Two Orations on the Political Question: Whether the Children of Lutherans Can Be Sent to Jesuit Schools with a Clear Conscience (1612) - Page 8

Invitation to the Baccalaureate Ceremony.

The rest are of a man, he is condemned to one part,

and he slowly puts on the ears OF A WALKING ASS.

So that we may be safe from this metamorphosis, our caution must be the greatest. We shall be safe if we hold both the lower and higher degrees, both the first and the highest, in that honor which they deserve (and they deserve the greatest). But if otherwise, the ass's ears will immediately protrude, and we shall emerge as if we were screech-owls themselves—how little we are men, of no value, foolish, insipid, leaden, mushrooms, stumps. For it cannot happen that one is seriously delighted by wisdom itself, who has neglected the rewards of wisdom and looked down upon them with a high brow. But he is further from it, whatever he may boast, than the Hercynian forest is from the furthest India, and is worthy to be better seasoned with the salt of wisdom, so that he may become sane, who is otherwise insipid. But to the matter. TOMORROW at the 8th hour we will bring thirteen candidates for the laurel in Philosophy into the theater, and we will decorate them with the worthy reward that they seek. Wherefore you, who favor Philosophical studies, be present as spectators, be present as listeners, mindful of that Pindar:

We do not all breathe with equal luck
held by fate;
one follows another.

And of that:

Order is from the first, the greater follow the lesser.

Farewell. Given at JENA, July 6, in the year 1609.

A decorative woodcut tailpiece features a stylized face or mask with foliage-like hair or a crown at the top, surrounded by symmetrical scrollwork, ribbons, and floral elements.