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François La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) - François VI, also called le Prince de Marcillac, Duc de la Rochefoucauld |
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François de La Rochefoucauld was a French classical author, a contemporary of Descartes, who is best known for his Reflections; or, Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665-1678). A sceptic observer of Louis XIV's court, La Rochefoucauld mostly saw selfishness, hypocrisy, and weakness in general in human behavior. With his independent way of thinking he was also one of the intellectual forefathers of the Enlightenment. La Rochefoucauld's insights have influenced amongst others Lord Chesterfield, Thomas Hardy, Friedrich Nietzsche, Stendhal, and André Gide. "Our virtues are most frequently but vices in disguise." François, duc de La Rochefoucauld, the eldest son of the first duke, was born in Paris into an illustrious family; the family title had been for many generations that of Comte. La Rochefoucaulds father, the fifth count, served as a minister in the court Louis XIII. In his childhood, La Rochefoucauld received little formal education. When he was barely ten years old, he was sent into army, and at the age of sixteen he participated in the siege of Cassel. Before he was fifteen he married Andrée de Vivonne (died 1670); little is known of her, except that she was the mother of eight children. During his military career, La Rochefoucauld served in Italy, the
Netherlands (1635-36), Rocroi (1643), and Gravelines (1644). At the
battle of Mardick in 1646 he was severely wounded. Supporting the cause
of Marie de' Medici, he took part in a conspiracy against Cardinal
Richelieu (1585-1642) and later he opposed Mazarin (1602-1661). "His
relations and his creatures continued to enjoy all the advantages they
had gained through him," La Rochefoucauld wrote in him memoirs after
Richelieu's death, "and by a turn of fortune, of which there are few
examples, the king, who hated him, and desired his fall, was obliged,
not only to conceal his sentiments, but even to authorise the
disposition made by the cardinal in his will of the principal
employments and most important places in his kingdom. He chose Cardinal
Mazarin to succeed him in the government." ('Rochefoucauld 1613-1680,' in Lives of the Most Eminent French Writers: Vol. 1, by Mrs. Shelley and Others, Lea and Blanchard, 1840, p. 84) Due to his actions, La Rochefoucauld was imprisoned in
the
Bastille briefly by Richelieu, and then forced to live in exile from
1639 to 1642. He did not stop plotting against the Cardinal. Jean
Herauld de Gourville (1625-1703), his secretary, was later appointed
tax collector by Nicholas Fouquet, Superintendent of Finances. A man of
his times, he took advantage of corruption, made a fortune, and escaped
France. In his memoirs, published in 1724, Gourville spoke very openly
of his exploitations, which also benefited Rochefoucauld. "If
we had no faults we should not take so much pleasure in
noting those of others," Rochefoucauld noted. (Reflections; or, Sentences and Moral Maxims, p. 6) Like the mathematician and religous philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), he had a pessimistic view of people, but without religious reference. Eventually Rochefoucauld won his way back into royal favour, only to be repeatedly disappointed by empty promises. Moreover, his hope for the Governorship of Havre was crushed. As a defender of the old aristocracy and standing up to his principles, he was soon involved in 1648-52 in the Fronde – a rebellion against the ministry of Cardinal Mazarin in the reign of Louis XIV. When La Rochefoucauld was thirty-three, he began a liaison with the
the Duchesse de Longueville, one of the beauties of the Court and the
great love of his life, who eventually betrayed him. In 1652 La
Rochefoucauld was wounded and almost blinded in a battle in
Saint-Antoine, which ended in the victory of the court and supporters
of royal power. To escape possible arrest, La Rochefoucauld fled to
Luxembourg for a period, and after he was allowed to return to France,
he retired from political life. Broken in health, embittered, and ruined financially, he devoted himself to literature. First he lived in his chateau at Verteuil, but in 1656 he settled in Paris, making his home the meeting place of a small intellectual elite. "I am," said Rochefoucauld of himself, "of a medium height, active, and well-proportioned. My complexion dark, but uniform, a high forehead; and of moderate height, black eyes, small, deep set, eyebrows black and thick but well placed. I am rather embarrassed in talking of my nose, for it is neither flat nor aquiline, nor large; nor pointed: but I believe, as far as I can say, it is too large than too small, and comes down just a trifle too low. I have a large mouth, lips generally red enough, neither shaped well nor badly. I have white teeth, and fairly even. I have been told I have a little too much chin. I have just looked at myself in the glass to ascertain the fact, and I do not know how to decide. As to the shape of my face, it is either square or oval, but which I should find it very difficult to say. I have black hair, which curls by nature, and thick and long enough to entitle me to lay claim to a fine head." ('Introduction,' in Reflections; or, Sentences and Moral Maxims, pp. xxiv-xxv) One of La Rochefoucauld's sons was killed in 1672 at the crossing of the Rhine, but it has been said that he was more affected by the death of the young Duc de Longueville, who died in the same attack. After taking up the role of a courtier, La Rochefoucauld focused on fulfilling the ideal of the honnête homme, who is trusthworthy and polished in manners and speech. In spite of suffering from gout, he joined Louis XIV's Dutch campaign in 1667-68. La Rochefoucauld has been called "the first real aphorist of modern times." (A Cultural History of the Modern Times: Baroque, Rococo and Enlightenment: Volume II by Egon Friedell, with a new introduction by Allan Janik, Routledge, 2017, p. 101) Although La Rochefoucauld was very productive as a writer, he published only two works, Mémoires (1664), and the Réflexions; ou, Sentences et Maximes Morales (1665), better known as the Maximes, which he began to write during his semi-retirement years in the country. Mémoires gained a wide audience but he denied its authorship and interest in the book waned. Voltaire once stated that "the Memoirs are universally read and the Maxims are learnt by heart". ('Introduction,' in Reflections; or, Sentences and Moral Maxims, p. xxii) The manuscript of Maximes
was circulated in 1663 among a select group of the guests of his
friend, the Marquise de Sablé. A pirate edition came out in 1664,
and an authentic edition late in 1664, but dated 1665. It became
popular and appeared in five editions during La Rochefoucauld's
lifetime. Dr. Johnson spoke of it as "the only book written by a man of
fashion, of which professed authors need to be jealous." (The Scots Magazine, And Edinburgh Literary Miscellany, Vol. LXXVII, 1815, p. 989) M. Aimé Martin's edition of the Maxims and Reflections from 1827 became the standard text in France for a long period. Maximes expressed the pessimism of the
disillusioned nobility, drawn into expensive wars and desiring to
restore the lost influence over the state. At the court everybody made
mutual observations about the members of these circles, and cultivated
intellectual competition at the expense of others. In a short sketch of
himself La Rouchefoucauld mentions that he loves conversation,
especially with women, but otherwise found it hard to be other than
"reserved". All human actions originate, he thought, from pride, vanity
and self-love. "The most violent passions give some respite, but vanity
always disturbs us." (Reflections; or, Sentences and Moral Maxims, p. 51) Jean de La Fontaine,
who moved in the same literary circles, shared Rochefoucauld's vision
of human nature. In 'Discours' (Fables, livre X, 1678), dedicated to
him, a flock of rabbits are scared away by a sound of a gunshop, but
before long, they forget the danger and reclaim their turf. "Mme de Sévigné says somewhere that she often had such sad conversations with Mme de Lafayette and La Rochefoucauld that probably the best thing they could have done would be to have had themselves buried." (from Arnold Hauser's The Social History of Art: Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque, Volume 2, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977, p. 188) As an essayist La Rochefoucauld started most likely with his self-portrait of 1658, included in Mme. de Montpensier's Divers Portraits. He also wrote other portraits, seven of which were published posthumously in 1731, and the other 12 not until 1863 in Œuvres (vol. 1). Between Montaigne and La Rochefoucauld the essay had developed from formal letters and from short treatises as a recognizable literary form. Réflexions created a link from essay to this new genre, intelligent and sensitive society portraiture. The same wit and elegance of style that are apparent in the Maximes, is seen also in these pieces. Moreover, La Rochefoucauld was almost certainly familiar with the writings of the Spanish philosopher and writer Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658), developer of the baroque literary style known as conceptismo (conceptism). La Rouchefoucauld was a close friend of Madame de La Fayette (1634-93), the reformer of romance writing, who gained fame with Zaide (1670) and the first great French historical novel, La Princesse de Cléves
(1678). She was some twenty years his junior; their liaison lasted
until La Rochefoucauld's death. He also helped Mme de La Fayette in her
researches for the novel. "He gave me intellect," she said, "and I
reformed his heart." ('Rochefoucauld 1613-1680,' in Lives of the Most Eminent French Writers, p. 102) La
Rochefoucauld died in Paris, on March 17, 1680; at that time he was a
chronic invalid. Writing to his daughter, Madame de Sévigné said of his
final years: "Believe me, it is not for nothing he has moralised all
his life; he has thought so often on his last moments that they are
nothing new or unfamiliar to him." ('Introduction,' in Reflections; or, Sentences and Moral Maxims, pp. xx-xxi) For further reading: Penser par maximes: La Rochefoucauld dans la République des lettres, sous la direction de Jean-Charles Darmon & Charles-Olivier Stiker-Métral (2022); Disguised Vices: Theories of Virtue in Early Modern French Thought by Michael Moriarty (2011); Le laboratoire moraliste: La Rochefoucauld et l'invention moderne de l'auteur by Alain Brunn (2009); The "Honnete Homme" and the Art of Pleasing: Politeness and Sociability in French Thought, 1660-1700 by Tuomas Tikanoja (2009); Falsehood Disguised by Richard G. Hodgson (1995); La Rochefoucauld and the Language of Unmasking in Seventeeth-Century France by Henry C. Clark (1994); La Rochefoucauld, Maximes et réflectiuons diverses by Derek Watts (1993); Procès à La Rochefoucauld et à la maxime by Corrado Rosso (1986); Collaboration et originalité chez La Rochefoucauld by Susan Read Baker (1980); La Rochefoucauld and the Seventeeth-Century Concept of the Self by Vivien Thweat (1980); Essai sur la morale de La Rochefoucauld by Louis Hippeau (1978); Two French Moralists: La Rochefoucauld and La Bruyère by Odette de Mourgues (1978); La Rochefoucauld, Augustinisme et littérature by Jean Lafond (1977); La Rochefoucauld: The Art of Abstraction by Philip E. Lewis (1977); La Rochefoucauld: His Mind and Art by W.G. Moore (1969); New Apects of Style in the Maxims of La Rochefoucauld by Mary Zeller (1954); The Life and Adventrures of La Rochefoucauld by Morris Bishop (1951); La Vrai Visage de La Rochefoucauld by Emile Magne (1923); 'Rochefoucauld 1613-1680,' in Lives of the Most Eminent French Writers, Vol. 1, by Mrs. Shelley and Others (1840) - Suom.: "Meidän hyveemme ovat usein vain valepukuisia paheita." (Mietelmiä, suom. J.V. Lehtonen, 1924 ilmestyneen suomennoksen 2. painos, 1994.) Selected works:
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