hes in order that their fame
might be ever-lasting. How many were those who lived in scarcity of
worldly goods in order to grow rich in virtue; and as far as virtue
exceeds wealth, even in the same degree the desire of the poor man
proved more fruitful than that of the rich man. {9} Dost thou not see
that wealth in itself confers no honour on him who amasses it, which
shall last when he is dead, as does knowledge?--knowledge which shall
always bear witness like a clarion to its creator, since knowledge is
the daughter of its creator, and not the stepdaughter, like wealth.

[Sidenote: The World]

17.

Bountiful nature has provided that in all parts of the world you will
find something to imitate.

18.

[Sidenote: The Beauty of Life]

Consider in the streets at nightfall the faces of men and women when it
is bad weather, what grace and sweetness they manifest!

19.

Just as iron which is not used grows rusty, and water putrefies and
freezes in the cold, so the mind of which no use is made is spoilt.

[Sidenote: Fruitless Study]

20.

Just as food eaten without appetite is a tedious nourishment, so does
study without zeal damage the memory by not assimilating what it
absorbs.

21.

Truth was the only daughter of time.

{10}

[Sidenote: In Praise of Truth]

22.

So vile a thing is a lie that even if it spoke fairly of God it would
take away somewhat from His divinity; and so excellent a thing is truth
that if it praises the humblest things they are exalted. There is no
doubt that truth is to falsehood as light is to darkness; and so
excellent a thing is truth that even when it touches humble and lowly
matters, it still incomparably exceeds the uncertainty and falsehood in
which great and elevated discourses are clothed; because even if
falsehood be the fifth element of our minds, notwithstanding this,
truth is the supreme nourishment of the higher intellects, though not
of disorderly minds. But thou who feedest on dreams dost prefer the
sophistry and subterfuges in matters of importance and uncertainty to
what is certain and natural, though of lesser magnitude.

23.

Obstacles in the way of truth are finally punished.

[Sidenote: Versus Humanists]

24.

I am well aware that not being a literary man the presumptuous will
think that they have the right to blame me on the ground that I am not
a man of letters. Vainglorious people! Know they not that I could
make answer as