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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1814

Justice is truth in action.

January 27.

Between fracas and fatras there is little distance and little difference, as to letters and as to meaning.

January 28.

Holy water and the cross that drive out bad morals. The uniform and the large hats that make impudence burst forth (let us speak better) that make it bloom.

Every impious child is a wicked or debauched child.

January 29.

The military spirit is a spirit favorable to sodomy.

Flames and fire are, in this sense, fixed and striking images to which the abstract idea of divine vengeance has wisely and usefully been attached. To make the punishment or its idea more restraining, was it not necessary to give it a form and colors? a name etc. And what men fear most during their life, ought it not to, etc...

February 1.

Whatever is true, whatever is chaste, whatever is just, whatever is holy, whatever is lovable, whatever is of good repute; if there is any virtue, if there is any praise of discipline: think on these things. (To the Philippians IV.) A knowledge that is chaste, a justice that is holy (that is, free of human passions), a lovableness that wins honor for itself, finally virtues without roughness (or polished by all that human customs, doctrines, etc. can add to them), that is what the apostle recommends here, and that is certainly an admirable morality!

February 4.

Our thoughts are sometimes an image of the world, sometimes a production of our mind, and sometimes a work or a fabrication of our heated will. When they are an image of the world, they paint truth. If they are a simple production of our mind, they represent our mind and still paint something. But if they are the work or fabrication of our will alone, they paint nothing true or fit to give pleasure. They are bizarre strokes, the writer’s whims, like those pen strokes...

A popular king almost always has a language that is popular too. Look at Henry IV. And the habit of speaking this way almost always keeps the mind within good sense. One must therefore not forbid this manner of expression to princes who have a fancy for it; one must, on the contrary, approve it, encourage it.

February 5.

In a decent education, to limit the study and cultivation of the arts to what is found of them in books.

February 6.

— He consults them after depriving them of their sense. In his golden cups they have drunk fear, oblivion of ancient morals, and greed.

There is in the French character a kind of sincerity and frankness opposed to the affectation of enthusiasm that is the character of the Germans. Our mind, moreover, like our sky, is naturally clear; that of the Italians is more sparkling. One perceives [these] differences among the inhabitants of certain parts of France, for example between the mind of an inhabitant of the plains of Beauce and of the coasts of Provence. The mind of the former readily confines itself to clarity; the mind of the latter aims at brilliance.

T25.The identity and in-action relation remain without explanatory additions.

T349.The detached tiny mark before La lies outside the normal initial letter and does not certify an opening quotation or other source word. No new punctuation is supplied.

T26.The French words are retained for the comparison of their letters: fracas suggests a noisy crash or commotion, fatras a confused jumble. Both little judgments and both as-to relations remain; the English explanation stays separate from Joubert’s wordplay. The complete Académie entries of 1798 support these separate senses; no shared etymology is asserted. Only the two retained French words, without articles, are italic.

T27.The two nominal formulations and their relative clauses remain. The self-correction from bursting forth to blooming retains distinct images and does not erase the first formulation. No specific uniform or wearers are named.

T351.The complete day 28 is intact. Both nominal-relative formulations remain. The second repeats qui font after the parenthetic parlons mieux, preserving the éclater/éclore revision without replacing the first verb.

T28.The universal assertion and its alternative remain Joubert’s formulation. Wicked and debauched are kept distinct, without an added diagnosis or general endorsement.

T29.The repeated spirit and favorable relation remain. Sodomy is the contextual rendering of historical bougrerie. A bounded search did not securely locate a contemporary dictionary entry; the later complete Littré entry distinguishes a heresy sense and a sexual sense. That later control supports the possible lexical sense, not Joubert’s generalization or a modern identity category.

T353.The day 29 is a qualified reading: the first digit’s upper curve, diagonal and lower stroke remain identifiable despite left-edge abrasion; the 9 is clear. Bougrerie is literal and is not replaced by a euphemism or an inferred broader category.

T30.In this sense, both adverbs, form and colors, and the detached name fragment remain. The final negative question stops after the modal; English ought it not to does not supply an unexpressed infinitive or perfect auxiliary. Its retrospective context remains within the unfinished formulation. The deterrent purpose does not turn the images into a newly asserted account of punishment. The French retains réprimans and faloit; the lowercase a name fragment follows the source’s un nom after the first question.

T354.The source retains plural réprimans and faloit with one l. The first question is followed by lowercase un nom etc.; no new quotation is supplied. The last ne devoit-il pas remains suspended before comma/etc./three dots, with no supplied infinitive or perfect construction. Damaged line openings retain identifiable de/réprimans/nom/ne structures; no extra word is inferred.

T31.The Latin receives a fresh translation in its printed sequence, keeping six Whatever phrases, two if clauses and the imperative. Compare Philippians IV.8 in the Clementine Vulgate: the directly read witness includes an introductory phrase and sunt, and has pudica where Joubert prints casta. The translation follows Joubert’s excerpt. The bounded control covers IV.4–9, not a whole epistle or original Bible image. The following knowledge/justice/lovableness interpretation remains Joubert’s separate application within the same paragraph. Roughness and polished preserve the tactile analogy. The whole English Latin-derived passage through think on these things. is italic, while its parenthetic attribution is roman. English separates the repeated whatever clauses with commas; no comma is inserted into the French after intact casta. The colon before think on these things preserves the printed connection between the two if clauses and the command.

T355.The first day and raised er remain legible. The full Latin through cogitate. is italic, and (Ad. Philipp IV.) is roman. Quaecumque and haec retain separate a/e forms, while bonæ/famæ/disciplinæ retain their ligatures. No comma is visible after casta; the printed order and the forms justa/disciplinæ are not repaired from an external witness. The abraded qua/Un/exempte/enfin/ajouter and wrapped mande beginnings remain identifiable, with no complete word inferred from marginal noise. Both parentheses, repeated voilà and final exclamation remain.

T32.All three sometimes formulations, the successive when/if conditions and the repeated work/fabrication distinction remain. Alone limits will. Strokes repeats traits in the unfinished comparison with the pen; its peculiarity is not smoothed into a general judgment about style.

T356.The day 4 is identifiable despite a damaged left contour. The three tantôt formulations, two Si conditions, source seule and negative ne…rien remain. The wrapped peignent has an abraded but identifiable initial g on its second line; no missing word is inferred. The final three dots are printed ellipsis.

T33.Both almost always qualifications, repeated popular and the addressed example remain. Popular retains possible relations to ordinary people and common speech without deciding that the language is merely well liked. Good sense is not narrowed to a political program. Henry is a conventional English name. The French retains lowercase henri without an opening article before Roi; ordinary English capitalization and A do not certify a source alteration.

T34.The infinitive instruction remains without a supplied imperative subject. Decent renders honnête in its moral and social range; study and cultivation stay distinct.

T35.The unnamed he and they remain distinct, with the temporal after and three things drunk preserved. Sense keeps the judgment/reason possibility beside loss of ordinary sense; no historical ruler or allusion is identified. The French retains couppes with double p; the English plural cups does not normalize the transcription.

T36.The national comparisons remain Joubert’s assertions, with kind of and the degrees of clarity preserved. [These] renders printed source-editor [ces]. Coasts renders côtes in its shore sense; the Académie dictionary of 1798 also records mountain or hill slopes, which remains an alternative here. The dictionary establishes the range, not Joubert’s exact geographical intention. The compressed inhabitant/places comparison remains. The former and latter refer to the inhabitants of the two French regions just contrasted; the single paragraph continues onto page 774.