Gilles Ménage
Encyclopedia
Gilles Ménage was a French
scholar.
He was born at Angers
, the son of Guillaume Ménage, king's advocate at Angers
, where Gilles was born.
A good memory and enthusiasm for learning carried him quickly through his literary and professional studies, and he practised at the bar at Angers before he was twenty. In 1632, he pleaded several causes before the parlement
of Paris
, but illness caused him to abandon the legal profession for the church. He became prior
of Montdidier
without taking holy orders
, and lived for some years in the household of Cardinal de Retz
(then coadjutor to the Archbishop of Paris
), where he had leisure for literary pursuits.
Some time after 1648 he quarrelled with his patron and withdrew to a house in the cloister of Notre-Dame de Paris, where he gathered round him on Wednesday evenings those literary assemblies which he called "Mercuriales". Jean Chapelain
, Paul Pellisson
, Valentine Conrart, Jean François Sarrazin
and Du Bos were among the habitués. He was tutor to Marie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, comtesse de la Fayette
, later the great writer, to whom he was very attached. He was admitted to the Accademia della Crusca
of Florence
, but his caustic sarcasm led to his exclusion from the Académie française
. Ménage made many enemies and suffered under the satire of Boileau
and of Molière
. Molière immortalized him as the pedant Vadius in Les Femmes savantes
, a portrait Ménage pretended to ignore.
In 1664 he published at London an edition of the Lives of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius that contains an unedited anonymous life of Aristotle; this life was known as 'Vita Menagiana' before the critical edition by Ingemar Düring, Aristotle in the ancient biographical tradition Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell 1957; reprinted New York, Garland, 1987, pp. 80–93) with the title 'Vita Hesychii' (the attribution to Hesychius of Miletus is controversial).
Ménage died at Paris in 1692.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
scholar.
He was born at Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....
, the son of Guillaume Ménage, king's advocate at Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....
, where Gilles was born.
A good memory and enthusiasm for learning carried him quickly through his literary and professional studies, and he practised at the bar at Angers before he was twenty. In 1632, he pleaded several causes before the parlement
Parlement
Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...
of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, but illness caused him to abandon the legal profession for the church. He became prior
Prior
Prior is an ecclesiastical title, derived from the Latin adjective for 'earlier, first', with several notable uses.-Monastic superiors:A Prior is a monastic superior, usually lower in rank than an Abbot. In the Rule of St...
of Montdidier
Montdidier
Montdidier is the name of several communes in France:* Montdidier, in the Moselle département* Montdidier, in the Somme département...
without taking holy orders
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
, and lived for some years in the household of Cardinal de Retz
Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz
Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz was a French churchman, writer of memoirs, and agitator in the Fronde....
(then coadjutor to the Archbishop of Paris
Archbishop of Paris
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris is one of twenty-three archdioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The original diocese is traditionally thought to have been created in the 3rd century by St. Denis and corresponded with the Civitas Parisiorum; it was elevated to an archdiocese on...
), where he had leisure for literary pursuits.
Some time after 1648 he quarrelled with his patron and withdrew to a house in the cloister of Notre-Dame de Paris, where he gathered round him on Wednesday evenings those literary assemblies which he called "Mercuriales". Jean Chapelain
Jean Chapelain
Jean Chapelain was a French poet and writer.-Biography:Chapelain was born in Paris. His father wanted him to become a notary; but his mother, who had known Pierre de Ronsard, had decided otherwise...
, Paul Pellisson
Paul Pellisson
thumb|Paul Pellisson,Paul Pellisson was a French author.He was born in Béziers, of a distinguished Calvinist family. He studied law at Toulouse, and practised at the bar of Castres. Going to Paris with letters of introduction to Valentin Conrart, a fellow Calvinist, he was introduced to the...
, Valentine Conrart, Jean François Sarrazin
Jean François Sarrazin
Jean François Sarrazin , or Sarasin, was a French author.-Biography:Sarrazin was born at Hermanville, near Caen, the son of Roger Sarasin, treasurer-general at Caen....
and Du Bos were among the habitués. He was tutor to Marie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, comtesse de la Fayette
Marie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, comtesse de la Fayette
Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, comtesse de La Fayette , better known as Madame de La Fayette, was a French writer, the author of La Princesse de Clèves, France's first historical novel and one of the earliest novels in literature.- Life :Christened Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, she was...
, later the great writer, to whom he was very attached. He was admitted to the Accademia della Crusca
Accademia della Crusca
The Accademia della Crusca is an Italian society for scholars and Italian linguists and philologists established in Florence. After the Accademia Cosentina, it is the oldest Italian academy still in existence...
of Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, but his caustic sarcasm led to his exclusion from the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
. Ménage made many enemies and suffered under the satire of Boileau
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux was a French poet and critic.-Biography:Boileau was born in the rue de Jérusalem, in Paris, France. He was brought up to the law, but devoted to letters, associating himself with La Fontaine, Racine, and Molière...
and of Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
. Molière immortalized him as the pedant Vadius in Les Femmes savantes
Les Femmes Savantes
Les Femmes savantes is a play by Molière in five acts, written in verse. A satire on academic pretention, female education, and préciosité , it was one of his most popular comedies...
, a portrait Ménage pretended to ignore.
In 1664 he published at London an edition of the Lives of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius that contains an unedited anonymous life of Aristotle; this life was known as 'Vita Menagiana' before the critical edition by Ingemar Düring, Aristotle in the ancient biographical tradition Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell 1957; reprinted New York, Garland, 1987, pp. 80–93) with the title 'Vita Hesychii' (the attribution to Hesychius of Miletus is controversial).
Ménage died at Paris in 1692.
Works (partial list)
- Poemata latina, gallica, graeca, et italica (1656)
- Observationes et emendationes in Diogenem Laertium Paris 1663, (reprint: London 1664, Amsterdam 1692)
- Origini della lingua italiana (1669)
- Dictionnaire etymologique (1650 and 1670)
- Observations sur la langue française (1672–1676)
- Histoire de Sablé (1683)
- Anti-Bailet (1690)
- Historia mulierum philosopharum (1690).
English translations
- The history of women philosophers translated from the Latin with an introduction by Beatrice H. Zedler, Lanham: University press of America (1984)