Chapter 9 Chapter nine

The few days we spent in Sorrento were pleasant and peaceful.Have I experienced this comfort, this happiness?Will I taste the same comfort and happiness hereafter? ... I stayed by Marceline's side, thinking less about myself and taking care of her more, and I found it very interesting to talk to her, but I was happy to keep silent a few days ago. I thought our loafing life would satisfy me, but I noticed that she, though she too was loitering, regarded it as a temporary condition, and I was surprised at first, but soon saw the leisure of it.It lasted for a while, because my body was finally recovering from the leisure, but for the first time in my spare time, I felt the desire to work.I seriously talked about going home, and seeing her joyful expression, I knew that she had already had this idea.

However, several subjects in history on which I began to ponder again did not arouse my earlier interest.I told you that since my illness I have found it useless to know antiquity in the abstract and dry; it is true that I used to do philological studies, for example, trying to explain the role of Gothic in the variation of Latin, ignoring and not understanding Figures such as Theodoric, Cassiodorus, and Amaraswend, with their admirable passions, delved only into the symbols and dross of their lives; Philology, however, seemed to me only a means of gaining an insight into the greatness and nobility of the barbarian peoples which appeared to me.I decided to study that period further, concentrating for a while on the last years of the Gothic Empire, and taking advantage of our travels to take the next trip to Ravenna, the scene of its demise.

① Refers to the Ostrogothic king, known as Theodoric the Great, who reigned from 474 to 526 AD. ②Cassiodorus (about 480-575 AD), a Latin writer. ③Amaras Winter (?—535), the daughter of King Theodoric, her stepfather was called queen; she was regent until her son Atalarik came of age, and was murdered by her husband Theodoric. ④ Ravenna, an Italian city. However, to be honest, what attracted me the most was the image of the young king Atalarik.In my imagination, this fifteen-year-old boy, secretly instigated by the Goths, rose up against his mother, Amaras Winter, and abandoned culture like a horse from the harness of the saddle, against the Latin civilization he had been subjected to. Education, contemptuous of the overly sensible old Cassiodorus society, favoring the uneducated Gothic society, taking advantage of the golden age, rough temperament, lived a few years of dissolute life, completely corrupted, and died at the age of eighteen Died.In this pathetic urge for a more savage and quaint condition, I found what Marceline called, with a smile, "my crisis."Now that there was no problem with the body, I at least used my mind for a kind of satisfaction; and in the sudden death of Atalarik I tried to draw a lesson.

Instead of going to Venice and Verona, we hurriedly visited Rome and Florence, stayed in Ravenna for half a month, and then returned to Paris, ending the trip abruptly.I took a new pleasure in discussing my future arrangements with Maceline.How to spend the summer is still undecided.Both of us had had enough travels and did not want to go any further; I wished to pursue my research in peace; so we thought of an estate.That manor, between Lysieux and the Pont Bishop, in the most vegetated part of Normandy; it belonged to my mother, and I spent summers there with her once in my childhood, and I have not been there since her death. .My father put it in the care of a nursing home.The nursing home is old now, and he kept part of the rent for himself, and sent the rest to us on time.In a garden crossed by several running waters, there was a very handsome big house, which made a very wonderful impression on me.That estate is called Molinier; I think it would be better to live there.

I also mentioned that I went to Rome this winter, but this time as a researcher rather than a tourist.In the end, however, this plan was quickly canceled, because I received an important mail in Naples that had arrived for a long time, and suddenly learned that a lecture chair was vacant at the French Academy, and my name was mentioned several times; It is because of this that there is greater freedom.The friend who wrote to me also pointed out that if I would accept it, it would only take a few simple activities; he urged me to accept it.I hesitated at first, especially afraid of being enslaved; then I thought that it might be interesting to explain my research results on Cassiodorus in class; moreover, it would also make Maceline happy, so I decided to do it.Once decided, I only look at the positives.

My father had many acquaintances in the academic circles of Rome and Florence, with whom I also established correspondence.If I have to go to Ravenna and other places for research and research, they can provide all kinds of conveniences.I just want to work.Marceline is also considerate in every possible way, catering to her, and using her mind to push me to work. At the end of our trip our happiness was so smooth and serene that there was nothing to tell.The most moving works of men are always the product of pain.What is there to say about happiness?Except for the management and the subsequent destruction of happiness, it is really not worth talking about. —And what I have just told you is the whole of the business of happiness.