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Michel de Montaigne. Essays
Table of Contents
Guide
Pages
ESSAYS. The Philosophy Classic. A Selected Edition for the Modern Reader
AN INTRODUCTION
THE ESSAYS
PERSONAL OVER ABSTRACT
MY WORLD, NOT THE WORLD
MONTAIGNE THE PHILOSOPHER
MONTAIGNE THE SOCIAL THINKER
MONTAIGNE THE POLITICAL ACTOR
ON TIME AND HISTORY
THE MONTAIGNE METHOD
BIRTH OF THE MODERN, SKEPTICAL SELF
THE NECESSITY OF DOUBT
CONCLUSION
NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION
MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE – TIMELINE
GUIDE TO THE CHAPTERS. BOOK I. On Idleness
On Liars
That the Way We See Good and Evil Depends Upon the Opinion We Have of Them
To Study Philosophy Is to Learn How To Die
On the Power of Imagination
On Custom, and That We Should Not Easily Change an Established Law
On the Education of Children
On Friendship
On Moderation
On Cannibals
On Solitude
BOOK II. On the Inconstancy of Our Actions
Use Makes Perfect
On Books
On Cruelty
On Giving the Lie
On a Monstrous Child
On Three Good Women
BOOK III. On Profit and Honesty
On Repentance
On Some Verses of Virgil
On Coaches
On the Art of Conversation
On Vanity
On Experience
ABOUT PHILIPPE DESAN
ABOUT TOM BUTLER-BOWDON
TO THE READER
8 ON IDLENESS
9 ON LIARS
14 THAT THE WAY WE SEE GOOD AND EVIL DEPENDS ON THE OPINION WE HAVE OF THEM
20 TO STUDY PHILOSOPHY IS TO LEARN HOW TO DIE
21 ON THE POWER OF IMAGINATION
23 ON CUSTOM, AND THAT WE SHOULD NOT EASILY CHANGE AN ESTABLISHED LAW
26 ON THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
28 ON FRIENDSHIP
30 ON MODERATION
31 ON CANNIBALS
39 ON SOLITUDE
1 ON THE INCONSTANCY OF OUR ACTIONS
6 USE MAKES PERFECT
10 ON BOOKS
11 ON CRUELTY
18 ON GIVING THE LIE
30 ON A MONSTROUS CHILD
35 ON THREE GOOD WOMEN
1 ON PROFIT AND HONESTY
2 ON REPENTANCE
5 ON SOME VERSES OF VIRGIL
6 ON COACHES
8 ON THE ART OF CONVERSATION
9 ON VANITY
13 ON EXPERIENCE
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MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE
With an Introduction by
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The greatest and most wealthy princes are by poverty and want driven to the most extreme necessity; for can there be any more extreme than to become tyrants and unjust usurpers of their subjects’ goods and estates?
My second condition of life was to have money of my own, wherein I so ordered the matter that I had soon laid up a very notable sum out of a mean fortune, considering with myself that that only was to be reputed having which a man reserves from his ordinary expense, and that a man cannot absolutely rely upon revenue he hopes to receive, how clear soever the hope may be. For what, said I, if I should be surprised by such or such an accident? And after such-like vain and vicious imaginations, would very learnedly, by this hoarding of money, provide against all inconveniences; and could, moreover, answer such as objected to me that the number of these was too infinite, that if I could not lay up for all, I could, however, do it at least for some and for many. Yet was not this done without a great deal of solicitude and anxiety of mind; I kept it very close, and though I dare talk so boldly of myself, never spoke of my money, but falsely, as others do, who being rich, pretend to be poor, and being poor, pretend to be rich, dispensing their consciences from ever telling sincerely what they have: a ridiculous and shameful prudence. Was I going a journey? Methought I was never enough provided: and the more I loaded myself with money, the more also was I loaded with fear, one while of the danger of the roads, another of the fidelity of him who had the charge of my baggage, of whom, as some others that I know, I was never sufficiently secure if I had him not always in my eye. If I chanced to leave my cash-box behind me, O, what strange suspicions and anxiety of mind did I enter into, and, which was worse, without daring to acquaint anybody with it. My mind was eternally taken up with such things as these, so that, all things considered, there is more trouble in keeping money than in getting it. And if I did not altogether so much as I say, or was not really so scandalously solicitous of my money as I have made myself out to be, yet it cost me something at least to restrain myself from being so. I reaped little or no advantage by what I had, and my expenses seemed nothing less to me for having the more to spend; for, as Bion said, the hairy men are as angry as the bald to be pulled; and after you are once accustomed to it and have once set your heart upon your heap, it is no more at your service; you cannot find in your heart to break it: it is a building that you will fancy must of necessity all tumble down to ruin if you stir but the least pebble; necessity must first take you by the throat before you can prevail upon yourself to touch it; and I would sooner have pawned anything I had, or sold a horse, and with much less constraint upon myself, than have made the least breach in that beloved purse I had so carefully laid by. But the danger was that a man cannot easily prescribe certain limits to this desire (they are hard to find in things that a man conceives to be good), and to stint this good husbandry so that it may not degenerate into avarice: men still are intent upon adding to the heap and increasing the stock from sum to sum, till at last they vilely deprive themselves of the enjoyment of their own proper goods, and throw all into reserve, without making any use of them at all. According to this rule, they are the richest people in the world who are set to guard the walls and gates of a wealthy city. All moneyed men I conclude to be covetous. Plato places corporal or human goods in this order: health, beauty, strength, riches; and riches, says he, are not blind, but very clear-sighted, when illuminated by prudence. Dionysius the son did a very handsome act upon this subject; he was informed that one of the Syracusans had hid a treasure in the earth, and thereupon sent to the man to bring it to him, which he accordingly did, privately reserving a small part of it only to himself, with which he went to another city, where being cured of his appetite of hoarding, he began to live at a more liberal rate; which Dionysius hearing, caused the rest of his treasure to be restored to him, saying, that since he had learned to use it, he very willingly returned it back to him.
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