What is it to be a human being, he wondered? Why do other people behave as they do? Why do I behave as I do? He watched his neighbours, his colleagues, even his cat and dog, and looked deeply into himself as well. That is just what they were: trials, or attempts upon himself. (You can still visit it today.) There, he started writing down the hundred or so lively, rambling pieces which he called his Essays – a word he coined from essayer: "to try". He converted a chubby tower at one corner of his property to be his library. He would go walking or riding in the local forests, thinking inquisitive thoughts about himself and the world at home, he would read, and write, and talk to people. He married, and had six children, of whom five died in infancy.Īll this time, though, what he truly liked doing had nothing to do with either work or family. He also ran diplomatic missions for the king and local princes, notably the future Henri IV. In his 40s, he spent a fascinating year and a half travelling through Germany, Switzerland and Italy, indulging his curiosity about how other people lived. For 13 years, he was a magistrate in the city of Bordeaux. His life was unremarkable: born in 1533, the same year as Elizabeth I of England, he lived on his family estate amid the vineyards of south-western France until 1592, when he died of kidney-stone complications. Montaigne liked to present himself as an ordinary man, distinguished from others only by his habit of writing things down.
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