Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition

Joseph Joubert

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Name: The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II
Author: Joseph Joubert

Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.

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The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II1812 · Entry 6382

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English Page · Branch 2601 of 4529

1812 · Entry 6382

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5201

Dion écrivoit à Perdiccas : « Platon est né trop tard pour les Athé[…]iens. Ils n’ont pu lui offrir à conseiller et régir qu’un peuple vieilli […]ans des habitudes perverses, un peuple gâté, flatté, endurci, incor[…]igible. » Malheureux le sage qui vivroit dans un pareil état; il seroit […]rivé du plus grand de tous les plaisirs, celui d’aimer et d’estimer […] multitude, c’est à dire le genre humain. Les vices des rois donnent […]ux grands hommes de saintes et vives colères; mais ceux du peuple […] désolent, quand ce peuple est son propre maître et qu’on ne peut […]’en prendre qu’à lui de ses malheurs et de ses fautes.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: 1812

p. 5202

Dion wrote to Perdiccas: “Plato was born too late for the [Athenians]. They could offer him to counsel and govern only a people grown old [in] perverse habits, a spoiled, flattered, hardened, [incorrigible] people.” Wretched the sage who would live in such a state; he would be [deprived] of the greatest of all pleasures, that of loving and esteeming [the] multitude, that is to say, the human race. The vices of kings give great men holy and lively angers; but those of the people afflict [him], when this people is its own master and one can [blame] only it for its misfortunes and its faults.

S6.Source editor’s annotationSame.

T171.The source’s Dion/Perdiccas attribution and complete quotation boundary remain. A strong parallel appears in Cousin’s Letter V, 322a–c, attributed there to Plato; the speaker discrepancy is disclosed, not silently corrected. [Athenians], [in], [incorrigible], [deprived] and [the] interpret the corresponding source residues and whole-word loss as Athéniens, dans, incorrigible, privé and la. The contextual aux before grands hommes has no separate word in English give great men. [Him] selects the sage as the contextual referent of a possible lost le; les, resuming great men as them, is also possible, and neither French pronoun is certified. The broader [blame] renders s’en prendre with its lost reflexive initial and intact following words. The conditional lament, kings/people distinction and blame restriction remain.

T180.Same translates the complete italic Latin Id. and preserves its concise reference back to the preceding note. No source title or additional page is inserted.

T496.The left edge interrupts Athé[…]iens, […]ans, incor[…]igible, […]rivé, […]ux and […]’en; no expected letter is silently supplied. The whole-word gaps before multitude and désolent have only detached remnants; no article or pronoun is certified. The surviving initial r/u components are qualified for abrasion. Dion, Perdiccas and the quoted voice are preserved without adjustment to a parallel letter. C’est à dire remains unhyphenated. The semicolon after état and call 6 before the final period remain.

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.