TO LEO X, SUPREME PONTIFF.

It is a great matter, and as perhaps nothing is more excellent, so it is something far more difficult than men imagine, to excel in eloquence. This has been given to man alone by nature: that we might share among ourselves those things which we conceive in our minds, and express the senses of our souls by speaking. By this one thing especially, nature has separated us from other living creatures. From the very beginning of the human race, this has always brought us extraordinary benefits. And although this has been granted equally to all: that there should be one among the many whom the rest listen to with great admiration while he speaks, to whom they generally assent in the most important matters so that they think he should be trusted rather than themselves; who can stir up shouts, tears, or laughter whenever he wishes, and control all the motions of their minds as if with reins; who, finally, speaks in such a way that he seems to excel the rest of the multitude of men almost as much as men themselves excel the beasts: it must surely be that this happens because he grasps in his thought and spirit certain things far more excellent than all others, and can explain and bring forth those things which he has thought out by an admirable and divine method of speaking. But this, if one considers it correctly, is of such a kind that it comprehends everything that can fall within the knowledge of men. For what can be denied to him who both [grasps] all things, concerning which he may...