Tê-lê-mặc phiêu lưu ký

by François Fénelon, Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh (Translator)

Cho người hỏi tôi cuốn sách nào mà học sinh có thể dùng để học đọc trôi chảy, lại còn vượt trên được thứ luân lý rống to ngớ ngẩn, tôi đã trả lời: “Xem Tê-lê-mặc phiêu lưu ký ấy.” Thử nghiệm thì đã làm, và đồng thời tác phẩm nổi tiếng của Fénelon, tôi cũng đã xem xét kỹ hơn; nhìn nhận từ mọi khía cạnh, tôi ngờ chuyện người ta có thể làm tốt hơn. Văn xuôi ấy lành, thuần và quen thuộc, không có sự thắt chặt và chĩa nhọn nơi các nhà văn xuôi của chúng ta, vốn dĩ là thứ chẳng hề hợp với tuổi thơ. Con người, đền đài, chợ búa, lữ hành, phong ba; anh quân và bạo chúa; lập pháp gia, tư tế, chiến binh; hết thảy khôn ngoan thời cổ, hết thảy thế giới Địa Trung Hải từ đó nền văn minh chúng ta chui ra. Không có dấu vết của Ki-tô giáo; ngoại giáo ở đó, trần trụi; Minos là người trừng phạt phường hôn quân. Loài người ấy không bị thiếu gì; đấy chính là hình ảnh chúng ta. Và là không ít quan trọng, đối với một tinh thần trẻ thơ, việc chiêm ngưỡng từ xa một tôn giáo đã qua, thứ không còn cám dỗ người ta tin là có thật, và chỉ còn là vỏ bọc của đạo đức phổ quát. Khi ấy phán xét mang tính suy ngẫm, và hoàn toàn được giải thoát khỏi một dạng nghiêm trọng đưa đến cuồng tín.
----
Alain

Genres: Fiction, Classics, French Literature, France, Philosophy, Politics, Literature

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1699

About the author

François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon, a Roman Catholic theologian and poet, wrote in France. He today is remembered mostly as one of the main advocates of quietism and as the author of The Adventures of Telemachus, a scabrous attack on the French monarchy, first published in 1699.

Reviews

[Nercs · Rating 2 out of 5]

تلماک (از ریشهٔ یونانی تلماخوس)، پسر اولیس و پنه‌لوپ، یکی از شخصیت‌های اسطوره‌شناسی یونانه که توی آثار مربوط به جریان جنگ تروا، مخصوصاً «اودیسه‌»ی هومر حضور داره. اما کتاب «ماجراهای تلماک»، نوشتهٔ فرانسوا فنلون، هم تاثیر زیادی روی آثار مربوط به این شخصیت گذاشته.
سال ۱۶۹۹، فنلون این کتابش رو منتشر می‌کنه که یه رمان تعلیمیه. نویسنده سعی می‌کنه نحوهٔ تعلیم و تربیت فنلون رو توی کتاب تصویر بکشه (مخصوصاً جنبهٔ اخلاقی و سیاسی‌ش رو) و یجورایی یه پارودی از سلطنت لوئی چهاردهم بنویسه.
چند سال بعد، مریوو یه پارودی از روی رمان فنلون می‌نویسه و توی قرن بیستم هم، لوئی آراگون همین کتاب رو تحت‌تاثیر دادائیسم و سورئالیسم بازنویسی می‌کنه.
فنلون «ماجراهای تلماک» رو در اصل برای شاگردهاش، که جزو خاندان سلطنتی بودند، و مخصوصاً دوک بورگونی، یعنی پسر جانشین پادشاه، نوشته که خودش معلم سرخونه‌ش بوده.
این رمان، بیشتر از اینکه یه حماسه باشه، رساله‌ایه در باب اخلاق و سیاست.
کتاب فنلون تاثیر زیادی روی اندیشه‌های روشن‌گرایانهٔ قرن هجدهم گذاشته و به قول مونتسکیو، که خودش از «ماجراهای تلماک» برای نوشتن «نامه‌های ایرانی» الهام گرفته، "کتاب الهی قرنـ"ه.
جدای از این همه تعریف و تمجید، به نظر شخص من «تلماک» از اون دسته کتاب‌هاست که تاریخ مصرفشون گذشته و خوندنشون فایده‌ای نداره؛ مخصوصاً که خیلی کم به بعد حماسی داستان پرداخته و بیشتر پند و اندرزهایی داده که این روزا دیگه به کار کسی نمیاد.

[Mir]

I guess I should read this before reading Aragon's Adventures of Telemachus.
"Want to Read" may be putting it a bit strongly, though.

[Yann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Émission sur Fenelon KTO: https://youtu.be/dsPLRuYw-9w

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fénelon’s didactic novel about best practices of leadership and government is always eloquent and occasionally beautiful but also very frequently dull. It re-imagines Telemachus’s search for his father as having been much longer and more full of incident than it is in the Odyssey, and that’s a great premise. Accompanied by Mentor, Telemachus winds up going all around the eastern Mediterranean: Egypt, Phoenicia, Crete, Calypso’s island, and Hesperia (i.e. Italy). At each stop, he endures some peril or another and learns lessons about virtuous leadership. Unfortunately, I really cannot count how often Mentor’s lectures literally put me to sleep—they’re not bad lessons, but they are obvious from an adult post-Enlightenment point of view, and they go on and on. But if they’d each been half the length, then their elegant composition would have been more enjoyable to read. The story does pick up some around the mid-point, when Telemachus becomes involved in a war in Hesperia, and overall it does have the flavor of the books it’s based on: the fighting scenes and many characterizations are reminiscent of the Iliad, and the travel and the descent to the underworld are reminiscent of the Odyssey. I also thought the descriptions of individuals and of the landscape were sometimes pretty great. I suspect, though, that the main reason to read the book is to observe how much it informed the French Enlightenment. Fénelon’s admiration for “savages [that] set you a noble example” shows in several places, explicitly, and in combination with the book’s general emphasis on educating someone to be wise, that feels very much like Rousseau. It’s also not too surprising that, even though Fénelon was reputedly an effective tutor for the young Duke of Burgundy, Louis XIV resented the book for questioning the divine right of kings to be absolute monarchs.

[Valeria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book written by Francois Fenelon, who was a French Roman Catholic archbishop, theologian, poet and writer teacher, tutor charged with guiding the character formation of a future King of France. He had a task to prepare a methodology how to educate a future king. A word mentor started from this book. Its a reflection how to educate a dignant person.
Russian Emperor Alexander II was brought and educated on this book

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for Telemachus, and I'm a sucker for Athena cross-dressing, and I'm a sucker for coming-of-age roadtrips. This should be my ideal book.

Not so much; the symbolism is heavy-handed, Telemachus is totally wooden (yes, I know it's meant to instruct Louis; it can still be interesting!), and basically it was a chore to finish. Apparently I like novels.

[Liekki · Rating 1 out of 5]

One word: UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!

[Jose Antonio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Libro supuestamente continuador de la Odisea de Homero, aunque escrito casi 2500 años después. Fue publicado en 1699. El autor fue un teólogo y obispo francés del siglo XVII contemporáneo de Luis XIV, el famoso rey Sol, con el que fue muy crítico. La descripción de la "odisea" del hijo de Ulises buscando a su padre comparte con la Odisea personajes como la ninfa Calipso, entre otros. El tono del libro es grandilocuente, lleno de largas frases y de carácter moralizador: pretendía servir para la educación del nieto de Luis XIV. Más que una novela al uso parece un poema épico con momentos bélicos que recuerdan a la Ilíada y otros más aventureros cercanos a la Odisea. Para mí uno de los momentos más interesantes es el descenso al Hades donde se encuentra Telémaco con sombras de difuntos que le aleccionan sobre los peligros del abuso del poder y de prestar oídos a la lisonja. He aquí una muestra:
“Llegó Telémaco finalmente a donde se hallaban los reyes condenados por haber abusado de su poder. Presentábales una furia vengadora un espejo donde veían la deformidad de sus vicios, su vanidad grosera y codiciosa de los más ridículos elogios, su rigor para con los hombres cuya felicidad debieron hacer, su indiferencia a la virtud, su temor de escuchar la verdad, su inclinación a los hombres viles y lisonjeros, su molicie y negligencia, su injusta desconfianza, su fausto y excesiva magnificencia a expensas de los pueblos, su ambición por adquirir una vana y escasa gloria a costa de la sangre de los ciudadanos; y por último, su crueldad que apetecía diariamente nuevas delicias entre las lágrimas y desesperación de tantos infelices. ”
Este tipo de referencias posiblemente molestaron al monarca reinante que como buen comedor de ajos se picó, por lo que Fenelon cayó en desgracia en la corte de Versalles.
En resumen, el libro hay que entenderlo como una guía del buen príncipe, un antimaquiavelo. Pondera las virtudes del justo medio, de no caer en el exceso, la moderación, la evitación del lujo y de la lisonja, la preparación para la guerra sólo con fines defensivos, etc.
Se lee sorprendentemente bien y puede ser un buen complemento de los poemas homéricos, aunque a un nivel muy inferior, éstos carecen del carácter continua y a veces cansinamente moralizante de este Telémaco.

[Ahmad ElHusainey · Rating 1 out of 5]

لم أكمله
كتابة تعليمية سطحية، مليئة بالكوارث الكتابية والمفاهيم المغلوطة، نجمة واحدة لترجمة عادل زعيتر الجذلة. حري بي أن أقرأ الأوذيسة الآن.

[I-kai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first heard of the book through Rancière's The Ignorant Schoolmaster; then learned that Rousseau recommended this for his Émile as a child. I did not expect that a didactic work can be this charming and delightful. There is also the fun of recognizing how Fénelon appropriates well-known scenes (like Odysseus visiting Hades) for his own very Christian idea of a secular king. Certainly worthy of its then classical status.

[Lilou🍓 · Rating 1 out of 5]

rentrez chez vous il n’y a rien à voir

[Hugolane]

A fellow historian who focuses on Old Regime France put me on to this book, as an important work of the 18th Century, though he himself has never read it. To a certain extent I had the feeling I was reading this book so others wouldn't have to. It is not a book one can't put down. While the didacticism is interesting because it says so much about what intellectuals at the end of the 17th century were thinking about kingship, it does really drag down the narrative. One has the feeling that Fénelon had a very mechanical understanding of how literature functions. The plot has all the structural features that could make a really compelling story, but he is so focused on his message that the storytelling gets left behind. The idealization of Telemachus in the later chapters probably doesn't help either.

So what is there here that is of value and mattered so much to people of the 18th C. It is a sort of anti-Leviathan. Fénelon for example cautions against the king getting involved in religious disputes, whereas Hobbes felt that was necessary to maintain order and theological conformity. The concern for the peasantry as the true basis of wealth is paves the way for the physiocrats. The focus on restraint and just treatment of vanquished enemies also fits with Enlightenment thinking, especially the identification of misrule with individual kings rather than peoples. Now that I am familiar with this work, I would love to know if Joseph II read it, I'm guessing yes, but I don't have immediate access to to Beales's biography of Joseph II right now to see. Indeed, my sense is that contrary to those who see Fénelon advocating for some kind of democracy, he is really advocating for a enlightened bureaucratic state in which the King makes an effort to undercut the influence of courtiers through direct contact with his subjects, but not exactly submission to their will. Particularly telling is the section in the final book, where Telemachus comes to realize that the King is the one person who is not allowed to have their own life, meaning following his own desires, he is the permanent servant of his subjects, and Mentor of course acknowledges that.

So if you are interested in Enlightenment ideas of kingship this is worth reading, though read it a chapter or two at a time. Otherwise you will be bored out of your skull.

[Elif · Rating 3 out of 5]

"İşte insanlar, sabahleyin açan ve akşam olunca ayaklar altında çiğnenen çiçekler gibidir. İnsan nesilleri, hızlı akan bir çayın suları gibi akıp giderler; en basit görünen şeyleri bile sürükleyip götüren zamanı hiçbir şey durduramaz.”
.
3.5/5 ⭐️ Belki edebiyat derslerinden hatırlarsınız Türk edebiyatında Telemak ilk çevrilen edebi roman olarak Yusuf Kamil Paşa tarafından edebiyata kazandırılmıştır. Benim aklımdan nedense hiç çıkmadı bu kitap. En son bir iki sene önce kitabı edindim ve kenarda beklettim. Neden çevirmek için bu kitabı seçtiler diye merak içindeydim ve kitabı okumamla birlikte o merakı yendim. Telemakhos, Odysseus’un oğlu. Babası savaş bittikten sonra bir türlü dönmediği için babasını bulma umuduyla yola koyuluyor. Yolculuğu aslında Odysseia’nın içinde yer alıyormuş ancak Fenelon bu yolculuğu detaylandırıp uzatıyor. Amacı ise prense örnek olacak bir kitap ortaya çıkarabilmek. Mentor ihtiyar adam kılığında Minerva (yani Athena) ona eşlik ediyor. Telemakhos’un karakteri kitap boyunca gelişim gösteriyor. Başlarda sabırsız, söz dinlemez biriyken bölümler ilerledikçe daha bilge hareket etmeye başlıyor. Zavallı delikanlının babasını aramadığı yer kalmadı hatta bir yerde Pluton’un (Hades’in) diyarına bile gitti. En komiği ise maceraları bir yerde o kadar uzuyor ki Telemakhos ‘babamı bulmak için çıktım şimdi evimi bile bulamıyorum’ diye ağlıyor 😂. Ya tanrıların oyunu veya kendilerinden kaynaklı sürekli dolanıyorlar. Bu sırada mentor kraliyet, nasıl yönetmeli, nasıl bir kral olmamalı hakkında öğütlerde bulunuyor. Dalkavukluk, düzgün insanlar, ikiyüzlüler gibi kişilerin karakter özelliklerini detaylandırıyor ve bazı kısımlarda ciddi iktidar eleştirilerinde bulunuyor. Zaten Fenelon’un başı bu kitaptan dolayı yanmış. Mitolojideki Yunan ve Roma isimleri karışık kullanılıyor keşke kitapta son kısma bir sözlük eklenseymiş. Bir de Telemakhos’un yolculuğu en başta harita ile çizilmiş olsa aşırı keyifli bir görsel olurmuş ve baskının kalitesini arttırırmış. Ben kitabı genel olarak beğendim ancak yer yer uzatıldığını düşünüyorum. Yine de bazı cümleleri çok etkileyici bulduğumu belirtmeliyim. Eğer mitolojiye ilginiz varsa bakmanızı tavsiye ederim. Yalnız belirteyim bu kitap Sokrates'in, Devlet'i veya Thomas Moore'un, Ütopya'sı gibi daha çok öğüt verme amacı taşıyan bir eser.

[Jonathan Jonsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most fascinating aspects of the book are the conceptual tensions. Fénelon is a Catholic archbishop who deeply admires Greek pagan thought. He glorifies a Platonic turning from the world towards a higher all-encompassing Good, while teaching a prince how to govern this low world of generation and corruption. While preparing a boy to rule a kingdom, he dreams of a world before nations were established, which in his proto-Rousseauean thought were our grave mistake, the beginning of love of self, vice and wealth. His ideal king should want to be a shepherd content with singing to his sheep. For me, this is the main tension that drives the work. His ideal king is as austere and improbable as the Stoic sage, and embodies a continual contradiction, a supreme ruler who seeks to escape the self, while paradoxically obsessing over every aspect of the self (as in Foucault's technologies of the self). Of course Minerva becomes necessary, as no one would actually develop into this person unless forced by a god - but this is also one of his points. In the end, the disinterested virtue he ends up with appears very stark, he rejects eudaimonia, he sees evil in all passions, it is a Platonic love stripped of all eros. Any enjoyment of life is "effeminate" and "unmanly". The worst parts of the Greek heritage, the misogyny and acceptance of natural slavery, remain unchallenged. Perfect virtue is accepting one's God-given superiority over others while meditating on an abstract justice that overlooks such imbalances. I could say a lot more, but these are the immediate thoughts I have.

Being a Bildungsroman, narrative and compelling characters are secondary to the didactic purpose. He is undoubtedly a great writer, and at times I feel that he is convincingly capturing something of the feel of the Greek epics, which is remarkable. But these sections where he reaches literary heights are always undercut by tedious lectures, the plot is steered rather heavy-handedly into directions that illustrate points he wishes to make, and most characters become symbols of virtues or vices rather than engaging people. Still, there is something truly compelling in the writing. I did enjoy the read.

[Sophia Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Woo ! Ça fait un mois mais j'y suis arrivée ! C'était bien plus engageant que j'avais imaginé au début. Il m'a aidé de considérer cette œuvre comme une collection d'anecdotes plutôt qu'un roman. En vrai, j'aimais le côté didactique (même si parfois c'était trop. Okay ! Il faut être vertueux et patient et prudent et aimable et fiable et juste et et et et...). Le contexte avec le prince et son précepteur Fénelon a donné une couche profonde au texte. Les aventures de Télématique en Egypte, Crète, Salante, et plus m'ont captivée.

Citations: « Heureux ceux qui aiment à lire et qui ne sont point, comme moi, privés de la lecture. »

« Quand on récompense bien ceux qui excellent dans les arts, on est sûr d'avoir bientôt des hommes qui les mènent à leur dernière perfection; car les hommes qui ont le plus de sagesse et de talent ne manquent point de s'adonner aux arts auxquels les grandes récompenses sont attachées. Ici on traite avec honneur tous ceux qui réussissent dans les arts. » il faut dire ça à tous les lycées qui prennent de l'argent des programmes d'art

« Quand il eut achevé ces paroles, je l'arrosai de mes larmes sans lui répondre; de profonds soupirs m'empêchaient de parler; nous nous embrassions en silence. Il me mena jusqu'au vaisseau, il demeura sur le rivage et, quand le vaisseau fut parti, nous ne cessions de nous regarder tandis que nous pûmes nous voir. » nan franchement c'est gay af

« Je lui demandai en quoi consistait l'autorité du roi; et il me répondit : "Il peut tout sur les peuples; mais les lois peuvent tout sur lui." » wowww il a mangé

« C'est la loi, et non pas l'homme, qui doit régner. » yasss roi !

« Toute l'assemblée avoua que j'avais vaincu le sage Lesbien » ah oui ?

« Eucharis : car le cruel Amour, pour tourmenter les mortels, fait qu'on n'aime guère la personne dont on est aimé. » un peu trop réel

« L'amour est lui seul plus à craindre que tous les naufrages. » tu m'étonnes

[Lucas Durand · Rating 2 out of 5]

Were I studying for ancient kingship and in need of very general moral and practical advice, this might be valuable. I was alas suckered by the promise of more Telemachus, my favorite character from the Homeric Epics. While I normally extract great value from books others render "dull" or "long-winded," this... this isn't it, chief. Telemachus is a generic effigy of a young man without anything specific or inspiring about his character. Homer did in four chapters what Fénelon could not in this entire book: make him interesting, give him an appreciable arc that lets the character shine, and provide a satisfactory conclusion. I appreciate the context and the nature of the book as instructional, but it makes for a repetitive and exhausting narrative.

Complete non-sequitur, but the nymph Eucharis is described as "clothed like Diana" in chapter/book 6. E. M. W. Tillyard, a literary scholar, describes this as "perhaps the most evocative description of the female leg in literature" in The English Epic. I found the passage discussing this in The English Epic, and I still can't for the life of me tell where he gleaned the supposed legginess. Sure, Diana (and her Greek counterpart Artemis) are often depicted as wearing short tunics, but that's hardly uncommon for the day. As the passage refers to Eucharis clad for a hunt, I simply assumed it referred to her looking fetching and fitting in her huntress garb. Absolutely unclear where the leg aspect specifically comes from, and it's driving me bonkers.

[Trounin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Один из крупнейших трудов Тредиаковского – перевод “Приключений Телемака” за авторством Франсуа Фенелона. Делал то Василий с желанием пробудить в русскоязычном читателе стремление к познанию прекрасного. Перевод был подан в виде героического сказания о деяниях сына Одиссея, отправившегося на поиски отца, о странствиях которого написал Гомер. В качестве формы подачи было выбрано подобие античного стихосложения, будто должное приблизить к примерному осознанию величия искусства древних греков. Единственный момент мешает насладиться творческими изысканиями Тредиаковского – нежелание вникать в кропотливый труд Василия, что услужливо предварял каждую главу её кратким пересказом. Ознакомившись с должными стать известными событиями, попытавшись вчитаться в стихотворство без каких-либо намёков на само стихотворство, читатель ещё при жизни Василия разводил руками, считая “Тилемахиду” способом для наказания нерадивых учеников.

(c) Trounin

[Diana Sandberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very enlightening. Nor entertaining. I read a very old edition (1859, according to its copyright page), and was somewhere between amused and annoyed by the frequent footnotes, all of which seemed to be preoccupied with pointing out where the author had taken inspiration from (plagiarized?) earlier works. Sometimes the passage in question was clearly meant as a reference to the earlier work; sometimes, though, the connection was highly tenuous, not to say entirely fanciful.

The text itself, apparently at least partly composed as instruction on kingship for the young Duke of Burgundy, grandson of Louis XIV, is pretty tedious and highly predictable. I'm nearly 75 and don't have time to plow through hundreds of pages of sententious droning; I quit part-way through chapter 7 (of 18).

[James Violand · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad fictional exposition on a character found in Homer’s Odyssey. Odysseus’ son seeks his long-absent father and encounters many adventures similar to those of the famous warrior. It reads like an imitation of Homer or Virgil. However, one gets the impression that the work was written as a primer to influence a French king (Louis XIV) or a potential successor. It is filled with bromides and advice by Minerva (Athena – why is Odysseus written as Ulysses?) on the proper way to rule, on the virtues of an enlightened king and on the perils of sycophants.

[clara · Rating 3 out of 5]

my professor twice used the phrase "didactic lessons" to describe the contents of this book, which doesn't really feel redundant because it's so preachy. telemachus is a manic pixie dream girl. but at a certain point, you have to stop hating on the books your (iconic, delightful) professor makes you read. i have a really good idea for the title of my essay on this book ("what we really need is a fenelonomenon").

[Cécile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ça paye pas de mine, on en parle pas trop... Mais finalement ça se lit très bien et le dosage enseignement philosophique/aventure est parfait. Certes ça reste de l'imitation de Homère. Mais ce livre et riche en enseignement sur la façon de gouverner et surtout sur les bienfaits de la sagesse et d'une vie simple sans superflus. Très agréable

[Benoît · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un peu trop educatif. Moins passionnant que l'odyssee ou que l'Eneide sur lesquels il se calque completement.

[conor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly don't really know what to make of this book. There's lots of funky stuff going on with politics and love and violence and war and such, but the telling didn't really do it for me.

[Ste Fy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many teachings taken from the Bible, but being badly placed praising the dead, false gods

[Al Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

good teachings for rulers

[Oumaima Hassoun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parce que la lecture religieuse du monde n'a pas de fin...

[Nguyễn Trọng Phúc · Rating 4 out of 5]

NVV tiên sinh dịch đã cầm chắc 3*.
Cốt truyệt về thân thoại Hy Lạp nên auto thêm 1* nữa.
Đọc tiếp về bối cảnh và Fenelon thì hẳn là phải 4.5*.

[Saskia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a very slow read and it was very unsatisfying that the book doesn't cover the part where Telemach returns to Ithaka to finally reunite with his father (with recognizing him).

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for class

[Daniel Apfelbaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

« La grandeur est comme certains verres qui grossissent tous les objets. Tous les défauts paraissent croître dans ces hautes places, où les moindres choses ont de grandes conséquences, et où les plus légères fautes ont de violents contre-coups. Le monde entier est occupé à observer un seul homme à toute heure et à le juger en toute rigueur. Ceux qui le jugent n'ont aucune expérience de l'état où il est. Ils n'en sentent point les difficultés, et ils ne veulent plus qu'il soit homme, tant ils exigent de perfection de lui. Un roi, quelque bon et sage qu'il soit, est encore un homme. Son esprit a des bornes, et sa vertu en a aussi. Il a de l'humeur, des passions, des habitudes, dont il n'est pas tout à fait le maître. Il est obsédé par des gens intéressés et artificieux. Il ne trouve point les secours qu'il cherche. Il tombe chaque jour dans quelque mécompte, tantôt par ses passions, tantôt par celles de ses ministres. A peine a-t-il réparé une faute, qu'il retombe dans une autre. Telle est la condition des rois les plus éclairés et les plus vertueux. Les plus longs et les meilleurs règnes sont trop courts et trop imparfaits pour réparer à la fin ce qu'on a gâté, sans le vouloir, dans les commencements. La royauté porte avec elle toutes ces misères : l'impuissance humaine succombe sous un fardeau si accablant. Il faut plaindre les rois et les excuser. Ne sont-ils pas à plaindre d'avoir à gouverner tant d'hommmes, dont les besoins sont infinis et qui donnent tant de peines à ceux qui veulent les bien gouverner ? Pour parler franchement, les hommes sont fort à plaindre d'avoir à être gouvernés par un roi, qui n'est qu'un homme semblable à eux ; car il faudrait des dieux pour redresser les hommes. Mais les rois ne sont pas moins à plaindre n'étant qu'hommes, c'est-à-dire faibles et imparfaits, d'avoir à gouverner cette multitude innombrable d'hommes corrompus et trompeurs. » (p.212-213)