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Plutarch and Rousseau's First Discours

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Abraham C. Keller
Abraham C. Keller*
Affiliation:
University of California
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Extract

The Discours sur les Arts et les Sciences, composed in 1749–50, in an age whose leading thinkers were prone to overlook the limitations of reason and the drawbacks of progress, could hardly fail to attract notice, by its enthusiasm and paradoxical nature, if not by any logical organization or historical soundness. The essay was written in a prize contest proposed by the Academy of Dijon for the discussion of the question, “Si le rétablissement des Sciences et des Arts a contribué à épurer les mœurs,” and was awarded the medal. It maintains that the arts and sciences have contributed to the corruption of humanity. To support this thesis, the author cites numerous historical instances in which nations have lost their virtue and their supremacy as learning developed among them. Contrariwise, nations which did not permit learning to advance have been better able to remain great. The arts and sciences undermine patriotism and religion, breed luxury and vice, and are in general a serious degrading influence.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 54 , Issue 1 , March 1939 , pp. 212 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1939

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References

1 The subject of this study was suggested by Professor George R. Havens in his seminar on the First Discourse at Ohio State University, 1936. Professor Havens, who is preparing a critical edition of the Discours, made many valuable suggestions.

2 Ritter, Eugene, La Famille et la Jeunesse de J. J. Rousseau (Paris, 1896), p. 49.Google Scholar

3 Rousseau, Œuvres (éd. Hachette), viii, 4.

4 A comprehensive study of Rousseau's reading is Marguerite Reichenburg's, Essai sur les lectures de Rousseau (Philadelphia, 1932).

5 Both Montaigne and Rousseau used the French translation by Amyot.

6 Œuvres, viii, 4.

7 Ibid., ix, 347.

8 Miss Reichenburg lists the following references to Plutarch in Rousseau : Œuvres, i, 61, 76, 193, 198, 210, 212, 222, 237, 260, 269, 270, 405; ii, 6, 7, 16, 51, 123, 125, 126, 127, 211, 229, 230, 254, 274; iii, 308, 348, 381, 382; iv, 96, 104, 152, 159, 160, 173, 194, 256, 265, 272, 273, 281, 386, 391, 426, 436; v, 19; vi, 6; vii, 23, 24, 100, 101, 161, 166, 169, 182, 186, 239, 289; viii, 4; ix, 206, 347; x, 113, 197, 300; Dufour, Correspondance générale, ii, 65, 66; Ritter et Ustéri, Correspondante de Jean-Jacques Rousseau avec Léonard Ustéri, 164; Dufour, Recherches bibliographiques sur les œuvres imprimées de J. J. Rousseau, ii, 90. These references range from incidents which Rousseau may have read in Plutarch to specific mention of indebtedness to the Greek writer.

9 Simple numbers in parentheses refer to the page in Rousseau's First Discourse (Œuvres, i). Where name of essay and chapter number are given in the parentheses, the reference is to Plutarch, Amyot translation. The edition used here is that of Paris, 1818, and includes the Vies, Œuvres morales, and Œuvres mêlées, complete in twenty-four volumes.

10 Œuvres, viii, 4.

11 Timoleon, 31; Pelopidas, 4; Paulus Æmylius, 6; Caius Marius, 10; Lucullus, 72; Sertorius, 26; Fabius Maximus, 5, 13–27, 34; Comparaison d'Agesilaus avec Pompeius, 5; Comment on se peult louer soy-mesme, 34; Dicts notables des Romains, 12.

12 As Professor Schinz has shown, Rousseau used the term “vertu” in all three of its traditional meanings: happiness and worldly wisdom, self-denial, and the innocence of primitive man. See La Pensée de Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Northampton, 1929), i, 145.

13 Schinz, A., “La Notion de vertu dans le Premier Discours de J.-J. Rousseau,” Mercure de France, xcvii (1912), 532–555.Google Scholar

14 Havens, G. R., “La Théorie de la bonté naturelle de l'homme chez J.-J. Rousseau,” Revue d'Histoire littéraire, xxxi (1924), 635Google Scholar

15 Delaruelle, L., “Les Sources principales de J.-J. Rousseau dans le Premier Discours,” Revue d'Histoire littéraire, xix (1912), 245–271.Google Scholar

16 Plutarch links Rome's decline with luxury; Montaigne, with learning. (Cf., “le treuve Rome plus vaillante avant qu'elle feust sçavante.” Essais, i, 25, “Du Pedantisme.“) Rousseau's attitude may be said to be a combination of both points of view.

17 See also: Consolation de Plutarque à sa femme, 6; Instruction pour ceulx qui manient affaires d'estat, 72; Comparaison de Pericles avec Fabius Maximus, 9; Pelopidas, 7,

18 See also: Paulus Æmylius, 6; Marcus Cato, 9; Lucullus, 5, 6, 9, 78–81; Comparaison de Lucullus avec Cimon, 1; Agesilaus, 22; Caton d'Utique, 47; Antonius, 27; Philopcemen, 26; Sylla, 2, 3; Pompeius, 2.

19 Additional instances of condemnation of learning: Pyrrhus, 16; Cimon, 15; Marcellus, 34; Agis et Cleomenes, 37; Si les Athéniens ont esté plus excellents en armes qu'en lettres, 10; Marcus Cato, 38; Les dicts notables des Lacedaemoniens, 2; Les dicts notables des anciens roys, etc., 62.

19a Delaruelle, loc. cit.

20 Pelopidas, 34; Pericles, 23–29; Themistocles, 9; Cimon, 24; Agis et Cleomenes, 25; Lysander, 30, 34; Alexandre, 12, 28, 50, 54; Eumenes, 1; Timoleon, 21; Marcellus, 20–29; Lucullus, 2; Marcus Crassus, 5; Caton d'Utique, 2, 11; Marcus Cato, 5; Marcus Brutus, 1; Cicero, 2, 10; De Isis et d'Osiris, 2; Comment il faut nourirr les enfants, 13–20; Comment il faut ouir, 26; Si les Atheniens ont este plus excellents en armes qu'en lettres, 2.

21 For instance, the education of women was to be significantly changed from a superficial statement as to woman's importance to a real program permitting her to take her place in society.

22 Essais, i, 25.