m weismann poesie du ciel

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LA POESIE DU CIEL IN MONTAIGNE'S

APOLOGIE DE RAIMOND SEBOND

by Marc-Andre Wiesmann

Unlike any other of the essays,L'Apologie de Raimond Sebond (2.12)sets tself a

precise polemical goal, he theological defenseof La theologie aturellede Raimond

Sebond 1569),Montaigne's translation of the Liber creaturarum, fifteenth-century

treatise of the Catalan theologian Raimundo Sibiuda.\ In this work, composed n

1436,Sebondargues hat the first sacredbook God offeredmankind was Ie livre de

la nature, whose alphabet, o use his extendedmetaphor, s constituted by all of

created hings, of which humans representhe principal letter. z For Sebond,with

the aid of scripture and of natural reason,we can still decipher, n spite of our fallen

state, he vast sequentialordering of createdbeings: his echelle arranges hings

according o their ontological characteristics nd begins,at its lowest rung, with in-

animate entities such as the four elements, he minerals, he sky with its starsand

planets; t continues with vegetals, roceedso animals,and arrives at human beings,

who representNature's most perfect accomplishment} Sebond's reatise hus con-

strues an optimistic anthropology assuringus that we can rationally derive a message

or signifie from the universe- namely our superiority- and claiming for our rai-

son naturelle the power to understandour crucial position within God's creation.

Montaigne's Apologie begins by sketchinga refutation of the argumentsof two

campsof Sebond'sdetractors: he first, zealousChristianswho find Sebondhubristic

and perhaps even heretical in his claims for natural reason; he second,atheists

IPor the essays, use he following text: Michel de Montaigne,LesEssais, ds. Pierre Villey and V. L.

Saulnier (paris 1988). n the quotes, A] indicates he 1580 ext, [B] a 1588addition and [C] a post-1588

addition. A useful ntroductory guide o L apologiede Raimond Sebond s Robert Aulotte, Montaigne.

Apologiede Raimond Sebond paris 1979).For a clear discussionof the structure of the Apologie, see

Jaume CasalsPons, Sur Ie seconddegre de \ Apologie', in Claude Blum, ed., Montaigne.Apologie de

Raimond Sebond. e la 1beologia ala 1beologie paris 1990)187-200.This recent collection of essayss

devoted o L' Apologie, and to its relations with Sebond'swork. It contains a representative ibliogra-

phy of the recent scholarshipdealingwith the essay301-334).

2SeeMontaigne, La theologie aturellede Raimond Sebond,n OeuvresCompletes e Michel de Mon-

taigne, ols. 9-10 (paris 1935): . ..chaque creaturen'est que comme une ettre, tiree par la main de Dieu.

...grande multitude de creatures omme d'un nombre de lettres ...\'homme en est a lettre capitaleet

principale. (prefacede 'autheur, x)

)Por a general ntroduction to the 1beologianaturalis,seeAlain Guy, La 1beologianaturalis en son

temps: structure, portee, origines, in De la 1beologia a la 1beologie n. 1 above) 13-47. In the same

volume, seealso Raymond Esclapez, L'echelle de Nature dans a 1beologie aturelleet dans L'Apologie

de Raymond Sebond,' 201-226. In Sebond's echelle, he first rung only possesses\'estre ; the second

\'estre et Ie vivre ; the animals have \'estre, Ie vivre et Ie sentir, sometimes accompaniedby la

memoire. Human beingspossesshe whole panoply of ontological raits: estre, vivre, sentir, entendre,

juger, vouloir et ne vouloir pasa eur fantasie, 'est-a-diree liberal arbitre.


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242 MARC-ANDREWIESMANN

whose presumed ntellectual sophistication eads hem to sneerat Sebond'snaivete.

However,very soon after the preamble hat seeks o vanquishSebond'senemies,he

reader of the essayconfronts a major interpretive puzzle. Unrelentingly, the text

which claims in its early stages o endorseSebond's hesis in favor of our natural

faculties, aunches nsteada devastating ttack on the presumption of human reason

and disparageshe theologian's boundlessenthusiasm or the dignitas hominis. In

fact, the Apologie displaysMontaigne's most sustainedexercisen skepticism,and

accents is leanings owards he radical branch of skeptic thought, pyrrhonism.4

In his preambulatory defenseof Sebond,Montaigne plies an argument eminis-

cent of the Liber creaturarum'snsistence hat the universe s organizedasa reminder

of our privileged position in God's works. In a passage esigned o overcome he

objections of those Christian believerswho incriminate Sebond for wishing to

appuyer [nostre) creancepar des raisonshumaines (440A), the essayist rges his

readers o look up towards he skies and to contemplate he harmonious organiza-

tion of the cosmos, Ie Soleil, es estoilles,es eaux et la terre (447B);and he posits

this spectacle s he visible manifestationof God's presencen the world. As we shall

show in detail, Montaigne is here promulgating the ancient comparison of world

with book.s For polemical purposes,he asserts hat the cosmos s indeeda fabric, a

textual weavingyielding to our inquisitiveness nd offering, as signifie, the senseof

our intimate participation in the divine order. The following pageswill analyzehow

Montaigne's initial gesture owards hese metaphorically textualizedheavens ecurs

throughout the Apologie. The introductory and optimistic reference o astro-

nomical considerationsasvalidating nstances f our direct communication with the

divinity installs in the essayan extensiveparadigm epeatedly ddressing uman be-

ings' relationships o the skies. Once he abandonsSebond'sdefense, owever,and

begins attacking the theologian's championing of human superiority, Montaigne

instills his skeptical outlook in the recurring imagery featuring the human gaze's

embrace of celestialphenomena. Tellingly, this skepticismputs into question the

textual nature of human representations f the cosmic realities hovering aboveus.

The various avatarsof the essay'sdiscourse on astronomy are, in each instance,

linked with poetic crafting, with the poiesis humans deploy and the admirablepo-

etry they fabricate n order to come to terms with their place n the universe.This

consistentoverlap betweenevocationsof the skiesand their textual or poetic rendi-

tions motivates he expression poesie du ciel we will use to denote he strand of

concernswith the cosmic fabric which traverses L' Apologie de Raimond Sebond

and which hasnot yet beenconsistently raced.

4Pora convincing description of the Apologie asa pyrrhonian text, seeAndre T oumon, Montaigne.

La gloseet l'essai (Lyon 1983)228-256. Montaigne's panicular brand of pyrrhonism is most recently

discussedn Pierre Statius, Le reel et la joie. Essaisur l'oeuvrede Montaigne (paris 1997). Seeespecially

Chapter 1, Pyrrhonismes, 45-80.

;Por the ancestryand great onune of the book as magisticcounter, seeE. R. Cunius, EuropeanLit-

eratureand the Latin Middle Ages (New York 1953),especially he section The Book of Nature, 319-

325.


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LA POESIEDU CIEL

Montaigne's persistent ecourse o poesiedu ciel, the textualization or fabrica-

tion of the skies,echoes he sixteenthcentury's heightened iterary and intellectual

preoccupationswith astronomicalquestions.6His awareness f contemporary at-

tempts at formulating coherent heories of the solar systemprominently surfaces n

his mentioning Copernicusand heliocentrismnear he end of the Apologie. The

Polish astronomerpublished his De revo/utionibus rbium cae/estiumn Nuremberg

in 1543; and Copernicanism mmediately elicited a certain amount of theological,

moral and epistemological ebate n France.7n the essay,Montaigne's treatment of

Copernicusreflectshis skepticism owards any human endeavornstituting an over-

arching explanatory system of the universe: heliocentrism, a descriptive solution

alreadyproposedbefore Ptolemy's geocentricschemabecamedominant, only pres-

agesanother representational evolution which will sooner or later nullify the Co-

pernican achievement nd introduce the reign of une tierce opinion (570A). The

essay's eference o Copernicus stands out as the last term of the paradigmatic

poesie du ciel we shall be tracing, and thus belongs ntegrally to the Montanian

discourseabout the artificial qualities of the constructs of human reason.The pres-

ent readingwill stress hat, for the essayist'sate humanist consciousness,science s

still an exact synonym of lettres, and that the Apologie places Copernicus's

work in the categoryof literary successesxemplifiedby many of the citations from

the ancients (Manilius, Ovid, Plato, Lucretius) and from their modern emulators

(i.e., Ronsard)who employ a powerful poetic idiom to describe he skies. In Mon-

taigne's view, these authors, with whom he entertainsa complex intertextual com-

merceand to whom he addsCopernicus, ncarnate he poesie du ciel by projecting

a superior poiesis onto celestial eferents n order to make them readableand, in a

sense,o bring them down to the earthly vagariesand weaknessesf human inter-

pretive efforts.

Our itinerary through the Apology will first establishhow the contemplation

of the heavens s thematically anchored n the preamble where, as we have men-

tioned, it serves o uphold an early unequivocaldefenseof Sebond. t is here that

lexical and imagistic networks articulate the traditional equation betweenweaving

and writing and underline that, when viewed from Sebond'soptimistic anthropol-

ogy, he universe s a figurative textum,a visually efficient artifact whose divine mes-

6In her recent book, La poesie du ciel en France dans la secondemoitre du seizi'eme i'ecle (Geneve 1995),

Isabelle Pantin has analyzed the prevalent use of astronomical material in the poetic output of late six-

teenth-century French poets. I borrow the expression poesie du ciel from her title. Pantin mentions

Montaigne only very occasionally.

7For the reception of Copernicus in France in the sixteenth century, see Henry Heller, Copernican

Ideas in sixteenth-century France, Renaissanceand RefoYnlation/Renaissance et Reforme 20.1 (1996) 5-26.

This anicle supersedes Jean Plattard's Le systeme de Copernic dans la litterature fran~aise au XVle

siecle, Revue du seizi'eme i'ecle 16 (1913) 220-237. Plattard observes that Montaigne est Ie premier de nos

ecrivains qui, au chapitre 12 du livre II des Essais, a envisage Ie systeme de Copernic comme une theorie

scientifique qu'on accorde aux hypotheses de cette nature. (235) Plattard overlooks the erudite discus-

sions of Copernicus Heller describes. On Copernicus and astronomy in the sixteenth century, see also

John C. Lapp, Pontus de Tyard and the Science of his Age, Romanic Review 37 (1947) 16-22; and Bev-

erly S. Ridgely, Mellin de Saint-Gelais and the first vernacular reference to the Copernican system in

France, Journal of he History of deas 23 (1962) 107-116.


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MARC-ANDRE WIESMANN

sages accessibleo all Christians. In order to bolster his argumentsand reduceboth

camps of Sebond'sopponents,Montaigne usessubstantialquotations from the As-

tronomica of Manilius, an Augustan sum of Roman astronomicaland astrological

lore infused with stoic doctrine. Theseopening movementsof the essayhighly val-

orize the hexameters f Manilius and display them as he site of a luminous textual-

ity with anagogicor protreptic potential. Theseverses erveas a model of the wed-

ding of textuality and astronomyand of eminently successfulpoesie du ciel. How-

ever, Montaigne's polemical assertionof the existenceof a textualized and legible

sky, which, as Manilius's verses,should seduce eadersand vivify their religious

faith, soon undergoesa lengthy re-evaluation.But the essayist'sndictment of the

vanity of human reasonpersistently eturns to solar and stellar magery,astronomi-

cal referenceswhich now serve o denounceour propensity o conceiveand to ma-

nipulate artificial textual constructs. In these developments,he sun assumes cru-

cial thematic importance and fascinateshe text. Montaigne, however, xploiting the

tragic tale of Ovid's Phaeton,warns of the theologicaland philosophical dangers f

this fascination. The reference o De revolutionibus,ast nstanceof the paradig-matic

poesie du ciel in the essay, rings back he representation f the sun into focus. At

this point, while insisting upon the personaldimension of the enunciating je, the

essayistdiscusses is own internalization of the textually attractive yet factitious

products of reason. Lexically and intertextually, he text of the essayndicates how

the turns, returns or revolutions of the astronomer's reatise nfluence it; but Mon-

taigne's self-consciousness s readerand writer neutralizes he temptations of the

treatise by reflecting upon the diachronic supersession f one explanatory model of

the skies by another. The effectiveness f poesie du ciel, irremediably caught in

this circular process, s thus reduced o the inability of human lettres, whether

they are wielded by poet, philosopher or astronomer, o reachany lasting meaning

or signifie.

I. MANILIUS'S POESIE DU CIEL» VS. SEBOND'S DETRACTORS

Montaigne's admirative inscription of Manilius's verses at the beginning of the

Apologie heraldsboth his love for ancient ettersand he depth of his acquaintance

with Latin literature. Indeed, in spite of the sixteenthcentury's standardsof massive

erudition, the Astronomica emaineda treatise amiliar only to the intellectual elite

of Renaissance rance. Towards he end of the century, Manilius's literary profile

assertedtself more vigorously on accountof one of the philological triumphs of the

entire Renaissance,osephScaliger's1579 edition of the Astronomica.As Anthony

Grafton has recounted, he fierce French savant eached he heights of his sovereign

mastery of philology in this monumental edition which classical cholars oday still

consider a masterpiece.8 lthough Villey doubts that Montaigne consulted his en-

tirely refurbished text of the five books (over our thousand dactylic hexameters) f

8Anthony Grafton, JosephScaliger. A study in the History of Classical Scholarship, 2 vols. (Oxford 1983,

1993) 1.180-226,2.437-458.


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LA POESIE DU CIEL

245

the treatise, t is tempting to imagine hat Scaliger's round-breakingedition prodded

his interest in the Latin poet at the very moment in which he was struggling with

the Apologie. 9 Of Manilius the person,we know practically nothing, except hat

he lived in the first century and indubitably witnessed he reign of Augustus and

perhaps that of Tiberius. He is thus a contemporary of Virgil and Ovid, and his

verse s as much marked by the fluid lucidity of Ovid's hexameters s by the burning

and cruel memoriesof the recentRoman civil wars.IO

The first book of the Astronomicadivulges he intellectual credentialsof Mani-

lius, and urges he reader o recognize n him a fervent adherent o stoic cosmogony

and cosmology.I After a section (vv. 113-246)exposing n stoic parlance he origin

and nature of the universe,Manilius defineshis cosmologicalstoicism (vv. 247-254).

These eight versesunderscore he constructedness opus immensum, condita

membra ) of the world's body, and the construct'sobedience o a divine world-soul

( vis animaedivina regit ). With his sacredbreath ( conspiratdeus ),God holds the

varied parts of the mundus n agreementwith eachother ( mutua foedera ), hereby

insuring the constant dynamics of a concordia iscors.The g~iding principle of this

concord is, asSebondhimself thinks, an mplied rationality ( tacita ratione ) which

transpires in the sacredmovements or, to use Montaigne's term, the generalized

bransle of the universe sacroquemeatu ).12 he rest of the book elaborates he

sphaerawith a description of the constellationsbeginning with the twelve zodiacal

signs vv. 255-531), of the planetsand of the comets.The remaining four books con-

stitute an advancedmanual of astrology, nd give systematicnstructions pertinent to

the drawing of horoscopesand astrological orecasts.13or the general eader, he

prologuesand perorationsof eachbook (especiallyhose of the first and fourth) con-

tain versesof great strength and subtlety, qualities which Montaigne, weaned on

Latin poetry, certainly savoredand envied. Montaigne also probably recognized n

Manilius a type of anti-Lucretius, a stoic philosopher rusting in a strictly rational

and harmonious organization of the mundus, nd engagedn wrangling with Epicu-

rean doctrine, which givesatomic randomnesshe force of universal aw. In an essay~

9Pierre Villey, Les Sour~eset l'evolution des Essaisde Montaigne, 2 vols. (paris 1933) 1.191-193. Villey

believes, through internal textual evidence in Montaigne's quotations, that he is using the 1566 Lyon

edition of Molineus.

IOPor the text of Manilius, I use the Loeb edition and translation: Manilius, Astronomica, trans. G.P.

Goold (London 1977). Goolds's extensive introduction is very informative and provides quick access o

Manilius's difficult work. An introductory anicle which also serves as ntroduction by presenting samples

and good translations of the most famous and literary passagesof Manilius is G. B. A. Fletcher's Mani-

lius, The Durham University journal 65.2 (March 1973) 129-150.

llFor an argument proving Manilius's intimate knowledge of stoic physics and cosmogony, see G.

Luck, A stoic cosmogony in Manilius (1.149-172), in Memorial Andre Festugrere.Antiquite palenne et

chretienne, ed. Patrick Cramer (Geneve 1984) 27-32.

12Here s the full Latin text of this passage Astron. 1.247-254): Hoc opus immensi constructum cor-

pore mundi/membraque naturae diversa condita forma/aeris atque ignis, terrae pelagique iacentis/vis

animae divina regit, sacroque meatu/conspirat deus et tacita ratione gubernat/mutuaque in cunctas dis-

pensat foedera panes,/aitera ut aIterius vires faciatque feratque/summaque per varias maneat cognata

figuras.

I3For Manilius as astrologer, seeJ. H. Abry, L'astrologie a Rome: les Astronomiques de Manilius,

Pallas 30 (1983) 49-61.


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MARC-ANDRE WIESMANN

246

which celebrateshe skeptical balance asMontaigne'spersonalemblem 527B), he

stoic Manilius provides verseswhich, in the essaying of ancient philosophical

opinions, act as a counterweight o Lucretius,whose De rerum natura, hrough con-

stant quotations,becomesan nescapablentertext,I4

Manilius also oweshis prominent role in the Apologie to factors pertaining to

the history of French iterature in the sixteenth century, an epoch adorned by the

Ple'iade, evenpoets who choseas emblematic of their glory a symbolic metamor-

phosis into starsstudding the literary firmament. In the work of Pontus de Tyard,

the astronomer-poetof the Ple.iade,he Astronomica unction as a significant nter-

text.IS sabelle Pantin has recently surveyed and analyzed he wealth of Ple.iade

poesie du ciel, and she emphasizeshe specialaffinity existing betweenastronomy

and theology in the Renaissance.16he ancient ineageof astronomy,with its Chal-

dean, Egyptian, and Greek roots, nduced Christian humanists to find its ultimate

origin in the book of Genesis. aurice Sceve,or instance,depicts, n his Microcosme,

Adam teaching Eve les revolutions des signessyderaux. 17 s the first science,as-

tronomy closelyparticipates n the theme of the dignity of man: the creator,asPlato

explains n the Timaeus 47a-b), has givenus the most noble of the senses,ision, in

order that we contemplate he movement of the starsand that we start to philoso-

phize.ISThree famous versesof Ovid (known as the topical Homme d'Ovide ),

whose import is subverted n the Apologie, proclaim that our erectstatureand the

easewith which we can ift our face owards he sky indicate our innate and unique

propensity for the contemplation of the divinized heavens.19inceMontaigne must

deal with theological issues,he finds it rhetorically expedient o start with astro-

nomical/ astrological topoi, which will continue generating his commentary

throughout the Apologie. Furthermore, he predilection his contemporaries how

for astronomical poetry probably sways him to remedy he rather lack-luster reat-

ment of the starsby Sebond,who places he cosmic bodies at the lowest ung of his

echelle of being,and who seems uite uninterested n the starsasbeaconsof God's

t4For he conceptual mponance of the balance n Montaigne'sdiscursive trategies, eeFloyd Gray,

Exagium/essai: abalance e Montaigne (paris 1982).The role of the abundantquotations from Lucretius

in the Apologie has been studied by P. Hendrick, Lucretius in the' Apologie de Raimond Sebond,'

Bibliothequed'Humanisme et Renaissance 7 (1975)457-466; and Daniel Menager, Les citations de Lu-

crece chez Montaigne, in Philip Ford and Gillian Jondorf, eds.,Montaigne n Cambridge Cambridge

1988)25-38. In my opinion, no satisfactorystudy of the usesof Lucretius in L'Apologie hasyet been

published.

150nTyard and Manilius, seeS. Bokdam, La poesieastronomiquede Pontus de Tyard, Bibliotheque

d'Humanismeet Renaissance8 (1993)259-275.

16SeesabellePantin, La poesie u ciel enFrance. .(n. 6 above),especiallyChapter 3, Eloges : Astres,

theologie et dignite humaine, 55-72. Pantin's book contains a handful of referenceso Manilius's pres-

ence n the French Renaissance.

17Cited y Pantin (n. 6 above)56.

liThe quasi-mythological background invested n astronomy in the Renaissances examined n S.

Bokdam, Les mythes de l'origine de l'astronomie a la Renaissance, n Divination et ControverseReo

ligieuse n FranceauXVIe si'ecleparis 1987) 7-72.

190vid, Metamoryhoses.85-86: Pronaque cum spectentanimalia cetera erram,/os homini sublime

dedit caelumquevidere/iussit et erectosad sidera ollere vultus. Montaigne'scites theseversesat 484A,

but in a bitterly ironic tone intended o castigateman's hubris and o plead or the animals'own nobility.


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LA POESIE DU CIEL"

presence O ne should thus read he quotations rom Manilius's Astronomicaat the

start of the" Apologie" from several tandpoints:as a sign of Montaigne'sparticipa-

tion in the contemporaryvogue of "poesiedu ciel," asa document of stoic doctrine

with theological mplications,and asan illustration of convincing ancientpoetry.

This third point functions centrally in the argumentproposed here,becausehe

quotes rom Manilius act, as t were,as he inaugural,positive, and highly valorized

exemplarof "poesie du ciel," a touchstoneagainstwhich to judge the other occur-

rencesof enticing textualizations of the skies. The pages 438-448) eading to the

first citation aim at the polemical reduction of the first camp of Sebond'sdetractors,

those who show "quelque zele de piete" and who therefore must be treated with

"plus de douceur et de respect" (440A) in spite of their negative esponse o "les

belles maginationsde cet autheur, a contexturede son ouvragebien suyvie." (440A)

The word "contexture," a sixteenth-centuryneologismwhose etymology refers o

weaving (texere= to createany ype of fabric), vaunts he theologian's nvention and

disposition of his material 1 The expression preuves mieux tissues et mieux

estofees" (448A), soon used in praise of the Ibeologia naturalis, confirms Mon-

:aigne's ensitivity to and exploitation of the weaving topos, whose fortune was as

flourishing in the French Renaissance s, more recently, n the textually obsessed

criticism of the 1970sand 1980s 2Nevertheless, ebond's textum" and its French

translation haveproved neffective n persuadinga segmentof Sebond's eaders, nd

the" Apologie" now tries to correct his situation by providing its own supplemen-

tary "contexture," a written construct inked or "suivi" tightly enough o insure the

capture of the resistant nterpreter.

The. versesof Manilius participate integrally in the loom-work or needle-work

implicit in "ouvrage" and "contexture," and the French text which surrounds them

very competently pursues his total integration. The first five hexametersrom the

Astronomicasurface at the heart of Montaigne's peroration (446-448) o Sebond's

20SeeMontaigne, La the'%gie nature/Ie de Raimond Sebond n. 2 above). In his work, Sebond assigns o

sky and eanh, considered in their materiality or lifeless minerality, the first rung or "ordre" in the

"echelle de nature": "La terre est la plus abaisseeet de moindre pris ...Le ciel est encores de cet ordre, et

tous les corps celestes, planettes et estoilles, comme aussi toutes choses faites par an. .." (1.5). Although

Sebond uses he topos of deus artifex of the heavens (6.17), he is clearly uninspired by it and the rhetorical

fabric of his book does not develop any "poesie du ciel" in our terms.

21This appreciative language on Montaigne's pan is somewhat surprising, since he has just negatively

described the Liber creaturarum as "basty en un Espagnol barragoine en terminaisons Latines" (439A) ,

and indicated that oil faict bon traduire les autheurs comme celuy-la, ou il n'y a guiere que la matiere a

representer." In other words, for Montaigne, Sebond's style is purely functional, without any esthetic

dimension. He nevenheless insist on the organizational qualities of the text.

22Fran~ois Rigolot in "Les 'sutils ouvrages' de Louise Labe, ou: quand Pallas devient Arachne," Edudes

Litteraires 20.2 (1987) 43-60, discusses he popularity of this top os, especially in contexts concerned with

the status of women writers. Ovid's tale of the weaving contest between Minerva and Arachne (Metamor-

phoses 6 vv. 1-145) is central to the equation between writing and weaving. In his long section on the

technical abilities of animals, Montaigne mentions twice the spider and its feats as an anist in textiles

(455A, and 464A). Among contemporary critics, Roland Banhes probably did the most to promote the

topos. For a typical Banhesian expansion on the topos, see S/Z (paris 1970) 165-166: "Le texte, pendant

qu'il se fait, est semblable a une dentelle de Valencienne qui naitrait devans nous sous les doigts de la den-

telliere: chaque sequence engagee pend comme Ie fuseau ...la main reprend Ie fil ...L 'ensemble des

codes. ..constitue une tresse ("texte," "tissu" et "tresse," c'est la meme chose) ..."


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MARC-ANDRE WIESMANN

pious Christian foes. The first sentenceof this stylistically elevatedexhortation re-

hearsesand develops magesand themes announcing the Manilian version of the

poetry of the skies:

Le neud qui devroit attachernostre jugement et nostre volonte, qui devroit estreindre

nostre ame et joindre notre createur, e devroit estre un neud prenant ses epliz et ses

forces,non pas de nos raisonset passions,mais d'une estreintedivine et supernaturelle,

n'ayant qu'une forme, un visage et un lustre, qui est 'authorite de Dieu et sa grace.

(446A)

The insistenceon "hoeud," "estreinte," and "joindre" activatesan etymological and

semantic connection with the term "religion," which appearsn the precedingsen-

tence. Along with its adverbial and adjectival derivations, religion has been a leit-

motif of the nine previous pages.Both Cicero and St. Augustine, to whom the

"Apologie" incessantly efers,use he etymological complex relegere/eligare o draw

out the semanticvalue of religio 3 Relegerehares he sameetymology as egere,to

read," an activity hermeneutically central to both Sebond'sand Montaigne's con-

cerns with the discernmentof the interpretable ettresof God's creation. Religare, n

the other hand, points to the bond, liaison, or noeudwhich attaches he creature o

the creator.

Montaigne's "noeud," forcefully alluding to the religareof religio, also contains a

metaphor referring to thread, to the tight intertwining of two strands of material.

This literal textual dimension hus reinscribes he semanticvaluesof contexture, nd

promotes relegere,he notion of a correct reading mplicitly present n religio. At the

same ime, with the use of "noeud," Montaigne is insisting on the verticality of the

true religious bond, "une estreintedivine et supematurelle."He is contrasting this

positive, vertical relation with its negative,horizontal counterpart, evoked on the

preceding page, when he mentions the prevalenceof "religions mortelles et hu-

maines," mere "liaisons humaines." (445A)Thesebonds haveno upward connection

with the divine, and they operate aterally, remaining tied to the earth and to the

foibles of its human inhabitants. They thus belong to the realm of "imbecillite," a

term the" Apologie" favors in its characterizationof human weakness.Etymologi-

cally, imbecillite means"without a supporting staff" (in + baculus, uasisine bacula),

and expressively onnotes our prone or prostrate position, our irremediably hori-

zontal relations vis-a-vis religion.24Montaigne argues hat the effect of the French

2JFora thorough study of the etymology of religio down to Augustine, see talo Ronca, "What's in

Two Names: Old and New Thoughts on the History and Etymology of 'religio' and superstitio'," Res

Publica Litterarum 15 (1992)43-60. For Cicero, seeDe natura deorum2.72-75, and De divitatione 2.72;

for Augustine, seeDe Civitate Dei 10.1 and 10.3,and Retractationes .13,19.

24Forall etymological points, I refer to A. Ernout and A. Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologiquede la

langue atine. Histoire desmots (paris 1985).Throughout this study, I readMontaigne philologically, with

an eye towards the Latin countenances f his language.For the Latinate dimensions of Montaigne's

oeuvre and consciousness, ee Floy Gray, Montaignebiligue: Ie latin desEssais, paris 1991).The term

"imbecillit'e" occurs seven imes in the" Apologie." SeeRoy E. Leake, Concordance es Essais e Mon-

taigne (Geneva 1981). Although the term is not in the immediate context, an expressive endition of

"imbecillit'e" occurs at 499: "[A] C'est aDieu seul de secognoistreet d'interpreter ses uvrages. C] Et Ie


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LA POESIEDU CIEL"

wars of religion has been, precisely, he enhancement f imbecillite, he debilitating

humanization or lateralization of religion. Each warring faction sees it to "play

ball" (. .."nous pelotons es raisonsdivines,et combien rreligieusement .." 443C)

with theology, a situation which entails, for the logic of the religare/religere om-

plex, a lack of union with the divine and a fundamental crisis in reading. Indeed,

legere ecomes angled in the horizontal, earthbound movementsof a violent play-

ing field, when it should lead instead o a meaningful, univocal and upwardly-di-

rectedbond, "un neud ...n'ayant qu'une forme, un visage, t un lustre. .." (446A).

The conjunction of "noeud" with "visage"(from video)and "lustre," of textuality

with a visibility infused with divine lux, pervadesMontaigne's peroration and will

have a fundamental import for the "poesie du ciel" the" Apologie" contains.

"Lustre" belongs o a densenetwork of terms he essay as alreadygathered n simi-

lar contexts to underline the luminous properties of the divine instance 5 These

scintillating qualities contrast, hroughout the essay, ith the "horribles tenebresde

l'irreligion" (448A), he darkness nd blindness o which human beingsare confined

when they remain he slavesof "liaisons humaines."26 hile emphasizing he sight-

giving power of faith and religion, the peroration simultaneouslyaccentuatesGod's

active crafting, his inventive fashioning of the universe.God becomes he "facteur,"

the "grand architecte" of the world's "machine," nto which he leaves s racesof his

energy certain inscriptions for humans o decipher, quelquesmarquesempreintes

de [sa] main," "quelque image aux choses du monde, raportant aucunement a

l'ouvrier qui les as bastieset formees." (446A) "Ouvrier" remarks again he literary

and textual form of God's "ouvrages": 11a laisseen ceshauts ouvragese caractere e

sadivinite, et ne tient qu'a nostre mbecillite que nous ne puissions es descouvrir. .

.Sebond s'est ravaille a ce digne estude,et nous montre comment il n'est piece du

monde qui desmante son facteur." (446-447 ) "Ouvrages," "empreintes" and

"caractere"designatehe world as a printed text, a metaphor which elegantlyechoes

Sebond'sown belabored nsistenceon the "alphabet" transpiring from God's works

and begging o be strung into readablesentences.27n this sketch of the persuasive

faict en nostre langue, improprement, pour s'avaller et descendre a nous, qui sommes a terre, couchez."

Andre Tournon, in La glose et I'essai (n. 4 above) 238, observes Montaigne's "horizontalization" of Se-

bond's ladder of creatures.

25See, or example, Knous eclairer" (441A), "sa splendeur" (441A), "ce rayon de la divinite ...[sa]

lueur et [son] lustre," "on Ie [- man] verroit illumine de cette noble clarte" (442A), "luire" (442B), etc.

26For an outstanding article analyzing the Paulinian and especially the Augustinian tendencies of

Montaigne in terms of the light/obscurity dichotomy, see Mary B. McKinley, "L'accomplissement de

1" Apologie de Raymond Sebond': esthetique et theologie," in Claude Blum, ed., Montaigne et IesEssais.

1588-1988 (paris 1990) 55-65. This article completes and amplifies her earlier article, "The City a/God

and the City of Man: limits of language in Montaigne's 'Apologie'," Romanic Review 71 (1980) 122-140.

Both these articles are fundamental to this reading of the" Apologie."

27Montaigne, La theologie natureIIe de Raimond Sebond (n. 2 above): "Davantage, ceste doctrine [that

of the Book of Nature] ouvre a un chacun la voye et I'intelligence des saincts docteurs: voire, elle est

incorporee en leurs livres (encores qu'elle n'y apparoisse point), comme est un Alphabet en tous escrits.

Aussi est-ce I' Alphabet des Docteurs: et comme tel il Ie fault premierement apprendre." (preface de

I'autheur vi-vii) And ". ..chaque creature n'est que comme une lettre, tiree par la main de Dieu ...

.grande multitude de creatures comme d'un nombre de lettres ...I'homme en est la lettre capitale et

principale." (preface de I'autheur x)


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MARC-ANDRE WIESMANN

properties of the divine text, it is important to recognize he Renaissancedeal of

rhetorical copia or abundance, f a linguistic construct nhabited by enargeia nd by

its doublet, a dynamic and moving energeia 8 he sublime visual powersof the di-

vine script, product of God the architector architextor, ppropriate he effectsof the

rhetorical figures evidentia, hypotyposis,nd of the genre ekphrasis,inguistic feats

which, through expert manipulations of verba, give the resa tangible existence n

the reader'seyes.29

It is in this context preoccupiedby the thought of a truly compelling textuality

that Montaigne introducesManilius and his "poesie du ciel," but not before ampli-

fying upon the artistic aspects f God's creation:

Car ce monde est un temple tressainct,dedans equel I homme est introduict pour y

contemplerdes statues, on ouvreesde mortelle main, mais cellesque a divine penseea

faict sensibles:e Soleil, es estoilles,es eauxet a terre, pour nous representeres intelli-

gibles. (447B)

A kind of museumexposingsacredworks of art ("statuesnon ouvreesde mortelle

main") awaits our contemplation in the sky. Sight stands out as the noble sense

which, through esthetic response o the evidential enargeiaof the world-text, will

initiate us into the divine mysteries.The artistic details serve o bring out the ety-

mology of both cosmosn Greek and mundus "ce monde") in Latin, terms which

harbor a cosmetic aspect, notion of self-conscious eautification o The estheticism

of this description echoes, n fact, the type of vocabulary and rhetoric which Co-

pernicus himself cultivates n the prooemium of Book 1 of De revolutionibus.Here,

to whet his humanist audience'sappetite, he astronomerhighlights the beauty of

heaven,whose "transcendentperfection most philosophershavecalled a visible God

[visibilem deum]." Copernicus also brings out the etymological relations the terms

mundusand caelumentertain with the arts themselves: What indeed s more beau-

28See erence Cave, The CornucopianText. Problems of writing in the French RenaissanceOxford

1979)23-34. Seealso Perrine Galand-Hallyn, Lesyeux de 'eloquence. oetiques umanistes e l'evidence

(Orleans 1995)99-121.

29My neologism "architextor. compellingly revivifies, in "architect,. the Indo-European etymon

"teks,. which refers o weaving, whose iteral, textual dimensionsbecome ransferred o all technological

activities. For "hypotypose. seePierre Fontanier, Les iguresdu discours paris 1977) 90-392. Here is his

definition of hypotyposis: "L hypotypose eint les choses 'une maniere si vive et si energique,qu'elle les

met en quelque sorte sous es yeux, et fait d'un recit ou d'une description, une image, un tableau, ou

meme une scene ivante.. (390) Hypotypose,. whose Latin name s evidentia, s very akin to ekphrasis,

the written representationof a visual epresentation.For the classical efinition of evidentia,seeH. Laus-

berg, Handbuch der literarischenRhetorik (Munich 1960) sections810-819. An excellent book-length

treatment of ekphrasisas iterary genre s JamesA. W. Heffernan, Museum of Words.ThePoeticsof Ek-

phrasisfrom Homer to Ashbery Chicago1993). use he term "sublime. with the "Longinian. dimensions

one finds in the essay Du jeuneCaton. (1.37),a chapter n which the effectsof superior ancient poetry

upon the readerare described n terms surprisingly similar to those ound in the first-century treatiseOn

the Sublime.Significantly, in "Du jeune Caton,. one of the writers Montaigne selects o exemplify one

degreeof sublimity is Manilius (232A).

JOSeernout and Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique n. 24 above):"mundus: ensembledescorps ce-

lestes,cieux, univers lumineux. Semblebien etre Ie meme mot que 'mundus,' 'parure,' qui a ete choisi

pour designer e 'monde,' sansdoute a 'imitation du grec kosmos.'.


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"LA POESIE DU CIEL"

tiful than heaven? This is proclaimed by its very names, 'Caelum' and 'Mundum,'

the latter denoting purity and ornament [hoc puritatis et ornamenti], the other a

carving [illud caelati appellatione]." Through an intertext of Pliny, Copernicus's

"carving" has become Montaigne's "statues."3

The protreptic invocation of God's textual, architectural and artistic oeuvres leads

to the first citation of Manilius:

Atque adeo faciem coeli non invidet orbi

Ipse Deus, vultusque SUDSorpusque recludit

Semper volvendo; seque ipsum inculcat et affect,

Ut bene cognosci possit, doceatque videndo

Qualis eat, doceatque suas attendere leges}2

These five Latin dactylic hexameters ave been selectedbecause hey remarkably

interact with the French he essayist ascarefully elaborated o showcasehem. "Fa-

ciem" and "vultus" rewrite the textual "visage"we haveencountered, nd amplify its

associationwith enargeia nd lustre.Furthermore, "faciem," too easily dismissedas

"face," regains ts semanticpotency when inked with the French ext's "facteur" and

"fa~on," which refer to God's active craftsmanshipof the universe,and rejoin the

paradigm ouvrier," "hauts ouvrages" nd "oeuvres."Facies haresacio asa root verb

with facteur and fafon, an etymon which endowsappearancewith an active depth

laboring to valorize the surfaceand to invest t with singular truth and relevance.))

The visual force of "faciem" is heightenedby "in/videt," which prepares videndo"

and injects deeply nto the Latin text a primary concern with visual agency. Rec-

ludit" rejoins Montaigne's "descouvrir," "leges" lirts with the semanticmaterial of

religio, relayed by "intelligibles," an adjective here synonymous with "lisible" or

J1Nichoias Copernicus, On the revolutions, ed. J. Dobrzycki, trans. and commentary by Edward

Rosen (Warsaw 1978) 2.7. For the Latin text, I have consulted Nicolaus Copernicus, De revolutionibus

orbium caelestium libri sex,eds. F. Zeller and C. Zeller (Munich 1949). For Pliny's comment, see his Natu.

ral History 2.3, 8. Pliny relates "caelum" to "caelare," "to engrave," "to carve in bas-relief." In the proe-

mium, Copernicus refers to God as "opifex omnium." The manner in which Copernicus, in his prefatory

and introductory matters, employs a humanist discourse through allusions to Roman and Greek poets

(Horace, Sophocles, Virgil, etc.) has often been noted. See, for example, Jacob Bronowski, "Copernicus as

a humanist," in The Nature ofScientific Discovery. A Symposium Commemorating the 500th A nniversary of

the Birth of Nicolaus Copernicus, ed. Owen Gingerich (Washington, DC 1975) 170-188; and, in the same

volume, Heiko A. Oberman, "Reformation and revolution: Copernicus' discovery in an era of change,"

134-169.

J2Astron. 4.915-919. The passagecomes from probably the most famous part of the Astronomica, the

long peroration which concludes book IV. Here is Goold's translation: "God grudges not the earth the

sight of heaven but reveals his face and form by ceaseless evolution, offering, nay impressing, himself

upon us to the end that he can be truly known, can teach his nature to those who have eyes to see, and

can compel them to mark his laws." A praise of human vision follows (924-927).

JJ n the post-1588 editions, the verses of Manilius are immediately followed by this statement: "Or

nos raisons et nos discours humains, c'est comme la matiere lourde et sterile: la grace de Dieu en est la

forme; c'est elle qui y donne la fafon et Ie pris." (447A) Without God's grace, Montaigne continues, hu-

man arguments remain "une masse informe, sans afon et sans jour. .." (447A) Sebond's arguments,

through grace, benefit from this "fa~on" to the point that they, in turn, can shape ("fa~onner") the theo-

logical apprentice: oils sont capables de servir ...de premiere guyde a un aprentis ...ils Ie fafonnent

aucunement, et rendent capable de la grace de Dieu.." (447A) My emphases.


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MARC-ANDRE WIESMANN

legible. Finally, the repetition of doceat, expanding upon cognosci, recalls

toutes choses [du monde] ...nous instruisent, si nous sommes capables

d'entendre. (447A) The instructional imperative acquires even more urgency

through the use of the verb inculcat, literally to trample ( fouler aux pieds

448A), to forcefully impose knowledgeupon someone. 34

The editions of the Essais ublished during Montaigne's ifetime explicitly reveal

to what degreeMontaigne banked upon the energeticand enargetic virtue of these

verses o ravish and inculcate the unwilling minds of Sebond'sdetractors. n these

editions, the citation we have ust read s immediately ollowed by a comment la-

menting the fact that the printer hired for the French translation of Sebond'sLiber

creaturarum did not employ these verses n the preface, vers ...qui sont de

meilleure et plus ancienne ace,que ceux qu'il y est alle planter. 3s his observation

ascribes o the five versesof Manilius a primary responsibility, he rehaussement f

the weaker host language,whether it be the French of the translation or that of the

Apologie. 36 Their ancient literary pedigree ransforms these hexametersnto a

protocole de lecture or mode d'emploi of Montaigne's rendition of Sebond.For

the essayist,Manilius's poesie du ciel thus embodies he protreptic model accord-

ing to which the reader of La thelogienature/Ieshould view Sebond's contexture

and belles maginations.

After the peroration to the Christian opponents of Sebond, he essayistaces he

secondprong of his rhetorical and theological mission, he battle againstantagonists

plus dangereuxet plus malitieux que es premiers. (448A) A 1588addition brands

this second camp as athelste, an epithet which justifies a violent attack against

them. Montaigne must les secouerun peu plus rudement, and his bellicose an-

guageconveys he extent of his rage at the frenaisie of their hubris or cuider.

The polemic he is now engagingdemands he literal trampling intimated by Mani-

lius's inculcat, the fierceness f froisser et fouler aux pieds l'orgueil et humaine

fierte ...la vanite et deneantise e l'homme. (448A)As ammunition in this strug-

gle, Montaigne echoesManilius's ardentverses s he developshis own eloquent de-

scription of the luminous fabric of the heavens n order to confound his arrogant~

34Manilius'sinculcat resonates gainst he initial Latin quotation of the essay, verse rom Lucretius

added n 1588: Nam cupide conculcatur nimis antemetutum [For he lustily tramples under foot what

he had once very much feared.] 439B). n Montaigne's ext, this vignette depicts he dangers f letting Ie

vulgaire, spurred on by the Protestant heretics, havea say n matters of religious doctrine ( anicles de

sa eligion ). The verbs conculcare nd inculcarepossess s etymon the noun calx, the heel, the pan of

the foot used o trample. SeeErnout et Meillet (n. 24 above): calco: talonner, fouler aux pieds ...d'ou

con-culcare, asseravec e pied, nculquer.

35Yilley'snote reproduces his passage, xpungedafter Montaigne'sdeath. Montaigne is pointing to

the first edition (1569)of La theologie aturellewhich the editors, Gourbin, Sonnius and Chaudiere,had

adornedwith a French sonnet by an obscure rench litterateur, Fran~oisd'Amboise. From Montaigne's

sarcastic one, we can gather hat he did not think this sonnet wonhy to prefacehis effons as ranslator,

and a look at the epigraphicpoem resoundinglyconfirms his udgment. For detailsabout the story of the

publication of Montaigne's translation of Sebond, ncluding a text of Fran~ois d'Amboise's poem, see

Michel Simonin, La prehistoire de 'L'apologie de Raimond Sebond, n De La Theologia ala Theologie

(n.1 above)85-116.


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"LA POESIEDU CIEL"

253

enemies: Qui luy a persuade ue ce bransleadmirablede la voute celeste,a lumiere

eternellede ces lambeaux oulans si fierement sur sa este. ..soyent establiset se

continuent pour sa commodite et pour son service?" 450A) However,suchrhetori-

cal gesturing owardsa cosmic sublime text brimming with "enargeia"proves nade-

quate because aith cannot olt the atheistsaway rom disbelief. As he acknowleges,

Montaigne is now entering he realm of "l'homme seul,sanssecours stranger. ..et

despourveude la graceet connaissance ivine" (449A), a situation requiring a new

argumentative trategy.

Once again, he essay ntertextually relies upon Manilius's Astronomica n order

to advancehis strategy. n a long interrogativesentence tarting with "Mais, pauvret,

..." (450A-451A), a cento or patchwork of quotations from Manilius's first, third

and fourth books formulates in clearly stoic terms the ineluctability of the stellar

tatum, God's "si juste regIe" which astrologicallydeterminesour attitudes: "Facta

etenim et vitas hominum suspenditab astris." (450A)37ntroducing the cento, hree

hexameters f Lucretius, echoing, with "templa," Montaigne's "temple tressainct,"

display a second exemplarof "poesie du ciel" vying with the essayist's wn poetic

efforts (cf. "flambeaux roulants") and offering a vignette of stars,moon, and sun.38

Manilius's verses,however,harbor a political dimension which underscoresMon-

taigne's earlier reflections on the wars of religion and their promotion of religious

"imbecillite." The minutest motions of the starsdetermine he fate of kings: "Tan-

turn est hoc regnum, quod regibus imperat ipsis " (451A)39 he longest and final

citation of Manilius in the essayurther lyricizes the adamantine egnumof the stars

upon our destinies.Astral influence determinesour passions, ur vocations,but also

"this war," hoc bellum, he lengthy Roman civil wars which preceded he reign of

Augustusand which correspond o the devastating eligious conflicts in France.The

four penultimate hexametersehearsehe unnatural atrocities resulting from inter-

necine warfare and affirm Montaigne's indignation at the brutality of the various

factions'schemes, leursviolentes et ambitieuses ntreprises." 443C)

The political use of "poesie du ciel" culminates n the extreme conceptualstrata-

gem the final hexameterof Manilius in the" Apologie" proposes.The starsdictate

civil war and its horrors, but they also possess verwhelming textual implications:

"Hoc quoque atale est,sic ipsum expendereatum," "This too is an effectof fate, o

consider ate itself in this manner." (451A)4Occording to the strictures of such a

36In he essay Des livres," Montaigne speaks bout the citations he sows n his text asa means o bol-

ster ("rehausser") r give elevation o his own discourse 2.10408C).

37 It indeedsuspendsrom the starsboth men'sdeeds nd heir lives." Astronomica3.58.

38Beautiful ersesndeed: "cum suspicimusmagni caelestiamundi/Templa super,stellisquemicantibus

Aethera fixum,/Et venit in mentem Lunae solisque iarum." [When we look upward at the celestial em-

ples of the immenseworld, the fixed Ether with its scintillating stars, he paths of the Moon and of the

sun descendnto our mind.] Lucretius,De rerum natura 5.1204-1206.

39"50great s this sovereignpower which orders around the Kings hemselves."Astronomica 1.55and

4.93.

4°Astronomica .118. n the essay De l'incertitude de nostre ugement," Montaigne also quotesMani-

lius in a context where the relation of "fortune" or "hazard" (not fatum, which is the opposite of chance)

with speechand reasoningcomes nto question. On this essay, eeDaniel Martin's brief comments n his


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MARC-ANDRE WIESMANN

logic, the textual maneuvers nfolding underneath he readers' yes hemselves bey

the rule of fatum. This surprising assertion ondemns he entire fabric of the essay

to the tyrannical sway of the stars. Pursuing stoic dogmatism o its absurd conse-

quences,Montaigne thus arrives, hrough Manilius, at the notion of a hyperdeter-

mined cosmic script strictly controlling both his composition of the essay nd the

responses f his readers,whether they be atheistsor not. This version of the cosmic

text posits the elimination of the arbitrarinessof language nd the achievement f a

textual necessitywhich cancels he needand possibility of persuasion, ince persua-

sion is now predeterminedbefore he reader'sactivity has evenbegun. Any interpre-

tive distancebetween ext and readerdisappears,eaving only the paralysisof a total

determinism. To capitalize on Manilius's teachings,Montaigne points towards his

paralysis: Tout ce que nous voyons en ces corps [= the celestial bodies] nous

estonne. (451A) The verb estonner, to make aghast, o stun, benumb,or dull the

senses f] captures he transfixing amazementwhich results from man's considera-

tion of the stoics' heavens.41ny further speculationon their workings and their

import to mankind is impossible,since thought itself is always already nscribed or

immobilized by and within the fatum. This polemical tour d'escrime (558A) hus

robs from the warring factions of the French troubles the illusion that a willful,

self-conscious rive pushes hem to commit evil, that they are the mastersof their

criminal destiny. From the perspectiveof a textualized, ateful cosmos, hesewarri-

ors remain he murderousslavesof Fate,not even ealizing they areslaves.

II. FROM MANILIUS TO COPERNICUS

If, at the end of this preamble,Montaigne were himself convinced that his two-

pronged polemical task had beenaccomplished, e could safely apse nto silenceand

conclude the Apologie. The deterministic tenor of the secondphase of his argu-

ment reduces he star gazeror readerof the literal poesiedu ciel to estonnement,

and the stoic, Manilian perspective ransforms he heavenlyscript into a petrifying

Medusa.Nevertheless,we have only arrived at one twelfth of the essay, nd the 152

pages emaining amply prove Montaigne's discontent with the validity of his theo-

logical exertions.42 ne evident and easily raceablesymptom of this dissatisfaction

Montaigneet la Fortune (paris 1977)19. Manin, to my knowledge, s the only recent commentator who

hasmentioned Manilius in connection with Montaigne.

41For his definition of estonner,. see Randle Cotgrave, A Dictionarie of the French and English

Tongues,eproduced rom the first edition, London 1611 Columbia, SC 1950).

42Montaigne's se of Manilius's stoicism s, however, very significant n terms of intellectual history

and of the epistemological eception of Copernicus n the sixteenthcentury. In his imponant book The

Genesisof he Copernican World, Hans Blumenbergexamineshow cenain shifts in a mostly Aristotelian

medieval world-view make possible he emergence f heliocentrism as a comprehensibleand influential

proposition to late sixteenth-century ntellectuals. Blumenberg nsists that Copernicus found a philo-

sophical basis or his work in the stoic notion of a total communication betweenmen and god, exactly

the positions that Montaigne, through Manilius, has been aniculating: The divine manifests tself

through the cosmos; he traditional attitudes of pietas,. sanctitas,. and religio. are responseso the

definite sensehat is manifest n the world- to the favor, through the world, that is granted o the human

race by the gods. In this way religious behavior becomes pieceof justice, a iustitia adversum eos,. as


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LA POESIE DU CIEL

lies in the repeated eturns to poesie du ciel in the remainderof the essay. ach of

these successiveemises n question mplicitly recalls he initial model of a highly

active and persuasiveext corresponding o God's presence nd accessibility o hu-

mans, an environment in which they benefit from faith's infusion extraordinaire

(441A), which alone can ead o the deciphermentof the encodeduniverse.To facili-

tate the discussion,he conceptof sucha transitive text (446-447) eading o a veri-

fiable signifie shall henceforth be referred o as the legible heavens. After his

address o the Christian enemiesof Sebond,Montaigne refers only to l'homme

seul. The critique of the poesiedu ciel and of its articulation of the legible heav-

ens thus operates n the human realm of imbecillite. Each of the various modula-

tions of this critique insists on the quandaryof lettreswhich have o function with-

out any assurancehat they can signify otherwise than horizontally, in an endless

systemof earth-boundself-referentiality.

The first sentences f the Apologie reveal hat, for Montaigne, science epre-

sents only the cultivation of lettres, and that, in his view, there existsno concep-

tual differencebetween he endeavors f the letteredand scientific inquiry.43To ana-

lyze Montaigne's formulations on the enticementsof poesie du ciel therefore es-

tablishes he parameterswhich inform his reception and epistemologicalgrasp of

Copernicus as homme de lettres. De revolutionibusdevelopsa heliocentrism, n-

spired in part by ancient models, n order to fix Ptolemaic geocentrismand more

convincingly to save he appearances, n astronomicalcommonplace eferring to

the attempt, increasinglyempirical and mathematical,o deliver a coherentexplana-

tion for the puzzling movementsof the heavenlybodies.44 opernicus's eordering

of the fabric of the skies mposeson the earth a daily rotation on its own axis as well

as a year's orbit around the sun; and it forces he moon to be a satellite of the earth.

the fulfillment of an intracosmic reciprocity, on which alone the moral transformation of the natural

order is based. See Hans Blumenberg, The Genesis of the Copernican World, trans. Robert M. Wallace

(Cambridge MA 1987) 175-176. Blumenberg's Part II, The opening up of the Possibility of a Coperni-

cus (123-255), retraces the discursive movements (nominalism especially) which broke the Aristotelian

blockage and made possible the articulation of Copernicus's theory. Part VI, Vision in the Copernican

World (617-685), mentions Montaigne's preoccupations, in the Apologie, with sight and the other

senses 627-638). Furthermore, Blumenberg points out that one of the key ingredients insuring the in-

tracosmic reciprocity of man and God is the esthetic dimension, the particular pleasure that man derives

from the viewing [ Anschaung ) of the world to which we are bound (176).

.) At 438A, Montaigne first refers twice to science, a notion he immediately rewrites as Iettres : . .

.cette ardeur nouvelle dequoy Ie Roy Fran~oys Premier embrassa les lettres. For Montaigne's thor-

oughly humanist view of science as a sub-genre of Iettres, see Georges Pholien, Montaigne et la

science, Bulletin de Lasociete des amis de Montaigne nos. 19-20 (1990) 61-70. For very pertinent remarks

on the thematic presence of science and its relations with Iettres in the essay, see also Philip J. Hen-

drick, Le dialogue de Montaigne: l'Apologie de Raimond Sebond, in Montaigne et les Essais 1580-1980,

Actesdu Congres de Bordeaux, ed. Claude Blum (paris 1983) 213-221, esp. 217-218.

Claude Ptolemy, the Hellenistic astronomer of the second century, makes no pretense that the

mathematical models he develops to explain the contradictory motions of stars and planets have any

bearing on the truth. For Ptolemy and for all astronomers after him until perhaps Kepler, saving the

appearances means to provide models which approximately fit the evidence, but which never claim to

explain the reality of cosmic events. See Blumenberg, The Genesisof the Copernican World (n. 42 above)

211-214. On the Greek expression saving the appearances, see G. E. R. Lloyd, Saving the Appear-

ances, Classical Quarterly 72 (1978) 202-222.


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MARC-ANDRE WIESMANN

Fernand Hallyn, in a noteworthy book, demonstrateshow Copernicus's work

wholly belongs o the "episteme" of his century. Hallyn emphasizeshe anagogical

motives of De revolutionibus,ts desire o fostera vertical inkage betweenChristian

believers and the divinity.4s The astronomer pictures the esthetically appealing

symmetry of the universe o his contemporariesn order o make them lift their eyes

towards he skies,which, aswe mentioned in our discussion f the "legible heavens,"

assume he characteristicsof a visual work of art, a temple, a statue or a painting.

Hallyn skillfully discusses ow the artistic theories of prominent High Renaissance

figures (Alberti, Durer, da Vinci) surface n Copernicus'sHoratian preoccupation

with the production of a text designed o remedy he "monstrosity" of the Ptolemaic

system. 6SuchobservationsevidenceCopernicus's redentialsas he hommede ettres

Montaigne took him to be.

The refocusingof Copernicus'sgazeupon a central sun echoeswhat Hallyn calls

a heliolatriedating from the precedingcentury and taking unprecedented old in the

sixteenth.47 he" Apologie" bearseminent signs of this heliolatrie,and the essayist's

several ritical assessmentsf the sun and of the human representationst inspires

prepare he reader or the mention of Copernicus.48n the essay,he sun first appears

as he essentialbeaconof the "legible heavens." 447B)The second mention of the

sun, arising soon after the last citation of Manilius has presumablyvanquished he

atheists, ontrastsmarkedly with this initial, radiating optimism:

Dirons nous que nous n'avons veu en nuIIe autre creature qu'en 'homme I'usaged'une

ame raisonnable?Et quoy avonsnous veu queIquechosede sembiableau soleil?Laisse

il d'estre,par ce que nous n'avons rien veu de semblabIe? t sesmouvementsd'estrepar

ce qu'il n'en ait point de pareils?" (452C)

These rhetorical questions dentify "ame raisonnable" with "soleil," and subtly en-

dorse he traditional dichotomy inner microcosm/outermacrocosm.By evoking the

dazzling powers of a Ptolemaic,mobile sun and the dangerouse'blouissementhey

entail, Montaigne simultaneouslysurmises he existenceof other suns and/or rea-

45FernandHallyn, La structurepoetiquedu monde: Copernic,Kepler (paris 1987).For the anagogical

imperatives of "science" to which Copernicus wholly subscribes, ee he chapter "Scienceet anagogie,"

61-85. I find Hallyn's work remarkable hrough and hrough.

46Hallyn n. 45), "L'intertexte de la symmetrie," 102-115. For "monstrosity," see71-72. By "Coper-

nicus's Horatian preoccupations," add an estheticobservationHallyn doesnot register. n his prefatory

letter to Pope Paul III, Copernicus complains that the theories of his predecessors ake of the sky a

"monstrum": "On the contrary, their experiencewas just like some one taking from various places

hands, eet, a head,and other pieces. ...; since hese ragmentswould not belong o one another at all, a

monster rather than a man would be put together from them." On the revolutions n. 31 above)4. In my

opinion, this imagery constitutes an unmistakable allusion to the very famous first four verses of

Horace'sA rs Poetica, n which the poet depicts he monster producedby an inexperienced ainter: "Hu-

mano capiti cervicempictor equinam/lungeresi velit ..."

47Forhetiotatrieand ts related opic, the fascinationwith a center,see he chapter of Hallyn's La struc-

ture poetiquedu monde n. 45 above), La metaphoredu centre" 139-160.

48Fora useful compendium of essays n the Renaissanceun, see e Solei a LaRenaissance.ciences t

Mythes (Brussels1965). From this volume, of special relevancehere are Alexandre Birkenmajer's "Co-

pernic comme philosopheR7-18; and S. K. Heninger's "PythagoreanCosmology and the Triumph of

Heliocentrism" 33-54.


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LA POESIEDU CIEL

257

sonablebeingswhose presencewe cannot detectbecausehe presumptuous light of

reason blinds us. Instead of legibility and accesso a solid message,he light of

reason produces a calligo mentium, a dark fog incapacitating our interior visual

and/or rational perceptions.49hus, the conceitedvalorization of one's own reason-

ableness omprisesa conceptual nfirmity seriously undermining the intelligibility

or readability of the outsideworld.

This transitional passage f the essay hereby cancels he strongly positive values

earlier invested n the light of sun and stars and replaces hem with an excessive

brightness eading to a beclouded,arrogant gnorance. ronically, the calligo men-

tium, metaphorically nduced by the sun, beguilesmen nto considering hemselves

expert astronomersand into invading the heavenswith their science: n se va

plantant par imagination au dessus u cerclede a Lune et ramenant e ciel soubsses

pieds. (452A) Furthermore, the solar imageryand the sneerat astronomers ntro-

duceMontaigne's huge amplificatio (452-486)on the distinctive mental and physical

gifts of the animals.Blinded by our own presumed un-like superiority, we are un-

able to identify thesegifts, and the bulky bestiaryscourgeshe myopic vanity which

refuses o admit the existenceof excellence nd reason n any other creature. As

Villey correctly observes, he section (486-559) ollowing the bestiary treats the

vanite de la sciencedont l'homme se argue, a science hat, while primarily re-

ferring to ancient philosophy and theology (502-534),also encompassesignificant

references o astronomy (534-538) and to its microcosmic equivalent, medicine

(556).50 he quest after science, ueling our fondness or the Homme d'Ovide

topos, promotes the elevated magewe have of ourselves, nd this curiosite radi-

cally distinguishesus from the animals. For Montaigne, however,science s a Ho-

meric siren,and also la premiere entation, a part du diable,sapremierepoison. ..

(488B-448C).5\ his intransigeantallusion to Genesisoccurs n a context which

castigateshe moral pretentions of the s~avants nd praises les ignorans. (488A)

If science were also left operative in the realm of ethics, where l'imbecillite et

variete nfinie de nos raisonset opinions are especiallyvirulent, the essayistwarns

that nous nous forgerions en fin des devoirsqui nous mettroient a nous manger es

uns les autres, omme dit Epicurus. (488A)This dire prediction of the bestial moral

behavior o which a blind faith in science might lead ntroduces he verb forger

and installs in the section eading o the mention of astronomy a lexical paradigm

which employs forger seventeenimes, and which bolsters he verb's connotations

49 t 453c, calligo mentium occurs n a ate addition, a citation from Seneca's e Ira (2.9): Inter cae-

tera mortalitatis incommoda et hoc est, calligo mentium, nec tantum necessitas rrandi, sed errorum

amor. [Besides ther infinnities of our mortal nature here is this one, the misty darknessof our minds,

which not only means hat they must err, but that they love to do sO.] My translation.)

5~n the edition of the Essais use,Villey's prefatory material o the Apologie includesa plan of the

essaywhich, in its main lines, find totally convincing.

51The eference o the Odyssean irenscomes n a ate addition: [C] Et les Sereines, our piper Ulisse,

en Homere, et l'attirer en leurs dangereux t ruineux laqs, ui offrent en don la science. 488)The exqui-

site detail ruineux laqs ties the siren'ssong o the paradigm dangerousextuality.


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MARC-ANDRE WIESMANN

with four instances of the semantically related Latin fingere ( to shape, mould or

fashion ), and its derivative,figmenta.52

In all instances, forger, fingere, and figmenta are used pejoratively to indicate that

science, whether philosophy, astronomy or ancient theology, fabricates explana-

tory systems, figmenta or fictions. The forger/fingere complex amounts to Mon-

taigne's definition of poiesis, the crafty human making of textual artifacts seeking to

rival the works of God, the rerum, regumque deumque/Progenitor genetrixque

(S13C), the magnus artifex (S29A). Another thematic and semantic paradigm con-

tinues to saturate the essay, hat expressive of luminosity and vision, and of their

opposites, human aveuglement (SOOA) nd darkness ( ombre, 499A). This strand,

as we have seen, contributes heavily to the vibrancy of the legible heavens and to

its negative counterpart, the evocation of human reason as a blinding sun. In the

long section on science, several passagessimilarly appeal to divine light and its

salving virtue, a notion embodied in the repeated mention of the divine lamp, la

saincte lampe de la verite qu'il a pleu aDieu no us communiquer (S20A), and the

lampe de sa grace, without the assistanceof which tout ce que no us entreprenons

...n'est que vanite et folie (SS3A). Two important exempla vividly portray the

devastating consequences of this folie, which, for Montaigne, implies a Prome-

thean quest for the control of fire and light, with its inevitable results, suffering,

irremediable darkness, and bestise. Tasso, in his quest for an epic poem reaching

the celestial air de cette antique et pure poisie, plummets from the heights of his

excellence ( Quel saut vient de prendre. .. ), insane and metaphorically blinded,

victim of cette clarte qui l'a aveugle. (492A)53Eudoxus, an ancient astronomer, is

similarly eager o trade both sight and life for one long glimpse at the sun: [11] sou-

haitait et prioit les Dieux qu'il peut une fois voir Ie soleil de pres, comprendre sa

forme, sa grandeur et sa beaute, a peine d'en estre brule soudainement. (S lB)54

Slaves of the aura of belles ettres, poet and astronomer share the same self-destructive

quest to harness and control a light incommensurable with our imbecillite, an

enargeia / energeia our weak poietic efforts at forger or fingere cannot bring back

from the skies.

52Seeeake'sconcordance n. 24 above) or these numerous nstancesof forger in the passagen

question (488-537). Forger, aswe shall see, trongly hints at the presence f Vulcan, the forger of the

gods, n the essay.The four instances ffingere occur in the following Latin citations: quam docti fin-

gunt, magisquam norunt (507C),still unattributed; unicuique ista pro ingenio finguntur, non ex scien-

tiae vi (511C), SenecaRhetor, Suasoraie ; Quod fingere, timent (530A), Lucan, Pharsalia 1.486;

Quasi quicquam nfelicius sit homine cui sua igmentadominantur (53OC), till unattributed. Fingere s

an important word in the Latin esthetic exicon, and t should be put in relation, in the Apologie, with

the sculptor Pygmalion, who appears,hrough the quote from Ovid at 560, manipulatingwax. This is the

same cire or wax which characterizes easonat 565. Also, refer to the passagewe have analyzed

where God's statuesnon ouvreesde mortelle main offer themselveso our contemplation (447): even

God is a proto-Pygmalion, obsessed ithfingere.

5JDuring his voyage n Italy, Montaigne had the sad opportunity to meet the mad poet at Ferrara.

Montaigne tells us that Tasso's verly zealousquestafter science has ed him instead o bestise.

54Eudoxus f Cnidos (ca. 390-ca. 340 BC) was a pioneer in astronomy, the first to save he appear-

ances or the movement of a few planetsby building a systemof homocentric spheres, a precursor of

Aristotle's system.


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LA POESIE DU CIEL

259

The poet and the astronomer's destructive and quasi-religious yearning for a radi-

ance as potent and blinding as the sun's induces a flaring up of Montaigne's own

version of the sixteenth-century heliolatrie to which Hallyn finds Copernicus be-

holden. Mimicking Tasso or Eudoxus, Montaigne conditionally casts himself in the

role of a Pagan idolater intra-textually adoring a massive quotation from a poem

penned by the stellar Ronsard: De celles [= ancient divinities] ausquelles on a

donne corps. ..parmy cette cecite universelle [= paganism], je me fusse ...plus

volontiers attache a ceux qui adoroient Ie Soleil. (514A) The fifteen alexandrines of

Ronsard are then thrust in our eyes,a veritable hymn to the sun, inhabited by all the

enargeia any ancient author could muster. Significantly, this irruption of a French

textual sun in the essay s obliquely associated with the immediately preceding re-

marks defending, in a post-588 addition, the religious use of ornements and

mouvements ceremonieux de nos eglises (514C), and encouraging the contempla-

tion of the crucifix and the painted representations of Jesus's ong torture ( la veue

de nos crucifix et peinture de ce piteux supplice 514C). In a passage aden with cal-

culated theological ambiguities, these remarks, which adopt a pro-Catholic stance,

emphasize the seriousness Montaigne invests in his putative adoration of a Pagan

sun.55Ronsard's verses echo, in many of their particulars, Manilius's insistence on

the scopic and generative agency which permeates the sky: the sun is both l'ame

and l'oeil du monde, God's yeux radieux/qui donnent vie a tous .../Et les faicts

des humains en ce monde regardent. 56With fils and pere, the line Fils ayne de

nature et Ie pere du jour recalls the Christic dimensions of Montaigne's crucifix,

and underlines the sun's generative capacities. Furthermore, Ronsard's quoted verses

evince a curious astronomical ambivalence, staging a sun both mobile and immobile:

En repos, sans repos, oisif et sans sejour. In other words, this sun cannot decide

whether to respect Ptolemy or to obey Copernicus.

In the first publication of the Apologie in 1580, Ronsard's sun occupied the

very center of the essay,a textual detail which demands attention in a text whose

final moments are borrowed almost literally from Amyot's translation of Plutarch's

De E Delphico, ,a treatise on Apollo's mystic letter E.57Plutarch, Montaigne's favorite

author, was a high priest of the Delphic Apollo, the solar divinity invoked as ce

Dieu in the final sentence of the last of the Essais.58 lthough it loses its textual

55The passage s ambiguous, and even, perhaps, theologically dangerous, because it seems apologetic

for the use of ornements so prevalent in Catholic rituals and so abhorred by the Protestants. Also, it

hinges upon the remarks of Plato, in the preceding pages, that it is often necessary to fool human beings

( il est souvent besoin de les piper 512C) in order to rule better over them. Implicit, then, is the thought

that the Catholic clergy is deceiving Ie peuple with ornate ceremonies and images.

56See ierre de Ronsard, Oeuvres completes,ed. Paul Laumonnier (paris 1946) 10.64-106.

57For the position of the long citation from Ronsard, consult Montaigne, Essais. Reproduction photo-

graphique de l'edition originale de 1580, published by Daniel Martin (paris 1976). In the original pagina-

tion, the essay begins at 147 and ends at 395, a total of 248 pages (124 + 124). 147 + 124 -271, center of

the essay. The hymn to the sun begins on 272.

58InDe E Delphico, Plutarch asserts that Apollo is the divinity which has contact with being, since

e - ei - is . The title Apologie itself can be read as a pun on Apollo, and as a reference to Apollo

loxias, the god which gives ambiguous answers. The whole nature of the essay is ambiguous since its

apologetic nature becomes entangled in skeptical suspension of judgment.


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MARC-ANDRE WIESMANN

centrality as the" Apologie" grows through successiveayers of accretions,Mon-

taigne sees it to later re-mark the Apollonian sun by implanting the "crucifix," a

hapax n the Essais,n its immediatevicinity. Thesehints point to the complexity of

a passage hich lends itself to several ival interpretations. On one level, ts Chris-

tian tenor clearly reveals olitical motives,which recallRonsard'sown "engage"atti-

tude in the violent religious strugglesof the day. Ronsard's Remonstrance" s a po-

litical tract in which the poet castigates rench Protestant heretics" who havemade

Christianity the laughing stock of "Ie Turc, e Juif, Ie Sarrasin."This argumentparal-

lels Montaigne's fears, n the" Apologie," that the religious wars in France are de-

stroying the exclusivistpretensionsof Christianity (442B).59 ere t not for his un-

wavering Catholic faith, Ronsardconfesseshat he would becomea paganand wor-

ship the sun, at which point he inscribes he solar hymn Montaigne appropriates.

On another level, he presence f Copernicus n the essay nd the originally central

position of the sun in its organizationsuggests heliocentric flirtation, repressed y

the orthodoxy of Montaigne's faith. Perhapsmore to the point, however,Mon-

taigne's conditional "adoration" and "attachement" to an Apollo textualized by a

famous French poet prefiguresPhaeton'sworship of Ovid's Apollonian chariot, an

episodecrucial in the critique of "poesiedu ciel" in the essay.

Montaigne's vehementdismissalof the abuses f both contemporaryand ancient

theology propels the text through a series of negative exemplaand commentary

which culminates n an intensequestioning of the "truth-value" of astronomy.This

passage 535-538)begins with a reference o the tragic fate of Apollo's mortal son,

Phaeton, and continues, mentioning Anaxagoras,Zenon and Archimedes, ancient

philosopherswho formulated conflicting theories about he skiesand the sun:

[B] Les yeux humains ne peuvent apercevoir es chosesque par les formes de leur

connoissance. C] Et ne nous souvient pas quel saut print Ie miserable Phaeton pour

avoir voulu manier es renesdes chevaux e son perf d'une main mortelle. Nostre esprit

retombe en pareille profondeur,se dissipe et se roissede mesme,par sa emerite. [B] Si

vous demandeza a philosophie de quelle matiere est e ciel et Ie Soleil ...(535)

"Quel saut print. .." echoes he first phrase of the Tassoexemplum "Quel saut

vient de prendre. .."), thereby inking the fate of Phaeton o that of the Italian poet.

Tasso ried to reachsupreme iterary heights ("l'air de cette antique et pure poisie"),

but miserably failed. For Montaigne, the demise of Phaeton,who combines the

functions of poet (Tasso) nd philosopher/astronomer (Eudoxus), s again directly

connected with a radical infirmity of our visual powers. "Les yeux humains" can

only distinguish what they already know ("les formes de leur connoissance"),

thereby dooming mankind to an eternal rediscoveryof its weaknesses,o a constant

59poran essayexploring the background of Ronsard'spoemson the wars of religion, seeF. M. Hig-

man, "Ronsard's political and polemical poetry,' in TerenceCave, ed., Ronsard he Poet (London 1973)

241-285. Seealso Fran~oisRigolot, "Po'etiqueet Politique: Ronsardet Montaigne devant es troubles de

leur temps,' in Ronsardet Montaigneecrivainsengages?,d. Michel Dassonville Lexington, KY 1989)57-

70. Seealso Gilbert Gadoffre, "Ronsard et Ie theme solaire,' in Le Solei a fa Renaissancen. 48 above)

501-518.


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LA POESIE UCIEL 261

reenactment of Phaeton's fall. Onomastically, Phaeton, from the Greek verb

phaino, to shine brightly, perfectly captureshis plight: the destructive ight of his

inner presumption or temerite blinds him, his own eyescan only see what they

wish to see,and he cannot keep his hands ( manier , main mortelle ) from at-

tempting to usurp his divine father's control of the chariot. Finally, the quotation

collapses he astronomical/poetical quest nto the philosophical,and capitalizes he

sun ( Soleil ) as he object of desireof poetry, astronomyand philosophy.

The essay ightens its negativecriticism of astronomy (and implicitly of poetry

and philosophy) by branding it a ridicule entreprise whose rhetorical and facti-

tious motives againsurface n the terms forgeant and nostre nvention (536A):

Comme il se void au mouvementdes planettes,auquel d'autant que nostre esprit ne

peut arriver, ny imaginer sa naturelle conduite, nous leur prestons,du nostre, des

ressortsmateriels, ourds et corporels: temo aureus, ureasummae/ urvaturarotae, ra-

diorum argenteus rdo.

[The beam was golden,as was he upper curvature of the wheel, whereas he arrange-

ment of the spokeswas silver.] (536A)

The Latin citation belongs to Ovid's tragic tale of magnanimous Phaeton; and

Montaigne, who has internalized the Metamoryhosesrom his earliest school days,

fully expectsus to import this famous parable nto our reading,and especially he

immediate context of the two verseshe quotes. Ovid portrays Phaeton, o whom

Apollo has unwittingly sworn that he could drive the sun's chariot for one day,

burning with desire for the cart (v. 104)whose wonderful artistry he is raptur-

ously viewing ( miratur opusque, v. 111). The craftsman esponsible or the cart,

referred to as Vulcania munera (v. 106), s the archetypal forgeur Vulcan, the

Greek god Hephalstos,whose masterpiecesnclude Achilles's and Aeneas's hields.

Phaeton s thus contemplating a mythic masterpiece f the visual arts, and the hex-

ametersMontaigne quotesbelong to an Ovidian ekphrasis, written representation

of a visual representation.This short ekphrasis,however,must be readalongside he

much longer sample of the genre ocated at the very beginning of the book, the de-

piction of the cosmoswrought by Mulciber/Vulcan on the double doors of Apollo's

celestialpalace. n another ekphrastic our de force,Ovid weaves ere his own exem-

plary poesie du ciel, imitative of Vulcan'sprowess s he smith of the gods.6O

6O0vidiusNaso, Metamorphoses,d. William S. Anderson (Leipzig 1977)2 vv. 111-112: dumque ea

magnanimusPhaeton miratur opusque/perspicit ;v. 104: . ...flagratque cupidinecurrus. The descrip-

tion of the palaceof the sun (2 vv. 1-18) s an ornate ekphrasiswhich introduces he Phaeton/Apollo

episode,stressing hat Mulciber/Vulcan is the anist responsible or its magnificence,a victor over raw

materia: materiam superabat opus; nam Mulciber illic/aequora caelarat medias cingentia ter-

ras/terrarumque orbem caelumque. . (vv. 5-7) Notice thefigura etymologicacaelarat/caelum, explic-

ited by Manilius, Copernicus,Pliny and Montaigne. The passageloses vv. 17-18) by underscoring hat

Mulciber's representation s cosmic n nature, encompassing anh, seaandsky. It is no hazard hat Mul-

ciber surfaces y name n the Apologie at 561, n a verse rom the first book of the Metamorphoses.or

a treatment of the influence of Ovid upon Montaigne'swriting practices, eeFran~oisRigolot, LesMeta-

morphoseseMontaigne (paris 1988)218-229. The last words of the Apologie are miraculeusemeta-

morphose.


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MARC-ANDRE WIESMANN

As noted earlier in the discussionof the legible heavens, kphrasisbelongs, n

both antiquity and the Renaissance,o that most difficult of textual challenges,he

production of a capiadevelopingenough enargeiao bridge the distancebetween he

reader'seyesand the written surface. With ekphrasis,writing must overcome he

severeimitations imposed upon it by time and linearity, the horizontal dimensions

it necessarilyollows while being processed. o rival with vision, the written text has

to act instantly, as if it were not re-presentation but presentationand present-ifi-

cation. Sebondhoped, in a sense,hat suchproperties of the world-text would cap-

ture the readerand lead her irresistibly to the message f the presence f God in the

world. However, Montaigne's meditation on ekphrasis (another name for Ovid's

poesie du ciel ) is now totally divorced rom suchoptimism. As readers f the essay,

we read Phaetonbeholding a text, namely Ovid's ekphrasisof a mythical work of

art, a situation multiplying sets of irremediable distancing from what, in reality,

should be the actual sun as astronomy conceives t. We also know that what the

youth is beholding is nothing more than the vain image of his pride, which will

soon become he instrument of his destruction. The son of a mortal woman and of

Apollo himself, Phaeton s nevertheless estined o remain an imbecile, wedded n

death o the earth's horizontal surface.61or Montaigne,Phaeton'splight exemplifies

that of astronomy and of all other sciences,ncluding poetry. Analyzed from the

perspective of l'homme seul, all poetic/poietic constructs are ponderous fetters,

ressorsmateriels, ourds et corporels, ying us to our insurmountable imitations.

The presentpassage535-538) omplements hat of the legible heavens hrough

its enrollment of numerous erms evocativeof a literal textuality: entrelassements,

poinct, descousu, cordage, contexture, descoudre, estoffer, architec-

ture, and rapie~ee. 62extuality also nhabits the Latin term arda, ast word of the

quotation from Ovid, whose primary acceptances the order of the threads of the

woof and weft of a weaving. 63 oth astronomyand philosophy are herefore clearly

subsumed by a poetic/poietic activity which possessespinning, weaving and all

operations of needleand thread as ts emblemsand which inhabits the core of any

science. Plato views nature, ike Sebond,asa wonderful text to be deciphered, na-

ture n'est rien qu'une poesie oenigmatique, o which Montaigne retorts that phi-

losophy itself n'est qu'une poesiesophistiquee. 535-536C)This sustainedempha-

sis on the fabrication of a fiction, of a poetic textum, originates in Montaigne's

allusion, in a gloss uxtaposed o Ovid's arda, o Plato's myth of Er:

61The story of Phaeton does not begin with Book 2 of the Metamoryhoses, The end of Book 1 (vv,

747-779) relates the youth's psychological quandary, He doubts his father is a god, and he demands a

formal proof from his mother Clymene, who entreats Apollo who, in turn, lifts Phaeton to heaven to

illuminate him,

62In the phrase je suis trompe si [nostre pauvre science] tient une seule chose droitement en son

poinct (536C), Montaigne choses the spelling poinct instead of poing in order to create an amphi-

blogy which means both in its fist and in its Stitch,

6JSeeErnout and Meillet, Dictionnaire erymologique de la langue latine (n, 24 above): ordior: ourdir

une trame, commencer a tisser ; ordo: d'abord, ordre des fils dans la trame,


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LA POESIEDU CIEL

[A] Vous diriez que nous avonseu des cochers, escharpentiers C] et despeintres A]

qui sont allez dressera haul desenginsa divers mouvemens,C] et ranger es rouageset

entrelassementsescorps celestes igarrezen couleur autour du fuseaude la necessite,

selonPlaton. (536)

For the essayist, ll technicians, ntellectual and otherw

m weismann poesie du ciel

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