Le traité de la servitude volontaire, ou Le contre un
Contributions
- Etienne de La Boëtie
- author
- Claude Dubosc
- publisher
- Guillaume Darres
- publisher
Related resources
- has translation
- Discorso di Stefano della Boetie, della schiavitù volontaria, o il Contrà uno translation
Notes
Url to 1576 edition. Here is a link to a beautiful, illustrated edition from 1922: http://davidmhart.com/liberty/FrenchClassicalLiberals/LaBoetie/1922_Jou/ParallelEdition2/Parallel-Texts.html
Originally published clandestinely in 1576 in [Simon Goulart], 'Memoires de l'estat de France, sous Charles neufiesme'. (1576-77, Meidelbourg [Genève?]), Vol.3, pp.160-91, and subsequently as an appendix to Michel de Montaigne's 'Essais'. There were many pirated editions of Boetie's book circulated by French Protestants who opposed religious prosecution in France.
It argues that any tyrant remains in power whose subjects allow him to. Man's original freedom has been abandoned by a society which, corrupted by habit, has come to prefer the servitude of the courtier to the liberty of the free man.
An English translation was published for T. Smith in 1735 as, 'Discourse of Voluntary Servitude. Wrote in French by Stephen de la Boetie'. http://davidmhart.com/liberty/FrenchClassicalLiberals/LaBoetie/1735_Smith/Boetie_DiscourseVoluntaryServitude1735.pdf
For a good overview, see http://davidmhart.com/liberty/FrenchClassicalLiberals/LaBoetie/index.html