Breuis epUogus aduersiis Gnatonicos
The Deception of Flattery
The author warns against the Gnatonici, sycophants who manipulate truth and manipulate the wealthy to isolate those who speak honestly.
However, as we pursue these matters, the Gnatonici lie in wait for us, twisting everything we say to turn the fortunate against us in envy. To make us look like liars or reckless, they falsely claim that we've imposed a law upon princes and burdened their necks with an unbearable yoke. Truth is, after all, their enemy; they stir up the enmity of the wealthy against those who love the truth, and to gain the favor of those wealthy men, they are ashamed of nothing they say or do. Gnatho cries out at everything—whether it's good or bad—'Beautiful, excellent, perfect!' He will turn pale over these things, even let dew drip from his eyes for his friends, jump up, and stomp his feet on the ground. Just like those hired to weep at a funeral, who say and do almost more than those who are truly grieving, the mocker is more moved than the one who is actually praising. And I don't know how they manage to attack everyone, even the good; even those who detest the wickedness of flatterers—even if they haven't sought out praise—are still delighted when it's offered to them. While I insist on the truth, I can in no way please these people, but I also don't think it's worth abandoning the truth just to gain their favor.
Withdrawing from Courtly Trifles
The author expresses a desire to detach from the corrupt environment of the court and its manipulative factions.
Still, there's nothing they can hold against me, except for the fact that I don't fit in with them, and that I sometimes whisper this into the ear of a friend when it slips into their hands: 'Don't let those minds hidden under a fox's skin deceive you.' They are the masters of courtly fools; if you offend one of them, you're guilty before all the others. So, the ambitious, the envious, the superstitious, and their kind have gathered to conspire, claiming that I'm preparing for war and that I want to exercise what they call 'dog-like eloquence' against them—even though I haven't intended any such thing, unless I'm provoked by their insults or by the authority of a superior friend who pushes me to use this pen, dull as it may be. In fact, my spirit longs for something else: to step aside from these courtly trifles and make room for those who enjoy them. To say nothing of others, I cannot stand these 'citizens' of Gnato, who think nothing has been accomplished as long as someone resists them—someone whose eyes they haven't blinded with the darkness of a sinner's rejected oil; and if anyone escapes them, he is considered an enemy not so much of Gnato as of the leading men. So let the court and its tolerable trifles be; may the faction of Gnato always head toward ruin, and may their latest state always be worse than their first. The rest of the day awaits its own leisure, even if the narrowness of an unfruitful heart and the dryness of an inarticulate mouth have nothing to offer everyone. As for you, when you want the ambitious, the envious, and the others lurking in our house to come out—if those little books I sent earlier please you—let the one waiting know, and they will be spurred on by your words to step out into the public eye.
The Complexity of Conflict
The author acknowledges the difficulty of confronting such a vast and entrenched network of vanity.
You shouldn't attack everyone at once, nor could their tightly-knit phalanx be easily broken, since even those cohorts don't fall into line very easily. Even if I had a hundred tongues and a hundred mouths, I couldn't list all the names of these trifles.
Read the original Latin
Ceterum, dum ista prosequimur, nobis insidiantur Gnatonici ut in inuidiam felicium quaecumque sunt dicta retorquent. Vt mendacii aut temeritatis nos reos faciant, mentiuntur nos legem imposuisse principibus, et colla eorum iugo importabili onerasse. Veritas siquidem inimica est illis, et inimicitias diuitum procurant amatoribus ueritatis, quorum ut gratiam consequantur, nichil in uerbo aut opere erubescunt. Ad singula clamat Gnato, seu bona seu mala sint, 'pulcre, bene, recte.' Pallescet super his, etiam stillabit amicis ex oculis rorem, saliet, tundet pede terram. Vt qui conducti plorant in funere, dicunt et faciunt prope plura dolentibus ex animo, sic derisor uero plus laudatore mouetur. Et nescio quomodo omnes ipsos etiam probos expugnant, et qui adulatorum nequitiam detestantur, a quibus etsi non sit laus quaesita, nichilominus oblata delectat. Istis, dum ueritati insisto, nequaquam placere possum, sed nec ob eorum gratiam dignor non adquiescere ueritati.
Non est tamen quod michi possint opponere, nisi quod michi et illis non conuenit, et quod interdum alicui amicorum, dum in manibus eorum labitur, in aure suggero: Ne te decipiant animi sub uulpe latentes. li quidem imperatores sunt curialium nugatorum, quorum si unum offenderis, omnibus aliis reus eris. Gnatonicorum ergo consilio conuenerunt ambitiosi, inuidi, superstitiosi, et similes, dicentes sibi bella parari, et me in eos uelle (ut dici solet) caninam facundiam exercere, cum tamen id a minime proposuerim, nisi aut eorum iniuriis urgear aut auctoritate superioris amici ad hoc stilum licet hebetem impellentis. Est quidem quod magis affectat animus, ut, curialibus cedens nugis, illis quibus placent faciam locum. Nam, ut de aliis taceam, non possum ferre Quirites Gnatonis, qui sibi nil actum credunt, dum aliquis restiterit cuius oculos non obducant ad tenebras, reprobato oleo peccatoris; quod si quis effugerit, non tam Gnatonis quam principalium uirorum censetur hostis. Valeat ergo curia cum tolerabilibus nugis, dum Gnatonicorum factio abeat semper in malam rem et fiant iugiter nouissima illius deteriora a prioribus. Ceteros dies suus expectat et otium, etsi infecundi pectoris angustia et oris ariditas infacundi non habeat penes se quod possit omnibus impertiri. Tu, quando ambitiosos et inuidos ceterosque domi nostrae latentes egredi uelis, si tamen praemissi libelH placuerint, expectanti denuntia, et in uerbis tuis calcaribus urgebuntur ut in publicum prodeant.
Non enim omnes aggrediendi sunt pariter, nec posset consertus eorum cuneus facile expugnari, cum nec ipsae cohortes leuiter in numerum cadant. Non michi si centum linguae sint oraque centum, omnia nugarum percurrere nomina possem.
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