ABSTRACT
Strowski famously posited a three-stage Montaigne, a Stoic, a Sceptic and an Epicurean, and even though this clean tripartite division has been discredited, the fact remains that there is a high incidence of pleasure-related vocabulary in his writing. An initial distinction needs to be made between Michel de Montaigne's reaction to Epicureans and Epicureanism in general, and his attitude towards Epicurus in particular. Socrates validates the forms of pleasure with which the name of Epicurus has been hitherto associated. The point of the art of slowness — the process of indirection — and its associated technique of tender handling of materials of 'De lexperience' becomes clearer if one considers two flanking passages in the Essais where statements of a similar nature are made. Epicurus, however, is a double-edged figure for Montaigne, finding pleasure in both spurning and seeking glory.
