Montesquieu: Let There Be Enlightenment

257 Pages·2023·3.736 MB·English

by  Catherine Volpilhac-Auger

MONTESQUIEU
Since the last biography of Montesquieu in English (Shackleton, Oxford,
1961)Montesquieuscholarshiphasbeenentirelyrenewed,culminatingina
criticaleditionofhiscompleteworksintwenty-twovolumesthatisnearing
completion. Since 1998, this new edition of the complete works has
considerably modified what was known about Montesquieu and his
procedures, eliciting new translations and further studies. Additionally,
several thousand manuscript pages were made public in 1994 and
continuetogeneratefurtherscholarlyinquiry.
Theauthorofthiscompactbiography,originallypublishedbyGallimard
in 2017, is the director of the critical edition of the works and the most
qualifiedscholarofMontesquieu.AtonceanintroductiontoMontesquieu’s
thoughtandasynthesisofcurrentknowledgeabouthislifeandwork,this
bookisfullofinsightsandrevisedjudgementsaboutMontesquieuandhow
his political philosophy helped thrust Enlightenment onto the European
agenda.
CatherineVolpilhac-AugerisprofessoremeritaatÉcoleNormaleSupérieure
deLyon(Lyon)andisthepresidentoftheMontesquieuSociety.

MONTESQUIEU
Let There Be Enlightenment
Catherine Volpilhac-Auger
ENSdeLyon
Translated by
Philip Stewart
DukeUniversity
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OriginallypublishedinFrenchasMontesquieu(‘the‘OriginalWork’inwhichthe
ProprietorcontrolsallEnglishlanguagepublicationrights,titleandinterest)by
EditionsGallimard©CatherineVolpilhac-Auger2017
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Volpilhac-Auger,Catherine,author.|Stewart,Philip,1940–translator.
Title:Montesquieu:lettherebeenlightenment/CatherineVolpilhac-Auger,
ÉcoleNormaleSupérieure;translatedbyPhilipStewart,DukeUniversity.
Othertitles:Montesquieu.English
Description:Cambridge;NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversityPress,2022.|Includes
bibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2022024077(print)|LCCN2022024078(ebook)|
ISBN9781009249096(hardback)|ISBN9781009249089(paperback)|
ISBN9781009249072(ebook)
Subjects:LCSH:Montesquieu,CharlesdeSecondat,baronde,1689–1755.|Authors,
French–18thcentury–Biography.|Philosophers–France–Biography.|Political
scientists–France–Biography.|BISAC:POLITICALSCIENCE/History&Theory|
LCGFT:Biographies.
Classification:LCCPQ2012.V652132022(print)|LCCPQ2012(ebook)|DDC848/
.509–dc23/eng/20220605
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LCebookrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2022024078
ISBN978-1-009-24909-6Hardback
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Contents
ListofFigures pageix
NoteontheUseandTranslationofCertainTerms x
ListofAbbreviations xii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1 MonsieurdeLabrède(1689–1705) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1 Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
RobeandSword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
ABaronyinGraves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 HowLegendsAreBorn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
AnAnonymousGodfather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Childhoods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3 1700–1705:TheYearsinJuilly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
TheInstitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
FamilyStrategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
DocumentsorRedHerrings? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
TheCurriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4 AfterJuilly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
StrengthsandWeaknesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
BirthofaPassion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
ALoveofPoetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
ThinkingLikeaPhilosopher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2 FromLabrèdetoSecondatdeMontesquieu(1705–1713) . . . . 34
1 ThreeStudiousYears? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
StudyinBordeaux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
TheCollectiojuris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2 Paris:FiveHappyYears? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
ABitofLaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
TheEndofaReign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
v
CONTENTS
AGroundswell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
ANewIdeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
TheWorldofErudition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
TheWang/HoanghMoment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3 FromSecondattoMontesquieu(1713–1721) . . . . . . . . . . . 54
1 Establishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
1714:AnOffice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
1715:AMarriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
“LartiguedeMontesquieu,”forLife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
2 1715–1716:FirstWritings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
DebtsofState . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
TheRomans,betweenReligionandPolitics . . . . . . . . . . 61
AmbiguityoftheCiceronianModel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Finally,LePrésidentdeMontesquieu . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3 DailyLifeinandAroundBordeaux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
TheExperienceofParlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
EnRoutefortheSciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4 AFirstTry,aRunawaySuccess:PersianLetters . . . . . . . . . 70
ASocietyandaSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
ShortStoryofaGreatBook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
QuestionsofGenre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4 TakingWing(1722–1727) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
1 TheTemptationofParis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
FêtesGalantes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
BetweenRegencyandRoyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
BetweenChantillyandtheHôteldeNevers . . . . . . . . . . 87
2 BetweenVenusandDuties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
TheTempleofGnidus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
DialoguebetweenSullaandEucrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
TreatiseonDuties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
ConsiderationandReputation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
TwoDiscourses,aGoodbye,andaFarewell . . . . . . . . . . 99
3 ComingsandGoings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
TheWeightoftheOffice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
APrecipitousWithdrawal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Business,aDoubleStar,andaTourdeForce . . . . . . . . . 105
AViewfromBordeaux,betweenSpartaandSpain . . . . . 110
4 AReturnWithin,foraDeparture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5 EuropeontheHorizon(1728–1731) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
1 AStopoverintheLouvre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
CoupdeThéâtre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
TriumphinDemi-Tint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
vi
CONTENTS
WhyGoAway? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
2 Italy,orTrainingtheEye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
AnAssiduousPupil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
First,Understand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
TheGrandandtheBaroque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
3 FromViennatoLondon:ExperiencingtheWorld . . . . . 126
OfRegimesandofMen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Curiosities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
ToSeeandHearEverything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4 TheLandofLiberty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
ANationUnlikeAnyOther . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
PortraitinaMirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
6 ANewDeparture(1731–1738) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
1 AWorldinaLibrary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
AWeightyCatalogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
TheManuscriptLibrary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
TheSpicilègeandMyThoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
2 “MyRomans” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
TwoMistakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
TwoVisionsofHistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
ACensure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
AMixedSuccess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
3 AThousandandOneProjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
AWorldMonarchy,andaFewPrinces . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
TheStoryWasTrue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
7 “ALaborofTwentyYears”(1736–1748) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
1 QuietDaysinParisandGuyenne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
MadamedeTencinandCompany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
PatrimonialMatters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
2 You-Know-WhatBook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
LookfortheCauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
FindingtheSpirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
ThePathsofBiography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
3 Genesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Traces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
AReturntoLife? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
HowtoMaimaBook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
8 TheMarchtoGlory(1749–1755) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
1 HowtoFloodParis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
FakeAddressesandRealMistakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
TheBattleofOpinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
vii
CONTENTS
2 TempestsAhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
ComingfromTrévoux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
AConflictinBordeaux,andParisProofs . . . . . . . . . . 198
JansenistManeuvers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
3 DefendingTheSpiritofLaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
4 TheThundersoftheChurch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
TheInfernalMachineoftheIndex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
ACondemnationThatPeteredOut . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
5 SoManyThingstoDo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
RereadingTheSpiritofLaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
RewritingPersianLetters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
PublishingtheCompleteWorks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Silences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
PleasuresoftheMind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Still,toLive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
9 TheFinalBattle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
1 TheStakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
2 TheGospelandtheSociety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
3 Endgame? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Chronology 223
SelectedBibliography 229
Index 235
viii
Figures
1 Titlepageofthesecond1721editionofPersianLetters,“revised, page139
corrected,reduced,andextendedbytheauthor.”Bordeaux,
BibliothèqueMunicipale(D55671Rés). . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2 TheTempleofGnidus,titlepageoftheoriginaleditionof1725. 140
Bordeaux,BibliothèqueMunicipale(B8481). . . . . . . . . . . .
3 TheSpiritofLaw,titlepageoftheoriginaledition,Geneva: 141
Barrillot&Fils.Bordeaux,BibliothèqueMunicipale(J911Rés). .
4 Thefirstentry(about1731–1733)ofMyThoughtsinthehandof 142
Montesquieu.Bordeaux,BibliothèqueMunicipale(Ms1866/1,
f.1r). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5 MyThoughts(about1754–1755).Thefirstsentenceisinthehandof 143
secretaryFlorenceFitz-Patrick;thesecond,writtenbyMontesquieu,
says:“Persecutionisatightlytwistedrope:itconcentratesthe
pressure”(Lapersecutionc’estunecordebientordue;laforceseconcentre).
Bordeaux,BibliothèqueMunicipale(Ms1866/3,f.479r). . . . .
6 LettertoPierreMussardinthehandofsecretaryFlorence 144
Fitz-PatrickcontainingcorrectionstothemanuscriptofTheSpiritof
Law.Bordeaux,BibliothèqueMunicipale(Ms1868/210,f.1r). .
7 DraftcorrectionstoPersianLetters,letter67onGodandhuman 145
freedom.Bordeaux,BibliothèqueMunicipale(Ms2506/4,f.7v).
8 Montesquieu’sChâteaudeLaBrède,nearBordeaux,whereheoften 146
livedanddidmuchofhiswriting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9 Thelibrary,formerlythegreathalloftheChâteaudeLaBrède. . . . . 1.4.6
ix