Conradus Celtis: Oratio

1. Non magno duxissem, patres ornatissimi et adolescentes egregii, me hominem Germanum et gentilem vestrum posse Latine ad vos dicere, si prisca illa Germaniae nostrae ingenia florerent aetasque illa redisset, qua legati nostri Graeco sermone quam Latino dicere maluisse memorantur. (2) Verum cum iniquitate saeculorum et conversione temporum nedum apud nos, sed et apud genitricem et antiquam litterarum parentem Italiam omnis aliquando splendor litterarum extinctus interiit explosaeque et profligatae per barbaros motus omnes ingenuae disciplinae, non facile me confido pro ingenii mei tarditate et virium tenuitate satis Latine posse ad vos dicere, quandoquidem et mihi non defuisse intelligo, quod plerique ex vobis in se iam experti deplorant, id est industriam et probatam praeceptionem. (3) Ne tamen prorsus silens in hunc locum vestra praesentia ornatissimum processisse arguerer, malui balbutiendo offendere quam amorem in me vestrum et in rem publicam litterariam taciturnitate praeterire facile sperans a vobis mihi dari veniam, si considerabitis, quod homuncio in media barbarie et, ut aiunt, ebrietate natus minus sobrie dicere queat quam vestrae dissertissimae aures et is locus per publica mihi in oratoria et poetica ab illustrissimo principe nostro Georgio et vobis viris clarissimis, qui omnium consiliorum suorum conscii estis, designatus exposcit.

1. I would not have thought it a great thing, most adorned fathers and excellent young men, that I, a German and gentile man of yours, could speak to you in Latin, if those ancient talents of our Germany still flourished and that age had returned in which our envoys are said to have preferred to speak in Greek rather than Latin. (2) But since, through the iniquity of the ages and the turning of times, not only among us but even in the mother and ancient parent of letters, Italy, every splendour of learning was once extinct and all liberal discipline was blasted and overthrown by the barbarian disturbances, I do not confidently trust that, on account of the slowness of my genius and the weakness of my powers, I can speak sufficiently well in Latin to you, especially since I understand that I have not lacked, as many of you who already have experienced it lament in yourselves, that is, industry and tested instruction. (3) Yet lest I be accused of having come to this most honoured place of yours utterly silent, I preferred to offend by stammering rather than to pass over the love you bear me and the literary commonwealth by silence, easily hoping that you will grant me pardon if you consider that this little man, born amid barbary and, as they say, drunkenness, can speak less soberly than your most learned ears deserve, and that this place publicly assigned me for oratory and poetry by our most illustrious prince Georgius and by you most famous men, who are privy to all his counsels, demands exposition.

2. Nihil autem plane dignius et iucundius ad vos dicere constitui, quod vel me magis deceat et vos audire conveniat, quam ut vestros animos ad virtutem et optimarum artium studia cohortarer. (2) Quibus rebus quam facile vera gloria, immortalis fama et felicitas in hac vita nostra angustissima comparari potest! (3) Nemo ex vobis tam segnis et ignavus inveniri debeat, qui non pulchrum, egregium magnificumque duxerit pro his maximis rebus contendere, quae possunt beatum facere.

2. Nothing indeed more fitting and more pleasing to say to you have I resolved upon, which should both more adorn me and be proper for you to hear, than that I exhort your minds to virtue and to the studies of the best arts. (2) By these things how easily may true glory, immortal fame and happiness in this most narrow life of ours be won! (3) None of you ought to be found so sluggish and slothful that he would not deem it beautiful, excellent and magnificent to contend for those greatest matters which can make one blessed.

(4) Nec mihi inpraesentiarum de fortunae corporisve bonis aut eis, quae vilium mancipiorum sunt, voluptatibus animique lumen extinguentibus disserendum aliquo acumine existimavi, quod omnia illa fluxa, caduca et cum corpore suo parvo momento temporis interitura aut mox alios dominos habitura sunt. (5) Quamobrem nemo sapiens pro eis rebus contendisse memoratur, sed si illorum vitam recensuerimus, tantum in eis amorem pro doctrina et sapientia, qua animus humanus veluti nectare et ambrosia pascitur, fuisse invenimus, ut pro illa consequenda patriam, uxores dulcesque liberos relinquerent, amplissima patrimonia dissiparent, iniurias, contumelias, infamiam apud vulgum et exilium summa cum patientia et tranquillitate perferrent. (6) Laborum praeterea, algoris et aestus et difficillimarum peregrinationum susceptio voluntaria apud eos memoratur, ut, quod vel angustissimis cogitationibus et frequentibus lectionibus fatigati invenissent, hoc sensu etiam percipere et videre voluerunt.

(4) Nor do I think it fitting at present to discourse with any acumen about the goods of fortune or of the body, or about those pleasures and the extinguishers of the mind’s light which belong to trivial possessions, since all those things are fleeting, perishable, and with the body itself will perish in a small moment of time or soon have other masters. (5) Wherefore no wise man is remembered to have contended for such matters; but if we review the lives of those men, we find so great a love for doctrina and sapientia, whereby the human soul is fed as it were with nectar and ambrosia, that in order to attain those things they would leave their fatherland, wives and sweet children, squander the most ample patrimonies, and endure injuries, affronts, public infamy, and exile with the utmost patience and tranquillity. (6) Moreover the voluntary undertaking of labors, of cold and heat and of the most difficult peregrinations is recorded among them, so that what they had found wearisome by the most narrow cogitations and by frequent readings, they wished also to perceive and see with the senses.

(7) Tantum potuit incredibile pro sapientia adquirenda studium et in coelestium rerum et naturae inquisitionem amor, pro quibus tandem rebus divinos honores consecuti, immortale nomen habituri magna apud omnem posteritatem veneratione et cultu philosophorum nomine veniunt nuncupandi.

(7) So great was the zeal and love for acquiring wisdom and for the inquiry into celestial things and nature that for these very matters they at last attained divine honors, and, destined to possess an immortal name, they are now called by the name of philosophers, enjoying great veneration and cult among all posterity.

3. Genus hominum Scytharum est in beluarum morem adeo efferum, incultum et horridum, ut vastis et inaccessis solitudinibus pecorum ritu oberrent, ferarum pellibus et earum coriis, a quibus illis nomen est, se tantum ab aeris inclementia et illius coeli asperitate vindicantes: (2) his tamen tanta gloriae cupidoque laudis incesserat, ut ter perdomitae Asiae imperium possederint; nihil auri, nihil argenti, quarum rerum nos appetentissimi sumus, abstulerunt, sed gloriosius rati, si quando virtuti suae imperii tantum splendorem et amplitudinem adiecisse dicerentur, - magna nobis de barbaro populo pro contendenda virtute et gloria documenta. (3) Qui dum ingenio et doctrina placatisve moribus cum ceteris mortalibus natura renitente contendere nequivissent neve silentio vitam exegisse dicerentur, saltem per effrenem barbariem et animorum impetum, quem pro virtute habent, suae gloriae et immortalitati consuluisse viderentur. (4) Quod si in aliarum gentium historias, quae pace belloque gesserint, orationem converterem, latissimus in commemorando mihi campus occurreret, nec hodiernus is dies sufficeret, sed consulto praetereo, quae vos illustrium scriptorum lectione opportune ad hunc locum accommodare potestis.

3. The stock of men called Scythians is in the manner of beasts so savage, uncultured and shaggy, that in vast and inaccessible solitudes they range about like herds, with the skins and hides of wild beasts — from which they take their name — defending themselves alone from the inclement air and the harshness of that sky: (2) yet upon these there had fallen so great a desire of glory and craving for praise that thrice they held the conquered dominion of Asia; they took away neither gold nor silver — the things for which we are most desirous — but thinking it more glorious if at any time they were said to have added to the splendour and amplitude of empire nothing but the virtue of their courage, — great lessons to us from a barbarous people about striving for virtue and fame. (3) While by nature they could not contend with other mortals in wit and learning or in polished manners, nor be said to have passed life in silence, at least by unbridled savagery and the onrush of souls, which they count as virtue, they seemed to provide for their own glory and immortality. (4) But if I were to turn my speech to the histories of other peoples, who have acted in peace and war, a far wider field would present itself to my commemorating, and not even this day would suffice; but I pass over by design those things which you can fitly supply to this place by reading the more illustrious writers.

4. Satis ego mihi superque satis nunc duco, viri Germani et adolescentes clarissimi, si aliquem hodie vestris animis ex dictione mea qualicunque gloriae et virtutis stimulum adiecero inculcaveroque et, ut ita dicam, inussero, ut immortalitatem ante omnia prae oculis habeatis. (2) Quae cum vobis tantum ex fonte philosophiae et eloquentiae studio quaerenda est, non facile dixerim, quantis laboribus et vigiliis his duobus immorandum insudandumve sit, id est priscorum philosophorum, poetarum et oratorum scriptis, cum hi soli sunt, qui nobis bene beateque vivendi rationem scripserunt et humani generis et cursum rerum omnium, parentem naturam tanquam in exemplar et speculum vitae imitabile proposuerunt. (3) Ab illis laudare benefacta et detestari facinora discetis, ab illis consolari, cohortari, impellere, abstinere (4) et, quod humanae felicitatis finis est, contemplari rerum omnium principem et ipsam naturam studebitis.

4. I count now sufficient and more than sufficient for myself, O German men and most illustrious youths, if by my speech today I have added and implanted any spur of glory and virtue in your minds of whatever sort, and, so to speak, ingrafted it, that you may have immortality above all before your eyes. (2) Since these things must be sought by you so much from the fountain of philosophy and the study of eloquence, I would not easily say with what labors and vigils one must be spent and sweat upon these two — that is, upon the writings of the ancient philosophers, poets, and orators — for these alone are they who have written to us the rule of living well and happily and have set forth parent Nature, as it were, for an exemplar and mirror of life and the course of all things of the human race. (3) From them you will learn to praise good deeds and to detest crimes, from them to console, to exhort, to impel, to restrain (4) and, which is the end of human felicity, to study and contemplate the ruler of all things and Nature herself.

(5) Quae licet omnia etiam ab aliis fieri possint, tamen nescio, quomodo et misericordia et omnis animi suscitatio et repressio in manu oratoris et poetae sunt. (6) Iam vero verborum illa sententiarumque ornamenta, quae tanquam stellae orationem illustrant, instrumenta oratoris et poetae sunt propria. (7) Quae vobis ab illis mutuanda et, prout res deposcit, in usum et quotidianos sermones vestros adaptanda sunt.

(5) Which though all these things can also be done by others, yet I know not how mercy and every stirring and restraining of the mind are in the hand of the orator and the poet. (6) Now indeed those adornments of words and of sentiments, which like stars illuminate an oration, are the proper instruments of the orator and the poet. (7) These things are to be borrowed by you from them and, as the matter demands, adapted to your use and to your daily conversations.

(8) Quid enim, per immortales deos, prodest multa scire, pulchra et sublimia intelligere, si de his loqui cum dignitate, elegantia et gravitate negatum est et, quod unicum felicitatis humanae ornamentum est, si cogitationes nostras posteritati mandare nequiverimus? (9) Ita est, per hominum fidem: nihil doctum eruditumque virum ostendit, nisi calamus et lingua, quae duo eloquentia gubernat.

(8) For what, by the immortal gods, avails it to know many things, to understand beautiful and sublime matters, if to speak of these with dignity, elegance, and weight is denied, and, which is the sole ornament of human felicity, if we cannot commit our cogitations to posterity? (9) So it is, by men's faith: nothing learned and erudite makes a man manifest except the calamus and the tongue, which two eloquence governs.

5. Sed ad vos ego iam, nobiles viri et adolescentes generosi, orationem converto, ad quos avita virtute et Germano illo invicto robore Italiae imperium commigravit quique hoc gymnasium super alia Germaniae nostrae studia frequentatis, fecundatis magnoque ornamento et decori estis. (2) Hortor, ad ea vos primum studia convertere velitis, quae animos vestros mitiores cultioresque reddere possunt et a consuetudine vulgari avocare. (3) Altioribus vos studiis dedentes habete ante oculos veram animi nobilitatem existimantes vos non decorem, sed dehonestamentum imperio nostro afferre, si tantum equos et canes alentes et ecclesiasticas praebendas et non litterarum studia sectemini.

5. But to you now I turn my speech, noble men and young gentlemen of rank, to whom by ancestral virtue and that German unconquered robustness the rule of Italy has been transmitted, and who frequent this gymnasium above other studies of our Germania, enriching it and being a great ornament and adornment. (2) I exhort you first to turn yourselves to those studies which can make your minds gentler and more cultivated and withdraw you from common habit. (3) Give yourselves to loftier studies and hold before your eyes the true nobility of the soul, thinking that you will bring not honour but disgrace to our rule if you pursue only horses and hounds to be kept and ecclesiastical benefices and not the studies of letters.

(4) Cogitate dignitatibus vestris splendorem virtute, doctrina et eruditione quaerentes sanctisque moribus titulos addere, ut vos dignos illis homines existiment et vos illae, non vos illas tanquam aucupes gregem avium persequamini. (5) Aemulamini, nobiles viri, priscam nobilitatem Romanam, quae accepto Graecorum imperio ita omnem sapientiam et eloquentiam eorum iunxerunt, ut dubium sit, an aequasse aut superasse omnem Graecam inventionem et doctrinae supellectilem videantur. (6) Ita et vos accepto Italorum imperio exuta foeda barbarie Romanarum artium affectatores esse debebitis.

(4) Think on your dignities, seeking to adorn them with virtue, doctrina and erudition, and to add titles through holy morals, so that you may deem men worthy of those honors and pursue those honors, not those honors you, like aucupes chasing a flock of birds. (5) Emulate, noble men, the ancient Roman nobility, which, having taken on the empire of the Greeks, so joined all their wisdom and eloquence that it is doubtful whether they seem to have equaled or surpassed every Greek invention and the supellectile of doctrine. (6) Thus likewise, having received the empire of the Italians and cast off foul barbarism, you ought to be affectatores of Roman arts.

(7) Tollite veterem illam apud Graecos, Latinos et Hebraeos scriptores Germanorum infamiam, qua illi nobis temulentiam, immanitatem, crudelitatem et, si quid aliud, quod bestiae et insaniae proximum est, ascribunt. (8) Magno vobis pudori ducite Graecorum et Latinorum nescire historias et super omnem impudentiam regionis nostrae et terrae nescire situm, sidera, flumina, montes, antiquitates, nationes, denique quae peregrini homines de nobis ita scite collegere, ut apud me magnum miraculum sit, quomodo Graeci et Romani homines tam exacta diligentia et exquisita doctrina terram nostram, maximam Europae partem, ut eorum vocabulo utar, asperam et crudam prae illa, puto, siderum conversione perlustraverint moresque nostros, affectus et animos verbis tanquam picturis et lineamentis corporum expresserint. (9) Exuite, generosi viri, exuite et purgate latrocinia, quae illi apud nos tanquam virtuti data commemorant!

(7) Remove that old infamy of the Germans found among Greek, Latin, and Hebrew writers, by which they ascribe to us drunkenness, savagery, cruelty, and, if anything else, that which is nearest to beastliness and madness. (8) Consider it a great shame for the Greeks and Latins to be ignorant of histories and, above all impudence, to be ignorant of the situation of our region and land, the stars, the rivers, the mountains, the antiquities, the nations — in short, those things which foreign men have so cleverly gathered about us that it is a great marvel to me how Greek and Roman men, with such exact diligence and exquisite learning, have traversed our land, the largest part of Europe, to use their term, rough and raw before that, I think, by the turning of the stars, and have rendered our customs, affections, and minds in words as in paintings and the outlines of bodies. (9) Cast off, noble men, cast off and purge the robberies which they recount of us as if they were given for virtue!

(10) Mirumque est, quod in quibusdam adhuc Germaniae partibus supra mille et quingentos ferme annos ingenuus ille morbus perduret, dum latrocinalis agminis principes non submovemus, coelo iam laetiore et terra nostra exclusis paludibus excisisque vastis nemoribus et inclitis urbibus habitata. (11) Adeo difficile emendatur, quod consuetum est, et in multa se tempora diffundit, quod a multis probatur. (12) Ita factum est, ut collimitiae gentes in nos fabam cudant, dum cum imperio nos multa externarum gentium vitia induisse praedicant nomenque nostrum nescio qua sempiterna invidia et calumnia persequantur illisque ingenia nostra semper suspecta et formidolosa sunt.

(10) And it is wondrous that in certain parts still of Germania that native disease endures for almost fifteen hundred years, while we do not remove the chiefs of the robber band, even though our sky is already fairer and our land, with marshes excluded, vast woods cut down, and renowned cities inhabited. (11) So difficult is it to remedy, because it is customary, and it spreads itself into many generations, as many attest. (12) Thus it has come about that the hill-people forge a fable against us, while with authority they proclaim that we have taken on many vices of foreign peoples, and they pursue our name with some perpetual envy and calumny, and to them our dispositions are always suspect and fearsome.

(13) Pudeat, nobiles viri, in sugillationem et amaram cavillationem Germani nominis modernis quorundam historiis, qui se novarum Decadum editione illud priscum Romanum imperium aequasse gloriantur, clarissimos principes nostros natalicio illorum nomine suppresso barbaros tantum vocari. (14) Tantum potuit vetus et inexpiabile inter nos odium et antiqua discordia numinum, quam nisi provida natura Alpibus et elatis in sidera scopulis diremisset, a mutuis caedibus pro hostili utrimque spiritu nunquam temperaretur. (15) Pudeat, quaeso, multis memorabilibus bellis per nos confectis aut profligatis in Pannonia, Gallia et Italia et contra Asiae immanissimum tyrannum Christiano sanguine rotantem neminemque inter vos hodie inveniri, qui res Germanica virtute gestas aeternitati commendet, externos autem multos fore, qui suis historiis praeter omnem legem historiae virtuti nostrae velut aspides obstrepant ambitu et lenocinio orationis, ne dicam figmentis et mendaci inventione, quibus illud genus hominum in laudes suas effusissimum est, rebus a nobis clarissime gestis derogantes.

(13) Shame on, noble men, the stigmatization and bitter cavillation of the name German by certain modern histories, who boast that in publishing new Decades they have equalled that ancient Roman empire, so that our most illustrious princes, their natal name suppressed by those men, are called merely barbarians. (14) So great was the old and inexpiable hatred among us and the ancient discord of the numina, which, had not provident Nature parted us by the Alps and the crags lifted into the stars, would by mutual slaughter for a hostile spirit on both sides never have been tempered. (15) Shame, I beg, that after so many memorable wars by us completed or routed — in Pannonia, Gaul, and Italy, and against Asia’s most monstrous tyrant wallowing in Christian blood — there is not today among you a single man who will commit our German deeds of virtue to posterity; whereas many outsiders exist who, in their histories beyond all law of history, hiss at our virtue like aspides with artifice and the flatteries of speech, not to say with fabrications and mendacious invention, by which ilk of men they are most lavish in their own praises, detracting from deeds most clearly accomplished by us.

(16) Nescioque prorsus, an sapientiae aut inconsiderationi nostrae dandum sit, quod nuper scriptorum insignia et comitem imperatorium laurum tanquam infelix omen nostri imperii Tarpeio colli ultro remisimus. (17) Aliis concessa laureandi licentia, ut apud nos tandem nullus imperii honos maneret.

(16) I do not know at all whether it ought to be ascribed to our wisdom or to our lack of consideration that lately we voluntarily sent back to the Tarpeian Hill the insignia of writers and the imperial laurel as if an unlucky omen of our empire. (17) By granting to others the licence of laurel-bestowal, so that at last no honour of the empire remained among us.

6.Induite veteres illos animos, viri Germani, quibus totiens Romanis terrori et formidini fuistis, et ad angulos Germaniae oculos convertite limitesque eius laceros et distractos colligite! (2) Pudeat, pudeat nationi nostrae iugum et servitutem imposuisse externisque et barbaris regibus tributa et vectigalia pendere. (3) O liberum et robustum populum, o nobilem et fortem gentem et plane dignam Romano imperio, cuius inclitum maris portum et claustra Oceani nostri Sarmata et Dacus possident!

6. Put on again those ancient spirits, men Germani, by which so often you were to the Romans a terror and a dread, and turn your eyes to the corners of Germany and gather together its torn and scattered borders! (2) Shame, shame that our nation has imposed upon itself a yoke and servitude and pays tributes and vectigalia to foreign and barbarian kings. (3) O free and robust people, O noble and mighty nation and plainly worthy of the Roman empire, whose famed sea-port and the barriers of our Ocean are possessed by the Sarmatian and the Dacian!

(4) Ab oriente autem valentissimae gentes serviunt, Marcomanni, Quadi, Bastarnae et Peucini et quasi a corpore Germaniae nostrae separate vivunt. (5) Nec Iazyges Metanastas adnumero gentilicio etiam cultu et nostratia lingua utentes. (6) Ab occasu autem Gallia superior tantum nobis amica et munifica immortali virtute et incredibili sapientia Philippi Palatini Rheni, qui utranque incliti amnis ripam regit faustoque semper reget imperio,

(4) From the east, however, the most valiant peoples serve us: the Marcomanni, Quadi, Bastarnae and Peucini, and they live as if separated from the body of our Germania. (5) Nor do I reckon the Iazyges Metanastae among the tribal list, although they likewise use our cult and our native tongue. (6) From the west, however, Upper Gaul alone is friendly and munificent to us, by the immortal virtue and incredible wisdom of Philippus, Palatine of the Rhine, who governs the bank of that renowned river on both sides, and will ever govern it with auspicious imperial power,

7.Redeo ad vos, o generosi adolescentes, moneoque ante omnia: in mentem revocate, priusquam ad scientiam iuris accedatis, multarum vobis rerum cognitione opus esse, quod illa disciplina nihil vos super opinionem docere potest. (2) Quod si philosophi et poetae, primi theologi (si antiquitati creditur), homines vagos et palantes lenitis per eloquentiam crudis eorum animis a pecorum lustris et specubus in urbes et socialia tecta convocavere, religionem deorumque metum et cultum multis et variis argumentis docuere et dein legibus et institutis rexere, quis vestrum dubitabit, o patres ornatissimi, ante iuris studium multum verae philosophiae prius operam dare oportere et his maxime rebus, quibus eloquentia percipitur, quam vos huic rei pernecessariam esse confitemini. (3) Quamobrem videbuntur illi iam vobis non mediocri errore laborare multorumque malorum causas invehere, qui praeter omnem philosophiam, non fabalem illam dico, legum et sacrorum se duces constituunt non considerantes, quales priscorum saeculorum legislatores fuere, qui dum leges et arma in die occupatissimi tractarent, omnes noctes philosophiae studio absumebant.

7.I return to you, O noble youths, and warn you above all: call to mind, before you approach the science of law, that you need knowledge of many things, which that discipline cannot teach you beyond opinion. (2) For if the philosophers and poets, the first theologians (if antiquity is to be believed), men wandering and wayfaring, with gentle eloquence drew their raw minds from the pastures and lairs of beasts into cities and communal roofs, taught religion and the fear and worship of the gods by many and various arguments, and afterwards governed them by laws and institutions, who of you will doubt, O most distinguished fathers, that before the study of law much of true philosophy ought first to be pursued, and especially those matters by which eloquence is perceived, which you yourselves acknowledge to be most necessary for this enterprise. (3) Wherefore those men will seem to you to suffer not a slight error and to introduce the causes of many ills, who, beyond all philosophy — I do not speak of that fable — set themselves up as leaders of laws and sacred rites, not considering what sort of legislators the ancients were, who, while by day they were incessantly occupied with laws and arms, passed all their nights consumed by the study of philosophy.

(4) Quippe si illa tanquam seminarium quoddam humanarum divinarumque rerum cognitionem et earum dioecesim locupletissime docet, quis sine eius haustu illa se duo administrare existimet? (5) Nec ego iam vobis pro testimonio Graecos, Solonem, Platonem, Alcibiaden, Themistoclen aut Philippum Alexandri Magni parentem adducam. (6) Quanta ille cura Aristoteli eius aetatis summo philosopho filium commendabat quantoque gaudio gestiebat natum eo saeculo sibi filium, quo plurimum philosophi pollerent!

(4) For if that, as a kind of seminarium, most richly teaches the cognition of human and divine things and their dioecesim (distribution), who will imagine that he can administer those two without its haustus (draught)? (5) Nor will I now bring the Greeks as testimony to you — Solon, Plato, Alcibiades, Themistocles, or Philip, father of Alexander the Great. (6) With what care did that man commit his son to Aristotle, the foremost philosopho of that age, and with what joy did he exult that a child was born in the very century in which philosophers most prevailed!

(7) Sciebat enim imperator armorum et moderandae reipublicae peritissimus, si suus filius philosophiae praeceptis institutisque initiatus esset, dignum fore, a quo universi orbis administraretur imperium. (8) Neque Anarcharsiden vobis commemorabo, qui ut Scythiae suae leges inferret, prius philosophiam ab Atticis philosophis discere voluit. (9) Taceo Romanos reges, Numam, Catones, Scipiones, Caesares et recentiores, Antonianos, Valerianos, Aurelianos, Theodosium, denique et Karolum, nobili Francorum stirpe progenitos, quorum doctrina et liberalium artium cura et studio partum et conservatum est clarissimum imperium, quod tam diu floruit, dum sibi philosophiam comitem et adstitricem habuit.

(7) For he knew that the emperor, most expert in arms and in the governance of the res publica, if his son were initiated in the precepts and institutions of philosophy, would be fitting to whom the empire of the whole orb would be entrusted. (8) Nor will I omit Anacharsis from mention, who, in order to bring laws to his Scythia, first wished to learn philosophy from the Attic philosophers. (9) I am silent about the Roman kings, Numa, the Catones, the Scipiones, the Caesars and the more recent Antonines, Valerians, Aureliani, Theodosius, and indeed Charles, sprung from the noble Frankish stock, whose doctrine and care and zeal for the liberal arts produced and conserved that most illustrious empire which flourished so long while it kept philosophy as its companion and handmaid.

(10) Praetereo nunc Mosen, veteris religionis nostrae legislatorem, in omni philosophia sapientissimum et qui ad vulgi impellendos, coercendos obruendosque animos moderator prudentissimus; is sacras leges scripturus a mundi fabrica et maiestatis naturae suique opificis commemoratione orsus est, ut plane demonstraret, quemlibet legislatorem et eius disciplinae studiosum primo philosophiae institutis tanquam sacris quibusdam initiari debere. (11) Sed nos tales tantique viri non movent, quandoquidem angusto nunc apud nos limite fatorum forte serie et ultimi temporis faece consenescit imperium posthabitaque omni philosophia tantum ad degenerem quaestum ingenia nostra servilia prostituimus et pro mercenaria stipe locamus.

(10) I pass now by Moses, the lawgiver of our ancient religion, the most wise in all philosophy and the most prudent governor for urging, restraining, and overwhelming the minds of the multitude; he, about to write the sacred laws, began with a remembrance of the fabric of the world and the majesty of nature and of its maker, so as plainly to show that every lawgiver and student of his discipline ought first to be initiated into the precepts of philosophy as into certain sacred rites. (11) But such men and of such stature do not move us, since now, perhaps, in our narrow span of fates and the last dregs of time, power grows old, and, philosophy being set aside, we prostitute our talents to base gain and hire them out for a mercenary fee.

8. Hinc cum a talibus studiis nostris ad principes ventum est, ea tantum illis suggerimus, quae nos didicimus. (2) Atqui illa, cum magna animi amaritudine dico, semina sunt, quare principes nostri alienis oculis videntes semper indocti maneant ludibrioque apud alios habeantur et vero nomine barbari irrideantur, quod illi in tanta felicitate temporum ingenuas artes et earum studiosos negligant nihilque vilius et abiectius in eorum curiis sit, quam qui litterarum peritiam verbo aut habitu profiteantur; tantum barbaries nostra nobis placet et intractabilis animi morbus. (3) Apud pontifices etiam nostros et ut prisco vocabulo utar sacros flamines, ad quos litterarum cura et patrocinium iure spectare deberet, ita contemptui et vilitati litterae et illis dediti sunt, ut silvestres feras, auritos canes, frementes et feroces equos et nescio quas cum Rhea Martis, Clodii et Sardanapalli mulierarias voluptates aliaque ludicra illis praeponant.

8. Hence, when from such studies we have come to princes, we propose to them only those things which we have learned. (2) Yet those things, I say with great bitterness of spirit, are seeds by which our princes, seeing with alien eyes, always remain unlearned and are held up as a mockery among others and truly derided by the name “barbarians,” because they, in so great a felicity of times, neglect the liberal arts and their devotees, and nothing is more base and abject in their courts than those who profess proficiency in letters by word or by dress; so pleasing is our barbarism to us and so intractable a malady of the mind. (3) Among our pontiffs also — and to use the ancient term, the sacros flamines — to whom the care and patronage of letters ought by right to pertain, letters are so given over to contempt and vileness that they set before them wild beasts, long-eared dogs, roaring and fierce horses, and I know not what feminine delights of a Rhea Martis, of Clodius and of Sardanapalus, and other pastimes.

(4) Novimus quosdam obscuris ortos crepundiis, qui, dum peregrinationis gratia studiosos viros in suas curias venisse accipiunt, illis peritiae ostentatione loqui dedignantur, adeo usque Pythagorae silentium illis placet et in barbara maiestate Romanae linguae parsimonia, ne degenerari viderentur, dum pecuniarum studio tanquam rapacissimi accipitres inhiant aut assentationibus regum, quas etiam foribus praeponere audent, veluti viles ancillae studentes. (5) Ita nos Italicus luxus corrupit et saeva in extorquendo argento pernicioso crudelitas, ut plane sanctius et gratius fuisset nos agere rudi illa et silvestri vita, dum inter continentiae fines vivebamus, quam tot gulae et luxus instrumenta, quibus nihil unquam satis est, invexisse peregrinosque mores induisse. (6) Quo fit, ut tales tunc eos in familiaritatem suam admittant, qui cognatis studiis assententur hosque excludant, quibus doctrinae et sapientiae studium cordi est.

(4) We know certain men sprung from obscure baubles, who, when they receive learned men into their courts for the sake of travel, disdain to speak with any ostentation of skill; so much do they favor Pythagoras’ silence and, in the barbarous majesty of the Roman tongue, parsimony of speech, lest they seem degenerate, while with the zeal of ravenous hawks they cling to money or dare to prefer the flattering servility of kings, even setting it before doors, like base maidservants striving. (5) Thus Italian luxury has corrupted us, and a cruel savagery in wrenching silver has become pernicious, so that plainly it would have been holier and more pleasing that we should have lived that rude and sylvan life while we dwelt within the bounds of continence, than to have imported so many instruments of gluttony and luxury, of which nothing is ever enough, and to have put on foreign manners. (6) Whence it comes about that they then admit into their intimacy those who agree with their familiar studies, and exclude those to whom the pursuit of learning and wisdom is dear.

(7) Quos tamen Graeci et Romani imperii auctores ita excoluerunt, ut eos imperialibus honoribus insignirent interque secretiores amicos numerabant. (8) Vita etiam defunctos sepulcris suis inferri iubebant, quod opem et immortalitatem sibi per illos beneficio et usu litterarum, quibus solis aeternitas fulcitur, prorogari arbitrabantur, ut non solum viventes, sed et cum periissent, prodesse hominibus possent. (9) Vivunt igitur hodie adhuc et vivent, quoad Romanae et Graecae litterae erunt.

(7) Whom nevertheless the authors of the Greek and Roman empire so cultivated that they distinguished them with imperial honors and reckoned them among their more intimate friends. (8) In life also they ordered the dead to be borne into their tombs with them, because they judged that by those — by the benefit and use of letters, by which alone eternity is sustained — help and immortality would be prolonged to them, so that not only the living but also when they had died they might be of service to men. (9) Therefore they live today still and will live, so long as Roman and Greek letters shall be.

(10) Nec ego aliam semper florentis Italiae causam reddidero, quam quod illi nos non alia felicitate quam litterarum amore et earum studio antecedunt. (11) Quibus ipsi alias gentes tanquam armis terrent et in admirationem sui per ingenium et industriam trahunt. (12) Apud nos autem crebrae mutationes et novarum rerum inter nos improba cupiditas, ut poeta doctissimus de nobis ait:

(10) Nor will I give any other cause for flourished Italy than that they surpass us in no other felicity than by love of letters and their study. (11) By these same they terrify other peoples as if with arms and draw them into admiration of themselves by wit and industry. (12) Among us, however, are frequent changes and a shameless craving for new things, as the most learned poet says of us:

9. Quare ad vos nunc redeo, Germani iuvenes: Agite, ne apud vos longa pueritia permaneat, secreta litterarum cognoscite, quae vos fugere scriptores commemorant canuntque in pudorem nostrum:

9. Therefore I return now to you, German youths: Go on, let long boyhood not remain among you; learn the secrets of letters, which writers recount and sing, to our shame, that you shrink back:

10. Quamobrem convertite vos, Germani, convertite vos ad mitiora studia, quae sola vos philosophia et eloquentia docere potest. (2) Cogitate non sine causa factum esse, quod Graeci Romanique imperii auctores tanta opera et vigilantia illis rebus studuerint et earum rerum praeceptores summis honoribus ornaverint, nisi in tellexissent linguae viribus sapientiacque partibus hominum coetus, urbes, religiones, deorum cultum et sanctissimos mores amplissimaque imperia conservari et gubernari posse. (3) Quam rem divinus ille vates, decus et deliciae Romani eloquii, ita egregie expressit, dum cecinit:

10. Wherefore turn yourselves, Germans, turn yourselves to gentler studies, which alone philosophy and eloquence can teach you. (2) Consider that it was not without cause that the Greeks and Romans, authors of empire, applied so much toil and vigilance to those things and adorned the instructors of those matters with the highest honors, unless they had perceived by the powers of language and the faculties of wisdom that assemblies of men, cities, religions, the worship of the gods and the most sacred customs and the most ample empires can be preserved and governed. (3) This thing the divine bard, the ornament and delight of Roman eloquence, so excellently expressed when he sang: