FRIVOLITIES OF COURTIERS AND FOOTPRINTS OF PHILOSOPHERS

Being a Translation of the First, Second, and Third Books and Selections from the Seventh and Eighth Books of the Policraticus of

JOSEPH B. PIKE

1972

OCTAGON BOOKS

New York

FOREWORD

Copyright 1938 by the University of Minnesota

Reprinted 1972 by special arrangement with The University of Minnesota Press

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THE PORTIONS of the Policraticus which Professor Pike here presents in translation not merely make available a complete English version of the great twelfth-century masterpiece, but include those parts of the work which have the widest appeal to students of thought and manners, and best illustrate the author's learning, breadth of interests, and characteristic independence of mind. The accidental circumstances which cause these chapters to appear separately, rather than as integral parts of the complete version which Professor Pike might otherwise have given us, should not obscure the fact that they are portions of a single treatise, intimately linked in intention and argument with the rest.

The theme of the Policraticus is the art of rulership; and to understand the author's approach to that theme it is necessary to recognize that, in accordance with the orientation of his age and tradition, John of Salisbury was emphatically an exponent of what has sometimes been called the "good man" theory of government. He regards good government, that is to say, as being fully as much, if not more, a matter of the personal character of the ruler, and of the conformity of that character to morality and "divine law," than of human laws and institutional arrangements. It is probably not too much to say that he would not even have been able to perceive a distinction between the two. Since Machiavelli, the distinction has been in the ascendant; technical opinion has accepted the view that

'Tis not the mildness of the man that rules Makes the mild regimen, or, as Dr. Johnson put it, it is no more true that "who rules o'er free men should himself be free" than that "who drives fat oxen should himself be fat." Only in the last few years have certain extraordinary developments of our own time once more raised a doubt as to whether or not institutions alone can dispense with those personal virtues which, to John of Salisbury, constituted the essence of the problem of government.

It is John's conception of the art of government as essentially a matter of personal character which accounts for the inclusion in the

Policraticus of the portions of the work presented in this volume by Professor Pike. These sections deal broadly with two classes of subject matter: first, the vices and follies which are apt to prevail among princes and their entourage; and, secondly, the different types of philosophical ideas and viewpoints which may be expected to lead to wisdom on the one hand or folly on the other.

The chapters on the vices and follies of courts, dealing as they do with such subjects as hunting, gaming, music, theatricals, magic, dreams, superstitions, flattery, and the like, have always seemed to me, from the standpoint of the historical investigator, distinctly disappointing. Chapters such as these might be expected to afford a rich mine of detailed information concerning the life and habits of the twelfth century. Instead they are singularly devoid of contemporary flavor and the emphasis is on the abstract rather than the concrete. John is too deeply implicated in the tradition of the classic satirists who before him had castigated the vices of a degenerate age, and follows too closely in the footsteps of the patristic literature of the early Empire, to allow himself to give us the direct accounts of what was going on under his own eyes in the London and Paris and Rome of his own day, for which we would gladly exchange his wealth of quotation from Juvenal, Perseus, Horace, Martial, Tertullian, Jerome, Augustine, St. Isidore, and the rest.

But if these chapters are disappointing in the light they shed on John's times, they are not so in the light they shed on John himself. Puritanical and ascetic as their tone necessarily is, and sincerely as John accepts the ecclesiastical tradition to which he gives expression, he tempers that tone and tradition with a moderation and practical reasonableness which are peculiarly his own. Thus, for example, in speaking of hunting, after repeating the usual condemnations, he goes on to say that for his own part he is willing to regard it as in itself a matter of indifference unless carried to the immoderate degree where it unduly excites the spirits and subverts the reason. On the other hand, as a relaxation from labor, or a means of preventing corpulence, it deserves no reproach. Gaming likewise may be an innocent recreation. It is only intemperance which converts these pastimes

into vices.

John brings this same spirit of moderation and common-sense reasonableness to his discussion of the more profound and theoretical issues of philosophy with which he deals in connection with his treatment of superstition in the first book and in his critique of different

philosophical schools in the seventh book. In these portions of the work he traverses many of the familiar battlegrounds of earlier and later speculation — substance and accident, universal and particular, predestination and free will, scientific law and miracles, skepticism and absolutism — always seeking some common-sense via media between competing extremes of theory. It is interesting to compare the treatment of such themes in the Policraticus with their later development in the great age of scholastic philosophy. In the light of such a comparison, John's dialectics are pedestrian. Nor is he any match in subtlety for contemporaries or immediate predecessors like Abelard and Anselm; he is always the enlightened layman rather than the technical expert — a Cicero rather than an Aristotle of medieval thought. Yet far more than the technical philosophers he leaves definitely the impression of attempting to arrive by hard and sustained thinking at practical solutions of practical problems, and, in so far as possible, by the light of experience. Such an objective so pursued with urbanity, good taste, and honest conviction constitutes the essence of John's way of thought. The constant recurrence to experience is noteworthy in a medieval writer; equally noteworthy are the clean-cut clarity of style, the conscious fear of superstition, and the total absence of any spirit of mysticism.

In his deliberate avoidance of subtlety, his freedom from emotionalism, his sound scholarship and good taste, his insistence on the teachings of experience, and his suspicion of every form of extreme, John not merely foreshadows but represents an intellectual temper which was to become characteristically English; and incidentally, he produced a masterpiece which because of these qualities has still a real contribution to make to the cause of sober good sense in spite of all the changes in the trappings and forms of thought which have intervened in following centuries.

It is to be hoped that as a result of Professor Pike's labors, a somewhat wider circle of readers will be able to know at first hand that there was common sense, if not before Agamemnon, at least before the Age of the Enlightenment.

JOHN DICKINSON University of Pennsylvania August 23, 1938

PREFACE

THE PURPOSE of this volume is to make accessible in English the part hitherto untranslated of the Policraticus of John of Salisbury, the most pretentious and longest work of a writer who is regarded as the most learned man of his time.

There appeared in 1927, under the title The Statesman's Book in a political science series,¹ an excellent translation by John Dickinson of that part of the Policraticus in which its author expounds his political philosophy. The portion of the Policraticus comprised in the Dickinson translation is a fairly systematic and lucid statement of its author's views on the state, its prince, its members, its administration of justice, its army, and the bond between its members. These matters are discussed in the fourth, fifth, and sixth books of the Policraticus. The selections from the seventh book on ambition and the wiles of the ambitious and those from the eighth book on tyrants and tyrannicide are more discursive. If the word Policraticus² connotes "statesman's book," as it undoubtedly does, whatever its etymology, that is a fitting title for the translation of the part of the work just mentioned.

The portion of the Policraticus contained in this volume is far less coherent than the preceding; in fact it is so discursive that it may, not inaptly, be called an encyclopedia of the culture of the age.

The author has appended a secondary title to his Policraticus, which we translate Frivolities of Courtiers and Footprints of Philosophers. Now it happens that this title is exactly applicable to the part contained in this volume; and further, the title Frivolities of Courtiers covers books one to three, while Footprints of Philosophers fittingly applies to the selections from books seven and eight.

The frivolities discussed in the first three books are hunting and its abuse; gaming; music; the actor and conjurer of various types;

¹ Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

² John in common with several other medieval writers had a penchant for sonorous sounding titles that look like Greek but are not. Besides the Policraticus, John wrote a Metalogicon, which means a defense of logic; at least he so states in its preface and he should know. There is also an Entheticus, supposed by some to be a distortion for Nutheticus the Counsellor. See below, p. 4.

omens, including dreams, which are discussed at great length; astrology; and flattery, with a tirade against flatterers, in which the world is likened to a play, a comedy or tragedy as you please, with God and his angels as spectators. The selections from the seventh and eighth books form an outline of ancient philosophy. John here expresses his preference for the Academic school, which refuses to dogmatize on subjects which may wisely be regarded as admitting doubt.

The text followed is naturally that of C. J. Webb (Oxford, 1909). Wherever some explanation of the translation seemed necessary, notes have been added; Webb's notes have been used where available. Citation of sources, both classical and patristic, upon which John drew have been made more extensively than may seem necessary in a translation of this character. It is, however, important that the reader realize the great indebtedness of John to his predecessors and that he perceive for himself how imitative in general the formal literature of the twelfth-century renaissance is as illustrated by one of its foremost works.

Passages from the Bible are given in the Rheims-Douai version, as being nearer to the Vulgate, which John ordinarily quotes. For the convenience of the reader, references to the text of Latin and Greek writers are accompanied by page citations to the Loeb Classical Library (L. C. L.) edition where this is available. The translation of such passages, however, has been made independently.

I wish to express my appreciation of the assistance given me, in the preparation of the translation, by Professor Marbury B. Ogle, head of the department of classical languages in the University of Minnesota, whose knowledge of the Latinity of the period is evinced in his translation of Walter Map; by Professor A. C. Krey, of the department of history, who has put at my disposal his wealth of medieval lore; and by Professor Alburey Castell, of the department of philosophy, who read about one-half of the manuscript and whose criticisms have been invaluable. Many more of my colleagues' at the University of Minnesota and acquaintances in other institutions have been generous in assisting me on various points connected with their own specialties. To all of these I am deeply indebted. From Dr. Dickinson, the learned translator and commentator of the portion of the Policraticus not included in this volume, I have received very helpful suggestions.

JOSEPH B. PIKE University of Minnesota

CONTENTS

John of Salisbury.........3

Book I ...

................. 6

Book II ..

................... 55

Book III .

................... 152

Selections from Book VII

..........213

Selections from Book VIII

Entheticus .

...................413

Index ....

..................427

JOHN OF SALISBURY

JOHN OF SALISBURY was born between the years 1115 and 1120 at Old Sarum, situated on a hill near the Salisbury of the present day. He was first called Little John or John the Short, but afterward received the appellation by which he is universally known. The only record of his boyhood or early school-life days is contained in an interesting passage found in chapter twenty-eight of the second book of the Policraticus.¹

Some time between his fifteenth and twentieth years he went to France to continue his studies. His most famous teacher at this period was Abelard, whom he always refers to as the Peripatetic of Pallet, from his philosophical leaning and his Breton birthplace. Abelard was then lecturing on the heights of Ste Geneviève at Paris, where he had reopened his school for a short time.

In 1137 John went to Chartres, where he studied grammar under William of Conches. The school of Chartres, owing to the influence of Bernard, its former head, was emphasizing the importance of the study of the poets and historians, and its humanistic tendencies made a deep impression upon John. He spent some three years studying not only the grammar for which he had come but also rhetoric and logic; in other words, the three elementary arts taught in medieval schools. Here he also received instruction from Richard L'Évêque and made the acquaintance of the celebrated Gilbert de la Porrée.

On his return to Paris in 1140 John supported himself by acting as tutor to young men of noble birth. Peter of Celle, afterward one of John's most intimate friends, may have been one of these. Among his other teachers at the time he speaks of Peter Helias, a commentator on Priscian; Adam du Petit Pont, a distinguished Aristotelian; William of Soissons, a logician; Gilbert de la Porrée, who had likewise come to Chartres from Paris; and Robert Pullen, an eminent theologian.

In the Policraticus² John relates that he was present at the council of Rheims, held by Pope Eugenius III in 1148. On this occasion, it is

¹ See below, p. 147. ² See below, p. 109.

conjectured, John was introduced by St. Bernard of Clairvaux to Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, whose secretary he became. He held this position for a period of seven years. For twenty years he regarded Canterbury as his home. While holding the position of secretary to the archbishop, he became acquainted with Thomas Becket; this intimacy proved to be one of the potent influences in John's life. During this period he went on many missions to the Papal See; it was probably on one of these that he made the acquaintance of Nicholas Breakspear, who in 1154 became Adrian IV, the only Englishman to ascend the papal throne. The following year John visited him, remaining at Benevento with him for several months. He was at the court of Rome at least twice afterward.

In the year 1159 he published his two most important works, the Policraticus and the Metalogicon. They are both dedicated to the chancellor Thomas Becket, who at the time was in the retinue of Henry II, then directing the siege of Toulouse.

In 1161 Theobald died. Becket succeeded him as archbishop of Canterbury and John became his secretary. For some reason John had incurred the ill will of the king even during his service with Theobald, and this was so enhanced by his support of Becket's policies that he found it advisable to retire to France. Some years later the king forced Becket into exile and the two friends were together once more. On the archbishop's recall by the king, John went in advance to England to prepare for his return. He probably remained with his friend during the weeks immediately preceding his murder, and it appears that he was with Becket on the very day that the deed was perpetrated.

In 1176 John was called to the archbishopric of Chartres by the French king, Louis VII, a position which he held until his death in 1180.

John's works comprise, beside the Policraticus, the Metalogicon, a plea for the study of logic. In reality it is more than that; the first book develops into a defense of the two other arts of the trivium, rhetoric and grammar. Indeed, the work is a general treatise on the education of the day and presents an instructive picture of the intellectual life of the age. There are two poems with the title Entheticus. The longer, which consists of 1,852 lines, is an outline of the history of philosophy. It also contains an invective against some of the prominent politicians of the reign of Stephen. In the shorter Entheticus,³

³ See below, p. 413.

serving as an introduction to the Policraticus, John apostrophizes his book, bidding it speed to the one to whom it is dedicated. The Historia Pontificalis survives in an incomplete condition. It is a continuation of Sigebert's Chronographia, which is a history of the church to the Council of Rheims, 1148. John carries the narrative to the year 1163.

John's correspondence comprises 329 letters, some of them fairly long. It is in these that he appears to the best advantage. He may, without exaggeration, be called one of the world's greatest letter writers.

BOOK I

Introduction

[12] THE PLEASURE of letters, agreeable in many respects, is especially so for the reason that all inconvenience due to interval of time or space is banished, friends are brought into the presence of one another, and matters worth knowing do not remain unknown because of their separation. For arts as well had inevitably perished, law disappeared, fidelity and religion itself crumbled, and even the proper use of language been lost, had not divine commiseration, to offset human frailty, provided mortals with the knowledge of letters.

The experiences of our ancestors, ever incentives and aids to virtue, would never have inspired or saved a single soul, had not the loyalty, zeal, and diligence of writers triumphing over sloth transmitted them to posterity.

Even as it is, the shortness of life, our obtuseness, our careless indifference, and our sterile activities permit us to know but little; and even this little is straightway driven from our minds by forgetfulness, that betrayer of knowledge, that ever hostile and faithless counterpart of memory. Who would ever have heard of an Alexander or a Caesar? Who would ever have felt admiration for the Stoics or Peripatetics, had not the testimony of writers given them their distinction? Who would ever have followed in the footsteps, so revered, of the apostles and prophets, had not Holy Scripture consecrated them to the service of posterity?

[13] Triumphal arches add to the glory of illustrious men only when the writing upon them informs in whose honor they have been reared, and why. It is the inscription that tells the spectator that the triumphal arch is that of our own Constantine,¹ liberator of his country and promoter of peace. Indeed no one has ever gained permanent fame except as the result of what he has written or of what others have written of him. The memory of fool or emperor is, after a brief lapse of time, the same unless it be prolonged by

Note. The numbers in brackets are page citations in Webb's text, Vol. I. ¹ There was a belief, unfounded, that Britain was the birthplace of Constantine.

courtesy of writers. How many great kings do you² imagine there have been, with regard to whom there is nowhere in the world a thought given or a word uttered? Therefore there is no wiser policy for those who crave glory than to cultivate sedulously the favor of scholars and writers; for their own achievements, doomed to utter darkness unless illumined by the lamp of letters, avail them naught. Whatever popularity and renown are derived from other sources are as when Echo, of whom we read in fable, catches up the applause of the theater, no sooner begun than done.

In addition we can with utmost confidence draw upon letters for solace in sorrow, rest in labor, cheerfulness in poverty, self-restraint in pleasure and in wealth. When an active intellect devotes itself to reading and writing what is really worth while, the soul is purged of its defects and is revivified even in adversity by a mysterious and serene cheerfulness. One will find no human activity more agreeable or more profitable unless it be divinely inspired piety, which by prayer converses with Deity, or, with heart full of love, takes God into the soul and fondly meditates upon his wondrous ways. Believe me as one who knows, that all the sweetness of the world is as wormwood when compared with such experience, and all the more in proportion to the normality of one's senses and the keenness and unimpaired vigor of his mind.

Do not be surprised therefore that I am not mounting some round of that ladder which, as you once warned, is the sole means of rising [14] in the world. I am not involving myself in greater responsibilities, for I give you my reply in the words of Isocrates,³ who, when asked by friends why he took no part in the activities of the forum, replied "Of the specialties of this place I know naught; of mine own, this place knows naught." That is to say, I scorn the aspirations of courtiers and they mine.

You are further surprised that I do not sever or break the cord, if otherwise it cannot be untied, which has held me so long in bondage to the frivolities of court life, and still holds me. I am filled with regret and shame that, trained for a far different sphere, I have already wasted almost twelve years. It were more fitting that one suckled by a holier philosophy had, when weaned, passed into the ranks of philosophers rather than into the guild of courtiers.

² The Policraticus, which appeared in 1159, was dedicated to Thomas Becket, chancellor of Henry II, who became archbishop of Canterbury three years later. ³ Macrobius, Sat. VII. i. Cf. Seneca, Ep. xxix. 10 (L. C. L., I, 208).

I feel that you too are in a similar situation except that you, more upright and wiser in pursuing the proper course, ever stand unshaken upon the firm foundation of righteousness. You do not bend like a reed with every breath of wind nor are you led astray by pleasure. To vanity, who lays down the law for the whole world, you yourself dictate. Consequently, when different states heap richly deserved encomiums upon you, as though constructing a triumphal arch, I too, a man of lowly origin, with the shrill pipings of my uncouth style have tossed, like a pebble on the heap of your laudations, this book to do you honor. Though it have no charm I am sure it cannot fail to please, as it is a proof of the author's loyal devotion.

I deal in part with the frivolities of court life, bearing more heavily upon those which I find harder to tolerate. In part, too, I busy myself with the teachings of the philosophers, leaving to the judgment of the wise what should be accepted or rejected in the tenets of each. To the end that my criticism offend no one, I found it necessary to address one entirely unaffected by any foible. I therefore determined to address myself to you, the most discriminating mind of our generation, and to point out to you what seemed to be worthy [15] of criticism in the conduct of men like myself. The consequence will be that if anyone as he reads or listens recognizes a weakness of his own, he will recall the adage "Change the name and the story fits you."⁴ The lesson will be the more effective since all know that matters of high import are your constant occupation. It was in this way that Seneca, by teaching others, gave warning to his dear Lucilius. Jerome writes specifically to Oceanus and Pammachius, but for the most part he is reprimanding the excesses of others. Let whosoever pleads the attractiveness of folly estimate the trouble it involves, the time it wastes, and as a wise man pass judgment upon what is said on the basis of the reason for saying it.

Should anyone think my words too severe, he may consider the remarks addressed not to himself but to myself as well and to those who, like me, crave improvement or to those who, having passed away, endure calmly any rebuke. I well know that the slaying of Achilles⁵ offends no one and that the present generation is being criticized while the past is being blamed as it deserves. Thus Horace, to discipline himself, permits his own slaves, in the license of the Saturnalia, to criticise their master.⁶

⁴ Horace, Sat. I. i. 69, 70 (L. C. L., p. 8).

⁵ Juvenal, Sat. i. 163 (L. C.L., p. 16).

° Horace, Sat. II. vii. 4, 5 (L. C. L., p. 224).

That sly dog Horace touches every fault

His friend displays, but makes him laugh withal,

And thus admitted plays about his heart.⁷

I have been at pains to use appropriate matter from other writers, provided I found it profitable and helpful, occasionally without giving credit; partly because I know that your familiarity with writers has for the most part already made it known to you; partly to inspire the ignorant with the love of reading. If anything appears incredible therein I trust to be forgiven, for I am not promising that all that has been here written down is true but that, false or true, it is helpful to the reader.

[16] I am not so senseless as to ascribe as true that once upon a time the tortoise spoke to winged fowl, or that the country rat received in his humble home the city rat,⁸ and similar stories; but I have no doubt as to the fact that such inventions serve the purpose of instruction. The very material which I for the most part use belongs to others, unless it be that whatever has been well said by anyone I make my own, and express, sometimes in paraphrase in my own words, and again, to inspire confidence and carry weight, in the words of the author.

Since I have begun to reveal my mental secrets, I shall expose my presumption more fully. All whom I meet who are in word or deed philosophers, I deem my retainers. What is more, I claim them as my slaves, to such an extent that they in their complete subservience are to offer themselves as bulwarks in my defense against the tongues of my traducers. Yes, and these I cite as my authorities. Of course I have never seen Alexander or Caesar, nor have I heard Socrates or Zeno, Plato or Aristotle debating, yet from these and others equally strangers to me I have drawn much for the edification of my readers.

That I may not seem to be disputatious, I make a concession: I confess that I have had recourse to lies when it has suited my purpose; and if my rival will on no other terms hold his peace (I too have my Cornificius⁹ and Lanvinus¹⁰) I grant that I have been guilty of mendacity, for I am familiar with the verse "Every man is a liar."¹¹ Let him not imagine that his huge chest, swollen belly, cheeks puffed and red, his wanton tongue, insipid and quicker to tear to shreds

⁷ Persius, Sat. i. 116-17 (L.C.L., p. 328). ⁸ Horace, Sat. II. vi. 80 (L. C. L., p. 216). ⁹ A detractor of Virgil. ¹⁰ An envious elder contemporary of Terence.

¹¹ Ps. cxv. 11.

his neighbor's character than to correct his own, shall save my Lanvinus. Unless he cease his abuse I shall disclose who he is, and he shall soon learn that the fact of his being no novice does not confer upon him nor guarantee unquestioned authority. Let him [17] refute my slander by reason or weight of influence. I shall not shrink from mending my ways even at the reproof of a foe. I shall even regard as friend one who points out my own mistakes.

Any discrepancy discovered between what I say and the statement of others does not constitute proof of falsification on my part since in military matters I have followed the historians, who frequently contradict one another, and in philosophy, accepting as I do the Academic system, I have admitted that which seems to the best of my judgment likely or probable.

I feel no shame in proclaiming myself a member of the Academic school, and I am faithful to their rule in all matters that appear doubtful to the sage. For although this sect is supposed to introduce an element of obscurity in all discussions, none is more devoted to the critical examination of truth, and we have it on the authority of Cicero,¹² who in old age took refuge in this school, that none is more friendly to progress.

In statements made from time to time in regard to providence, fate, freedom of the will, and the like, I am to be regarded as a disciple of the Academy rather than as a dogmatic exponent of that which is still a matter of doubt. At times too I have employed the testimony of Holy Writ, a potent means of elucidating thought; in such a way, however, that nothing inimical to faith or morals will be discovered, since the same unchanging truth, so to speak, is the mother of both ancient and modern thought:

The features are not like in all, nor yet Unlike, as is but meet in sisters.¹³

I reserve the whole for your judgment, that a higher and juster claim to glory may be conceded you for your criticism, than to me for the authorship. The inequality of the different volumes is to be ascribed to the varied occupations by which my attention has been distracted to such a degree that at times I have with difficulty found time to write at all. However, while you were busied with the siege of Toulouse¹⁴ I began this work and freed myself for a time from

¹² Cicero, Acad. II. iii. (L. C. L., p. 472); I. iv. 13 (L. C. L., pp. 422ff.). ¹³ Ovid, Met. ii. 13-14 (L. C. L., I, 60).

¹⁴ Toulouse was besieged by Henry II in 1159. Thomas Becket, the chancellor, organized the campaign.

the frivolities of court life, pondering the thought that leisure without letters is the death and burial of the living man.¹⁵

If anyone joins Lanvinus¹⁶ as disparager of unknown or imaginary writers, let him attack that resuscitated material derived from [18] Plato, Cicero's Dream of Africanus, and those philosophers who revel during the Saturnalia, or else be indulgent to my fantasies and to those of the classic writers, provided they are of service to the general public.

In addition I fervently pray that he who reads or listens to my work may deign to commend me in his prayers to the All-pitying Father and that he strive to obtain indulgence for my manifold sins. For I hope that I too am a god-fearing man, and with heartfelt words in my turn, I pray for those who need it that the All-powerful and All-pitying Father may purify all our thoughts and deeds. To the end that we may not be swept away by our own mistakes may the Angel of the Great Judgment with his spirit deign to illumine our minds.

Chapter One. The Greatest Danger to the Favorites of Fortune

THE MOST dangerous situation, in my opinion, that men of eminence have to face lies in the fact that the enticements of fawning fortune blind their eyes to truth. The world heaps upon them its wealth and its pleasures and thereby kindles and fosters their craving for self-indulgence. The soul, deceived by allurements of many kinds, proving false to its own inner light, by a sort of self-betrayal goes astray as the result of its desires amid the deceptions of the outer world. [19] Success, implacable foe of virtue, applauds its devotees only to harm them, and with its ill-starred prosperity escorts them on their joyous way to bring about their ultimate fall by first pledging them in cups of sweet wine and, when they are intoxicated thereby, mixing in the draught deadly poison or anything conceivably worse. The more brilliant the success the denser the clouds that gather around their dazzled eyes. As the darkness thickens truth vanishes, virtue withers with severed roots, and a crop of vices sprouts. The light of reason is extinguished, and the whole being is carried headlong into the abyss of destruction.

¹⁵ Seneca, Ep. lxxxii. 3 (L. C. L., II, 242). ¹⁶ See n. 10 above.

Thus the creature of reason becomes a brute;¹⁷ thus the image of the Creator is transformed into a beast by virtue of a sort of similarity in character; thus man degenerates and falls from his pinnacle, having become like to vanity¹⁸ for the reason that, swollen with pride because of honors acquired, pride has destroyed his understanding. Who more contemptible than he who scorns a knowledge of himself, who lavishly wastes upon life and squanders to his own disgrace time which has been sparingly meted out for life's needs — time, which alone cannot be replaced and if reclaimed at all, at a ruinously usurious rate? Who more brutish than he who, by lack of judgment and lustful passion disregards his own interests¹⁹ in attending to those foreign to him and unceasingly occupies himself not merely with the interests but even with the diversions of others? Who more bestial than he who, neglecting duties, rises at midnight, that with the aid of dogs keen of scent, his active huntsmen, his zealous comrades, and his retinue of devoted servants, at cost of time, labor, money, and effort, he may wage from earliest dawn till darkness his campaign against beasts?

Chapter Two. Impropriety

THAT which does not follow from principles of nature or duty is termed alienum, "belonging to another," if as a matter of fact it ever is proper to employ the word alienum to express that which with more propriety should never have belonged to anyone. The principles of nature are binding upon all alike; considerations of duty, [20] upon particular individuals. Consequently the dictates of duty and those of law are different, though obedience to natural law is a part of duty. Indeed, to violate the laws of nature is a sort of parricide, and to nullify the mandates of a parent and not to render due homage to the mother of us all is like a sacrilege.

That which reason admits on worthy grounds cannot be classified baldly as alienum, "foreign to the proper nature of man." For example, if seemly gaiety or expediency forms an element in an act and no one is harmed, there is no conflict with duty or nature. But if one or the other of these latter is assailed, we at once detect a flat case of impropriety and in no wise to be permitted. Transgression of this rule is always either an error or a crime.

¹⁷ Ps. xlviii. 21. ¹⁸ Ps. cxliii. 4.

¹⁹ Horace, Sat. II. iii. 19 (L. C. L., p. 154).

Chapter Three. Division of Functions in the Political Organizations of the Ancients

PAGAN philosophers, fashioning by precept and practice so-called political equity by which human government exists and thrives, decreed that each one should be content with his own activities and interests. They prescribed their own particular places and interests to those living in or about cities, also to the farmer or country man. The individual and the body of citizens were solicitous for the public welfare. Each received on the basis of his worth the resources of nature and the product of his own labor and industry. No one appropriated his neighbor's goods, since love of one's neighbor still persisted.

The dominating and central place in the city was consecrated to the Supreme Court,²⁰ and from this the laws governing conduct, like streams of health and life, flowed down to the individual occupations which had been suitably apportioned according to the requirements of each activity. But among these hunting as a recreation or profession was not conceded to those who dwelt in the neighborhood of cities, since hunters, like farmers and other dwellers of the rural districts, are kept somewhat sequestered from cities and from the wellborn as a class. For it is quite unfair that noble natures be degraded by lowly pursuits and that those whose tasks are to be arduous and [21] burdensome be distracted by the vain pursuit of pleasure. Consequently hunting, if properly pursued, is viewed as an occupation or business; if not, as a waste of time or as vicious; and they who practice it in the face of duty are punished by law.

Chapter Four. Hunting, Its Origin, Its Forms, and Its Practice, Lawful and Otherwise

THE THEBANS, if we may credit history, were the first to decree that the knowledge of hunting should be imparted to all. They in particular formulated the rules of this profession, or shall we call it vice? As a result of this the Theban people became an object of suspicion to the world, as befouled with parricide, incest, deception, and perjury. They it was who transmitted the knowledge to the Phrygians,

²⁰ Valerius Maximus, II. vi. 4. The Areopagus, originally a criminal court, evolved into the powerful legislative and administrative body of Athens.

an effeminate, spineless people, fickle and utterly lacking in modesty. The Thebans were held in little esteem by the Athenians and the Spartans (peoples of greater dignity, who clothed in the ornate veil of mythology historical facts, the secrets of nature, and the origin of customs). Their tales, however, served the useful purpose of admonition against defects of character and conduct, and the charm of their poetic form gave pleasure.

They fabled that the Dardanian hunter²¹ had been caught up to heaven by an eagle, to serve first as Jove's cupbearer and then for purposes of illicit and unnatural love; quite properly, seeing that volatility is the characteristic of a winged creature and that pleasure, blind to sobriety, blushes not to prostitute itself indiscriminately. A Theban chieftain,²² having unwittingly caught sight of the naked Artemis whom he had ever revered in the woods, started to rectify the mistake caused by his passion and marveled to find himself, though still with his human sensations, changed into an animal. When, under the form of a deer, he strove to drive away his own dogs, he was torn to pieces by their fangs, a deplorable result of the type of training they had received.

Perhaps a goddess was chosen to preside over hunting because the people did not wish to degrade their gods by making them preside [22] over an activity characterized by self-indulgence and vice. Venus, herself a hardy huntress, mourned the destruction of Adonis by the tusks of a boar. Maro,²³ making a mockery of the hospitality of lofty Carthage, knew not how to consummate the desires of Aeneas and Dido until their companions were scattered in the hazards of the hunt, when he unlocked for the lovers the secrecy of a sylvan bower; possibly it thus happened because such a pursuit, owing to its consciousness of guilt, shuns the light, while the joy of lawful wedlock is illumined by the fire of hymeneal torches.

Can you name any man of distinction who has been an enthusiast in the sport of hunting? The heroic son of Alceus,²⁴ although he pierced the bronze-hoofed hind and brought sweet calm to Erymanthus' grove,²⁵ had in view not his own pleasure but the general good. Meleager slew the boar that ravaged Caledonia,²⁶ not to give pleasure to himself but to free his country from the scourge. The founder of

²¹ Ganymede. ²² Actaeon.

²³ I. e., Virgil. See Aen. iv. 160 ff. (L. C. L., I, 406).

²⁴ Ibid., vi. 802 (L. C. L., I, 562). ²⁵ Ibid., 803-04 (L. C. L., I, 562).

²⁶ Ovid, Met. ii. 499 (L. C. L., I, 426ff.).

the Roman race²⁷ laid low the seven huge stags not to sate his vanity and pleasure but to keep himself and his followers alive. It is from their purpose and result that deeds are judged. An act is seemly if the cause that preceded it is honorable. Who ever formed an army of hunters and dogs except for the purpose of battling beasts with courage not his own? Why shouldn't he? Perhaps he will bag a tiny beast, a timid hare, with his elaborate equipment. But if the booty be more glorious, a deer maybe or boar, and the hunter's efforts be conspicuous, spontaneous applause bursts out, the huntsmen are wild with joy, and the head of the victim with the usual trophies will be born before the conquering hero. One would think that the capture of the king of the> Cappadocians²⁸ was being celebrated, to judge by the blare of trumpet and squeal of pipe proclaiming the victory. When a female animal is caught, then gloom prevails, or when a noble beast is laid low by the cunning of the trappers rather than by their prowess.

If a wild goat or hare be the victim, it is thought unworthy of the [23] glory of a triumph. Then, too, there are no exultant blasts of horn or trumpet from the eighth grade of Capricorn until the beginning of Gemini.²⁹ The triumphant pipe and horn are silent unless a wolf or lion, more dreadful foe, or tiger or panther becomes our prey — a triumph which, thank God, is rarely ours. Despite this, the long space of the year is taken up with the various interests of the hunt.

In Asia the Albanians³⁰ possess dogs more powerful than lions, which they fear as little as the most timid beast, thanks to the courage of the hounds and their own skill. In fact, there is no wild beast known braver or stronger than these dogs. They were brought into Asia from Africa by Hercules³¹ after he had vanquished the three-headed monster Geryon,³² and he bequeathed to them, as it were, the prowess of downing lions. In addition, this butchery requires skill and exacts it. It possesses its artists at whom you will marvel as he "Gesticulates with brandished knife,"³³ and now with blunted sword, should you chance to be present at their sacred rites. Be care-

²⁷ Virgil, Aen. i. 184ff. (L. C. L., I, 128).

²⁸ Horace, Ep. I. vi. 39 (L. C. L., p. 288).

²⁹ A period approximately from January 1 to May 22.

³⁰ The inhabitants of ancient Albania, a district east of the Caspian Sea. See Solinus, Polyhist. xv. 6-8; cf. Pliny, N.H. VIII. xl. 149. ³¹ Justin, xlii. 3.

³² Virgil, Aen. viii. 202 (L. C. L., II, 74). ³³ Juvenal, Sat. v. 121, 122 (L. C. L., pp. 121-22).

ful, however, not to misuse any of their hunting jargon in speaking, for you will be flogged or be branded with ignorance of all propriety in displaying your lack of knowledge of their technique. In our day this knowledge constitutes the liberal studies of the higher class. This forms the underlying principles of rectitude; this is the short cut for the blessed to the acme of happiness, a goal which our ancestors taught could be reached only by climbing the steep and laborious path of virtue.

The Gauls scoff at the people of Emilia and Liguria, asserting that they make their wills, arouse the neighborhood, and pray for arms if an invading tortoise threatens their frontiers. This reputation has risen from the fact that no attack of any kind has found them unprepared. How can our own people avoid derision since, with still greater commotion, more worry, trouble, and expense, they think it proper to proclaim formal war against wild beasts? Yet they pursue [24] with less ferocity those beasts which mankind justly regards as its greatest and most malignant enemies. The wolf, the fox, the bear, and all harmful animals are undisturbed while others are slaughtered, and are allowed to commit their depredations before the very eyes of the huntsmen.

Hannibal is said to have slain a Roman who at his bidding had killed in single combat an elephant.³⁴ He remarked that the Roman was unworthy of living in that he could be forced to enter a contest with beasts, although it is nearer the truth to say that he did not wish a captive to be rendered famous by the glory of an unprecedented triumph, nor those beasts by whose valor he had terrorized nations to be maligned. Is one then worthy of life whose sole interest in it is the trivial one of waging cruel warfare against beasts?

Those who delight in that type of hunting in which birds are taught to pursue their kind, if you think that this sort of bird-catching is to be included in the term hunting, are afflicted with a milder form of insanity but with similar levity. Hunting on the ground, as it is more dependable, is also more profitable than that in the sky.

Devotees of hunting cite from ancient authorities Ulysses as the originator of their preoccupation. He was the first after the destruction of Troy to introduce into Greece birds equipped with bronze spurs and to incite them to attack their kind to the surprise and de-

³⁴ Pliny, N.H. VIII. lxi. 6, 7.

light of the spectators. They have indeed chosen a potent patron and one

Who saw the ways of many men and towns.³⁵

No foe escaped unharmed from his snares. His unarmed host raised the glory of Greece higher than did the armed crews of the thousand ships.

But he himself gave Circe credit for this art, the woman who is said to have worked by charms and potions upon the minds of men for the reason that she won them by her artful words and agreeable ways and transformed them to suit her every purpose. And so the [25] poisonous cup of illicit pleasure was passed to the Greeks, but when the cautious Ithacan had tasted he would not drink for fear that, degraded and spiritless, he be forced to live under a harlot's sway. But because in his wisdom he had had experience in every field, this wary man foresaw how, when his labors and his wanderings had ended and when his chaste Penelope and his dear Telemachus failed to recognize him, he could make good to Greece the loss of his companions, of whom she had been deprived by their long exile.

Admiration should also have been expressed for his faithful dog, from whom alone of that numerous household the lapse of even twenty years had not obliterated the memory of his master, and who had joyously greeted him on his return; there would, however, have been the danger that the fame of the hunting pack be enhanced had praise been lavished upon Argus.

Ulysses enjoined his son Telemachus to abjure this new type of amusement, remarking that he had introduced it only for the entertainment of those who, by loss of their fathers, had felt the burden of the Trojan war. I infer that the art of hunting is unprofitable inasmuch as a man of his prowess had not wished to impart it to his only son. And this you as well as I may infer from the fact that the inferior sex excels in the hunting of birds. For this you might be inclined to blame nature did you not know that inferior creatures are always more prone to rapine. Hunting is indeed a silly and very trying business and never balances the losses of its extravagance by the advantages of its successes.

It may be that such large numbers of men engage in hunting in order that under cover of it they may cut down their expenditures, rarely dining at home, often with their acquaintances. They court

³⁵ Horace, A. P. 142 (L. C. L., p. 462).

solitude, wandering about forest glades and lakes clothed in coarse garments, content with cheap food. The sight of their inane amusement is the only consolation they have to offer their relatives and dependents who are being worked to death, starving and ill-clothed. As a matter of fact, Athens' first fall was at the date when she decreed [26] that the edict forbidding hunting be rescinded and that the art of hunting both animals and birds be recognized by the state, and practiced.

The seer of Mantua³⁶ is said to have asked Marcellus, when the latter was enthusiastically engaged in playing havoc with birds, whether he preferred that a bird be produced for the capture of others or a fly be fashioned for the purpose of exterminating its kind. Referring the point to his uncle Augustus, on his advice Marcellus chose that a fly be formed to drive flies from Naples and free the city from an intolerable pest. The same was in fact accomplished, clear evidence that the common weal should take precedence of the individual's pleasures.

In the cave of the Centaur Chiron,³⁷ if entire credence is to be given the Greeks, Achilles was taught to play the lyre and cithera.³⁸ He was then taken into the forest and amid the slaughter of wild beasts, becoming inured to killing and to eating disgusting food, he lost his awe of nature and fear of death. Are we not told that Bacchus had the same trainer? In truth those who have such inclinations and desires are half-beast. They have shed the desirable element, their humanity, and in the sphere of conduct have made themselves like unto monsters. From levity to lewdness, from lewdness to lust, and finally, when hardened, they are drawn into every type of infamy and lawlessness.

Repose is sought after labor. Amusements are more delightful if hardships precede. Organisms utterly exhausted recruit themselves with greater avidity. To this day hunters smack of the Centaurs' training. Rarely is one found to be modest or dignified, rarely self-controlled, and in my opinion never temperate. They were indeed [27] imbued with these characteristics in the home of Chiron. Hence the warning to shun the Centaurs' feasts,³⁹ from which no one goes unscathed.

³⁶ I. e., Virgil, who was regarded as a magician in the Middle Ages. For this incident see Comparetti, Vergil in the Middle Ages, translated by Benecke, p. 267.

³⁷ Ovid, Met. ii. 633 (L. C. L., I, 104); Fast. v. 380 (L. C. L., p. 288); c£. Claudian, On the Third Consulship of Honorius, 61 (L. C. L., I, 274).

³⁸ Statius, Achilleis i. 106ff. (L. C. L., II, 516).

³⁹ Ovid, Met. xii. 213 ff. (L. C. L., p. 194).

If credence may not be given to the stories which poets have distorted with figments of their imagination, we must at least believe that which, written by the hand of God, has acquired indisputable authority among all nations. First, therefore, must be counted Nimrod,⁴⁰ a stout hunter before the Lord.⁴¹ We do not doubt that he was in disrepute, since all scholars condemn him. It is stated that he rose to such a pitch of pride that he feared not to scorn the laws of nature in that he reduced to servitude those of his own status and race whom she had created free and equal. Therefore tyranny, initiated by a huntsman to insult the Creator, finds its sole source in one who, amid the slaughter of beasts, wallowing in blood, learned to feel contempt for the Lord. He began indeed to grow powerful in the land for thus it was written: For the reason that he did not expect to receive power from the Lord.⁴² The beginning of his rule was Babylon and he spread into the land of Sennar where, when the whole earth was of one tongue and the same speech, the tower of Babel arose to the heavens. It was constructed not of stone but of brick covered with bitumen. It was not built upon a rock, on the firm foundation of which alone every edifice that is constructed waxes strong in the Lord. But shameless indiscretion, destroying harmony, also destroyed the unity of tongues and richly deserved the confusion that ensued in that it preferred to glory in itself rather than in the Lord. Hence the proverb: Even as Nimrod, the stout [28] hunter before the Lord,⁴³ possibly because he was so inflated with pride that the lesson of the recent flood failed to teach him not to wax haughty in the eyes of the Lord and not to claim defiantly for himself the obedience which man owes to God; since it is a fact that the flood preceded the confusion of tongues. Babylon⁴⁴ hath indeed made drunken all the earth with her golden cup. Against Jerusalem⁴⁵ which is above, she hath pitched a camp doomed to inevitable destruction and they that serve therein are damned by the eternal curse of the blessed.

Esau⁴⁶ also practiced hunting and deserved to be cheated of his father's blessing. In the forest he became hungry, with the result

⁴⁰ The account of Nimrod, the tower of Babel, and Nimrod's tyranny is taken by John from Rufinus' version of Josephus. For the original Greek see Josephus, Antiq. i. 115 (L. C. L., IV, 54ff.).

⁴¹ Gen. x. 9. ⁴² Ibid., 10. ⁴³ See above, n. 41.

⁴⁴ Jer. li. 7; Apoc. xvii. 4, 5. ⁴⁵ Gal. iv. 26.

⁴⁶ Gen. xxv. 27ff.

that in his ravenous desire for food he sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, and passed on to his descendants the yoke of voluntary slavery so that they bent their necks to the younger brother who remained at home. Esau's hands were covered with a thick growth of hair; he was rough in action, with boorish manners, and had left at home his fine garments since he incessantly engaged in hunting and had cast aside the garb of virtue. He thirsted for his brother's blood and yet, placated by gifts, he was not ashamed to be courted by him who he knew was preferred by divine grace to himself in the matter of his father's blessing.

They boast that the originator of hunting with falcons was Maccabeus. It is generally believed however that, engaged as he was in more serious occupations, he passed his life without this diversion. He waged successful wars, restored freedom to his brothers, improved the laws, revised ceremonies, cleansed the holy places, adorned the façade of the temple whence he believed victory had come to him with garlands of gold. Into none of his acts

Did selfish pleasure steal and claim a share.⁴⁷

Finally, falling in battle in defense of his brothers, he left them heirs to a righteous war.

You upon whom nature from the earliest years has enjoined the [29] rule of reason, consider the patriarchs, pass on freely to generals, proceed to judges, advance to kings, peruse the long line of prophets, examine the duties and pursuits of a devoted people; do you read in the whole range of ancient documents of anyone who has been a professional hunter? To be sure the Idumeans,⁴⁸ Ishmaelites, and the tribes that knew not God. "Where are they that take their diversion with birds of the air?"⁴⁹ asks the prophet or, if you will, his scribe, provided he be inspired. It is as if he makes the suggestion, though he does not say it, that those whose life is but sport have vanished along with their birds; and he does say in so many words that they have gone down into hell. Question your parents and they will cite your ancestors and say that they have never read of a hunter-saint. If, however, you should show partiality for the term hunter because the prophets promise that the Lord will send hunters⁵⁰ to chase from the forests and high places those who have wandered astray, then you should know that it is the life of bestial men that

⁴⁷ Lucan, Phars. ii. 391 (L.C.L., p. 86). ⁴⁸ Ezek. xxxii. 29, 30. ⁴⁹ Bar. iii. 17.

⁵⁰ Jer. xvi. 16.

is reproved, and not the vanity of hunters that is commended. Nor should the fact that, as you assert, on the authority of pious but not canonical writings, Placidus (also named Eustachius),⁵¹ a glorious martyr indeed, was visited while hunting by the Lord impress you overmuch. This would be as foolish as to praise the madness of the persecutors of the Church for the reason that from among them Paul was called to be an apostle and became one of the distinguished preachers of the gospel.

Granted that there have been distinguished men who were devoted to hunting, an Alexander or perhaps a Caesar, you will never find among them a philosopher or one deemed a sage among his people. Nor were Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Soranus,⁵² or he whose wisdom and virtue centered admiration upon himself and who made as nothing all the marvels not only of his own city but of the world, Archytas of Tarentum.⁵³

[30] But to return to those of our own fold who excel in respect to the truth of their doctrine, the example of their virtue, and the authority of their faith, we find no Saint Augustine, Lawrence, or Vincent; in fine no one of the band of Christian Fathers troubled by this crazy mania of hunting. We are instructed by painful examples in our own period also to guard against this type of feverish activity, in that divine wrath by many authentic miracles has smitten leaders while engaged in the hunt; for they who lived while they could like beasts have often died like dogs.

Kings themselves⁵⁴ have not been spared by the hand of God, which, for their wickedness, has inflicted deserved and signal punishment. We do not mention their names and the circumstances not because of lack of instances — perhaps indeed because of the difficulty of choosing amid such abundance — but in reality that we may avoid, by touching wounds still sore, causing additional pain to the smitten hearts of those still mourning. We have in fact many instances at home.

Some inspired by this form of vanity have gone to such extreme of madness as to become enemies of nature, forgetting their own condi-

⁵¹ A Christian martyr of the reign of Hadrian.

⁵² A distinguished Greek physician. As to the question whether there were four persons of this name cf. Smith, Dictionary of Classical Biography.

⁵³ For one marvel that Archytas made for his city see Aulus Gellius, X. xii. 9 (L.C. L., II, 244).

⁵⁴ E. g., William Rufus, King of England; Richard, Son of Robert, Duke of Normandy; Fulk, Count of Anjou, King of Jerusalem; and John II, known as John the Good.

tion and scorning divine judgment by subjecting God's image to exquisite torture in enforcing their claim to wild beasts; for a beast's defense they have not feared to destroy man, whom the Only Begotten Son of God hast redeemed with his blood. Wild animals, which are gifts of nature and become the lawful property of those who get them, are claimed by presumptuous man even under the watchful eye of God; and the uniform right over all of them wherever they exist is upheld by him as though he had thrown his encircling net around the whole universe. A fact that excites surprise is the frequent practice of declaring it a crime to lay snares for birds, to weave nooses, to allure by tunes or whistle, or to trap them in any manner whatsoever. The punishment prescribed is confiscation of goods or loss of life or limb. You have heard it said that birds of the sky and fishes of the deep are common property, but those that hunting claims, wherever they nourish, belong to the royal treasury. Stay thy hand; [31] touch them not; for under pain of treason thou mayst fall a victim to the hunter.

Farmers are kept from their fields that wild beasts may have liberty to roam. That feeding ground for them may be increased farmers are deprived of their fields of grain, tenants of their allotments, the herds and flocks of their pasturage. Hives are excluded from flowery places and the very bees are scarcely allowed to roam at liberty.

You are correct in saying that although the gadfly and other pests which do not annoy wild beasts but the pets of the mighty, cannot be driven off by them with all their might; even the gnat employs its weapons to avenge man and properly turns its sharp sting against wild beasts. In this way, if you should be here you will be compelled to buy up or lose your own fields, year by year. Choose whichever you prefer of the two fundamental rights of citizenship, you are threatened with the loss of life or property, one or the other.

If any hunter should pass through your estate, set before him without delay and with due respect what you have on hand. What you have not and your neighbor has,⁵⁵ purchase for his use for fear that in accord with power conferred by edict he may carry away your possessions despite you, and because of irreverence and contempt force you in the court of the hundred or that of the sheriff or of the king's itinerant justice or possibly in the king's court itself, to answer the charge of high treason. For the royal treasury is en-

⁵⁵ Cf. Juvenal, Sat. iv. 55 (L. C. L., p. 60).

riched while the family is forced to go into debt to meet its obligations as well as it can.

That it may be evident that I am attacking with my pen hunting and other diversions of courtiers judiciously rather than in a spirit of hatred, I would gladly agree to count hunting among things called indifferentia (neither good nor evil) were it not for the fact that the inordinate pleasure that it causes impairs the human mind and undermines reason itself. It should not, however, be indiscriminately condemned on this score; wine intoxicates but the intoxication is the fault of the one who drinks; the old often exhibit a senility that is not the result of age but of their own defects. Therefore it is quite possible, depending upon the circumstances, time, manner, individual, and purpose, for hunting to be a useful and honorable occupation. For it is the individual that glorifies the pursuit when following the path of duty and not infringing upon the rights of others. That activity of a man is most seemly which is in greatest harmony with his duty. The philosopher, describing seemly conduct for indi-[32] vidual cases, puts it admirably: "That which is most consistent with his character is most seemly for each."⁵⁶

What have you or I to do with the business of hunting? For one to neglect his own business and to devote himself with excess of enthusiasm to another's, is a disgrace indeed. For what has one whose distinction is based upon his public service to do with a private, not to say rural, occupation? A people should follow its leader; the teacher should disseminate knowledge; the judge should check delinquency; the industrious should be rewarded with the gift of power; private individuals should pursue humble, the well-born higher, servants menial, occupations.

For that which will be base for Seius and For Titius, men of honor each, will be Quite seemly for Crispinus.⁵⁷

Thus, though a body have several members, all do not have the same function; each has its own to perform. Why therefore do you who do not surrender yours to the hunter claim the right to his? Would you not deem it unseemly should the hunter aspire to the regal or papal throne? It would be even more unseemly to descend from either of these exalted positions to the filthy and bloody work of the hunter.

⁵⁶ Cicero, De Off. I. xxxi. 113 (L. C. L., p. 114). ⁵⁷ Juvenal, Sat. iv. 13-14 (L. C. L., p. 58).

For innate love of virtue always strives to rise; inversely, vicious impulses naturally tend downward.

Its purpose may redeem an act if it be based upon necessity, if effective in point of utility, or conspicuous for its integrity, since intention has the power to change its entire complexion. For, remarks the philosopher, one's attitude stamps its character upon one's work. Esau went out to hunt at the bidding of his father,⁵⁸ hence without blame, in order to appease his father's hunger and obtain the promised blessing as the just reward for his obedience. If this [33] could not have been done without guilt, such a patriarch as he would never have sent his son on such an errand, whom by virtue of his blessing he proposed to place over the nations. But perhaps delay brought on its own peril in that Esau tarried longer than permissible, though in a permitted task, since he was enamoured of this bad habit. No one may be deemed at fault who, under the sharp goad of necessity is forced to sustain life by following a lawful pursuit.

They who shun inactivity, who prepare themselves for the business of life by inuring their bodies to hardships, who do not allow themselves to become physically unwieldy and who maintain their personal dignity in all situations, are immune to sharp rebuke. An action becomes criminal not in itself but from its intention. No display of virtue gives an act distinction if its origin is rooted in pleasure. Pleasure is indeed a spurious source for virtue. I am not speaking of the pleasure which is the fruit of peace, patience, kindness, forbearance, and delight in the spirit of holiness.⁵⁹ I refer to pleasure which, devoted to feasting, drinking, banquets, song and dance, sport, over-refinements of luxury, debauchery, and varied types of defilement, weakens even robust souls and, by a sort of irony on nature's part, renders men softer and more corrupt than women. Circumstances also palliate the blame attached to hunting or even justify its pursuit. Granted these circumstances, justification for the action is derived from them as it is in the majority of cases. Hunting then may be untimely from the point of view of religious ceremonies, natural order, or obligation of duty such as ought not to be neglected and should take precedence of other activities. But enough of this, as our purpose is not a formal treatise on hunting but that of deriving a little amusement at the expense of the frivolities of courtiers. Consideration must be given to place also; that is, hunting should ⁵⁸ Gen. xxvii. ⁵⁹ Gal. v. 22.

be pursued on preserves, on common or on public land, provided that no injury is done the community and provided the locality is not exempt from such disturbance by reason of its sanctity or renown. For the bold trespasser is caught in the law's net and punished. The activity, however, is laudable when moderation is shown and hunting is pursued with judgment and, when possible, with profit, with [34] the result that the advice of the dramatist Terence is followed: "Moderation in all things."⁶⁰ For 'tis also true,

The wise is called a mad man, the just unjust, If he pursue e'en virtue beyond the realm Of sense.⁶¹

For nothing is less becoming than to cause a smile to pass over the countenances of the spectators as you with excess of zeal devote yourself to an activity of which you have no knowledge or, for that matter, which you have no intention of mastering. It is as if to be amusing, you should attempt to speak a tongue of which you are utterly ignorant.

There are indeed persons who are forever excluded not only from this but from certain other pursuits which are still more trifling and frivolous; for instance, those who are in holy orders and those who hold high judicial appointments. For conduct which, in the case of some, might appear a slight lapse, in the case of such as these would convey the impression of guilt. Indeed those considerations are always more weighty which break agreements entered into than those which hinder their formation. Furthermore the pursuit of hunting not only precludes advancement in holy orders for its votaries but even disqualifies one who has already attained the highest rank therein.

The following is a striking statement among many such attributed to Themistocles: "Magistrates should be forbidden the public games and other frivolities that the state may not appear trivial and advertise its own shortcomings by such lapse of dignity. If, however, it should happen that those of the governing class be unhampered by duties — a rare occurrence — they are permitted during the years of young manhood, by the dispensation of youth, to depart a little from their customary dignity and be somewhat more lenient toward themselves, because as they advance to maturity they will make

⁶⁰ Terence, And. 60 (L. C. L., I, p. 60). ⁶¹ Horace, Ep. I. vi. (L. C. L., p. 286).

amends to the state by their service to it." Such are his words. Would that our own statesmen gave ear to it, for then, having attained years of discretion, they would allow serious affairs of state to take precedence of their own diversions. The state would then feel a surge of strength course through its entire frame and the appearance of perfect harmony would impart charm and it would attain the perfection of an exquisite beauty,

If each part keep, as it is meet, the part Allotted to it,⁶²

[35] and if there be no confusion, but perfect harmony, in its various functions. This result may be attained if we but follow an unerring guide, nature.⁶³ As it is

Workmen try the doctor's trade and doctors Handle tools,⁶⁴

and our public servants are drafted from among hunters, from those of more humble pursuits, and even from criminals. With the rashness of ignorance the uninitiated dare to dabble in affairs of state.

Chapter Five. Gaming, Its Use and Abuse

LISTEN! As the noisy train of hunters leaves the courtyard, the hum of other amusements, though not so noisy, persists. It is a hackneyed proverb, "He who chases hares has naught but words to eat." If you will but turn your gaze upon your neighbors you will find them devouring life as well, which is passed entirely in faction, folly, fraud. Do you not think the gamester foolish who by grace of dice lives, nay rather perishes, and makes each throw the arbiter of his fate? Does that pursuit conform to reason, in devotion to which one becomes less devout?

Attalus Asiaticus, if credence is to be given profane historians, is said to have invented this form of amusement by changing slightly the subject matter available in mathematics. For in preceding ages the science of mathematics was merely tolerated because it was serviceable in the search for truth and also as a desirable element in a liberal education or because it inculcated principles of correct living.

⁶² Horace, A. P. 92 (L. C. L., p. 450).

⁶³ Cicero, De Amic. 19 (L. C. L., p. 128).

⁶⁴ Horace, Ep. II. i. 115-16 (L. C. L., p. 406).

Attalus, however, by an acute albeit sterile innovation, did not do away with the difficulties inherent in the subject (as a matter of fact many of them still remain) but he made it more attractive.

Greece had as yet not discarded the abacus nor mental arithmetic nor the game in which the establishment of a complete and perfect harmony with the marked pawn on the field of one's opponent con-[36] stituted a perfect victory. When on the same field the harmonic, arithmetical, or geometric mean of three terms is established, it is only a half-victory. Any other harmonies, although they fall short of winning, give public testimony to the luck or skill of the player. To be acquainted with mathematical games is an interesting and valuable accomplishment — so also the ability to recognize what opponents are vulnerable to surprise and in what way others are safer in their camp, knowing nothing of danger except that of being surrounded and taken captive by the foe.

We read that Ptolemy, Alexander, Caesar, and Pythagoras himself found relief from their more burdensome duties in contests of this kind. Even their amusements were calculated to prepare them to meet the problems of philosophy. On the defeat of Darius at the battle of Issus, gambling in its many forms was introduced into Greece along with the treasures of the conquered city. Hence dice, draughts, chess,⁶⁵ ario⁶⁶ or the Dardanian contest, the cast of six, tricolus, monarchus, quoits, taliorchas, wolf — skill in all of which is better forgotten than learned.

Who would not be ashamed to owe the favor of his own destiny not to his own character but to the cast of dice? Who would not resent allowing the foresight of the dice-box to take precedence of his own judgment? Is not the practice of any activity sufficiently condemned in which one becomes more depraved in proportion as his skill in it increases? Such indeed is the status of the gamester. Gambling is the mother of liars and perjury for she is prodigal as the result of her lust for others' possessions⁶⁷ and, having no respect for private

⁶⁵ The Latin word is tabula, table or board on which games are played. Isidore of Seville (Etym. xviii. 80) defines tabula as equivalent to alea (dice) or any game of chance. He says that it is played with the purgus (castle), calculi (counters), and tessera (draughts or dice). Webb cites Rashdell (Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, I, 195n), who states that the words ad scacos (chess) vel tabula are found in regulations governing gambling among students.

⁶⁶ The Latin word is retained where the translator is not acquainted with the game or its English equivalent.

⁶⁷ Sallust, Catil. v. 4 (L. C. L., p. 8).

property, as soon as she has squandered her own, gradually has recourse to theft and rapine.

Some esteem gambling, influenced by the fact that we read that Ulysses found amusement in it because it appears that acuteness of mind is, to a considerable degree, acquired by the long meditation it exacts. But to me it seems the more ruinous in that nothing is less profitable than to expend much labor on that by which one profits [37] little. For the importunity of the suppliant is inexpedient when by it the inexpedient is acquired, and zeal in requesting is folly where attainment produces no beneficial result. Would that thought and mental alertness, which in this case are wasted, might by all means be applied to nobler and better purposes! Gambling is absolutely banished from the domain of morals by the authority of him⁶⁸ who, teaching the world in the person of his son, pronounced that it should be shunned by all. It arms men for strife; it incites enmity; it causes pitiful if not pitiable destitution. If you ask who makes this assertion, allow me to introduce him⁶⁹

Who believed that he was born to help the world

And not himself.⁷⁰

There are, however, times when, viewed from a certain aspect, games of chance are permissible. For example, if without evil consequences they alleviate the strain of heavy responsibilities and if without harming character they introduce an agreeable period of relaxation. Liberty to do as one pleases is justified if moderation controls the act. The lack of it impairs the efficacy even of real worth. The circumstances that regulate all freedom from restraint are dependent upon a preceding consideration of place, time, individual, and cause. It is this consideration which makes all transactions appear beautiful or condemns them as morally ugly. In each individual case many roles are to be considered, since nature, situation, and fortune each invests a man with its own garb and from these he must choose that which in his own case is becoming.

Chilo the Spartan was sent to Corinth for the purpose of forming a treaty with the people of that city and on arriving found the leaders and elders of the city engaged in playing draughts. Not at-

⁶⁸ I. e., Cato the censor. See Cato, Dist. Prolog. 37 (L. C. L., Minor Latin Poets,

p. 595).

⁶⁹ I. e., Cato of Utica.

⁷⁰ Lucan, Phars. ii. 383 (L. C.L., p. 84).

tempting to transact his business, he returned and explained that he did not wish the glory of the Spartans whose valor had been conspicuous for the building of Byzantium⁷¹ to be dimmed, should it be said that they had made a treaty with a nation of gamesters. Then, [38] too, golden dice were presented to King Demetrius⁷² by the king of the Parthians to taunt him for his childish inconsistency. As a result of that gift it would seem that he should have cast off a senile adolescence which did not shrink in the slightest degree from trivial conduct though vested with the dignity of regal power.

In our days it is a proof of the intelligence of our nobles to be acquainted with the art of hunting; to be well grounded — and this is still more ruinous — in the principles of gaming; to tone down the manly voice into dulcet, effeminate strains; to forget their manhood and with vocal and instrumental music to disgrace their birth. It is from such parents that children are infected with their moral diseases. For what will the son do if not what he sees his father doing?⁷³ If gaming with its ruin attracts the old, The noble heir will play as well, and with Toy dice-box imitate his sire.⁷⁴

A greater effort should have been made to protect those of tender years from lustful pleasures whence vices spring, and precautions should have been taken that in their presence there be no questionable conduct on the part of their elders, because, as the same satirist says,

Bad examples in the home corrupt

The more and quicker, since they steal into

The mind with weight of mighty precedent.⁷⁵

Admirable it was in Eleazar, when entreated to save his life by transgressing the law of God, to avoid such a dangerous precedent by saying: Who am I, Eleazar, at ninety years of age, to adopt the life of the stranger and to corrupt pious youth?⁷⁶ The result is that in these times fathers leave degenerate sons who disgrace their manhood with effeminate vices.

⁷¹ A reference to the taking and rebuilding of Byzantium by Pausanias. ⁷² Justin, XXXVIII. ix. 9.

⁷³ John v. 19. ⁷⁴ Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 4-5 (L. C. L., p. 264).

⁷⁵ Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 31-33 (L. C. L., p. 266). Juvenal's text reads "swifter" in place of "more,"

⁷⁶ 2 Macc. vi. 24ff.

Chapter Six. Music, Instruments, Melodies,

Their Enjoyment and Proper Use

[39] ONE SHOULD not slander music by charging it with being an ally of the frivolities of courtiers, although many frivolous individuals endeavor by its help to advance their own interests. Music is indeed one of the liberal arts and it has an honorable origin whether it claims Pythagoras, Moses, or Tubal,⁷⁷ the father of those who play upon the harp, as the author of its being. Because of the great power exercised by it, its many forms, and the harmonies that serve it, it embraces the universe; that is to say, it reconciles the clashing and dissonant relations of all that exists and of all that is thought and expressed in words by a sort of ever varying but still harmonious law derived from its own symmetry. By it the phenomena of the heavens are ruled and the activities of the world and men are governed. Its instruments form and fashion conduct and, by a kind of miracle of nature, clothe with melodies and colorful forms of rhymes and measures the tone of the voice, whether expressed in words or not, and adorn them as with a robe of beauty.

To add our own testimony, the Fathers of the Church⁷⁸ have highly praised music. Finally, by virtue of it the violence of the evil spirit is controlled, and thanks to it his power over his own subjects [40] is weakened. For when the evil spirit of the Lord took possession of Saul, David sang, harp in hand, until the spirit ceased to trouble the king.⁷⁹ Even though the spirit which is concealed in the word be not yet revealed, it is most fitting that the soul, thanks to a kindred element, calm itself and forget all resentment when harmonies of like origin with itself and mysteries of nature in her kindlier aspects are revealed in sound.

The opinion or conviction is widespread that the soul consists of musical harmonies. The prince of all philosophers, Plato⁸⁰ (if the Aristotelians will permit), since he postulated a soul consisting of divisible and indivisible elements and fashioned it of the same and divers nature, believed that it could exist only if he united the divers lines which in manifold division radiated from both elements by portions consisting of half as much again, of four thirds and nine

⁷⁷ Gen. vi. 21. Tubal was the form of Jubal used in the Middle Ages.

⁷⁸ E. g., Augustine, De Orig. An. Hum. 13.

⁷⁹ 1 Kings xvi. 23.

⁸⁰ Tim. 35A, B (L. C. L., pp. 64ff.).

eighths, due regard being given to semitone⁸¹ and interval.⁸² Consequently under a few clear terms the variety, however great, of discordant elements may be shown to be closely related to the soul by reason of a harmony due to a similarity in their kindred natures. Hence, by a kind of course through concealed passages, it pervades the whole universe with its own vital force. Sense harmonizing with reason regulates and renders efficient the life of each nature and substance by decree of divine disposition. The soul therefore distributes nourishment to all things and thrives in each of them in its own essence except insofar as it is not submerged by the weight of corporeal mass or as the confusion of external commotion does not disturb the spirit's tranquility. When this assails it nothing can be more wholesome than for the soul to be recalled, so to speak, from the violence of tumult to itself by nature's tones, which are its own. What, in fine, can be more comparable to the spirit of man than tone? When it is molded in him, passing through all that surrounds it, with course as nimble as it is invisible, it fills the ear, and with its being penetrates dense bodies without impairing them; it, [41] as it were, by touch influences the mind and at its bidding depresses or exalts it. Although tone is by no means spirit, it certainly is a type of conveyance of spirit and is the medium of spirit — now human, now divine, and again prophetic. When heard in its more delicately uttered strains, it captivates with its beauty even austere minds and by the exhibition of a sort of charming gaiety drives gloom away. It is potent to wipe away the swirling clouds of dust and mist that have found lodgment in our minds.

Consequently the Christian Fathers, when they were spreading reverence for the Church, held that not only vocal but instrumental music should be turned to the service of the Lord for the purpose of improving morals and of turning men's minds to the love of God by inspiring a feeling of joy for goodness. If the authority of the Church Militant appears insignificant to you, even the Church Triumphant will not refrain from sounding the praise of music. The son of thunder saw its elders and revealed them to you and their voices were as the voice of harpers harping with their harps.⁸³ But if you have not yet heard them, listen to the King exulting and desiring you

⁸¹ Macrobius, In Somn. Scip. II. i. 24; Boethius, De Mus. ii. 28: "That which we now call semitone, our ancestors named quarter tone." ⁸² Boethius, De Mus. ii. 30; iii. 4, 8. ⁸³ Apoc. xiv. 2; Mark iii. 17.

to be a sharer in his kingdom and his triumph, for he says: Take up psalm and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant psaltery with the harp.⁸⁴ Wherefore? you say. That you may praise him with the timbrel and choir. Praise him with strings and organs.⁸⁵

This is the sole or principal use of music. The Phrygian mode and other corrupting types serve no purpose in wholesome training; rather develop the evil inherent in its devotee. Legitimate musical instruction grieves and laments its disfigurement by a vice that is not inherent in it and by the fact that a harlot's appearance is given to that which was wont to inspire virile minds with manly ideals. The singing of love songs in the presence of men of eminence was once considered in bad taste, but now it is considered praiseworthy for men of greater eminence to sing and play love songs which they themselves with greater propriety call stulticinia, follies.

The very service of the Church⁸⁶ is defiled, in that before the face of the Lord, in the very sanctuary of sanctuaries, they, showing off [42] as it were, strive with the effeminate dalliance of wanton tones and musical phrasing to astound, enervate, and dwarf simple souls. When one hears the excessively caressing melodies of voices beginning, chiming in, carrying the air, dying away, rising again, and dominating, he may well believe that it is the song of the sirens and not the sound of men's voices; he may marvel at the flexibility of tone which neither the nightingale, the parrot, or any bird with greater range than these can rival. Such indeed is the ease of running up or down the scale, such the dividing or doubling of the notes and the repetitions of the phrases and their incorporation one by one; the high and very high notes are so tempered with low or somewhat low that one's very ears lose the ability to discriminate, and the mind, soothed by such sweetness, no longer has power to pass judgment upon what it hears. When this type of music is carried to the extreme it is more likely to stir lascivious sensations in the loins than devotion in the heart. But if it be kept within reasonable limits it frees the mind from care, banishes worry about things temporal, and by imparting joy and peace and by inspiring a deep love for God draws souls to association with the angels.

But how may these reasonable limits be realized? "My lips shall greatly rejoice" says the psalmist "when I shall sing to thee."⁸⁷ If

⁸⁴ Ps. lxxx. 2. ⁸⁵ Ps. cl. 4.

⁸⁶ For a freer translation of this paragraph, by Professor H.E. Woolbridge, cf. Oxford History of Music, II, 85 n. ⁸⁷ Ps. lxx. 23.

therefore out of the abundance of the heart your mouth sing the praise of the Lord,⁸⁸ if you make music with the spirit and the mind, if in fine you sing in wisdom,⁸⁹ even without the use of words, you possess the secret of true moderation and, not so much with the rejoicing of the voice as with that of the mind, you soothe the ears of the Most High and wisely avert his wrath.

He who, however, expresses passion or vanity, who prostitutes the voice to his own desires, who makes music the medium of pandering, is indeed ignorant of the song of the Lord⁹⁰ and is revelling with Babylonian strains in a foreign land. Such as he gives greater delight; why I know not, unless it be that

We strive for the forbidden ever, And long for the denied,⁹¹

[43] and that stolen waters are sweeter and hidden bread is more pleasant.⁹² The Phrygian mode, by decree of the philosophers, had long before been banished from the court of Greece, and all such melodies as lead to the abyss of lust and corruption.

Do you not recall that the mothers and wives of the Thracians poured out upon Orpheus all their indignation, even to the degree of arousing the ill will of the fates, because he had by his melodies rendered their males effeminate? (Granted that he moved the spirits of the nether world and appeased its stern lord and that thanks to his song, he won, though on ill-starred terms, his Eurydice's return.) Therefore plaints of men of his type can expect for the most part no happy outcome. Possibly the reason is that

Base gain can have no happy end.⁹³

However, influences that weaken the character and subvert morals are everywhere borrowed from our own age, for we concede that it is superabundantly supplied with vices of its own. If you notice that any one of those somewhat addicted to such faults is at the same time dignified, moderate, and modest, be sure to count him among the strong men of our day. He is indeed a rara avis.⁹⁴

Consequently a certain venerable man,⁹⁵ the superior of some

⁸⁸ Matt. xxii. 2, 4; Luke vi. 45. ⁸⁹ 1 Cor. xiv. 15.

⁹⁰ Ps. cxxxvi. 4. ⁹¹ Ovid, Am. III. iv. 17 (L. C.L., p. 460).

⁹² Prov. ix. 17. ⁹³ Ovid, Am. I. x. 48 (L. C. L., p. 362).

⁹⁴ Juvenal, Sat. vi. 165 (L.C.L., p. 96).

⁹⁵ St. Gilbert of Sempringham. A translation of his words cited by Webb follows: We do not permit our nuns to sing. We absolutely forbid it, preferring with the blessed Virgin to hymn indirectly in a spirit of humility rather than with Herod's notorious daughter to pervert the minds of the weak with lascivious strains.

seven hundred nuns, imposed the law upon his convents that all the canticles be stripped entirely of their melodious vestments and rest content with the enunciation alone that expressed the meaning of the psalms and lauds.

The holy man was indeed suspicious of languishing tones as being related to voluptuousness, which is the parent of lust. Does not such music intensify day by day the evil of feasting? As though there can be no deadly poisons except those that are administered! Is it not folly to throw straw on the fire, oil on the hearth,⁹⁶ poison to the snake?

[44] Though the wickedness of deeds be obscured by a veil of words whose fundamental meaning is the same, it makes no difference. The Greek word for banqueting signifies dining together or drinking together; we with greater propriety term it convivium, living together.⁹⁷ Do not feasts seem in themselves sufficiently inane unless enlivened with song? The Lord chid the custom, saying, Woe to you that arise up early in the morning to follow your drunkenness, to drink till the evening, to be inflamed with wine. The harp and the lyre, the timbrel and pipe, and wine are in your feasts. The work of the Lord you regard not, nor do you consider the works of his hands.⁹⁸ Was it not at a feast that the king of Babylon⁹⁹ saw the handwriting on the wall — Mene, Mene, Tekel — by which it was announced that his kingdom had been numbered, found wanting, and divided? By divine judgment, indeed, he who exposes the vessels of the Lord, that is human bodies, to the short-lived joys of passion and opens the chamber of the bridegroom to the foulness of the Evil Spirit is judged unworthy of his kingdom.

Argus had a head surrounded with A hundred eyes,¹

all of which were not so much lulled to sleep as put out by the charm of a single pipe. Who art thou to boast of being more circumspect than he?

⁹⁶ Horace, Sat. II. iii. 321 (L. C. L., p. 180). ⁹⁷ Cicero, De Senect. 45 (L. C. L., p. 56). ⁹⁸ Isa. v. 11, 12. ⁹⁹ Dan. v. 24-28.

¹ Ovid, Met. i. 625 (L. C. L., I, 46).

Chapter Seven. Contrast between Augustus and Nero

AT A FEAST Augustus was once seen playing upon a tamborine. A certain soldier branded the unseemly conduct with these words:

Dost see how debauchee with finger thrums Upon the orb?²

Struck by the biting remark, Augustus ever after kept body and mind free of such frivolity and was always grateful to his critic.

[45] Far otherwise Nero. The foulest not merely of emperors but of men, he is said to have been so enamoured of the sweetness of his voice that he denied himself not merely fruits and food injurious to it but, to preserve it, he purged himself with enemas and emetics and, by the prescription of doctors, often and for long periods supported a leaden plate upon his belly³ as he lay upon his back.

He took such delight in singing and playing that not even when the theater was rocking in an earthquake would he leave, if he had commenced, until he had finished what he had begun. Nor while he was singing was anyone allowed to go out. Consequently quite a few, bored with the performance, pretended to be dead and were carried out. He never addressed his soldiers except by the lips of someone else and he never engaged in any business affair or amusement without a throat specialist beside him to warn him to spare his vocal organs.

Musical instruments excited his great curiosity and he envied the proficiency of others with them. So intense was this feeling that he loved to be called the prince of harpists. This gave rise to the following:

A peer is born, his prince performs upon His harp. What next except the sawdust and The ring?⁴

Though he had the weight of the world upon his shoulders he had an aversion to all dignity. He consequently persecuted philosophers

² Suetonius, Aug. 68 (L. C. L., I, p. 228). The Latin word orbis (orb) means both "a round drum" and "the world."

³ Suetonius says "chest"; this he did to strengthen his voice. ⁴ Juvenal, Sat. viii. 198-99 (L. C. L., p. 174). I have translated John's reading of Juvenal natus in place of mimus. A phrase of Claudian (Nupt. Honor, et Mariae, 35), principe natus, was possibly in his mind. Juvenal's text reads The prince performs upon his harp, his heir Upon the stage ...

as enemies to his imperial dignity and, being in awe of nobler natures than his own, he fell under the domination of actors whose low calling he was not ashamed to follow. Hence the following: What nobles do not grant, an actor will.⁵

Although he was so very avaricious that he assigned no duty without the comment, "You know of what I stand in need," or without adding, "He who presides over all is in need of all," nevertheless he did not hesitate to lavish immense sums upon mimics and actors. He honored them individually according to the pleasures he derived from each, with title of high dignity, naming some patricians and others senators; on these he conferred the names of distinguished and illustrious men.

Chapter Eight. Actors, Mimics, and Jugglers

[46] INDEED some still imitate Nero as far as they can (even if no one deigns to smirch himself with his foulness, although many curry favor with actors and mimics) and in displaying their vicious tendencies squander monstrous — shall we say, rather than marvelous — sums, in a sort of blind and despicable munificence.

That age⁶ however, to make a concession for the time being, possessed more respectable actors than ours, if we may apply the word respectable to that which is regarded as unworthy of any gentleman. I do not, however, assert that the actor is dishonorable when he follows his profession, although it is undoubtedly dishonorable to be an actor. Indeed there were once actors who by the magic of gesture, of language, and of voice reproduced vividly for the audience both fact and fiction. These were the contemporaries of Plautus and Menander and such as were intimate with our favorite Terence. Subsequently comedy and tragedy disappeared, since frivolity held universal sway. The actors of the legitimate drama were consequently forced into retirement. One will, however, discover that the status

⁵ Juvenal, Sat. vii. 90 (L. C. L., p. 144).

⁶ See Macrobius, Sat. III. xiv. Elsewhere John speaks thus of actors: Concerning actors and mimes, buffoons and harlots, panderers and other like human monsters which the prince ought rather to exterminate entirely than to foster, there needed to be no mention made in the law, which not only excludes all such abominations from the court of the prince but totally banishes them from among the people. Policraticus, IV, iv (Dickinson, p. 16). See also Book VIII, Chapter Twelve (pp. 369ff., below).

of the actor was for the most part that of the slave although his utility is emphasized by him who teaches the art of poetry, in the words,

Our dramatists desire to be of help And to amuse; to give expression to The jocund and the just.⁷

But our own age, descending to romances and similar folly, prostitutes not only the ear and heart to vanity but also delights its idleness with the pleasures of eye and ear. It inflames its own wantonness, seeking everywhere incentives to vice. Does not the shiftless man divert his idleness and court slumber with the sweet tones of instruments and vocal melody, with gaiety inspired by musicians and with the pleasure he finds in the narrator of tales or, and this is more disgraceful still, in drunken revels?

[47] Horace has given a prescription of better form:

Let those who need sound sleep anoint themselves And swim across the Tiber thrice.⁸

The preacher, too, says, Sleep is sweet to a laboring man whether he eat little or much.⁹ Exercise does indeed beget and foster liking for repose, which is destroyed by long continued ease and the languor bred by it. An idle man is especially under the dominion of his desires since idleness is a foe of the soul and banishes from it all interest in virtue. The moralist proclaims:

Dost see how sloth corrupts the idle frame; How waters motionless become defiled?¹⁰

What? you say; Listen! you will learn if you trust the same guide, as he also says,

'Tis questioned why Aegistus came to be Adulterer; the cause is clear to see, He had abundant ease.¹¹

It is therefore the advice of a most learned man¹² that the Enemy should find you occupied, that you may with success equal to your

⁷ Horace, A. P. 333-34 (L. C. L., p. 478).

⁸ Horace, Sat. II. i. 7-8 (L. C. L., p. 126). ⁹ Eccles. v. 11.

¹⁰ Ovid, Pont. I. v. 5-6 (L. C. L., p. 290).

¹¹ Ovid, Rem. Am. 161-62 (L. C. L., p. 188).

¹² I.e., St. Jerome, who says "See to it that you engage in some work, that the devil always find you occupied." Ep. cxxv (Ad Rusticum).

judgment oppose the shield of your occupations to his manifold temptations. Says the moralist,

That shameless siren idleness you must

Avoid.¹³

But with us, actors give her new life. Tedium steals upon unoccupied minds and they are not able to endure their own company unless they are pampered by the solace of some pleasure. Therefore spectacles and the countless hosts of vanities by which they who cannot endure to be entirely idle are occupied, but to their greater harm. Better had it been for them to have idled away their time than to have busied themselves to their own ruin. Hence the procession of mimics, jumping or leaping priests, buffoons, Aemilian¹⁴ and other gladiators, wrestlers, sorcerers, jugglers, magicians, and a whole army [48] of jesters. They are in such vogue that even they whose exposures are so indecent that they make a cynic blush are not barred from distinguished houses. Then too, a surprising fact, they are not even turned out when with more hellish tumult they defile the air and more shamelessly disclose that which in shame they had concealed. Does he appear to be a man of wisdom who has eye or ear for such as these? Who would, however, not be glad to see and laugh when juggler is drenched with urine, his tricks disclosed, and when eyes that have been blinded with his magic find their power restored? It is pleasant and not in the least unbecoming for a man of honor to indulge occasionally in reasonable mirth, but it is disgraceful to lower personal dignity by excessive indulgence in it. From such spectacles also (especially if obscene) the eye of the honorable man should be turned lest the incontinence of his mind, as well, proclaim his lewdness. Pericles, his colleague, chiding Sophocles, the general, well said "It is fitting, Sophocles, that a general have not only continent hands but eyes."¹⁵ "Turn away my eyes that they may not behold vanity"¹⁶ said he to whom much was permitted because of his regal estate, for he knew, doubtless, that the groan uttered by another; "My eye hath wasted my soul,"¹⁷ is true. However, the wise man's mind detects what is helpful or fitting in cases as they occur, nor does he shun fables, stories, or spectacles in general, providing that

¹³ Horace, Sat. II. iii. 14-15 (L. C. L., p. 158).

¹⁴ So called perhaps because trained at the Aemilian school for gladiators men tioned by Horace, A. P. 32 (L. C. L., p. 452). ¹⁵ Cicero, De Off. i. 40 (L. C. L., p. 146). ¹⁶ Ps. cxviii. 37. ¹⁷ Lam. iii. 51.

they possess the requirements of virtue and honorable utility. You are not unaware that by the authority of the Christian Fathers the sacrament of holy communion is forbidden actors and mimics as long as they persist in their evil career. Hence you may infer in what a perilous position their supporters are if you but recall that perpe-[49] trator and confederate are to suffer like penalty. Why is it that people make gifts to actors, you ask. They court them for their worst qualities. Can he who courts wickedness be himself good? Although all who are wicked are indeed hateful, those who do less harm are easier to endure.

Chapter Nine. Derivation of the Word "Praestigium" and the Originator of the Art

LONG ago the Christian Fathers condemned those who practiced the more demoralizing forms of legerdemain, the art of magic, and astrology because they realized that all these arts, or rather artifices, derive from unholy commerce between men and demons. Very frequently their practitioners cite truth with the sole intent to deceive, and of these Our Lord warns the souls of his faithful; If they shall tell you and so it come to pass, believe them not.¹⁸

The word praestigium¹⁹ is said to have been invented by Mercury for the reason that he blinds²⁰ the eyes. He was the most adept of magicians and could make invisible whatever he desired or, as it appears, change it into other forms. Indeed all manifestations of mathesis,²¹ if the penultimate syllable be pronounced long, may be referred to magic, and of this there are many different forms.

Chapter Ten. Magicians and the Reputed Origin of the Name

MAGICIANS do indeed exist and are so called because of the magni-[50] tude of their incantations;²² for they, by God's grace, cause

¹⁸ Deut. xiii. 1, 2; Matt. xxiv. 36.

¹⁹ "Illusion," "sleight-of-hand." ²⁰ Latin praetringit.

²¹ John of Salisbury distinguished between ma'thesis (mathematics) and mathe'sis (astrology).

²² Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 9. Note that the etymology is derived from the fact that the first syllable of each word is the same. In general, classical and medieval derivations are as bizarre as this.

the elements to shudder, destroy the identity of things, often predict the future, cloud the minds of men, send dreams, and, so far as that goes, by the violence of their charms slay them — a fact known to Lucan for he says

Men's minds polluted by no poisonous draft, By incantations perish.²³

That you may not lightly esteem Lucan's testimony, you are aware that Jannes²⁴ and Jambres, magicians of Pharaoh (for Egypt is the mother of such kinds of superstition and sorcery), not only withstood Moses but vied in signs and miracles with him, though afterward quite reluctantly they were forced to acknowledge that the hand of God was in the signs of Moses.²⁵

Chapter Eleven. Types of Magic

VARRO,²⁶ most painstaking of scholars,-borrowed four types of magic from the four elements; pyromantia, aeromantia, hydromantia, and geomantia. You will see that many forms spring from these as origins, whether divination is performed by craft or divine inspiration. To illustrate, I shall subjoin the names of a few types.

Chapter Twelve. Definitions of Enchanters, Wizards, Soothsayers, Prophets, "Vultivoli,"²⁷ "Imaginarii," Dream Interpreters, Palmists, Crystal-Seers, Astrologers, "Salisatores," Fortune Tellers, Augurs

ENCHANTERS²⁸ are they who practice their art by means of words. Wizards are they who on altars²⁹ make their unholy prayers and accursed sacrifices. On their necks the hand of the Lord weighs, for

²³ Lucan, Phars. vi. 475 (L. C. L., p. 336).

²⁴ 2 Tim. iii. 8; Exod. vii. 11ff.; cf. Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 4.

²⁵ Exod. viii. 19.

²⁶ "Varro says that there are four types of divination, having to do with earth, water, air, and fire; hence the terras geomantia, hydromantia, aeromantia, and pyromantia." Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 15.

²⁷ Where there seems to be no English equivalent the Latin word is retained.

²⁸ Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 5.

²⁹ Wizards, altars; the Latin words are arioli and arae, hence the etymology. See above, n. 22.

his prophet says "Thou dost not permit wizards and magicians to live."³⁰

Soothsayers are they who consider the hours and prescribe the expedient time for action. Their error the apostle damns in the [51] words: "I am afraid of you lest perhaps I have labored in vain among you for ye observe days and months and seasons and years."³¹ Success should be attained not from time but from the name of God. Auspice-taking also has to do with the inspection of vitals. One Tages is said to have invented the art. Hence Lucan's remark,

May entrails be but false and may the lore Of Tages, founder of the art, be proved Sheer fiction.³²

By the word vitals all that is covered by the outer skin is meant, as a consequence of which it is clear that those who base their prophecies on the dry bones of animals without blood, whether they expound the present or the past, are classed as soothsayers. For prophecy is the art by which, as the result of knowledge of the truth, the hidden is revealed, since it is conceded that the art deals not only with the future but also with the present, the future, and the past. If, however, use is made of blood we enter the domain of the Black Art,³³ which is so called because it depends entirely upon investigation of the dead. Its essential character is that of being able to raise the dead for the purpose of ascertaining truth. It is indeed a trick of demons who mock and play with human frailty.

Prophets³⁴ are those who are filled with the prophetic spirit. This works more frequently in maidens³⁵ that it may delude the more, as if the unclean spirit were attracted by a mind and body undefiled.

Vultivoli³⁶ are they who, for the purpose of working upon the [52] feelings of men, fashion in a somewhat soft substance (as wax or clay) images of those whose natures they are striving to distort. Virgil in his Pharmaceutria mentions this type of illusion:

The clay grows hard; the wax grows soft and so By this same fire, may Daphnis melt with love For me.³⁷

³⁰ Lev. xx. 6; Exod. xxii. 18. ³¹ Gal. iv. 10, 11.

³² Lucan, Phars. i. 636 (L. C. L., p. 48).

³³ Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 11. ³⁴ Ibid., 21.

³⁵ Acts xvi. 16. ³⁶ Literally, "they who change features."

³⁷ Virgil, Ed. viii. 80 (L. C. L., I, 60).

Ovid also in the Heroides:

She dooms the absent, moulds the waxen forms And plunges slender needles into wretched Hearts.³⁸

Their sorcery, although they do much harm, may be easily counteracted; for example, if the persons suspected, being confronted by someone, deny their crime or, having confessed, are compelled to revoke their incantation.

Imaginarii are they who send as it were the figures they fashion to the presiding spirits, that by them they may be informed on matters of doubt. Holy Scripture³⁹ assures that such are idolaters and condemned by the judgment of divine majesty.

Dream interpreters⁴⁰ are they who by some art claim they have the power of interpreting dreams.

Palmists are they who by inspecting the hands prophesy concerning things unknown.

Crystal-seers are they who by gazing into smooth and polished surfaces such as shining sword blades, basins, cups, and mirrors of various types, satisfy the curiosity of their clients; an art which Joseph⁴¹ too is said to have practiced, or rather feigned, when he accused his brethren of having stolen the cup in which he was accustomed to prophesy.

Astrologers⁴² are they (though this word has a wider application as well) who, from the position of the stars, the situation of the [53] firmament, and the movement of the planets, foretell the future, as illustrated in the lines,

A truth abiding fate on even balanced scales Our destinies doth weigh; or else between The Twins, the natal hour divides the lot Concordant of us twain. Assuredly there is Some star which links thy fate with mine,⁴³

as if it were an established fact that the courses of the stars and their connection the one with the other fix, so to speak, a kind of fated

³⁸ Ovid, Her. vi. 91-92 (L. C. L., p. 76). ³⁹ Ezek. xxl. 21.

⁴⁰ Quintilian, Inst. Orat. III. vi. 30 (L. C. L., I, 424).

⁴¹ Gen. xliv. 5.

⁴² Latin mathematici. Isidore states that this is the popular name for them, the learned one being genethliaci (calculator of nativities). Orig. VIII. ix. 23.

⁴³ Persius, Sat. v. 47-51 (L. C. L., p. 372). In this quotation Persius refers to the concordant destinies of himself and his friend Cornutus.

course for things, which in reality results from the free action of the will. The error of the astrologist is repeated in the calculator of nativities,⁴⁴ who specializes upon the hour of birth. Hence the satirist remarks

Unto astrologers thy nativity is known.⁴⁵ They are sometimes termed horoscopi.⁴⁶ To quote again,

O horoscope, thou bring'st before us, twins Of diverse temperament.⁴⁷

This science flourished and doubtless was lawfully practiced to a certain extent until after the star in the heavens announced the birth of Christ, and with its strange, marvelous guidance led the Magi, then men of worth,⁴⁸ to offer their adoration, the first fruits of piety. Thereafter, however, astrology was absolutely banned.⁴⁹

Salisatores⁵⁰ are they who, as a result of palpitation in the limbs or unexpected movements of the body, pronounce a future event favorable or unfavorable.

Fortune tellers⁵¹ are they who, under the name of false religion by a sort of superstitious observation of things, promise certain results: for example, the lots⁵² of apostles and prophets and those of fortune [54] tellers; the use of the Pythagorean table;⁵³ the observation as well of every incident that may have significance for the matter under investigation.

⁴⁴ Latin genelliaci; Gellius, N. A. XIV. i (L. C. L., III, 2); the genethliaci of Isidore. See above, n. 42.

⁴⁵ Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 248 (L. C. L., p. 282).

⁴⁶ "Horoscopi are they who examine the time of men's birth with its diverse and varying destiny." Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 27. This is a purely medieval meaning of horoscopi. John is therefore at fault when he gives this meaning to the word in his quotation from Persius below. The word in classical Latin always means "nativity."

⁴⁷ Persius, Sat. vi. 18-19 (L. C. L., p. 394). ⁴⁸ Matt. ii.

⁴⁹ "At first the interpreters of the stars were called Magi, who, as we read in the gospels, announced the birth of Christ; subsequently they were called mathematici. Their art was tolerated until the time of Christ, for after his teaching no one cast nativities." Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 25-26.

⁵⁰ Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 29. ⁵¹ Ibid., 28.

⁵² This consisted in opening the Holy Scriptures at random and taking as an omen the first passage that met the eye. The custom was doubtless adopted from the Sortes Vergilianae of classical antiquity.

⁵³ The Pythagorean table or globe (Latin tabula or spaera) was a method of divination. A diagram of the table with directions for its use in predicting the recovery or death of a sick person is contained in the reference cited by Webb: K. Gillert, Neues Archiv fur altere deutsche Geschichtskunde, V, 254.

The Phrygians⁵⁴ are said to have been the inventors of augury which consists in the observation of the conduct of birds, expressed in voice and flight. There is, moreover, according to the augur's tradition, a flight that has to do with the feet as well as with the wings; vola⁵⁵ indeed is the inner portion of the palm or foot; hence, in the sixth book of Virgil,⁵⁶ the doves are described as volantes instead of gradientes (walking). It is indeed regarded as a good omen if walking doves, provided they are feeding, advance in front of travelers.

Chapter Thirteen. Omens in General

A ROMAN consul,⁵⁷ having been sent on a military expedition and being unable to secure favorable auspices, directed that pigeons which had been starved for some time be sent on ahead and that kernels of wheat be spread on the road where he was to pass, in order that by their omen at least he might offset to some extent the unfavorable auspices. However, when they persisted in refusing food he ordered them hurled into the river that they at any rate might drink. Drowned in the swift current they served as a premonition that the consul and his army would perish in like manner. Such in fact was their fate.

Bees brought honey to the lips of the infant Plato,⁵⁸ thus presaging that the eloquence of his style was to be of striking sweetness.

Hiero,⁵⁹ afterward tyrant of Syracuse, a position won by his merit, had when an infant been exposed to die by his father, a nobleman, for the reason that his mother was a slave. The child was considered

⁵⁴ Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 32.

⁵⁵ Isidore says, "For vola means the middle of the foot and hand and, in the case of birds, the middle portion of the wing bone, by which the feathery portion of the wing is moved; hence volucres, birds." (Orig. XII. vii. 4). The translator knows no classical authority for the statement with regard to the wing's being called vola. See Servius, Comm. in Verg. Aen. vi. 198: "Some think that volando [flying] is equivalent to ambulando [walking] because the middle portion of the foot or hand is called vola."

⁵⁶ Virgil, Aen. vi. 191 (L. C. L., I, 520).

⁵⁷ P. Claudius Pulcher. When birds ate greedily the omen was favorable. Valerius Maximus, IV. iii. Cf. Cicero, De Div. II. viii. 29 (L. C. L., I, 292); Florus, Epit. I. viii. 29 (L. C. L., p. 84).

⁵⁸ Cicero, De Div. I. xxxvi. 78 (L. C. L., p. 308); II. xxxi. 66 (L. C. L., p. 444); Valerius Maximus, I. vi.

⁵⁹ Justin, xxiii. 4.

a dishonor to the line and an ignominious blot upon an illustrious name. The baby, bereft of human aid, was succored by the bees and kept alive for a number of days by the honey which they brought to it. Consequently, on the advice of soothsayers who prophesied that he was destined for the throne, he was recovered, acknowledged by his father, and given a careful education.

[55] Ants made a pile of grains of wheat on the cradle of little Midas,⁶⁰ indicating that he would be very rich; hence poets fable that all that he touched became gold.

His cap fell from the head of Sulpicius⁶¹ when sacrificing, and this cost him his holy office.

Marcus Fabricius heard the squeaking of a shrew mouse and lost his office as prefect.⁶² If you place complete credence in the nonsense of the Spaniards⁶³ and notice on beginning a task that your clothing has been gnawed by mice, desist from your undertaking. If as you go out you trip on the threshold, stop. If on the point of transacting business you suffer some loss, defer what you have begun lest you be entirely thwarted or what you do accomplish prove ineffectual. Wait until such time as you may begin again under better auspices. Everything has some significance. When you sally forth, birds which are named prophetic will indicate to you the secrets of the future. What are those birds, you ask. Why, those which the poets assert have been changed from human beings into the form of birds. Listen with attention to what the crow says. Be sure not to disregard its position when perched or flying. It is indeed significant whether it be on the right or left; in what position it be as it turns its eye upon your elbow as you walk along; whether it chatter, caw, or be quite silent; whether it go on ahead or follow; whether it await your coming as you pass, or fly away; and in what direction it go; for as Virgil says,

Had not a crow upon the left from high On hollow oak warned me to stay, as best I might, this new dispute, your Moeris here, Menalcas too, would not be living now.⁶⁴

⁶⁰ Valerius Maximus, I. lxii; see also n. 58 above. ⁶¹ Valerius Maximus, I. i. 5.

⁶² But Valerius Maximus, I. i. 5, says "dictator."

⁶³ This expression had its origin in the wide acceptance of apocryphal writings by the Spaniards. "A multitude of apocryphal writings introduced by the Pricillianists usurped the place of the Scriptures." Smith, Dictionary of Christian Biography.

⁶⁴ Virgil, Ecl. ix. 14-16 (L. C. L., I, 66).

[56] Virgil seems to have run counter to the art of augury in that the crow which he asserted saved his life has no knowledge of auspices of high import. Possibly in this instance the portent took place contrary to nature. Such was the case when the words which the crow perched on the Tarpeian rock proclaimed in Greek to the city when the richly deserved and long desired destruction of Domitian was impending, "It will be well." The interpretation of the augur was as follows:

The crow which lately perched upon Tarpeia's

Rock, because it could not say "It is,"

Cawed out "'Twill be."⁶⁵

But you must forgive the scholar-poet, either because he is drawing a picture of rural simplicity or because the life of the poor seems of little importance to the rich, who assert that mankind is created to wait upon the few.

But the raven, which you are to watch with no less care, gives omens on matters of higher importance and everywhere takes precedence of the crow. Then too there is the swan, in augury the favorite bird of sailors⁶⁶ since it has foreknowledge of the secrets of the waters, thanks to its being on such familiar terms with them. Don't you remember in Virgil that

Twice six swans rejoicing in the sky⁶⁷

announced by prophecy of Venus the safe return of Aeneas' fleet? Swans when joyful promise favorable outcome not only to sailors but to all travelers, unless this be canceled by the coming of a more potent omen; for example, if the eagle contradicts, as he is the king of birds unless we except the eaglehawk (which is perhaps only the strongest specimen of the eagle kind) he nullifies credence in all other birds by virtue of his royal majesty. In Statius⁶⁸ an army of Greeks might have been comforted by the prediction of the birds. But behold, a mightier host⁶⁹ coming through space predicted on the authority of Amphiaraus the destruction of the Greeks as well.

⁶⁵ The meaning of the augur's words is not so clear as that of the words quoted by Suetonius: "The crow which lately perched upon the top of the Tarpeian rock said 'It is well'; it could not say 'It will be well.'" Dom. 23 (L. C. L., II, 384).

⁶⁶ Webb remarks that Isidore, making the same statement, quotes from Aemilius Macer's poem on birds: "The swan ever the happiest in augury because he sinks not beneath the waves." Orig. XII. vii. 19.

⁶⁷ Virgil, Aen. i. 393 (L. C. L., I, 269).

⁶⁸ Statius, Theb. iii. 525ff. (L. C. L., I, 488).

⁶⁹ Ibid., 530, 531 (L. C. L., I, 488ff.).

For although the eagle is surpassed by certain birds, there is none more efficient in predicting what will come to pass. He can outstrip [57] all other birds in flight; he is nowhere excluded from the secrets of Jove himself, since he is said to possess such keenness of vision⁷⁰ that from high heaven he can espy tiny fish in the depths of the sea and can fix his gaze upon the orb of the sun (something impossible for other living creatures). As a result of the keenness of his senses, he received by grace of Jove a knowledge of truth and of the mysteries of nature.

Who would dare to say that one who shares the plans of Jove is a false interpreter of the same? An eagle, flying above the field as the battle between the Locrians⁷¹ and the men of Croton was still raging, is said to have conferred the victory upon the former, who though few in number annihilated an innumerable host. We read that this sign was supported by a stranger one. Two young men of lofty stature and graceful bearing, clothed in white