Iohan Picus erle of Myrandula to Andrewe Corneus gretynge

Ye exhorte me by your letters to the cyuyle and actyue lyfe sayenge y• in vayne: and in maner to my rebuke & shame haue I so longe studyed in philosophy. But yf I wolde at the last excercise y• lernynge in y• entretynge of some ꝓfitable actes & outwarde bysynes. Certaynly my welbeloued Andrewe I had cast awaye bothe cost and laboure of my study: yf I were to mynded that I coude fynde in my herte in this mater to assent vnto you & folowe your councell. This is a very deedly and monstrous persuacyon which hath entred the myndes of men: beleuynge that ye studyes of phylosophye are of estates & prȳces: eyther vtterly not to be touched: or at lest wise with extreme lyppes to be sypped (and rather to the pompe & ostentaciō of theyr wit) then to the culture & ꝓfyte of theyr myndes to be lytel & easely tasted. The wordes of Neoptolentꝰ they holde vtterly for a sure decree that phylosophy is to be studyed eyther neuer or not longe / but the sayenges of wyse men they repute for I apes & v[…]ry fables: that sure & stedfast felicite stondeth onely in the goodnes of the mynde & that these outwarde thynges of ye body or of fortune lytle or nought pertayne vnto vs. But here ye wyll saye to me thus. I am contente ye studye / but I wolde haue you outwardly occupyed also. Ind I desyre you not so to embrace martha that ye sholde vtterly forsake Mary. Loue them & vse them both aswell study as worldly occupacion. Trewly my welbe loued frende in this poynt I gayne sey you not / they that so do I fynde no fault in nor I blame them not / but certaynly hit is not all one to sey we do well yf we do so: and to sey me do euyll but yf we do so / this is farre out of the way: to think that from contemplacyon to the actyse lyuing that is to sey from the better to the worse is none errour to declyne And to thynke that it were shame to abyde styll in the better and not declyne.

Shall a man then be rebuked by cause that he desyryth and ensueth vertue only for hit selfe: by cause he studyeth ye mysteryes of god: by cause he ensercheth the counceyll of nature by cause he vseth continually this plesaūt ease & rest: sekynge none outwarde thyng dispising all other thynge: sych those thȳges are able suffyciently to satisfye ye desyre of theyr folowers. By this rakenynge hit is a thynge eyther seruyle or at ye lest wise not princely to make ye study of wysdom other then mercēnarye / who may well here this who may suffre hit. Certaynly he neuer studyed for wysedome which so studied therfore that in tyme to come eyther he myght not or wolde not study therfore / this man rather excercised ye study of marchaundyse then of wysedom. Ye wryte vnto me that hit is tyme for me now to put my selfe in houshoulde with some of the grete prynces of Italy but I se well yt as yet ye haue not knowen the opynion that phylosophres haue of them selfe which (as horace sayth) repute thē selfe kynges of kinges: they loue lyberte: they can not bere ye proud maners of estates: they can not serue. They dwell with them selfe and be content with the tranquyllyte of theyr owne mynde they suffyce them selfe & more / they seke nothynge out of them selfe: ye thynges that are had in honoure amonge ye ꝯmune people: amonge them be not holden honourable. All that euer the voluptuouse desyre of men thyrsteth for: or ambycyon sygheth for: they set at nought & despise. Which while hit belongeth to all men: yet vndoubtedly it ꝑteyneth moost proprely to them whome fortune hath so lyberaly fauoured that they may lyue not onely well and plenteously but also nobly. These grete fortunes lyft vp a man hye and setteh hym out to the shewe: but oftentymes as a fyerse and a skyttyssh hors they cast of theyr mayster. Certeynly alway they greue and vexe hym and rather tere hym then bere hym. The golden mediocrite the meane estate is to be desyred whiche shall bere vs as hit were in hādes more easeli. which shall obey vs & not maystre vs. I therfore abydyng fermely in this opynyō: set more by my litle house my study the pleasure of my bokes / y• rest and peace of my mynde: then by all your kynges palaces all your cōmune besynes / all your glory / all the aduauntage that ye hawke after and all the fauoure of the court. Nor I loke not for this fruyte of my study y• I may therby herafter be tossed in the flode and rombelyng of your worldly besynesse: but y• I may ones bryng forth the chyldren that I trauayle on: y• I may gyue out some bokes of my nowne to the cōmune proffyte which may sumwhat sauour: yf not of cōnyng yet at the lest wyse of wyt and dylygence. And by cause ye shall not thynk that my trauayle & dyligence in study is ony thyng remytted or slakked. I gyue you knowledge y• after grete feruent labour with moch watch and infatygable trauayle I haue lerned both the he brew language and the chaldey and now haue I set hande to ouercome the grete dyffyculte of the Araby tonge. These my dere frende be thynges: whiche to apertaine to a noble prynce I haue euer thought and yet thynke. Fare ye well. wryten at Paris the.xv. daye of Octobre the yere of grace.M.CCCClxxxxij.