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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

1812

February 15.

Young people. The ambition that attaches them to us draws them away from [our] maxims.

February 16.

As for his style, [Cicero] epistolas vero quotidianis verbi[…] texere solemus. He used the first terms and the first thoughts that presented themselves to his pen and, as he said, quia quid in buccam venerit.

The roundness of language. One must write roundly and speak ore rotundo; but with polish, with solidity, with brilliance or with relief; for among good writers [some] paint what they write and others sculpt it.

February 17.

There are men who respect power as others respect virtue. Those clothed in it inspire in them the same esteem, the same love, the same admiration.

February 21.

Those who free men from laws — and childhood from every constraint...

Everything that breaks general habits gives morals a shaking.

The closed fist and the open hand.

Heat, like pain, is a subjective quality (or entirely within the subject who feels it). Tangibility and visibility [are] objective qualities, or ones residing in the subject where they are [perceived]. This distinction is very good.

Natural doubts, natural obscurities; manufactured doubts, manufactured obscurities.

And those schools of piety that were found everywhere, even on the [stained-glass windows] of cloisters and in the appearance of monasteries; and those prie-dieux [at] the foot of a crucifix that formed, in each house, at the head [of the] master’s bed, a domestic chapel.

Schools of piety! They would seem to us (if we were [greatly] wise) indispensable to that age which needs to be trained to [love] duty; for it is going to love pleasure.

One could say to them: “Never doubt your doctrine, but at least sometimes [doubt] your demonstrations.” One can carry modesty into dignity itself, and even into majesty; [one] must carry distrust of oneself even into the exposition of the most sacred and most indubitable [truths]. It is their confidence [in] themselves and the secret faith they have in their [personal] infallibility that displeases so much in certain theologians.

Indeed, just as there are heads too large, there are also heads [too] strong. Both are disproportion.

T29.The nominal opening and opposed attaching/drawing-away motions remain. Them, us and our keep their different roles; no people or institution are identified. Bracketed our contextually reads no[…] as nos; the missing ending remains absent in French.

T30.The source-supplied bracketed name is retained in English; both mixed Latin spans remain italic. The first is contextually glossed we customarily weave letters with everyday [words], reading damaged verbi[…] as verbis without restoring its ending. Cicero, Ad familiares IX.21, has epistulas rather than Joubert’s epistolas. The final source phrase is retained literally as the qualified quia quid in buccam venerit: its syntax remains unresolved. At the margin, quia appears possible; quic- joining the following quid is an alternative, with no secure joining hyphen. Ad Atticum I.12 ends with quod in buccam venerit, scribito, roughly write what comes into your mouth. That parallel does not establish Joubert’s opening form or supply the omitted imperative. No coherent complete gloss is imposed on his uncertain quia quid. First repeats for terms and thoughts, and the pen image remains. The checks used electronic Latin, not an original edition or a particular source copy.

T378.The source-supplied brackets around Cicéron remain; the left bracket is abraded but its square-corner portions survive. The first Latin quotation loses the ending after verbi; verbis is a contextual completion only and is not supplied from an external Cicero text. The italic word before next-line quid appears to read quia: the last rounded glyph has a lower right foot like italic a, but it lies beside the damaged margin and remains qualified. Quic- joined with the following quid is an alternative reading, not a certified correction. No joining hyphen is securely legible. The literal separated quia quid and its unresolved syntax remain. The terminal s of premières and several right-edge letters are fragmented but retain identifiable upper/lower shapes; the reading is qualified. Employait and présentoient retain their distinct printed endings. Both Latin spans are italic; the intervening French and bracketed name are roman.

T31.Roundness and roundly retain the related formal and bodily image. The Latin ore rotundo is preserved: literally with a rounded mouth. In the directly read context of Horace’s Ars poetica 323–324, it praises full, rounded Greek eloquence; it does not require boastfulness or mere loudness. The source’s polish, solidity, brilliance or relief remain before the painting/sculpture comparison. The source-supplied [uns] is rendered [some], with its brackets retained. No particular Horace edition is identified.

T32.The respect comparison remains, and clothed in it keeps revêtus as an image for invested power. The three repeated same phrases remain; the two groups and pronoun roles are not conflated.

T380.The divided respectent and the final e of the first même are abraded at the right edge but retain recognizable letter features. The three repeated même phrases and the pronoun relations remain.

T33.The relative fragment retains its dash, different objects and terminal ellipsis. No consequence or named reformer is supplied.

T34.Breaks and a shaking retain the physical images. Morals renders mœurs in the broad setting of shared practices and conduct, without restricting it to private ethical beliefs.

T382.The terminal t in ébranlement remains recognizable despite nearby margin artifacts; no additional letter or punctuation is inferred from them.

T35.The paired nouns and opposed positions remain nominal. No analogy or explanatory doctrine is inserted. The printed poingt, with its extra t, remains in French; English fist conveys the word without reproducing that spelling anomaly.

T383.Poingt visibly includes the terminal t after g; this printed form is retained rather than normalized to poing. The nominal contrast remains.

T36.Subjective and objective retain their technical contrast; only subjective is italic in the source. Subject repeats in both explanations and is not changed to object. The source editor’s bracketed article [la] remains in French. English idiom uses tangibility and visibility without articles, so that article has no separate English word or bracket; the surrounding noun remains translated. Bracketed are and perceived contextually read damaged […]ont and […]erçues as sont and perçues, without restoring missing French letters. This one paragraph continues onto page 709 and is not divided there.

T384.This single paragraph continues onto 709. At the new left edge, the beginnings before ont and erçues are lost; sont and perçues are contextual possibilities only. The surviving o in ont is partly clipped but recognizable. The source-supplied [la] remains. Subjective alone is italic; objectives and the explanatory clauses are roman. Sujet occurs in both explanations and is not changed to objet from philosophical expectations. The right-edge endings of toute and visibilité are abraded but retain recognizable features; the final acute is compressed and remains qualified.

T37.The four nominal groups retain their order, repeated adjectives and semicolon; no cause or agent is supplied. The source’s final article survives as […]es, contextually les. English omits the definite articles consistently before these abstract plurals, so this damaged article has no separate English counterpart; the French loss remains visible.

T385.The article at the second line loses its beginning before es; les is a contextual possibility only. The nominal parallel and semicolon retain the distinction between natural and manufactured forms.

T38.The opening And and dependent formulation remain. Schools retains the teaching image applied to the surroundings; the windows, monasteries, kneeling desks and domestic chapel remain distinct. Prie-dieux denotes prayer kneelers and renders the intact printed pridieu. [Stained-glass windows], [at] and the broader [of the] render contextual vitraux, au and du from […]itraux, […]u pied and […]u lit; no missing French letters are supplied.

T386.The initial letter before itraux and the beginnings before u pied and u lit are lost. Vitraux, au and du are contextual possibilities only. Pridieu retains the visible printed spelling; no missing letters are supplied within that intact word. In the divided grande[…]ent, the next-line first glyph loses its left arch and does not certify a complete m; grandement is a contextual completion only. The initial component before imer is also lost; aimer is not supplied from the intact later occurrence. The initial Et, unfinished first formulation, exclamatory repetition, two source paragraphs, parenthetic condition, conditional paroîtroient and future-oriented va aimer remain.

T39.The repeated schools, exclamation, conditional and parenthesis remain. The age is not assigned a numerical range; the final future inclination remains distinct from the training needed for duty. [Greatly] and [love] render contextual grandement and aimer from grande[…]ent and […]imer; the later intact aimer remains unbracketed.

T40.The conditional opening, bounded injunction and distinction between can and must remain. Modesty and self-distrust are not made into doubt of the truths themselves. The closing criticism concerns personal infallibility and does not identify theologians. [Doubt], [one], [truths], [in] and [personal] render contextual doutez, on, vérités, en and personnelle from […]outez, […]n doit, […]érités, […]n eux and per[…]onnelle. The article in […]a modestie is contextually la; idiomatic English has no separate article before modesty, so no English article bracket is added. The intact first doubt remains unbracketed; the French losses are unchanged.

T387.The second imperative loses its initial letter before outez; doutez is a contextual completion only. The first Ne doutez is intact. The starts before a modestie, n doit, érités and n eux remain gaps rather than recovered articles or words. In the divided per[…]onnelle the next-line beginning survives only in separated blocks, insufficient to certify a complete s. Personnelle is a contextual completion only. The opening O is partly abraded but its oval remains identifiable. Secrette and the unaccented a in déplait retain the printed readings; thin horizontal traces do not warrant an added circumflex. The quotation, conditional opening, negative imperative, contrasting qualification and repeated superlatives remain.

T41.Large and strong preserve different qualities in the physical image. Disproportion remains singular, without a diagnosis or identification. The second [too] renders contextual trop from […]rop; the first trop is intact and its English too remains unbracketed.