tho' often contrary to Reason; and of omitting whatever is of a ticklish Nature in the Life of their Sovereign; witness the Retreat of Meffieurs de Montmorency and Brion, who are here omitted; nay, the Name of Madame de Estampes is not fo much as once mentioned. • Secret Actions may be concealed by an Hiftorian, but to pass over in Silence what is known to all the World, and Things too that have produced Effects of fuch Confequence, is a Defect not to be excufed. In fine, whoever would have a perfect Knowledge of King Francis, and the Affairs of his Time, muft, if he will take my Advice, look for it elsewhere. The only Advantage he can reap from this Work is, by the particular Account of the Battles and military Atchievements, in which those Gentlemen were prefent; certain Expreffions and private Actions of fome Princes of their Time, and the Practices and Negociations carried on by the Lord de Langeay, wherein there are throughout Things worthy to be known, and Reafonings above the vulgar Strain.

6

V

CHA P. XI.

Of CRUELTY

IRTUE feems to me to be quite another Thing, and more Noble than the Inclinations that are innate in Goodness. Thofe Souls that are Virtue is Jupewell tempered, and as truly generous purperior to what fue the fame Tract; and their Actions is called Goodwear the fame Face, as the Virtuous. But nefs of Nature. the Word Virtue imports fomething, I know not what, that is more great and active than a Man's fuffering himself with a happy Conftitution, to be gently and quietly conducted by Reafon. The Perfon,

who from a Mildness and Sweetnefs in his Temper, fhould defpife Injuries received, would perform a Thing very amiable and commendable; but the Man who, being pro

I 3

voked

Virtue not to be practifed with out fome Diffi

culty.

voked and enraged to the last Degree by fome Offence, fhould arm himself with the Weapons of Reafon against a furious Thirst of Revenge, and after a great Struggle with himself, fhould at laft mafter his own Paffion, would undoubtedly do much more. The firft would do well, and the latter virtuously. One Action might be called Good-nature, the other Virtue. For methinks the very Name of Virtue prefuppofes Difficulty and Oppofition, and cannot be exercised without fomething to contend with. And 'tis for this Reafon, perhaps, that we call God by the Attributes of Good, Mighty, Bountiful, and Juft'; but we do not give him that of Virtuous, his Works being all Natural, and without any Effort. The Philofophers, not only the Stoics, but also the Epicureans (and this Addition I borrow from the vulgar Opinion, which is falfe, notwithstanding the witty Conceit of Arcefilaus, in Answer to one, who, being reproached that many Scholars went from his School to the Epicurean, but never any from thence to his School, faid in Answer, I believe it indeed; Numbers of Capons being made out of Cocks, but never any Cocks out of Capons. For, in Truth, the Epicurean Sect is not at all inferior to the Stoic in Steadiness, and the Rigour of Opinions and Precepts. And a certain Stoic discovering more Honefty than thofe Difputants, who, in order to quarrel with Epicurus, and to throw the Game into their own Hands, make him fay what he never thought, putting a wrong Conftruction upon his Words, cloathing

X

* Montaigne ftops here to make his Excufe for thus naming the Epicu reans with the Stoics, in Conformity to the general Opinion that the Epi¬ fureans were not fo rigid in their Morals as the Stoics, which is not true in the main, as he demonftrates at one View. This involved Montaigne in a tedious Parenthefis, during which 'tis proper that the Reader be attentive, that he may not intirely lofe the Thread of the Argument. In fome latter Editions of this Author, it has been attempted to remedy this Inconvenience, but without obferving that Montaigne's Argument is rendered more feeble and obfcure by fuch vain Repetitions, 'tis a Licence that ought not to be taken, because he who publishes the Work of another, ought to give it as the Author compofed it, But, in Mr. Coten's Tranflation, he was fo puzzled with this enormous Parenthefis, that he has quite left it out.

Diog. Laert. in the Life of Arcefilaus, lib, iv, sect, 43,

cloathing his Sentences, by the ftrict Rules of Grammar, with another Meaning, and a different Opinion from that which they knew he entertained in his Mind, and in his Morals, the Stoic, I fay, declared, that he abandoned the Epicurean Sect, upon this, among other Confiderations, that he thought their Track too lofty and inacceffible; et ij qui φιλήδονοι vocantur funt φιλόκαλοι et φιλοδίκαιοι, οπnefque virtutes et colunt et ratinent, i. e. and those whom we call Lovers of Pleasure, being, in Effect, Lovers of Honour and Justice, cultivate and practise all the Virtues. (Cic. Ep. 19. lib. xv.) feveral, I fay, of the Stoic and Epicurean Philofophers, thought that it was not enough to have the Soul in a good Frame, well tempered, and welldifpofed to Virtue; that it was not enough to have our Refolutions and our Reafonings fixed above all the Efforts of Fortune; but that it was ever neceffary to seek Occasions to make Trial of them: They were for going in quest of Pain, Neceffity, and Contempt, in order to combat them, and to keep the Soul in Exercise. Multum fibi adjicit virtus laceffita, i. e. Virtue by being attacked becomes the more courageous. 'Tis one of the Reafons why Epaminondas who was alfo of a third Sect, refuses the Wealth which Fortune puts into his Hand by very fair Means, because said he, I may be able to fence with Poverty, in which Extreme he always ftood his Ground. Socrates methinks put himself to a feverer Trial, keeping, for his Exercife, a Shrew of a Wife; which was a Trial with a Vengeance. Metellus, the only one of all the Roman Senators, who attempted, by the Strength of his Virtue, to fupport himself against the Violence of Saturninus, the Tribune of the People of Rome, who was refolved by all Means to get an unjust Law paft in Favour of the Commonalty, having, by fuch Oppofition, incurred the capital Punishments which Saturninus had established for the Recufants; this very Metellus faid to the Perfons, who, in this Extremity, were leading him to the Place of Execution: That it was a very eafy and a bafe Thing to

z Senec. Ep. 13.

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b

commit

Of the Pythagorean Sect. Epaminondas, the Theban, fays Cicero, was inftructed by Lifts, a Pythagorean. De Cffic. lib. i. c. 44.

Plutarch in the Life of Marius, ch. 10. of Amyer's Tranflation.

יו

4

commit Evil; and that to do Good, where there was no Danger, was a common Thing; but to do Good, where there was Danger, was the proper Office of a Man of Virtue. Thefe Words of Metellus clearly fhew what I would make out, that Virtue refufes Eafe for its Companion, and that the gentle Afcent, that foft, smooth Way, in which those take their Steps who are regulated by a natural Inclination to Goodnefs, is not the Path of true Virtue. This requires a rugged thorny Paffage, and will have either Difficulties from without to ftruggle with (like that of Metellus) by Means whereof Fortune delights to interrupt the Speed of our Career, or elfe internal Difficulties that are introduced by the disorderly Appetites and Imperfections of our Condition.

In noble Souls,

Juch as thoje of

Socrates and Cato, Virtue becomes eafy thro' Habit.

I am come thus far at my Eafe, but it juft now falls into my Imagination, that the Soul of Socrates, the most perfect that ever has come to my Knowledge, would, by this Rule, have little to recommend it: For I cannot perceive, in this Perfon, any Effort of a vicious Concupifcence. In the Courfe of his Virtue, I cannot imagine there was any Difficulty or Conftraint. I know his Reafon had fo much Sway and Authority over him, that it never would have fuffered a vicious Appetite fo much as to rife in him. To a Virtue fo fublime as his I can fet nothing in Oppofition. Methinks I fee it ftalk, with a victorious and triumphant Pace, in Pomp, and at Eafe, without Moleftation or Disturbance. If Virtue cannot fhine but by ftruggling with contrary Appetites, fhall we therefore fay, that the cannot fubfift without the Affiftance of Vice, and that 'tis from thence she derives her Reputation and Honour? What would become also of that brave and generous Epicurean Pleasure, which pretends to nourish and cherish Virtue in its Lap, giving it Shame, Sicknefs, Poverty, Death, and Hell for Toys to play with? If I prefuppofe that perfect Virtue is known by contending with, and patiently bearing Pain, and even Fits of the Gout, without being moved in its Seat: If I give it Roughness and Difficulty for its neceffary Object, what will become of a Virtue elevated to fuch a Degree,

3

as

as not only to defpife Pain, but to rejoice in it, and to be delighted with the racking Stitches of a violent Cholic, as is the Quality of that Virtue which the Epicureans have eftablished, and of which many of them, by their Actions, have left very evident Proofs ? As have many others, who I find have furpaffed the very Rules of their Difcipline; witness the younger Cato: When I fee him dying, and tearing out his own Bowels, I cannot be contented fimply to believe, that his Soul was, at that Time, wholly exempt from Trouble and Fear: I cannot think, that he only fupported himself in this Step which was prefcribed to him by the Laws of the Stoic Sect, quite ferenely, without Emotion or Paffion: There was, methinks, in that Man's Virtue too much Sprightliness and Youth to stop there. I make no Doubt but he felt a Pleasure and Delight in fo noble an Action, and that it was more agreeable to him than any Thing he ever did in his Life. Sic abiit è vitâ ut caufam moriendi nactum fe effe gauderet, i. e. He went out of Life in fuch a manner, as if he was glad he had found a Reafon for dying. And I really queftion, whether he would have been glad to have been deprived of the Occasion of fo brave an Exploit: And if that Good-nature of his, which made him efpouse the public Benefit rather than his own, did not restrain me, I fhould be ready to believe, that he thought himself obliged to Fortune, for having put his Virtue to fo fevere a Trial, and for having favoured the Robber in trampling the ancient Liberty of his Country under his Feet. Methinks I read in this Action, I know not what Exultation in his Soul, and an extraordinary and manly Emotion of Pleafure, when he looked upon the Nobleness and Sublimity of his Undertaking. Deliberata morte ferocior .

i. e.

Grown fiercer now fhe is refolv'd to die.

Cic. Tufc. Quæft. lib. i. c. 30.

Not

Cafar, who, notwithstanding the great Qualities of his, which Montaigne fet off with fuch Luftre in the preceding Chapter, is here treated as he deferves for having committed the most heinous of all Crimes.

Hor. lib. i. Od. 37. v. 29.