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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1813

January 15.

“Aristotle placed Plato’s dialogues in the class of epic poems.” Aristotle was right, and Marmontel, who contradicts him, failed to understand the nature and character of these dialogues and misunderstood Aristotle.

January 27.

But she was of the world where the most beautiful things Have the worst fate And, a rose, she lived as long as roses live,. The space of a morning.

Malherbe had first composed and printed this excellent stanza in the following way:

But she was of the world where the most beautiful things Make the shortest stay And Rosète could fare no better than the roses That live but a day.

What a difference! and what can work, attention, reverie and rechewing not accomplish!

January 30.

Crime, a blameworthy action — forcefully done. Perhaps, by a just disposition of providence, crimes multiply the evils they seek to prevent. Perhaps if Caligula had not been killed by a blow and a conspiracy that at first seem praiseworthy, Claudius would not have reigned, nor Domitian, nor Commodus, nor Heliogabalus, etc. Caligula, after a few crimes, would have lived out his years, would have died in his bed, and the succession of Roman emperors would have taken another course and a happier course. Perhaps what is evil or tainted with evil, never produces anything but evil. God reserves misfortunes to himself, to inflict (apply) them at the right time. Finally, we are charged solely with doing good. That is our task.

January 31.

It should suffice for the vainest and most ambitious of minds, if it is wise, to desire and obtain as much understanding as is needed to know and savor what is most exquisite in divine and human things.

January 26.

Speak of Mr. Jardé. — Quaynat. Speak to Mr. Donyau.

I. To Mr. de Champ; — Mr. Garbay at Rouen, Mr. Malard at Alençon, Mr. Martin at Les Andelys. Mr. Bonno. — Inquire about Mr. A. L. Delaunay at the lycée in Caen. Deliver Mr. Graux’s letter and Mr. Gondouin’s.

2. — To the central commission. Authorization to teach for Edme Gateau and Louis François Joseph Précy at Villeneuve on October 27, 1796.

Mr. Liautard recommended Mr. Cozette at Versailles in August 1812 for a teaching post in a lycée or collège 40 or 50 leagues away.

And of January 13, 1813, Mr. Mignon, etc.

January 31.

Mr. Belestat, born at Acys, department of the Ariège, 24 years old, [recommended] by Mr. Adam, placed at Lyon where he had been sent by the [commission] to Mr. Duchamp, since employed with the subprefect.

Mr. Adam recommends his brother-in-law; Mr. Rivaut his brother-in-law, [study master] at the lycée in Rhodez, esteemed by the headmaster Mr. Girard.

[To] be placed as an elementary teacher in a lycée in the south, Cahors, [Rhodez], etc.

T1.The quoted classification and Joubert’s separate judgment remain in one paragraph crossing onto page 738. Compare Aristotle, Poetics 1, 1447a–b, on Socratic dialogues and forms of imitation; the epic terminology is textually qualified in the Greek witness checked here, which does not name Plato in the relevant sentence. This is a related discussion, not verification of Joubert’s exact quotation. The precise Marmontel passage has not been located.

T2.Four centered verse lines remain one paragraph. The rose couplet retains the same fresh wording as the earlier entry, with the singular/plural image and fragment. The first stanza’s qualified comma-plus-period after roses is mirrored after live; it records the visible mark without ruling out a reproduction artifact. No rhyme, personal name or punctuation at the other unpunctuated line endings is supplied.

T3.The past-perfect claim and introductory colon remain. This reports Joubert’s account; the prior publication history has not been independently established. A later Malherbe apparatus supplies an indexed variant witness, but its full page could not be accessed and does not verify first publication.

T4.The alternative four centered lines remain one paragraph. Rosète retains the qualified printed grave accent and single t; no familiar-name normalization or composition anecdote is imposed. Could and but a day retain their scopes. This stanza’s stay/day contrasts with fate/morning in the preceding version.

T5.Both exclamations and all four activities remain. Rechewing preserves the physical metaphor of remâchement rather than replacing it simply by revision, consistently with the earlier ruminating vocabulary.

T6.Crime renders forfait in its moral sense. The opening pairs forfait with fortement faite; that French sound association cannot be reproduced directly by the English crime / forcefully done, and the note retains it without asserting a historical etymology. The repeated Perhaps, counterfactual sequence, good/evil and parenthetic apply remain. No historical outcome is independently asserted or supplied. The source comma after the subject phrase what is evil or tainted with evil remains.

T7.The conditional wisdom, desire/obtain and know/savor pairs remain. The repeated superlatives are not softened; the amount required is not made limitless.

T8.The personal reminder, period and dash, and distinction between speak of and speak to remain. Quaynat follows the collated print; the names are not expanded or biographically identified. Mr. renders the source’s raised-r abbreviation Mʳ.

T421.The five practical paragraphs remain one dated unit, in printed sequence after January 31. The first numbered label has a straight stem with broad upper and lower serifs, provisionally transcribed Roman I. rather than an Arabic 1; its label reading is qualified, without changing paragraph ownership. The next label is 2. Authorisation retains its printed h. The raised r in Mʳ is preserved throughout, with no title expansion. Names are transcribed without identity expansion. The historical authorization and recommendation dates remain inside their original paragraphs rather than becoming entry dates.

T9.The first label retains the qualified Roman I. reading, distinct from the next paragraph’s Arabic 2. The dash-separated reminders and abbreviated names remain. Lycée is retained as a French institution rather than equated with a modern foreign school. No letter, office or person is independently identified; Mr. renders Mʳ without expanding a name.

T10.The second source number and nominal administrative reminder remain. The full internal date, October 27, 1796, stays inside the paragraph and does not replace the January 26 entry date. Authorization follows American spelling; the French Authorisation retains its printed h.

T11.Recommended retains the past act. Teaching post renders régent in the educational context: the complete Académie entry of 1798 includes a teacher in a collège. No political regency, particular subject or rank is inferred. Both institution names and the unconverted distance remain. The source does not supply the distance’s point of departure. August 1812 remains an internal historical date.

T12.The conjunction and nominal fragment remain. No missing verb or document is supplied; the internal date stays within this fifth paragraph.

T13.The administrative fragment and successive participles remain without a supplied main verb. The paragraph crosses onto page 739. [Recommended] and [commission] render contextual recommandé and commission from recom[…]ndé and com[…]ssion; no missing French letters are recovered. Belestat, Acys and the other names remain without modern identity expansion, and 24 retains the printed age.

T422.The first paragraph crosses to page 739, followed there by two further paragraphs. Damage at the new page’s left edge interrupts recom[…]ndé and com[…]ssion. The surviving partial glyph before ître does not establish the lost a or ma; the accent above the intact i is compressed but circumflex-like. The opening before placer is lost, and the partial glyph before odez does not certify the place-name beginning. Contextual recommandé, commission, maître, A and Rhodez are possible completions only. The intact earlier Rhodez remains unchanged. Plain Belestat is retained without inferring an accent from detached surrounding traces. The two occurrences of son beau-frère remain separate, and no relationship beyond the text is supplied.

T14.The repeated brother-in-law, elliptical second clause and comma before the study-master fragment remain. [Study master] renders contextual maître from […]ître through the complete English noun phrase; d’études itself is intact. The Académie dictionary of 1835 describes the maître d’étude as supervising pupils during work and recreation; the exact duties of this post are not supplied here. Study master and headmaster distinguish maître d’études from proviseur without settling the fragment’s personal antecedent. The intact Rhodez is retained.

T15.The infinitive reminder, generic south and place list remain. [To] represents the contextual infinitival A at the lost opening before placer; be is English grammar rather than a recovered French word. [Rhodez] interprets […]odez contextually from the earlier intact spelling. Elementary teacher concerns elementary instruction within the explicitly named lycée, not an identified modern elementary-school appointment. No completed action or exact appointment is inferred.