Discourse on Voluntary Servitude by Étienne de La Boétie - published: 13/08/2025
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Voluntary servitude, Étienne de La Boétie, 16th-century essay, French literature, tyranny, oppression, security, awareness
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Abstract
In this 16th-century essay, Étienne de La Boétie explores the concept of voluntary servitude, arguing that people submit to oppressive rulers due to a lack of awareness and a desire for security. Written in 1577, this work is a classic of French literature and a powerful critique of tyranny.
Extract
[...] At the beginning, it is ancient Greece that is used. Subsequently, ancient Egyptian and, especially Roman civilization will serve the demonstration. The qualification of 'calamity' will be replaced by that of vice: the domination of one, favored by a very small entourage of courtiers, relies on the cowardice of all. [...]
[...] ] to the time'). The order given to the subjunctive does not have a general value. It was simply necessary for the soldiers to obey instead of wanting to leave. 5 « More to the point, it is a great misfortune to be subject to a master of whom one can never be sure that he is good, since he always has the power to be bad when he wants to, and to have several masters is as many times to be extremely unhappy. [...]
[...] The Discourse begin with a quote that is not surprising from a humanist, two verses from Homer (Iliad, II, 204-205). Beyond the Greek poet stands a political theorist, Aristotle, who also quoted this distich (Politics, IV 27) when his reflection was on democracy. The first Homeric verse establishes a fact: it is bad to have multiple masters. The second, logically, exposes the consequence of this fact: monarchy is the best regime, the subjunctive ('let it makes the sentence a jussive one. [...]
[...] Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, Exordium - Étienne de La Boétie (1577) - Linear Analysis LA BOETIE, DISCOURSE ON VOLUNTARY SERVITUDE (Beginning from don't see any good in having several lords» up to ' . and having several masters, it is as many times as one has them, as many times being extremely unhappy.' Dying young (32 years old), La Boétie published only one Latin poem during his lifetime. It was his great friend Montaigne who published his works, excepting from this publication the Discourse on Voluntary Servitude. [...]
[...] The reason given is the random nature of the monarchy: Titus, 'the delights of the human race') can always become a Nero, having no limit ('when he wants we think of the formula 'for such is our good pleasure' that François ISince had made it his own) This reasoning is logically inescapable: if a master is an evil, several masters bring a train of evils. The words of Ulysses are entirely false. CONCLUSION The beginning of this argumentative text is revealing of the whole work, which follows the rules of rhetoric. This exordium will be followed by a proposition, a narration, an amplification, a confirmation and a peroration. [...]
