He
writes with a kind of rapture of his first expeditions to Paris; in
later years he complained that the study of antiquities was superseding
science, in which the doctors of the Sorbonne had excelled. 'I was sent
first to the Papal Chair, and afterwards to the Court of France, and
thence to other countries, on tedious embassies and in perilous times,
bearing with me all the time that love of books which many waters could
not extinguish.' 'Oh Lord of Lords in Zion!' he ejaculates, 'what a flood
of pleasure rejoiced my heart when I reached Paris, the earthly Paradise.
How I longed to remain there, and to my ardent soul how few and short
seemed the days! There are the libraries in their chambers of spice, the
lawns wherein every growth of learning blooms. There the meads of Academe
shake to the footfall of the philosophers as they pace along: there are
the peaks of Parnassus, and there is the Stoic Porch. Here you will find
Aristotle, the overseer of learning, to whom belongs in his own right all
the excellent knowledge that remains in this transitory world. Here
Ptolemy weaves his cycles and epicycles, and here Gensachar tracks the
planets' courses with his figures and charts. Here it was in very truth
that with open treasure-chest and purse untied I scattered my money with
a light heart, and ransomed the priceless volumes with my dust and
dross.'
He shows, as he himself confessed, an ecstatical love for his books.
'These are the masters that teach without rods and stripes, without angry
words, without demanding a fee in money or in kind: if you draw near,
they sleep not: if you ask, they answer in full: if you are mistaken,
they neither rail nor laugh at your ignorance.
Pages:
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48