ith them; _Neque dicam
ea quae vobis usui sit audivisse, et voluptati meminisse_, with that
confidence, as Beroaldus doth his enarrations on Propertius. I will not
expert or hope for that approbation, which Lipsius gives to his Epictetus;
_pluris facio quum relego; semper ut novum, et quum repetivi, repetendum_,
the more I read, the more shall I covet to read. I will not press you with
my pamphlets, or beg attention, but if you like them you may. Pliny holds
it expedient, and most fit, _severitatem jucunditate etiam in scriptis
condire_, to season our works with some pleasant discourse; Synesius
approves it, _licet in ludicris ludere_, the [4436]poet admires it, _Omne
tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci_; and there be those, without
question, that are more willing to read such toys, than [4437]I am to
write: "Let me not live," saith Aretine's Antonia, "If I had not rather
hear thy discourse, [4438]than see a play?" No doubt but there be more of
her mind, ever have been, ever will be, as [4439]Hierome bears me witness.
A far greater part had rather read Apuleius than Plato: Tully himself
confesseth he could not understand Plato's Timaeus, and therefore cared
less for it: but every schoolboy hath that famous testament of Grunnius
Corocotta Porcellus at his fingers' ends. The comical poet,

[4440] ------"Id sibi negoti credidit solum dari,
Populo ut placrent, quas fecissit fabulas,"

made this his only care and sole study to please the people, tickle the
ear, and to delight; but mine earnest intent is as much to profit as to
please; _non tam ut populo placerem, quam ut populum juvarem_, and these my
writings, I hope, shall take like gilded pills, which are so composed as
well to tempt the appetite, and deceive the palate, as to help and
medicinally work upon the whole body; my lines shall not only recreate, but
rectify the mind. I think I have said enough; if not, let him that is
otherwise minded, remember that of [4441]Maudarensis, "he was in his life a
philosopher" (as Ausonius apologiseth for him), "in his epigrams a lover,
in his precepts most severe; in his epistle to Caerellia, a wanton."
Annianus, Sulpicius, Evemus, Menander, and many old poets besides, did _in
scriptis prurire_, write Fescennines, Atellans, and lascivious songs;
_laetam materiam_; yet they had _in moribus censuram, et severitatem_, they
were chaste, severe, and upright livers.

[4442] "Castum esse decet pium poetam
Ipsum, versi