The Philobiblon
by Richard de Bury
Prologue
To all the faithful of Christ to whom the tenor of these
presents may come, Richard de Bury, by the divine mercy
Bishop of Durham, wisheth everlasting salvation in the Lord
and to present continually a pious memorial of himself
before God, alike in his lifetime and after his death.
What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits
towards me? asks the most devout Psalmist, an invincible
King and first among the prophets; in which most grateful
question he approves himself a willing thank-offerer, a
multifarious debtor, and one who wishes for a holier
counsellor than himself: agreeing with Aristotle, the chief
of philosophers, who shows (in the 3rd and 6th books of his
Ethics) that all action depends upon counsel.
And indeed if so wonderful a prophet, having a
fore-knowledge of divine secrets, wished so anxiously to
consider how he might gratefully repay the blessings
graciously bestowed, what can we fitly do, who are but rude
thanksgivers and most greedy receivers, laden with infinite
divine benefits? Assuredly we ought with anxious
deliberation and abundant consideration, having first
invoked the Sevenfold Spirit, that it may burn in our
musings as an illuminating fire, fervently to prepare a way
without hinderance, that the bestower of all things may be
cheerfully worshipped in return for the gifts that He has
bestowed, that our neighbour may be relieved of his burden,
and that the guilt contracted by sinners every day may be
redeemed by the atonement of almsgiving.
Forewarned therefore through the admonition of the
Psalmist's devotion by Him who alone prevents and perfects
the goodwill of man, without Whom we have no power even so
much as to think, and Whose gift we doubt not it is, if we
have done anything good, we have diligently inquired and
considered in our own heart as well as with others, what
among the good offices of various works of piety would most
please the Almighty, and would be more beneficial to the
Church Militant. And lo! there soon occurred to our
contemplation a host of unhappy, nay, rather of elect
scholars, in whom God the Creator and Nature His handmaid
planted the roots of excellent morals and of famous
sciences, but whom the poverty of their circumstances so
oppressed that before the frown of adverse fortune the seeds
of excellence, so fruitful in the cultivated field of youth,
not being watered by the rain that they require, are forced
to wither away. Thus it happens that "bright virtue lurks
buried in obscurity," to use the words of Boethius, and
burning lights are not put under a bushel, but for want of
oil are utterly extinguished. Thus the field, so full of
flower in Spring, has withered up before harvest time; thus
wheat degenerates to tares, and vines into the wild vines,
and thus olives run into the wild olive; the tender stems
rot away altogether, and those who might have grown up into
strong pillars of the Church, being endowed with the
capacity of a subtle intellect, abandon the schools of
learning. With poverty only as their stepmother, they are
repelled violently from the nectared cup of philosophy as
soon as they have tasted of it and have become more fiercely
thirsty by the very taste. Though fit for the liberal arts
and disposed to study the sacred writings alone, being
deprived of the aid of their friends, by a kind of apostasy
they return to the mechanical arts solely to gain a
livelihood, to the loss of the Church and the degradation of
the whole clergy. Thus Mother Church conceiving sons is
compelled to miscarry, nay, some misshapen monster is born
untimely from her womb, and for lack of that little with
which Nature is contented, she loses excellent pupils, who
might afterwards become champions and athletes of the faith.
Alas, how suddenly the woof is cut, while the hand of the
weaver is beginning his work! Alas, how the sun is eclipsed
in the brightness of the dawn, and the planet in its course
is hurled backwards, and, while it bears the nature and
likeness of a star suddenly drops and becomes a meteor! What
more piteous sight can the pious man behold? What can more
sharply stir the bowels of his pity? What can more easily
melt a heart hard as an anvil into hot tears? On the other
hand, let us recall from past experience how much it has
profited the whole Christian commonwealth, not indeed to
enervate students with the delights of a Sardanapalus or the
riches of a Croesus, but rather to support them in their
poverty with the frugal means that become the scholar. How
many have we seen with our eyes, how many have we read of in
books, who, distinguished by no pride of birth, and
rejoicing in no rich inheritance, but supported only by the
piety of the good, have made their way to apostolic chairs,
have most worthily presided over faithful subjects, have
bent the necks of the proud and lofty to the ecclesiastical
yoke and have extended further the liberties of the
Church!
Accordingly, having taken a survey of human necessities
in every direction, with a view to bestow our charity upon
them, our compassionate inclinations have chosen to bear
pious aid to this calamitous class of men, in whom there is
nevertheless such hope of advantage to the Church, and to
provide for them, not only in respect of things necessary to
their support, but much more in respect of the books so
useful to their studies. To this end, most acceptable in the
sight of God, our attention has long been unweariedly
devoted. This ecstatic love has carried us away so
powerfully, that we have resigned all thoughts of other
earthly things, and have given ourselves up to a passion for
acquiring books. That our intent and purpose, therefore, may
be known to posterity as well as to our contemporaries, and
that we may for ever stop the perverse tongues of gossipers
as far as we are concerned, we have published a little
treatise written in the lightest style of the moderns; for
it is ridiculous to find a slight matter treated of in a
pompous style. And this treatise (divided into twenty
chapters) will clear the love we have had for books from the
charge of excess, will expound the purpose of our intense
devotion, and will narrate more clearly than light all the
circumstances of our undertaking. And because it principally
treats of the love of books, we have chosen, after the
fashion of the ancient Romans, fondly to name it by a Greek
word, Philobiblon.
-
- The Prince
by Nicolo Machiavelli
Preface
<<< Contents
>>> Chapter
I
|
