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.