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*A discourse on taste, and it's varieties, with sundry observations in literature* ---------------------------- 6:10. I went down into the garden of nuts, to see the fruits of the valleys, and to look if the vineyard had flourished, and the pomegranates budded. Descendi ad hortum nucum ut viderem poma convallis ut inspicerem si floruisset vinea et germinassent mala punica- Canticle of Canticles. ----------------------------- Prithee, Minervam ad animum referunt, tanquam immortalem et Iovis filiam ex ipsius capite prognatam, id est de caeli vertice descendentem ac sinceram, [Laurentius Lydus]1 let us recount on Minerva, that what we find as useful is not useful to another, ubi etiam defunctus dubium a vinolentia an veneno, 2 there art those whom doubt not suspect poisons, and show their wisdom by obviating from what they consider to be inimical, others when thereof presented with the same, with Claudian saith, singula complecti cuperem; sed densior instat gestorum series laudumque sequentibus undis obruimur,3 and scarce couldest spend enough time to acclaim the each of them as wonderful medicaments, for the reliever of one fortune is to another but pensare legumine panem,4 or the distributor of a few beans, though I hath not read any better account of this then in Alciato, Herculeos crines bicolor quod Populus ornet, temporis alternat noxque diesque vices, so Day and Night take their turns eternally, 5 and one toxin likens itself to a sea of celestial blood, as in the Physiponomachia, Achaerontaeis tu monumenta rapis,6 to stealeth thou from the waters of Acheron, en etiam nostros tandem miserata labores, caeruleas variant astra minora vias. Iam Tegeaea micat virgo, quique aurea custos raptus ab Arcadiis venit in astra iugis, or again, sic cecidit Pallas, domitor sic Lausus equorum, sic in Echionia Parthenopaeus humo. Sic iacet in culto flos qui nitidissimus agro,7 that cultivateth them as plants in the ground, as when Dione made Love out of Saturn's blood, mongst' two footed horses, and also, the Daye of Bookes is hunc Aurora diem, spectacula tanta ferentem, quam primum croceis roscida portet equis, Aurora's own daye, a Daye of Dawning, whereof the whole daye is Dawn, that is such a spectacle, tis' argente terra per Caniculam rimas siticulosam sustinens diu aestratem, a canal of endless silver, for gold twas' too showy, or the spectacle of spectacles, whereof Minervam nec nemoris muti iunxisse carentia sensu robora, sed caeso Tomarian Iovis augure luco arbore praesaga tabulas animasse loquaces,8 as when Minerva reduced those trees to some more prohetic vegetables, one writer mayst preferreth a booke as to a speaking forest, the other, as to a prata tondens florea,9 so to say, a booke more strictly adherent to an indexical vision, or instead of any forest, a well kept meadow, and to borroweth a term from Arnobius, numquid ex pelagi spuma et ex Caeli genitalibus amputatis Cythereiae Veneris concretum coaluisse candore,10 and one from Conradus Celtis, tempus erat, niveas dum caelum spargere plumas incipit et nubes conglomerare vagas,11 the whole of Time is bald to some people, is but one valley covered with snow, neither shall the sweete Day divorceth them of their geniality or optimism, whilst others certain poisions devowereth without any hesitation, like with gluttons over food, that is otherwise less contemptible, Plautus giveth an excellent sententiae in the Poenulus, Hunc chlamydatum quem vides, ei Mars iratust, 12 you see this soldier?, Mars is angry with him, yet some even take notice of their dispositions silently as [Pergamensis] Non igitur veterum verbis audita silebo, nec nocitura michi livoris tela timebo. Namque venenoso laniet si dente laborem, atra michi meritum post fata relinquet honorem, 13 they doth not arrest that which offendeth them, cur ego non plangam, sicut planxere priores?...gerit tellus, sal uel uagus aer labuntur, pereunt, moriuntur, contumulantur, coniugis ut talis uidit Pelieia fletus, 14 thou shalt strike at whatever offendeth thee, thou shalt not hesitate to reproacheth what falleth out with thine taste at least. Thereof I conclude that taste mayst either reveal itself in an exterior fashion, in those who adhere to their taste as though it twere' the tounge of their desire, whereof in them, a poision is sometimes becometh a treat, as one mayst calleth something ill, and another brilliant, and that which is irrational, whereof one consumeth what is bad for all, as in the greedy or gluttonous or the addicted, and there is that taste which is new, and unsure of itself, as in the case where simply it happens as though the obscene hath been well hidden, for in some tastes they must be cultivated. INDEX PARTITION 1. Laurentius Lydus 2. Lucius Ampelius: Liber Memorialis 3. Claudian 4. T. Calpunius Siculus 5. Alciato 7. As when the Procreatrix is explored in the Pervigilium Veneris and love is made out of that blood, the toxin being converted to love thereupon. 6. Physiponomachia 8. Claudius Claudianus 9. Paraphrasis Psalmorum Davidis Poetica Cum Schematis Metrorum Et Notis 10. Arnobius: Adversus Nationes Liber IV 11. Conradus Celtis 12. Poenulus 13. Liber Pergaminus. 14. Alcestis Barcinonensis: Text and Commentary |
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