Le présent ouvrage livre la première édition et la première traduction de l’ensemble des chaînes aux Proverbes recensées pour les Chapitres 1 à 3 ; 8, 22-36 ; 30, 15-33 et 31, 10-31 des Proverbes. Les résultats de cette recherche permettent de considérer sous un jour nouveau la mouvance observée entre les différentes traditions caténaires. L’apport d’un manuscrit jusqu’ici négligé, le Bodleianus Barocci 195, permet de démêler l’écheveau de textes amalgamés, non délimités, souvent anonymes et parfois fautivement attribués par les caténistes ou les critiques. Il permet de retrouver un état de texte long et articulé, sous la forme d’un commentaire continu, de l’exégèse de Didyme aux Proverbes, quand les autres traditions ont eu tendance à la pulvériser sous la forme d’une multitude de scholies. Le commentaire qui accompagne cette édition repense à la fois les rapports entre les différentes formes de textes et le rapport de ces textes aux textes d’auteurs, jusqu’à redéfinir les contours d’un genre généralement conçu de façon trop monolithique : la chaîne exégétique. Outre les fragments nouveaux qu’il porte à la connaissance du public, le présent ouvrage se propose de reconstruire, sur la base de l’échantillon considéré, la personnalité herméneutique et littéraire d’auteurs qui ne sont pas conservés, pour les commentaires aux Proverbes, autrement que par cette forme de littérature secondaire : Didyme d’Alexandrie au premier chef, mais aussi Hippolyte et Origène. La mise en regard des traditions caténaires donne un riche aperçu de la réception patristique du premier des trois livres bibliques attribués au Roi Salomon. / The present work gives the first edition and first translation of all the catenae on the Proverbs known to these days, for parts commenting on Chapters 1 to 3 ; 8, 22-36 ; 30, 15-33 and 31, 10-31. The results of my inquiry allow to give a new signification to the mobility between the different traditions. The rediscovery of a neglected witness, the Bodleianus Barocci 195, brings some new light on texts amalgamated, without clear delimitation, often anonymous, and sometimes wrongly ascribed to antique writers by compilers or modern critics. It allows to have access to an extended and more articulated state of text for Didymus’ work on the Proverbs: a running commentary, not membra disjecta. The analysis in a separate volume rethinks the links between the different forms of texts and those between the catenary texts and the original texts. It renews our understanding of a too strictly defined genre: the exegetical catena. In addition to new fragments edited for the first time, the present work tries to rebuild the exegetic and literary personality of authors whose commentaries on the Proverbs are not preserved out of this form of secondary literature: Didymus of Alexandria first, but also Hippolytus and Origen. The parallel established between the various catenary traditions gives a rich insight into the Patristic reception of the first of the three biblical books ascribed to King Salomon.

Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de Guibert (1743-1790) dedicated his life and career to creating a new doctrine for the French army. Little about this doctrine was revolutionary. Indeed, Guibert openly decried the anarchy of popular participation in government and looked askance at the early days of the Revolution. Rather, Guibert’s doctrine marked the culmination of an evolutionary process that commenced decades before his time and reached fruition in the Réglement of 1791, which remained in force until the 1830s. Not content with military reform, Guibert demanded a political and social constitution to match. His reforms required these changes, demanding a disciplined, service-oriented society and a functional, rational government to assist his reformed military. He delved deeply, like no other contemporary writer, into the linkages between society, politics, and the military throughout his career and his writings. Guibert exerted an overwhelming influence on military thought across Europe for the next fifty years. His military theories provided the foundation for military reform during the twilight of the Old Regime. The Revolution, which adopted most of Guibert’s doctrine in 1791, continued his work. A new army and way of war based on Guibert’s reforms emerged to defeat France’s major enemies. In Napoleon’s hands, Guibert’s army all but conquered Europe by 1807. As other nations adopted French methods, Guibert’s influence spread across the Continent, reigning supreme until the 1830s. This dissertation adopts a biographical approach to examine Guibert’s life and influence on the creation of the French military system that led to Napoleon’s conquest of Europe. As no such biography exists in Anglophone literature, such a work will fill a crucial gap in understanding French military success to 1807. It examines the period of French military reform from 1760 to the creation and use of Napoleon’s Grande Armée from 1803 to 1807, illustrating the importance of Guibert’s systemic doctrine in the period. Moreover, the work argues that Guibert belongs in the ranks of authors whose works exerted a primary influence on the French Enlightenment and Revolution by establishing Guibert as a “Great Man” of the Republic of Letters between 1770 and his death in 1790.