Prologus
The Necessity of Literature
Literature serves as a vital remedy for human weakness and a guardian of memory against the vanity of time.
While literature is delightful in many ways, its greatest fruit is that it removes the annoyance of distance in both place and time, allowing friends to present themselves to one another and ensuring that things worth knowing are not allowed to be destroyed by neglect. If divine mercy hadn't provided literature as a remedy for human weakness, the arts would have perished, laws would have vanished, the duties of faith and all religion would have collapsed, and the very use of correct speech would have failed. The examples of our ancestors, which serve as incentives and nourishment for virtue, would never have been raised up or preserved at all if the pious concern of writers and a diligence that triumphs over laziness hadn't transmitted them to posterity. Since life is short, our senses dull, our laziness sluggish, and our occupations useless, we are permitted to know very little; and what we do know, forgetfulness—that enemy of knowledge and the ever-unfaithful stepmother of memory—constantly shakes and tears from our soul. For who would know the Alexanders or the Caesars, or who would admire the Stoics or the Peripatetics, if the monuments of writers didn't distinguish them? Who would imitate the footsteps of the apostles and prophets that are to be embraced, if divine writings hadn't consecrated them for posterity? Triumphal arches only serve the glory of illustrious men when an inscription clearly shows from what causes they were built and to whom they belong. An observer only recognizes the liberator of his country and the founder of its peace when a title identifies the conqueror—the one whom our Britain brought forth—as Constantine. For no one has ever achieved lasting glory except through their own writing or someone else's. The glory of a donkey and the glory of any emperor are the same after a little time, unless the memory of either is kept alive by the benefit of writers. How many kings do you suppose there have been, and how great were they, of whom there is now no mention or thought at all? Nothing, therefore, is more prudent for those who crave glory than to win the favor of scholars and writers. For great deeds are performed in vain if they are to be shrouded in eternal darkness, unless they shine through the light of literature. Whatever favor or praise is gathered from elsewhere is just like the echo you hear in stories, receiving the applause of the theater. For it ceases when it begins. Beyond this, consolation in sorrow, refreshment in labor, joy in poverty, and moderation in wealth and luxury are all most faithfully borrowed from literature.
The Sweetness of Contemplation
The author reflects on the joy of intellectual and spiritual labor, contrasting it with the hollow pursuits of courtly life.
For the soul is redeemed from vices and refreshed by a certain sweet and marvelous joy, even in adversity, when it directs the sharpness of the mind toward reading or writing useful things. You'll find no occupation in human affairs more pleasant or more useful, unless perhaps devotion, pierced by grace, persists in divine conversations through prayer, or the heart, expanded by love, conceives of God in the mind and reflects upon His great works as if with the hand of meditation. Believe one who has experienced it: all the sweetness of the world turns bitter when compared to these exercises; and this is all the more true the more a person's senses are sound and the sharpness of their judgment is pure and uncorrupted. Don't be surprised, then, that I don't climb some step of the ladder that now knows only how to ascend, just as you once advised. Why I don't push myself into greater courts, I will answer with the words of Isocrates, who, when asked by friends why he didn't involve himself in public business, replied: 'What this place knows, I don't know; what I know, this place doesn't know.' For I despise what they eagerly pursue, and what I pursue, they despise. Be more surprised that I don't cut or break the rope—if it can't be loosened otherwise—that has held me in courtly trifles for so long and still keeps me subject to such slavery. For I am tired of having trifled for nearly twelve years, and I regret that I was trained so differently; and it would have been fitting, once weaned from the breasts of a more sacred philosophy, to have moved to the company of those who philosophize rather than to the colleges of triflers. And I do feel that you are in the same situation, except that you are more upright and prudent; if you do what is expedient, you stand always unmoved on the foundation of solid virtue, neither shaken by reed-like instability nor pursuing the softness of luxuries, but you command the very vanity that commands the world.
A Humble Offering
The author presents his work as a modest tribute, inviting the reader to use it as a mirror for self-correction.
Since different provinces are building a kind of triumphal arch for you with their piled-up tributes of praise, I, a common man, have added this book to your heap like a single pebble, using the shrill pipe of my unrefined speech to honor you; I know that just as it lacks the beauty to be pleasing, so, because of the author's devotion, it cannot be displeasing. It contains courtly trifles rather than art, and it focuses more on the things that press upon it most. In part, however, it follows in the footsteps of the philosophers, leaving it to the judgment of the wise to decide what should be avoided or followed in each case. And because it was necessary to address someone in whom nothing trivial could be found, so as not to offend anyone, I decided to address you, the most elegant man of our age, and to describe what seems to need correction in people like me. For when a reader or listener recognizes his own foolishness, he'll bring that ethical point to mind, because the story is told about him under a different name; this is especially true since everyone knows how much serious business you're constantly occupied with. Thus, while Seneca teaches others, he instructs his own Lucilius. Jerome writes to Oceanus and Pammachius, and he frequently corrects the excesses of others. Whoever complains about the foolishness of a flatterer, however, should measure the matter by the time, and—as is the way of the wise—judge the words by the reasons for speaking them. If anything sounds a bit harsh to anyone, let them know it isn't directed at them, but at myself and those like me who want to be corrected along with me, or at those who have fallen into ruin and accept all criticism with a calm mind. I know that no one is struck by a heavy Achilles, and that the present age is corrected while the past is rebuked for its own merits. In this way, while it's being corrected, Horace even indulges his servants so they can use their December freedom. The clever Flaccus touches on every vice while his friend laughs, and once admitted, he plays around the heart. As for the things that came to mind from various authors as they were relevant, or as they helped or contributed to the subject, I've taken care to include them, sometimes without naming the authors; partly because I knew that, as someone well-versed in literature, most of it was already perfectly familiar to you, and partly so that the unlearned might be more stirred to persistent reading. If anything in these pages strays too far from the truth, I trust that I deserve some leniency, since I don't promise that everything written here is true, but only that whether true or false, it serves the needs of the reader. I'm not so foolish as to claim as truth that a tortoise once spoke to winged birds, or that a country mouse welcomed a city mouse into his poor home, and similar things; but I have no doubt that these fables serve our instruction.
Authority and Academic Humility
The author addresses potential critics and explains his methodology, embracing the Academic tradition of pursuing probable truth.
Even the things I use most aren't really my own, except that I adopt whatever is well said anywhere, using it sometimes for my own convenience and other times for credibility and authority. I express it in others' words. And because I've started to reveal the secrets of my mind, I'll lay my arrogance bare more fully. I consider everyone I meet who philosophizes in word or deed to be my client; what's more, I claim them for my own service, to the point that they even expose themselves to the tongues of critics for my sake. After all, I praise those authors too. I haven't seen Alexander or Caesar, nor have I heard Socrates, Zeno, Plato, or Aristotle debating; yet I've reported many things about them and others equally unknown for the benefit of my readers. I yield, however, so as not to seem to delight in contention, and I confess that I've used officious lies. If my rival won't rest otherwise—since I too have my Cornificius and my Lanuinus—I admit that I'm guilty of lying, knowing what is written: that every man is a liar. It's to the point that not even a broad chest, a bloated belly, a swollen and ruddy face, or a tongue that is impudent, foolish, and readier to gnaw at the character of others than to correct its own, could escape our Lanuinus. I'll say who he is, unless he refrains from insults, and he'll clearly recognize that being long-standing doesn't confer or preserve full and intact authority. Let him go ahead and make it public; let him challenge my error with reason or authority, and I won't shrink from being corrected even by the voice of an enemy—in fact, I'll consider him a friend who corrects my mistake. If, however, the authors are found to say something different from what I have written, it doesn't follow that I have lied, since in my accounts of military strategy I have followed historians who often disagree with one another, and in my philosophical discussions I have followed the academic method, pursuing what seemed probable according to the measure of reason. I'm not ashamed of the Academic profession, for in matters that are doubtful to a wise person, I don't depart from their footsteps. Although this school may seem to cast shadows over everything, there is none more faithful for examining the truth, and—as Cicero, who turned to it in his old age, is my witness—none more familiar to progress. In these things, therefore, which have been said incidentally about providence, fate, free will, and similar topics, you should know that I am an Academic rather than a reckless assertor of things that are doubtful. I have also sometimes used testimonies from the Scriptures to explain a point, yet I have done so in such a way that nothing is found to be contrary to the faith or to good morals, as if the same unchanging truth had given birth to both modern and ancient ideas. For the face is not the same for everyone, yet it is not different, as it is fitting for sisters to be. Everything, however, is reserved for your examination, so that a greater and more just glory for correcting may be yours than the glory of writing is mine.
A Prayer for Grace
Concluding with a plea for prayer, the author seeks divine illumination and forgiveness for his own shortcomings.
The unevenness of these volumes must be blamed on the various responsibilities that have kept me so distracted at court that I've barely had a moment to write anything at all. Yet, while you were surrounding Toulouse, I began this work and briefly pulled myself away from courtly trifles, keeping in mind that leisure without literature is death and the burial of a living man. If anyone complains about unknown authors alongside Lanuinus, or accuses me of inventing them—like Plato brought back to life, or the Africanus dreaming for Cicero, or philosophers holding Saturnalia—let them indulge in our own fabrications, provided they serve the public good. Furthermore, I ask the reader and listener with all the devotion I can muster to please commend me to the Father of mercies in their prayers, and to strive to obtain forgiveness for my errors, which are more numerous than can be counted. For I, too, hope to be a participant among all who fear the Lord; and in turn, I pray with heart and voice for those in need, that the almighty and merciful God may cleanse our actions and thoughts, and that the Angel of Great Counsel may deign to illuminate our minds with His Spirit, so that we are not swept away by the errors of vice.
Read the original Latin
locvNDissiMVS cum in multis, tnm in eo maxime est litterarum fructus, quod omnium interstitiorum loci et temporis exclusa molestia, amicorum sibi inuicem praesentiam exhibent, et res scitu dignas situ aboleri non patiuntur. Nam et artes perierant, euanuerant iura, fidei et totius religionis officia quaeque corruerant, ipseque recti defecerat usus eloquii, nisi in remedium infirmitatis humanae litterarum usum mortalibus diuina miseratio procurasset. Exempla maiorum, quae sunt incitamenta et fomenta uirtutis, nuUum omnino erigerent aut seruarent, nisi pia sollicitudo scriptorum et triumphatrix inertiae diligentia eadem ad posteros transmisisset. Siquidem uita breuis, sensus hebes, negligentiae torpor, inutiKs occupatio, nos paucula scire permittunt, et eadem iugiter excutit et auellit ab animo fraudatrix scientiae, inimica et infida semper memoriae nouerca, obliuio. Quis enim Alexandros sciret aut Cesares, quis Stoicos aut Peripateticos miraretur, nisi eos insignirent monimenta scriptorum? Quis apostolorum et prophetarum amplexanda imitaretur uestigia, nisi eos posteritati diuinae litterae consecrassent? Arcus triumphales tunc proficiunt illustribus uiris ad gloriam, cum ex quibus causis et quorum sint, inpressa docet inscriptio. Liberatorem patriae, fundatorem quietis, tunc demum inspector agnoscit, cum titulus triumphatorem, quem nostra Britannia genuit, indicat Constantinum.
Nullus enim umquam constanti gloria claruit, nisi ex suo uel scripto alieno. Eadem est asini et cuiusuis imperatoris post modicum tempus gloria, nisi quatenus memoria alterutrius scriptorum beneficio prorogatur. Quot et quantos arbitraris fuisse reges, de quibus nusquam sermo est aut cogitatio? Nichil ergo consiliosius est captatoribus gloriae, quam litteratorum et scribentium maxime gratiam promereri. Inutiliter enim eis geruntur egregia, perpetuis tenebris obducenda, nisi i litterarum luce clarescant. Quicquid fauoris aut praeconiorum aliunde contrahitur, perinde est ac si Echo, quam audis in fabulis, plausus excipiat theatrales. Desinit a enim cum ceperit. Ad haec in dolore solatium, recreatio in labore, in paupertate iocunditas, modestia in diuitiis et deliciis fidelissime a litteris mutuatur.
Nam a uitiis redimitur animus, et suaui et mira quadam, etiam in aduersis, iocunditate reficitur, cum ad legendum uel scribendum utilia mentis intendit acumen. Nullam in rebus humanis iocundiorem aut utiliorem occupationem inuenies, nisi forte diuinitus compuncta deuotio orando diuinis insistat coUoquiis aut corde per caritatem dilatato Deum mente concipiat et magnalia eius apud se quasi quadam meditationis manu pertractet. Experto crede, quia omnia mundi dulcia his collata exercitiis amarescunt; eo quidem magis, quo cuique sensus integrior, et ratio incorrupta iudicii purioris uiget acumine. Noli ergo mirari, quare aliquem gradum scalae, quae nunc sola nouit ascensum, prout quandoque monuisti, non ascendo. Quare maioribus me non ingero curiis, cum tibi Ysocratis responsurus sum uerbo, qui interrogatus ab amicis, quare non in forensibus negotiis uersaretur, respondit; ' Quae locus hic callet, ego nescio; quae ego calleo, locus hic nescit Ego enim contempno quae illi auKci ambiunt, et quae ego ambio illi contempnunt. Mirare magis quare non praecido, aut rumpo funem, si alias solui non potest, qui me in curiahbus nugis tamdiu tenuit et tenet adhuc tantae obnoxium seruituti. lam enim annis fere duodecim nugatum esse taedet et penitet me longe aliter institutum; et quasi sacratioris philosophiae lactatum uberibus ablactatumque decuerat ad philosophantium transisse cetum quam ad collegia nugatorum. Et te quidem sentio in eadem conditione uersari, nisi quia rectior et prudentior, si facis quod expedit, stas semper immotus in solidae uirtutis fundamento, nec agitaris arundinea leuitate, nec deliciarum sectaris moUia, sed ipsi, quae mundo imperat, imperas uanitati.
Vnde cum tibi diuersae prouinciae congestis meritarum laudum praeconiis quasi arcum erigant triumphalem, ego uir plebeius stridente fistula inculti eloquii librum hunc ad honorem tuum, uelut lapillum in aceruo praeconiorum a tuorum conieci; sciens quia sicut non habet unde placeat ex uenustate, sic ex deuotione scribentis non poterit displicere. Nugas pra arte continet curiales, et his magis insistit quibus urgetur magis. Pro parte autem uersatur in uestigiis philosophorum; quid in singulis fugiendum sit aut sequendum relinquens arbitrio sapientis. Et quia ne laedant aliquem, eum oportuit conueniri, in quo nihil nugatorium possit argui, te uirorum nostrae aetatis elegantissimum decreui conuenire, et quae uidentur in mei similibus arguenda describere. Sic enim cum ineptias suas lector uel auditor agnoscet, illud ethicum reducet ad animum, quia mutato nomine de se fabula narratur; praecipue cum omnes nouerint quantis tu serietatibus occuperis iugiter. Sic dum alios doceat Seneca suum monet Lucilium. Ad Occeanum et Pammachium scribit leronimus, et aliorum plerumque castigat excessus. Quisquis autem blandientis causatur ineptias, negotium cum tempore metiatur, et (quod sapientis est) ex causis dicendi dicta diiudicet.
Si quid autem cuipiam asperius sonat,. , non in se quicquam dictum nouerit, sed in meipsum, et similes mei, qui mecum cupiunt emendari, aut in eos qui collapsi in fata omnem reprehensionem aequanimiter fenint. Noui enim quia nulli grauis percussus Achilles: et praesens aetas corrigitur dum praeterita suis meritis obiurgatur. Sic dum corrigatur, Oratius etiam seruis, ut Decembri libertate utantur, indulget. Omne uafer uitium ridenti Flaccus amico tangit, et admissus circum praecordia ludit. Quae uero ad rem pertinentia a diuersis auctoribus se animo ingerebant, dum conferrent aut iuuarent, curaui inserere, tacitis interdum nominibus auctorum; tum quia tibi utpote exercitato in litteris pleraque plenissime nota esse noueram; tum ut ad lectionem assiduam magis accenderetur ignarus. In quibus si quid a fide ueri longius abest, michi ueniam deberi confido, qui non omnia, quae hic scribuntur, uera esse promitto, sed siue uera seu falsa sint, legentium usibus inseruire. Neque enim adeo excors sum, ut pro uero astruam, quia pennatis auibus quondam testudo locuta est, aut quod rusticus urbanum murem mus paupere tecto acceperit, et similia; sed quin haec figmenta nostrae famulentur instructioni, non ambigo.
Haec quoque ipsa, quibus plerumque utor, aliena sunt, nisi quia quicquid ubique bene dictum est, facio meum, et illud nunc meis ad compendium, nunc ad fidem et auctoritatem. alienis exprimo uerbis. Et quia semel coepi reuelare mentis archana, arrogantiam meam plenius denudabo. Omnes ergo qui michi in uerbo aut opere philosophantes occurrunt, meos clientes esse arbitror, et quod maius est, michi uendico in seruitutem; adeo quidem ut in traditionibus suis seipsos pro me linguis obiciant dea tractorum. Nam et illos laudo auctores. Neque enim Alexandrum uidi uel Cesarem: nec Socratem Zenonemue, Platonem aut Aristotilem disputantes audiui; de his tamen et aliis aeque ignotis ad utilitatem legentium retuli plurima. Cedo tamen ne uidear contentione gaudere, et me officiosis fateor usum esse mendaciis, et si aliter aemulus non quiescit, quoniam et ego meum Cornificium habeo et Lanuinum, me mendacii reum esse consentio, qui scriptum noui, quia omnis homo mendax; adeo quidem, ut nec uastum pectus, turgidus uenter, tumida facies et rubicunda, lingua procax insulsa et paratior mores corrodere alienos quam corrigere suos, nostrum exceperit Lanuinum. Quis ipse sit, nisi ab iniuriis temperet, dicam, et plane cognoscet quia inueteratum esse plenam non confert nec integram seruat auctoritatem.
Procedat tamen et publicet, arguat meum ratione uel auctoritate mendacium, et ego uel ad inimici uocem non refugiam emendari; immo et amicum ducam, qui meum castigabit errorem. Si tamen alicubi auctorum aliter quam scripserim inueniatur, non ideo constabit me esse mentitum, cum in strategemmaticis historicos, qui frequent r ab inuicem dissident, sim secutus, et in philosophicis academice disputans pro rationis modulo quae occurrebant probabilia sectatus sim. Nec Academicorum erubesco professionem, qui in his quae sunt dubitabilia sapienti, ab eorum uestigiis non recedo. Licet enim secta haec tenebras rebus omnibus uideatur inducere, nulla ueritati examinandae fidelior et, auctore Cicerone qui ad eam in senectute diuertit, nulla profectui familiarior est. In his ergo quae incidenter de prouidentia et fato et libertate arbitrii et similibus dicta sunt, me Academicum potius esse noueris, quam eorum quae dubia sunt temerarium assertorem. Scripturarum quoque testimoniis accommodum explanandae sententiae quandoque usus sum; ita tamen ut nichil fidei aut bonis moribus inueniatur aduersum, ac si sententias tam modemas quam ueteres eadem incommutabilis ueritas genuisset. Siquidem facies non omnibus una, non diuersa tamen, qualem decet esse sororum. Omnia uero tuo reseruantur examini, ut tibi maior et iustior corrigendi quam michi scribendi gloria debeatur.
Inaequalitas autem uoluminum uariis est occupationibus ascribenda, quibus in curia sic distractus sum ut uix aliquid scribere quandoque licuerit. Dum tamen Tolosam cingitis, ista aggressus sum et me curialibus nugis paulisper ademi, illud uoluens in animo, quia otium sine litteris mors est et uiui hominis sepultura. Si quis ignotos auctores cum Lanuino calumpniatur aut fictos, rediuiuum Platonis, Affricanum Ciceroni sompniantem, et philosophos Saturnalia exercentes accuset, aut auctorum nostrisque figmentis indulgeat, si publicae seruiunt utilitati. Praeterea lectori et auditori quanta possum deuotione supplico, a ut me patri misericordiarum commendare dignentur in orationibus suis, et erratibus meis, qui multiplicati sunt super numerum, ueniam studeant optinere. Nam et ego spero me participem esse omnium timentium Dominum; et corde et uoce uicissim pro indigentibus oro, ut actus et cogitationes nostras omnipotens et miserator Deus emundet; et ne uitiorum rapiamur erroribus, spiritu suo mentes nostras illustrare dignetur magni consilii angelus.
Policraticus companion
Study the argument weekly; pray the tradition daily
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