L’énergie latine du français dans les Essais

In his Essays, Montaigne deplores the inability of the French to express complex ideas. He writes that he reverts to Latin to make up for its inadequacies. The article explores the different modes of relief (« secours ») possible, from the introduction of Latin quotations, fragments of an ancient thought, to the attempt to give the French language « unaccustomed movements » (« mouvements inaccoustumés ») by employing Latin words or syntactic structures.