How to Live

by Sarah Bakewell

  2 Honesty: II:11 377. Kidney stones: II:37 701.

  3 “Most” of his ancestors: III:9 901.

  4 Family and nobility: Frame, Montaigne 7–8, Lazard 26–9; Supple 28–9. On Eyquem family: Cocula, A.-M., “Eyquem de Montaigne (famille),” and Balsamo, J., “Eyquem de Montaigne (généalogie ascendante),” in Desan, Dictionnaire 381–3. On the wine-growing business: Marcetteau-Paul.

  5 Nobility of the sword: Supple 27–8.

  6 Born “in confiniis Burdigalensium et Petragorensium”: Montaigne, Le Livre de raison, entry for Feb. 28.

  7 Bordeaux background: Lazard 12; Frame, Montaigne 5–6. The English wine fleet: Knecht, Rise and Fall 8.

  8 Pierre’s way of signing documents: see e.g. the entry on Montaigne’s birth in the family record book: Montaigne, Le Livre de raison, entry for Feb. 28. See Lacouture 32.

  9 “If others examined themselves attentively”: III:9 931.

  10 Jewish ancestry: most biographers have surmised that his mother’s family was Jewish, with the main exception of Roger Trinquet (Trinquet, La Jeunesse de Montaigne). See Lazard 41 and Frame, Montaigne 17–20. Montaigne on Jews: I:14 42–3, I:56 282, II:3 311.

  11 Montaigne’s parents’ marriage, and his mother’s age: Frame, Montaigne 29.

  12 Antoinette’s legal documents, and Pierre’s wills: Lazard 45, and Frame, Montaigne 24–5.

  13 She stayed until about 1587: this is based on the fact that, when she wrote her own will on April 19, 1597, she had apparently lived away from the castle for about ten years. Document of Aug. 31, 1568, and Antoinette’s will: both translated in Frame, Montaigne 24–7.

  14 Montaigne’s indolence, and his father’s home improvements: III:9 882–4. Also see II:17 601–2.

  15 Montaigne’s father: Balsamo, J., “Eyquem de Montaigne, Pierre,” in Desan, Dictionnaire 383–6.

  16 Brantôme: P. de Bourdeilles, seigneur de Brantôme, Oeuvres completes, ed. L. Lalanne (Paris, 1864–82), V: 92–3. Cited in Desan, P., “Ordre de Saint-Michel,” in Desan, Dictionnaire 734, and Supple 39.

  17 Pierre’s stories: I:14 14.

  18 The effect of Italy on French soldiers: Lazard 32, 14; Frame, Montaigne 10.

  19 Montaigne’s description of his father: II:12 300–1.

  20 Stress of Pierre’s mayoralty: III:10 935. 48 “I want to sell some pearls”: I:35 200.

  21 The neglected notebook and the Beuther Ephemeris are both in the Bibliothèque municipale de Bordeaux. “I think I am a fool to have neglected it”: I:35 201. A facsimile edition of the Beuther, with transcriptions, was published as Montaigne, Le Livre de raison. See Desan, P., “Beuther,” in Desan, Dictionnaire 100–5, which also discusses the neglected notebook. Montaigne’s dating and numbering errors include the age of his brother Arnaud when he died from the tennis accident (I:20 71; Frame, Montaigne 33), his own age when he married, (II:8 342), the date of his arrest in Paris in 1588, which he later corrected (Montaigne, Le Livre de raison, entries for July 10 and July 20), and the age of his first daughter when she died (Montaigne’s dedication to La Boétie’s translation of Plutarch’s Lettre de consolation, 1570).

  22 Half-finished jobs: III:9 882. Montaigne’s affectation of indifference: III:10 935.

  23 Pierre’s kidney-stone attacks: II:37 701; III:2 746.

  24 Pierre’s wills: Frame, Montaigne 14.

  25 “Completing some old bit of wall”: III:9 882. “One should not try to surpass one’s father”: Nietzsche, The Gay Science 142 (s. 210).

  26 Holy persons and oracles: II:12 387.

  27 Eyquems famous for their harmony: I:28 166. “Out of respect for the good reputation”: this is quoted by Montaigne in his letter to his father, published in his edition of La Boétie, La Mesnagerie [etc.], and in Montaigne, The Complete Works, tr. D. Frame, 1285.

  28 Montaigne’s siblings: Balsamo, J., ‘Frères et soeurs de Montaigne’, in Desan, Dictionnaire 419–21.

  29 Montaigne sent out to peasant family: III:13 1028; Montaigne’s ordinariness made him extraordinary: II:17 584.

  30 Let your children “be formed by fortune”: III:13 1028.

  31 Horst: Banderier, G., “Précepteur de Montaigne,” in Desan, Dictionnaire 813.

  32 “My father and mother,” “without artificial means,” and compliments from teachers: I:26 156–7.

  33 Moderns inferior because they learned Latin artificially: I:26 156.

  34 “We volleyed our conjugations,” but little later knowledge of Greek: I:26 157. See also II:4 318.

  35 Woken by musical instrument: I:26 157. Only twice struck with rod, and “wisdom and tact”: II:8 341.

  36 Erasmus: Erasmus, D., De pueris statim ac liberaliter instituendis declamatio (Basel: H. Froben, 1529). “All the inquiries a man can make”: I:26 156–7.

  37 Decline through lack of practice: II:17 588; Latin exclamation: III:2 746.

  38 Ephemeral quality of French gave him freedom: III:9 913.

  39 Latin commune: Étienne Tabourot, sieur des Accords, Les Bigarrures (Rouen: J. Bauchu, 1591), Book IV, ff. 14r–v. Experiments were also tried by Robert Estienne and François de La Trémouïlle. See Lazard 57–8.

  40 Montaigne’s advice on education: I:26 135–50.

  41 “There is no one who”: III:2 746.

  42 Montaigne blames his father for changing his mind: I:26 157. On other possibilities: Lacouture 19–21.

  43 Bordeaux in Montaigne’s time: Cocula, A.-M., “Bordeaux,” in Desan, Dictionnaire 123–5.

  44 Collège de Guyenne: Hoffmann, G., “Étude & éducation de Montaigne,” in Desan, Dictionnaire 357–9. Curriculum from Elie Vinet, Schola aquitanica (1583). On the school regime: Lazard 62–3; Trinquet; Porteau, P., Montaigne et la vie pédagogique de son temps (Paris: Droz, 1935). Montaigne says he lost his Latin at school: I:26 158.

  45 Montaigne’s acting: I:26 159.

  46 Gouvéa: Gorris Camos, R., “Gouvéa, André,” in Desan, Dictionnaire 438–40. 61 The salt-tax uprising: Knecht, Rise and Fall 210–11, 246. Closing of the Collège: Nakam, Montaigne et son temps 85.

  47 Killing of Moneins: I:24 115–16.

  48 On Montmorency, the “pacification,” and Bordeaux’s loss of privileges: Knecht, Rise and Fall 246–7, Nakam, Montaigne et son temps 81–2.

  4. Q. How to live? A. Read a lot, forget most of what you read, and be slow-witted

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  45 Montaigne on Monluc: II:8 348.

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

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

  5. Q. How to live? A. Survive love and loss

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  12 Aims of La Boétie: see Smith, 53.

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

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

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

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

  17 “It seemed to me”: Emerson, 92.

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

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