“When King Pyrrhus crossed into Italy, after noting the excellent formation of the army which the Romans had sent ahead towards him he said, ‘I don’t know what kind of Barbarians these are…but there is nothing barbarous about the ordering of the army which I can see!’…We should be similarly wary of accepting common opinions; we should judge them by the ways of reason not by popular vote.”
On page 79, there is a preface beneath the title and before the beginning of the reading portion that reveals Montaigne’s background prior to his experiences in the South American country of Brazil. We learn that before having left his home country, he had read different stories written by previous explores who detailed their voyages to the New World such as Historia del mondo novo by Girolamo Benzoni and other accounts. The similarity in all of these was that they mostly detailed harsh treatment of natives and locals by explorers such as Spaniards within the area at the time.
We can deduct that harsh treatment of indigenous people was a norm but we also come to find that Montaigne held a viewpoint in contradiction to the ones that preceded his. Towards the end of the quote, it is Montaigne himself saying that prejudice shouldn’t be resorted to initially and that individual evaluation must be made. This quote is significant because this is not just a personal opinion he voices but it is also one that has been held before by King Pyrrhus in a similar culture clash of a situation. Montaigne cites this documented opinion in support of his own similar one. Referring back to the preface, his attitude is even named and labeled as primitivism, which can be defined as “respesct for barbarous peoples and…admiration of their conduct, once their motives are understood”.
I agree with this point of Montaigne’s view of the Natives being a contradiction as opposed to the other people who have carried onto voyages before him. Just to even furthermore substantiate your point, Montaigne directly says on page 79, “we should be similarly wary of accepting common opinions; we should judge them by the ways of reason not by popular vote.” This is a direct quote that proves your point to be true again, and I believe your last quote stated also proves your point. You had a very good observation in terms of differentiating a common view point held back in past voyages from Montaigne’s viewpoint now.