On Phoenician Letters

Page 101
that the royal letters, and before others the holy ones, are surviving in France, that excellent authors are being bought for the Royal Library, that the principles of ancient Gaul are coming to the numbers of truth, that the restoration of religion is being diligently insisted upon, and in sum, that everything in matters of piety and religion, as well as of letters and learning, is held in the highest esteem by the Most Christian King. And deservedly so. For just as letters are needed by those who produce excellent deeds worthy of imitation and which they may consecrate to posterity, so in turn do the excellent authors of great deeds, but most of all, need letters, by whose work and benefit those things which they have done may be consecrated to longevity. Otherwise, indeed, "What would the boy of Ilia and Mars be" (as he said) "if envious silence stood in the way of the merits of Romulus?" But why do I speak of the affairs of Gaul by design, yet as if it had slipped out thoughtlessly? These things are written toward the goal of my discussion. For since...