life of john picus earl of mirandola - The Center for Thomas More ...

[69]
Talk proceeding of an
earnest zeal worketh
effectually.
Similitude of manners
causeth love
Proud palaces
Liberty
[70]
Observances
20 Thomas More’s Life of John Picus
a ⌐ cunning ¬ man ⌐ (but not so good as cunning) came to him on a
day ¬ for the great fame of his learning to commune with him, as they
fell in talking of virtue he was with two words of Picus so throughly
pierced that forthwithal he forsook his accustomed vice and reformed
his conditions. The words that he said unto him were these: “If we
had evermore before our eyes the ⌐ painful ¬ death of Christ which He
suffered for the love of us, and then if we would again think upon
our death, we should well beware of sin.” Marvellous be nignity and
courtesy he showed unto them, not whom strength of body or goods
of fortune magnified, but to them whom learning and condition bound
him to favour. For similitude of manners is a cause of love and friendship:¦
a likeness of conditions¦ is (as Appollonius 1 saith¦) an affinity.¦
⌐ What he Hated and what he Loved. ¬ There was nothing more odious
nor more intolerable to him than (as Horace 2 saith) the proud palaces
of stately lords. Wedding and worldly business he fled almost alike.
Notwithstanding, when he was asked once in sport whether of those
two burdens seemed lighter and which he would choose if he should
of necessity be driven to that one, and at his election; which he sticked
thereat 3 a while, but at the last he shook his head and a little smiling he
answered that he had leuer take him to marriage, as that thing in which
was less servitude and not so much jeopardy. Liberty above all things
he loved, to which both his own natural affection and the study of
philosophy inclined him¦; and for that he was always wandering and
flitting and would never take himself to any certain dwelling.¦
⌐ Of his Fervent Love to God. ¬ Of outward observances he gave no
very great force: we speak not of those observances which the Church
commandeth to be observed, for in those he was diligent:¦ but we speak
¦ 12 More omits a sentence telling of Picus’ love of those “who had some scholarly proficiency…
or whom he saw to be at least suited and apt for the pursuit of true learning” (CW 1:329). /
More omits & erga sapientem virum, “and we feel [a certain affinity] for a wise man” (CW 1:328,
329). / More omits teste Philostrato, “according to Philostratus” (CW 1:328, 329). / More omits
the following sentence: Scientiam quoque perficere hominem qua homo est, perfectum vero bonitatem consequi,
super aliosque probos esse diligendos non ambigitur, “Also there is no doubt that knowledge perfects
man as man, that a perfect man achieves goodness, and that the upright, above all others, are
worthy of love” (CW 1:328, 329). / 23 More omits Gianfrancesco’s autumo, “I say that” (CW
1:328, 329). / 24 At this point More omits a lengthy passage from the Latin original, “which
describes the attraction of Ferrara and Florence to Picus: the former because of its proximity to
Mirandola and its associations with his youth; the latter because of his friendship with Angelo
Poliziano and Ficino and the presence of the Platonic Academy” (CW 1:223). / 27 More omits
Gianfrancesco’s prae oculis eum vidimus, “as I saw with my own eyes” (CW 1:330, 331).
1. On which, see Philostratus’ Life of Appollonius 6.40 (CW 1:222–223).
2. Epodes 2.7–8. Compare with the use of Horace at 36.5.
3. he sticked thereat: More’s translation of the Latin haesitabundus, “he hesitated” (CW 1:328, 329).
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