt masters and servants seem to me the most equitable. +Others study how to raise and elevate their minds; I, how to humble mine +and to bring it low; 'tis only vicious in extension: + + "Narras et genus AEaci, + Et pugnata sacro bella sub Ilio + Quo Chium pretio cadum + Mercemur, quis aquam temperet ignibus, + Quo praebente domum, et quota, + Pelignis caream frigoribus, taces." + + ["You tell us long stories about the race of AEacus, and the battles + fought under sacred Ilium; but what to give for a cask of Chian + wine, who shall prepare the warm bath, and in whose house, and when + I may escape from the Pelignian cold, you do not tell us." + --Horace, Od., iii. 19, 3.] + +Thus, as the Lacedaemonian valour stood in need of moderation, and of the +sweet and harmonious sound of flutes to soften it in battle, lest they +should precipitate themselves into temerity and fury, whereas all other +nations commonly make use of harsh and shrill sounds, and of loud and +imperious cries, to incite and heat the soldier's courage to the last +degree; so, methinks, contrary to the usual method, in the practice of +our minds, we have for the most part more need of lead than of wings; of +temperance and composedness than of ardour and agitation. But, above all +things, 'tis in my opinion egregiously to play the fool, to put on the +grave airs of a man of lofty mind amongst those who are nothing of the +sort: ever to speak in print (by the book), + + "Favellare in puma di forchetta." + + ["To talk with the point of a fork," (affectedly)] + +You must let yourself down to those with whom you converse; and sometimes +affect ignorance: lay aside power and subtilty in common conversation; to +preserve decorum and order 'tis enough-nay, crawl on the earth, if they +so desire it. + +The learned often stumble at this stone; they will always be parading +their pedantic science, and strew their books everywhere; they have, in +these days, so filled the cabinets and ears of the ladies with them, that +if they have lost the substance, they at least retain the words; so as in +all discourse upon all sorts of subjects, how mean and common soever, +they speak and write after a new and learned way, + + "Hoc sermone pavent, hoc iram, gaudia, curas, + Hoc cuncta effundunt animi secreta; quid ultra? + Concumbunt docte;" + + ["In this language do they express their fears, their anger, their + joys, their cares; in this pour out all their secrets; what more? + they lie with their lovers learnedly."--Juvenal, vi. 189.] + +and quote Plato and Aquinas in things the first man they meet could +determine as well; the learning that cannot penetrate their souls hangs +still upon the tongue. If people of quality will be persuaded by me, they +shall content themselves with setting out their proper and natural +treasures; they conceal and cover their beauties under others that are +none of theirs: 'tis a great folly to put out their own light and shine +by a borrowed lustre: they are interred and buried under 'de capsula +totae" --[Painted and perfumed from head to foot." (Or:) "as if they were +things carefully deposited in a band-box."--Seneca, Ep. 115]--It is +because they do not sufficiently know themselves or do themselves +justice: the world has nothing fairer than they; 'tis for them to honour +the arts, and to paint painting. What need have they of anything but to +live beloved and honoured? They have and know but too much for this: +they need do no more but rouse and heat a little the faculties they have +of their own. When I see them tampering with rhetoric, law, logic, and +other drugs, so improper and unnecessary for their business, I begin to +suspect that the men who inspire them with such fancies, do it that they +may govern them upon that account; for what other excuse can I contrive? +It is enough that they can, without our instruction, compose the graces +of their eyes to gaiety, severity, sweetness, and season a denial with +asperity, suspense, or favour: they need not another to interpret what +we speak for their service; with this knowledge, they command with a +switch, and rule both the tutors and the schools. But if, nevertheless, +it angers them to give place to us in anything whatever, and will, out of +curiosity, have their share in books, poetry is a diversion proper for +them; 'tis a wanton, subtle, dissembling, and prating art, all pleasure +and all show, like themselves. They may also abstract several +commodities from history. In philosophy, out of the moral part of it, +they may select such instructions as will teach them to judge of our +humours and conditions, to defend themselves from our treacheries, to +regulate the ardour of their own desires, to manage their liberty, to +lengthen the pleasures of life, and gently to bear the inconstancy of a +lover, the rudeness of a husband; and the importunity of years, wrinkles, +and the like. This is the utmost of what I would allow them in the +sciences. + +There are some particular natures that are private and retired: my +natural way is proper for communication, and apt to lay me open; I am all +without and in sight, born for society and friendship. The solitude that +I love myself and recommend to others, is chiefly no other than to +withdraw my thoughts and affections into myself; to restrain and check, +not my steps, but my own cares and desires, resigning all foreign +solicitude, and mortally avoiding servitude and obligation, and not so +much the crowd of men as the crowd of business. Local solitude, to say +the truth, rather gives me more room and sets me more at large; I more +readily throw myself upon affairs of state and the world when I am alone. +At the Louvre and in the bustle of the court, I fold myself within my own +skin; the crowd thrusts me upon myself; and I never entertain myself so +wantonly, with so much licence, or so especially, as in places of respect +and ceremonious prudence: our follies do not make me laugh, it is our +wisdom which does. I am naturally no enemy to a court, life; I have +therein passed a part of my own, and am of a humour cheerfully to +frequent great company, provided it be by intervals and at my own time: +but this softness of judgment whereof I speak ties me perforce to +solitude. Even at home, amidst a numerous family, and in a house +sufficiently frequented, I see people enough, but rarely such with whom I +delight to converse; and I there reserve both for myself and others an +unusual liberty: there is in my house no such thing as ceremony, +ushering, or waiting upon people down to the coach, and such other +troublesome ceremonies as our courtesy enjoins (O the servile and +importunate custom!). Every one there governs himself according to his +own method; let who will speak his thoughts, I sit mute, meditating and +shut up in my closet, without any offence to my guests. + +The men whose society and familiarity I covet are those they call sincere +and able men; and the image of these makes me disrelish the rest. It is, +if rightly taken, the rarest of our forms, and a form that we chiefly owe +to nature. The end of this commerce is simply privacy, frequentation and +conference, the exercise of souls, without other fruit. In our +discourse, all subjects are alike to me; let there be neither weight, nor +depth, 'tis all one: there is yet grace and pertinency; all there is +tinted with a mature and constant judgment, and mixed with goodness, +freedom, gaiety, and friendship. 'Tis not only in talking of the affairs +of kings and state that our wits discover their force and beauty, but +every whit as much in private conferences. I understand my men even by +their silence and smiles; and better discover them, perhaps, at table +than in the council. Hippomachus said, very well, " that he could know +the good wrestlers by only seeing them walk in the street." If learning +please to step into our talk, it shall not be rejected, not magisterial, +imperious, and importunate, as-it commonly is, but suffragan and docile +itself; we there only seek to pass away our time; when we have a mind to +be instructed and preached to, we will go seek this in its throne; please +let it humble itself to us for the nonce; for, useful and profitable as +it is, I imagine that, at need, we may manage well enough without it, and +do our business without its assistance. A well-descended soul, and +practised in the conversation of men, will of herself render herself +sufficiently agreeable; art is nothing but the counterpart and register +of what such souls produce. + +The conversation also of beautiful and honourable women is for me a sweet +commerce: + + "Nam nos quoque oculos eruditos habemus." + + ["For we also have eyes that are versed in the matter." + --Cicero, Paradox, v. 2.] + +If the soul has not therein so much to enjoy, as in the first the bodily +senses, which participate more of this, bring it to a proportion next to, +though, in my opinion, not equal to the other. But 'tis a commerce +wherein a man must stand a little upon his guard, especially those, where +the body can do much, as in me. I there scalded myself in my youth, and +suffered all the torments that poets say befall those who precipitate +themselves into love without order and judgment. It is true that that +whipping has made me wiser since: + + "Quicumque Argolica de classe Capharea fugit, + Semper ab Euboicis vela retorquet aquis." + + ["Whoever of the Grecian fleet has escaped the Capharean rocks, ever + takes care to steer from the Euboean sea."--Ovid, Trist., i. i, 83.] + +'Tis folly to fix all a man's thoughts upon it, and to engage in it with +a furious and indiscreet affection; but, on the other hand, to engage +there without love and without inclination, like comedians, to play a +common part, without putting anything to it of his own but words, is +indeed to provide for his safety, but, withal, after as cowardly a manner +as he who should abandon his honour, profit, or pleasure for fear of +danger. For it is certain that from such a practice, they who set it on +foot can expect no fruit that can please or satisfy a noble soul. A man +must have, in good earnest, desired that which he, in good earnest, +expects to have a pleasure in enjoying; I say, though fortune should +unjustly favour their dissimulation; which often falls out, because there +is none of the sex, let her be as ugly as the devil, who does not think +herself well worthy to be beloved, and who does not prefer herself before +other women, either for her youth, the colour of her hair, or her +graceful motion (for there are no more women universally ugly, than there +are women universally beautiful, and such of the Brahmin virgins as have +nothing else to recommend them, the people being assembled by the common +crier to that effect, come out into the market-place to expose their +matrimonial parts to public view, to try if these at least are not of +temptation sufficient to get them a husband). Consequently, there is not +one who does not easily suffer herself to be overcome by the first vow +that they make to serve her. Now from this common and ordinary treachery +of the men of the present day, that must fall out which we already +experimentally see, either that they rally together, and separate +themselves by themselves to evade us, or else form their discipline by +the example we give them, play their parts of the farce as we do ours, +and give themselves up to the sport, without passion, care, or love; + + "Neque afl'ectui suo, aut alieno, obnoxiae;" + + ["Neither amenable to their own affections, nor those of others." + -- Tacitus, Annal., xiii. 45.] + +believing, according to the persuasion of Lysias in Plato, that they may +with more utility and convenience surrender themselves up to us the less +we love them; where it will fall out, as in comedies, that the people +will have as much pleasure or more than the comedians. For my part, +I no more acknowledge a Venus without a Cupid than, a mother without +issue: they are things that mutully lend and owe their essence to one +another. Thus this cheat recoils upon him who is guilty of it; it does +not cost him much, indeed, but he also gets little or nothing by it. +They who have made Venus a goddess have taken notice that her principal +beauty was incorporeal and spiritual; but the Venus whom these people +hunt after is not so much as human, nor indeed brutal; the very beasts +will not accept it so gross and so earthly; we see that imagination and +desire often heat and incite them before the body does; we see in both +the one sex and the other, they have in the herd choice and particular +election in their affections, and that they have amongst themselves a +long commerce of good will. Even those to whom old age denies the +practice of their desire, still tremble, neigh, and twitter for love; we +see them, before the act, full of hope and ardour, and when the body has +played its game, yet please themselves with the sweet remembrance of the +past delight; some that swell with pride after they have performed, and +others who, tired and sated, still by vociferation express a triumphing +joy. He who has nothing to do but only to discharge his body of a +natural necessity, need not trouble others with so curious preparations: +it is not meat for a gross, coarse appetite. + +As one who does not desire that men should think me better than I am, +I will here say this as to the errors of my youth. Not only from the +danger of impairing my health (and yet I could not be so careful but that +I had two light mischances), but moreover upon the account of contempt, +I have seldom given myself up to common and mercenary embraces: I would +heighten the pleasure by the difficulty, by desire, and a certain kind of +glory, and was of Tiberius's mind, who in his amours was as much taken +with modesty and birth as any other quality, and of the courtesan Flora's +humour, who never lent herself to less than a dictator, a consul, or a +censor, and took pleasure in the dignity of her lovers. Doubtless pearls +and gold tissue, titles and train, add something to it. + +As to the rest, I had a great esteem for wit, provided the person was not +exceptionable; for, to confess the truth, if the one or the other of +these two attractions must of necessity be wanting, I should rather have +quitted that of the understanding, that has its use in better things; +but in the subject of love, a subject principally relating to the senses +of seeing and touching, something may be done without the graces of the +mind: without the graces of the body, nothing. Beauty is the true +prerogative of women, and so peculiarly their own, that ours, though +naturally requiring another sort of feature, is never in its lustre but +when youthful and beardless, a sort of confused image of theirs. 'Tis +said that such as serve the Grand Signior upon the account of beauty, who +are an infinite number, are, at the latest, dismissed at two-and-twenty +years of age. Reason, prudence, and the offices of friendship are better +found amongst men, and therefore it is that they govern the affairs of +the world. + +These two engagements are fortuitous, and depending upon others; the one +is troublesome by its rarity, the other withers with age, so that they +could never have been sufficient for the business of my life. That of +books, which is the third, is much more certain, and much more our own. +It yields all other advantages to the two first, but has the constancy +and facility of its service for its own share. It goes side by side with +me in my whole course, and everywhere is assisting me: it comforts me in +old age and solitude; it eases me of a troublesome weight of idleness, +and delivers me at all hours from company that I dislike: it blunts the +point of griefs, if they are not extreme, and have not got an entire +possession of my soul. To divert myself from a troublesome fancy, 'tis +but to run to my books; they presently fix me to them and drive the other +out of my thoughts, and do not mutiny at seeing that I have only recourse +to them for want of other more real, natural, and lively commodities; +they always receive me with the same kindness. He may well go a foot, +they say, who leads his horse in his hand; and our James, King of Naples +and Sicily, who, handsome, young and healthful, caused himself to be +carried about on a barrow, extended upon a pitiful mattress in a poor +robe of grey cloth, and a cap of the same, yet attended withal by a royal +train, litters, led horses of all sorts, gentlemen and officers, did yet +herein represent a tender and unsteady authority: "The sick man has not +to complain who has his cure in his sleeve." In the experience and +practice of this maxim, which is a very true one, consists all the +benefit I reap from books. As a matter of fact, I make no more use of +them, as it were, than those who know them not. I enjoy them as misers +do their money, in knowing that I may enjoy them when I please: my mind +is satisfied with this right of possession. I never travel without +books, either in peace or war; and yet sometimes I pass over several +days, and sometimes months, without looking on them. I will read by-and- +by, say I to myself, or to-morrow, or when I please; and in the interim, +time steals away without any inconvenience. For it is not to be imagined +to what degree I please myself and rest content in this consideration, +that I have them by me to divert myself with them when I am so disposed, +and to call to mind what a refreshment they are to my life. 'Tis the +best viaticum I have yet found out for this human journey, and I very +much pity those men of understanding who are unprovided of it. I the +rather accept of any other sort of diversion, how light soever, because +this can never fail me. + +When at home, I a little more frequent my library, whence I overlook at +once all the concerns of my family. 'Tis situated at the entrance into +my house, and I thence see under me my garden, court, and base-court, and +almost all parts of the building. There I turn over now one book, and +then another, on various subjects, without method or design. One while +I meditate, another I record and dictate, as I walk to and fro, such +whimsies as these I present to you here. 'Tis in the third storey of a +tower, of which the ground-room is my chapel, the second storey a chamber +with a withdrawing-room and closet, where I often lie, to be more +retired; and above is a great wardrobe. This formerly was the most +useless part of the house. I there pass away both most of the days of my +life and most of the hours of those days. In the night I am never there. +There is by the side of it a cabinet handsome enough, with a fireplace +very commodiously contrived, and plenty of light; and were I not more +afraid of the trouble than the expense--the trouble that frights me from +all business--I could very easily adjoin on either side, and on the same +floor, a gallery of an hundred paces long and twelve broad, having found +walls already raised for some other design to the requisite height. +Every place of retirement requires a walk: my thoughts sleep if I sit +still: my fancy does not go by itself, as when my legs move it: and all +those who study without a book are in the same condition. The figure of +my study is round, and there is no more open wall than what is taken up +by my table and my chair, so that the remaining parts of the circle +present me a view of all my books at once, ranged upon five rows of +shelves round about me. It has three noble and free prospects, and is +sixteen paces in diameter. I am not so continually there in winter; for +my house is built upon an eminence, as its name imports, and no part of +it is so much exposed to the wind and weather as this, which pleases me +the better, as being of more difficult access and a little remote, as +well upon the account of exercise, as also being there more retired from +the crowd. 'Tis there that I am in my kingdom, and there I endeavour to +make myself an absolute monarch, and to sequester this one corner from +all society, conjugal, filial, and civil; elsewhere I have but verbal +authority only, and of a confused essence. That man, in my opinion, is +very miserable, who has not at home where to be by himself, where to +entertain himself alone, or to conceal himself from others. Ambition +sufficiently plagues her proselytes, by keeping them always in show, like +the statue of a public, square: + + "Magna servitus est magna fortuna." + + ["A great fortune is a great slavery." + --Seneca, De Consol. ad. Polyb., c. 26.] + +They cannot so much as be private in the watercloset. I have thought +nothing so severe in the austerity of life that our monks affect, as what +I have observed in some of their communities; namely, by rule, to have a +perpetual society of place, and numerous persons present in every action +whatever; and think it much more supportable to be always alone than +never to be so. + +If any one shall tell me that it is to undervalue the Muses to make use +of them only for sport and to pass away the time, I shall tell him, that +he does not know so well as I the value of the sport, the pleasure, and +the pastime; I can hardly forbear to add that all other end is +ridiculous. I live from day to day, and, with reverence be it spoken, I +only live for myself; there all my designs terminate. I studied, when +young, for ostentation; since, to make myself a little wiser; and now for +my diversion, but never for any profit. A vain and prodigal humour I had +after this sort of furniture, not only for the supplying my own need, +but, moreover, for ornament and outward show, I have since quite cured +myself of. + +Books have many charming qualities to such as know how to choose them; +but every good has its ill; 'tis a pleasure that is not pure and clean, +no more than others: it has its inconveniences, and great ones too. The +soul indeed is exercised therein; but the body, the care of which I must +withal never neglect, remains in the meantime without action, and grows +heavy and sombre. I know no excess more prejudicial to me, nor more to +be avoided in this my declining age. + +These have been my three favourite and particular occupations; I speak +not of those I owe to the world by civil obligation. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +OF DIVERSION + +I was once employed in consoling a lady truly afflicted. Most of their +mournings are artificial and ceremonious: + + "Uberibus semper lacrymis, semperque paratis, + In statione subatque expectantibus illam, + Quo jubeat manare modo." + + ["A woman has ever a fountain of tears ready to gush up whenever + she requires to make use of them."--Juvenal, vi. 272.] + +A man goes the wrong way to work when he opposes this passion; for +opposition does but irritate and make them more obstinate in sorrow; the +evil is exasperated by discussion. We see, in common discourse, that +what I have indifferently let fall from me, if any one takes it up to +controvert it, I justify it with the best arguments I have; and much more +a thing wherein I had a real interest. And besides, in so doing you +enter roughly upon your operation; whereas the first addresses of a +physician to his patient should be gracious, gay, and pleasing; never did +any ill-looking, morose physician do anything to purpose. On the +contrary, then, a man should, at the first approaches, favour their grief +and express some approbation of their sorrow. By this intelligence you +obtain credit to proceed further, and by a facile and insensible +gradation fall into discourses more solid and proper for their cure. +I, whose aim it was principally to gull the company who had their eyes +fixed upon me, took it into my head only to palliate the disease. And +indeed I have found by experience that I have an unlucky hand in +persuading. My arguments are either too sharp and dry, or pressed too +roughly, or not home enough. After I had some time applied myself to her +grief, I did not attempt to cure her by strong and lively reasons, either +because I had them not at hand, or because I thought to do my business +better another way; neither did I make choice of any of those methods of +consolation which philosophy prescribes: that what we complain of is no +evil, according to Cleanthes; that it is a light evil, according to the +Peripatetics; that to bemoan one's self is an action neither commendable +nor just, according to Chrysippus; nor this of Epicurus, more suitable to +my way, of shifting the thoughts from afflicting things to those that are +pleasing; nor making a bundle of all these together, to make use of upon +occasion, according to Cicero; but, gently bending my discourse, and by +little and little digressing, sometimes to subjects nearer, and sometimes +more remote from the purpose, according as she was more intent on what I +said, I imperceptibly led her from that sorrowful thought, and kept her +calm and in good-humour whilst I continued there. I herein made use of +diversion. They who succeeded me in the same service did not, for all +that, find any amendment in her, for I had not gone to the root. + +I, peradventure, may elsewhere have glanced upon some sort of public +diversions; and the practice of military ones, which Pericles made use of +in the Peloponnesian war, and a thousand others in other places, to +withdraw the adverse forces from their own countries, is too frequent in +history. It was an ingenious evasion whereby Monseigneur d'Hempricourt +saved both himself and others in the city of Liege, into which the Duke +of Burgundy, who kept it besieged, had made him enter to execute the +articles of their promised surrender; the people, being assembled by +night to consider of it, began to mutiny against the agreement, and +several of them resolved to fall upon the commissioners, whom they had in +their power; he, feeling the gusts of this first popular storm, who were +coming to rush into his lodgings, suddenly sent out to them two of the +inhabitants of the city (of whom he had some with him) with new and +milder terms to be proposed in their council, which he had then and there +contrived for his need: These two diverted the first tempest, carrying +back the enraged rabble to the town-hall to hear and consider of what +they had to say. The deliberation was short; a second storm arose as +violent as the other, whereupon he despatched four new mediators of the +same quality to meet them, protesting that he had now better conditions +to present them with, and such as would give them absolute satisfaction, +by which means the tumult was once more appeased, and the people again +turned back to the conclave. In fine, by this dispensation of +amusements, one after another, diverting their fury and dissipating it in +frivolous consultations, he laid it at last asleep till the day appeared, +which was his principal end. + +This other story that follows is also of the same category. Atalanta, a +virgin of excelling beauty and of wonderful disposition of body, to +disengage herself from the crowd of a thousand suitors who sought her in +marriage, made this proposition, that she would accept of him for her +husband who should equal her in running, upon condition that they who +failed should lose their lives. There were enough who thought the prize +very well worth the hazard, and who suffered the cruel penalty of the +contract. Hippomenes, about to make trial after the rest, made his +address to the goddess of love, imploring her assistance; and she, +granting his request, gave him three golden apples, and instructed him +how to use them. The race beginning, as Hippomenes perceived his +mistress to press hard up to him; he, as it were by chance, let fall one +of these apples; the maid, taken with the beauty of it, failed not to +step out of her way to pick it up: + + "Obstupuit Virgo, nitidique cupidine pomi + Declinat cursus, aurumque volubile tollit." + + ["The virgin, astonished and attracted by the glittering apple, + stops her career, and seizes the rolling gold." + --Ovid, Metam., x. 666.] + +He did the same, when he saw his time, by the second and the third, till +by so diverting her, and making her lose so much ground, he won the race. +When physicians cannot stop a catarrh, they divert and turn it into some +other less dangerous part. And I find also that this is the most +ordinary practice for the diseases of the mind: + + "Abducendus etiam nonnunquam animus est ad alia studia, + sollicitudines, curas, negotia: loci denique mutatione, + tanquam aegroti non convalescentes, saepe curandus est." + + ["The mind is sometimes to be diverted to other studies, thoughts, + cares, business: in fine, by change of place, as where sick persons + do not become convalescent."--Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., iv. 35.] + +'Tis to little effect directly to jostle a man's infirmities; we neither +make him sustain nor repel the attack; we only make him decline and evade +it. + +This other lesson is too high and too difficult: 'tis for men of the +first form of knowledge purely to insist upon the thing, to consider and +judge it; it appertains to one sole Socrates to meet death with an +ordinary countenance, to grow acquainted with it, and to sport with it; +he seeks no consolation out of the thing itself; dying appears to him a +natural and indifferent accident; 'tis there that he fixes his sight and +resolution, without looking elsewhere. The disciples of Hegesias, who +starved themselves to death, animated thereunto by his fine lectures, and +in such numbers that King Ptolemy ordered he should be forbidden to +entertain his followers with such homicidal doctrines, did not consider +death in itself, neither did they judge of it; it was not there they +fixed their thoughts; they ran towards and aimed at a new being. + +The poor wretches whom we see brought upon the scaffold, full of ardent +devotion, and therein, as much as in them lies, employing all their +senses, their ears in hearing the instructions given them, their eyes and +hands lifted up towards heaven, their voices in loud prayers, with a +vehement and continual emotion, do doubtless things very commendable and +proper for such a necessity: we ought to commend them for their devotion, +but not properly for their constancy; they shun the encounter, they +divert their thoughts from the consideration of death, as children are +amused with some toy or other when the surgeon is going to give them a +prick with his lancet. I have seen some, who, casting their eyes upon +the dreadful instruments of death round about, have fainted, and +furiously turned their thoughts another way; such as are to pass a +formidable precipice are advised either to shut their eyes or to look +another way. + +Subrius Flavius, being by Nero's command to be put to death, and by the +hand of Niger, both of them great captains, when they lead him to the +place appointed for his execution, seeing the grave that Niger had caused +to be hollowed to put him into ill-made: "Neither is this," said he, +turning to the soldiers who guarded him, "according to military +discipline." And to Niger, who exhorted him to keep his head firm: "Do +but thou strike as firmly," said he. And he very well foresaw what would +follow when he said so; for Niger's arm so trembled that he had several +blows at his head before he could cut it off. This man seems to have had +his thoughts rightly fixed upon the subject. + +He who dies in a battle, with his sword in his hand, does not then think +of death; he feels or considers it not; the ardour of the fight diverts +his thought another way. A worthy man of my acquaintance, falling as he +was fighting a duel, and feeling himself nailed to the earth by nine or +ten thrusts of his enemy, every one present called to him to think of his +conscience; but he has since told me, that though he very well heard what +they said, it nothing moved him, and that he never thought of anything +but how to disengage and revenge himself. He afterwards killed his man +in that very duel. He who brought to L. Silanus the sentence of death, +did him a very great kindness, in that, having received his answer, that +he was well prepared to die, but not by base hands, he ran upon him with +his soldiers to force him, and as he, unarmed as he was, obstinately +defended himself with his fists and feet, he made him lose his life in +the contest, by that means dissipating and diverting in a sudden and +furious rage the painful apprehension of the lingering death to which he +was designed. + +We always think of something else; either the hope of a better life +comforts and supports us, or the hope of our children's worth, or the +future glory of our name, or the leaving behind the evils of this life, +or the vengeance that threatens those who are the causes of our death, +administers consolation to us: + + "Spero equidem mediis, si quid pia numina possunt, + Supplicia hausurum scopulis, et nomine Dido + Saepe vocaturum . . . . + Audiam; et haec Manes veniet mihi fama sub imos." + + ["I hope, however, if the pious gods have any power, thou wilt feel + thy punishment amid the rocks, and will call on the name of Dido; + I shall hear, and this report will come to me below."--AEneid, iv. + 382, 387.] + +Xenophon was sacrificing with a crown upon his head when one came to +bring him news of the death of his son Gryllus, slain in the battle of +Mantinea: at the first surprise of the news, he threw his crown to the +ground; but understanding by the sequel of the narrative the manner of a +most brave and valiant death, he took it up and replaced it upon his +head. Epicurus himself, at his death, consoles himself upon the utility +and eternity of his writings: + + "Omnes clari et nobilitati labores fiunt tolerabiles;" + + ["All labours that are illustrious and famous become supportable." + --Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., ii. 26.] + +and the same wound, the same fatigue, is not, says Xenophon, so +intolerable to a general of an army as to a common soldier. Epaminondas +took his death much more cheerfully, having been informed that the +victory remained to him: + + "Haec sunt solatia, haec fomenta summorum dolorum;" + + ["These are sedatives and alleviations to the greatest pains." + --Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., ii. 23.] + +and such like circumstances amuse, divert, and turn our thoughts from the +consideration of the thing in itself. Even the arguments of philosophy +are always edging and glancing on the matter, so as scarce to rub its +crust; the greatest man of the first philosophical school, and +superintendent over all the rest, the great Zeno, forms this syllogism +against death: "No evil is honourable; but death is honourable; therefore +death is no evil"; against drunkenness this: " No one commits his secrets +to a drunkard; but every one commits his secrets to a wise man: therefore +a wise man is no drunkard." Is this to hit the white? I love to see +that these great and leading souls cannot rid themselves of our company: +perfect men as they are, they are yet simply men. + +Revenge is a sweet passion, of great and natural impression; I discern it +well enough, though I have no manner of experience of it. From this not +long ago to divert a young prince, I did not tell him that he must, to +him that had struck him upon the one cheek, turn the other, upon account +of charity; nor go about to represent to him the tragical events that +poetry attributes to this passion. I left that behind; and I busied +myself to make him relish the beauty of a contrary image: and, by +representing to him what honour, esteem, and goodwill he would acquire by +clemency and good nature, diverted him to ambition. Thus a man is to +deal in such cases. + +If your passion of love be too violent, disperse it, say they, and they +say true; for I have often tried it with advantage: break it into several +desires, of which let one be regent, if you will, over the rest; but, +lest it should tyrannise and domineer over you, weaken and protract, by +dividing and diverting it: + + "Cum morosa vago singultiet inguine vena," + + ["When you are tormented with fierce desire, satisfy it with the + first person that presents herself."--Persius, Sat., vi. 73.] + + "Conjicito humorem collectum in corpora quaeque," + + [Lucretius, vi. 1062, to the like effect.] + +and provide for it in time, lest it prove troublesome to deal with, when +it has once seized you: + + "Si non prima novis conturbes vulnera plagis, + Volgivagaque vagus venere ante recentia cures." + + ["Unless you cure old wounds by new."-Lucretius, iv. 1064.] + +I was once wounded with a vehement displeasure, and withal, more just +than vehement; I might peradventure have lost myself in it, if I had +merely trusted to my own strength. Having need of a powerful diversion +to disengage me, by art and study I became amorous, wherein I was +assisted by my youth: love relieved and rescued me from the evil wherein +friendship had engaged me. 'Tis in everything else the same; a violent +imagination hath seized me: I find it a nearer way to change than to +subdue it: I depute, if not one contrary, yet another at least, in its +place. Variation ever relieves, dissolves, and dissipates. + +If I am not able to contend with it, I escape from it; and in avoiding +it, slip out of the way, and make, my doubles; shifting place, business, +and company, I secure myself in the crowd of other thoughts and fancies, +where it loses my trace, and I escape. + +After the same manner does nature proceed, by the benefit of inconstancy; +for time, which she has given us for the sovereign physician of our +passions, chiefly works by this, that supplying our imaginations with +other and new affairs, it loosens and dissolves the first apprehension, +how strong soever. A wise man little less sees his friend dying at the +end of five-and-twenty years than on the first year; and according to +Epicurus, no less at all; for he did not attribute any alleviation of +afflictions, either to their foresight or their antiquity; but so many +other thoughts traverse this, that it languishes and tires at last. + +Alcibiades, to divert the inclination of common rumours, cut off the ears +and tail of his beautiful dog, and turned him out into the public place, +to the end that, giving the people this occasion to prate, they might let +his other actions alone. I have also seen, for this same end of +diverting the opinions and conjectures of the people and to stop their +mouths, some women conceal their real affections by those that were only +counterfeit; but I have also seen some of them, who in counterfeiting +have suffered themselves to be caught indeed, and who have quitted the +true and original affection for the feigned: and so have learned that +they who find their affections well placed are fools to consent to this +disguise: the public and favourable reception being only reserved for +this pretended lover, one may conclude him a fellow of very little +address and less wit, if he does not in the end put himself into your +place, and you into his; this is precisely to cut out and make up a shoe +for another to draw on. + +A little thing will turn and divert us, because a little thing holds us. +We do not much consider subjects in gross and singly; they are little and +superficial circumstances, or images that touch us, and the outward +useless rinds that peel off from the subjects themselves: + + "Folliculos ut nunc teretes aestate cicadae + Linquunt." + + ["As husks we find grasshoppers leave behind them in summer." + --"Lucretius, v. 801.] + +Even Plutarch himself laments his daughter for the little apish tricks of +her infancy. --[Consolation to his Wife on the Death of their Daughter, +c. I.]-- The remembrance of a farewell, of the particular grace of an +action, of a last recommendation, afflict us. The sight of Caesar's robe +troubled all Rome, which was more than his death had done. Even the +sound of names ringing in our ears, as "my poor master,"--"my faithful +friend,"--"alas, my dear father," or, "my sweet daughter," afflict us. +When these repetitions annoy me, and that I examine it a little nearer, +I find 'tis no other but a grammatical and word complaint; I am only +wounded with the word and tone, as the exclamations of preachers very +often work more upon their auditory than their reasons, and as the +pitiful eyes of a beast killed for our service; without my weighing or +penetrating meanwhile into the true and solid essence of my subject: + + "His se stimulis dolor ipse lacessit." + + ["With these incitements grief provokes itself." + --Lucretius, ii. 42.] + +These are the foundations of our mourning. + +The obstinacy of my stone to all remedies especially those in my bladder, +has sometimes thrown me into so long suppressions of urine for three or +four days together, and so near death, that it had been folly to have +hoped to evade it, and it was much rather to have been desired, +considering the miseries I endure in those cruel fits. Oh, that good +emperor, who caused criminals to be tied that they might die for want of +urination, was a great master in the hangman's' science! Finding myself +in this condition, I considered by how many light causes and objects +imagination nourished in me the regret of life; of what atoms the weight +and difficulty of this dislodging was composed in my soul; to how many +idle and frivolous thoughts we give way in so great an affair; a dog, a +horse, a book, a glass, and what not, were considered in my loss; to +others their ambitious hopes, their money, their knowledge, not less +foolish considerations in my opinion than mine. I look upon death +carelessly when I look upon it universally as the end of life. I insult +over it in gross, but in detail it domineers over me: the tears of a +footman, the disposing of my clothes, the touch of a friendly hand, a +common consolation, discourages and softens me. So do the complaints in +tragedies agitate our souls with grief; and the regrets of Dido and +Ariadne, impassionate even those who believe them not in Virgil and +Catullus. 'Tis a symptom of an obstinate and obdurate nature to be +sensible of no emotion, as 'tis reported for a miracle of Polemon; but +then he did not so much as alter his countenance at the biting of a mad +dog that tore away the calf of his leg; and no wisdom proceeds so far as +to conceive so vivid and entire a cause of sorrow, by judgment that it +does not suffer increase by its presence, when the eyes and ears have +their share; parts that are not to be moved but by vain accidents. + +Is it reason that even the arts themselves should make an advantage of +our natural stupidity and weakness? An orator, says rhetoric in the +farce of his pleading, shall be moved with the sound of his own voice and +feigned emotions, and suffer himself to be imposed upon by the passion he +represents; he will imprint in himself a true and real grief, by means of +the part he plays, to transmit it to the judges, who are yet less +concerned than he: as they do who are hired at funerals to assist in the +ceremony of sorrow, who sell their tears and mourning by weight and +measure; for although they act in a borrowed form, nevertheless, by +habituating and settling their countenances to the occasion, 'tis most +certain they often are really affected with an actual sorrow. I was one, +amongst several others of his friends, who conveyed the body of Monsieur +de Grammont to Spissons from the siege of La Fere, where he was slain; +I observed that in all places we passed through we filled the people we +met with lamentations and tears by the mere solemn pomp of our convoy, +for the name of the defunct was not there so much as known. Quintilian +reports as to have seen comedians so deeply engaged in a mourning part, +that they still wept in the retiring room, and who, having taken upon +them to stir up passion in another, have themselves espoused it to that +degree as to find themselves infected with it, not only to tears, but, +moreover, with pallor and the comportment of men really overwhelmed with +grief. + +In a country near our mountains the women play Priest Martin, for as they +augment the regret of the deceased husband by the remembrance of the good +and agreeable qualities he possessed, they also at the same time make a +register of and publish his imperfections; as if of themselves to enter +into some composition, and divert themselves from compassion to disdain. +Yet with much better grace than we, who, when we lose an acquaintance, +strive to give him new and false praises, and to make him quite another +thing when we have lost sight of him than he appeared to us when we did +see him; as if regret were an instructive thing, or as if tears, by +washing our understandings, cleared them. For my part, I henceforth +renounce all favourable testimonies men would give of me, not because I +shall be worthy of them, but because I shall be dead. + +Whoever shall ask a man, "What interest have you in this siege?"-- +"The interest of example," he will say, "and of the common obedience to +my prince: I pretend to no profit by it; and for glory, I know how small +a part can affect a private man such as I: I have here neither passion +nor quarrel." And yet you shall see him the next day quite another man, +chafing and red with fury, ranged in battle for the assault; 'tis the +glittering of so much steel, the fire and noise of our cannon and drums, +that have infused this new rigidity and fury into his veins. A frivolous +cause, you will say. How a cause? There needs none to agitate the mind; +a mere whimsy without body and without subject will rule and agitate it. +Let me thing of building castles in Spain, my imagination suggests to me +conveniences and pleasures with which my soul is really tickled and +pleased. How often do we torment our mind with anger or sorrow by such +shadows, and engage ourselves in fantastic passions that impair both soul +and body? What astonished, fleeting, confused grimaces does this raving +put our faces into! what sallies and agitations both of members and +voices does it inspire us with! Does it not seem that this individual +man has false visions amid the crowd of others with whom he has to do, +or that he is possessed with some internal demon that persecutes him? +Inquire of yourself where is the object of this mutation? is there +anything but us in nature which inanity sustains, over which it has +power? Cambyses, from having dreamt that his brother should be one day +king of Persia, put him to death: a beloved brother, and one in whom he +had always confided. Aristodemus, king of the Messenians, killed himself +out of a fancy of ill omen, from I know not what howling of his dogs; +and King Midas did as much upon the account of some foolish dream he had +dreamed. 'Tis to prize life at its just value, to abandon it for a +dream. And yet hear the soul triumph over the miseries and weakness of +the body, and that it is exposed to all attacks and alterations; truly, +it has reason so to speak! + + "O prima infelix finger ti terra Prometheo! + Ille parum cauti pectoris egit opus + Corpora disponens, mentem non vidit in arte; + Recta animi primum debuit esse via." + + ["O wretched clay, first formed by Prometheus. In his attempt, + what little wisdom did he shew! In framing bodies, he did not + apply his art to form the mind, which should have been his first + care."--Propertius, iii. 5, 7.] + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A little thing will turn and divert us +Abominate that incidental repentance which old age brings +Age imprints more wrinkles in the mind than it does on the face +Always be parading their pedantic science +Am as jealous of my repose as of my authority +Anger and hatred are beyond the duty of justice +Beast of company, as the ancient said, but not of the herd +Books go side by side with me in my whole course +Books have many charming qualities to such as know how to choose +But ill proves the honour and beauty of an action by its utility +Childish ignorance of many very ordinary things +Common consolation, discourages and softens me +Consoles himself upon the utility and eternity of his writings +Deceit maintains and supplies most men's employment +Diverting the opinions and conjectures of the people +Dying appears to him a natural and indifferent accident +Every place of retirement requires a walk +Fault will be theirs for having consulted me +Few men have been admired by their own domestics +Follies do not make me laugh, it is our wisdom which does +Folly to put out their own light and shine by a borrowed lustre +For fear of the laws and report of men +Gently to bear the inconstancy of a lover +Give but the rind of my attention +Grief provokes itself +He may employ his passion, who can make no use of his reason +He may well go a foot, they say, who leads his horse in his hand +I do not consider what it is now, but what it was then +I find no quality so easy to counterfeit as devotion +I lay no great stress upon my opinions; or of others +I look upon death carelessly when I look upon it universally +I receive but little advice, I also give but little +I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare +I understand my men even by their silence and smiles +Idleness is to me a very painful labour +Imagne the mighty will not abase themselves so much as to live +In ordinary friendships I am somewhat cold and shy +Leaving nothing unsaid, how home and bitter soever +Library: Tis there that I am in my kingdom +Malice sucks up the greatest part of its own venom +Malicious kind of justice +Miserable kind of remedy, to owe one's health to one's disease! +Miserable, who has not at home where to be by himself +More supportable to be always alone than never to be so. +My fancy does not go by itself, as when my legs move it +My thoughts sleep if I sit still +Nearest to the opinions of those with whom they have to do +No evil is honourable; but death is honourable +No man is free from speaking foolish things +Noise of arms deafened the voice of laws +None of the sex, let her be as ugly as the devil thinks lovable +Obliged to his age for having weaned him from pleasure +Open speaking draws out discoveries, like wine and love +Perfect men as they are, they are yet simply men. +Preachers very often work more upon their auditory than reasons +Public weal requires that men should betray, and lie +Ridiculous desire of riches when we have lost the use of them +Rowers who so advance backward +Season a denial with asperity, suspense, or favour +So that I could have said no worse behind their backs +Socrates: According to what a man can +Studied, when young, for ostentation, now for diversion +Swim in troubled waters without fishing in them +Take a pleasure in being uninterested in other men's affairs +The good opinion of the vulgar is injurious +The sick man has not to complain who has his cure in his sleeve +The virtue of the soul does not consist in flying high +Tis an exact life that maintains itself in due order in private +Tis not the cause, but their interest, that inflames them +Titillation of ill-natured pleasure in seeing others suffer +To be a slave, incessantly to be led by the nose by one's self +Truly he, with a great effort will shortly say a mighty trifle +We do not so much forsake vices as we change them +We much more aptly imagine an artisan upon his close-stool +What more? they lie with their lovers learnedly +What need have they of anything but to live beloved and honoured +Wisdom is folly that does not accommodate itself to the common +You must let yourself down to those with whom you converse + + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Essays of Montaigne, V14 +By Michel de Montaigne + diff --git a/old/mn14v10.zip b/old/mn14v10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..48d82f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mn14v10.zip diff --git a/old/mn14v11.txt b/old/mn14v11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0596b1d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mn14v11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2637 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Essays of Montaigne, V14 +#14 in our series by Michel de Montaigne, Translator: Cotton +Edited by William Carew Hazlitt, 1877 + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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Of Diversion. + + + +ESSAYS OF MONTAIGNE + +BOOK THE THIRD + + + +CHAPTER I + +OF PROFIT AND HONESTY + +No man is free from speaking foolish things; but the worst on't is, when +a man labours to play the fool: + + "Nae iste magno conatu magnas nugas dixerit." + + ["Truly he, with a great effort will shortly say a mighty trifle." + ---Terence, Heaut., act iii., s. 4.] + +This does not concern me; mine slip from me with as little care as they +are of little value, and 'tis the better for them. I would presently +part with them for what they are worth, and neither buy nor sell them, +but as they weigh. I speak on paper, as I do to the first person I meet; +and that this is true, observe what follows. + +To whom ought not treachery to be hateful, when Tiberius refused it in a +thing of so great importance to him? He had word sent him from Germany +that if he thought fit, they would rid him of Arminius by poison: this +was the most potent enemy the Romans had, who had defeated them so +ignominiously under Varus, and who alone prevented their aggrandisement +in those parts. + +He returned answer, "that the people of Rome were wont to revenge +themselves of their enemies by open ways, and with their swords in their +hands, and not clandestinely and by fraud": wherein he quitted the +profitable for the honest. You will tell me that he was a braggadocio; I +believe so too: and 'tis no great miracle in men of his profession. But +the acknowledgment of virtue is not less valid in the mouth of him who +hates it, forasmuch as truth forces it from him, and if he will not +inwardly receive it, he at least puts it on for a decoration. + +Our outward and inward structure is full of imperfection; but there is +nothing useless in nature, not even inutility itself; nothing has +insinuated itself into this universe that has not therein some fit and +proper place. Our being is cemented with sickly qualities: ambition, +jealousy, envy, revenge, superstition, and despair have so natural a +possession in us, that its image is discerned in beasts; nay, and +cruelty, so unnatural a vice; for even in the midst of compassion we feel +within, I know not what tart-sweet titillation of ill-natured pleasure in +seeing others suffer; and the children feel it: + + "Suave mari magno, turbantibus aequora ventis, + E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem:" + + ["It is sweet, when the winds disturb the waters of the vast sea, to + witness from land the peril of other persons."--Lucretius, ii. I.] + +of the seeds of which qualities, whoever should divest man, would destroy +the fundamental conditions of human life. Likewise, in all governments +there are necessary offices, not only abject, but vicious also. Vices +there help to make up the seam in our piecing, as poisons are useful for +the conservation of health. If they become excusable because they are of +use to us, and that the common necessity covers their true qualities, we +are to resign this part to the strongest and boldest citizens, who +sacrifice their honour and conscience, as others of old sacrificed their +lives, for the good of their country: we, who are weaker, take upon us +parts both that are more easy and less hazardous. The public weal +requires that men should betray, and lie, and massacre; let us leave this +commission to men who are more obedient and more supple. + +In earnest, I have often been troubled to see judges, by fraud and false +hopes of favour or pardon, allure a criminal to confess his fact, and +therein to make use of cozenage and impudence. It would become justice, +and Plato himself, who countenances this manner of proceeding, to furnish +me with other means more suitable to my own liking: this is a malicious +kind of justice, and I look upon it as no less wounded by itself than by +others. I said not long since to some company in discourse, that I +should hardly be drawn to betray my prince for a particular man, who +should be much ashamed to betray any particular man for my prince; and I +do not only hate deceiving myself, but that any one should deceive +through me; I will neither afford matter nor occasion to any such thing. + +In the little I have had to mediate betwixt our princes--[Between the +King of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV., and the Duc de Guise. See De +Thou, De Vita Sua, iii. 9.]--in the divisions and subdivisions by which +we are at this time torn to pieces, I have been very careful that they +should neither be deceived in me nor deceive others by me. People of +that kind of trading are very reserved, and pretend to be the most +moderate imaginable and nearest to the opinions of those with whom they +have to do; I expose myself in my stiff opinion, and after a method the +most my own; a tender negotiator, a novice, who had rather fail in the +affair than be wanting to myself. And yet it has been hitherto with so +good luck (for fortune has doubtless the best share in it), that few +things have passed from hand to hand with less suspicion or more favour +and privacy. I have a free and open way that easily insinuates itself +and obtains belief with those with whom I am to deal at the first +meeting. Sincerity and pure truth, in what age soever, pass for current; +and besides, the liberty and freedom of a man who treats without any +interest of his own is never hateful or suspected, and he may very well +make use of the answer of Hyperides to the Athenians, who complained of +his blunt way of speaking: "Messieurs, do not consider whether or no I am +free, but whether I am so without a bribe, or without any advantage to my +own affairs." My liberty of speaking has also easily cleared me from all +suspicion of dissembling by its vehemency, leaving nothing unsaid, how +home and bitter soever (so that I could have said no worse behind their +backs), and in that it carried along with it a manifest show of +simplicity and indifference. I pretend to no other fruit by acting than +to act, and add to it no long arguments or propositions; every action +plays its own game, win if it can. + +As to the rest, I am not swayed by any passion, either of love or hatred, +towards the great, nor has my will captivated either by particular injury +or obligation. I look upon our kings with an affection simply loyal and +respectful, neither prompted nor restrained by any private interest, and +I love myself for it. Nor does the general and just cause attract me +otherwise than with moderation, and without heat. I am not subject to +those penetrating and close compacts and engagements. Anger and hatred +are beyond the duty of justice; and are passions only useful to those who +do not keep themselves strictly to their duty by simple reason: + + "Utatur motu animi, qui uti ratione non potest." + + ["He may employ his passion, who can make no use of his reason." + --Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., iv. 25.] + +All legitimate intentions are temperate and equable of themselves; if +otherwise, they degenerate into seditious and unlawful. This is it which +makes me walk everywhere with my head erect, my face and my heart open. +In truth, and I am not afraid to confess it, I should easily, in case of +need, hold up one candle to St. Michael and another to his dragon, like +the old woman; I will follow the right side even to the fire, but +exclusively, if I can. Let Montaigne be overwhelmed in the public ruin +if need be; but if there be no need, I should think myself obliged to +fortune to save me, and I will make use of all the length of line my duty +allows for his preservation. Was it not Atticus who, being of the just +but losing side, preserved himself by his moderation in that universal +shipwreck of the world, amongst so many mutations and diversities? For +private man, as he was, it is more easy; and in such kind of work, I +think a man may justly not be ambitious to offer and insinuate himself. +For a man, indeed, to be wavering and irresolute, to keep his affection +unmoved and without inclination in the troubles of his country and public +divisions, I neither think it handsome nor honest: + + "Ea non media, sed nulla via est, velut eventum + exspectantium, quo fortunae consilia sua applicent." + + ["That is not a middle way, but no way, to await events, by which + they refer their resolutions to fortune."--Livy, xxxii. 21.] + +This may be allowed in our neighbours' affairs; and thus Gelo, the tyrant +of Syracuse, suspended his inclination in the war betwixt the Greeks and +barbarians, keeping a resident ambassador with presents at Delphos, to +watch and see which way fortune would incline, and then take fit occasion +to fall in with the victors. It would be a kind of treason to proceed +after this manner in our own domestic affairs, wherein a man must of +necessity be of the one side or the other; though for a man who has no +office or express command to call him out, to sit still I hold it more +excusable (and yet I do not excuse myself upon these terms) than in +foreign expeditions, to which, however, according to our laws, no man is +pressed against his will. And yet even those who wholly engage +themselves in such a war may behave themselves with such temper and +moderation, that the storm may fly over their heads without doing them +any harm. Had we not reason to hope such an issue in the person of the +late Bishop of Orleans, the Sieur de Morvilliers? + + [An able negotiator, who, though protected by the Guises, and + strongly supporting them, was yet very far from persecuting the + Reformists. He died 1577.] + +And I know, amongst those who behave themselves most bravely in the +present war, some whose manners are so gentle, obliging, and just, that +they will certainly stand firm, whatever event Heaven is preparing for +us. I am of opinion that it properly belongs to kings only to quarrel +with kings; and I laugh at those spirits who, out of lightness of heart, +lend themselves to so disproportioned disputes; for a man has never the +more particular quarrel with a prince, by marching openly and boldly +against him for his own honour and according to his duty; if he does not +love such a person, he does better, he esteems him. And notably the +cause of the laws and of the ancient government of a kingdom, has this +always annexed to it, that even those who, for their own private +interest, invade them, excuse, if they do not honour, the defenders. + +But we are not, as we nowadays do, to call peevishness and inward +discontent, that spring from private interest and passion, duty, nor a +treacherous and malicious conduct, courage; they call their proneness to +mischief and violence zeal; 'tis not the cause, but their interest, that +inflames them; they kindle and begin a war, not because it is just, but +because it is war. + +A man may very well behave himself commodiously and loyally too amongst +those of the adverse party; carry yourself, if not with the same equal +affection (for that is capable of different measure), at least with an +affection moderate, well tempered, and such as shall not so engage you to +one party, that it may demand all you are able to do for that side, +content yourself with a moderate proportion of their, favour and +goodwill; and to swim in troubled waters without fishing in them. + +The other way, of offering a man's self and the utmost service he is able +to do, both to one party and the other, has still less of prudence in it +than conscience. Does not he to whom you betray another, to whom you +were as welcome as to himself, know that you will at another time do as +much for him? He holds you for a villain; and in the meantime hears what +you will say, gathers intelligence from you, and works his own ends out +of your disloyalty; double-dealing men are useful for bringing in, but we +must have a care they carry out as little as is possible. + +I say nothing to one party that I may not, upon occasion, say to the +other, with a little alteration of accent; and report nothing but things +either indifferent or known, or what is of common consequence. I cannot +permit myself, for any consideration, to tell them a lie. What is +intrusted to my secrecy, I religiously conceal; but I take as few trusts +of that nature upon me as I can. The secrets of princes are a +troublesome burthen to such as are not interested in them. I very +willingly bargain that they trust me with little, but confidently rely +upon what I tell them. I have ever known more than I desired. One open +way of speaking introduces another open way of speaking, and draws out +discoveries, like wine and love. Philippides, in my opinion, answered +King Lysimachus very discreetly, who, asking him what of his estate he +should bestow upon him? "What you will," said he, "provided it be none +of your secrets." I see every one is displeased if the bottom of the +affair be concealed from him wherein he is employed, or that there be any +reservation in the thing; for my part, I am content to know no more of +the business than what they would have me employ myself in, nor desire +that my knowledge should exceed or restrict what I have to say. If I +must serve for an instrument of deceit, let it be at least with a safe +conscience: I will not be reputed a servant either so affectionate or so +loyal as to be fit to betray any one: he who is unfaithful to himself, is +excusably so to his master. But they are princes who do not accept men +by halves, and despise limited and conditional services: I cannot help +it: I frankly tell them how far I can go; for a slave I should not be, +but to reason, and I can hardly submit even to that. And they also are +to blame to exact from a freeman the same subjection and obligation to +their service that they do from him they have made and bought, or whose +fortune particularly and expressly depends upon theirs. The laws have +delivered me from a great anxiety; they have chosen a side for me, and +given me a master; all other superiority and obligation ought to be +relative to that, and cut, off from all other. Yet this is not to say, +that if my affection should otherwise incline me, my hand should +presently obey it; the will and desire are a law to themselves; but +actions must receive commission from the public appointment. + +All this proceeding of mine is a little dissonant from the ordinary +forms; it would produce no great effects, nor be of any long duration; +innocence itself could not, in this age of ours, either negotiate without +dissimulation, or traffic without lying; and, indeed, public employments +are by no means for my palate: what my profession requires, I perform +after the most private manner that I can. Being young, I was engaged up +to the ears in business, and it succeeded well; but I disengaged myself +in good time. I have often since avoided meddling in it, rarely +accepted, and never asked it; keeping my back still turned to ambition; +but if not like rowers who so advance backward, yet so, at the same time, +that I am less obliged to my resolution than to my good fortune, that I +was not wholly embarked in it. For there are ways less displeasing to my +taste, and more suitable to my ability, by which, if she had formerly +called me to the public service, and my own advancement towards the +world's opinion, I know I should, in spite of all my own arguments to the +contrary, have pursued them. Such as commonly say, in opposition to what +I profess, that what I call freedom, simplicity, and plainness in my +manners, is art and subtlety, and rather prudence than goodness, industry +than nature, good sense than good luck, do me more honour than disgrace: +but, certainly, they make my subtlety too subtle; and whoever has +followed me close, and pryed narrowly into me, I will give him the +victory, if he does not confess that there is no rule in their school +that could match this natural motion, and maintain an appearance of +liberty and licence, so equal and inflexible, through so many various and +crooked paths, and that all their wit and endeavour could never have led +them through. The way of truth is one and simple; that of particular +profit, and the commodity of affairs a man is entrusted with, is double, +unequal, and casual. I have often seen these counterfeit and artificial +liberties practised, but, for the most part, without success; they relish +of AEsop's ass who, in emulation of the dog, obligingly clapped his two +fore-feet upon his master's shoulders; but as many caresses as the dog +had for such an expression of kindness, twice so many blows with a cudgel +had the poor ass for his compliment: + + "Id maxime quemque decet, quod est cujusque suum maxime." + + ["That best becomes every man which belongs most to him;" + --Cicero, De Offic., i. 31.] + +I will not deprive deceit of its due; that were but ill to understand the +world: I know it has often been of great use, and that it maintains and +supplies most men's employment. There are vices that are lawful, as +there are many actions, either good or excusable, that are not lawful in +themselves. + +The justice which in itself is natural and universal is otherwise and +more nobly ordered than that other justice which is special, national, +and constrained to the ends of government, + + "Veri juris germanaeque justitiae solidam et expressam + effigiem nullam tenemus; umbra et imaginibus utimur;" + + ["We retain no solid and express portraiture of true right and + germane justice; we have only the shadow and image of it." + --Cicero, De Offic., iii. 17.] + +insomuch that the sage Dandamis, hearing the lives of Socrates, +Pythagoras, and Diogenes read, judged them to be great men every way, +excepting that they were too much subjected to the reverence of the laws, +which, to second and authorise, true virtue must abate very much of its +original vigour; many vicious actions are introduced, not only by their +permission, but by their advice: + + "Ex senatus consultis plebisquescitis scelera exercentur." + + ["Crimes are committed by the decrees of the Senate and the + popular assembly."--Seneca, Ep., 95.] + +I follow the common phrase that distinguishes betwixt profitable and +honest things, so as to call some natural actions, that are not only +profitable but necessary, dishonest and foul. + +But let us proceed in our examples of treachery two pretenders to the +kingdom of Thrace--[Rhescuporis and Cotys. Tacitus, Annal., ii. 65]-- +were fallen into dispute about their title; the emperor hindered them +from proceeding to blows: but one of them, under colour of bringing +things to a friendly issue by an interview, having invited his competitor +to an entertainment in his own house, imprisoned and killed him. Justice +required that the Romans should have satisfaction for this offence; but +there was a difficulty in obtaining it by ordinary ways; what, therefore, +they could not do legitimately, without war and without danger, they +resolved to do by treachery; and what they could not honestly do, they +did profitably. For which end, one Pomponius Flaccus was found to be a +fit instrument. This man, by dissembled words and assurances, having +drawn the other into his toils, instead of the honour and favour he had +promised him, sent him bound hand and foot to Rome. Here one traitor +betrayed another, contrary to common custom: for they are full of +mistrust, and 'tis hard to overreach them in their own art: witness the +sad experience we have lately had.--[Montaigne here probably refers to +the feigned reconciliation between Catherine de Medici and Henri, Duc de +Guise, in 1588.] + +Let who will be Pomponius Flaccus, and there are enough who would: for my +part, both my word and my faith are, like all the rest, parts of this +common body: their best effect is the public service; this I take for +presupposed. But should one command me to take charge of the courts of +law and lawsuits, I should make answer, that I understood it not; or the +place of a leader of pioneers, I would say, that I was called to a more +honourable employment; so likewise, he that would employ me to lie, +betray, and forswear myself, though not to assassinate or to poison, for +some notable service, I should say, "If I have robbed or stolen anything +from any man, send me rather to the galleys." For it is permissible in a +man of honour to say, as the Lacedaemonians did,--[Plutarch, Difference +between a Flatterer and a Friend, c. 21.]--having been defeated by +Antipater, when just upon concluding an agreement: "You may impose as +heavy and ruinous taxes upon us as you please, but to command us to do +shameful and dishonest things, you will lose your time, for it is to no +purpose." Every one ought to make the same vow to himself that the kings +of Egypt made their judges solemnly swear, that they would not do +anything contrary to their consciences, though never so much commanded to +it by themselves. In such commissions there is evident mark of ignominy +and condemnation; and he who gives it at the same time accuses you, and +gives it, if you understand it right, for a burden and a punishment. +As much as the public affairs are bettered by your exploit, so much are +your own the worse, and the better you behave yourself in it, 'tis so +much the worse for yourself; and it will be no new thing, nor, +peradventure, without some colour of justice, if the same person ruin +you who set you on work. + +If treachery can be in any case excusable, it must be only so when it is +practised to chastise and betray treachery. There are examples enough of +treacheries, not only rejected, but chastised and punished by those in +favour of whom they were undertaken. Who is ignorant of Fabricius +sentence against the physician of Pyrrhus? + +But this we also find recorded, that some persons have commanded a thing, +who afterward have severely avenged the execution of it upon him they had +employed, rejecting the reputation of so unbridled an authority, and +disowning so abandoned and base a servitude and obedience. Jaropelk, +Duke of Russia, tampered with a gentleman of Hungary to betray Boleslaus, +king of Poland, either by killing him, or by giving the Russians +opportunity to do him some notable mischief. This worthy went ably to +work: he was more assiduous than before in the service of that king, so +that he obtained the honour to be of his council, and one of the chiefest +in his trust. With these advantages, and taking an opportune occasion of +his master's absence, he betrayed Vislicza, a great and rich city, to the +Russians, which was entirely sacked and burned, and not only all the +inhabitants of both sexes, young and old, put to the sword, but moreover +a great number of neighbouring gentry, whom he had drawn thither to that +end. Jaropelk, his revenge being thus satisfied and his anger appeased, +which was not, indeed, without pretence (for Boleslaus had highly +offended him, and after the same manner), and sated with the fruit of +this treachery, coming to consider the fulness of it, with a sound +judgment and clear from passion, looked upon what had been done with so +much horror and remorse that he caused the eyes to be bored out and the +tongue and shameful parts to be cut off of him who had performed it. + +Antigonus persuaded the Argyraspides to betray Eumenes, their general, +his adversary, into his hands; but after he had caused him, so delivered, +to be slain, he would himself be the commissioner of the divine justice +for the punishment of so detestable a crime, and committed them into the +hands of the governor of the province, with express command, by whatever +means, to destroy and bring them all to an evil end, so that of that +great number of men, not so much as one ever returned again into +Macedonia: the better he had been served, the more wickedly he judged it +to be, and meriting greater punishment. + +The slave who betrayed the place where his master, P. Sulpicius, lay +concealed, was, according to the promise of Sylla's proscription, +manumitted for his pains; but according to the promise of the public +justice, which was free from any such engagement, he was thrown headlong +from the Tarpeian rock. + +Our King Clovis, instead of the arms of gold he had promised them, caused +three of Cararie's servants to be hanged after they had betrayed their +master to him, though he had debauched them to it: he hanged them with +the purse of their reward about their necks; after having satisfied his +second and special faith, he satisfied the general and first. + +Mohammed II. having resolved to rid himself of his brother, out of +jealousy of state, according to the practice of the Ottoman family, he +employed one of his officers in the execution, who, pouring a quantity of +water too fast into him, choked him. This being done, to expiate the +murder, he delivered the murderer into the hands of the mother of him he +had so caused to be put to death, for they were only brothers by the +father's side; she, in his presence, ripped up the murderer's bosom, and +with her own hands rifled his breast for his heart, tore it out, and +threw it to the dogs. And even to the worst people it is the sweetest +thing imaginable, having once gained their end by a vicious action, to +foist, in all security, into it some show of virtue and justice, as by +way of compensation and conscientious correction; to which may be added, +that they look upon the ministers of such horrid crimes as upon men who +reproach them with them, and think by their deaths to erase the memory +and testimony of such proceedings. + +Or if, perhaps, you are rewarded, not to frustrate the public necessity +for that extreme and desperate remedy, he who does it cannot for all +that, if he be not such himself, but look upon you as an accursed and +execrable fellow, and conclude you a greater traitor than he does, +against whom you are so: for he tries the malignity of your disposition +by your own hands, where he cannot possibly be deceived, you having no +object of preceding hatred to move you to such an act; but he employs you +as they do condemned malefactors in executions of justice, an office as +necessary as dishonourable. Besides the baseness of such commissions, +there is, moreover, a prostitution of conscience. Seeing that the +daughter of Sejanus could not be put to death by the law of Rome, because +she was a virgin, she was, to make it lawful, first ravished by the +hangman and then strangled: not only his hand but his soul is slave to +the public convenience. + +When Amurath I., more grievously to punish his subjects who had taken +part in the parricide rebellion of his son, ordained that their nearest +kindred should assist in the execution, I find it very handsome in some +of them to have rather chosen to be unjustly thought guilty of the +parricide of another than to serve justice by a parricide of their own. +And where I have seen, at the taking of some little fort by assault in my +time, some rascals who, to save their own lives, would consent to hang +their friends and companions, I have looked upon them to be of worse +condition than those who were hanged. 'Tis said, that Witold, Prince of +Lithuania, introduced into the nation the practice that the criminal +condemned to death should with his own hand execute the sentence, +thinking it strange that a third person, innocent of the fault, should be +made guilty of homicide. + +A prince, when by some urgent circumstance or some impetuous and +unforeseen accident that very much concerns his state, compelled to +forfeit his word and break his faith, or otherwise forced from his +ordinary duty, ought to attribute this necessity to a lash of the divine +rod: vice it is not, for he has given up his own reason to a more +universal and more powerful reason; but certainly 'tis a misfortune: so +that if any one should ask me what remedy? "None," say I, "if he were +really racked between these two extremes: 'sed videat, ne quoeratur +latebya perjurio', he must do it: but if he did it without regret, if it +did not weigh on him to do it, 'tis a sign his conscience is in a sorry +condition." If there be a person to be found of so tender a conscience +as to think no cure whatever worth so important a remedy, I shall like +him never the worse; he could not more excusably or more decently perish. +We cannot do all we would, so that we must often, as the last anchorage, +commit the protection of our vessels to the simple conduct of heaven. +To what more just necessity does he reserve himself? What is less +possible for him to do than what he cannot do but at the expense of his +faith and honour, things that, perhaps, ought to be dearer to him than +his own safety, or even the safety of his people. Though he should, with +folded arms, only call God to his assistance, has he not reason to hope +that the divine goodness will not refuse the favour of an extraordinary +arm to just and pure hands? These are dangerous examples, rare and +sickly exceptions to our natural rules: we must yield to them, but with +great moderation and circumspection: no private utility is of such +importance that we should upon that account strain our consciences to +such a degree: the public may be, when very manifest and of very great +concern. + +Timoleon made a timely expiation for his strange exploit by the tears he +shed, calling to mind that it was with a fraternal hand that he had slain +the tyrant; and it justly pricked his conscience that he had been +necessitated to purchase the public utility at so great a price as the +violation of his private morality. Even the Senate itself, by his means +delivered from slavery, durst not positively determine of so high a fact, +and divided into two so important and contrary aspects; but the +Syracusans, sending at the same time to the Corinthians to solicit their +protection, and to require of them a captain fit to re-establish their +city in its former dignity and to clear Sicily of several little tyrants +by whom it was oppressed, they deputed Timoleon for that service, with +this cunning declaration; "that according as he should behave himself +well or ill in his employment, their sentence should incline either to +favour the deliverer of his country, or to disfavour the murderer of his +brother." This fantastic conclusion carries along with it some excuse, +by reason of the danger of the example, and the importance of so strange +an action: and they did well to discharge their own judgment of it, and +to refer it to others who were not so much concerned. But Timoleon's +comportment in this expedition soon made his cause more clear, so +worthily and virtuously he demeaned himself upon all occasions; and the +good fortune that accompanied him in the difficulties he had to overcome +in this noble employment, seemed to be strewed in his way by the gods, +favourably conspiring for his justification. + +The end of this matter is excusable, if any can be so; but the profit of +the augmentation of the public revenue, that served the Roman Senate for +a pretence to the foul conclusion I am going to relate, is not sufficient +to warrant any such injustice. + +Certain cities had redeemed themselves and their liberty by money, by the +order and consent of the Senate, out of the hands of L. Sylla: the +business coming again in question, the Senate condemned them to be +taxable as they were before, and that the money they had disbursed for +their redemption should be lost to them. Civil war often produces such +villainous examples; that we punish private men for confiding in us when +we were public ministers: and the self-same magistrate makes another man +pay the penalty of his change that has nothing to do with it; the +pedagogue whips his scholar for his docility; and the guide beats the +blind man whom he leads by the hand; a horrid image of justice. + +There are rules in philosophy that are both false and weak. The example +that is proposed to us for preferring private utility before faith given, +has not weight enough by the circumstances they put to it; robbers have +seized you, and after having made you swear to pay them a certain sum of +money, dismiss you. 'Tis not well done to say, that an honest man can be +quit of his oath without payment, being out of their hands. 'Tis no such +thing: what fear has once made me willing to do, I am obliged to do it +when I am no longer in fear; and though that fear only prevailed with my +tongue without forcing my will, yet am I bound to keep my word. For my +part, when my tongue has sometimes inconsiderately said something that I +did not think, I have made a conscience of disowning it: otherwise, by +degrees, we shall abolish all the right another derives from our promises +and oaths: + + "Quasi vero forti viro vis possit adhiberi." + + ["As though a man of true courage could be compelled." + --Cicero, De Offic., iii. 30.] + +And 'tis only lawful, upon the account of private interest, to excuse +breach of promise, when we have promised something that is unlawful and +wicked in itself; for the right of virtue ought to take place of the +right of any obligation of ours. + +I have formerly placed Epaminondas in the first rank of excellent men, +and do not repent it. How high did he stretch the consideration of his +own particular duty? he who never killed a man whom he had overcome; who, +for the inestimable benefit of restoring the liberty of his country, made +conscience of killing a tyrant or his accomplices without due form of +justice: and who concluded him to be a wicked man, how good a citizen +soever otherwise, who amongst his enemies in battle spared not his friend +and his guest. This was a soul of a rich composition: he married +goodness and humanity, nay, even the tenderest and most delicate in the +whole school of philosophy, to the roughest and most violent human +actions. Was it nature or art that had intenerated that great courage of +his, so full, so obstinate against pain and death and poverty, to such an +extreme degree of sweetness and compassion? Dreadful in arms and blood, +he overran and subdued a nation invincible by all others but by him +alone; and yet in the heat of an encounter, could turn aside from his +friend and guest. Certainly he was fit to command in war who could so +rein himself with the curb of good nature, in the height and heat of his +fury, a fury inflamed and foaming with blood and slaughter. 'Tis a +miracle to be able to mix any image of justice with such violent actions: +and it was only possible for such a steadfastness of mind as that of +Epaminondas therein to mix sweetness and the facility of the gentlest +manners and purest innocence. And whereas one told the Mamertini that +statutes were of no efficacy against armed men; and another told the +tribune of the people that the time of justice and of war were distinct +things; and a third said that the noise of arms deafened the voice of +laws, this man was not precluded from listening to the laws of civility +and pure courtesy. Had he not borrowed from his enemies the custom of +sacrificing to the Muses when he went to war, that they might by their +sweetness and gaiety soften his martial and rigorous fury? Let us not +fear, by the example of so great a master, to believe that there is +something unlawful, even against an enemy, and that the common concern +ought not to require all things of all men, against private interest: + + "Manente memoria, etiam in dissidio publicorum + foederum, privati juris:" + + ["The memory of private right remaining even amid + public dissensions."--Livy, xxv. 18.] + + "Et nulla potentia vires + Praestandi, ne quid peccet amicus, habet;" + + ["No power on earth can sanction treachery against a friend." + --Ovid, De Ponto, i. 7, 37.] + +and that all things are not lawful to an honest man for the service of +his prince, the laws, or the general quarrel: + + "Non enim patria praestat omnibus officiis.... + et ipsi conducit pios habere cives in parentes." + + ["The duty to one's country does not supersede all other duties. + The country itself requires that its citizens should act piously + toward their parents."--Cicero, De Offic., iii. 23.] + +Tis an instruction proper for the time wherein we live: we need not +harden our courage with these arms of steel; 'tis enough that our +shoulders are inured to them: 'tis enough to dip our pens in ink without +dipping them in blood. If it be grandeur of courage, and the effect of a +rare and singular virtue, to contemn friendship, private obligations, a +man's word and relationship, for the common good and obedience to the +magistrate, 'tis certainly sufficient to excuse us, that 'tis a grandeur +that can have no place in the grandeur of Epaminondas' courage. + +I abominate those mad exhortations of this other discomposed soul, + + "Dum tela micant, non vos pietatis imago + Ulla, nec adversa conspecti fronte parentes + Commoveant; vultus gladio turbate verendos." + + ["While swords glitter, let no idea of piety, nor the face even of a + father presented to you, move you: mutilate with your sword those + venerable features "--Lucan, vii. 320.] + +Let us deprive wicked, bloody, and treacherous natures of such a pretence +of reason: let us set aside this guilty and extravagant justice, and +stick to more human imitations. How great things can time and example +do! In an encounter of the civil war against Cinna, one of Pompey's +soldiers having unawares killed his brother, who was of the contrary +party, he immediately for shame and sorrow killed himself: and some years +after, in another civil war of the same people, a soldier demanded a +reward of his officer for having killed his brother. + +A man but ill proves the honour and beauty of an action by its utility: +and very erroneously concludes that every one is obliged to it, and that +it becomes every one to do it, if it be of utility: + + "Omnia non pariter rerum sunt omnibus apta." + + + ["All things are not equally fit for all men." + --Propertius, iii. 9, 7.] + +Let us take that which is most necessary and profitable for human +society; it will be marriage; and yet the council of the saints find the +contrary much better, excluding from it the most venerable vocation of +man: as we design those horses for stallions of which we have the least +esteem. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +OF REPENTANCE + +Others form man; I only report him: and represent a particular one, ill +fashioned enough, and whom, if I had to model him anew, I should +certainly make something else than what he is but that's past recalling. +Now, though the features of my picture alter and change, 'tis not, +however, unlike: the world eternally turns round; all things therein are +incessantly moving, the earth, the rocks of Caucasus, and the pyramids of +Egypt, both by the public motion and their own. Even constancy itself is +no other but a slower and more languishing motion. I cannot fix my +object; 'tis always tottering and reeling by a natural giddiness; I take +it as it is at the instant I consider it; I do not paint its being, I +paint its passage; not a passing from one age to another, or, as the +people say, from seven to seven years, but from day to day, from minute +to minute, I must accommodate my history to the hour: I may presently +change, not only by fortune, but also by intention. 'Tis a counterpart +of various and changeable accidents, and of irresolute imaginations, and, +as it falls out, sometimes contrary: whether it be that I am then another +self, or that I take subjects by other circumstances and considerations: +so it is that I may peradventure contradict myself, but, as Demades said, +I never contradict the truth. Could my soul once take footing, I would +not essay but resolve: but it is always learning and making trial. + +I propose a life ordinary and without lustre: 'tis all one; all moral +philosophy may as well be applied to a common and private life, as to one +of richer composition: every man carries the entire form of human +condition. Authors communicate themselves to the people by some especial +and extrinsic mark; I, the first of any, by my universal being; as Michel +de Montaigne, not as a grammarian, a poet, or a lawyer. If the world +find fault that I speak too much of myself, I find fault that they do not +so much as think of themselves. But is it reason that, being so +particular in my way of living, I should pretend to recommend myself to +the public knowledge? And is it also reason that I should produce to the +world, where art and handling have so much credit and authority, crude +and simple effects of nature, and of a weak nature to boot? Is it not to +build a wall without stone or brick, or some such thing, to write books +without learning and without art? The fancies of music are carried on by +art; mine by chance. I have this, at least, according to discipline, +that never any man treated of a subject he better understood and knew +than I what I have undertaken, and that in this I am the most +understanding man alive: secondly, that never any man penetrated farther +into his matter, nor better and more distinctly sifted the parts and +sequences of it, nor ever more exactly and fully arrived at the end he +proposed to himself. To perfect it, I need bring nothing but fidelity to +the work; and that is there, and the most pure and sincere that is +anywhere to be found. I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much +as I dare; and I dare a little the more, as I grow older; for, methinks, +custom allows to age more liberty of prating, and more indiscretion of +talking of a man's self. That cannot fall out here, which I often see +elsewhere, that the work and the artificer contradict one another: +"Can a man of such sober conversation have written so foolish a book?" +Or "Do so learned writings proceed from a man of so weak conversation?" +He who talks at a very ordinary rate, and writes rare matter, 'tis to say +that his capacity is borrowed and not his own. A learned man is not +learned in all things: but a sufficient man is sufficient throughout, +even to ignorance itself; here my book and I go hand in hand together. +Elsewhere men may commend or censure the work, without reference to the +workman; here they cannot: who touches the one, touches the other. He +who shall judge of it without knowing him, will more wrong himself than +me; he who does know him, gives me all the satisfaction I desire. I +shall be happy beyond my desert, if I can obtain only thus much from the +public approbation, as to make men of understanding perceive that I was +capable of profiting by knowledge, had I had it; and that I deserved to +have been assisted by a better memory. + +Be pleased here to excuse what I often repeat, that I very rarely repent, +and that my conscience is satisfied with itself, not as the conscience of +an angel, or that of a horse, but as the conscience of a man; always +adding this clause, not one of ceremony, but a true and real submission, +that I speak inquiring and doubting, purely and simply referring myself +to the common and accepted beliefs for the resolution. I do not teach; I +only relate. + +There is no vice that is absolutely a vice which does not offend, and +that a sound judgment does not accuse; for there is in it so manifest a +deformity and inconvenience, that peradventure they are in the right who +say that it is chiefly begotten by stupidity and ignorance: so hard is it +to imagine that a man can know without abhorring it. Malice sucks up the +greatest part of its own venom, and poisons itself. Vice leaves +repentance in the soul, like an ulcer in the flesh, which is always +scratching and lacerating itself: for reason effaces all other grief and +sorrows, but it begets that of repentance, which is so much the more +grievous, by reason it springs within, as the cold and heat of fevers are +more sharp than those that only strike upon the outward skin. I hold for +vices (but every one according to its proportion), not only those which +reason and nature condemn, but those also which the opinion of men, +though false and erroneous, have made such, if authorised by law and +custom. + +There is likewise no virtue which does not rejoice a well-descended +nature: there is a kind of, I know not what, congratulation in well-doing +that gives us an inward satisfaction, and a generous boldness that +accompanies a good conscience: a soul daringly vicious may, peradventure, +arm itself with security, but it cannot supply itself with this +complacency and satisfaction. 'Tis no little satisfaction to feel a +man's self preserved from the contagion of so depraved an age, and to say +to himself: "Whoever could penetrate into my soul would not there find me +guilty either of the affliction or ruin of any one, or of revenge or +envy, or any offence against the public laws, or of innovation or +disturbance, or failure of my word; and though the licence of the time +permits and teaches every one so to do, yet have I not plundered any +Frenchman's goods, or taken his money, and have lived upon what is my +own, in war as well as in peace; neither have I set any man to work +without paying him his hire." These testimonies of a good conscience +please, and this natural rejoicing is very beneficial to us, and the only +reward that we can never fail of. + +To ground the recompense of virtuous actions upon the approbation of +others is too uncertain and unsafe a foundation, especially in so corrupt +and ignorant an age as this, wherein the good opinion of the vulgar is +injurious: upon whom do you rely to show you what is recommendable? God +defend me from being an honest man, according to the descriptions of +honour I daily see every one make of himself: + + "Quae fuerant vitia, mores sunt." + + ["What before had been vices are now manners."--Seneca, Ep., 39.] + +Some of my friends have at times schooled and scolded me with great +sincerity and plainness, either of their own voluntary motion, or by me +entreated to it as to an office, which to a well-composed soul surpasses +not only in utility, but in kindness, all other offices of friendship: I +have always received them with the most open arms, both of courtesy and +acknowledgment; but to say the truth, I have often found so much false +measure, both in their reproaches and praises, that I had not done much +amiss, rather to have done ill, than to have done well according to their +notions. We, who live private lives, not exposed to any other view than +our own, ought chiefly to have settled a pattern within ourselves by +which to try our actions: and according to that, sometimes to encourage +and sometimes to correct ourselves. I have my laws and my judicature to +judge of myself, and apply myself more to these than to any other rules: +I do, indeed, restrain my actions according to others; but extend them +not by any other rule than my own. You yourself only know if you are +cowardly and cruel, loyal and devout: others see you not, and only guess +at you by uncertain conjectures, and do not so much see your nature as +your art; rely not therefore upon their opinions, but stick to your own: + + "Tuo tibi judicio est utendum.... Virtutis et vitiorum grave ipsius + conscientiae pondus est: qua sublata, jacent omnia." + + ["Thou must employ thy own judgment upon thyself; great is the + weight of thy own conscience in the discovery of virtues and vices: + which taken away, all things are lost." + --Cicero, De Nat. Dei, iii. 35; Tusc. Quaes., i. 25.] + +But the saying that repentance immediately follows the sin seems not to +have respect to sin in its high estate, which is lodged in us as in its +own proper habitation. One may disown and retract the vices that +surprise us, and to which we are hurried by passions; but those which by +a long habit are rooted in a strong and vigorous will are not subject to +contradiction. Repentance is no other but a recanting of the will and an +opposition to our fancies, which lead us which way they please. It makes +this person disown his former virtue and continency: + + "Quae mens est hodie, cur eadem non puero fait? + Vel cur his animis incolumes non redeunt genae?" + + ["What my mind is, why was it not the same, when I was a boy? or + why do not the cheeks return to these feelings?" + --Horace, Od., v. 10, 7.] + +'Tis an exact life that maintains itself in due order in private. Every +one may juggle his part, and represent an honest man upon the stage: but +within, and in his own bosom, where all may do as they list, where all is +concealed, to be regular, there's the point. The next degree is to be so +in his house, and in his ordinary actions, for which we are accountable +to none, and where there is no study nor artifice. And therefore Bias, +setting forth the excellent state of a private family, says: "of which a +the master is the same within, by his own virtue and temper, that he is +abroad, for fear of the laws and report of men." And it was a worthy +saying of Julius Drusus, to the masons who offered him, for three +thousand crowns, to put his house in such a posture that his neighbours +should no longer have the same inspection into it as before; "I will give +you," said he, "six thousand to make it so that everybody may see into +every room." 'Tis honourably recorded of Agesilaus, that he used in his +journeys always to take up his lodgings in temples, to the end that the +people and the gods themselves might pry into his most private actions. +Such a one has been a miracle to the world, in whom neither his wife nor +servant has ever seen anything so much as remarkable; few men have been +admired by their own domestics; no one was ever a prophet, not merely in +his own house, but in his own country, says the experience of histories: +--[No man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre, said Marshal Catinat]--'tis +the same in things of nought, and in this low example the image of a +greater is to be seen. In my country of Gascony, they look upon it as a +drollery to see me in print; the further off I am read from my own home, +the better I am esteemed. I purchase printers in Guienne; elsewhere they +purchase me. Upon this it is that they lay their foundation who conceal +themselves present and living, to obtain a name when they are dead and +absent. I had rather have a great deal less in hand, and do not expose +myself to the world upon any other account than my present share; when I +leave it I quit the rest. See this functionary whom the people escort in +state, with wonder and applause, to his very door; he puts off the +pageant with his robe, and falls so much the lower by how much he was +higher exalted: in himself within, all is tumult and degraded. And +though all should be regular there, it will require a vivid and well- +chosen judgment to perceive it in these low and private actions; to which +may be added, that order is a dull, sombre virtue. To enter a breach, +conduct an embassy, govern a people, are actions of renown; to reprehend, +laugh, sell, pay, love, hate, and gently and justly converse with a man's +own family and with himself; not to relax, not to give a man's self the +lie, is more rare and hard, and less remarkable. By which means, retired +lives, whatever is said to the contrary, undergo duties of as great or +greater difficulty than the others do; and private men, says Aristotle,' +serve virtue more painfully and highly than those in authority do: +we prepare ourselves for eminent occasions, more out of glory than +conscience. The shortest way to arrive at glory, would be to do that for +conscience which we do for glory: and the virtue of Alexander appears to +me of much less vigour in his great theatre, than that of Socrates in his +mean and obscure employment. I can easily conceive Socrates in the place +of Alexander, but Alexander in that of Socrates, I cannot. Who shall ask +the one what he can do, he will answer, "Subdue the world": and who shall +put the same question to the other, he will say, "Carry on human life +conformably with its natural condition"; a much more general, weighty, +and legitimate science than the other.--[Montaigne added here, "To do for +the world that for which he came into the world," but he afterwards +erased these words from the manuscript.--Naigeon.] + +The virtue of the soul does not consist in flying high, but in walking +orderly; its grandeur does not exercise itself in grandeur, but in +mediocrity. As they who judge and try us within, make no great account +of the lustre of our public actions, and see they are only streaks and +rays of clear water springing from a slimy and muddy bottom so, likewise, +they who judge of us by this gallant outward appearance, in like manner +conclude of our internal constitution; and cannot couple common +faculties, and like their own, with the other faculties that astonish +them, and are so far out of their sight. Therefore it is that we give +such savage forms to demons: and who does not give Tamerlane great +eyebrows, wide nostrils, a dreadful visage, and a prodigious stature, +according to the imagination he has conceived by the report of his name? +Had any one formerly brought me to Erasmus, I should hardly have believed +but that all was adage and apothegm he spoke to his man or his hostess. +We much more aptly imagine an artisan upon his close-stool, or upon his +wife, than a great president venerable by his port and sufficiency: we +fancy that they, from their high tribunals, will not abase themselves so +much as to live. As vicious souls are often incited by some foreign +impulse to do well, so are virtuous souls to do ill; they are therefore +to be judged by their settled state, when they are at home, whenever that +may be; and, at all events, when they are nearer repose, and in their +native station. + +Natural inclinations are much assisted and fortified by education; but +they seldom alter and overcome their institution: a thousand natures of +my time have escaped towards virtue or vice, through a quite contrary +discipline: + + "Sic ubi, desuetae silvis, in carcere clausae + Mansuevere ferx, et vultus posuere minaces, + Atque hominem didicere pati, si torrida parvus + Venit in ora cruor, redeunt rabiesque fororque, + Admonitaeque tument gustato sanguine fauces + Fervet, et a trepido vix abstinet ira magistro;" + + ["So savage beasts, when shut up in cages and grown unaccustomed to + the woods, have become tame, and have laid aside their fierce looks, + and submit to the rule of man; if again a slight taste of blood + comes into their mouths, their rage and fury return, their jaws are + erected by thirst of blood, and their anger scarcely abstains from + their trembling masters."--Lucan, iv. 237.] + +these original qualities are not to be rooted out; they may be covered +and concealed. The Latin tongue is as it were natural to me; I +understand it better than French; but I have not been used to speak it, +nor hardly to write it, these forty years. Unless upon extreme and +sudden emotions which I have fallen into twice or thrice in my life, and +once seeing my father in perfect health fall upon me in a swoon, I have +always uttered from the bottom of my heart my first words in Latin; +nature deafened, and forcibly expressing itself, in spite of so long a +discontinuation; and this example is said of many others. + +They who in my time have attempted to correct the manners of the world by +new opinions, reform seeming vices; but the essential vices they leave as +they were, if indeed they do not augment them, and augmentation is +therein to be feared; we defer all other well doing upon the account of +these external reformations, of less cost and greater show, and thereby +expiate good cheap, for the other natural, consubstantial, and intestine +vices. Look a little into our experience: there is no man, if he listen +to himself, who does not in himself discover a particular and governing +form of his own, that jostles his education, and wrestles with the +tempest of passions that are contrary to it. For my part, I seldom find +myself agitated with surprises; I always find myself in my place, as +heavy and unwieldy bodies do; if I am not at home, I am always near at +hand; my dissipations do not transport me very far; there is nothing +strange or extreme in the case; and yet I have sound and vigorous turns. + +The true condemnation, and which touches the common practice of men, is +that their very retirement itself is full of filth and corruption; the +idea of their reformation composed, their repentance sick and faulty, +very nearly as much as their sin. Some, either from having been linked +to vice by a natural propension or long practice, cannot see its +deformity. Others (of which constitution I am) do indeed feel the weight +of vice, but they counterbalance it with pleasure, or some other +occasion; and suffer and lend themselves to it for a certain price, but +viciously and basely. Yet there might, haply, be imagined so vast a +disproportion of measure, where with justice the pleasure might excuse +the sin, as we say of utility; not only if accidental and out of sin, as +in thefts, but in the very exercise of sin, or in the enjoyment of women, +where the temptation is violent, and, 'tis said, sometimes not to be +overcome. + +Being the other day at Armaignac, on the estate of a kinsman of mine, I +there saw a peasant who was by every one nicknamed the thief. He thus +related the story of his life: that, being born a beggar, and finding +that he should not be able, so as to be clear of indigence, to get his +living by the sweat of his brow, he resolved to turn thief, and by means +of his strength of body had exercised this trade all the time of his +youth in great security; for he ever made his harvest and vintage in +other men's grounds, but a great way off, and in so great quantities, +that it was not to be imagined one man could have carried away so much in +one night upon his shoulders; and, moreover, he was careful equally to +divide and distribute the mischief he did, that the loss was of less +importance to every particular man. He is now grown old, and rich for a +man of his condition, thanks to his trade, which he openly confesses to +every one. And to make his peace with God, he says, that he is daily +ready by good offices to make satisfaction to the successors of those he +has robbed, and if he do not finish (for to do it all at once he is not +able), he will then leave it in charge to his heirs to perform the rest, +proportionably to the wrong he himself only knows he has done to each. +By this description, true or false, this man looks upon theft as a +dishonest action, and hates it, but less than poverty, and simply +repents; but to the extent he has thus recompensed he repents not. This +is not that habit which incorporates us into vice, and conforms even our +understanding itself to it; nor is it that impetuous whirlwind that by +gusts troubles and blinds our souls, and for the time precipitates us, +judgment and all, into the power of vice. + +I customarily do what I do thoroughly and make but one step on't; I have +rarely any movement that hides itself and steals away from my reason, and +that does not proceed in the matter by the consent of all my faculties, +without division or intestine sedition; my judgment is to have all the +blame or all the praise; and the blame it once has, it has always; for +almost from my infancy it has ever been one: the same inclination, the +same turn, the same force; and as to universal opinions, I fixed myself +from my childhood in the place where I resolved to stick. There are some +sins that are impetuous, prompt, and sudden; let us set them aside: but +in these other sins so often repeated, deliberated, and contrived, +whether sins of complexion or sins of profession and vocation, I cannot +conceive that they should have so long been settled in the same +resolution, unless the reason and conscience of him who has them, be +constant to have them; and the repentance he boasts to be inspired with +on a sudden, is very hard for me to imagine or form. I follow not the +opinion of the Pythagorean sect, "that men take up a new soul when they +repair to the images of the gods to receive their oracles," unless he +mean that it must needs be extrinsic, new, and lent for the time; our own +showing so little sign of purification and cleanness, fit for such an +office. + +They act quite contrary to the stoical precepts, who do indeed command us +to correct the imperfections and vices we know ourselves guilty of, but +forbid us therefore to disturb the repose of our souls: these make us +believe that they have great grief and remorse within: but of amendment, +correction, or interruption, they make nothing appear. It cannot be a +cure if the malady be not wholly discharged; if repentance were laid upon +the scale of the balance, it would weigh down sin. I find no quality so +easy to counterfeit as devotion, if men do not conform their manners and +life to the profession; its essence is abstruse and occult; the +appearance easy and ostentatious. + +For my own part, I may desire in general to be other than I am; I may +condemn and dislike my whole form, and beg of Almighty God for an entire +reformation, and that He will please to pardon my natural infirmity: but +I ought not to call this repentance, methinks, no more than the being +dissatisfied that I am not an angel or Cato. My actions are regular, +and conformable to what I am and to my condition; I can do no better; +and repentance does not properly touch things that are not in our power; +sorrow does.. I imagine an infinite number of natures more elevated and +regular than mine; and yet I do not for all that improve my faculties, no +more than my arm or will grow more strong and vigorous for conceiving +those of another to be so. If to conceive and wish a nobler way of +acting than that we have should produce a repentance of our own, we must +then repent us of our most innocent actions, forasmuch as we may well +suppose that in a more excellent nature they would have been carried on +with greater dignity and perfection; and we would that ours were so. +When I reflect upon the deportment of my youth, with that of my old age, +I find that I have commonly behaved myself with equal order in both +according to what I understand: this is all that my resistance can do. +I do not flatter myself; in the same circumstances I should do the same +things. It is not a patch, but rather an universal tincture, with which +I am stained. I know no repentance, superficial, half-way, and +ceremonious; it must sting me all over before I can call it so, and must +prick my bowels as deeply and universally as God sees into me. + +As to business, many excellent opportunities have escaped me for want of +good management; and yet my deliberations were sound enough, according to +the occurrences presented to me: 'tis their way to choose always the +easiest and safest course. I find that, in my former resolves, I have +proceeded with discretion, according to my own rule, and according to the +state of the subject proposed, and should do the same a thousand years +hence in like occasions; I do not consider what it is now, but what it +was then, when I deliberated on it: the force of all counsel consists in +the time; occasions and things eternally shift and change. I have in my +life committed some important errors, not for want of good understanding, +but for want of good luck. There are secret, and not to be foreseen, +parts in matters we have in hand, especially in the nature of men; mute +conditions, that make no show, unknown sometimes even to the possessors +themselves, that spring and start up by incidental occasions; if my +prudence could not penetrate into nor foresee them, I blame it not: 'tis +commissioned no further than its own limits; if the event be too hard for +me, and take the side I have refused, there is no remedy; I do not blame +myself, I accuse my fortune, and not my work; this cannot be called +repentance. + +Phocion, having given the Athenians an advice that was not followed, and +the affair nevertheless succeeding contrary to his opinion, some one said +to him, "Well, Phocion, art thou content that matters go so well?"--"I am +very well content," replied he, "that this has happened so well, but I do +not repent that I counselled the other." When any of my friends address +themselves to me for advice, I give it candidly and clearly, without +sticking, as almost all other men do, at the hazard of the thing's +falling out contrary to my opinion, and that I may be reproached for my +counsel; I am very indifferent as to that, for the fault will be theirs +for having consulted me, and I could not refuse them that office. +--[We may give advice to others, says Rochefoucauld, but we cannot +supply them with the wit to profit by it.] + +I, for my own part, can rarely blame any one but myself for my oversights +and misfortunes, for indeed I seldom solicit the advice of another, +if not by honour of ceremony, or excepting where I stand in need of +information, special science, or as to matter of fact. But in things +wherein I stand in need of nothing but judgment, other men's reasons may +serve to fortify my own, but have little power to dissuade me; I hear +them all with civility and patience; but, to my recollection, I never +made use of any but my own. With me, they are but flies and atoms, that +confound and distract my will; I lay no great stress upon my opinions; +but I lay as little upon those of others, and fortune rewards me +accordingly: if I receive but little advice, I also give but little. I +am seldom consulted, and still more seldom believed, and know no concern, +either public or private, that has been mended or bettered by my advice. +Even they whom fortune had in some sort tied to my direction, have more +willingly suffered themselves to be governed by any other counsels than +mine. And as a man who am as jealous of my repose as of my authority, +I am better pleased that it should be so; in leaving me there, they +humour what I profess, which is to settle and wholly contain myself +within myself. I take a pleasure in being uninterested in other men's +affairs, and disengaged from being their warranty, and responsible for +what they do. + +In all affairs that are past, be it how it will, I have very little +regret; for this imagination puts me out of my pain, that they were so to +fall out they are in the great revolution of the world, and in the chain +of stoical 'causes: your fancy cannot, by wish and imagination, move one +tittle, but that the great current of things will not reverse both the +past and the future. + +As to the rest, I abominate that incidental repentance which old age +brings along with it. He, who said of old, that he was obliged to his +age for having weaned him from pleasure, was of another opinion than I +am; I can never think myself beholden to impotency for any good it can do +to me: + + "Nec tam aversa unquam videbitur ab opere suo providentia, + ut debilitas inter optima inventa sit." + + ["Nor can Providence ever seem so averse to her own work, that + debility should be found to be amongst the best things." + --Quintilian, Instit. Orat., v. 12.] + +Our appetites are rare in old age; a profound satiety seizes us after the +act; in this I see nothing of conscience; chagrin and weakness imprint in +us a drowsy and rheumatic virtue. We must not suffer ourselves to be so +wholly carried away by natural alterations as to suffer our judgments to +be imposed upon by them. Youth and pleasure have not formerly so far +prevailed with me, that I did not well enough discern the face of vice in +pleasure; neither does the distaste that years have brought me, so far +prevail with me now, that I cannot discern pleasure in vice. Now that I +am no more in my flourishing age, I judge as well of these things as if I +were. + + ["Old though I am, for ladies' love unfit, + The power of beauty I remember yet."--Chaucer.] + +I, who narrowly and strictly examine it, find my reason the very same it +was in my most licentious age, except, perhaps, that 'tis weaker and more +decayed by being grown older; and I find that the pleasure it refuses me +upon the account of my bodily health, it would no more refuse now, in +consideration of the health of my soul, than at any time heretofore. +I do not repute it the more valiant for not being able to combat; my +temptations are so broken and mortified, that they are not worth its +opposition; holding but out my hands, I repel them. Should one present +the old concupiscence before it, I fear it would have less power to +resist it than heretofore; I do not discern that in itself it judges +anything otherwise now than it formerly did, nor that it has acquired any +new light: wherefore, if there be convalescence, 'tis an enchanted one. +Miserable kind of remedy, to owe one's health to one's disease! Tis not +that our misfortune should perform this office, but the good fortune of +our judgment. I am not to be made to do anything by persecutions and +afflictions, but to curse them: that is, for people who cannot be roused +but by a whip. My reason is much more free in prosperity, and much more +distracted, and put to't to digest pains than pleasures: I see best in a +clear sky; health admonishes me more cheerfully, and to better purpose, +than sickness. I did all that in me lay to reform and regulate myself +from pleasures, at a time when I had health and vigour to enjoy them; +I should be ashamed and envious that the misery and misfortune of my old +age should have credit over my good healthful, sprightly, and vigorous +years, and that men should estimate me, not by what I have been, but by +what I have ceased to be. + +In my opinion, 'tis the happy living, and not (as Antisthenes' said) the +happy dying, in which human felicity consists. I have not made it my +business to make a monstrous addition of a philosopher's tail to the head +and body of a libertine; nor would I have this wretched remainder give +the lie to the pleasant, sound, and long part of my life: I would present +myself uniformly throughout. Were I to live my life over again, I should +live it just as I have lived it; I neither complain of the past, nor do I +fear the future; and if I am not much deceived, I am the same within that +I am without. 'Tis one main obligation I have to my fortune, that the +succession of my bodily estate has been carried on according to the +natural seasons; I have seen the grass, the blossom, and the fruit, and +now see the withering; happily, however, because naturally. I bear the +infirmities I have the better, because they came not till I had reason to +expect them, and because also they make me with greater pleasure remember +that long felicity of my past life. My wisdom may have been just the +same in both ages, but it was more active, and of better grace whilst +young and sprightly, than now it is when broken, peevish, and uneasy. +I repudiate, then, these casual and painful reformations. God must touch +our hearts; our consciences must amend of themselves, by the aid of our +reason, and not by the decay of our appetites; pleasure is, in itself, +neither pale nor discoloured, to be discerned by dim and decayed eyes. + +We ought to love temperance for itself, and because God has commanded +that and chastity; but that which we are reduced to by catarrhs, and for +which I am indebted to the stone, is neither chastity nor temperance; a +man cannot boast that he despises and resists pleasure if he cannot see +it, if he knows not what it is, and cannot discern its graces, its force, +and most alluring beauties; I know both the one and the other, and may +therefore the better say it. But; methinks, our souls in old age are +subject to more troublesome maladies and imperfections than in youth; +I said the same when young and when I was reproached with the want of a +beard; and I say so now that my grey hairs give me some authority. We +call the difficulty of our humours and the disrelish of present things +wisdom; but, in truth, we do not so much forsake vices as we change them, +and in my opinion, for worse. Besides a foolish and feeble pride, an +impertinent prating, froward and insociable humours, superstition, and a +ridiculous desire of riches when we have lost the use of them, I find +there more envy, injustice, and malice. Age imprints more wrinkles in +the mind than it does on the face; and souls are never, or very rarely +seen, that, in growing old, do not smell sour and musty. Man moves all +together, both towards his perfection and decay. In observing the wisdom +of Socrates, and many circumstances of his condemnation, I should dare to +believe that he in some sort himself purposely, by collusion, contributed +to it, seeing that, at the age of seventy years, he might fear to suffer +the lofty motions of his mind to be cramped and his wonted lustre +obscured. What strange metamorphoses do I see age every day make in many +of my acquaintance! 'Tis a potent malady, and that naturally and +imperceptibly steals into us; a vast provision of study and great +precaution are required to evade the imperfections it loads us with, or +at least to weaken their progress. I find that, notwithstanding all my +entrenchments, it gets foot by foot upon me: I make the best resistance I +can, but I do not know to what at last it will reduce me. But fall out +what will, I am content the world may know, when I am fallen, from what I +fell. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +OF THREE COMMERCES + +We must not rivet ourselves so fast to our humours and complexions: our +chiefest sufficiency is to know how to apply ourselves to divers +employments. 'Tis to be, but not to live, to keep a man's self tied and +bound by necessity to one only course; those are the bravest souls that +have in them the most variety and pliancy. Of this here is an honourable +testimony of the elder Cato: + + "Huic versatile ingenium sic pariter ad omnia fuit, + ut natum ad id unum diceres, quodcumque ageret." + + ["His parts were so pliable to all uses, that one would say he had + been born only to that which he was doing."--Livy, xxxix. 49.] + +Had I liberty to set myself forth after my own mode, there is no so +graceful fashion to which I would be so fixed as not to be able to +disengage myself from it; life is an unequal, irregular and multiform +motion. 'Tis not to be a friend to one's self, much less a master 'tis +to be a slave, incessantly to be led by the nose by one's self, and to be +so fixed in one's previous inclinations, that one cannot turn aside nor +writhe one's neck out of the collar. I say this now in this part of my +life, wherein I find I cannot easily disengage myself from the +importunity of my soul, which cannot ordinarily amuse itself but in +things of limited range, nor employ itself otherwise than entirely and +with all its force; upon the lightest subject offered it expands and +stretches it to that degree as therein to employ its utmost power; +wherefore it is that idleness is to me a very painful labour, and very +prejudicial to my health. Most men's minds require foreign matter to +exercise and enliven them; mine has rather need of it to sit still and +repose itself, + + "Vitia otii negotio discutienda sunt," + + ["The vices of sloth are to be shaken off by business." + --Seneca, Ep. 56.] + +for its chiefest and hardest study is to study itself. Books are to it +a sort of employment that debauch it from its study. Upon the first +thoughts that possess it, it begins to bustle and make trial of its +vigour in all directions, exercises its power of handling, now making +trial of force, now fortifying, moderating, and ranging itself by the way +of grace and order. It has of its own wherewith to rouse its faculties: +nature has given to it, as to all others, matter enough of its own to +make advantage of, and subjects proper enough where it may either invent +or judge. + +Meditation is a powerful and full study to such as can effectually taste +and employ themselves; I had rather fashion my soul than furnish it. +There is no employment, either more weak or more strong, than that of +entertaining a man's own thoughts, according as the soul is; the greatest +men make it their whole business, + + "Quibus vivere est cogitare;" + + ["To whom to live is to think."--Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., v. 28.] + +nature has therefore favoured it with this privilege, that there is +nothing we can do so long, nor any action to which we more frequently and +with greater facility addict ourselves. 'Tis the business of the gods, +says Aristotle,' and from which both their beatitude and ours proceed. + +The principal use of reading to me is, that by various objects it rouses +my reason, and employs my judgment, not my memory. Few conversations +detain me without force and effort; it is true that beauty and elegance +of speech take as much or more with me than the weight and depth of the +subject; and forasmuch as I am apt to be sleepy in all other +communication, and give but the rind of my attention, it often falls out +that in such poor and pitiful discourses, mere chatter, I either make +drowsy, unmeaning answers, unbecoming a child, and ridiculous, or more +foolishly and rudely still, maintain an obstinate silence. I have a +pensive way that withdraws me into myself, and, with that, a heavy and +childish ignorance of many very ordinary things, by which two qualities I +have earned this, that men may truly relate five or six as ridiculous +tales of me as of any other man whatever. + +But, to proceed in my subject, this difficult complexion of mine renders +me very nice in my conversation with men, whom I must cull and pick out +for my purpose; and unfits me for common society. We live and negotiate +with the people; if their conversation be troublesome to us, if we +disdain to apply ourselves to mean and vulgar souls (and the mean and +vulgar are often as regular as those of the finest thread, and all wisdom +is folly that does not accommodate itself to the common ignorance), +we must no more intermeddle either with other men's affairs or our own; +for business, both public and private, has to do with these people. The +least forced and most natural motions of the soul are the most beautiful; +the best employments, those that are least strained. My God! how good +an office does wisdom to those whose desires it limits to their power! +that is the most useful knowledge: "according to what a man can," was the +favourite sentence and motto of Socrates. A motto of great solidity. + +We must moderate and adapt our desires to the nearest and easiest to be +acquired things. Is it not a foolish humour of mine to separate myself +from a thousand to whom my fortune has conjoined me, and without whom I +cannot live, and cleave to one or two who are out of my intercourse; or +rather a fantastic desire of a thing I cannot obtain? My gentle and easy +manners, enemies of all sourness and harshness, may easily enough have +secured me from envy and animosities; to be beloved, I do not say, but +never any man gave less occasion of being hated; but the coldness of my +conversation has, reasonably enough, deprived me of the goodwill of many, +who are to be excused if they interpret it in another and worse sense. + +I am very capable of contracting and maintaining rare and exquisite +friendships; for by reason that I so greedily seize upon such +acquaintance as fit my liking, I throw myself with such violence upon +them that I hardly fail to stick, and to make an impression where I hit; +as I have often made happy proof. In ordinary friendships I am somewhat +cold and shy, for my motion is not natural, if not with full sail: +besides which, my fortune having in my youth given me a relish for one +sole and perfect friendship, has, in truth, created in me a kind of +distaste to others, and too much imprinted in my fancy that it is a beast +of company, as the ancient said, but not of the herd.--[Plutarch, On the +Plurality of Friends, c. 2.]--And also I have a natural difficulty of +communicating myself by halves, with the modifications and the servile +and jealous prudence required in the conversation of numerous and +imperfect friendships: and we are principally enjoined to these in this +age of ours, when we cannot talk of the world but either with danger or +falsehood. + +Yet do I very well discern that he who has the conveniences (I mean the +essential conveniences) of life for his end, as I have, ought to fly +these difficulties and delicacy of humour, as much as the plague. I +should commend a soul of several stages, that knows both how to stretch +and to slacken itself; that finds itself at ease in all conditions +whither fortune leads it; that can discourse with a neighbour, of his +building, his hunting, his quarrels; that can chat with a carpenter or a +gardener with pleasure. I envy those who can render themselves familiar +with the meanest of their followers, and talk with them in their own way; +and dislike the advice of Plato, that men should always speak in a +magisterial tone to their servants, whether men or women, without being +sometimes facetious and familiar; for besides the reasons I have given, +'tis inhuman and unjust to set so great a value upon this pitiful +prerogative of fortune, and the polities wherein less disparity is +permitted betwixt masters and servants seem to me the most equitable. +Others study how to raise and elevate their minds; I, how to humble mine +and to bring it low; 'tis only vicious in extension: + + "Narras et genus AEaci, + Et pugnata sacro bella sub Ilio + Quo Chium pretio cadum + Mercemur, quis aquam temperet ignibus, + Quo praebente domum, et quota, + Pelignis caream frigoribus, taces." + + ["You tell us long stories about the race of AEacus, and the battles + fought under sacred Ilium; but what to give for a cask of Chian + wine, who shall prepare the warm bath, and in whose house, and when + I may escape from the Pelignian cold, you do not tell us." + --Horace, Od., iii. 19, 3.] + +Thus, as the Lacedaemonian valour stood in need of moderation, and of the +sweet and harmonious sound of flutes to soften it in battle, lest they +should precipitate themselves into temerity and fury, whereas all other +nations commonly make use of harsh and shrill sounds, and of loud and +imperious cries, to incite and heat the soldier's courage to the last +degree; so, methinks, contrary to the usual method, in the practice of +our minds, we have for the most part more need of lead than of wings; of +temperance and composedness than of ardour and agitation. But, above all +things, 'tis in my opinion egregiously to play the fool, to put on the +grave airs of a man of lofty mind amongst those who are nothing of the +sort: ever to speak in print (by the book), + + "Favellare in puma di forchetta." + + ["To talk with the point of a fork," (affectedly)] + +You must let yourself down to those with whom you converse; and sometimes +affect ignorance: lay aside power and subtilty in common conversation; to +preserve decorum and order 'tis enough-nay, crawl on the earth, if they +so desire it. + +The learned often stumble at this stone; they will always be parading +their pedantic science, and strew their books everywhere; they have, in +these days, so filled the cabinets and ears of the ladies with them, that +if they have lost the substance, they at least retain the words; so as in +all discourse upon all sorts of subjects, how mean and common soever, +they speak and write after a new and learned way, + + "Hoc sermone pavent, hoc iram, gaudia, curas, + Hoc cuncta effundunt animi secreta; quid ultra? + Concumbunt docte;" + + ["In this language do they express their fears, their anger, their + joys, their cares; in this pour out all their secrets; what more? + they lie with their lovers learnedly."--Juvenal, vi. 189.] + +and quote Plato and Aquinas in things the first man they meet could +determine as well; the learning that cannot penetrate their souls hangs +still upon the tongue. If people of quality will be persuaded by me, they +shall content themselves with setting out their proper and natural +treasures; they conceal and cover their beauties under others that are +none of theirs: 'tis a great folly to put out their own light and shine +by a borrowed lustre: they are interred and buried under 'de capsula +totae"--[Painted and perfumed from head to foot." (Or:) "as if they were +things carefully deposited in a band-box."--Seneca, Ep. 115]--It is +because they do not sufficiently know themselves or do themselves +justice: the world has nothing fairer than they; 'tis for them to honour +the arts, and to paint painting. What need have they of anything but to +live beloved and honoured? They have and know but too much for this: +they need do no more but rouse and heat a little the faculties they have +of their own. When I see them tampering with rhetoric, law, logic, and +other drugs, so improper and unnecessary for their business, I begin to +suspect that the men who inspire them with such fancies, do it that they +may govern them upon that account; for what other excuse can I contrive? +It is enough that they can, without our instruction, compose the graces +of their eyes to gaiety, severity, sweetness, and season a denial with +asperity, suspense, or favour: they need not another to interpret what +we speak for their service; with this knowledge, they command with a +switch, and rule both the tutors and the schools. But if, nevertheless, +it angers them to give place to us in anything whatever, and will, out of +curiosity, have their share in books, poetry is a diversion proper for +them; 'tis a wanton, subtle, dissembling, and prating art, all pleasure +and all show, like themselves. They may also abstract several +commodities from history. In philosophy, out of the moral part of it, +they may select such instructions as will teach them to judge of our +humours and conditions, to defend themselves from our treacheries, to +regulate the ardour of their own desires, to manage their liberty, to +lengthen the pleasures of life, and gently to bear the inconstancy of a +lover, the rudeness of a husband; and the importunity of years, wrinkles, +and the like. This is the utmost of what I would allow them in the +sciences. + +There are some particular natures that are private and retired: my +natural way is proper for communication, and apt to lay me open; I am all +without and in sight, born for society and friendship. The solitude that +I love myself and recommend to others, is chiefly no other than to +withdraw my thoughts and affections into myself; to restrain and check, +not my steps, but my own cares and desires, resigning all foreign +solicitude, and mortally avoiding servitude and obligation, and not so +much the crowd of men as the crowd of business. Local solitude, to say +the truth, rather gives me more room and sets me more at large; I more +readily throw myself upon affairs of state and the world when I am alone. +At the Louvre and in the bustle of the court, I fold myself within my own +skin; the crowd thrusts me upon myself; and I never entertain myself so +wantonly, with so much licence, or so especially, as in places of respect +and ceremonious prudence: our follies do not make me laugh, it is our +wisdom which does. I am naturally no enemy to a court, life; I have +therein passed a part of my own, and am of a humour cheerfully to +frequent great company, provided it be by intervals and at my own time: +but this softness of judgment whereof I speak ties me perforce to +solitude. Even at home, amidst a numerous family, and in a house +sufficiently frequented, I see people enough, but rarely such with whom I +delight to converse; and I there reserve both for myself and others an +unusual liberty: there is in my house no such thing as ceremony, +ushering, or waiting upon people down to the coach, and such other +troublesome ceremonies as our courtesy enjoins (O the servile and +importunate custom!). Every one there governs himself according to his +own method; let who will speak his thoughts, I sit mute, meditating and +shut up in my closet, without any offence to my guests. + +The men whose society and familiarity I covet are those they call sincere +and able men; and the image of these makes me disrelish the rest. It is, +if rightly taken, the rarest of our forms, and a form that we chiefly owe +to nature. The end of this commerce is simply privacy, frequentation and +conference, the exercise of souls, without other fruit. In our +discourse, all subjects are alike to me; let there be neither weight, nor +depth, 'tis all one: there is yet grace and pertinency; all there is +tinted with a mature and constant judgment, and mixed with goodness, +freedom, gaiety, and friendship. 'Tis not only in talking of the affairs +of kings and state that our wits discover their force and beauty, but +every whit as much in private conferences. I understand my men even by +their silence and smiles; and better discover them, perhaps, at table +than in the council. Hippomachus said, very well, "that he could know +the good wrestlers by only seeing them walk in the street." If learning +please to step into our talk, it shall not be rejected, not magisterial, +imperious, and importunate, as-it commonly is, but suffragan and docile +itself; we there only seek to pass away our time; when we have a mind to +be instructed and preached to, we will go seek this in its throne; please +let it humble itself to us for the nonce; for, useful and profitable as +it is, I imagine that, at need, we may manage well enough without it, and +do our business without its assistance. A well-descended soul, and +practised in the conversation of men, will of herself render herself +sufficiently agreeable; art is nothing but the counterpart and register +of what such souls produce. + +The conversation also of beautiful and honourable women is for me a sweet +commerce: + + "Nam nos quoque oculos eruditos habemus." + + ["For we also have eyes that are versed in the matter." + --Cicero, Paradox, v. 2.] + +If the soul has not therein so much to enjoy, as in the first the bodily +senses, which participate more of this, bring it to a proportion next to, +though, in my opinion, not equal to the other. But 'tis a commerce +wherein a man must stand a little upon his guard, especially those, where +the body can do much, as in me. I there scalded myself in my youth, and +suffered all the torments that poets say befall those who precipitate +themselves into love without order and judgment. It is true that that +whipping has made me wiser since: + + "Quicumque Argolica de classe Capharea fugit, + Semper ab Euboicis vela retorquet aquis." + + ["Whoever of the Grecian fleet has escaped the Capharean rocks, ever + takes care to steer from the Euboean sea."--Ovid, Trist., i. i, 83.] + +'Tis folly to fix all a man's thoughts upon it, and to engage in it with +a furious and indiscreet affection; but, on the other hand, to engage +there without love and without inclination, like comedians, to play a +common part, without putting anything to it of his own but words, is +indeed to provide for his safety, but, withal, after as cowardly a manner +as he who should abandon his honour, profit, or pleasure for fear of +danger. For it is certain that from such a practice, they who set it on +foot can expect no fruit that can please or satisfy a noble soul. A man +must have, in good earnest, desired that which he, in good earnest, +expects to have a pleasure in enjoying; I say, though fortune should +unjustly favour their dissimulation; which often falls out, because there +is none of the sex, let her be as ugly as the devil, who does not think +herself well worthy to be beloved, and who does not prefer herself before +other women, either for her youth, the colour of her hair, or her +graceful motion (for there are no more women universally ugly, than there +are women universally beautiful, and such of the Brahmin virgins as have +nothing else to recommend them, the people being assembled by the common +crier to that effect, come out into the market-place to expose their +matrimonial parts to public view, to try if these at least are not of +temptation sufficient to get them a husband). Consequently, there is not +one who does not easily suffer herself to be overcome by the first vow +that they make to serve her. Now from this common and ordinary treachery +of the men of the present day, that must fall out which we already +experimentally see, either that they rally together, and separate +themselves by themselves to evade us, or else form their discipline by +the example we give them, play their parts of the farce as we do ours, +and give themselves up to the sport, without passion, care, or love; + + "Neque afl'ectui suo, aut alieno, obnoxiae;" + + ["Neither amenable to their own affections, nor those of others." + --Tacitus, Annal., xiii. 45.] + +believing, according to the persuasion of Lysias in Plato, that they may +with more utility and convenience surrender themselves up to us the less +we love them; where it will fall out, as in comedies, that the people +will have as much pleasure or more than the comedians. For my part, +I no more acknowledge a Venus without a Cupid than, a mother without +issue: they are things that mutully lend and owe their essence to one +another. Thus this cheat recoils upon him who is guilty of it; it does +not cost him much, indeed, but he also gets little or nothing by it. +They who have made Venus a goddess have taken notice that her principal +beauty was incorporeal and spiritual; but the Venus whom these people +hunt after is not so much as human, nor indeed brutal; the very beasts +will not accept it so gross and so earthly; we see that imagination and +desire often heat and incite them before the body does; we see in both +the one sex and the other, they have in the herd choice and particular +election in their affections, and that they have amongst themselves a +long commerce of good will. Even those to whom old age denies the +practice of their desire, still tremble, neigh, and twitter for love; we +see them, before the act, full of hope and ardour, and when the body has +played its game, yet please themselves with the sweet remembrance of the +past delight; some that swell with pride after they have performed, and +others who, tired and sated, still by vociferation express a triumphing +joy. He who has nothing to do but only to discharge his body of a +natural necessity, need not trouble others with so curious preparations: +it is not meat for a gross, coarse appetite. + +As one who does not desire that men should think me better than I am, +I will here say this as to the errors of my youth. Not only from the +danger of impairing my health (and yet I could not be so careful but that +I had two light mischances), but moreover upon the account of contempt, +I have seldom given myself up to common and mercenary embraces: I would +heighten the pleasure by the difficulty, by desire, and a certain kind of +glory, and was of Tiberius's mind, who in his amours was as much taken +with modesty and birth as any other quality, and of the courtesan Flora's +humour, who never lent herself to less than a dictator, a consul, or a +censor, and took pleasure in the dignity of her lovers. Doubtless pearls +and gold tissue, titles and train, add something to it. + +As to the rest, I had a great esteem for wit, provided the person was not +exceptionable; for, to confess the truth, if the one or the other of +these two attractions must of necessity be wanting, I should rather have +quitted that of the understanding, that has its use in better things; +but in the subject of love, a subject principally relating to the senses +of seeing and touching, something may be done without the graces of the +mind: without the graces of the body, nothing. Beauty is the true +prerogative of women, and so peculiarly their own, that ours, though +naturally requiring another sort of feature, is never in its lustre but +when youthful and beardless, a sort of confused image of theirs. 'Tis +said that such as serve the Grand Signior upon the account of beauty, who +are an infinite number, are, at the latest, dismissed at two-and-twenty +years of age. Reason, prudence, and the offices of friendship are better +found amongst men, and therefore it is that they govern the affairs of +the world. + +These two engagements are fortuitous, and depending upon others; the one +is troublesome by its rarity, the other withers with age, so that they +could never have been sufficient for the business of my life. That of +books, which is the third, is much more certain, and much more our own. +It yields all other advantages to the two first, but has the constancy +and facility of its service for its own share. It goes side by side with +me in my whole course, and everywhere is assisting me: it comforts me in +old age and solitude; it eases me of a troublesome weight of idleness, +and delivers me at all hours from company that I dislike: it blunts the +point of griefs, if they are not extreme, and have not got an entire +possession of my soul. To divert myself from a troublesome fancy, 'tis +but to run to my books; they presently fix me to them and drive the other +out of my thoughts, and do not mutiny at seeing that I have only recourse +to them for want of other more real, natural, and lively commodities; +they always receive me with the same kindness. He may well go a foot, +they say, who leads his horse in his hand; and our James, King of Naples +and Sicily, who, handsome, young and healthful, caused himself to be +carried about on a barrow, extended upon a pitiful mattress in a poor +robe of grey cloth, and a cap of the same, yet attended withal by a royal +train, litters, led horses of all sorts, gentlemen and officers, did yet +herein represent a tender and unsteady authority: "The sick man has not +to complain who has his cure in his sleeve." In the experience and +practice of this maxim, which is a very true one, consists all the +benefit I reap from books. As a matter of fact, I make no more use of +them, as it were, than those who know them not. I enjoy them as misers +do their money, in knowing that I may enjoy them when I please: my mind +is satisfied with this right of possession. I never travel without +books, either in peace or war; and yet sometimes I pass over several +days, and sometimes months, without looking on them. I will read by-and- +by, say I to myself, or to-morrow, or when I please; and in the interim, +time steals away without any inconvenience. For it is not to be imagined +to what degree I please myself and rest content in this consideration, +that I have them by me to divert myself with them when I am so disposed, +and to call to mind what a refreshment they are to my life. 'Tis the +best viaticum I have yet found out for this human journey, and I very +much pity those men of understanding who are unprovided of it. I the +rather accept of any other sort of diversion, how light soever, because +this can never fail me. + +When at home, I a little more frequent my library, whence I overlook at +once all the concerns of my family. 'Tis situated at the entrance into +my house, and I thence see under me my garden, court, and base-court, and +almost all parts of the building. There I turn over now one book, and +then another, on various subjects, without method or design. One while +I meditate, another I record and dictate, as I walk to and fro, such +whimsies as these I present to you here. 'Tis in the third storey of a +tower, of which the ground-room is my chapel, the second storey a chamber +with a withdrawing-room and closet, where I often lie, to be more +retired; and above is a great wardrobe. This formerly was the most +useless part of the house. I there pass away both most of the days of my +life and most of the hours of those days. In the night I am never there. +There is by the side of it a cabinet handsome enough, with a fireplace +very commodiously contrived, and plenty of light; and were I not more +afraid of the trouble than the expense--the trouble that frights me from +all business--I could very easily adjoin on either side, and on the same +floor, a gallery of an hundred paces long and twelve broad, having found +walls already raised for some other design to the requisite height. +Every place of retirement requires a walk: my thoughts sleep if I sit +still: my fancy does not go by itself, as when my legs move it: and all +those who study without a book are in the same condition. The figure of +my study is round, and there is no more open wall than what is taken up +by my table and my chair, so that the remaining parts of the circle +present me a view of all my books at once, ranged upon five rows of +shelves round about me. It has three noble and free prospects, and is +sixteen paces in diameter. I am not so continually there in winter; for +my house is built upon an eminence, as its name imports, and no part of +it is so much exposed to the wind and weather as this, which pleases me +the better, as being of more difficult access and a little remote, as +well upon the account of exercise, as also being there more retired from +the crowd. 'Tis there that I am in my kingdom, and there I endeavour to +make myself an absolute monarch, and to sequester this one corner from +all society, conjugal, filial, and civil; elsewhere I have but verbal +authority only, and of a confused essence. That man, in my opinion, is +very miserable, who has not at home where to be by himself, where to +entertain himself alone, or to conceal himself from others. Ambition +sufficiently plagues her proselytes, by keeping them always in show, like +the statue of a public, square: + + "Magna servitus est magna fortuna." + + ["A great fortune is a great slavery." + --Seneca, De Consol. ad. Polyb., c. 26.] + +They cannot so much as be private in the watercloset. I have thought +nothing so severe in the austerity of life that our monks affect, as what +I have observed in some of their communities; namely, by rule, to have a +perpetual society of place, and numerous persons present in every action +whatever; and think it much more supportable to be always alone than +never to be so. + +If any one shall tell me that it is to undervalue the Muses to make use +of them only for sport and to pass away the time, I shall tell him, that +he does not know so well as I the value of the sport, the pleasure, and +the pastime; I can hardly forbear to add that all other end is +ridiculous. I live from day to day, and, with reverence be it spoken, I +only live for myself; there all my designs terminate. I studied, when +young, for ostentation; since, to make myself a little wiser; and now for +my diversion, but never for any profit. A vain and prodigal humour I had +after this sort of furniture, not only for the supplying my own need, +but, moreover, for ornament and outward show, I have since quite cured +myself of. + +Books have many charming qualities to such as know how to choose them; +but every good has its ill; 'tis a pleasure that is not pure and clean, +no more than others: it has its inconveniences, and great ones too. The +soul indeed is exercised therein; but the body, the care of which I must +withal never neglect, remains in the meantime without action, and grows +heavy and sombre. I know no excess more prejudicial to me, nor more to +be avoided in this my declining age. + +These have been my three favourite and particular occupations; I speak +not of those I owe to the world by civil obligation. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +OF DIVERSION + +I was once employed in consoling a lady truly afflicted. Most of their +mournings are artificial and ceremonious: + + "Uberibus semper lacrymis, semperque paratis, + In statione subatque expectantibus illam, + Quo jubeat manare modo." + + ["A woman has ever a fountain of tears ready to gush up whenever + she requires to make use of them."--Juvenal, vi. 272.] + +A man goes the wrong way to work when he opposes this passion; for +opposition does but irritate and make them more obstinate in sorrow; the +evil is exasperated by discussion. We see, in common discourse, that +what I have indifferently let fall from me, if any one takes it up to +controvert it, I justify it with the best arguments I have; and much more +a thing wherein I had a real interest. And besides, in so doing you +enter roughly upon your operation; whereas the first addresses of a +physician to his patient should be gracious, gay, and pleasing; never did +any ill-looking, morose physician do anything to purpose. On the +contrary, then, a man should, at the first approaches, favour their grief +and express some approbation of their sorrow. By this intelligence you +obtain credit to proceed further, and by a facile and insensible +gradation fall into discourses more solid and proper for their cure. +I, whose aim it was principally to gull the company who had their eyes +fixed upon me, took it into my head only to palliate the disease. And +indeed I have found by experience that I have an unlucky hand in +persuading. My arguments are either too sharp and dry, or pressed too +roughly, or not home enough. After I had some time applied myself to her +grief, I did not attempt to cure her by strong and lively reasons, either +because I had them not at hand, or because I thought to do my business +better another way; neither did I make choice of any of those methods of +consolation which philosophy prescribes: that what we complain of is no +evil, according to Cleanthes; that it is a light evil, according to the +Peripatetics; that to bemoan one's self is an action neither commendable +nor just, according to Chrysippus; nor this of Epicurus, more suitable to +my way, of shifting the thoughts from afflicting things to those that are +pleasing; nor making a bundle of all these together, to make use of upon +occasion, according to Cicero; but, gently bending my discourse, and by +little and little digressing, sometimes to subjects nearer, and sometimes +more remote from the purpose, according as she was more intent on what I +said, I imperceptibly led her from that sorrowful thought, and kept her +calm and in good-humour whilst I continued there. I herein made use of +diversion. They who succeeded me in the same service did not, for all +that, find any amendment in her, for I had not gone to the root. + +I, peradventure, may elsewhere have glanced upon some sort of public +diversions; and the practice of military ones, which Pericles made use of +in the Peloponnesian war, and a thousand others in other places, to +withdraw the adverse forces from their own countries, is too frequent in +history. It was an ingenious evasion whereby Monseigneur d'Hempricourt +saved both himself and others in the city of Liege, into which the Duke +of Burgundy, who kept it besieged, had made him enter to execute the +articles of their promised surrender; the people, being assembled by +night to consider of it, began to mutiny against the agreement, and +several of them resolved to fall upon the commissioners, whom they had in +their power; he, feeling the gusts of this first popular storm, who were +coming to rush into his lodgings, suddenly sent out to them two of the +inhabitants of the city (of whom he had some with him) with new and +milder terms to be proposed in their council, which he had then and there +contrived for his need: These two diverted the first tempest, carrying +back the enraged rabble to the town-hall to hear and consider of what +they had to say. The deliberation was short; a second storm arose as +violent as the other, whereupon he despatched four new mediators of the +same quality to meet them, protesting that he had now better conditions +to present them with, and such as would give them absolute satisfaction, +by which means the tumult was once more appeased, and the people again +turned back to the conclave. In fine, by this dispensation of +amusements, one after another, diverting their fury and dissipating it in +frivolous consultations, he laid it at last asleep till the day appeared, +which was his principal end. + +This other story that follows is also of the same category. Atalanta, a +virgin of excelling beauty and of wonderful disposition of body, to +disengage herself from the crowd of a thousand suitors who sought her in +marriage, made this proposition, that she would accept of him for her +husband who should equal her in running, upon condition that they who +failed should lose their lives. There were enough who thought the prize +very well worth the hazard, and who suffered the cruel penalty of the +contract. Hippomenes, about to make trial after the rest, made his +address to the goddess of love, imploring her assistance; and she, +granting his request, gave him three golden apples, and instructed him +how to use them. The race beginning, as Hippomenes perceived his +mistress to press hard up to him; he, as it were by chance, let fall one +of these apples; the maid, taken with the beauty of it, failed not to +step out of her way to pick it up: + + "Obstupuit Virgo, nitidique cupidine pomi + Declinat cursus, aurumque volubile tollit." + + ["The virgin, astonished and attracted by the glittering apple, + stops her career, and seizes the rolling gold." + --Ovid, Metam., x. 666.] + +He did the same, when he saw his time, by the second and the third, till +by so diverting her, and making her lose so much ground, he won the race. +When physicians cannot stop a catarrh, they divert and turn it into some +other less dangerous part. And I find also that this is the most +ordinary practice for the diseases of the mind: + + "Abducendus etiam nonnunquam animus est ad alia studia, + sollicitudines, curas, negotia: loci denique mutatione, + tanquam aegroti non convalescentes, saepe curandus est." + + ["The mind is sometimes to be diverted to other studies, thoughts, + cares, business: in fine, by change of place, as where sick persons + do not become convalescent."--Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., iv. 35.] + +'Tis to little effect directly to jostle a man's infirmities; we neither +make him sustain nor repel the attack; we only make him decline and evade +it. + +This other lesson is too high and too difficult: 'tis for men of the +first form of knowledge purely to insist upon the thing, to consider and +judge it; it appertains to one sole Socrates to meet death with an +ordinary countenance, to grow acquainted with it, and to sport with it; +he seeks no consolation out of the thing itself; dying appears to him a +natural and indifferent accident; 'tis there that he fixes his sight and +resolution, without looking elsewhere. The disciples of Hegesias, who +starved themselves to death, animated thereunto by his fine lectures, and +in such numbers that King Ptolemy ordered he should be forbidden to +entertain his followers with such homicidal doctrines, did not consider +death in itself, neither did they judge of it; it was not there they +fixed their thoughts; they ran towards and aimed at a new being. + +The poor wretches whom we see brought upon the scaffold, full of ardent +devotion, and therein, as much as in them lies, employing all their +senses, their ears in hearing the instructions given them, their eyes and +hands lifted up towards heaven, their voices in loud prayers, with a +vehement and continual emotion, do doubtless things very commendable and +proper for such a necessity: we ought to commend them for their devotion, +but not properly for their constancy; they shun the encounter, they +divert their thoughts from the consideration of death, as children are +amused with some toy or other when the surgeon is going to give them a +prick with his lancet. I have seen some, who, casting their eyes upon +the dreadful instruments of death round about, have fainted, and +furiously turned their thoughts another way; such as are to pass a +formidable precipice are advised either to shut their eyes or to look +another way. + +Subrius Flavius, being by Nero's command to be put to death, and by the +hand of Niger, both of them great captains, when they lead him to the +place appointed for his execution, seeing the grave that Niger had caused +to be hollowed to put him into ill-made: "Neither is this," said he, +turning to the soldiers who guarded him, "according to military +discipline." And to Niger, who exhorted him to keep his head firm: "Do +but thou strike as firmly," said he. And he very well foresaw what would +follow when he said so; for Niger's arm so trembled that he had several +blows at his head before he could cut it off. This man seems to have had +his thoughts rightly fixed upon the subject. + +He who dies in a battle, with his sword in his hand, does not then think +of death; he feels or considers it not; the ardour of the fight diverts +his thought another way. A worthy man of my acquaintance, falling as he +was fighting a duel, and feeling himself nailed to the earth by nine or +ten thrusts of his enemy, every one present called to him to think of his +conscience; but he has since told me, that though he very well heard what +they said, it nothing moved him, and that he never thought of anything +but how to disengage and revenge himself. He afterwards killed his man +in that very duel. He who brought to L. Silanus the sentence of death, +did him a very great kindness, in that, having received his answer, that +he was well prepared to die, but not by base hands, he ran upon him with +his soldiers to force him, and as he, unarmed as he was, obstinately +defended himself with his fists and feet, he made him lose his life in +the contest, by that means dissipating and diverting in a sudden and +furious rage the painful apprehension of the lingering death to which he +was designed. + +We always think of something else; either the hope of a better life +comforts and supports us, or the hope of our children's worth, or the +future glory of our name, or the leaving behind the evils of this life, +or the vengeance that threatens those who are the causes of our death, +administers consolation to us: + + "Spero equidem mediis, si quid pia numina possunt, + Supplicia hausurum scopulis, et nomine Dido + Saepe vocaturum . . . . + Audiam; et haec Manes veniet mihi fama sub imos." + + ["I hope, however, if the pious gods have any power, thou wilt feel + thy punishment amid the rocks, and will call on the name of Dido; + I shall hear, and this report will come to me below."--AEneid, iv. + 382, 387.] + +Xenophon was sacrificing with a crown upon his head when one came to +bring him news of the death of his son Gryllus, slain in the battle of +Mantinea: at the first surprise of the news, he threw his crown to the +ground; but understanding by the sequel of the narrative the manner of a +most brave and valiant death, he took it up and replaced it upon his +head. Epicurus himself, at his death, consoles himself upon the utility +and eternity of his writings: + + "Omnes clari et nobilitati labores fiunt tolerabiles;" + + ["All labours that are illustrious and famous become supportable." + --Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., ii. 26.] + +and the same wound, the same fatigue, is not, says Xenophon, so +intolerable to a general of an army as to a common soldier. Epaminondas +took his death much more cheerfully, having been informed that the +victory remained to him: + + "Haec sunt solatia, haec fomenta summorum dolorum;" + + ["These are sedatives and alleviations to the greatest pains." + --Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., ii. 23.] + +and such like circumstances amuse, divert, and turn our thoughts from the +consideration of the thing in itself. Even the arguments of philosophy +are always edging and glancing on the matter, so as scarce to rub its +crust; the greatest man of the first philosophical school, and +superintendent over all the rest, the great Zeno, forms this syllogism +against death: "No evil is honourable; but death is honourable; therefore +death is no evil"; against drunkenness this: " No one commits his secrets +to a drunkard; but every one commits his secrets to a wise man: therefore +a wise man is no drunkard." Is this to hit the white? I love to see +that these great and leading souls cannot rid themselves of our company: +perfect men as they are, they are yet simply men. + +Revenge is a sweet passion, of great and natural impression; I discern it +well enough, though I have no manner of experience of it. From this not +long ago to divert a young prince, I did not tell him that he must, to +him that had struck him upon the one cheek, turn the other, upon account +of charity; nor go about to represent to him the tragical events that +poetry attributes to this passion. I left that behind; and I busied +myself to make him relish the beauty of a contrary image: and, by +representing to him what honour, esteem, and goodwill he would acquire by +clemency and good nature, diverted him to ambition. Thus a man is to +deal in such cases. + +If your passion of love be too violent, disperse it, say they, and they +say true; for I have often tried it with advantage: break it into several +desires, of which let one be regent, if you will, over the rest; but, +lest it should tyrannise and domineer over you, weaken and protract, by +dividing and diverting it: + + "Cum morosa vago singultiet inguine vena," + + ["When you are tormented with fierce desire, satisfy it with the + first person that presents herself."--Persius, Sat., vi. 73.] + + "Conjicito humorem collectum in corpora quaeque," + + [Lucretius, vi. 1062, to the like effect.] + +and provide for it in time, lest it prove troublesome to deal with, when +it has once seized you: + + "Si non prima novis conturbes vulnera plagis, + Volgivagaque vagus venere ante recentia cures." + + ["Unless you cure old wounds by new."-Lucretius, iv. 1064.] + +I was once wounded with a vehement displeasure, and withal, more just +than vehement; I might peradventure have lost myself in it, if I had +merely trusted to my own strength. Having need of a powerful diversion +to disengage me, by art and study I became amorous, wherein I was +assisted by my youth: love relieved and rescued me from the evil wherein +friendship had engaged me. 'Tis in everything else the same; a violent +imagination hath seized me: I find it a nearer way to change than to +subdue it: I depute, if not one contrary, yet another at least, in its +place. Variation ever relieves, dissolves, and dissipates. + +If I am not able to contend with it, I escape from it; and in avoiding +it, slip out of the way, and make, my doubles; shifting place, business, +and company, I secure myself in the crowd of other thoughts and fancies, +where it loses my trace, and I escape. + +After the same manner does nature proceed, by the benefit of inconstancy; +for time, which she has given us for the sovereign physician of our +passions, chiefly works by this, that supplying our imaginations with +other and new affairs, it loosens and dissolves the first apprehension, +how strong soever. A wise man little less sees his friend dying at the +end of five-and-twenty years than on the first year; and according to +Epicurus, no less at all; for he did not attribute any alleviation of +afflictions, either to their foresight or their antiquity; but so many +other thoughts traverse this, that it languishes and tires at last. + +Alcibiades, to divert the inclination of common rumours, cut off the ears +and tail of his beautiful dog, and turned him out into the public place, +to the end that, giving the people this occasion to prate, they might let +his other actions alone. I have also seen, for this same end of +diverting the opinions and conjectures of the people and to stop their +mouths, some women conceal their real affections by those that were only +counterfeit; but I have also seen some of them, who in counterfeiting +have suffered themselves to be caught indeed, and who have quitted the +true and original affection for the feigned: and so have learned that +they who find their affections well placed are fools to consent to this +disguise: the public and favourable reception being only reserved for +this pretended lover, one may conclude him a fellow of very little +address and less wit, if he does not in the end put himself into your +place, and you into his; this is precisely to cut out and make up a shoe +for another to draw on. + +A little thing will turn and divert us, because a little thing holds us. +We do not much consider subjects in gross and singly; they are little and +superficial circumstances, or images that touch us, and the outward +useless rinds that peel off from the subjects themselves: + + "Folliculos ut nunc teretes aestate cicadae + Linquunt." + + ["As husks we find grasshoppers leave behind them in summer." + --Lucretius, v. 801.] + +Even Plutarch himself laments his daughter for the little apish tricks of +her infancy.--[Consolation to his Wife on the Death of their Daughter, +c. I.]--The remembrance of a farewell, of the particular grace of an +action, of a last recommendation, afflict us. The sight of Caesar's robe +troubled all Rome, which was more than his death had done. Even the +sound of names ringing in our ears, as "my poor master,"--"my faithful +friend,"--"alas, my dear father," or, "my sweet daughter," afflict us. +When these repetitions annoy me, and that I examine it a little nearer, +I find 'tis no other but a grammatical and word complaint; I am only +wounded with the word and tone, as the exclamations of preachers very +often work more upon their auditory than their reasons, and as the +pitiful eyes of a beast killed for our service; without my weighing or +penetrating meanwhile into the true and solid essence of my subject: + + "His se stimulis dolor ipse lacessit." + + ["With these incitements grief provokes itself." + --Lucretius, ii. 42.] + +These are the foundations of our mourning. + +The obstinacy of my stone to all remedies especially those in my bladder, +has sometimes thrown me into so long suppressions of urine for three or +four days together, and so near death, that it had been folly to have +hoped to evade it, and it was much rather to have been desired, +considering the miseries I endure in those cruel fits. Oh, that good +emperor, who caused criminals to be tied that they might die for want of +urination, was a great master in the hangman's' science! Finding myself +in this condition, I considered by how many light causes and objects +imagination nourished in me the regret of life; of what atoms the weight +and difficulty of this dislodging was composed in my soul; to how many +idle and frivolous thoughts we give way in so great an affair; a dog, a +horse, a book, a glass, and what not, were considered in my loss; to +others their ambitious hopes, their money, their knowledge, not less +foolish considerations in my opinion than mine. I look upon death +carelessly when I look upon it universally as the end of life. I insult +over it in gross, but in detail it domineers over me: the tears of a +footman, the disposing of my clothes, the touch of a friendly hand, a +common consolation, discourages and softens me. So do the complaints in +tragedies agitate our souls with grief; and the regrets of Dido and +Ariadne, impassionate even those who believe them not in Virgil and +Catullus. 'Tis a symptom of an obstinate and obdurate nature to be +sensible of no emotion, as 'tis reported for a miracle of Polemon; but +then he did not so much as alter his countenance at the biting of a mad +dog that tore away the calf of his leg; and no wisdom proceeds so far as +to conceive so vivid and entire a cause of sorrow, by judgment that it +does not suffer increase by its presence, when the eyes and ears have +their share; parts that are not to be moved but by vain accidents. + +Is it reason that even the arts themselves should make an advantage of +our natural stupidity and weakness? An orator, says rhetoric in the +farce of his pleading, shall be moved with the sound of his own voice and +feigned emotions, and suffer himself to be imposed upon by the passion he +represents; he will imprint in himself a true and real grief, by means of +the part he plays, to transmit it to the judges, who are yet less +concerned than he: as they do who are hired at funerals to assist in the +ceremony of sorrow, who sell their tears and mourning by weight and +measure; for although they act in a borrowed form, nevertheless, by +habituating and settling their countenances to the occasion, 'tis most +certain they often are really affected with an actual sorrow. I was one, +amongst several others of his friends, who conveyed the body of Monsieur +de Grammont to Spissons from the siege of La Fere, where he was slain; +I observed that in all places we passed through we filled the people we +met with lamentations and tears by the mere solemn pomp of our convoy, +for the name of the defunct was not there so much as known. Quintilian +reports as to have seen comedians so deeply engaged in a mourning part, +that they still wept in the retiring room, and who, having taken upon +them to stir up passion in another, have themselves espoused it to that +degree as to find themselves infected with it, not only to tears, but, +moreover, with pallor and the comportment of men really overwhelmed with +grief. + +In a country near our mountains the women play Priest Martin, for as they +augment the regret of the deceased husband by the remembrance of the good +and agreeable qualities he possessed, they also at the same time make a +register of and publish his imperfections; as if of themselves to enter +into some composition, and divert themselves from compassion to disdain. +Yet with much better grace than we, who, when we lose an acquaintance, +strive to give him new and false praises, and to make him quite another +thing when we have lost sight of him than he appeared to us when we did +see him; as if regret were an instructive thing, or as if tears, by +washing our understandings, cleared them. For my part, I henceforth +renounce all favourable testimonies men would give of me, not because I +shall be worthy of them, but because I shall be dead. + +Whoever shall ask a man, "What interest have you in this siege?"-- +"The interest of example," he will say, "and of the common obedience to +my prince: I pretend to no profit by it; and for glory, I know how small +a part can affect a private man such as I: I have here neither passion +nor quarrel." And yet you shall see him the next day quite another man, +chafing and red with fury, ranged in battle for the assault; 'tis the +glittering of so much steel, the fire and noise of our cannon and drums, +that have infused this new rigidity and fury into his veins. A frivolous +cause, you will say. How a cause? There needs none to agitate the mind; +a mere whimsy without body and without subject will rule and agitate it. +Let me thing of building castles in Spain, my imagination suggests to me +conveniences and pleasures with which my soul is really tickled and +pleased. How often do we torment our mind with anger or sorrow by such +shadows, and engage ourselves in fantastic passions that impair both soul +and body? What astonished, fleeting, confused grimaces does this raving +put our faces into! what sallies and agitations both of members and +voices does it inspire us with! Does it not seem that this individual +man has false visions amid the crowd of others with whom he has to do, +or that he is possessed with some internal demon that persecutes him? +Inquire of yourself where is the object of this mutation? is there +anything but us in nature which inanity sustains, over which it has +power? Cambyses, from having dreamt that his brother should be one day +king of Persia, put him to death: a beloved brother, and one in whom he +had always confided. Aristodemus, king of the Messenians, killed himself +out of a fancy of ill omen, from I know not what howling of his dogs; +and King Midas did as much upon the account of some foolish dream he had +dreamed. 'Tis to prize life at its just value, to abandon it for a +dream. And yet hear the soul triumph over the miseries and weakness of +the body, and that it is exposed to all attacks and alterations; truly, +it has reason so to speak! + + "O prima infelix finger ti terra Prometheo! + Ille parum cauti pectoris egit opus + Corpora disponens, mentem non vidit in arte; + Recta animi primum debuit esse via." + + ["O wretched clay, first formed by Prometheus. In his attempt, + what little wisdom did he shew! In framing bodies, he did not + apply his art to form the mind, which should have been his first + care."--Propertius, iii. 5, 7.] + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A little thing will turn and divert us +Abominate that incidental repentance which old age brings +Age imprints more wrinkles in the mind than it does on the face +Always be parading their pedantic science +Am as jealous of my repose as of my authority +Anger and hatred are beyond the duty of justice +Beast of company, as the ancient said, but not of the herd +Books go side by side with me in my whole course +Books have many charming qualities to such as know how to choose +But ill proves the honour and beauty of an action by its utility +Childish ignorance of many very ordinary things +Common consolation, discourages and softens me +Consoles himself upon the utility and eternity of his writings +Deceit maintains and supplies most men's employment +Diverting the opinions and conjectures of the people +Dying appears to him a natural and indifferent accident +Every place of retirement requires a walk +Fault will be theirs for having consulted me +Few men have been admired by their own domestics +Follies do not make me laugh, it is our wisdom which does +Folly to put out their own light and shine by a borrowed lustre +For fear of the laws and report of men +Gently to bear the inconstancy of a lover +Give but the rind of my attention +Grief provokes itself +He may employ his passion, who can make no use of his reason +He may well go a foot, they say, who leads his horse in his hand +I do not consider what it is now, but what it was then +I find no quality so easy to counterfeit as devotion +I lay no great stress upon my opinions; or of others +I look upon death carelessly when I look upon it universally +I receive but little advice, I also give but little +I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare +I understand my men even by their silence and smiles +Idleness is to me a very painful labour +Imagne the mighty will not abase themselves so much as to live +In ordinary friendships I am somewhat cold and shy +Leaving nothing unsaid, how home and bitter soever +Library: Tis there that I am in my kingdom +Malice sucks up the greatest part of its own venom +Malicious kind of justice +Miserable kind of remedy, to owe one's health to one's disease! +Miserable, who has not at home where to be by himself +More supportable to be always alone than never to be so. +My fancy does not go by itself, as when my legs move it +My thoughts sleep if I sit still +Nearest to the opinions of those with whom they have to do +No evil is honourable; but death is honourable +No man is free from speaking foolish things +Noise of arms deafened the voice of laws +None of the sex, let her be as ugly as the devil thinks lovable +Obliged to his age for having weaned him from pleasure +Open speaking draws out discoveries, like wine and love +Perfect men as they are, they are yet simply men. +Preachers very often work more upon their auditory than reasons +Public weal requires that men should betray, and lie +Ridiculous desire of riches when we have lost the use of them +Rowers who so advance backward +Season a denial with asperity, suspense, or favour +So that I could have said no worse behind their backs +Socrates: According to what a man can +Studied, when young, for ostentation, now for diversion +Swim in troubled waters without fishing in them +Take a pleasure in being uninterested in other men's affairs +The good opinion of the vulgar is injurious +The sick man has not to complain who has his cure in his sleeve +The virtue of the soul does not consist in flying high +Tis an exact life that maintains itself in due order in private +Tis not the cause, but their interest, that inflames them +Titillation of ill-natured pleasure in seeing others suffer +To be a slave, incessantly to be led by the nose by one's self +Truly he, with a great effort will shortly say a mighty trifle +We do not so much forsake vices as we change them +We much more aptly imagine an artisan upon his close-stool +What more? they lie with their lovers learnedly +What need have they of anything but to live beloved and honoured +Wisdom is folly that does not accommodate itself to the common +You must let yourself down to those with whom you converse + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Essays of Montaigne, V14 +By Michel de Montaigne + diff --git a/old/mn14v11.zip b/old/mn14v11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..49f79b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mn14v11.zip |