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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

UNDATED

39 (id.)

I paid him the last duties his friends neglected, in order to become more humane and more indulgent toward his memory. Then, if he could have seen me...!

(This sustained attention, necessary for great...) (The page is cut.)

40 (Bundle 34.)

This Rapin, in his Reflections on History, where Livy is perpetually his hero and the only faultless writer among the ancients (and Mariana among the moderns), this Rapin claims, on page 301, that “Xenophon... has nothing great or elevated.” What a poor fellow this Jesuit is! He says fairly well of Tacitus (page 278): “Tacitus’s morality is often false, because his morality is not true, etc.” His judgments on this historian are the best this animal has to offer. He has, this Rapin, many pretensions to pure style and good sense. He must have thought himself a very good author and been very pleased with himself.

41 (Bundle 9.)

Berruyer was once reproached for writing the history of God’s people in the style of a novel; Mr. a.b.d. can be reproached for explaining the Gospel to us in the style of a gazette. He says of J. C., whom he always elegantly calls the son of Mary, [that he] came to instruct “all classes of individuals.”

42 (Bundle 38.)

In this edition there are notes opposed to the spirit of the text and portraits that do not resemble the originals. The most celebrated beauties of the age of Louis XIV are engraved there in medallions one would take at first glance for medals of Roman emperors. The great men are no better treated. The great Corneille has a turned-up nose, Louis XIV a broad face, Molière is painted thin. La Fontaine has the king’s nose, and Racine the profile of a town-hall clerk.

43 (Bundle 2.)

Any extensive work can be well composed only through an even continuity of force, movement and attention. Hence nature itself requires epic poems to be written in the same kind of verse, and in that verse which, of all kinds, demands the most wisdom and calm to be well made. (See what Aristotle says in his Poetics.)

44 (Same leaf.)

Euripides was reproached for making Menelaus wicked when there was no need to make him so: this censure did honor to the critics. Note. They regarded gratuitous wickedness as an absurd thing.

45 (id.)

What is rounded in itself (says Aristotle) has much more force and effect than what is extended.

46 (id.)

Horace says that even the gods cannot permit a poet to be mediocre.

47 (id.)

To purge the passions. That is to say, to make them felt only as innocent and pure, which they can all be when well directed and moderated. Even hatred can be a praiseworthy and gentle affection when it is caused only by a keen love of everything good.

T57.The first-person completed act, friends’ neglect, purpose, repeated more and counterfactual fragment remain. Paid and neglected render simple-past rendis and négligèrent. More humane renders plus humain in conduct, not a change in species. Last duties retains devoirs rather than assuming a particular funeral rite; the person is not identified. The final three printed points followed by an exclamation remain exactly; they are not an annotation call. This roman paragraph is followed by the same item’s separate continuation on page 924.

T211.In the French source, printed item 39 owns the complete main paragraph at the foot of 923 and the separate parenthetic paragraph at the opening of 924, before printed item 40. The 923 final marks are three points followed by an exclamation, not an annotation call. Both rendis and négligèrent are simple-past forms, while the final conditional fragment remains incomplete. The 924 sentence fragment stops after grandes and a printed three-point ellipsis, but its closing parenthesis is actually present. The following La page est coupée. is a separate source-editor statement inline within the same paragraph; only that statement through its period is italic, with roman enclosing parentheses. Soutenuë retains paired upper e marks. No missing noun or source-editor note number is invented.

T58.The first sentence fragment remains unfinished without an invented noun after great, but its closing parenthesis is printed and retained. The second parenthesis translates the inline source-editor notice La page est coupée.; only that statement through its period is italic in each language, with roman enclosing parentheses. This is editorial voice, not Joubert’s continuation, a translator’s fresh damage claim or a numbered apparatus note. Both parentheses remain in this single mapped main paragraph on page 924 under item 39; the inline notice has a distinct source-editor role. French retains soutenuë. No missing lexical text is supplied.

T59.The three this-Rapin terms, only-faultless exception, parenthetic modern parallel, two external pages, repeated morality and harsh animal image remain. Must-have keeps the inference about Rapin’s self-opinion; the source’s insult and attributions are translated rather than endorsed or independently authenticated. The work title is freshly translated; both it and the external page references are roman, as in French. English moves only the first quotation’s terminal period inside its closing mark. The second period, after etc., is already inside in French; English supplies the comma before etc. The three printed points after Xenophon remain. Livy is the conventional English form of Tite Live; French retains ny, assés, vraye, jugemens and stile.

T60.Once versus present possibility, novel/gazette contrast, to-us and always-elegantly judgment remain. Both a.b.d. and J. C. stay abbreviated rather than expanded into new identifications. Source Mʳ has a smaller raised r; English uses conventional baseline Mr. The roman [that he] corresponds to printed roman [qu’il], a source-editor supplement rather than a reproduction loss. All classes remains within its quotation, whose terminal period moves inside in English. English capitalizes Gospel for lowercase évangile. The source body is roman, including the opaque baseline abbreviations; its two style forms retain y.

T61.The unnamed edition, two mismatches, superlative beauties, first-glance conditional and all five portraits remain. Medallions and medals stay distinct; clerk preserves greffier without promoting him to a judge. English shares has across the Louis XIV broad-face clause where French repeats a, and supplies the final comma before and Racine. The entire body, including both XIV numerals, is roman, with no raised ordinal suffix. The edition and engravings are not newly identified or authenticated.

T214.In the French source, printed item 42 is one roman paragraph. Both Louis XIV forms are ordinary roman capitals/numerals with no raised ordinal suffix. Médaillons and médailles, the five named portraits and the final implicit predicate remain distinct; the unnamed edition is not identified here. All wraps and terminal period are intact.

T62.Any, restrictive only, even continuity, the three coordinated force/movement/attention complements and most-wisdom-and-calm comparison remain. English shares of across the three complements for repeated French de, and repeats in for the two avec relations to verse. Nature itself retains the source personification. French has poèmes with a grave accent. The parenthetic Poétique reference and its English Poetics counterpart are roman; the pointer remains external and unverified, with no particular meter or passage supplied.

T63.The historical passive, need denied, favorable judgment of the critics and gratuitous wickedness remain. Note. translates inline Nota.; only the word and its following period are italic in each language, while the subsequent sentence remains roman. This is part of the main paragraph, not a new translator note. The referenced dramatic case is not externally certified.

T216.In the French source, printed item 44 is one paragraph. Only Nota. through its period is italic; the following sentence and the parenthetic source-group label’s enclosing punctuation are roman. The colon, imperfect reporting, anterior d’avoir fait and subjunctive y eût are literal. No theatrical source or character motivation is externally authenticated.

T64.The spatial contrast, in-itself, much-more degree and force/effect pair remain. No explanatory geometry or authenticated Aristotle passage is added.

T217.In the French source, printed item 45 is one complete roman paragraph with an inline parenthetic attribution. Both de relations and the degree bien plus remain. The separate italic id. label is a group relation, not a date; no external Aristotle passage is imported.

T65.Even, cannot-permit and mediocre remain within the reported Horace attribution. No external Horace version is substituted. French retains uninflected même after dieux and poëte with its diaeresis. The body is roman; the separate italic id. group relation supplies no date.

T218.In the French source, printed item 46 has the separate italic id. relation and null date. Literal uninflected même after dieux and paired upper e marks in poëte remain; all body roman. The reported attribution is not externally authenticated.

T66.The infinitive topic, restrictive only, all/can, directed/moderated pair and even-hatred paradox remain. Keen love preserves vif rather than merely a strong opinion. This is Joubert’s account, not an inserted theory of catharsis.