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432 MONTAIGNE'S ESSAYES
It is sufficient that my judgement is not dismayed or
distracted, whereof these be the Essaies.
Nasutus sis usque licet, sis denique nasus
Quantum noluerxt fen e logatus Atlas;
Et possis ipsum tu deridere Latinum,
Non potes, in nugas diceicplura meas,
Ipse ego quam dixi • quid dentem dentejuvabit
lioaere ? carne opus est, si satur esse velis*
Ne perdas operant, qui se mnantur, in illos
Virus haoe, nos hcec novimus esse nihil, 1
Suppose you were lonj?-nos'd, suppose such nose you weare
As Atlas, if you should intrent him, would not beare,
That you in flouting old Latmus can be fine.
Yet can you say no more about these toyes of mine,
Then I have said ; what boote tooth with a tooth to whet ?
You must have fleshe, if you to glut your selfc be set.
Loose not your paines; 'gainst them who on themselves are
doting
Keepe you your sting: we know these things of ours are
nothing.
I am not bound to utter no follies, so I be not deceived
to know them: and wittingly to erre is so ordinarie in
me that I erre not much otherwise; and seldome erre
casually. It is a small matter to yeeld the fond actions
unto the rashnesse of my humors, since I cannot warrant
my selfe ordinarily to yeeld them the vicious. Being
at Barleduc I saw for the commendation of ltenate the
King of Sicilies memory a picture which with his owne
hands he had made of himselfe, presented unto our
King Francis the second : why is it not as lawfull for
evejry man else to pourtray himself with his pen, as it
was for him to do it with a pensell ? I will not then
forget this blemish, unfit to be seene of all. That is
irresolution, a most incommodious defect in the negotiation
of worldly affaires: I cannot resolve in matters
admitting doubtfulnesse:
Ne si, ne no, nel cuor mi suona intiero,²
Nor yea, nor nay, sounds clearely in my heart.
1 MART. 1. xiii. Epig. ii. 1.
² PETR. Pa, i. Son. cxxxviii. 8.