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Shall I group the words as "the cause of [mankind before the sages]" or "[the cause of mankind] before the sages" in the following sentence? Why?

I shall therefore maintain with confidence the cause of mankind before the sages, who invite me to stand up in its defence;

This sentence comes from A Discourse Upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among Mankind

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  • wang zhihao: you should add the context to your question in case the link ceases to function.
    – qdjm
    Commented Dec 5, 2013 at 11:09
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    Reading the sentence a little carefully, one can easily discern that the who refers back to 'the sages', which therefore cannot be broken away from the phrase. I shall (therefore) maintain (with confidence) [the cause of mankind] before [the sages], who invite me to [stand up in its defence] HTH.
    – Kris
    Commented Dec 5, 2013 at 11:51
  • @Nanda, qdjm Maybe the background is more useful than the context here. Rousseau's this discourse is an response to the question proposed by the academy of Dijon. Is the sages referred to as people who proposed this question?
    – wang zhihao
    Commented Dec 5, 2013 at 11:56
  • Completely agree with @Kris.
    – Damkerng T.
    Commented Dec 5, 2013 at 17:00

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A comma could have been helpful!

Given that I don't know the context here, I would go with "[the cause of mankind] before the sages".

My flow of thought: I shall therefore maintain (a comma here?) with confidence (and another comma here?) the cause of mankind (this "cause" is what will be maintained) before the sages, who (refers to the sages) invite me to stand up in its defence;

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  • The original text doesn't contain any more commas. You can find more context from the link I've provided.
    – wang zhihao
    Commented Dec 5, 2013 at 10:13
  • There's no serious necessity, nor is it a grammatical issue, for the commas to be there. In any case, it seems to be some serious writing where the reader is not expected to be in need of hand-holding.
    – Kris
    Commented Dec 5, 2013 at 11:53

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