Descartes: A Biography

c CUNYB/Clarke     December, :

In Search of a Career (–) 

battles that were rumoured to be occurring to the east in Germany. He

wrote:

The troubles that have suddenly engulfed France [Germany?] have not changed my

mind, but they will delay me here a little longer. I shall not leave for another three

weeks. But I hope to reach Amsterdam and to go on to Danzig from there. Then by

crossing Poland and part of Hungary, I shall reach Austria and Bohemia. This is a

longer journey but I think it is safer. I shall bring my valet with me, and perhaps some

friends that I have come to know. (x.–)

On April,hewrote to Beeckman again to say that ‘I leave today to

visit Denmark. I shall stay a while at Copenhagen, where I shall wait for a

letter from you’ (x.). The extent and duration of these travels remain

uncertain. What is clear, at least, is that somehow Descartes arrived in

Frankfurt during the ceremonies to celebrate the coronation of Ferdinand

as emperor, which lasted fromJuly toSeptember, and that he had

enlisted prior to that in the army of the (Catholic) duke of Bavaria.

Descartes’ correspondence with Beeckman before his departure is

unusually affectionate, even by the standards of the seventeenth century.

Forexample, he inquires of Beeckman ‘not only about your mind, although

that may be the most important part of you, but about the whole man’

(x.), and he mentions the Muses ‘that attached me to you by an affec-

tionate bond that could never break’ (January). Having inquired

about Beeckman’s health, he concludes: ‘Meantime love me, and be certain

that I would forget the Muses themselves rather than you, for they have

bound me to you by a permanent bond of love’ (January).The

same affectionate sentiments are expressed in March and April, almost as if

his impending departure heightened the anticipated feeling of separation.

‘I write this letter so that your affection for me will have no occasion to be

diminished. Love me, live in joy, and take care of yourself ’ (March).

OnApril, Descartes asks Beeckman for news about his personal life:

‘how are you, what are you doing, are you still planning to get married...?

Good-bye, Love me.’ OnApril he writes again from Breda: ‘I did not

wish to leave here without once more renewing, by letter, the friendship

that will endure between us’ (x.). Finally, just before his departure

(April), he writes: ‘I do not want to lose any opportunity for writing to

you, to show my affection for you, and to show that my memory of you

cannot be erased by any of the distractions that occur during my travels’

(x.).