Last night the book club discussed four essays by Michel de Montaigne, who published the first edition of his essays in 1580. As his name suggests, Montaigne was French; we read an English translation.
Of Cannibals
Of Cruelty
Of Repentance
Of Experience
Montaigne writes about himself, rather than about any single topic. He even says so. He says that although he isn’t an expert about anything else, there is one topic of which he is the supreme master: Michel de Montaigne.
Although the barriers of time, culture, and translation make it challenging to begin reading Montaigne, he writes about the same issues we talk about today: the law, virtue, cruelty, xenophobia, finding the right path through life. In fact, just when I said to myself, This topic is as fresh today as it was in 1580, Montaigne would add a quote from Seneca, who lived 4BCE--65AD. There is a huge advantage in recognizing the eternal nature of our problems. Montaigne probably admired Stoicism because of its focus on virtue, but our reading did not show him to think he was a perfectly virtuous man.
Montaigne does not initiate a topic, describe it fully, explain the advantages and disadvantages, and prescribe a solution. Instead, reading his essays is like listening to a good friend after dinner. He might give an anecdote related to the topic, as in “Of Cannibals,” and then just begin writing. Recent experience, old experience, stories he’s heard, people he’s met, all become part of the story. He explains that strangers have strange customs. If they were people we knew, their customs would seem ordinary and proper. We are also distracted by unimportant details. If a person from a strange land has lots of virtues which we respect, we may still point and say, But he’s not wearing any pants!
Of Cruelty is mostly about defining virtue, although Montaigne does give several examples of cruel punishments. He suggests that cruel punishments are enacted for the benefit of the crowd watching, not for the prisoner. It would be better to torture the body of a criminal after death, than before, because torturing a person, even a criminal, only underlines the cruelty of the punisher and the crowd.
Montaigne contends that virtue is not virtue unless it has been tested. If you live a quiet life at home and have everything your own way, how can you call yourself virtuous? A person needs temptation and trial to show virtue.
Of Repentance is about finding the right model to follow for living your life, but it also makes a curious statement that has been borne out time and again: “Natural inclinations gain assistance and strength from education; but they are scarcely to be changed and overcome.”
Of Experience starts off by comparing reason with experience, in the pursuit of knowledge. Reason is better, but experience is what we use when reason leaves us high and dry. Then the essay moves on to complain about the system of justice that has too many laws, and the system of following legal precedent which ignores the fact that no two incidences are truly the same.
