"He should have been very welcome on your
account." "And on his own too," replied he, "if you knew the man, for
there is none alive that can give so copious an account of unknown
nations and countries as he can do; which I know you very much desire."
Then said I, "I did not guess amiss, for at first sight I took him for
a seaman." "But you are much mistaken," said he, "for he has not sailed
as a seaman, but as a traveller, or rather a philosopher. This Raphael,
who from his family carries the name of Hythloday, is not ignorant of
the Latin tongue, but is eminently learned in the Greek, having applied
himself more particularly to that than to the former, because he had
given himself much to philosophy, in which he knew that the Romans have
left us nothing that is valuable, except what is to be found in Seneca
and Cicero. He is a Portuguese by birth, and was so desirous of seeing
the world, that he divided his estate among his brothers, run the same
hazard as Americus Vesputius, and bore a share in three of his four
voyages, that are now published; only he did not return with him in his
last, but obtained leave of him almost by force, that he might be one of
those twenty-four who were left at the farthest place at which they
touched, in their last voyage to New Castile. The leaving him thus did
not a little gratify one that was more fond of travelling than of
returning home, to be buried in his own country; for he used often to
say, that the way to heaven was the same from all places; and he that
had no grave, had the heaven still over him. Yet this disposition of
mind had cost him dear, if God had not been very gracious to him; for
after he, with five Castilians, had travelled over many countries, at
last, by strange good fortune, he got to Ceylon, and from thence to
Calicut, where he very happily found some Portuguese ships; and, beyond
all men's expectations, returned to his native country." When Peter had
said this to me, I thanked him for his kindness, in intending to give me
the acquaintance of a man whose conversation he knew would be so
acceptable; and upon that Raphael and I embraced each other. After those
civilities were past which are usual with strangers upon their first
meeting, we all went to my house, and entering into the garden, sat down
on a green bank, and entertained one another in discourse. He told us,
that when Vesputius had sailed away, he and his companions that stayed
behind in New Castile, by de