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Authors: Michel de Montaigne
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suggested corrections or improvements, many of which have been included in this 1994 reprinting. A special word of thanks is due to Mr Jan Stolpe, the distinguished translator of Montaigne into Swedish, and to Donald Upton Esq., Dr Jon Haarberg, Dr Andrew Calder, M. Gilbert de Botton, Dr Bernard Curchod, Professor David Wiggins, Mrs Thalia Martin and Dr Jean Birrell.
*
Postscript:
Since my ordination by the Bishop of Oxford in 1993 I am often asked if I find Montaigne Montaigne’s arguments for his Church still convincing. Clearly not: I was not ordained in his Church, but I do think that Montaigne can still succeed in getting many to take Christianity – and religion in general – seriously.
M.A.S. All Souls College, Oxford.
June 2003.
Note on the Translation
I have tried to convey Montaigne’s sense and something of his style, without archaisms but without forcing him into an unsuitable, demotic English. I have not found that his meaning is more loyally conveyed by clinging in English to the grammar and constructions of his French: French and English achieve their literary effect by different means. On the other hand I have tried to translate his puns: they clearly mattered to him, and it was fun doing so. Montaigne’s sentences are often very long; where the sense does not suffer I have left many of them as they are. It helps to retain something of his savour.
It is seldom possible to translate one word in one language by one only in another. I have striven to do so in two cases vital for the understanding of Montaigne. The first is
essai, essayer
and the like: I have rendered these by
essay
or
assay
or the equivalent verbs even if that meant straining English a little. The second is
opinion
. In Montaigne’s French, as often in English,
opinion
does not imply that the idea is true: rather the contrary, as in Plato.
Montaigne’s numerous quotations are seldom integrated grammatically into his sentences. However long they may be we are meant to read them as asides – mentally holding our breath. I have respected that. To do otherwise would be to rewrite him.
When in doubt, I have given priority to what I take to be the meaning, though never, I hope, losing sight of readability.
Of versions of the Classics Jowett remarked that, ‘the slight personification arising out of Greek genders is the greatest difficulty in translation.’ In Montaigne’s French this difficulty is even greater since his sense of gender enables him to flit in and out of various degrees of personification in ways not open to writers of English. Where the personification is certain or a vital though implied element of the meaning I have sometimes used a capital letter and personal pronouns, etc., to produce a similar effect.
Explanation of the Symbols
[A] or ’80: all that follows is (ignoring minor variations) what Montaigne published in 1580 (the first edition).
[A1]: all that follows was added subsequently, mainly in 1582 and in any case before [B].
[B] or ’88: all that follows shows matter added or altered in 1588, the first major, indeed massive, revision of the
Essays
, which now includes a completely new Third Book.
[C]: all that follows represents an edited version of Montaigne’s final edition being prepared for the press when he died. The new material derives mainly from Montaigne’s own copy, smothered with additions and changes in his own hand and now in the Bibliothèque Municipale of Bordeaux.
’95: the first posthumous edition prepared for the press by Montaigne’s widow and by Marie de Gournay. It gives substantially the text of [C] but with important variants. (The editions of 1598 and 1617 have also been consulted, especially the latter, which contains most useful marginal notes as well as French translations, also by Marie de Gournay, of most of Montaigne’s quotations in Classical or foreign languages.)
Summary of the Symbols
[A] and ’80: the text of 1580
[A1] the text of 1582
*
Postscript:
Since my ordination by the Bishop of Oxford in 1993 I am often asked if I find Montaigne Montaigne’s arguments for his Church still convincing. Clearly not: I was not ordained in his Church, but I do think that Montaigne can still succeed in getting many to take Christianity – and religion in general – seriously.
M.A.S. All Souls College, Oxford.
June 2003.
Note on the Translation
I have tried to convey Montaigne’s sense and something of his style, without archaisms but without forcing him into an unsuitable, demotic English. I have not found that his meaning is more loyally conveyed by clinging in English to the grammar and constructions of his French: French and English achieve their literary effect by different means. On the other hand I have tried to translate his puns: they clearly mattered to him, and it was fun doing so. Montaigne’s sentences are often very long; where the sense does not suffer I have left many of them as they are. It helps to retain something of his savour.
It is seldom possible to translate one word in one language by one only in another. I have striven to do so in two cases vital for the understanding of Montaigne. The first is
essai, essayer
and the like: I have rendered these by
essay
or
assay
or the equivalent verbs even if that meant straining English a little. The second is
opinion
. In Montaigne’s French, as often in English,
opinion
does not imply that the idea is true: rather the contrary, as in Plato.
Montaigne’s numerous quotations are seldom integrated grammatically into his sentences. However long they may be we are meant to read them as asides – mentally holding our breath. I have respected that. To do otherwise would be to rewrite him.
When in doubt, I have given priority to what I take to be the meaning, though never, I hope, losing sight of readability.
Of versions of the Classics Jowett remarked that, ‘the slight personification arising out of Greek genders is the greatest difficulty in translation.’ In Montaigne’s French this difficulty is even greater since his sense of gender enables him to flit in and out of various degrees of personification in ways not open to writers of English. Where the personification is certain or a vital though implied element of the meaning I have sometimes used a capital letter and personal pronouns, etc., to produce a similar effect.
Explanation of the Symbols
[A] or ’80: all that follows is (ignoring minor variations) what Montaigne published in 1580 (the first edition).
[A1]: all that follows was added subsequently, mainly in 1582 and in any case before [B].
[B] or ’88: all that follows shows matter added or altered in 1588, the first major, indeed massive, revision of the
Essays
, which now includes a completely new Third Book.
[C]: all that follows represents an edited version of Montaigne’s final edition being prepared for the press when he died. The new material derives mainly from Montaigne’s own copy, smothered with additions and changes in his own hand and now in the Bibliothèque Municipale of Bordeaux.
’95: the first posthumous edition prepared for the press by Montaigne’s widow and by Marie de Gournay. It gives substantially the text of [C] but with important variants. (The editions of 1598 and 1617 have also been consulted, especially the latter, which contains most useful marginal notes as well as French translations, also by Marie de Gournay, of most of Montaigne’s quotations in Classical or foreign languages.)
Summary of the Symbols
[A] and ’80: the text of 1580
[A1] the text of 1582
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