liberty those old Satyrists have had; it is a Cento collected from others, not I, but they that say it. "Dixero si quid fortè jocosius, hoc mihi juris Cum venia dabis" Take heed you mistake me not. If I do a little forget my self, I hope you wil pardon it. And to say truth, why should any man be offended, or take exceptions at it? "Licuit, semperque licebit, Parcere personis, dicere devitiis." It lawful was of old, and still will be, To speak of vice, but let the name go free; h I hate their vices, not their persons. If any be displeased, or take ought unto himself, let him not expostulate or cavil with him that said it (so did Erasmus excuse himself to Dorpius, si parva licet componere magnis) and so do I; "but let him be angry with himself, that so betrayed and opened his own faults in applying it to himself: If he be guilty and deserve it, let him amend whoever he is, and not be angry. He that hateth correction is a fool," Prov. 12. 1. If he be not guilty, it concerns him not; it is not my freenesse of speech, but a guilty conscience, a gauled back of his own that makes him winch. "Suspitione si quis errabit suâ, Et rapiet ad se, quod erit commune omnium, k I deny not this which I have said savours a little of Democritus; * Quamvis ridentem dicere verum quid vetat; one may speak in jest, and yet speak truth. It is somewhat tart, I grant it; acriora orexim excitant embammata, as he said, sharp sauces increase appetite, "Nec cibus ipse juvat morsu fraudatus aceti." m Object then and cavil what thou wilt, I ward all with Democritus's buckler, his medicine shall salve it; strike where thou wilt, and when: Democritus dixit, Democritus will answer it. It was written by an idle fellow, at idle times, about our Saturnalian or Dyonisian feasts, when as he said, nullum libertati periculum est, servants in old Rome had liberty to say and do what them list. When our country men sacrificed 8 Hor. Sat. 4. 1. 1. b ↳ Epi. ad Dorpium de Moria. si quispiam offendatur & sibi vindicet, non habet quod expostulet cum eo qui scripsit, ipse si volet, secum agat injuriam, utpote sui proditor, qui declaravit hoc ad se proprie pertinere. Si quis se læsum clamabit, aut conscientiam prodit suain, aut certe metum Phædr. lib. 3. Æsop. Fab. * Hor. Mart. 1. 7. 22. lubet feriat, abstergant hos ictus Democriti pharmacos. Ut to to their goddess" Vacuna, and sat tipling by their Vacunall fires. I writ this, and published this TIS EYEV, it is neminis nihil. The time, place, persons, and all circumstances apologize for me, and why may I not then be idle with others? speak my mind freely? If you deny me this liberty, upon these presumptions I will take it: I say again, I will take it. "Si quis est qui dictum in se inclementius Existimavit esse, sic existimet." If any inan take exceptions, let him turn the buckle of his girdle, I care not. I owe thee nothing (Reader), I look for no favor at thy hands, I am independent, I fear not. No, I recant, I will not, I care, I fear, I confesse my fault, acknowledg a great offence, -motos præstat componere fluctus," I have overshot myself, I have spoken foolishly, rashly, unadvisedly, absurdly, I have anatomized mine own folly. And now me thinks upon a sudden I am awaked as it were out of a dream, I have had a raving fit, a phantastical fit, ranged up and down, in and out, I have insulted over most kinde of men, abused some, offended others, wronged my self; and now being recovered, and perceiving mine error, cry with Orlando, Solvite me, pardon (o boni) that which is past, and I will make you aniends in that which is to come; I promise you a inore sober discourse in my following Treatise. If through weaknesse, folly, passion, P discontent, ignorance, I have said amisse, let it be forgotten and forgiven. I acknowledg that of 9 Tacitus to be true, Aspera facetiæ ubi nimis ex vero traxere, acrem sui memoriam relinquunt, a bitter jest leaves a sting behind it and as an honourable man observes, "They fear a Satyrist's wit, he their memories." I may justly suspect the worst; and though I hope I have wronged no man, yet in Medea's words I will crave pardon, -Illud jam voce extrema peto, Ne si qua noster dubius effudit dolor, Rusticorum dea preesse vacantibus & otiosis putabatur, cui post labores agricola sacrificabat. Plin. 1. 3. c. 12. Ovid. l. 6. Fast. Jam quoq; cum fiunt antique sacra Vacunæ, ante Vacunales stantq; sedentq; focos. Rosinus. • Ariost. 1. 39. Staf. 58. • Ter. prol. Eunuch. P Ut enim ex studiis gaudiu sic studia ex hilaritate proveniunt. Plinius Maximo suo, ep. lib. 8. < AnSir Francis Bacon in his Essayes, now Viscount S. Albanes. nal. 15. VOL. I. 1 And And in my last words this I do desire, I earnestly request every private man, as Scaliger did Cardan, not to take offence. I will conclude in his lines, Si me cognitum haberes, non solum donares nobis has fecetias nostras, sed etiam indignum duceres, tam humanum animum, lene ingenium, vel minimam suspitionem deprecari oportere. If thou knewest my * modesty and simplicity, thou wouldst easily pardon and forgive what is here amiss, or by thee misconceived. If hereafter anatomizing this surly humor, my hand slip, as an unskilful prentise I launce too deep, and cut through skin and al at unawares, make it smart, or cut awry, pardon a rude hand, an unskilfull knife, tis a most difficult thing to keep an even tone, a perpetual tenor, and not sometimes to lash out; difficile est Satyram non scribere, there be so many objects to divert, inward perturbations to molest, and the very best may sometimes erre; aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus, it is impossible not in so much to overshoot: 66 -opere in longo fas est obrepere somnum." But what needs all this? I hope there will no such cause of offence be given; if there be, "Nemo aliquid recognoscat, nos mentimur omnia." Ile deny all (my last refuge), recant all, renounce all I have said, if any man except, and with as much facility excuse, as he can accuse; but I presume of thy good favor, and gratious acceptance (gentle reader). Out of an assured hope and confidence thereof, I will begin. * Quod Probus Persii Bioypapos virginali verecundiâ Persium fuisse dicit, Quas aut incuria fudit, aut humana parum cavit natura. Hor go, &c. Prol. quer. Plaut. Lectori malè feriato. U vero cavesis edico quisquis es, ne temere sugilles Authorem hujusce operis, aut cavillator irrideas. Imo ne vel ex aliorum censura tacite obloquaris (vis dicam verbo) nequid nasutulus inepte improbes, aut falso fingas. Nam si talis revera sit, qualem præ se fert Junior Democritus, seniori Democrito saltem affinis, aut ejus Genium vel tantillum sapiat; actum de te, censorem æque ac delatorem aget econtra (petulanti splene cum sit) sufflabit te in jocos, comminuet in sales, addo etiam, & deo risui te sacrificabit. Iterum moneo, ne quid cavillere, ne dum Democritum Juniorem conviciis infames, aut ignominiose vituperes, de te non male sentientem, tu idem audias ab amico cordato, quod olim vulgus Abderitanum ab Hyppocrate, concivem bene meritum & popularem suum Democritum, pro insano habens. Ne tu Democrite sapis, stulti autem & insani Abderitæ. b "Abderitanæ pectora plebis habes." Hæc te paucis admonitum volo (male feriate Lector) abi. Si me commôrit, melius non tangere clamo. Hor. Hippoc. epist. Damageto, accersitus sum ut Democritum tanquam insanum curarem, sed postquam conveni, non per Jovem desipientiæ negotium, sed rerum omnium receptaculum deprehendi, ejusq; ingenium demiratus sum. Abderitanos veor tanquam non sanos accusavi, veratri potione ipsos potius eguisse dicens. Mart. HERACLITE fleas, misero sic convenit ævo, Nunc opus est (tanta est insania) transeat omnis Mundus in Anticyras, gramen in Helleborum. |