Cyril Connolly's The Unquiet Grave Translation Cheat Sheet (Part 2)

The Unquiet Grave is a book written by Cyril Connolly in 1944.  It is a book of self-reflection written by a writer in a time of propaganda, war, and private grief.  In this collection of musings, exploration, quotes and aphorisms, Connolly wishes to escape and show solidarity to France and to Western culture by "quoting as many passages as he could from the French".  And quote in French he did, and some Latin as well.  Because not all of us are polyglot like Connolly, I have made a collection of my own to help translate some of the original text from already translated sources, Wikipedia, Google Translate, and, my own rough translation and interpretation.  The page number is based on the First Persea Edition 1982 (and the fourth printing in 1999).

This is the part 2 of the translation which covers the second half of Chapter 1.
The first half of Chapter 1 can be found in Part 1.

Original Text Pascal writes, "Le moi est haïssable ... le moi a deux qualités: il est injuste en soi, en ce qu'il se fait centre du tout; il est incommode aux autres, en ce qu'il les veut asservir: car chaque moi est l'ennemi et voudrait être le tyran de tous les autres". "Qu'on s'imagine un nombre d'hommes dans dans les chaînes, et tous condamnés à la mort, dont les uns étant chaque jour égorgés à la vue des autres, ceux qui restent voient leur propre condition dans celle de leurs semblables, et, se regardant les uns et les autres avec douleur et sans espérance, attendent à leur tour. C'est l'image de la condition des hommes." [- Pascal] Christmas Eve: Dégoûté de tout. Midwinter cafard. "Manes Palinuri esse placandos!" 'Aristippus parlant à des jeunes gens qui rougissaient de le voir entrer chez une courtisane: "Le vice est de n'en pas sortir, non pas d'y entrer."' - MONTAIGNE (Essais, III, v) oeil de boeuf "La liberté et l'oisiveté qui sont mes maîtresses qualités". [- MONTAIGNE] "L'expérience confirme que la mollesse ou l'indulgence pour soi et la dureté pour les autres n'est qu'un seul et même vice". [- Home Truth from La Bruyère] "C'est un contrat tacite entre deux personnes sensibles et vertueuses. Je dis sensibles car un moine, un solitaire peut n'étre point méchant et vivre sans connaître l'amitié. Je dis vertueuses, car les méchants n'ont que des compolices, les voluptueux ont des compagnons de débauche, les intéressés ont des associés, les politiques assemblent des fâcheux, le commun des hommes oisifs a des liaisons, les princes ont des courtisans: les hommes vertueux ont seuls des amis." [- Voltaire on Friendship] ver solitaire Lacrimae Rerum Angoisse des Gares TOUT EST DÉGOÛT ET MISÈRE. Madame du Deffand to Horace Walpole: 'Ennui. C'est une maladie de l'âme dont nous afflige la nature en nous donnant l'existence; c'est le ver solitaire qui absorbe tout ... "Ah! je le répète sans cesse, il n'y a qu'un malheur, celui d'être né." Comment est-il possible qu'on craigne la fin d'une vie aussi triste ... Divertissez-vous, mon ami, le plus que vous pourrez; ne vous affligez point de mon état, nous étions presque perdus l'un pour l'autre; nous ne nous devions jamais revoir; vous me regretterez, parce qu'on est bien aise de se savoir aimé.'

Translation to English The Self is hateful ... the Self has two qualities: it is unjust in itself since it makes itself the centre of everything; it is inconvenient to others since it would enslave them; for each self is the enemy, and would like to be the tyrant of all others. - Pascal, Penseés (Laf. 597, Br. 455) Let us imagine a number of men in chains, and all condemned to death, where some are killed each day in the sight of the others, and those who remain see their own fate in that of their fellows, and wait their turn, looking at each other sorrowfully and without hope.  It is an image of the condition of men. - Pascal, Penseés (Laf. 434, Br 199) Disgust for everything. Midwinter Depression (cafard is also french for cockroach). The ghost of Palinurus be appeased. [extract of Servius's commentaries on the Aeneid.] Aristippus, who, speaking to some young men who blushed to see him go into a scandalous house, said "the vice is in not coming out, but not in going in." [Aristippus is a philosopher and a pupil of Socrates.] small round window (ox-eye window) Liberty and idleness, that are my mistresses' qualities Experience confirms that gentleness or indulgence for oneself and harshness towards others is but one and the same vice. [La Bruyère, Characters, IV] It is a tacit contact between two sensible and virtuous persons. I say sensible, for a monk or a recluse can be not wicked and lives without knowing friendship.  I say virtuous, for the wicked have only accomplices, the voluptuous have companions in debauchery, the self-seekers have associates, the politicians assemble factions, the generality of idle men have connections, the princes have courtiers. Virtuous men alone have friends. [Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary, Friendship] tapeworm Tears for things [Aeneid, I, 462] Station Anxiety All is repulsive and miserable. Boredom. It is a sickness of the soul with which nature afflicts us by giving us existence; it is the tapeworm that absorbs all ... "Ah! I repeat it incessantly, there is only one misfortune, that of being born." How is it possible that we fear the end of such as sad life ... Enjoy, my friend, as much as you can; do not be afflicted by my condition, we were almost lost to each other; we never need to see each other again; you will miss me, because it is nice knowing that you are loved. [Walpole was first ashamed of being "pursued" by Madame du Deffand because she was 20 years older than him but he enjoyed her society and they maintained a close correspondence for 15 years till her death.  She entrusted her dog and her papers to Walpole when she died.]

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