Diotimos Library · Literary Fiction Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 36 of 94
René · p. 151
French
p. 151des hommes ; ils causent comme des immortels ou comme de petits enfants ; ils expliquent les lois de l’univers, et ne peuvent comprendre les affaires les plus innocentes de la vie ; ils ont des idées merveilleuses de la mort, et meurent sans s’en apercevoir, comme des nouveau-nés.
» Sur les monts de la Calédonie, le dernier barde qu’on ait ouï dans ces déserts me chanta les poëmes dont un héros consoloit jadis sa vieillesse. Nous étions assis sur quatre pierres rongées de mousse ; un torrent couloit à nos pieds ; le chevreuil paissoit à quelque distance parmi les débris d’une tour, et le vent des mers siffloit sur la bruyère de Cona. Maintenant la religion chrétienne, fille aussi des hautes montagnes, a placé des croix sur les monuments des héros de Morven, et touché la harpe de David, au bord du même torrent où Ossian fit gémir la sienne. Aussi pacifique que les divinités de Selma étoient guerrières, elle garde des troupeaux où Fingal livroit des combats, et elle a répandu des anges de paix dans les nuages qu’habitoient des fantômes homicides.
» L’ancienne et riante Italie m’offrit la foule de ses chefs-d’œuvre. Avec quelle sainte et poé-
René
Source p. 151of men; they talk like immortals or like little children; they explain the laws of the universe, and cannot understand the most innocent business of life; they have marvellous ideas of death, and die without noticing it, like newborn babes.
“On the mountains of Caledonia, the last bard to be heard in those wildernesses sang me the poems with which a hero once consoled his old age. We were sitting on four stones gnawed by moss; a torrent ran at our feet; the roe-deer grazed some way off among the ruins of a tower, and the wind of the seas whistled over the heath of Cona. Now the Christian religion, she too a daughter of the high mountains, has set crosses on the monuments of the heroes of Morven, and touched the harp of David beside the same torrent where Ossian made his own harp moan. As peaceable as the divinities of Selma were warlike, she keeps flocks where Fingal gave battle, and she has spread angels of peace in the clouds once haunted by murderous phantoms.
“Ancient and smiling Italy offered me the throng of her masterpieces. With what holy and poetic
Socrates
Reading René · René · René · p. 151
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Chateaubriand’s tale of René and Amélie, with the Preface of 1805, two contemporary reviews, and the longer readings of 1802. This French–English edition preserves the 1826 printed pages, with a new English translation, author’s notes, variant readings, introduction and glossary.
Historical Text and Translation
François-René de Chateaubriand, Œuvres complètes, tome XVI (Paris: Ladvocat, 1826), pp. 1–16, 137–192 and 351–358, University of Toronto Library copy. Earlier witness: Génie du Christianisme, tome II (Paris: Migneret, 1802), pp. 158–216, Bibliothèque nationale de France copy.
About Diotimos Editions
This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
Rights
The historical French source is in the public domain in the United States. New English translation and editorial matter © 2026 Diotimos Editions. Chateaubriand’s author notes and historical variants remain separately attributed.