Montaigne knew that some of the things he had done in the past no longer made sense to him, but he was content to presume that he must have been a different person2 at the time, and leave it at that. His past selves were as diverse as a group of people at a party. Just as he would not think of passing judgement on a roomful of acquaintances, all of whom had their own reasons and points of view to explain what they had done, so he would not think of judging previous versions of Montaigne.
