How many valiant men we have seen to survive their own reputation!

Montaigne is observing how fame can peak early and then become a burden: a person’s later life must compete with an idealized public image formed at the height of their achievements. “Survive their own reputation” suggests that reputation can outgrow the living person, so that ordinary aging, changing circumstances, or a single later failure looks like decline. The remark fits Montaigne’s broader skepticism about glory and public judgment—he repeatedly notes how unstable renown is, how it depends on fortune and spectators, and how it can distort self-knowledge. The line is a caution against measuring worth by applause and against expecting a life to continuously match its most celebrated moment.