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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

UNDATED

65 (Bundle 14.)

On the education of children destined for the magistracy.

If I were bringing up a child destined for military life, I would want his early education to be very gentle so that one day he would be humane; if I were bringing up a child destined for the magistracy, I would want his early education to be very laborious so that one day he would be just. In the turbulent life of the first, everything makes a man harsh; in the sedentary life of the second, everything disposes him to inaction, to softness, unless, through fortunate habits, the activity of the mind and the strength of the soul oppose and overcome the idleness of the body.

When a child’s future place in society is assigned to him from the cradle, when it is known from his birth what post he will occupy if he becomes a man, the tutor must direct his efforts so as to combine perfectly the education the child receives from his teacher and the education the man will receive from his calling. One must serve as a counterweight to the other and thus prepare far in advance that balance which produces happiness and virtue, and which cannot exist unless in every profession one possesses the qualities of mind and heart whose union makes a man worthy of esteem. That is to say, in the cases we are discussing, the wise tutor must do what the skillful pilot does when he orders the cargo moved to one side of the vessel when he foresees that the wind will make it lean to the other; without this necessary precaution, he would have brought into port only a ship useless to refit, which could never again have served the public convenience.

I would try to make my first pupil love rural and domestic pleasures so that, amid the tumult of camps and the horrors of war, he would make it his duty to protect the harvests and shelter the honor of families. I would try to give the second a passion for public affairs so that, in the seclusion of towns and woods, he would wage unceasing war on crimes. In a word, I would make the soldier loving and the magistrate austere.

This does not mean that love of men is unnecessary to the magistrate; on the contrary, without it his occupations would have no reward and his whole life no delights. But the magistrate must love men only in masses, and the soldier only as individuals. By his calling the soldier is the enemy of peoples and must by inclination be the friend of all private persons. He must know how to destroy a people in cold blood, burn a city in cold blood, and save with fervor an old man, a woman, a child from amid the destroyed people and the blazing city. By his calling the magistrate is the friend of peoples; in that capacity he is no one’s friend. Age, sex, and blood count for nothing with him; if the safety of all is at stake, he will send an old man, a woman, a child to execution in cold blood to save a city from the flames, a state from destruction. The one will always live surrounded by his family: let us accustom him to be a citizen; the other will live among enemies: let us work to make him a man. Let both love men from childhood; but let the one grow accustomed to loving them tenderly, and the other with all the excess of enthusiasm appropriate to public men.

To form a future soldier, a future magistrate, I would therefore employ neither the same moral instruction nor the same literary instruction. I would make study easy for the first, because above all he needs that courage and physical activity for which intellectual labors bring distaste in the long run. I would make study arduous for the second, to train his young organs early in the attention whose habit will one day be so necessary for the dry, abstract matters that will occupy him all his life. I would almost be content to have the first read the poets, and read them well translated into his own language. I would require the second to study the orators, and to study them without any help in their own language.

The poets embellish the world, soften the heart, and would be useful to the man destined to see before his eyes only scenes of horror and carnage. The orators elevate the mind, strengthen the soul, and it is with elevation and strength that the senator must be armed, destined as he is to live surrounded by the most moving spectacles of supplication that will raise its hands to heaven before him. Finally, if I knew the older of these two languages, I would nourish my young soldier with all the gentleness of the Greek writers and my young magistrate with all the severity of the Latin authors. To be good, the soldier must love all natural pleasures; to be just, the magistrate must love only the pleasures of virtue. His inclinations must be grave, his pleasures grave: one must make a Roman of him.

The Romans were grave. They were grave in their conduct, grave in their dress, grave in their thoughts, in their discourses, in their language. Their language is truly a language of magistrates; in their books it expresses only things relating to the magistracy. All Rome was, in a sense, a senate. And even in declaring war, it had all legal formalities observed by its fetials.

In teaching a child Latin, one teaches him to be a judge, to be an advocate, to be a statesman; the Romans knew no other science, and their writings teach no other. In teaching a child the history of Rome, even the history of Rome’s conquests, one teaches him to be firm, to be just, to be moderate, to love only his country. It was by no other virtues that Rome succeeded in its unjust wars. The virtues of Roman generals were still those of magistrates, and on their military tribunal they bore themselves no differently than on the curule chair.

Finally, actions and words in Latin books, discourses and examples—everything works together to form public men. And these alone would suffice to teach a French magistrate who knew his country’s history and situation what his duties are, and what his conduct, talents, and labors should be. This was doubtless known even better than by me to a magistrate illustrious for his labors and enlightenment, who united the wit that makes one shine in high society with the intelligence that teaches one to judge good books well, and who, in this century when excellent books have disparaged the old education and high society approves no study of languages except modern ones, said with as much courage as reason: “I want my son to know a great deal of Latin.”

T115.This opening topic title is a paragraph in the source and remains one paired paragraph; it is not a translator-created title or a date. It is the first of item 65’s ten paragraphs, left-aligned and roman. The separate Bundle 14 label is italic and undated; it is not part of this topic title.

T253.In the French source, printed item 65 owns ten separate roman paragraphs, including the left-aligned topic title. Paragraph 3 crosses 929–930 and paragraph 7 crosses 930–931 without new punctuation or paragraph division. All dates remain null. No new lexical reproduction loss is certified. Literal molesse with one l, scait, ordone with one n, first tâcherais versus later tâcherois, scavoir and three unhyphenated sangfroid forms remain. The finite serve and infinitive préparer coordination is not repaired. Paragraph 6 explicitly prints je ne voudrois, followed by ni...ni; ne is intact in both color and native, not absent or supplied. Emploïer has two upper i components; phisique retains i; poëtes retains its e-diaeresis. The almost restriction and repeated étude/étudiât remain. Paragraph 8 retains first étaient followed by étoient, and literal fesciaux, supported by original-size color and native; no substitution of fetiaux. The repeated grave predicates and source comma joins remain. Paragraph 9 has no comma after the second Rome before on lui apprend; none is inserted in French. The final paragraph preserves connoîtroit with circumflex, païs with two upper i components, talens, excellens and scache. The two contextual esprit uses are not renamed in French; unit can have present or simple-past morphology. The final direct quotation closes after its period. No unnamed magistrate is identified.

T116.The two hypotheticals, gentle/humane versus laborious/just, first/second and mind/soul/body distinctions remain. Military life renders état militaire as a calling, not a political state. French retains molesse with one l. English unless naturally combines si and the following ne clauses without preserving each French negative as an independent English word. The entire paragraph is roman.

T117.The birth/cradle and if qualifications, two educations, counterweight, balance, mind/heart and extended cargo/pilot comparison remain. The single paragraph crosses 929–930. Useless to refit follows the unusual inutile à radouber without silently replacing it with an easily repaired ship. The pilot acts when he foresees the wind’s effect: when retains the temporal quand, without replacing it with an explicit because. French retains scait and one-n ordone. English One must...and thus prepare gives a regular shared construction for finite serve followed by infinitive préparer; the French coordination is left unchanged. This complete paragraph is roman.

T118.The repeated I would try, first/second, harvests/family honor and final loving/austere distinction remain. The war-on-crimes metaphor is kept; seclusion follows retraite without assuming retirement from office. French first prints tâcherais and then tâcherois; the two English I would try clauses give their shared conditional force without normalizing the French spellings. The whole paragraph is roman.

T119.The unsettling examples, repeated cold blood, old man/woman/child, only restrictions and shifts of the one/the other remain rather than being softened or reordered. Blood may include kinship in this context, but is not replaced by a supplied relation. With fervor reads avec transport as strong feeling in contrast to cold blood. The complete 1798 Académie Transport entry, directly read by the literary reviewer, includes a broad range of passions; joy is possible here but is not uniquely specified. The English preserves the intensity without choosing that narrower emotion. French retains scavoir and three unhyphenated sangfroid forms. The English colon before each let us replaces the corresponding source comma, and the semicolon after peoples replaces a source comma; the political and personal relations remain unchanged. All main text is roman.

T120.The future soldier/future magistrate designations, first/second contrast, almost, training of organs, no-help restriction and translated/native-language contrast remain. Neither...nor renders the complete printed je ne voudrois...ni...ni: ne is intact, not absent or supplied. French retains emploïer with its i-diaeresis, phisique and poëtes. The complete paragraph is roman.

T121.The poet/orator contrast, personified supplication and its future raising of its hands, repeated elevation/strength and grave, and if I knew qualification remain. This single paragraph crosses 930–931. The text’s all natural/only virtuous pleasures distinction is kept. The cross-page join adds no punctuation or paragraph break. French retains touchans and scavois; the personified supplication remains the contextual subject of will raise. All text is roman.

T122.All repetitions of grave remain, as does first French étaient followed by étoient. Fetials contextually renders the literal fesciaux as the Roman priestly officials concerned with declarations of war and public formalities. The complete Académie 1762 Féciaux entry and Lewis–Short fetiales/fetialis entries were directly read by the literary reviewer; they support this lexical correspondence, not a replacement of the printed French spelling or a recovery of lost letters. The attempted complete 1798 entry was unavailable. English uses a semicolon after magistrates and a sentence boundary after magistracy for the source’s two comma joins. The sweeping description of Roman books remains Joubert’s argument, not an editorial historical claim. All main text is roman.

T123.The repeated teaching constructions, no other/only restrictions and explicit just/unjust tension remain. Advocate, tribunal and curule chair retain the legal vocabulary without identifying a particular Roman office. English adds a closing comma after Rome’s conquests where French has none after the second Rome before on lui apprend. The complete paragraph is roman.

T124.The alone restriction, conditional magistrate, doubtless, repeated public/social vocabulary and final direct quotation remain. Wit/intelligence differentiates the two contextual uses of esprit, without asserting two faculties in the French. The unnamed magistrate is not identified. French retains connoîtroit, païs, talens, excellens and scache. The English dash before everything replaces a source comma; the quoted terminal period already lies inside the French closing guillemet. United contextually chooses a past reading of unit, whose form alone can also be present. All main text is roman.