The Essays, vol 7 | Page 4

to sample the author's ideas before making
an entire meal of them. D.W.]

ESSAYS OF MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE
Translated by Charles Cotton
Edited by William Carew Hazilitt
1877

CONTENTS OF VOLUME 7.
XXXIX. A consideration upon Cicero. XL. That the relish of good and
evil depends in a great measure upon opinion. XLI. Not to
communicate a man's honour. XLII. Of the inequality amongst us.
XLIII. Of sumptuary laws. XLIV. Of sleep. XLV. Of the battle of
Dreux. XLVI. Of names. XLVII. Of the uncertainty of our judgment.

CHAPTER XXXIX
A CONSIDERATION UPON CICERO
One word more by way of comparison betwixt these two. There are to
be gathered out of the writings of Cicero and the younger Pliny (but
little, in my opinion, resembling his uncle in his humours) infinite
testimonies of a beyond measure ambitious nature; and amongst others,
this for one, that they both, in the sight of all the world, solicit the
historians of their time not to forget them in their memoirs; and fortune,
as if in spite, has made the vanity of those requests live upon record
down to this age of ours, while she has long since consigned the
histories themselves to oblivion. But this exceeds all meanness of spirit
in persons of such a quality as they were, to think to derive any great
renown from babbling and prating; even to the publishing of their
private letters to their friends, and so withal, that though some of them
were never sent, the opportunity being lost, they nevertheless presented
them to the light, with this worthy excuse that they were unwilling to
lose their labours and lucubrations. Was it not very well becoming two
consuls of Rome, sovereign magistrates of the republic that
commanded the world, to spend their leisure in contriving quaint and
elegant missives, thence to gain the reputation of being versed in their
own mother- tongues? What could a pitiful schoolmaster have done

worse, whose trade it was thereby to get his living? If the acts of
Xenophon and Caesar had not far transcended their eloquence, I scarce
believe they would ever have taken the pains to have written them; they
made it their business to recommend not their speaking, but their doing.
And could the perfection of eloquence have added a lustre suitable to a
great personage, certainly Scipio and Laelius had never resigned the
honour of their comedies, with all the luxuriances and elegances of the
Latin tongue, to an African slave; for that the work was theirs, its
beauty and excellence sufficiently declare; Terence himself confesses
as much, and I should take it ill from any one that would dispossess me
of that belief.
'Tis a kind of mockery and offence to extol a man for qualities
misbecoming his condition, though otherwise commendable in
themselves, but such as ought not, however, to be his chief talent; as if
a man should commend a king for being a good painter, a good
architect, a good marksman, or a good runner at the ring:
commendations that add no honour, unless mentioned altogether and in
the train of those that are properly applicable to him, namely, justice
and the science of governing and conducting his people both in peace
and war. At this rate, agriculture was an honour to Cyrus, and
eloquence and the knowledge of letters to Charlemagne. I have in my
time known some, who by writing acquired both their titles and fortune,
disown their apprenticeship, corrupt their style, and affect ignorance in
so vulgar a quality (which also our nation holds to be rarely seen in
very learned hands), and to seek a reputation by better qualities.
Demosthenes' companions in the embassy to Philip, extolling that
prince as handsome, eloquent, and a stout drinker, Demosthenes said
that those were commendations more proper for a woman, an advocate,
or a sponge, than for a king':
"Imperet bellante prior, jacentem Lenis in hostem."
["In the fight, overthrow your enemy, but be merciful to him when
fallen.--"Horace, Carm. Saec., v. 51.]
'Tis not his profession to know either how to hunt or to dance well;

"Orabunt causas alii, coelique meatus Describent radio, et fulgentia
sidera dicent; Hic regere imperio populos sciat."
["Let others plead at the bar, or describe the spheres, and point out the
glittering stars; let this man learn to rule the nations." --AEneid, vi.
849.]
Plutarch says, moreover, that to appear so excellent in these less
necessary qualities is to produce witness against a man's self, that he
has spent his time and applied his study ill, which ought to have been
employed in the acquisition of more necessary and more useful things.
So that Philip, king of Macedon, having heard that great Alexander his
son sing once at a feast to the wonder of the best musicians