Volume 1

Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau / Jean Jacques Rousseau.

  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Date:
1931
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau / Jean Jacques Rousseau. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    BOOK VI [i736] Hoc erat in votis ; modus agri non ita magnus, Hortus ubi et tecto vicinus iugis aquae fons, Et paulum silvae super his foret.1 I cannot add : Di melius fecere.2 Auctius atque But no matter ; I had no need of more ; I did not even need any property at all; the enjoyment of it was enough for me, and I have long ago said and felt, that the proprietor and the pos¬ sessor are often two very different persons, even if one leaves husbands and lovers out of the question. At this period commences the brief happiness of my life ; here approach the peaceful, but rapid moments which have given me the right to say, I have lived. Precious and regretted moments ! begin again for me your delightful course ; and, if it be possible, pass more slowly in succession through my memory, than you did in your fugitive reality. What can I do, to prolong, as I should like, this touching and simple narrative, to repeat the same things over and over again, without wearying my readers by such repetition, any more than I was wearied of them myself, when I recommenced the life again and again ? If all this consisted of facts, actions, and words, I could describe, and in a manner, give an idea of them ; but how is it possible to describe what was neither said nor done, nor even thought, but enjoyed and felt, without being able to assign any other reason for my happiness than this simple feeling ? I got up at sunrise, and was happy ; I walked, and was happy ; I saw mamma, and was happy ; I left her, and was happy ; I roamed the forests and hills, I wandered in the valleys, I read, I did nothing, I worked in the garden, I picked the fruit, I helped in the work of the house, and happiness followed me everywhere—happiness, which could not be referred to any definite object, but dwelt entirely within myself, and which never left me for a single instant. 1 This used to be the height of my wishes : a small piece of land, with a garden, a stream of running water near the house, and a little wood besides. 2 The gods have blessed me with more than I desire. —Horace, Satire II., vi., 1-4.