Page 83 [83]
OCR
52 Erasmus me, I beseech ye, how far they are from it that yet crack of the name. For first ’tis evident that all Humane things, like Alcibiades’s Sileni or rural Gods, carry a double face, but not the least alike; so that what at first sight seems to be death, if you view it narrowly may prove to be life; and so the contrary. What appears beautiful may chance to be deform’d; what wealthy, a very begger ; what infamous, praiseworthy ; what learned, a dunce; what lusty, feeble; what jocund, sad; what noble, base ; what lucky, unfortunate; what friendly, an enemy ; and what healthful, noisome. In short, view the inside of these Sileni, and you’ll find them quite other than what they appear ; which, if perhaps it shall not seem so Philosophically spoken, I’ll make it plain to you ! “after my blunt way °. Who would not conceive a Prince a great Lord and abundant in every thing? But yet being so ill furnisht with the gifts of the mind, and ever thinking he shall never have enough, he’s the poorest of all men. And then for his mind so giv’n up to Vice, ’tis a shame how it inslaves him. I might in like 1 pinguiore Minerva.
