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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 IIYEAR 1815 · Entry 7298

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English Page · Branch 3517 of 4529

YEAR 1815 · Entry 7298

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 7033

— Comparable à ces cires blanches qui ne brûlent que pour l’autel […]t n’éclairent que les palais. Il en avoit la sécheresse, mais la séche[…]esse flexible; et il en eut la pureté.

Une soumission offerte, une soumission promise, une soumission […]rée, une soumission qui en tout cas étoit duë et inévitable, parut un […]cte d’héroïsme. Un prince leur parut être exilé ou relégué dans son […]alais, un évêque dans son diocèse, un poëte loin de la cour. On plaint […]es mains pontificales parce qu’elles ne pouvoient plus toucher au […]ceptre et qu’elles tenoient l’encensoir.

Un roi qui ne goûta pas cet esprit leur paroit un monarque injuste […]t presque un monarque oppresseur. L’enthousiasme refroidi leur […]aroit une perfidie; la prédilection réprimée, un lâche et honteux […]bbandon; la privation de la faveur, une persécution outrée : comme […]i cette âme pieuse eût été capable de dire :

Je ne pourrai donc plus être vu que de Dieu. (Boileau.)

Cette accident très ordinaire, de deux mérites qui se méconnoissent, […]st ici regardé comme un événement monstrueux, par le respect […]aux et la fausse piété d’un faux malheur.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1815

p. 7034

— Comparable to those white waxes that burn only for the altar [and] illuminate only palaces. He had their dryness, but a flexible [dryness]; and he had their purity.

A submission offered, a submission promised, a submission [sworn], a submission that in any case was owed and inevitable, seemed an [act] of heroism. A prince seemed to them exiled or banished to his [palace], a bishop to his diocese, a poet far from court. They pity [the] pontifical hands because they could no longer touch the [scepter] and because they held the censer.

A king who did not appreciate this mind appears to them an unjust monarch [and] almost an oppressive monarch. Cooled enthusiasm [seems] to them treachery; restrained partiality, a cowardly and shameful [abandonment]; loss of favor, an excessive persecution: as [if] this pious soul had been capable of saying:

Then I shall no longer be able to be seen except by God. (Boileau.)

This very ordinary occurrence, of two merits failing to recognize each other, [is] regarded here as a monstrous event, through [false] respect and false piety toward a false misfortune.

T107.The initial dash and subjectless comparison remain. White waxes preserves the plural material image rather than silently substituting candles. Both only restrictions, the repeated dryness and its flexibility, and the later purity remain. English had renders the source’s descriptive avoit and subsequent narrative eut without inventing a change of character. The first [and] renders […]t, and flexible [dryness] renders séche[…]esse; the other dryness and later and are intact.

T487.Five paragraphs remain one undated unit. Paragraph 4 is a centered single roman verse line with its roman parenthetic attribution; the following indented prose is a separate fifth paragraph. No quotation marks, additional date or recovered subject is added. The bottom II. 23 printing signature is excluded. Paragraph 1 retains its opening dash and nominal comparison, both restrictive ne...que constructions, the imperfect avoit versus simple-past eut, and the flexible-dryness contrast. The damaged connective retains only t; the séche- continuation retains esse, without certifying r. Paragraph 2 retains four soumission terms, the alternatives and all shifts of subject/tense. Only rée/cte/alais/es/ceptre survive the five damaged openings; the preceding j/u/a/p/d/s components are not certified. The initial a/e/c remnants within those retained groups remain abraded but identifiable at a qualified level. Duë has two separate raised components over e, not a circumflex over u, in both original-size color and native 353; poëte also keeps the diaeresis. Both paroit forms in paragraph 3 retain plain i: their compact dot-like marks do not certify a circumflex. The second has a missing initial before aroit. The other damaged openings preserve t, bbandon and i; doubled b remains visible before andon, without restoring the lost initial a. The negative, presque, repeated judgment sequence, two colons and eût été construction remain. Paragraph 5 literally reads Cette accident; its anomalous agreement is not normalized. The final two damaged openings retain only st and aux, with no e/f restoration. The repeated false terms, comma after ordinaire and final period remain. The bounded independent comparison of the six new 821 units agrees with the named date and margin limits, upper marks, verse topology and apparatus/call boundaries; all contour qualifications remain.

T108.The four submission formulations, in-any-case qualification, obligation/inevitability and seeming heroism remain. The prince/bishop/poet comparisons are not collapsed. The French shifts from parut to present plaint; English follows that shift. Pontifical hands, scepter and censer remain bodily and ceremonial images without an assigned historical event. The subordinate imperfects remain past: could no longer touch and held. Repeating because distinguishes the second affirmative predicate from the first negative modal, preserving both source causal clauses. [Sworn], [act], [palace] and [scepter] contextually render […]rée, […]cte, […]alais and […]ceptre. [The] is a contextual determiner for […]es before mains, whose surviving letters do not certify les rather than des or a demonstrative; it does not claim a recovered French word. Literal duë and poëte retain their diaereses.

T109.The past did-not-appreciate and present appears/seems preserve the tense contrast. The unnamed them, repeated monarch and almost remain. The three parallel judgments and final hypothetical capacity lead into the following separate verse paragraph; no missing speech or identity is invented. [And], the second judgment’s [seems], [abandonment] and [if] render […]t, […]aroit, […]bbandon and […]i. The doubled b in the abandonment residue and plain i in both paroit readings remain in French. The first appears has intact support.

T110.The future possibility, no-longer restriction, passive being-seen and named attribution remain. This is a fresh translation of the displayed source line, not an independently authenticated Boileau quotation. It remains a separate verse paragraph following the preceding colon. The source line and its parenthetic attribution are roman; the single verse line is centered. No quotation marks are added.

T111.The very-ordinary/monstrous comparison, two merits, mutual failure and three false terms remain. Merits preserves the source’s personifying shorthand instead of replacing it with named people. Toward interprets the final genitive as the object of the piety in context. [Is] and [false] render […]st and the first […]aux; the next two false terms are intact. Literal Cette accident remains despite its anomalous agreement; English grammar does not repair the French.

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.