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42 Erasmus Lastly, since it is the chiefest point of happinesse 1‘ that a man is willing to be what he is’, you have further abridg’d in this my Self-love, that no man’s asham’d of his own face, no man of his own wit, no man of his own parentage, no man of his own house, no man of his manner of living, nor any man of his own Country ; so that a Highlander has no desire to change with an Italian, a Thracian with an Athenian, nor a Scythian for the fortunate Islands. O the singular care of Nature, that in so great a variety of things has made all equal! Where she has been sometime sparing of her gifts she has recompenc’d it with the more of self-Love ; though here, I must confess, I speak foolishly, it being the greatest of all other her Gifts: to say nothing that no great action was ever attempted without my Motion, or Art brought to perfection without my help. Is not War the very Root and Matter of all Fam’d Enterprises? And yet what more foolish than to undertake it for I know not what trifles, especially when both Parties are sure to lose more than they get by the bargain? For of 1 Quod sis, esse velis.
