The Complete Essays of Montaigne

by Michel de Montaigne

AIf nature enfolds within the bounds of her ordinary progress, like all other things, also the beliefs, judgments, and opinions of men; if they have their rotation, their season, their birth, their death, like cabbages; if heaven moves and rolls them at its will, what magisterial and permanent authority are we attributing to them? BIf we feel palpably by experience that the form of our being depends on the air, the climate, and the soil where we are born—not only the complexion, the stature, the constitution and countenance, but also the faculties of the soul: Cthe climate affects not only the vigor of the body, but also that of the soul, says Vegetius—and if the goddess who founded the city of Athens chose for its situation a climate which made men prudent, as the priests of Egypt taught Solon: the air of Athens is thin, whereby the Atticans are reputed more acute; that of Thebes is thick, wherefore the Thebans are reputed gross and solid [Cicero]; Bso that just as fruits are born different, and animals, men too are born more or less bellicose, just, temperate, and docile—here subject to wine, elsewhere to theft or lechery; here inclined to superstition, elsewhere to unbelief; Chere to freedom, here to servitude; Bcapable of one science or of one art, dull or ingenious, obedient or rebellious, good or bad, according to the influence of the place where they are situated—and take on a new disposition if you change their place, like trees; which was the reason why Cyrus woul...