[639] These two men are said to have been the brothers Le Peletier. See page [54], note 150.
[640] Bachelors in theology and the canon law were the only graduates compelled to study the history of the first four centuries of the Christian era.
[641] Aristotle.
[642] Cicero.
[643] La Bruyère did not wish to give a sketch of Socrates, as he himself admitted in one of his letters to Ménage. It is supposed he meant to give a portrait of himself; at least he was sometimes called “an intelligent madman.”
[644] A gambler was in La Bruyèreʼs time a regular profession, perhaps not considered quite as respectable as any other of the learned professions, but still decent enough to entitle its professors to be received at court and in very good society. The gambler was almost as much admired for his pluck and dash as a gentleman-jockey is at present.
[645] It was generally believed that this paragraph refers to the minister Le Tellier (1603-1685) and to his son Louvois, for whom see pages [132] and [242], notes 255 and 484.
[646] Cato of Utica (95-46 B.C.). Lucius Calpurnius Piso, the father-in-law of Julius Cæsar, had been accused by Cicero in the year 59 B.C. of extortions, and of plundering Macedonia.
[647] See also the chapter “Of Mankind,” pages [308] and [321], §§ [104] and [139].
[648] Our author had already praised people of a certain age in his chapter “Of the Court,” page 211, § 74.