Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
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French Page · Branch 760 of 4529
Theory of the Political World, or On the Science of Government Considered… · Entry 4541
French
p. 1519Un assez bon nombre de nos poëtes aïant écrit en prose (Racine dans ses lettres à l’auteur des Visionnaires, Voltaire, l’abbé Delile, M. de Fontanes, etc.) a donné au style ordinaire un éclat et des hardiesses qu’il n’auroit point eu sans eux. Peut être aussi quelques prosateurs nés poëtes (Montesquieu, quelques autres écrivains ont aussi montré dans leur style une vivacité toute poétique) sans naître versificateurs, — (on pourroit dire aussi qu’il y a aujourd’hui des écrivains qui semblent nés versificateurs sans naître poëtes) [...] ont contribué à parer aussi notre langue jusques dans ses familiarités de ces richesses et de cette pompe qui avoient [été] jusques là le partage exclusif de l’idiome poétique. La Grèce et Rome eurent peut être aussi des écrivains nés poëtes sans naître versificateurs. Mais Platon, Tacite etc. étoient poëtes par l’ocstase et les modernes que nous avons nommés le sont (comme nous l’avons dit) par la vivacité et la rapidité des apperçus. Ce n’est pas là ce que le génie poëtique a de plus beau. Un œil contemplatif à un caractère plus céleste qu’un œil perçant.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: Theory of the Political World, or On the Science of Government Considered…
p. 1520A fair number of our poets, having written in prose (Racine in his letters to the author of the Visionnaires, Voltaire, the abbé Delile, Mr. de Fontanes, etc.), have given ordinary style a brilliance and boldnesses it would not have had without them. Perhaps, too, some prose writers born poets (Montesquieu, some other writers have also shown a wholly poetic liveliness in their style) without being born versifiers, — (one could also say that there are writers today who seem born versifiers without being born poets) [...] have helped adorn our language, even in its familiar usages, with those riches and that pomp which had until then [been] the exclusive portion of poetic language. Greece and Rome perhaps also had writers born poets without being born versifiers. But Plato, Tacitus, etc., were poets through ecstasy, and the moderns we have named are so (as we have said) through the liveliness and swiftness of their perceptions. This is not what is most beautiful in poetic genius. A contemplative eye has a more celestial character than a piercing eye.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · Theory of the Political World, or On the Science of Government Considered… · Entry 4541
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Joubert’s notebooks return to the work of thinking and writing, the demands of friendship, and questions of faith, beauty and conduct. This edition pairs the French with a new English translation, preserving the order of the chosen source and the unfinished character of its fragments. Dates and source references allow readers to follow a thought through time or return to its printed context.
Historical Text and Translation
The French text follows André Beaunier’s 1938 edition of Les Carnets de Joseph Joubert, published by Gallimard from Joubert’s autograph manuscripts. Volume II continues the notebooks and includes seventy undated pieces. French and English are aligned paragraph by paragraph, retaining the source order, printed dates and page references so readers can return to the facsimile.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this new English translation directly from the French, preserving Joubert’s distinctions, recurring images, ambiguities and unfinished thoughts. Translator’s notes clarify wording, references and uncertain readings: Essential keeps notes that help explain a passage, while All includes technical detail. Annotations from the 1938 source edition remain distinct from the new translator’s notes.
Rights
The linked facsimile records identify the French source as public domain in the United States. The new English translation and editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos, with source annotations and new editorial contributions credited separately. This edition pairs the complete French notebooks with an independent English translation, preserving the distinction between Joubert’s text and its accompanying notes.