Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
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English Page · Branch 145 of 3781
YEAR 1787 · Entry 145
French
p. 289La Morne.
C’est un lieu digne de son nom.
C’est un cachot environé de murailles épaisses et noires ; une humidité perpétuelle en coule sur le pavé. Sur ce pavé de pierres toujours humides de sang ou d’eau, sont étendus les corps nuds des malheureux que des accidens funestes ou les crimes nocturnes ont dépouillés de la vie à l’inscu de leurs femmes et de leurs enfans. C’est là que les femmes et les enfans allarmés de la disparition subite d’un père, d’un fils ou d’un époux accourent pour le reconoître dans la multitude des cadavres qu’on y voit étendus par terre.
On les distingue à travers une ouverture étroite et garnie de barreaux de fer ; ils y sont exposés nuds et découverts afin qu’il soit plus facile de les reconoître ; une multitude de femmes et d’hommes s’approche chaque jour en tremblant de cette grille fatale et s’en retire avec désespoir.
O qui pourroit dire et compter en combien de manières la vie est enlevée à l’homme sain et robuste dans cette capitale malheureuse et par combien de moïens on y peut mourir !
Tandis qu’un air vicié, le vin empoisonné, la mauvaise nourriture, le traitement des hôpitaux et le chagrin qui tue à la longue, et la faim et la douleur, et la honte et le désespoir y minent les hommes et les font expirer sur des lits ; la chute des toits, le brisement des voitures, les roues des chars dorés et les pieds des chevaux, et les rixes particulières, et la colère qui rend féroce, et la brutalité qui rend forcené y tuent à la face du ciel et de la terre une multitude de malheureux qui ne retourneront plus dans leurs maisons. Il faut l’avouer, les assassinats sont très rares à Paris ; vous pouvés y marcher sans craindre votre ennemi. Et on ne reprochera point à cette ville les poignards que l’amour et la vengeance éguisent si souvent en Italie et en Espagne. Mais mille autres causes y rendent les meurtres nombreux et la mort assés commune.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1787
p. 290No individual date printed
La Morne.
It is a place worthy of its name.
It is a dungeon enclosed by thick black walls; a perpetual dampness runs from them onto the pavement. On this stone pavement, always wet with blood or water, lie the naked bodies of the unfortunates whom fatal accidents or nocturnal crimes have stripped of life without their wives and children knowing. It is there that wives and children, alarmed by the sudden disappearance of a father, a son, or a husband, hurry to recognize him among the multitude of corpses seen stretched upon the ground.
They can be made out through a narrow opening fitted with iron bars; they are displayed naked and uncovered so that it may be easier to recognize them; a multitude of women and men approach this fateful grille each day trembling, and withdraw in despair.
O who could tell and count in how many ways life is taken from the healthy and robust man in this unhappy capital, and by how many means one can die there!
While foul air, poisoned wine, bad food, hospital treatment, and the grief that kills slowly, and hunger and pain, and shame and despair undermine men there and make them expire in beds, falling roofs, breaking carriages, the wheels of gilded coaches and the feet of horses, and private quarrels, and anger that makes men ferocious, and brutality that makes them frenzied kill, before the face of heaven and earth, a multitude of unfortunates who will never return to their houses. It must be admitted that murders are very rare in Paris; you can walk there without fearing your enemy. And this city will not be reproached with the daggers that love and vengeance so often sharpen in Italy and Spain. But a thousand other causes make killings numerous there and death fairly common.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1787 · Entry 145
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Joubert’s notebooks return to the work of thinking and writing, the demands of friendship, and questions of faith, beauty and conduct. This edition pairs the French with a new English translation, preserving the order of the chosen source and the unfinished character of its fragments. Dates and source references allow readers to follow a thought through time or return to its printed context.
Historical Text and Translation
The French text follows André Beaunier’s 1938 edition of Les Carnets de Joseph Joubert, published by Gallimard from Joubert’s autograph manuscripts. Volume I presents the entries on printed pages 32–475. French and English are aligned paragraph by paragraph, retaining the source order, printed dates and page references so readers can return to the facsimile.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this new English translation directly from the French, preserving Joubert’s distinctions, recurring images, ambiguities and unfinished thoughts. Translator’s notes clarify wording, references and uncertain readings: Essential keeps notes that help explain a passage, while All includes technical detail. Annotations from the 1938 source edition remain distinct from the new translator’s notes.
Rights
The linked facsimile records identify the French source as public domain in the United States. The new English translation and editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos, with source annotations and new editorial contributions credited separately. This edition pairs the complete French notebooks with an independent English translation, preserving the distinction between Joubert’s text and its accompanying notes.