This is going to sound terribly pretentious, but here goes:
I’m in the middle of reading an english translation of the “Analects of Confucius”. In the introduction the translator uses the following “famous statement” from Montesquieu without giving an english translation:
Unfortunately its fame hasn’t spread as far as me.
Anybody out there able to provide an english translation please?
I’ve tried Google to no avail
Despite having taken only a year of college French, I’m pretty sure this translates to “When people have good morals, the laws become simple.”
Opus 1 that certainly fits the context, thanks.
BTW, it’s 2:30 in the afternoon here so it must be some ungodly hour in Tuscon. What on earth are you doing reading SDMB at that time?
From what I can see, it was 7:13 p.m. when Opus1 posted. Oh wait, there’s no daylight savings in Arizona so maybe it was 6:13. I’m an insomniac and post at unusual hours, and thankfully no one’s ever asked me to explain why I’m up.
Close, but not quite. My take would be, “When a people has good habits, laws become simple.”
The differences here are, un peuple, which refers to a specific group of people, not just people in general, and moeurs which means something like habit or custom rather than morals. Of course, having the former somewhat implies the later, so in that sense your translation isn’t that far off the mark.
Incidently, there were a few typos in the original quote, it should read:
Jovan
Thanks - both for your analysis and the correction of my typos.
The Montesquieu quote was used by the author to reinforce the Confucian view that “The true cohesion of a society is secured not through legal rules but through ritual observances”. The commentator was trying to support the view that this should include not just ‘rites’ but “also ‘moeurs’, ‘civilized usages’, ‘moral conventions’ and even ‘common decency’”. This certainly seems to fit with the translation offered by both yourself and Opus 1