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essay on Caesar is mostly concerned with military tactics, but in his
essay on "L'histoire de Spurina" he sees this great commander under a
different guise. He laments that a man with so many accomplishments
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and qualities be so dominated by his passion for self-aggrandizement.
His amorous excesses Montaigne seems willing to overlook, but (A)
"... l'autre passion de l'ambition, dequoy il estoit aussi infiniment
blesse..." (II,xxxiii,729030), always won over the amorous (however,
amorous conquests were nothing more than expressions of Caesar's ambition
too). All this ambition causes Montaigne to opine: (A) "Certes
j'en suis despit quand je considere au demeurant la grandeur de ce
personnage.(II,xxxiii,729-30).
Montaigne felt as justified in examining Alexander a table as
in combat (1,1,303) and though he admired the drive and conquests of
Alexander, the marginal notes in Montaigne's example of Quintus Cur-
53
tius on Alexander,
as well as some later comments, show that he did
not approve of all of the youthful commander's traits of personality
(III,ii; II,i,336). In still another essay, Montaigne makes a similar
comment about Brutus (II,x,415). Those, then, who had attained to
some order of renown were the objects of Montaigne's study. Although
he studied them in their moments of military challenge and glory, he
also wanted to see how they acted in their moments of repose and what
they said to their friends the night before the battle. The "whole"
man was his desire.
53. Montaigne, Oeuvres completes, Armaingaud vol. XII.