I am sometimes in doubt whether a divine

or a philosopher, men of such exact wisdom

and tender conscience, ought to

Clergymen and ... p i i

philosophers WTite history, for how can they
should not write gtake their reputation upon a
'^ °'^^' popular belief ? How be respon-

sible for the opinions of men they do not
know, or state their conjectures of truth?
Even of actions performed before their own
eyes, especially if several persons took part,
they would be unwilling to give evidence upon
oath before a judge, nor do they know any
man well enough to become surety for his in-
tentions. For my part, I think it less danger-
ous to write of things past than present. In
the former instance the writer is only to give
an account of things everyone knows he must
of necessity take upon trust.
NOTES.
1. Page 20. Montaigne's expression is me fieri. It is
thiought that Eousseau owes to this word his discovery
of the motto of the Solar Family : " Tel fiert que ne tue
pas" (see Eousseau's Confessions, Part i, Book iii).
The word itself is from the Latin ferio.
2. P. 23. Diogenes Laertius, Chrysippus, Tii.
3. P. 22. Diogenes Laertius, Epicurus, x.
4. P. 23. This is literally true. Montaigne quoted
more and more as he grew older. The first edition of
his Essays (Bordeaux, 1580) has very few quotations.
These become more numerous in the edition of 1588.
The great multitude of classical texts, which at times
overload the page, date only from the posthumous
edition of 1595. He had annotated his previous edi-
tion during the last years of his life, as an amusement
of his idleness. This explains also in part the varying
translations.
