worries me by all going so wrongly.
_Cast._ As you will. But perchance the fault is not
in the game, but in your lack of skill, for you don’t
know how to direct your steps to victory, but you throw
away your cards without any reason, as chance happens,
thinking that it doesn’t matter what you have played
before, or might play later, what and in what place any
card should be played.
_Tam._ Of all things there is satiety, and even of
pleasures. I am now weary of sitting. Let us get up for a
little time.
_Lup._ Take this lute and sing something to us.
_Tam._ What will you have?
_Lup._ A song on games.
_Tam._ A song of Vergil’s?
_Lup._ Yes; or if you prefer one of Vives, the song he
lately sang as he wandered along the wall-promenade of
Bruges.
_Val._ With the voice of a goose.
_Lup._ But you sing it with a swan’s voice!
_Tam._ This a god would do better, for the swan only
sings as death urges him on.
Ludunt et pueri, ludunt juvenesque senesque
Ingenium, gravitas, cani, prudentia, ludus,
Denique mortalis sola virtute remota,
Quid nisi nugatrix, et vana est fabula, vita.[79]
_Val._ I can assure you the song is well expressed,
though it comes as it were from a dry old stick (_ex
spongia arida_).
_Lup._ Does he compose a song with such great difficulty?
_Val._ Indeed he does. Whether it is because he writes
poetry so rarely, or because he does not do it willingly,
or because the inclination of his genius drives him into
other regions.
XXII
LEGES LUDI—_Laws of Playing_
A VARIED DIALOGUE ON THE CITY OF VALENCIA
BORGIA, SCINTILLA, CABANILLIUS
Valencia is a town of Spain, the native town of Vives. To
it Ptolemaeus gives 14° longitude, 39° latitude. _See_
the same in the fourth map, Europe. There is another
Valencia in France, as to which _see_ the fifth map
of Europe. This dialogue contains, to a large extent,
the description of the native town of Ludovicus Vives.
There are two parts of the dialogue. In the former part
he describes two cities: Paris with its games, and
Valencia; in the latter part he prescribes the laws
of play. Ammianus Marcellinus calls Paris (Lutetia)
_Parisiorum castellum_. The Emperor Julianus in an
oration with the title Αντιοχιὸς ἢ μισοπώγων[80] calls
it των παρισίων την πολιχνὴν;[81] where also he shows
for what reason he once was driven at Lutetia to vomit
his food, viz., when impatient of the French custom,
by which they were accustomed to heat their rooms by
means of stoves (_fornaces_). Coal having been taken
to the sleeping-chamber of Vives, he was almost killed
by the fumes. _See_ Beatus Rhenanus, book 3, _rerum
Germanicarum_, at the end; Aegydius Corrozetus, _de
antiquitat. Parisiens._; and Zuingerus, book 3, _methodi
Apodemicae_.
PART I. _Lutetia_
_Borg._ Whence comest thou, most delightful Scintilla?
_Scin._ From Lutetia.
_Borg._ What Lutetia is that?
_Scin._ Do you ask which Lutetia, as if there were many!
_Borg._ If there is only one, I don’t know what it is, or
where it is situated.
_Scin._ It is the Parisian Lutetia (_Lutetia Parisiorum_).
_Borg._ I have often heard the Parisians spoken of, but
never Lutetia. It is, then, that Lutetia which we call
Paris? This is the reason then why, for so long, no one
has seen thee at Valencia, and especially hast thou been
missed at the tennis court (_sphaeristerium_) of the
nobles.
_Scin._ I have seen at Lutetia other tennis courts,
other gymnasia, other games, far more useful and more
attractive than yours at Valencia.
_Borg._ What are those, pray?
_Scin._ There are thirty gymnasia, more or less, in that
university (_academia_), which provides for every kind of
erudition, knowledge, and wisdom; learned teachers, and
most studious youths, who are thoroughly well-bred.
_Borg._ Forsooth, a crowd of people!
_Scin._ What do you call a crowd?
_Borg._ The dregs of the people, sons of shoemakers,
weavers, barbers, fullers, and every kind of operative
artificers.
_Scin._ I see that you people here measure the whole
world by your city, and think that all Europe has the
same customs which you have here. I can tell you, that
the youth there very largely consists of princes, leaders
of men, nobles, and the wealthiest persons, not only from
France, but also from Germany, Italy, Great Britain,
Spain, Belgium, marvellously devoted to the study of
letters, obeying the precepts and instructions of their
teachers. Their conduct is not formed through simple
admonition merely, but by sharp reproof and, when it is
necessary, even by punishment, by blows and lashes. All
which they receive and bear with modest mind and the most
collected countenance.
_Valencia_
_Caban._ I have often heard stories told of the
university, when I was acting as ambassador (_legatus_)
of King Ferdinand. But please now leave this topic, or
defer it for another time. You see that we have now
entered the Miracle Playground (_in ludo Miraculi_),
which lies next to the Carrossi Square. Come, now, let
our conversation turn to the pleasurable topic of the
playing-ball (_pila_).
_Scin._ I should like it as long as we don’t sit down,
but go on talking, as we walk about. Then it would be
very agreeable. Where shall we go? Shall we take this
way, which leads to St. Stephen’s Church, or that way to
the Royal Gate, where we then can visit the palace of
Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria?
_Caban._ Don’t let us by any chance interrupt the studies
in wisdom of that best of princes.
_Walk through the City of Valencia_
_Borg._ It would be better if we were to get mules so
that we might ride and talk.
_Caban._ Don’t let us, I beg, lose the use of the feet
and the legs; the weather is clear and bright, and the
air cool; it will be more satisfactory to go on foot than
on horseback.
_Borg._ Then let us go this way by St. John’s Hospital to
the Marine Quarter.
_Caban._ Let us observe, by the way, the beautiful
objects we pass by.
_Borg._ What, on foot! This will be a disgrace.
_Scin._ In my opinion, it is a greater disgrace if men
hang upon the judgments of inexperienced and stupid girls.
_Caban._ Would you like to go straight along Fig Street
and St. Thecla Street?
_Scin._ No, but through the quarter of the Cock Tavern
(_tabernae gallinaceae_). For in that quarter I should
like to see the house in which my Vives was born. It is
situated, as I have heard, to the left as we descend,
quite at the end of the quarter. I will take the
opportunity to call upon his sister.
_Borg._ Let us put aside calling on women, but if you
wish to speak with a woman, let us go rather to Angela
Zabata, with whom we could have a chat on questions of
learning.
_Caban._ If you wish to do so, would that we met the
Marchioness Zeneti!
_Scin._ If those reports, which I heard of her when I
was in France, were true, then we might have a greater
subject of discussion than could easily be treated
especially by those busied about anything else.
_Borg._ Let us go up to St. Martin’s or down through the
Vallesian Quarter to the Villa Rasa Street.
_Caban._ From that place to the tennis court
(_sphaeristerium_) of Barzius, or, if you prefer, to that
of the Masconi.
_Games—Ball_
_Borg._ Have you also in France, public grounds for games
like ours?
_Scin._ As to other French cities, I cannot answer you.
I know that there is none in Paris, but there are many
private grounds, for example, in the suburbs of St.
James, St. Marcellus, and St. Germanus.
_Caban._ And in the city itself the most famous, which is
called Braccha.
_Borg._ Is the game played in the same way as here?
_Scin._ Exactly so, except that the teacher there
furnishes playing shoes and caps.
_Borg._ What sort are they?
_Scin._ The shoes are made of felt.
_Borg._ But they would not be of any use here.
_Caban._ That is, on a stony road. In France indeed, and
in Belgium, they play on a pavement, covered over with
tiles, level and smooth.
_Scin._ The caps worn are lighter in summer, but in
winter, thick and deep, with a band under the chin, so
that as the player moves about, the cap shall not fall
off the head or fall down over the eyes.
_Borg._ We don’t here use a band, except when there is a
pretty strong wind. But what kind of balls do they use?
_Scin._ Not such light wind-balls as here, but smaller
balls than yours, and much harder, made of white leather.
The stuffing of the balls is not, as it is in yours, wool
torn from rags, but chiefly dogs’ hair. For this reason
the game is rarely played with the palm of the hand.
_Borg._ In what way, then, do they strike the ball? with
the fist, as we do the leather ball?
_Scin._ No, but with a net.
_Borg._ Woven from thread?
_Scin._ From somewhat thicker strings, such as are found
for the most part on the six-stringed lyre. They have a
stretched rope, and, as to the rest, the game is played
as in the houses here. To send the ball under the rope is
a fault, or loss of a point. There are two signs or, if
you prefer, limits. The counting goes fifteen, thirty,
forty-five or (advantage), equality of numbers and
victory, which is twofold, as when it is said: “We have
won a game” or “We have won a set.” The ball, indeed,
is either sent back whilst in its flight or thrown back
after the first bound. For on the second bound, the
stroke is invalid, and a mark is made where the ball was
struck.
_Borg._ Are there no other games there except tennis?
_Scin._ In the city as many or more than here, but
amongst scholars, no other is permitted by the masters.
But sometimes, secretly, they play at cards and dice, the
little boys with the knuckle-bones (_tali_), the worse
sort of boys with dice (_taxilli_). We have a teacher
Anneus who used to allow card-playing at festival times
(_obscoeno die_). For that and for games in general, he
composed six laws written on a tablet which he hung in
his bed-chamber.
_Borg._ If it is not burdensome, may I ask you to tell
them to us, in the same way as you have told us of other
matters.
_Scin._ But let us continue our walk, for I am possessed
by an inconceivably keen desire to behold my country
which I have not seen for so long a period.
_Borg._ Let us mount mules, so that we may move along
pleasantly, as well as with more dignity.
_Scin._ I would not give a snap of the fingers for this
dignity!
_Borg._ And I, if I may confess the truth, would not move
my hand for it. Nor do I know why riding on mules seems
to be more becoming for us.
_Caban._ This is rightly said; we are three, and in the
narrow streets or concourse of men we should get parted
from one another, whence our talk would necessarily be
interrupted, or many remarks made by some one of us would
not be thoroughly heard or understood by the others.
_Borg._ So let it be; let us proceed on foot. Enter
through this narrow lane on to the Pegnarogii Street.
_The Market_
_Scin._ Nothing could be better. Thence by the keysmith’s
into the Sweetmeats Quarter (_vicum dulciarium_), then
into the fruit market.
_Borg._ Nay, rather the vegetable market.
_Scin._ The market is both. Those who prefer to eat
vegetables call it the vegetable market; those who prefer
fruit call it the fruit market. What a spaciousness
there is of the market, what a multitude of sellers and
of things exposed for sale! What a smell of fruit, what
variety, cleanliness, and brightness! Gardens could
hardly be thought to contain fruit equal to the supply
of what is in this market. What skill and diligence
our inspector (_aedilis_) of public property and his
ministers show so that no buyer shall be taken in by
fraud. Is not he who is riding about so much, Honoratus
Joannius?
_Caban._ I think not, for one of my boys, who met him
just now, left him retiring to his library. If he knew
that we were here together then he would undoubtedly join
us in our conversation and would postpone his serious
studies to our play.
_Borg._ Now at last describe the laws of play!
_Scin._ We will withdraw from this crowd by the Street of
the Holy Virgin the Redeemer, to the Smoky street and to
St. Augustine’s, where there are fewer people.
_Caban._ Let us not go down so far away from the main
body of the city. Let us rather ascend through the
street of Money-Purses to the Hill, then to the Soldiers’
Quarter and the house of your family, Scintilla, whose
walls yet seem to me to mourn over that hero, Count
Olivanus!
_Borg._ Nay, they have now laid aside their grief, and
now rejoice in all seriousness that such a youth has
stepped into the place of so great an old man.
_Scin._ Oh, how delightful it is to look into the Senate
House (_curia_) and the fourfold court of the governor
of the city (_praefectus urbis_), which by now seems
almost to have become the heritage of your family,
Cabanillius—one part of the building for a civil, another
for a criminal, court, and this part for the three
hundred solidi. What buildings! what a glory of the city!
PART II. _The Laws of Play—The First Law_
_Borg._ In no place could you more rightly enunciate laws
than in the _forum_ and _curia_, so give them forth here!
For some other time there will be a more fitting occasion
of discoursing on the praise and admiration which our
city excites.
_Scin._ The first law treats of the time of recreation
(_quando ludendum_). Man is constituted for serious
affairs, not for frivolity and recreation. But we are
to resort to games for the refreshing of our minds from
serious pursuits. The time, therefore, for recreation
is when the mind or body has become wearied. Nor should
otherwise relaxation be taken, than as we take our
sleep, food, drink, and the other means of renewal
and recuperation. Otherwise it is deleterious, as is
everything which takes place unseasonably.
_The Second Law_
The second law deals with the persons with whom we are to
take our recreation (_cum quibus ludendum_). In the same
way as when you are about to take a journey, or to go to
a banquet, you look about diligently to see who are to
be your future boon companions or fellow travellers, so
in considering your recreation, you should reflect with
whom you will play, so that they may be men known to you.
For there is a great danger with the unknown, and it is
a true proverb of Plautus: “A fellow-man is a wolf to a
man who does not know what manner of associate he has
got.” Companions should be agreeable, festive, with whom
there is no danger of quarrelling or fighting, of either
doing or saying anything disgraceful or unbecoming! Let
them not be blasphemers of God, or users of oaths! Nor
should they be impure in speech, lest your morals should
be rubbed against by the contagion of what is depraved
or profligate. Lastly, they should bring to the game no
other purpose than your own, viz., the idea of thorough
rest from labour, and the freedom from mental strain.
_The Third Law_
The third law concerns the kind of recreation. First
it should be a well-known game, for there can be no
pleasure, if it is not known by player nor colleagues,
nor by the lookers-on. Further, it must at the same time
refresh the mind and exercise the body, if indeed the
season of the year and state of health are suitable. But
if not, it must be a game in which mere chance does not
count for everything. There must be some skill in it,
which may balance chance.
_The Fourth Law_
The fourth law is as to stakes. You ought not to play so
that the game is zestless, and quickly satiates you. So a
stake may be justifiable. But it should not be a big one,
which may disturb the mind in the very game itself, and
if one is beaten, may vex and torture you. That is not a
game; it is rather the rack.
_The Fifth Law_
The fifth law treats of the manner of play, viz., that
before you settle to play, you recall to mind that you
have come for the invigoration of your mind, and for this
object you may put a very small coin or two to stake,
so as to purchase with them the recuperation from your
weariness. Think that it is a chance, _i.e._, variable,
uncertain, unstable, common to all, and that no harm
will be done to you through it, if you lose. Thus, you
may have equanimity in your loss, so as not to contract
your countenance and experience sadness over it—nor
break forth into oaths and curses, either against your
fellow-player, or any of the spectators. If you win,
don’t be insolently loquacious to your fellow-player! Be
in all the game, his companion, cheerful, jovial, and
mirthful, this side of scurrility and petulancy, nor must
there be any trace of deceit, of sordidness or avarice.
Don’t be obstinate in contention and, least of all, make
use of oaths—when you remember that the whole thing,
even if you are in the right, is not so weighty that
you need call the name of God to witness. Remember that
the spectators are, as it were, the judges of the game.
If they make any pronouncement, then give in, and don’t
offer any sign of disapprobation. In this manner the game
will be both a delight and the noble education of an
honest youth will be pleasing to all.
_The Sixth Law_
The sixth law has reference to the length of time of
playing. Play until you feel the mind renewed and
restored for labour, and the hour for serious business
calls you. Who does otherwise seems to do ill. “May you
be willing to accept these laws; may you decree their
keeping, Romans!”[82]
_Borg._, _Caban._ “Even as he proposed” (_Sicuti
rogavit_).
XXIII
CORPUS HOMINIS EXTERIUS—_The Exterior of Man’s Body_
DURERIUS PICTOR (the Painter, Dürer), GRYNAEUS, VELIUS
This dialogue has two parts. The former is the Exordium.
The second part contains an examination of Dürer’s
painting. Albert Dürer was a remarkable German painter,
whose works are still extant. Simon Grynaeus was renowned
by his knowledge of literature, mathematics, and the
sacred writings. He taught at Basle, and was married
there. Caspar Ursinus Velius was a poet and distinguished
historian. He was tutor to the Emperor Maximilian II., as
Jovius writes in his _Elogia Doctorum Virorum_.
I. _Introduction (Exordium)_
_Dürer._ Go away from here, for you will buy nothing, as
I know full well, and you only remain in the way, and
this keeps buyers from coming nearer.
_Gryn._ Nay, we wish to buy, only we wish you to leave
the price to our judgment, and that you should state the
limit of time for payment, or, on the other hand, let us
settle the time, and you the amount of payment.
_Dürer._ A fine way of doing business! There is no need
for me to have nonsense of this sort!
_Gryn._ Whose portrait is this, and what price do you put
on it?
_Dürer._ It is the portrait of Scipio Africanus and I
price it at four hundred sesterces, or not much less.
II. _Criticism_
_Gryn._ I pray you, before you favour us with a single
word, let us examine the art of the picture. Velius here
is half a physicist, and very skilled in knowledge of the
human body.
_Dürer._ For some time I have perceived that I was in for
being worried by you. Now whilst there are no buyers at
hand, you may waste my time as you will.
_Gryn._ Do you call the practical knowledge of your art a
waste of time? What would you call that of another’s?
_Vel._ First of all you have covered the top of this
head with many and straight hairs when the top is called
_vertex_, as if a vortex, from the curling round of the
hair, as we see in rivers when the water rolls round and
round (_convolvit_).
_Dürer._ Stupidly spoken; you don’t reflect that it is
badly combed, following the custom of his age.
_Vel._ His forehead is unevenly bent.
_Dürer._ As a soldier he had received a wound at the
Trebia when he was saving his father.
_Gryn._ Where did you read that?
_Dürer._ In the lost decads of Livy.
_Vel._ The temples are too much swollen.
_Dürer._ Hollow temples would be the sign of madness!
_Vel._ I should like to be able to see the back part of
the head.
_Dürer._ Then turn the panel round.
_Gryn._ Why does Cato say amongst his other oracles:
“The forehead is before the back part of the head?”
_Dürer._ How stupid you are! Don’t you see in every man
the forehead in front of the back part of the head?
_Gryn._ There are some people whose backs I would rather
see than their faces!
_Dürer._ And I gladly, _e.g._, such buyers as you, and
soldiers!
_Vel._ Cato was of opinion that the presence of the
master was more effective for the oversight of his
affairs than his absence. For the rest, why has he such
long forelocks?
_Dürer._ Do you speak of these hairs over the forehead?
_Vel._ Yes.
_Dürer._ For many months he had no barber at hand as we
have in Spain.
_Vel._ Why have you covered with hair, the hairless part
(_glabella_)[83] against its etymology?
_Dürer._ Do you pluck out the hairs with pincers!
_Vel._ The hairs in the nose stand out from the nose. But
you, such is your ingenuity, will throw the fault from
yourself on to the barber.
_Dürer._ Ignorant that you are! Don’t you remember that
the customs of those times were harsh, horrible, boorish?
_Vel._ You, too, are ignorant. Have you not read that
Scipio was one of the most cultivated and polished of
all the men of his age, and a lover of what was elegant?
_Dürer._ This painting gives his likeness as he was, when
an exile, at Liternum.
_Gryn._ The eyebrows are large, and suitable for Latium;
the eyelids too hollow, and the cheeks too much sunk.
_Dürer._ Naturally, from the camp-watches.
_Gryn._ You are not only a painter, but a rhetorician,
well versed in turning off any criticism of your work.
_Dürer._ As far as I can see, you are well versed in
finding faults.
_Vel._ The picture has the cheeks and lips too much
puffed up.
_Dürer._ He is blowing the battle-trumpet.
_Gryn._ And you were blowing on a goblet when you painted
this.
_Vel._ On the contrary, he was blowing into a bag made of
skin. For elsewhere you have made him hairy, whilst you
have scarcely painted any eyelashes.
_Dürer._ They have fallen off by disease.
_Gryn._ What was the disease?
_Dürer._ Seek that from his physician!
_Gryn._ Don’t you understand now that you must take off
from your price one hundred sesterces for such lack of
skill?
_Dürer._ Nay, for your cavils and bothersome questions I
ought rather to add two hundred sesterces to the price.
_Vel._ You have made the pupils of the eyes grayish and I
have heard that Scipio’s were blue.
_Dürer._ And I have heard that his eyes were blue-gray
like those of Minerva Bellatrix.
_Vel._ You have made the corners of the eyes too fleshy
and the hollows too moist.
_Dürer._ He was weeping because accused by Cato.
_Vel._ The jaws are too long, and the beard very thick
and profuse. You would say the hairs are the bristles of
swine.
_Dürer._ You are beyond measure, chatterers and talkative
cavillers. Get away with you. I won’t let you have the
opportunity of further criticising the picture.
_Vel._ Please, my Dürer, since you have no other clients,
let us go on criticising here.
_Dürer._ What is the good to me?
_Vel._ We will each of us write a distich for you,
whereby the picture will be more easily sold.
_Dürer._ My art has no need of your commendation. For
skilled buyers who understand pictures, don’t buy verses,
but works of art.
_Vel._ But your Scipio has his nostrils too much dilated.
_Dürer._ He was in a state of wrath at his accusers.
_Vel._ We see no dimple in his chin.
_Dürer._ It is hidden in his beard. You also don’t see
his chin nor the double-chin!
_Gryn._ You have saved yourself the trouble of drawing
those for the sake of painting a big beard.
_Vel._ The straight and muscular neck pleases me, as also
the throat.
_Dürer._ Thank the Lord that you approve of something!
_Vel._ But so that I should not leave something to be
desired in this, I must also say the figure has not
sufficient hollow in the throat. When a physiognomist
noted this in Socrates, he pronounced it as a sign of
slowness of mind. I should wish those shoulders to be a
little more erect, and larger.
_Dürer._ He was not so much a fighting soldier as a
general. Have you not heard of his apophthegm on the
point? When certain soldiers were saying of him, that he
was not so valiant a soldier as he was a wise general,
he answered: “My mother bore me to be a general, not a
soldier.” But, depart, if you are not going to be buyers,
for I see some tax-farmers approaching.
_Vel._ Let us go for a walk, and let us talk on the
way to one another, concerning the human body without
considering Scipio, and this portrait. A flat nose does
not befit a noble countenance.
_Gryn._ What do you think of the noses of the Huns, then?
_Vel._ Away with such deformities!