66. This this book: the Essays.
67. Statuary sculptor.
68. Ovid, Metamorphoses, X.283–84.
AN APOLOGY OF RAYMOND SEBOND
1. Heavens’-cope the canopy or vault of the heavens.
2. The three conditions those that swim, fly, walk.
3. This notable author Plato.
4. A classic example of Florio’s “Englishing.” Montaigne has “les Basques et les Troglodytes” (Céard, 711).
5. Lucretius, De rerum natura, V.1059–61.
6. Treat negotiate, bargain.
7. Lucretius, De rerum natura, V.1030–31.
8. Tasso, Aminta, II.iii.140–41.
9. Despite to show contempt for.
10. Vacations vocations, occupations.
11. Virgil, Georgics, IV.219–21.
12. That is, even in women.
13. I Corinthians 1:19–21.
14. Philo Philo of Larissa (d. 84 or 83 BC). A Greek philosopher, Philo was a student of Clitomachus and a late leader of the Platonic Academy. An academic skeptic, he influenced the skeptical writings of Cicero.
15. One of the seven wise one of the seven sages of ancient Greece. Most lists do not include Pherecydes (ca. 600–550 BC), who was an important pre-Socratic philosopher.
16. The wisest that ever was Socrates; see Plato, Apology for Socrates, and Cicero, Academica, IV.xxiii.74.
17. Cicero, Academica, I.xii.44.
18. Ought owed.
19. Cicero, De divinatione, II.iii.8
20. Too much ado Florio’s translation is a little unclear. Montaigne has “trop beau jeu” and suggests he would have it too easy—it would be too much of a game—if he were to consider human beings in their ordinary state.
21. Lucretius, De rerum natura, III.1048, 1046.
22. Squared the same to all biases found equanimity and balance.
23. Stead provide advantage to.
24. Holdfast firm or sure grip or grasp. The contrast is between movement and stasis, between moving forward and being stopped.
25. College assembly, fellowship, esteemed group.
26. His his own.
27. Sciences systems of knowledge. Throughout the essay, “science” means “knowledge.”
28. Pyrrho Pyrrho of Elis (ca. 360–ca. 270 BC), a Greek philosopher and the founder of Pyrrhonian skepticism, kept alive by the writings of Sextus Empiricus (ca. AD 160–210), whose main work, the Pyrrhonian Hypotyposes, was published in Henri Estienne’s Greek edition of 1562. Montaigne probably knew the Latin translation, published with the second edition of 1567.
29. Epechists from the Greek for “I abstain.”
30. Lucretius, De rerum natura, IV.469–70.
31. Concupiscible appetitive.
32. Discipline doctrine, philosophy.
33. But to only to.
34. Conceipt conception, belief.
35. Cicero, Academica, II.iii.8.
36. Ibid., II.iii.8.
37. Quarrelous quarrelsome.
38. A hundred and a hundred hundreds of.
39. Interdicted forbidden.
40. Wots knows.
41. Cicero, Academica, I.xii.45.
42. Burdens refrains.
43. Straggering staggering, wavering.
44. Fantazie idea, notion.
45. Cicero, De divinatione, I.xviii.35.
46. Downfalls precipices, cliffs.
47. Endearing of his discipline making too much of his philosophy, making it too dear.
48. Her wise Secter in chief the sage of the sect.
49. Comprized comprehended, understood.
50. Take shipping goes out to sea.
51. A mind warranted from prejudice hath a marvellous preferment to tranquility an unprejudiced mind has a much better chance of reaching tranquillity.
52. Nice-wits schoolmasters, pedagogues, pedants.
53. As there is in Pyrrhonism.
54. Disciplinable teachable.
55. That is, the Pyrrhonist is a blank sheet of paper, a blank slate.
56. Psalms 94:11, 93:11 (in Vulgate).
57. Conceit feign.
58. Livy, The History of Rome, XXVI.xxii.14.
59. One of the most famous promulgators of this theory was Florio’s friend Giordano Bruno.
60. Lucretius, De rerum natura, II.1085–86.
61. Ibid., II.1077–78.
62. Ibid., II.1064–66.
63. It the earth.
64. Happily haply, perchance.
65. They had never knowledge nor of Bacchus nor of Ceres they knew the cultivation neither of wine nor of wheat and grain; see also “Of the Cannibals.”
66. The Blemmyi, see Shakespeare, Othello, I.ii.143–44.
67. Women are brought a bed at five years of age women give birth at age five.
68. He is no more risible, nor perhaps capable of reason and society If mankind is no longer capable of laughter, nor perhaps of reason or society, then our notions of the inner states of a man would be irrelevant.
69. Hidden proprieties and quintessences occult properties and essential qualities.
70. Word speech, language.
71. Hoc The debate over transubstantiation—the extent to which communion involves a literal or symbolic ingestion of Christ’s body—centered around the interpretation of Matthew XXVI.26: “Hoc est corpus meum (This is my body).”
72. Montaigne invokes the famous “liar’s paradox.”
73. Ours our (philosophical) language.
74. Physic medicine.
75. Conceit attitude, humor.
76. Impresa heraldic device, typically containing a motto and an image.
77. That ancient scoffer The “moqueur ancien” is Pliny the Elder; see Pliny’s The Natural History, II.vii.
78. Horace, Odes, III.xxix.43–48.
79. Searce sieve, filter (of judgment and perception).
80. Pliny, The Natural History, II.xxiii.
81. Our times the Christian era. This “man” is usually thought to refer to Tertullian (ca. 160–ca. 225), an early father of the Christian church.
82. Cicero De natura deorum, II.lxvi.167, III.xxxv.86.
83. Saint Augustine, City of God, XI.22.
84. A difficult passage. Montaigne suggests that Nature maintains order and balance in the world and thus keeps human beings from having the burden of being afraid of divine judgment.
85. Cicero, De natura deorum, I.xvii.45.
86. See Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well: “The mightiest space in fortune nature brings / To join like likes and kiss like native things” (I.i.205–6).
87. Sans without; see Shakespeare, As You Like It: “Last scene of all, / That ends this strange, eventful history, / Is second childishness and mere oblivion, / Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything” (II.vii.162–65).
88. Epistle to the Romans Romans I:22–23.
89. Juggling hocus-pocus, fraudulence, deception.
90. Cock-horse toy horse, rocking horse.
91. Lucan, Pharsalia, I.486.
92. Domineere mastery; see Saint Augustine, City of God, VIII.23.
93. Trismegistus Hermes Trismegistus, the name given to the Egyptian god Thoth, was believed in Montaigne’s day to have been the author of ancient mystical writings.
94. Saint Augustine, City of God, VIII.24.
95. Lucan, Pharsalia, I.452–53.
96. Hath sense is a sentient being.
97. Is not this brave? Is not this a triumph (of bogus argumentation)?
98. Sottish foolish.
99. Lacedemonia Sparta.
100. Ovid, Metamorphoses, X.331–33.
101. The communication with women the sharing of wives.
102. Cicero, De finibus, V.xxi.59–60.
103. Quick living.
104. Bartolus and Baldus fourteenth-century Italian legal authorities.
105. Advises (noun) opinions.
106. Without peradventure without doubt.
107. Lu
cretius, De rerum natura, V.102–3.
108. Science knowledge.
109. Lucretius, De rerum natura, IV.478–79, 482–83.
110. Senses subject subject of the senses.
111. Want lack.
112. Lucretius, De rerum natura, IV.486–88.
113. Ibid., IV.489–90.
114. Naturally blind blind from birth.
115. Prospect view.
116. Shooting at buts shooting at targets.
117. In a fair champian ground in a fine open ground.
118. Streekes strikes or strokes.
119. In a piece with a harquebus or small rifle.
120. Virtues, either binding or restrictive properties such as desiccating or shrinking.
121. Proprieties properties.
122. As in the adamant to draw iron as in the (occult, secret) property of a magnet to attract iron.
123. Happily by chance.
124. Quarrelous quarrelsome.
125. Emmets ants.
126. Simples medicinal herbs.
127. Sects philosophical schools.
128. Lucretius, De rerum natura, V.577–78.
129. Ibid., IV.379, 386.
130. Ibid., IV.499–510.
131. Whether if.
132. Kenning visual cognition, sight.
133. Lucretius, De rerum natura, IV.397, 389–90, 420–23.
134. Our discourse our reason.
135. Re-enverse overthrow.
136. Demisse downcast, lowly.
137. Vastity vastness.
138. Chilnesse a chill, a frisson.
139. Chirurgion surgeon.
140. Ruby-red ruby-red complexion.
141. Its her, the lady’s; perhaps her beauty.
142. Ovid, De remedia amoris, I.343–46.
143. Ovid, Metamorphoses, III.424–26.
144. Ibid., X.256–58.
145. Our Lady’s church steeple in Paris Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.
146. Tilers or thatchers those who work on roofs and would be used to the heights involved (unlike the philosopher).
147. Livy, The History of Rome, XLIV.6.
148. Cicero, De divinatione, I.xxxvi.80.
149. Wound bent around, shaped.
150. Coyle noisy disturbance, row, turmoil.
151. Goodly piece human judgment.
152. They the senses and judgment (“understanding,” “mind”); Avie in emulation.
153. Virgil, Aeneid, IV.470.
154. Lucretius, De rerum natura, IV.1155–56.
155. Ibid., IV.811–13. The mangled translation obscures the point: even visible things need constant attention, or they can seem remote or even disappear.
156. Amuseth draw in, (pre)occupy; see Cotgrave: “amuser: to stay, hold, or delay from going forward by discourse, questions, or any other amusements.”
157. Cimmerian refers to a people famous for living in perpetual darkness. The phrase was proverbial.
158. Spittle saliva.
159. Lucretius, De rerum natura, IV.636–39.
160. Jandise jaundice.
161. Lucretius, De rerum natura, IV.332–33.
162. Ibid., IV.450, 452.
163. Montaigne is more relativistic than Florio, claiming that these animals receive the sound differently (“reçoivent le son autre” [Céard, 924]) than we do. Florio suggests that there is a right way, and the animals hear the sound “other than it is.”
164. Lucretius, De rerum natura, IV.75–80.
165. Impreses heraldric devices.
166. Luxury lust.
167. Members penises.
168. Lucretius, De rerum natura, III. 703–4.
169. Distasted jaded, lacking the ability to taste.
170. Wallowishness tastelessness, insipidness.
171. Lucretius, De rerum natura, IV.513–21.
172. Subjects somewhat strangely, Montaigne’s “sujet” is closer to the modern English “object” than to “subject.”
173. Fantasy faculty of perception.
174. What follows—until “sans ending”—is taken almost word for word from Jacques Amyot’s French translation of one of Plutarch’s Moralia, “On the Meaning of Ei.”
175. Poyson a Florio mistranslation: Montaigne’s “empoigner” means “grasp” or “seize.”
176. Self same.
177. Stripling youth, adolescent.
178. Lucretius, De rerum natura, V.828–31.
179. Sottishness foolishness.
180. Declinations declinings.
181. At this point Montaigne’s long citation of Plutarch ends.
182. Seneca, Naturales Quaestiones, I, preface, 5.
183. Mere purely.
WE TASTE NOTHING PURELY
1. Empared furnished, adorned.
2. Composition mixture, blending.
3. Cyrenaic sensuality or Aristippian voluptuousness Aristippus (ca. 435–356 BC) was a follower of Socrates and the founder of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy. The end of philosophy—for Aristippus and his followers—was pleasure.
4. Incommodity hindrance, trouble, hurt, injury.
5. Lucretius, De rerum natura, IV.1133–34.
6. Our exceeding voluptuousness our engaging in sexual intercourse.
7. Morbidezza see WW: “wantonnesse, ranknesse” (232).
8. A great testimony of their consanguinity and consubtantiality the deep connection between the “excellency” and the “sickish and dolorous qualities” of the sexual act. Montaigne is continuing his thesis about the blendedness—the lack of “purity”—of things of the world.
9. Seneca, Epistulae morales, LXXIV.18.
10. Travell travail, toil.
11. Complexions constitutions, natures.
12. For an example, see Shakespeare’s Jaques in As You Like It.
13. Ovid, Tristia, IV.iii.37.
14. Last friends almost certainly a typo for “lost friends”; Montaigne has “nos amis perdu” (Céard, 1041).
15. Catullus, Epigrams, XXVII.1–2.
16. Seneca, Epistulae morales, LXIX.4.
17. In the climax of sexual pleasure, “man” is unable to bear his ecstatic joy.
18. Upon the nick at the critical moment; the moment of climax.
19. See the First Lord in Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well: “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together. Our virtues would be proud if our faults whipped them not, and our crimes would despair if they were not cherished by our virtues” (IV.iii.69–72). See also Feste’s quotation in the next note.
20. Botching and parti-coloured work a work that is patched and of more than one color; see Feste, the “parti-coloured,” motley fool in Shakespeare, Twelfth Night: “bid the dishonest man mend himself: if he mend, he is no longer dishonest; if he cannot, let the botcher mend him. Anything that’s mended is but patched. Virtue that transgresses is but patched with sin, and sin that amends is but patched with virtue” (I.v.38–45).
21. Tacitus, Annals, XIV.44.
22. less-wire-drawn wits those with less taut, tight, firm wits.
23. Volubility versatility; see Cotgrave: “voluble: variable, wauering, often flitting, or changing; and, glib, nimble, rolling, alwayes running, euer turning.”
24. Livy, The History of Rome, XXXII.20.2.
25. The question was “What is the being and nature of God?”; see Cicero, De natura deorum, I.xxii.60.
26. A mean engine a modest talent or intelligence.
27. Husbands managers.
28. Arithmeticians Montaigne has “conteurs,” which can mean either “counters”—as Florio takes it—or “tale-tellers.”
29. Pratler talker.
30. Blazoner proclaimer.
OF A MONSTROUS CHILD
1. This discourse shall pass single this will be a simple tale.
2. Went walked.
3. Puling whining.
4. Paps breasts.
5. Conduit of his back spinal canal.
6. This do
uble body the previous description is of conjoined twins (sometimes called Siamese twins).
7. So-called monsters were thought to demonstrate the will of God. Interesting in this essay is the conclusion that monsters can reveal the limitations of our access to God’s will; they can demonstrate how little we know.
8. Montaigne hopes that this particular “monster”—possessing both a “double body and these different members” and “one only head”—will be a favorable omen of the king’s ability to unify the religious and political divisions of post-Reformation France under his single rule.
9. That is, found to have been prophesied; see Cicero, De divinatione, II.xxxi.66.
10. Divined contrary prophesied backward.
11. Genitorie genital.
12. Cicero, De divinatione, II.xxii.49.
13. There is nothing, whatsoever it be, that is not according to her there is nothing that goes contrary to Nature.
OF REPENTING
1. The public and their own motion general, universal motion and particular motion.
2. Counter-roule catalog.
3. Gainsay contradict (more than “deny”).
4. Although this is a later piece, Montaigne’s use of essay is especially compelling here, suggesting the restless attempts to portray himself by testing—and tasting—the world. He essays and cannot resolve. See Frampton, 221–43.
5. Prentise apprentice.
6. Conceits fancies, imaginings.
7. Hap chance.
8. Sottishness foolishness.
9. Munite to fortify, strengthen, provide with munitions.
10. Without reward without rewarding him for his labor.
11. Seneca, Epistulae morales, XXXIX.6.
12. Office service, duty.
13. Demisse lowly, downcast, cowardly.
14. Cicero, Tusculanae disputationes, II.xxvi.63, and De natura deorum, III.xxxv.85.
15. Nearly closely.
16. Horace, Odes, IV.x.7–8.
17. Play the juggler play his part.
18. Byas Bias of Priene (sixth century BCE), one of the seven sages of ancient Greece.
19. Familiars domestic servants.
20. Even so in things of nought likewise in things of no significance. Montaigne goes on to talk about one of these “things of nought”: the lack of appreciation afforded his writing in his own region of Gascony.
21. Climate of Gascoigne region of Gascony.
22. Guienne a region of southwestern France.
23. A difficult passage in which Montaigne suggests that some people keep themselves removed from the world while alive so that they will be more appreciated after they have died.
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