Volume 1
The anatomy of melancholy / edited by Rev. A.R. Shilleto.
- Burton, Robert
- Date:
- Reprint 1896 (3 vol set)
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The anatomy of melancholy / edited by Rev. A.R. Shilleto. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)
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![race, one Logician, one Rhetorician, after another. Oppose then what thou wilt, Allatres licet usque nos & usque, Et gannitibus improbis lacessas,1 I solve it thus. And for those other faults of barbarism, 2 Dorick dialect, extemporanean style, tautologies, apish imitation, a rhapsody of rags gathered together from several dung-hills, excre- ments of authors, toys and fopperies confusedly tumbled out, without art, invention, judgement, wit, learning, harsh, raw, rude, phantastical, absurd, insolent, indiscreet, ill-composed, indigested, vain, scurrile, idle, dull and dry, I confess all ('tis partly affected) thou canst not think worse of me then I do of myself. 'Tis not worth the reading, I yield it, I desire thee not to lose time in perusing so vain a subject, I should be peradventure loth myself to read him or thee so writing, 'tis not opera pretium? All I say, is this, that I have 4 precedents for it, which Isocrates calls per- fugium iis qui peccant? others as absurd, vain, idle, illiterate, &c. Nonnulli alii idem fecerunt, others have done as much, it may be more, and perhaps thou thyself, Novimus 6° qui te, &>c.6 we have all our faults; scimus 6° hanc veniam, 6-v.7 8 thou censurest me, so have I done others, and may do thee, Ccedimus, inque vicem, &>c.9 'tis lex talionis, quid pro quo. Go now, censure, criticize, scoff and rail. 10 Nasutus sis usque licet, sis denique nasus . Non potes in nugas dicere plura meas, Ipse ego quam dixi, &c. Wert thou all scoffs and flouts, a very Momus: Than we ourselves, thou canst not say worse of us. Thus, as when women scold, have I cried whore first, and in some men's censures I am afraid I have overshot myself, Laudare se vani) vituperare stulti,11 as I do not arrogate, I will not derogate. Primus vestrum non sum, nec imus, I am none of the best, I am none of the meanest of you. As I am an inch, or so many feet, [i Mart. v. 6o. i, 2. Bark and snarl at me as wantonly as you choose.] 2 Nec aranearum textus ideo melior quia ex se fila gigmintur, nec noster ideo vilior, quia ex alienis llbamus ut apes. Lipsius adversus dialogist. [Opera, Vesaliae, 1675. Tom. iv. p. 203.] [3 Livy, Praef. Worth while.] 4 Uno absurdo dato mille se- quuntur. [5 Ad Demonicum, 5 34. A windfall for sinners.] [6 Virg. Eel. iii. 8.1 [7 Hor. A. P. 11.] 8 Non dubito multos lectores hie fore stultos. [9 Pers. iv. 42. J 10 Martial, 13. ii. [1, 4, 5.] [n The vain praise themselves, the foolish blame them- selves.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21270818_001_0068.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
