The Philobiblon
by Richard de Bury
Chapter XIV
Who ought to be special lovers of
books
To him who recollects what has been said before, it is
plain and evident who ought to be the chief lovers of books.
For those who have most need of wisdom in order to perform
usefully the duties of their position, they are without
doubt most especially bound to show more abundantly to the
sacred vessels of wisdom the anxious affection of a grateful
heart. Now it is the office of the wise man to order rightly
both himself and others, according to the Phoebus of
philosophers, Aristotle, who deceives not nor is deceived in
human things. Wherefore princes and prelates, judges and
doctors, and all other leaders of the commonwealth, as more
than others they have need of wisdom, so more than others
ought they to show zeal for the vessels of wisdom.
Boethius, indeed, beheld Philosophy bearing a sceptre in
her left hand and books in her right, by which it is
evidently shown to all men that no one can rightly rule a
commonwealth without books. Thou, says Boethius, speaking to
Philosophy, hast sanctioned this saying by the mouth of
Plato, that states would be happy if they were ruled by
students of philosophy, or if their rulers would study
philosophy. And again, we are taught by the very gesture of
the figure that in so far as the right hand is better than
the left, so far the contemplative life is more worthy than
the active life; and at the same time we are shown that the
business of the wise man is to devote himself by turns, now
to the study of truth, and now to the dispensation of
temporal things.
We read that Philip thanked the Gods devoutly for having
granted that Alexander should be born in the time of
Aristotle, so that educated under his instruction he might
be worthy to rule his father's empire. While Phaeton
unskilled in driving becomes the charioteer of his father's
car, he unhappily distributes to mankind the heat of
Phoebus, now by excessive nearness, and now by withdrawing
it too far, and so, lest all beneath him should be imperiled
by the closeness of his driving, justly deserved to be
struck by the thunderbolt.
The history of the Greeks as well as Romans shows that
there were no famous princes among them who were devoid of
literature. The sacred law of Moses in prescribing to the
king a rule of government, enjoins him to have a copy made
of the book of Divine law (Deut. xvii.) according to the
copy shown by the priests, in which he was to read all the
days of his life. Certes, God Himself, who hath made and who
fashioneth every day the hearts of every one of us, knows
the feebleness of human memory and the instability of
virtuous intentions in mankind. Wherefore He has willed that
books should be as it were an antidote to all evil, the
reading and use of which He has commanded to be the
healthful daily nourishment of the soul, so that by them the
intellect being refreshed and neither weak nor doubtful
should never hesitate in action. This subject is elegantly
handled by John of Salisbury, in his Policraticon. In
conclusion, all classes of men who are conspicuous by the
tonsure or the sign of clerkship, against whom books lifted
up their voices in the fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters,
are bound to serve books with perpetual veneration.
- The Philobiblon
by Richard de Bury
Chapter XIII
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