for herein he shows that a man who hath no greater excellency than
that of beauty to commend him deserves to have it mentioned with
contempt and ignominy,—such expressions we should make use of in like
cases to repress the insolence of such as bear themselves high upon
the account of such things as are of no real value, and to teach young
men to look upon such compellations as “O thou richest of men,” and “O
thou that excellest in feasting, in multitudes of attendants, in herds
of cattle, yea, and in eloquent speaking itself,” to be (as they are
indeed) expressions that import reproach and infamy. For, in truth, a
man that designs to excel ought to endeavor it in those things that are
in themselves most excellent, and to become chief in the chiefest, and
great in the greatest things. Whereas glory that ariseth from things
in themselves small and inconsiderable is inglorious and contemptible.
To mind us whereof we shall never be at a loss for instances, if, in
reading Homer especially, we observe how he applieth the expressions
that import praise or disgrace; wherein we have clear proof that he
makes small account of the good things either of the body or Fortune.
And first of all, in meetings and salutations, men do not call others
fair or rich or strong, but use such terms of commendation as these:
Son of Laertes, from great Jove deriving
Thy pedigree, and skilled in wise contriving;
Hector, thou son of Priam, whose advice
With wisest Jove’s men count of equal price;
Achilles, son of Peleus, whom all story
Shall mention as the Grecians’ greatest glory;
Divine Patroclus, for thy worth thou art,
Of all the friends I have, lodged next my heart.[90]
And moreover, when they speak disgracefully of any person, they touch
not at bodily defects, but direct all their reproaches to vicious
actions; as for instance.
A dogged-looking, drunken beast thou art,
And in thy bosom hast a deer’s faint heart;
Ajax, at brawling valiant still,
Whose tongue is used to speaking ill;
A tongue so loose hung, and so vain withal,
Idomeneus, becomes thee not at all;
Ajax, thy tongue doth oft offend;
For of thy boasting there’s no end.[91]
Lastly, when Ulysses reproacheth Thersites, he objecteth not to him his
lameness nor his baldness nor his hunched back, but the vicious quality
of indiscreet babbling. On the other side, when Juno means to express a
dalliance or motherly fondness to her son Vulcan, she courts him with
an epithet taken from his halting, thus,