Gold Not Gold

to be laughed at?
Horace, book 1, Satire 1

Cicero, Letters to Friends, books 5 & 15

might the misanthrope Timon say not badly; but better Hector: "I rejoice to be praised by you, a praised man." Indeed, I would not wish to be mocked by the learned. He who sins knowingly and willingly lacks forgiveness. But "practice fortifies theory." And "theory advises practice." And practice without reason, and reason without practice, is considered imperfect. From his Arnaldus, or Richard, or Aristotle, let him learn, and say (like other things) by heart: "He cannot become well-accustomed in practice, whose mind refuses to labor in theory: since otherwise (he might say, and blind) he proceeds to practice like an ass to a feast, to whom the ignorant man puts a muzzle." Nor should it be known by meditation alone, but by medication. But "the most beautiful experience of things." Rather, it is the most dangerous: and Prudence is all the more beautiful, as Pallas is to Vulcan, or Cyrene to Proteus. That one is indeed a teacher, but a "whip-bearer"; a mistress, but of fools; and that is slippery, from which come "slips" or errors; indeed, it is also a refutation, whence the Empiricists are called by Hippocrates "refutations," "non-healers," the disgraces of physicians and of the art. How could it not be a regret for readers to have read through the things which the author laments, complains about, and has labored over? Things which few among the learned do not mock! A large book, even if it is a weariness, is bad; a bad book, even if it is short, will be an annoyance. He does not expect to escape from critics, nor does he seek to, perhaps conscious of himself. He should be commended to critics as he was by Augustus, by the Philosopher Marcus: If he shall be worthy. Critics by antonomasia in the London world: four of them, for restraining impostors and examining the skill of Physicians and the pharmacy of citizens. But these are malevolent and envious. This is the curse of an impure mouth, a brazen brow, a malevolent and unhealthy mind. There is no reason why, or for whom, they should be envious, who see nothing to be envied. To these, as to Cato the Censor, both to speak evil is unpleasant, and to be spoken ill of is unusual. Let Anthony know, however, that to Augustus there was a tongue, that if he took any pleasure in speaking evil, he might lose it by being spoken evil of. But he does not care about them. He cares