DEMOCRITUS JUNIOR TO THE READER.
Gentle reader, I presume thou wilt be very inquisitive to know
what antic or personate actor this is, that so insolently intrudes
upon this common theatre, to the world's view, arrogating another
man's name; whence he is, why he doth it, and what he hath to say;
although, as [7]he said,
Primum si noluero, non respondebo,
quis coacturus est? I am a free man born, and may choose
whether I will tell; who can compel me? If I be urged, I will as
readily reply as that Egyptian in [8]Plutarch, when a curious fellow would
needs know what he had in his basket, Quum vides velatam, quid inquiris in rem absconditam?
It was therefore covered, because he should not know what was in
it. Seek not after that which is hid; if the contents please thee,
[9]and be for thy use, suppose
the Man in the Moon, or whom thou wilt to be the author;
I
would not willingly be known. Yet in some sort to give thee
satisfaction, which is more than I need, I will show a reason, both
of this usurped name, title, and subject. And first of the name of
Democritus; lest any man, by reason of it, should be deceived,
expecting a pasquil, a satire, some ridiculous treatise (as I
myself should have done), some prodigious tenet, or paradox of the
earth's motion, of infinite worlds, in infinito vacuo, ex fortuita atomorum collisione, in
an infinite waste, so caused by an accidental collision of motes in
the sun, all which Democritus held, Epicurus and their master
Lucippus of old maintained, and are lately revived by Copernicus,
Brunus, and some others. Besides, it hath been always an ordinary
custom, as [10]Gellius observes,
for later writers and impostors, to broach many absurd and
insolent fictions, under the name of so noble a philosopher as
Democritus, to get themselves credit, and by that means the more to
be respected,
as artificers usually do, Novo qui marmori ascribunt Praxatilem suo.
'Tis not so with me.
[11]Non hic Centaurus, non Gorgonas,
Harpyasque
Invenies, hominem pagina nostra sapit.
No Centaurs here, or Gorgons look to find,
My subject is of man and human kind.
Thou thyself art the subject of my discourse.
[12]Quicquid agunt homines, votum, timor,
ira, voluptas,
Gaudia, discursus, nostri farrago libelli.
Whate'er men do, vows, fears, in ire, in
sport,
Joys, wand'rings, are the sum of my report.
My intent is no otherwise to use his name, than Mercurius
Gallobelgicus, Mercurius Britannicus, use the name of Mercury,
[13]Democritus Christianus,
&c.; although there be some other circumstances for which I
have masked myself under this vizard, and some peculiar respect
which I cannot so well express, until I have set down a brief
character of this our Democritus, what he was, with an epitome of
his life.
Democritus, as he is described by [14]Hippocrates and [15]Laertius, was a little wearish old
man, very melancholy by nature, averse from company in his latter
days, [16]and much given to
solitariness, a famous philosopher in his age, [17]coaevus with Socrates, wholly addicted to his studies
at the last, and to a private life: wrote many excellent works, a
great divine, according to the divinity of those times, an expert
physician, a politician, an excellent mathematician, as [18]Diacosmus and the rest of his works do
witness. He was much delighted with the studies of husbandry, saith
[19]Columella, and often I find
him cited by [20]Constantinus and
others treating of that subject. He knew the natures, differences
of all beasts, plants, fishes, birds; and, as some say, could
[21]understand the tunes and
voices of them. In a word, he was omnifariam doctus, a general scholar, a great student;
and to the intent he might better contemplate, [22]I find it related by some, that he put
out his eyes, and was in his old age voluntarily blind, yet saw
more than all Greece besides, and [23] writ of every subject, Nihil in toto opificio naturae, de quo non
scripsit. [24]A man of an
excellent wit, profound conceit; and to attain knowledge the better
in his younger years, he travelled to Egypt and [25] Athens, to confer with learned men,
[26]admired of some, despised
of others.
After a wandering life, he settled at Abdera, a town
in Thrace, and was sent for thither to be their lawmaker, recorder,
or town-clerk, as some will; or as others, he was there bred and
born. Howsoever it was, there he lived at last in a garden in the
suburbs, wholly betaking himself to his studies and a private life,
[27]saving that sometimes he
would walk down to the haven,
[28]and laugh heartily at such variety
of ridiculous objects, which there he saw.
Such a one was
Democritus.
But in the mean time, how doth this concern me, or upon what
reference do I usurp his habit? I confess, indeed, that to compare
myself unto him for aught I have yet said, were both impudency and
arrogancy. I do not presume to make any parallel, Antistat mihi millibus trecentis, [29]parvus
sum, nullus sum, altum nec spiro, nec spero. Yet thus much I
will say of myself, and that I hope without all suspicion of pride,
or self-conceit, I have lived a silent, sedentary, solitary,
private life, mihi et musis in
the University, as long almost as Xenocrates in Athens, ad senectam fere to learn wisdom as he
did, penned up most part in my study. For I have been brought up a
student in the most flourishing college of Europe, [30] augustissimo collegio, and can brag with [31]Jovius, almost, in ea luce domicilii Vacicani, totius orbis
celeberrimi, per 37 annos multa opportunaque didici; for
thirty years I have continued (having the use of as good [32]libraries as ever he had) a scholar,
and would be therefore loath, either by living as a drone, to be an
unprofitable or unworthy member of so learned and noble a society,
or to write that which should be any way dishonourable to such a
royal and ample foundation. Something I have done, though by my
profession a divine, yet turbine
raptus ingenii, as [33]he
said, out of a running wit, an unconstant, unsettled mind, I had a
great desire (not able to attain to a superficial skill in any) to
have some smattering in all, to be aliquis in omnibus, nullus in singulis, [34] which [35]Plato commends, out of him [36]Lipsius approves and furthers, as
fit to be imprinted in all curious wits, not to be a slave of one
science, or dwell altogether in one subject, as most do, but to
rove abroad, centum puer
artium, to have an oar in every man's boat, to [37] taste of every dish, and sip of every
cup,
which, saith [38]Montaigne, was well performed by
Aristotle, and his learned countryman Adrian Turnebus. This roving
humour (though not with like success) I have ever had, and like a
ranging spaniel, that barks at every bird he sees, leaving his
game, I have followed all, saving that which I should, and may
justly complain, and truly, qui
ubique est, nusquam est, [39]which [40]Gesner did in modesty, that I have
read many books, but to little purpose, for want of good method; I
have confusedly tumbled over divers authors in our libraries, with
small profit, for want of art, order, memory, judgment. I never
travelled but in map or card, in which mine unconfined thoughts
have freely expatiated, as having ever been especially delighted
with the study of Cosmography. [41]Saturn was lord of my geniture,
culminating, &c., and Mars principal significator of manners,
in partile conjunction with my ascendant; both fortunate in their
houses, &c. I am not poor, I am not rich; nihil est, nihil deest, I have little, I want
nothing: all my treasure is in Minerva's tower. Greater preferment
as I could never get, so am I not in debt for it, I have a
competence (laus Deo) from my
noble and munificent patrons, though I live still a collegiate
student, as Democritus in his garden, and lead a monastic life,
ipse mihi theatrum,
sequestered from those tumults and troubles of the world,
Et tanquam in specula positus,
([42]as he said) in some high
place above you all, like Stoicus Sapiens, omnia saecula, praeterita presentiaque videns, uno
velut intuitu, I hear and see what is done abroad, how
others [43]run, ride, turmoil, and
macerate themselves in court and country, far from those wrangling
lawsuits, aulia vanitatem, fori
ambitionem, ridere mecum soleo: I laugh at all, [44]only secure, lest my suit go amiss, my
ships perish, corn and cattle miscarry, trade decay, I have no wife
nor children good or bad to provide for. A mere spectator of other
men's fortunes and adventures, and how they act their parts, which
methinks are diversely presented unto me, as from a common theatre
or scene. I hear new news every day, and those ordinary rumours of
war, plagues, fires, inundations, thefts, murders, massacres,
meteors, comets, spectrums, prodigies, apparitions, of towns taken,
cities besieged in France, Germany, Turkey, Persia, Poland,
&c., daily musters and preparations, and such like, which these
tempestuous times afford, battles fought, so many men slain,
monomachies, shipwrecks, piracies and sea-fights; peace, leagues,
stratagems, and fresh alarms. A vast confusion of vows, wishes,
actions, edicts, petitions, lawsuits, pleas, laws, proclamations,
complaints, grievances are daily brought to our ears. New books
every day, pamphlets, corantoes, stories, whole catalogues of
volumes of all sorts, new paradoxes, opinions, schisms, heresies,
controversies in philosophy, religion, &c. Now come tidings of
weddings, maskings, mummeries, entertainments, jubilees, embassies,
tilts and tournaments, trophies, triumphs, revels, sports, plays:
then again, as in a new shifted scene, treasons, cheating tricks,
robberies, enormous villainies in all kinds, funerals, burials,
deaths of princes, new discoveries, expeditions, now comical, then
tragical matters. Today we hear of new lords and officers created,
tomorrow of some great men deposed, and then again of fresh honours
conferred; one is let loose, another imprisoned; one purchaseth,
another breaketh: he thrives, his neighbour turns bankrupt; now
plenty, then again dearth and famine; one runs, another rides,
wrangles, laughs, weeps, &c. This I daily hear, and such like,
both private and public news, amidst the gallantry and misery of
the world; jollity, pride, perplexities and cares, simplicity and
villainy; subtlety, knavery, candour and integrity, mutually mixed
and offering themselves; I rub on privus privatus; as I have still lived, so I now
continue, statu quo prius,
left to a solitary life, and mine own domestic discontents: saving
that sometimes, ne quid
mentiar, as Diogenes went into the city, and Democritus to
the haven to see fashions, I did for my recreation now and then
walk abroad, look into the world, and could not choose but make
some little observation, non tam
sagax observator ac simplex recitator, [45] not as they did, to scoff or laugh at
all, but with a mixed passion.
[46]Bilem saepe, jocum vestri movere
tumultus.
Ye wretched mimics, whose fond heats have
been,
How oft! the objects of my mirth and spleen.
I did sometime laugh and scoff with Lucian, and satirically tax
with Menippus, lament with Heraclitus, sometimes again I was
[47]petulanti splene chachinno, and then again, [48]urere
bilis jecur, I was much moved to see that abuse which I
could not mend. In which passion howsoever I may sympathise with
him or them, 'tis for no such respect I shroud myself under his
name; but either in an unknown habit to assume a little more
liberty and freedom of speech, or if you will needs know, for that
reason and only respect which Hippocrates relates at large in his
Epistle to Damegetus, wherein he doth express, how coming to visit
him one day, he found Democritus in his garden at Abdera, in the
suburbs, [49]under a shady bower,
[50]with a book on his knees, busy
at his study, sometimes writing, sometimes walking. The subject of
his book was melancholy and madness; about him lay the carcases of
many several beasts, newly by him cut up and anatomised; not that
he did contemn God's creatures, as he told Hippocrates, but to find
out the seat of this atra
bilis, or melancholy, whence it proceeds, and how it was
engendered in men's bodies, to the intent he might better cure it
in himself, and by his writings and observation [51]teach others how to prevent and avoid
it. Which good intent of his, Hippocrates highly commended:
Democritus Junior is therefore bold to imitate, and because he left
it imperfect, and it is now lost, quasi succenturiator Democriti, to revive again,
prosecute, and finish in this treatise.
You have had a reason of the name. If the title and inscription
offend your gravity, were it a sufficient justification to accuse
others, I could produce many sober treatises, even sermons
themselves, which in their fronts carry more fantastical names.
Howsoever, it is a kind of policy in these days, to prefix a
fantastical title to a book which is to be sold; for, as larks come
down to a day-net, many vain readers will tarry and stand gazing
like silly passengers at an antic picture in a painter's shop, that
will not look at a judicious piece. And, indeed, as [52]Scaliger observes, nothing more
invites a reader than an argument unlooked for, unthought of, and
sells better than a scurrile pamphlet,
tum maxime cum novitas excitat [53]palatum. Many men,
saith
Gellius, are very conceited in their inscriptions,
and
able
(as [54]Pliny quotes out
of Seneca) to make him loiter by the way that went in haste to
fetch a midwife for his daughter, now ready to lie down.
For my
part, I have honourable [55]precedents for this which I have done:
I will cite one for all, Anthony Zara, Pap. Epis., his Anatomy of
Wit, in four sections, members, subsections, &c., to be read in
our libraries.
If any man except against the matter or manner of treating of
this my subject, and will demand a reason of it, I can allege more
than one; I write of melancholy, by being busy to avoid melancholy.
There is no greater cause of melancholy than idleness, no better
cure than business,
as [56]
Rhasis holds: and howbeit, stultus
labor est ineptiarum, to be busy in toys is to small
purpose, yet hear that divine Seneca, aliud agere quam nihil, better do to no end, than
nothing. I wrote therefore, and busied myself in this playing
labour, oliosaque diligentia ut
vitarem torporum feriandi with Vectius in Macrobius,
atque otium in utile verterem
negatium.
[57]Simul et jucunda et idonea dicere
vita,
Lectorem delectando simul atque monendo.
Poets would profit or delight mankind,
And with the pleasing have th' instructive joined.
Profit and pleasure, then, to mix with art,
T' inform the judgment, nor offend the heart,
Shall gain all votes.
To this end I write, like them, saith Lucian, that recite to
trees, and declaim to pillars for want of auditors:
as [58]Paulus Aegineta ingenuously
confesseth, not that anything was unknown or omitted, but to
exercise myself,
which course if some took, I think it would be
good for their bodies, and much better for their souls; or
peradventure as others do, for fame, to show myself (Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat
alter). I might be of Thucydides' opinion, [59]to know a thing and not to express
it, is all one as if he knew it not.
When I first took this
task in hand, et quod ait [60]ille, impellents genio negotium
suscepi, this I aimed at; [61]vel ut
lenirem animum scribendo, to ease my mind by writing; for I
had gravidum cor, foetum
caput, a kind of imposthume in my head, which I was very
desirous to be unladen of, and could imagine no fitter evacuation
than this. Besides, I might not well refrain, for ubi dolor, ibi digitus, one must needs scratch
where it itches. I was not a little offended with this malady,
shall I say my mistress Melancholy, my Aegeria, or my malus genius? and for that cause, as he
that is stung with a scorpion, I would expel clavum clavo, [62]comfort one sorrow with another,
idleness with idleness, ut ex vipera
Theriacum, make an antidote out of that which was the prime
cause of my disease. Or as he did, of whom [63]Felix Plater speaks, that thought he
had some of Aristophanes' frogs in his belly, still crying
Breec, okex, coax, coax, oop,
oop, and for that cause studied physic seven years, and
travelled over most part of Europe to ease himself. To do myself
good I turned over such physicians as our libraries would afford,
or my [64]private friends impart,
and have taken this pains. And why not? Cardan professeth he wrote
his book, De Consolatione after his son's
death, to comfort himself; so did Tully write of the same subject
with like intent after his daughter's departure, if it be his at
least, or some impostor's put out in his name, which Lipsius
probably suspects. Concerning myself, I can peradventure affirm
with Marius in Sallust, [65]that which others hear or read of,
I felt and practised myself; they get their knowledge by books, I
mine by melancholising.
Experto
crede Roberto. Something I can speak out of experience,
aerumnabilis experientia me
docuit; and with her in the poet, [66]Haud
ignara mali miseris succurrere disco; I would help others
out of a fellow-feeling; and, as that virtuous lady did of old,
[67]being a leper herself,
bestow all her portion to build an hospital for lepers,
I will
spend my time and knowledge, which are my greatest fortunes, for
the common good of all.
Yea, but you will infer that this is [68]actum
agere, an unnecessary work, cramben bis coctam apponnere, the same again and again
in other words. To what purpose? [69]Nothing is omitted that may well be
said,
so thought Lucian in the like theme. How many excellent
physicians have written just volumes and elaborate tracts of this
subject? No news here; that which I have is stolen, from others,
[70]Dicitque mihi mea pagina fur es. If that severe doom of
[71]Synesius be true, it is a
greater offence to steal dead men's labours, than their
clothes,
what shall become of most writers? I hold up my hand
at the bar among others, and am guilty of felony in this kind,
habes confitentem reum, I am
content to be pressed with the rest. 'Tis most true, tenet insanabile multos scribendi
cacoethes, and [72]there
is no end of writing of books,
as the wiseman found of old, in
this [73]scribbling age,
especially wherein [74]the
number of books is without number,
(as a worthy man saith,)
presses be oppressed,
and out of an itching humour that
every man hath to show himself, [75]desirous of fame and honour
(scribimus indocti
doctique——) he will write no matter what, and
scrape together it boots not whence. [76]Bewitched with this desire of
fame,
etiam mediis in
morbis, to the disparagement of their health, and scarce
able to hold a pen, they must say something, [77]and get themselves a name,
saith Scaliger, though it be to the downfall and ruin of many
others.
To be counted writers, scriptores ut salutentur, to be thought and held
polymaths and polyhistors, apud
imperitum vulgus ob ventosae nomen artis, to get a
paper-kingdom: nulla spe quaestus sed
ampla famae, in this precipitate, ambitious age, nunc ut est saeculum, inter immaturam
eruditionem, ambitiosum et praeceps ('tis [78]Scaliger's censure); and they that are
scarce auditors, vix
auditores, must be masters and teachers, before they be
capable and fit hearers. They will rush into all learning,
togatam armatam, divine, human
authors, rake over all indexes and pamphlets for notes, as our
merchants do strange havens for traffic, write great tomes,
Cum non sint re vera doctiores, sed
loquaciores, whereas they are not thereby better scholars,
but greater praters. They commonly pretend public good, but as
[79]Gesner observes, 'tis pride
and vanity that eggs them on; no news or aught worthy of note, but
the same in other terms. Ne
feriarentur fortasse typographi vel ideo scribendum est aliquid ut
se vixisse testentur. As apothecaries we make new mixtures
everyday, pour out of one vessel into another; and as those old
Romans robbed all the cities of the world, to set out their
bad-sited Rome, we skim off the cream of other men's wits, pick the
choice flowers of their tilled gardens to set out our own sterile
plots. Castrant alios ut libros suos
per se graciles alieno adipe suffarciant (so [80]Jovius inveighs.) They lard their lean
books with the fat of others' works. Ineruditi fures, &c. A fault that every writer
finds, as I do now, and yet faulty themselves, [81]Trium
literarum homines, all thieves; they pilfer out of old
writers to stuff up their new comments, scrape Ennius' dunghills,
and out of [82]Democritus' pit, as
I have done. By which means it comes to pass, [83]that not only libraries and shops
are full of our putrid papers, but every close-stool and jakes,
Scribunt carmina quae legunt
cacantes; they serve to put under pies, to [84]lap spice in, and keep roast meat from
burning. With us in France,
saith [85]Scaliger, every man hath liberty to
write, but few ability.
[86]Heretofore learning was graced by
judicious scholars, but now noble sciences are vilified by base and
illiterate scribblers,
that either write for vainglory, need,
to get money, or as Parasites to flatter and collogue with some
great men, they put cut [87]burras,
quisquiliasque ineptiasque. [88]Amongst so many thousand authors you
shall scarce find one, by reading of whom you shall be any whit
better, but rather much worse, quibus
inficitur potius, quam perficitur, by which he is rather
infected than any way perfected.
[89]———Qui talia
legit,
Quid didicit tandem, quid scit nisi somnia, nugas?
So that oftentimes it falls out (which Callimachus taxed of old) a
great book is a great mischief. [90]Cardan finds fault with Frenchmen and
Germans, for their scribbling to no purpose, non inquit ab edendo deterreo, modo novum aliquid
inveniant, he doth not bar them to write, so that it be some
new invention of their own; but we weave the same web still, twist
the same rope again and again; or if it be a new invention, 'tis
but some bauble or toy which idle fellows write, for as idle
fellows to read, and who so cannot invent? [91]He must have a barren wit, that in
this scribbling age can forge nothing. [92]Princes show their armies, rich men
vaunt their buildings, soldiers their manhood, and scholars vent
their toys;
they must read, they must hear whether they will or
no.
[93]Et quodcunque semel chartis illeverit,
omnes
Gestiet a furno redeuntes scire lacuque,
Et pueros et anus———
What once is said and writ, all men must
know,
Old wives and children as they come and go.
What a company of poets hath this year brought out,
as Pliny
complains to Sossius Sinesius. [94]This April every day some or other
have recited.
What a catalogue of new books all this year, all
this age (I say), have our Frankfort Marts, our domestic Marts
brought out? Twice a year, [95]
Proferunt se nova ingenia et
ostentant, we stretch our wits out, and set them to sale,
magno conatu nihil agimus. So
that which [96]Gesner much
desires, if a speedy reformation be not had, by some prince's
edicts and grave supervisors, to restrain this liberty, it will run
on in infinitum. Quis tam avidus librorum helluo, who can
read them? As already, we shall have a vast chaos and confusion of
books, we are [97]oppressed with
them, [98]our eyes ache with
reading, our fingers with turning. For my part I am one of the
number, nos numerus sumus, (we
are mere ciphers): I do not deny it, I have only this of Macrobius
to say for myself, Omne meum, nihil
meum, 'tis all mine, and none mine. As a good housewife out
of divers fleeces weaves one piece of cloth, a bee gathers wax and
honey out of many flowers, and makes a new bundle of all,
Floriferis ut apes in saltibus omnia
libant, I have laboriously [99]collected this cento out of divers
writers, and that sine
injuria, I have wronged no authors, but given every man his
own; which [100]Hierom so much
commends in Nepotian; he stole not whole verses, pages, tracts, as
some do nowadays, concealing their authors' names, but still said
this was Cyprian's, that Lactantius, that Hilarius, so said
Minutius Felix, so Victorinus, thus far Arnobius: I cite and quote
mine authors (which, howsoever some illiterate scribblers account
pedantical, as a cloak of ignorance, and opposite to their affected
fine style, I must and will use) sumpsi, non suripui; and what Varro, lib. 6. de re rust. speaks of bees, minime maleficae nullius opus vellicantes faciunt
delerius, I can say of myself, Whom have I injured? The
matter is theirs most part, and yet mine, apparet unde sumptum sit (which Seneca approves),
aliud tamen quam unde sumptum sit
apparet, which nature doth with the aliment of our bodies
incorporate, digest, assimilate, I do concoquere quod hausi, dispose of what I take. I make
them pay tribute, to set out this my Maceronicon, the method only
is mine own, I must usurp that of [101]Wecker e Ter. nihil dictum quod non dictum prius, methodus sola
artificem ostendit, we can say nothing but what hath been
said, the composition and method is ours only, and shows a scholar.
Oribasius, Aesius, Avicenna, have all out of Galen, but to their
own method, diverso stilo, non
diversa fide. Our poets steal from Homer; he spews, saith
Aelian, they lick it up. Divines use Austin's words verbatim still,
and our story-dressers do as much; he that comes last is commonly
best,
———donec quid grandius aetas
Postera sorsque ferat melior.———[102]
Though there were many giants of old in physic and philosophy, yet
I say with [103]Didacus Stella,
A dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant may see farther
than a giant himself;
I may likely add, alter, and see farther
than my predecessors; and it is no greater prejudice for me to
indite after others, than for Aelianus Montaltus, that famous
physician, to write de morbis capitis
after Jason Pratensis, Heurnius, Hildesheim, &c., many horses
to run in a race, one logician, one rhetorician, after another.
Oppose then what thou wilt,
Allatres licet usque nos
et usque
Et gannitibus improbis lacessas.
I solve it thus. And for those other faults of barbarism, [104]Doric dialect, extemporanean style,
tautologies, apish imitation, a rhapsody of rags gathered together
from several dunghills, excrements of authors, toys and fopperies
confusedly tumbled out, without art, invention, judgment, wit,
learning, harsh, raw, rude, fantastical, absurd, insolent,
indiscreet, ill-composed, indigested, vain, scurrile, idle, dull,
and dry; I confess all ('tis partly affected), thou canst not think
worse of me than I do of myself. 'Tis not worth the reading, I
yield it, I desire thee not to lose time in perusing so vain a
subject, I should be peradventure loath myself to read him or thee
so writing; 'tis not operae,
pretium. All I say is this, that I have [105]precedents for it, which Isocrates
calls perfugium iis qui
peccant, others as absurd, vain, idle, illiterate, &c.
Nonnulli alii idem fecerunt;
others have done as much, it may be more, and perhaps thou thyself,
Novimus et qui te, &c. We
have all our faults; scimus, et hanc,
veniaim, &c.; [106]thou censurest me, so have I done
others, and may do thee, Cedimus
inque vicem, &c., 'tis lex
talionis, quid pro quo. Go now, censure, criticise, scoff,
and rail.
[107]Nasutus cis usque licet, sis denique
nasus:
Non potes in nugas dicere plura meas,
Ipse ego quam dixi, &c.
Wert thou all scoffs and flouts, a very
Momus,
Than we ourselves, thou canst not say worse of us.
Thus, as when women scold, have I cried whore first, and in some
men's censures I am afraid I have overshot myself, Laudare se vani, vituperare stulti, as I do
not arrogate, I will not derogate. Primus vestrum non sum, nec imus, I am none of the
best, I am none of the meanest of you. As I am an inch, or so many
feet, so many parasangs, after him or him, I may be peradventure an
ace before thee. Be it therefore as it is, well or ill, I have
essayed, put myself upon the stage; I must abide the censure, I may
not escape it. It is most true, stylus virum arguit, our style bewrays us, and as
[108]hunters find their game by
the trace, so is a man's genius descried by his works, Multo melius ex sermone quam lineamentis, de
moribus hominum judicamus; it was old Cato's rule. I have
laid myself open (I know it) in this treatise, turned mine inside
outward: I shall be censured, I doubt not; for, to say truth with
Erasmus, nihil morosius hominum
judiciis, there is nought so peevish as men's judgments; yet
this is some comfort, ut palata, sic
judicia, our censures are as various as our palates.
[109]Tres mihi convivae prope dissentire
videntur,
Poscentes vario multum diversa palato, &c.
Three guests I have, dissenting at my
feast,
Requiring each to gratify his taste
With different food.
Our writings are as so many dishes, our readers guests, our
books like beauty, that which one admires another rejects; so are
we approved as men's fancies are inclined. Pro captu lectoris habent sua fata libelli..
That which is most pleasing to one is amaracum sui, most harsh to another. Quot homines, tot sententiae, so many men, so
many minds: that which thou condemnest he commends. [110]Quod
petis, id sane est invisum acidumque duobus. He respects
matter, thou art wholly for words; he loves a loose and free style,
thou art all for neat composition, strong lines, hyperboles,
allegories; he desires a fine frontispiece, enticing pictures, such
as [111]Hieron. Natali the Jesuit
hath cut to the Dominicals, to draw on the reader's attention,
which thou rejectest; that which one admires, another explodes as
most absurd and ridiculous. If it be not point blank to his humour,
his method, his conceit, [112]si
quid, forsan omissum, quod is animo conceperit, si quae
dictio, &c. If aught be omitted, or added, which he
likes, or dislikes, thou art mancipium paucae lectionis, an idiot, an ass,
nullus es, or plagiarius, a trifler, a trivant, thou art an
idle fellow; or else it is a thing of mere industry, a collection
without wit or invention, a very toy. [113]Facilia sic putant omnes quae jam facta, nec de salebris
cogitant, ubi via strata; so men are valued, their labours
vilified by fellows of no worth themselves, as things of nought,
who could not have done as much. Unusquisque abundat sensu suo, every man abounds in his
own sense; and whilst each particular party is so affected, how
should one please all?
[114]Quid dem? quid non dem? Renuis tu
quod jubet ille.
———What courses must I
choose?
What not? What both would order you refuse.
How shall I hope to express myself to each man's humour and
[115]conceit, or to give
satisfaction to all? Some understand too little, some too much,
qui similiter in legendos libros,
atque in salutandos homines irruunt, non cogitantes quales, sed
quibus vestibus induti sint, as [116]Austin observes, not regarding what,
but who write, [117]orexin habet auctores celebritas, not
valuing the metal, but stamp that is upon it, Cantharum aspiciunt, non quid in eo. If he be
not rich, in great place, polite and brave, a great doctor, or full
fraught with grand titles, though never so well qualified, he is a
dunce; but, as [118]Baronius hath
it of Cardinal Caraffa's works, he is a mere hog that rejects any
man for his poverty. Some are too partial, as friends to overween,
others come with a prejudice to carp, vilify, detract, and scoff;
(qui de me forsan, quicquid est, omni
contemptu contemptius judicant) some as bees for honey, some
as spiders to gather poison. What shall I do in this case? As a
Dutch host, if you come to an inn in. Germany, and dislike your
fare, diet, lodging, &c., replies in a surly tone, [119]aliud
tibi quaeras diversorium, if you like not this, get you to
another inn: I resolve, if you like not my writing, go read
something else. I do not much esteem thy censure, take thy course,
it is not as thou wilt, nor as I will, but when we have both done,
that of [120]Plinius Secundus to
Trajan will prove true, Every man's witty labour takes not,
except the matter, subject, occasion, and some commending favourite
happen to it.
If I be taxed, exploded by thee and some such, I
shall haply be approved and commended by others, and so have been
(Expertus loquor), and may
truly say with [121]Jovius in
like case, (absit verbo jactantia)
heroum quorundam, pontificum, et virorum nobilium familiaritatem et
amicitiam, gratasque gratias, et multorum [122] bene laudatorum laudes sum inde
promeritus, as I have been honoured by some worthy men, so
have I been vilified by others, and shall be. At the first
publishing of this book, (which [123]Probus of Persius satires),
editum librum continuo mirari
homines, atque avide deripere caeperunt, I may in some sort
apply to this my work. The first, second, and third edition were
suddenly gone, eagerly read, and, as I have said, not so much
approved by some, as scornfully rejected by others. But it was
Democritus his fortune, Idem
admirationi et [124]irrisioni
habitus. 'Twas Seneca's fate, that superintendent of wit,
learning, judgment, [125]ad
stuporem doctus, the best of Greek and Latin writers, in
Plutarch's opinion; that renowned corrector of vice,
as,
[126]Fabius terms him, and
painful omniscious philosopher, that writ so excellently and
admirably well,
could not please all parties, or escape
censure. How is he vilified by [127] Caligula, Agellius, Fabius, and
Lipsius himself, his chief propugner? In eo pleraque pernitiosa, saith the same Fabius, many
childish tracts and sentences he hath, sermo illaboratus, too negligent often and remiss, as
Agellius observes, oratio vulgaris et
protrita, dicaces et ineptae, sententiae, eruditio plebeia,
an homely shallow writer as he is. In
partibus spinas et fastidia habet, saith [128]Lipsius; and, as in all his other
works, so especially in his epistles, aliae in argutiis et ineptiis occupantur, intricatus alicubi,
et parum compositus, sine copia rerum hoc fecit, he jumbles
up many things together immethodically, after the Stoics' fashion,
parum ordinavit, multa
accumulavit, &c. If Seneca be thus lashed, and many
famous men that I could name, what shall I expect? How shall I that
am vix umbra tanti philosophi
hope to please? No man so absolute
([129]Erasmus holds) to satisfy all,
except antiquity, prescription, &c., set a bar.
But as I
have proved in Seneca, this will not always take place, how shall I
evade? 'Tis the common doom of all writers, I must (I say) abide
it; I seek not applause; [130]Non
ego ventosa venor suffragia plebis; again, non sum adeo informis, I would not be [131]vilified:
[132]———laudatus
abunde,
Non fastiditus si tibi, lector, ero.
I fear good men's censures, and to their favourable acceptance I
submit my labours,
[133]———et linguas
mancipiorum
Contemno.———
As the barking of a dog, I securely contemn those malicious and
scurrile obloquies, flouts, calumnies of railers and detractors; I
scorn the rest. What therefore I have said, pro tenuitate mea, I have said.
One or two things yet I was desirous to have amended if I could,
concerning the manner of handling this my subject, for which I must
apologise, deprecari, and upon
better advice give the friendly reader notice: it was not mine
intent to prostitute my muse in English, or to divulge secreta Minervae, but to have exposed
this more contract in Latin, if I could have got it printed. Any
scurrile pamphlet is welcome to our mercenary stationers in
English; they print all
———cuduntque libellos
In quorum foliis vix simia nuda cacaret;
But in Latin they will not deal; which is one of the reasons
[134]Nicholas Car, in his oration
of the paucity of English writers, gives, that so many flourishing
wits are smothered in oblivion, lie dead and buried in this our
nation. Another main fault is, that I have not revised the copy,
and amended the style, which now flows remissly, as it was first
conceived; but my leisure would not permit; Feci nec quod potui, nec quod volui, I confess
it is neither as I would, nor as it should be.
[135]Cum relego scripsisse pudet, quia
plurima cerno
Me quoque quae fuerant judice digna lini.
When I peruse this tract which I have writ,
I am abash'd, and much I hold unfit.
Et quod gravissimum, in the
matter itself, many things I disallow at this present, which when I
writ, [136]Non eadem est aetas, non mens; I would
willingly retract much, &c., but 'tis too late, I can only
crave pardon now for what is amiss.
I might indeed, (had I wisely done) observed that precept of the
poet, ———nonumque
prematur in annum, and have taken more care: or, as
Alexander the physician would have done by lapis lazuli, fifty
times washed before it be used, I should have revised, corrected
and amended this tract; but I had not (as I said) that happy
leisure, no amanuenses or assistants. Pancrates in [137]Lucian, wanting a servant as he went
from Memphis to Coptus in Egypt, took a door bar, and after some
superstitious words pronounced (Eucrates the relator was then
present) made it stand up like a serving-man, fetch him water, turn
the spit, serve in supper, and what work he would besides; and when
he had done that service he desired, turned his man to a stick
again. I have no such skill to make new men at my pleasure, or
means to hire them; no whistle to call like the master of a ship,
and bid them run, &c. I have no such authority, no such
benefactors, as that noble [138]Ambrosius was to Origen, allowing
him six or seven amanuenses to write out his dictates; I must for
that cause do my business myself, and was therefore enforced, as a
bear doth her whelps, to bring forth this confused lump; I had not
time to lick it into form, as she doth her young ones, but even so
to publish it, as it was first written quicquid in buccam venit, in an extemporean style, as
[139]I do commonly all other
exercises, effudi quicquid dictavit
genius meus, out of a confused company of notes, and writ
with as small deliberation as I do ordinarily speak, without all
affectation of big words, fustian phrases, jingling terms, tropes,
strong lines, that like [140]Acesta's arrows caught fire as they
flew, strains of wit, brave heats, elegies, hyperbolical
exornations, elegancies, &c., which many so much affect. I am
[141]aquae potor, drink no wine at all, which so much
improves our modern wits, a loose, plain, rude writer, ficum, voco ficum et ligonem ligonem and
as free, as loose, idem calamo quod
in mente, [142]I call a
spade a spade, animis haec scribo,
non auribus, I respect matter not words; remembering that of
Cardan, verba propter res, non res
propter verba: and seeking with Seneca, quid scribam, non quemadmodum, rather
what than how to write: for as Philo thinks,
[143]He that is conversant
about matter, neglects words, and those that excel in this art of
speaking, have no profound learning,
[144]Verba nitent phaleris, at nullus
verba medullas
Intus habent———
Besides, it was the observation of that wise Seneca,
