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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

1812

Life and death, riches and poverty, glory and shame (or elevation and abasement) are in the hands of God. They form part of our destiny, which does not depend on us. But good and evil are in our hands or, as Scripture says, in the hands of our counsel, because they make our merits or our demerits. As instruments, we have a destination. As moral creatures, we have a freedom.

Life and death (through which we are or are not in the world), riches and poverty (which assign us a place in it), glory and shame or elevation and abasement (which make us play a role in it) do indeed belong and relate to the general course of human affairs. And God has reserved their apportionment to himself and distributes a measure of them to each individual as he pleases.

December 26.

How can so foolish a man speak so wisely, or how can so wise a speaker act so foolishly? — Ah! the muse! (memory, mnémone). The spirit of imitation well directed or directed by good taste, the aptitude for good and lofty eloquence, beautiful imprints reproduced, beautiful imprints (I say) easily received and easily reproduced, impressions become molds, molds become models; a mystery of organization that it is enough to recognize and that it would be, not impossible, but useless to explain: that is what produces this admirable singularity. And here is another that is perhaps more surprising: talent that: is worth more than the man almost always appears more beautiful; apparently it comes from heaven.

Of those who have a muse, and of those who have only their soul.

Priests are the best friends and the best counselors one can have. They ordinarily have affections in accord with their doctrines, and in their doctrines a wisdom superior to them and to us. — Superior to them and to us, I said. Add: and which moreover is immutable. Indeed they are firm in all their opinions because they believe these are bound to eternity.

“Honor old age, for you will grow old in your turn” is a very good maxim. “Honor old age, for many men have grown old” is a very beautiful maxim. There is in the construction of these two thoughts a true architecture, a void and solid parts. (In the first construction there is only solid substance; everything follows, everything is continuous.)

December 27.

“Honor old age, for many men have grown old”, for many have grown old [say the wisdom books]. There is an ellipsis here, an ellipsis in reasoning, an altogether ancient ellipsis. There is great beauty in this figure, because of the void and the solid (see above): its nature and effects have not yet been sufficiently observed.

These are lessons in history given with the scalpel. In [reading] it in this spirit, one would continually find something [to] observe, but nothing to love or hate. It is a herbarium in which one [sees] only dried plants, with observations on their [structure]. It is an anatomical theater where, under the label of a few names, [under] the date of a few facts, is found the useless and minute [description] of a few minds. True [ontogeny], neurology, [myology] of events and characters, dissection of times past. The [painting] of them would be better or at least more pleasant and by [that] very fact more fruitful.

December […].

In logic, one must give one’s assent to what is proved; in [physics], to what is real; in morals, to what is honorable; in [religion], to what is pious; in metaphysics, to what is most [spiritual]. For in all things one must adopt what leads to the goal and [rest] in it. Now the goal or end in logic is the probable or the [reasonable]; in physics, it is the material or the existent; in morals, it is what is honorable, what is fitting, what is not; in religion, it is piety or [respect] and love for heaven. The goal of metaphysics is opinion [or] knowledge of spirits or immaterial existences; and [everything] that gives a vivid idea of them is its means.

T339.The three pairs, parentheses and repeated hands remain. Our counsel retains the image of our own deliberation, supported by Ecclesiasticus 15:14, rather than an outside adviser. Merits and demerits are distinct from the assigned conditions of life. The two nominal attributes destination and a freedom are not collapsed into destiny or an explanatory doctrine.

T624.Both paragraphs remain with their repeated catalogue and distinct parenthetical groupings. Ecriture has a plain initial E. Distribuë has two separate raised components over e in the native image, supporting the diaeresis; it is not transcribed as an acute or silently normalized to a participle. The alternatives ou and the negative ne sommes pas remain.

T340.All three explanatory parentheses, repeated catalogue and paired belong/relate remain. Distributes is present: literal distribuë has a diaeresis, not the accent of a participle. Measure retains the allocation image without specifying amounts or a doctrine of desert.

T341.The opposed fool/wise formulations, repeated directed/imprints/easily/molds, parenthetic self-correction and distinction not impossible but useless remain. Mnémone is retained italic as the source’s term beside its memory gloss, without adding an unverified etymology. The anomalous colon after that reproduces the qualified printed colon after qui; no implied word is supplied. The final judgment concerns talent and remains qualified by almost always and apparently.

T625.The one long paragraph remains, including the repeated empreintes/moules formulations and the opening comparison. Mnémone alone is italic. Reçuës retains a qualified diaeresis reading from two uneven raised components over e. After le talent qui the native image shows two separated vertically aligned solid blocks, supporting the anomalous printed colon; that punctuation reading is retained with a reproduction qualification rather than removed from expected syntax. The two other colons, semicolons, parenthesis, and non pas impossible / mais inutile distinction remain.

T342.The nominal formulation and repeated of those remain. Only keeps its restriction without explaining or ranking the two kinds.

T626.The nominal formulation, comma and repeated de ceux remain; restrictive ne... que is intact.

T343.The repeated best and superior to them and to us, ordinarily, self-quotation, imperative and ensuing relative fragment remain. Counselors renders personal conseils here, distinct from the deliberative counsel in the preceding entry. The asserted firmness and its reason remain Joubert’s account without an added endorsement or exception.

T627.The repeated meilleurs and supérieure à eux et à nous remain, as do the self-quotation, imperative Ajoutez and ensuing relative fragment. Croient has a plain i. The assertions remain in the source voice.

T344.The two quotations, future/completed past, good/beautiful and first/second comparison remain. Void, solid parts and solid substance render the architectural vuide, plural pleins and singular plein without converting them to abstract premises. The explanation of the first construction stays in its parenthesis.

T628.The two quoted maxims remain distinct, with très bonne / très belle and the future / completed-past contrast. Vuide and plural pleins are literal. The closing parenthesis remains part of the same paragraph and keeps the restrictive ne... que.

T345.Only the second for many have grown old is italic, translating multi enim sennerunt through the adjacent French gloss; the anomalous double-n Latin remains in French. The source-editor [say the wisdom books] remains bracketed and roman. A related injunction occurs in Ecclesiasticus 8:7 in a directly read electronic Latin witness, but its reason and wording differ. The exact Latin form printed here remains unlocated and is not repaired from that parallel. See above translates roman vide supra and refers to the preceding comparison; the three repetitions of ellipsis remain.

S1.Source editor’s annotationIn Joubert’s extremely badly written text one reads, orltologie, a word that does not exist. I take the liberty of correcting it.

T346.The scalpel, herbarium, anatomical theater, dissection and painting remain distinct images. Contextual [reading], [to], [sees], [structure], [under], [description], [myology], [painting] and [that] render lisant, à, voit, structure, sous, description, myologie, peinture and cela from the damaged words. The French letters remain unsupplied. [Ontogeny] translates the source editor’s bracketed [ontogénie], an emendation rather than a recovered authorial word; its source note call stays inside the closing bracket. The editor’s opaque alternative is separately qualified in the apparatus. No familiar technical term is silently substituted.

T352.The first-person I is Beaunier’s in the separate source apparatus. His claim about the manuscript and his correction are not independently certified by this translation. The opaque italic orltologie is retained as provisionally read from the damaged reproduction; a familiar anatomical term is not substituted. The main [ontogeny] remains visibly the source editor’s emendation.

T630.The left-edge losses before ant, observer, it, re after struc, us la datte, iption after des, gie after myo, inture, and la même remain explicit. The possible e before inture is only a detached right-side remnant and does not establish a full glyph. Datte has double t and is not normalized. The source editor’s square-bracketed ontogénie and its raised call inside the closing bracket remain; neither is presented as unmediated manuscript text. The nominal anatomy catalogue and the repeated comparison remain.

T631.The opaque italic form is provisionally read orltologie: its third glyph is tall and undotted like l, and the following glyph has a t-like ascender/cross-stroke. Reproduction damage and surrounding horizontal artifacts require this glyph qualification; no familiar technical term is substituted. The editor explicitly describes his correction in the first person. The thin doubled horizontal traces after the line-final mot resemble nearby artifacts and do not certify a lexical hyphen; the intact mot and next-line qui are retained.

T347.Each field and its stated goal remain, including the proved/probable distinction. Contextual [physics], [religion], [spiritual], [rest], [reasonable], [respect], [or] and [everything] render physique, religion, spirituel, reposer, raisonnable, respect, ou and tout. Rest in it keeps the attachment of y to the adopted thing or goal open. Before the second intact honnête, the lost French article has no separately bracketed English word in what is honorable. Only what is fitting, what is not is italic, translating the Latin without adding Horace’s surrounding verse. No December day is supplied.

T632.The day remnant before December does not certify a complete 0 or another digit, so the day remains wholly lost. The missing left-edge components in hysique, reli...on, spiri...el, poser, rai...nnable, before honnête, espect, u la connoissance and ut ce qui are not restored. The possible u before el and possible o before nnable / ut have too little surviving structure to certify complete glyphs. The article-sized loss before the later honnête remains distinct from the intact adjective. All semicolons and repeated fields of inquiry remain. Only quid deceat, quid non is italic.