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Revision as of 02:13, 8 November 2021
Marcel Proust to Samuel Pozzi on Thursday [12 November 1914]
(Click on the link above to see this letter and its notes in the Corr-Proust digital edition, including all relevant hyperlinks.).
Thursday[1]
102 Haussmann boulevard
Dear Sir,
"He has showered me with goods, he wants to burden me with them” [2] ».
I really didn't expect this certificate[3]. Although, I will always be glad to have it as a souvenir[4]. But in any case, the charming card - charming in its kindness and style - will be preciously kept[5]. At any rate, there was no hurry for this certificate. But "a gift given quickly is worth twice as much ", as the Romans used to say. By being so quick to be munificent , you have been doubly generous[6]. And I am doubly grateful.
Dear Sir, please accept, my tributes of respectful gratitude and deep fondness.
Marcel Proust
Notes
- ↑ Dated simply as 'Thursday', this letter appears to correspond to an envelope with a postmark of [Friday] 13 November 1914. It is therefore probably dated Thursday [12 November 1914]. [FL]
- ↑ Arranged quote from Corneille. In forgiving Cinna, Augustus declares: "You betray my benefits, I want to redouble them; / I had showered you with them, I want to burden you with them." (Corneille, Cinna, act V, scene 3, v. 1707-1708). Proust often uses this line, thus condensed ('Je t'ai comblé de biens') or transposed ('Tu m'as comblé de biens'), to thank his correspondents (see CP 02030, CP 04054 and CP 05431; Kolb, IX, no. 105 and XIX, no. 16; BMP, no. 48, p. 20). [LJ, FL]
- ↑ Proust (who had been discharged from the army in 1911 on the grounds of chronic ill health) had hoped that Pozzi, senior physician in the Paris Military Government and an old friend of his father's, would provide him with an attestation that would exempt him from appearing before the Conseil de révision. But when he had gone to consult him shortly before 24 October 1914, Pozzi had refused (see CP 02830; Kolb, XIV, no. 176). Dr Pozzi's change of heart may be explained by the fact that he had just learned that Proust had obtained certificates from two of his colleagues, including Dr Faisans, an eminent specialist in respiratory diseases (see CP 05412). A discreet intervention by Robert Proust with his mentor and friend cannot be excluded either. [FL]
- ↑ Dr Pozzi's certificate has not been found. It is likely that Proust used it with the military authorities, as well as that of Dr Faisans (of which only a copy made by Céleste Albaret has been found in his papers: see CP 05641). [LJ, FL]
- ↑ This card has not been found. [FL]
- ↑ This quotation often appears in Proust's correspondence. In 1914, it is found in January (CP 02690; Kolb, XIII, no. 38) or again in June (CP 02781; Kolb, XIII, no. 130). It comes from the Sentences of the Latin poet Publilius Syrus (85 B.C. - c. 43 B.C.): Inopi beneficium bis dat, qui dat celeriter ('It is to grant a benefit twice to a pauper to grant it promptly'). The lapidary formula (bis dat qui cito dat) is regularly attributed to Seneca (see for example La Flore latine des dames et des gens du monde, ou Clef des citations latines que l'on rencontre fréquemment [...], by Pierre Larousse, Paris, Larousse et Boyer éditeurs, 1861, p. 55). However, although Seneca's treatise On Benefits (De beneficiis) does indeed develop the idea that one should give 'promptly, without hesitation' (Book II, chapter 1), nowhere does it contain the adage in question. [LJ, FL]
- ↑ Translation notes:
- ↑ Contributors: Obracken