5 - The Foedus Amicitiae of Etienne de la Boétie and Michel de Montaigne

Summary

The friendship of Michel de Montaigne and Étienne de la Boétie has attracted considerable critical attention, particularly as it is portrayed in Montaigne's writings, and most notably in his essay “De l'Amitié.” In this much-studied work, Montaigne declares that, when compared with the few years of his friendship with La Boétie, the rest of his life

n'est que fumée, ce n'est qu'une nuit obscure et ennuyeuse.

is nothing but smoke, nothing but a dark and tedious night.

This is a dramatic statement, but it is reasonable to say that Montaigne's legacy as a writer is irrevocably marked by his friendship with La Boétie. In this chapter, I argue that Montaigne's development of the Essais is deeply influenced by this friendship and the epistolary genre. More than being a means to express their friendship, I argue that the letter is a means for its very existence. This foundation is belied by Montaigne's near-mystical rhetoric in describing their friendship, which,

ayant saisi toute ma volonté, l'amena se plonger et se perdre dans la sienne; qui, ayant saisi toute sa volonté, l'amena se plonger et se perdre en la mienne

Having seized my whole will, made it plunge and lose itself in his; which, having seized his whole will, made it plunge and lose itself in mine

Compared with this fervent declaration, the image of their friendship represented by Étienne de La Boétie is somewhat more moderate, and certainly much more mediated. In “De l'Amitié,” Montaigne exalts their friendship and offers observations on the nature of friendship in ways that critics have pointed out are not unproblematic: their friendship is perfect, but it is unusually short, for which both writers offer justifications; it is praised in light of classical ideals for friendship, but these terms are complicated by the romantic vocabulary Montaigne uses to describe their relationship. Moreover, the perfection of this union is undermined by its predication on an exaggerated and unmistakable misogyny. The triangulation of this friendship is anticipated by the ways in which friendship is a mediated affair in La Boétie's letters, which precede Montaigne's essays by roughly twenty years. La Boétie writes of their friendship in verse epistles addressed to Montaigne, but through the filters of Horatian satire, the humanist recuperation of the classical practice of amicitia, and the civic and moral obligations of this amicitia.