Table of Contents
St. Aurelius Augustine—(Born in Numidia, Africa, in 354; died in 430.)
Imperial Power for Good and Bad Men. (From Book IV, Chapter III, of "De Civitate Dei")
Anicius Boethius—(Born about 475, died about 524.)
The Highest Happiness. (From "The Consolations of Philosophy." Translated by Alfred the Great)
St. Thomas Aquinas—(Born near Aquino, Italy, probably in 1225; died in 1274.)
A Definition of Happiness. (From the "Ethics")
Thomas a Kempis—(Born in Rhenish Prussia about 1380, died in the Netherlands in 1471.)
Of Eternal Life and of Striving for It. (From "The Imitation of Christ")
FRANCE Twelfth Century—1885
Geoffrey de Ville-Hardouin—(Born between 1150 and 1165; died in 1212.)
The Sack of Constantinople. (From "The Chronicles." Translated by Eric Arthur Bell)
Jean de Joinville—(Born in 1224, died in 1317.)
Greek Fire in Battle. (From "The Memoirs of Louis IX, King of France." Translated by Thomas Johnes)
"Aucassin and Nicolette." (A French romance of the 12th Century, the author's name unknown)
Jean Froissart—(Born in 1337, died in 1410.)
The Battle of Crécy. (From the "Chronicles." Translated by Thomas Johnes)
Philippe de Comines—(Born in France about 1445, died in 1511.)
Of the Character of Louis XI (From the "Memoirs." Translated by Andrew R. Scoble)
Marguerite d'Angouleme—(Born in 1492, died in 1549.)
Of Husbands Who Are Unfaithful. (From the "Heptameron")
Francois Rabelais—(Born in 1495, died in 1553.)
I: Gargantua in His Childhood. (From "The Inestimable Life of the Great Gargantua." Translated by Urquhart and Motteux)
II: Gargantua's Education. (From "The Inestimable Life of the Great Gargantua." Translated by Urquhart and Motteux)
III: Of the Founding of an Ideal Abbey. (From "The Inestimable Life of the Great Gargantua." Translated by Urquhart and Motteux)
John Calvin—(Born in 1509, died in 1564.)
Of Freedom for the Will. (From the "Institutes")
Joachim Du Bellay—(Born about 1524, died in 1560.)
Why Old French Was Not as Rich as Greek and Latin. (From the "Defense et Illustration de la Langue Françoise." Translated by Eric Arthur Bell)
Michel De Montaigne—(Born in 1533, died in 1592.)
I: A Word to His Readers. (From the preface to the "Essays." Translated by John Florio)
II: Of Society and Solitude. (From the essay entitled "Of Three Commerces." The Cotton translation, revised by W. C. Hazlitt)
III: Of His Own Library. (From the essay entitled "Of Three Commerces." The Cotton translation, revised by W. C. Hazlitt)
IV: That the Soul Discharges Her Passions upon False Objects Where True Ones Are Wanting. (From the essay with that title. The Cotton translation)
V: That Men Are Not to Judge of Our Happiness Till After Death. (From the essay with that title. The Cotton translation)
Rene Descartes—(Born in 1596, died in 1650.)
Of Material Things and of the Existence of God. (From the "Meditations." Translated by John Veitch)
Duc de la Rochefoucauld—(Born in France in 1613, died in 1680.)
A Selection from the "Maxims." (Translated by Willis Bund and Hain Friswell)
Blaise Pascal—(Born in 1623, died in 1662.)
Of the Prevalence of Self-Love. (From the "Thoughts." Translated by C. Kegan Paul)
Madame de Sevigne—(Born in Paris in 1626, died in 1696.)
I: Great News from Paris. (From a letter dated Paris, December 15, 1670)
II: An Imposing Funeral Described. (From a letter to her daughter, dated Paris, May 6,1672)
