Page 80 of 91
[19] P. 13, l. 12. The Cardinal.—Mazarin. He was one of those statesmen who do not like condolences.
[20] P. 14, l. 12. Saint Thomas.—Thomas Aquinas (1223-74), one of the greatest scholastic philosophers.
[21] P. 14, l. 16. Charron.—A friend of Montaigne. His Traité de la Sagesse (1601), which is not a large book, contains 117 chapters, each of which is subdivided.
[22] P. 14, l. 17. Of the confusion of Montaigne.—The Essays of Montaigne follow each other without any kind of order.
[23] P. 14, l. 27. Mademoiselle de Gournay.—The adopted daughter of Montaigne. She published in 1595 an edition of his Essais, and, in a Preface (added later), she defends him on this point.
[24] P. 15, l. 1. People without eyes.—Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[25] P. 15, l. 1. Squaring the circle.—Ibid., ii, 14.
[26] P. 15, l. 1. A greater world.—Ibid., ii, 12.
[27] P. 15, l. 2. On suicide and on death.—Ibid., ii, 3.
[28] P. 15, l. 3. Without fear and without repentance.—Ibid., iii., 2.
[29] P. 15, l. 7. (730, 231).—These two references of Pascal are to the edition of the Essais of Montaigne, published in 1636.
[30] P. 16, l. 32. The centre which is everywhere, and the circumference nowhere.—M. Havet traces this saying to Empedocles. Pascal must have read it in Mlle de Gournay's preface to her edition of Montaigne's Essais.
[31] P. 18, l. 33. I will speak of the whole.—This saying of Democritus is quoted by Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[32] P. 18, l. 37. Principles of Philosophy.—The title of one of Descartes's philosophical writings, published in 1644. See note on p. 13, l. 8 above.
[33] P. 18, l. 39. De omni scibili.—The title under which Pico della Mirandola announced nine hundred propositions which he proposed to uphold publicly at Rome in 1486.
[34] P. 19, l. 26. Beneficia eo usque læta sunt.—Tacitus, Ann., lib. iv, c. xviii. Compare Montaigne, Essais, iii, 8.
[35] P. 21, l. 35. Modus quo, etc.—St. Augustine, De Civ. Dei, xxi, 10. Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[36] P. 22, l. 8. Felix qui, etc.—Virgil, Georgics, ii, 489, quoted by Montaigne, Essais, iii, 10.
[37] P. 22, l. 10. Nihil admirari, etc.—Horace, Epistles, I. vi. 1. Montaigne, Essais, ii, 10.
[38] P. 22, l. 19. 394.—A reference to Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[39] P. 22, l. 20. 395.—Ibid.
[40] P. 22, l. 22. 399.—Ibid.
[41] P. 22, l. 28. Harum sententiarum.—Cicero, Tusc., i, 11, Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[42] P. 22, l. 39. Felix qui, etc.—See above, notes on p. 22, l. 8 and l. 10.
[43] P. 22, l. 40. 280 kinds of sovereign good in Montaigne.—Essais, ii, 12.
[44] P. 23, l. 1. Part I, 1, 2, c. 1, section 4.—This reference is to Pascal's Traité du vide.
[45] P. 23, l. 25. How comes it, etc.—Montaigne, Essais, iii, 8.
[46] P. 23, l. 29. See Epictetus, Diss., iv, 6. He was a great Roman Stoic in the time of Domitian.
[47] P. 24, l. 9. It is natural, etc.—Compare Montaigne, Essais, i, 4.
[48] P. 24, l. 12. Imagination.—This fragment is suggestive of Montaigne. See Essais, iii, 8.
[49] P. 25, l. 16. If the greatest philosopher, etc. See Raymond Sebond's Apologie, from which Pascal has derived his illustrations.
[50] P. 26, l. 1. Furry cats.—Montaigne, Essais, ii, 8.
[51] P. 26, l. 31. Della opinione, etc.—No work is known under this name. It may refer to a treatise by Carlo Flori, which bears a title like this. But its date (1690) is after Pascal's death (1662), though there may have been earlier editions.
