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• Commerce with Montaigne
• Jeffrey R. Di Leo (bio)

In 1676, the Catholic Church put Montaigne's Essays on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. According to the New Catholic Encyclopedia (2003), the index, "established in 1557 by Pope Paul IV, was a list of books that Catholics were prohibited from reading on pain of excommunication," it continues, "because they contained material considered dangerous or contrary to faith or morals." The list would continue as Catholic doctrine until 1966, when Pope Paul VI abolished it on the grounds that it was "contrary to the teaching of Vatican II concerning freedom of inquiry."

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Replica of a card from the original Villanova University Library card catalog.

For those who doubt that this list meant very much before Vatican II abolished it, consider an exhibit from the Villanova University Library (Figure 1). Here we find a catalog card for an English translation of Montaigne's Essays, which is marked in italics "On Church Index" above the call number and author information. While professors could freely check out the Essays, students wanting to check it out "had to report to the Library Director's office with a permission slip from their professor to request access to the book." The reason for its inclusion in the Index was apparently that it was contrary to the philosophy of Descartes, which dominated at the time and regarded animals as automata, whereas Montaigne regarded animals as capable of reason. The Catholic Church contended that Montaigne's doctrine on animal reason placed in peril the immortality of humans. Hence, almost three centuries later—and just a year before the summer of love—students at Villanova and presumably other Catholic universities in America needed a permission slip from their professors to check it out of the library. [End Page 1]

One wonders though how Catholic university professors in the 1960s came to the decision to allow—or deny—their students access to books such as Montaigne's Essays "that Catholics were prohibited from reading on pain of excommunication." In addition, it is hard today not to think about such decisions in the context of zealous right-wing public library boards considering whether to allow—or deny—access to LGBTQ+ reading material. Whereas Vatican II eliminated the Index with the intention of freedom of inquiry, right-wing zealots are working hard today to reestablish a new version of it in public libraries across America. Nevertheless, it is still to be determined how comprehensive the New Index Librorum Prohibitorum will be—and if checking out Montaigne's Essays from your local public library will require presentation of a permission slip from a library board member to the director of the public library. After all, he does maintain that animals can reason, which I am sure is contrary to the faith or morals of some library board member—somewhere in America.

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Late in his life, Montaigne wrote an essay titled "De trois commerces" (1585–88). It is essay 3 in book 3 of his Essays. Variously translated as "Of Three Kinds of Intercourse" (E. J. Trenchmann, 1927), "Of Three Kinds of Association" (Donald Frame, 1957), "On Three Kinds of Social Intercourse" (M. A. Screech, 1991), the title noted on the Vanderbilt Library catalog card was a much more literal one: "Of Three Commerces" (Charles Cotton, 1686). It is a very personal essay where Montaigne discusses the three forms of "commerce" that enrich his life and make it worth living.

The first form of commerce involves friendship:

The people whose society and intimacy I court are those they call refined and talented men, the idea of whom puts me out of liking for others. It is, if rightly understood, the rarest type with us, a type that is chiefly due to Nature. The aim of this commerce is simply frequent and intimate forgathering and conversation; the exercise of wits, without any other fruit. In our talks all subjects are alike to me; it matters little to me if there be neither gravity nor profundity in them; charm and pertinency are never wanting. [End Page 2]

But the commerce with friends that he writes about here differs drastically...

中文翻译：

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与蒙田的商业

以下是内容的简短摘录，以代替摘要：

• 与蒙田的商业
• 杰弗里·R·迪·里奥（简介）

1676年，天主教会将蒙田的散文列入禁书索引。根据《新天主教百科全书》（2003 年），该索引“由教皇保罗四世于 1557 年建立，是天主教徒禁止阅读的书籍清单，否则将被逐出教会，”它继续说道，“因为它们包含被认为危险或危险的材料。违背信仰或道德。” 该清单将继续作为天主教教义，直到 1966 年，教皇保罗六世废除了它，理由是它“违背了梵蒂冈二世关于调查自由的教义”。

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查看完整分辨率图 1。

维拉诺瓦大学图书馆原始卡片目录中的卡片复制品。

对于那些怀疑这份清单在梵蒂冈二世废除之前是否具有重要意义的人，可以考虑一下维拉诺瓦大学图书馆的展览（图 1）。在这里，我们找到了蒙田散文英文译本的目录卡，在索书号和作者信息上方以斜体字标记“教会索引”。虽然教授可以自由地查阅这些论文，但想要查阅这些论文的学生“必须携带教授的许可单向图书馆馆长办公室报告，以请求查阅这本书。” 其被列入索引的原因显然是与当时占主导地位的笛卡尔哲学相反，笛卡尔将动物视为自动机，而蒙田则认为动物具有推理能力。天主教会认为蒙田的动物理性学说危及人类的永生。因此，近三个世纪后，就在爱情之夏的前一年，维拉诺瓦大学和美国其他天主教大学的学生需要获得教授的许可才能从图书馆借阅这本书。[第 1 页结束]

人们想知道 20 世纪 60 年代的天主教大学教授是如何决定允许或拒绝他们的学生阅读蒙田散文等书籍的，“天主教徒禁止阅读这些书籍，否则将被逐出教会”。此外，如今，在热心的右翼公共图书馆董事会考虑是否允许或拒绝访问 LGBTQ+ 阅读材料的背景下，我们很难不去思考这些决定。尽管梵蒂冈二世出于查询自由的目的取消了该索引，但右翼狂热分子今天正在努力在美国各地的公共图书馆重建该索引的新版本。尽管如此，新索引 Librorum Prohibitorum 的全面性仍有待确定，并且从当地公共图书馆查阅蒙田的散文是否需要向公共图书馆馆长出示图书馆董事会成员的许可单。毕竟，他确实坚持认为动物可以推理，我确信这与美国某个地方的图书馆董事会成员的信仰或道德相悖。

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蒙田晚年写了一篇题为“三重贸易”的文章（1585-88）。这是他的散文集第三卷中的文章三。不同译为“三种交往”（EJ Trenchmann，1927 年）、“三种交往”（Donald Frame，1957 年）、“论三种社会交往”（MA Screech，1991 年），标题注明于范德比尔特图书馆的目录卡更为字面化：“三种商业”（Charles Cotton，1686）。这是一篇非常个人化的文章，蒙田讨论了丰富他的生活并使其值得生活的三种“商业”形式。

第一种形式的商业涉及友谊：

我所追求的社交和亲密关系的人是那些被他们称为优雅而有才华的人，他们的想法让我不喜欢其他人。如果正确理解的话，它是我们最稀有的类型，主要归因于自然的类型。这种商业活动的目的只是为了频繁而亲密的聚会和交谈；智慧的运用，没有任何其他的果报。在我们的谈话中，所有的话题对我来说都是相似的。如果它们既不严肃也不深奥，对我来说就没什么关系了。魅力和针对性从来都不缺。[第2页结束]

但他在这里写的与朋友的交易却截然不同......