— Scene 13 —
Friar Bacon was sitting in his cell when Friar Bungay came to visit him.
Friar Bungay asked, “Why is the friar who frolicked so recently now sitting as melancholy and apathetic in his cell as if he had neither lost nor won today?”
He knew that the Brazen Head was supposed to have spoken by now, and he knew that Friar Bacon looked dejected and unable to take any action. Of course, Friar Bacon was upset about the breaking of the Brazen Head, but something else was also bothering him.
“Ah, Bungay, my Brazen Head is spoiled, my glory gone, my seven years’ study lost!” Friar Bacon said. “The fame of Bacon, bruited and proclaimed throughout the world, shall end and perish with this deep disgrace.”
“Bacon has built the foundation of his fame so securely on the wings of true report by performing strange and unaccustomed miracles that this cannot destroy what he deserves,” Friar Bungay said.
“Bungay, sit down, for by my skill in foretelling the future I find that this day shall fall out ominously,” Friar Bacon said. “Some deadly act shall befall me before I sleep, but what and wherein I cannot guess.”
“My mind is heavy, whatsoever shall happen,” Friar Bungay said.
A knock sounded.
“Who is knocking?” Friar Bacon asked.
After opening the door and looking out, Friar Bungay replied, “It’s two scholars who desire to speak with you.”
“Tell them to come in,” Friar Bacon said.
The two scholars entered Friar Bacon’s cell.
“Now, my youths, what do you want?” Friar Bacon asked.
The first scholar said, “Sir, we are men from Suffolk, and we are neighboring friends. Our fathers are vigorous squires in their countries. Their lands adjoin: My father dwells in Crackfield, and his father dwells in Laxfield. We are students in the same college, and we are sworn brothers, as our fathers live as friends.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” Friar Bacon asked.
The second scholar said, “Hearing your worship kept within your cell a magic mirror with a far-seeing prospective, wherein men might see whatsoever their thoughts or hearts’ desire could wish,we come to know how our fathers are faring.”
“My magic mirror is free for every honest man,” Friar Bacon said. “Sit down, and you shall see before long how or in what state your friendly fathers live. Meanwhile, tell me your names.”
The first scholar said, “Mine is Lambert, Junior.”
The second scholar said, “And mine is Serlsby, Junior.”
“Bungay, I smell there will be a tragedy,” Friar Bacon said.
In the mirror, the two students’ fathers, Lambert and Serlsby, appeared. They were ready to fight a duel with rapiers and daggers. Each would use his rapier to attack the other, and each would use his dagger to parry the attacks of the other.
Lambert said, “Serlsby, thou have kept thine hour and showed up like a man at the hour appointed for our duel: You are worthy of the title of a squire — you dare to show thy love for thy loved one and thy desire for thy loved one’s favor by risking thy blood and life.
“Thou know what words passed between us at Fressingfield: They were such shameless insults as manhood cannot endure — yes, for I scorn to bear such piercing taunts. Prepare thyself, Serlsby; one of us will die.”
“Thou see I single thee the field,” Serlsby said.
He was using hunting terminology: Hunters would often separate a single deer from the herd and then kill it.
He continued, “And what I spoke, I’ll maintain its truth with my sword. Stand on thy guard for I cannot settle this quarrel with talk. If thou kill me, remember that I have a son who lives in Oxford in the Broadgates Hall and who will revenge his father’s blood with blood.”
“And, Serlsby, I have at Oxford a vigorous boy who dares with weapons to fight thy son and lives in Broadgates Hall, too, as well as thine,” Lambert replied. “But draw thy rapier, for we’ll have a bout of fighting.”
Friar Bacon moved aside to let the two scholars see into the magic mirror without obstruction and said, “Now, vigorous young gentlemen, look within the magic mirror, and tell me if you can discern your sires.”
“Serlsby, it is hard; thy father acts wrongly when he combats my father in the field,” Lambert, Jr., said.
“Lambert, Jr., thou lie,” Serlsby, Jr., said. “My father is the abused, wronged party, and thou shall find that what I say is true, if my father suffers harm.”
This culture believed that a fight could settle the truth of a statement because God would help the person who told the truth to win.
“How goes it, sirs?” Friar Bungay asked. “What is happening?”
“Our fathers are in combat near Fressingfield,” Lambert, Jr., said.
“Sit still, my friends, and see the outcome,” Friar Bacon said.
In the mirror, Lambert said, “Why do thou just stand there, Serlsby? Are thou afraid for thy life? A veney, man! Let’s fight! Beautiful Margaret craves for us to fight.”
“A veney” is a fencing term meaning “a bout.”
“Then this for her,” Serlsby said.
They began to duel.
“Ah, well thrust!” Lambert, Jr., said.
“But see the defensive parry,” Serlsby, Jr., said.
Their fathers fought and inflicted mortal wounds on each other.
“Oh, I am slain!” Lambert said.
He died.
“And I am slain,” Serlsby said. “Lord, have mercy on me!”
He died.
“My father is slain!” Lambert, Jr., said. “Serlsby, Jr., defend against that.”
He lashed out at him with his dagger.
“And my father is slain!” Serlsby, Jr., said. “Lambert, Jr., I’ll repay thee well.”
The two scholars stabbed each other, and died.
“Oh, what a violent outcome!” Friar Bungay said.
Looking in the mirror, Friar Bacon said, “See, Friar Bungay, where the fathers both lie dead!”
He then looked at the slain youths and said, “Bacon, thy magic effected this massacre: This magic mirror works many woes.”
The magic mirror did not cause the death of the fathers, but by allowing the sons to see their fathers’ death, it was a cause of the anger that made the two sons kill each other.
Friar Bacon continued, “And therefore seeing that these brave vigorous brutes — heroes — these youths who were friends, have perished because of thine art, thou, Bacon, must end all thy magic and thine art at once. The dagger that ended their doomed lives shall break the cause efficiatof their woes.”
According to legend, the first King of Britain was the Trojan Brutus, who founded Troynovant — New Troy — which became London. His name came to mean “hero” or “Briton” as a noun and “brave” as an adjective.
The cause efficiatis a term from Aristotle meaning the efficient cause; that is, it is the instrument that produced the effect. In this case the cause efficiatwas the magic mirror.
Bacon used one of the boys’ daggers to break the magic mirror, saying, “So vanishes the magic mirror, and the shows in the magic mirror that necromancy infused into the mirror end with it.”
“Why does learned Bacon thus break his mirror?” Friar Bungay asked.
“I tell thee, Bungay, I strongly regret that Bacon ever meddled in this art. The hours I have spent in pyromantic spells, the fearful tossing in the latent night of papers full of necromantic charms, conjuring and banishing devils and fiends, with stole and alb and strange pentagram, the wresting and perverting of the holy name of God, as Sother, Eloïm, and Adonai, Alpha, Manoth, and Tetragrammaton, with praying to the five-fold powers of Heaven, are reasons that Bacon must be damned for using devils to counterbalance his God.”
Bacon would summon demons and keep them out of Hell so that they could obey his orders.
Members of the clergy wore the stole and alb. The alb is a long white robe, while the stole is a long strip of cloth worn over the shoulders and hanging in front below the chest. Because demons dislike the clergy, wearing the stole and alb protected magicians.
Sother, Eloïm, and Adonai, Alpha, Manoth, and Tetragrammaton are all names for God. The Tetragrammaton is JHVH, or Jehovah. Friar Bacon had probably put a name of God on each of the five points of the pentagram. In addition, magicians would often take the name “Jehovah” and make anagrams of it.
God made the physical laws of the universe, but Bacon had summoned devils to counteract those laws, thus going against the will of God. In doing so, he had misused the names of God.
Friar Bacon continued, “Yet, Bacon, cheer up and don’t drown in despair.
“Sins have their salves, and repentance can do much: Remember that Mercy sits where Justice holds her seat, and from those wounds that those bloody Jews did pierce, which by thy magic metaphorically often did bleed afresh, from thence for thee the dew of mercy drops, to wash away the wrath of high Jehovah’s ire, and make thee as a new-born babe free from sin.
“Bungay, I’ll spend the remnant of my life in pure devotion, praying to my God that He would save the soul that Bacon vainly and foolishly lost.”
— Scene 14 —
At Fressingfield, Margaret was wearing the habit of a nun in the presence of the gamekeeper and a friend. Margaret was preparing to take her vows as a nun.
“Margaret, be not so headstrong in these vows,” the gamekeeper said. “Oh, don’t bury such beauty in a cell — England has made you famous because of your beauty! Thy father’s hair, which resembles the silver bloomsthat beautify the shrubs of Africa, shall fall out prematurely before their appointed time of death, if he were thus to lose his lovely Margaret.”
His daughter, Margaret, replied, “Ah, father, when the harmony of Heaven sounds the music of a living faith, the vain illusions of this flattering world seem odious to the thoughts of Margaret.
“I loved once — Lord Lacy was my love. And now I hate myself for having loved and for having doted more on him than on my God — because of this I scourge — whip — myself with sharp repentance and penances. But now the blemish of such ambitious sins tells me that all love is lust except for the love of the Heavens; the blemish of such filled-with-desires sins also tells me that beauty used for love is vanity.
“The world contains nothing but alluring temptations, pride, flattery, and inconstant, fickle thoughts. To shun and avoid the pricks and stings of death, I leave the world and vow to meditate on Heavenly bliss and to live in Fremingham as a holy nun, holy and pure in conscience and in deed. And I vow this because I wish all maidens to learn from me to seek Heaven’s joy before Earth’s vanity.”
“And will you, then, Margaret, be shorn a nun and initiated into the nunnery, and so leave us all?” the friend asked.
“Now farewell, world, the engine and means of all woe!” Margaret said. “Farewell to friends and father! Welcome, Christ! Adieu to dainty robes! This base attire better befits a mind that is humble before God than all the show of rich habiliments. Farewell, oh, love! And, along with foolish love, farewell to Sweet Lacy, whom I loved once so dearly! Always be well, but never be in my thoughts, lest I offend by thinking about Lacy’s love. But even to that, as to the rest, farewell!”
Lacy, Warren, and Ermsby arrived. They were booted and spurred because they had been riding on horseback. Because of Lacy’s hurry to find Margaret, they had not taken time to remove their spurs.
“Come on, my wags, we’re near the gamekeeper’s lodge,” Lacy said. “Here I have often walked in the watery meadows and chatted with my lovely Margaret.”
“Sirrah Ned, isn’t this the gamekeeper I see?” Warren asked.
Lacy looked and said, “Yes, that’s him.”
“The old lecher has gotten holy mutton for himself: a nun, my lord,” Ermsby said.
The word “mutton” was slang for “prostitute.”
“Gamekeeper, how are thou?” Lacy asked. “Hello, man, what is thine mood? How is Peggy, thy daughter and my love?”
“Ah, my good lord!” the gamekeeper said. “Oh, I feel woe because of Peggy! See where she stands clad in her nun’s attire, ready to be shorn and initiated into a religious life in Fremingham. She leaves the world because she left — lost — your love. Oh, my good lord, persuade her not to become a nun if you can!”
“Why, how are you now, Margaret!” Lacy said. “Unhappy? A nun! What holy father taught you to task yourself to such a tedious life and die an unmarried maiden! It would be an injury to me if you were to smother up such beauty in a cell.”
Margaret replied, “Lord Lacy, thinking of my former sin, how foolishly the prime of my light-hearted years was spent in love — oh, shame upon that foolish notion called love, whose occurrence and essence hang upon the perception of the eye! — I leave both love and love’s content at once, instead committing myself to Him Who is true love, and leaving all the world for love of Him.”
“From where, Peggy, comes this metamorphosis?” Lacy said. “What! Shorn a nun, and I have from the courtridden swiftly with coursers to convey thee from here to Windsor, where our marriage shall be celebrated! Thy wedding-robes are in the tailor’s hands. Come, Peggy, leave these peremptory vows.”
“Didn’t my lord — you — resign his interest in me, and make a divorce between Margaret and him?” she replied, using the third person.
“It was only to test sweet Peggy’s constancy and faithfulness to me,” Lacy said. “But will fair Margaret leave her love and lord?”
“Isn’t Heaven’s joy superior to Earth’s fading, corrupting bliss, and isn’t life above with God sweeter than life in love?”
“Why, then, Margaret, will you be shorn a nun?” Lacy asked.
Using the third person, she replied, “Margaret has made a vow that may not be revoked.”
“We cannot stay, my lord, if she is so unrelenting,” Warren said. “We don’t have time for you to woo her anew.”
They needed to ride back to the court to attend the wedding of Prince Edward and Princess Eleanor.
“Choose, fair damsel, the choice is still yours,” Ermsby said. “Choose either a solemn nunnery or the court. Choose either God or Lord Lacy. Choose whichever will make you happiest: to be a nun or else Lord Lacy’s wife?”
“A good proposal,” Lacy said. “Well put!”
He then said, “Peggy, your answer must be quick.”
Matthew 26:41 states, “Watch, and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is ready, but the flesh is weak” (1599 Geneva Bible).
Margaret said, “The flesh is frail … my lord knows it well … that when he comes to me with his enchanting face, whatever may happen, I cannot say him nay. Off goes the habit of a maiden’s heart, and, seeing Lady Fortune’s will for me, I say to fair Fremingham, and all the show of holy nuns, farewell! Lacy is for me, if he will be my lord.”
“Peggy, I will be thy lord, thy love, thy husband,” Lacy said. “Trust me. I swear by the truth of my knighthood that the king is waiting to marry matchless Eleanor to his son until I bring thee richly to the court, so that one and the same day may both marry her and thee.”
He then asked, “What do thou say about this, gamekeeper? Are thou glad of this?”
“I am as glad as if the English king had given the park and deer of Fressingfield to me,” the gamekeeper replied.
Seeing Warren, the Earl of Sussex, deep in thought, Ermsby said, “Please tell me, my Lord of Sussex, why are thou in a brown study. Why are you lost in serious thought?”
“Because I see the nature of women,” Ermsby replied. “Be they never so near God, yet they love to die in a man’s arms.”
In this culture, “to die in a man’s arms” meant “to have an orgasm in a man’s arms.”
“What have you prepared for breakfast?” Lacy asked Margaret. “We have hastened and ridden on horseback all this night to Fressingfield.”
“Butter and cheese, and the organs of a deer, such as poor gamekeepers have within their lodge,” Margaret answered.
“And not a bottle of wine?” Lacy asked.
“We’ll find one for my lord,” Margaret said.
“Come, Sussex, let us go in,” Lacy said. “We shall have more, for she speaks least, to hold her promise sure.”
He meant that they would have better food and drink than Margaret had mentioned because she had promised the least in order to make sure that she could keep her promise.
— Scene 15 —
A devil, seeking Miles, said to himself, “How restless are the ghosts of Hellish spirits, when every charmer — every sorcerer — with his magic spells calls us from the Phlegethon River, which circles Hell nine times, to hurry and sweep over the Earth quickly on the speedy wings of the swiftest winds! Now Bacon has raised me from the darkest deep to search the world for Miles, his servant, and to torment his lazy body for carelessly and negligently watching his Brazen Head and not informing him when the Head spoke.
“I see Miles coming now. Oh, he is mine.”
Miles, dressed in an academic gown and a corner-cap, complained about being unable to find a job as a professor: “‘A scholar!’ said a prospective employer. ‘Indeed, sir,’ I replied. I wish I had been made a bottle-maker when I was made a scholar, for I can’t get a job as a deacon, reader, or schoolmaster, no, or as the clerk of a parish.”
A deacon is an assistant to a priest or pastor, a reader is someone who reads sermons in a church service, and a clerk of a parishis an administrative officer who assists the clergyman.
Miles continued, “Some called me a dunce; another said my head is as full of Latin as an egg is full of oatmeal.”
In other words, he did not know Latin.
He continued, “Thus I am tormented, and thus the devil and Friar Bacon haunt me.”
Seeing the devil, he said, “Good Lord, here’s one of my master’s devils! I’ll go and speak to him.”
He then asked the devil, “Master Plutus, how are you?”
Plutus is the god of wealth; Miles was confusing him with Pluto, the god of the underworld.
“Do thou know me?” the devil asked.
“Know you, sir! Why, aren’t you one of my master’s devils that were accustomed to come to my master, Doctor Bacon, at Brazen-nose?”
“Yes, indeed, I am,” the devil said.
“Good Lord, Master Plutus, I have seen you a thousand times at my master’s, and yet I had never the manners to offer you a drink. But, sir, I am glad to see how conformable you are to the statute.”
England had sumptuary laws regulating who could wear sumptuous clothing. People were prohibited from wearing clothing of the sort that was worn by people above their social class.
Miles turned to you, the readers of this book, and said, “I promise you that he’s as yeomanly a man as you shall see.”
The devil was dressed like a yeoman — a small landowner.
Miles added, “See, gentlemen readers, here’s a plain honest man, without welt or guard.”
Miles forgot to mention the gentlewomen readers of this book. The author apologizes for him.
“Welt” and “guard” referred to fancy ornaments and trimming. This devil did not wear those.
Miles turned to the devil and said, “But I ask you, sir, have you come lately from Hell?”
“Yes, indeed,” the devil replied, “What about it?”
“Indeed, it is a place I have long desired to see,” Miles said. “Haven’t you good tippling-houses — taverns — there? Mayn’t a man have a vigorous fire there, a pot of good ale, a pack of cards, a large piece of chalk for recording tabs, and a piece of brown toast that will be dropped down on the white waistcoat of a cup of good drink?”
The “white waistcoat” is foam. In this culture, a piece of toast was put on top of a drink to act as a sop.
“All this you may have there,” the devil said.
“You are for me, friend, and I am for you,” Miles said. “But I ask you, mayn’t I have a job there?”
“Yes, a thousand. What would thou be? What job do you want?”
“Truly, sir, I want a job in a place where I may profit and advance myself,” Miles said. “I know Hell is a hot place, and men are marvelously dry, and much drink is spent there, and so I want to be a tapster — a bartender.”
“Thou shall,” the devil said.
“There’s nothing that prevents me from going with you,except that it is a long journey, and I don’t have a horse.”
“Thou shall ride on my back,” the devil said.
“Now surely here’s a courteous devil, that, in order to pleasure his friend, will not hesitate to make a jade — a bad horse — of himself,” Miles said. “But I ask you, goodman friend, to let me ask you a question.”
A “goodman” is a man who ranks socially just below a gentleman.
“What is it?”
“Please, tell me whether your pace is a trot or an amble?”
An “amble” is a walk.
“An amble,” the devil answered.
“That’s fine; but take care it is not a trot,” Miles said, “but that doesn’t matter. I’ll anticipate it so I can prevent it.”
Miles started putting on spurs.
“What are you doing?” the devil asked.
“Indeed, I am putting on my spurs, for if I find your pace either a trot or else uneasy, I’ll put you to a false gallop: I’ll make you feel the benefit of my spurs.”
A “false gallop” is a canter or easy gallop. It is faster than a trot but not as fast as a gallop.
“Get upon my back,” the devil said.
“Oh, Lord, here’s even a splendid marvel, when a man rides to Hell on the devil’s back!”
Miles got on the devil’s back and rode away. He and the devil made a noisy exit.
— Scene 16 —
The double wedding had been performed, and at the court, a procession now took place in this order:
- The Emperor of Germany entered, carrying a pointless sword that symbolized mercy.
- The King of Castile entered, carrying a pointed sword that symbolized justice.
- Lacy entered, carrying a golden globe that symbolized sovereignty and earthly power.
- Prince Edward entered.
- Warren entered, carrying a rod of gold with a dove on it. The rod of gold symbolized equity, fairness, and impartiality. The dove symbolized the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. If something is sanctified, it is set apart as being holy.
- Ermsby entered, carrying a crown and a scepter.
- Princess Eleanor, now married to Prince Edward, entered.
- Margaret, now the Countess of Lincoln, entered on Princess Eleanor’s left hand.
- King Henry III of England entered.
- Friar Bacon entered.
- Attending Lords entered.
Prince Edward said, “Great potentates, Earth’s miracles with respect to authority, understand that Prince Edward humbles himself and kneels at your feet, and for these favors you have shown, on his martial sword he vows perpetual homage to yourselves for yielding these honors to Eleanor.”
“Great thanks, lordings,” King Henry III said. “Old Plantagenet — me — who rules and sways the Albion diadem — the English crown — with tears manifests these apprehended joys, and vows to repay you, if his men-at-arms, the wealth of England, or due honors done to Eleanor may repay his favorites.”
His favorites were also his favorers.
He turned to the Emperor of Germany and asked, “But all this while what do you say to the dames who shine like the crystal lamps — the stars — of Heaven?”
The dames were Eleanor and Margaret.
The Emperor of Germany replied, “If but a third beauty were added to these two, they would surpass those gorgeous images who gloried Ida with rich beauty’s wealth.”
On Mount Ida, three beautiful goddesses — Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite — competed in a beauty contest judged by Prince Paris of Troy. Add a third beauty to Eleanor and Margaret, and the beauty of the three mortals would surpass the beauty of the three goddesses. The three goddesses’ Roman names are Juno, Minerva, and Venus.
“It is I, my lords, who humbly on my knee must yield her prayers to mighty Jove — God — for lifting up and raising his handmaid to this state and social rank,” Margaret said. “She — I — was brought from her humble cottage to the court, and honored by kings, princes, and emperors, to whom (second only to the noble Lincoln Earl, my husband) I vow obedience, and such humble love as a handmaid may give to such mighty men.”
Eleanor said, “Thou martial man who wears the Almain — German — crown, and you the western potentates of might, the Albion princess, English Edward’s wife — me — is proud that the lovely star of Fressingfield, beautiful Margaret, Countess to the Lincoln Earl, attends on Eleanor.”
Margaret was now one of Princess Eleanor’s ladies-in-waiting. This was a high honor for Margaret.
Eleanor continued, “I give great thanks, Lord Lacy, for Margaret. It is I who give thanks to you all for Margaret, and I am remain obliged to all of you for her worthy self.”
King Henry III said, “Seeing the marriage is solemnized, let’s march in triumph to the royal feast.
“But why does Friar Bacon stand here so mute?”
“I am repentant for the follies of my youth, whom magic’s secret mysteries misled,” Friar Bacon said, “and I am joyful that this royal marriage is an omen of such bliss to this unparalleled realm.”
“Why, Bacon, what strange event shall happen to this land?” King Henry III asked. “Or what shall grow from Edward and his queen?”
Friar Bacon now foretold the coming of the great Queen Elizabeth I of England. In 1254, Prince Edward married Eleanor of Castile. Elizabeth was born in 1558. Queen Elizabeth was a direct descendant of King Henry III.
Friar Bacon said, “I find by deep prescience and foreseeing of my magical art, which once I honed in my secret cell, that here where Brutus did build his Troynovant, from forth the royal garden of a king [Henry VIII] shall flourish out so rich and fair a bud [Elizabeth I], whose brightness shall outshine the beauty of proud Phoebus’ flower, and cast a protective shadow over Albion with her leaves.”
Phoebus Apollo’s flower is the hyacinth, which came into existence after the youth named Hyacinthus, whom Apollo loved, died.
Friar Bacon continued, “Until then Mars, god of war, shall be master of the battlefield, but then the stormy threats of wars shall cease. The horse shall stamp its hooves without fear of the weapon called the pike, and drums shall be turned to timbrels — tambourines — of delight.
“With wealthy favors aplenty she [Elizabeth I] shall enrich the shore and land that wandering Brutus — the descendant of Aeneas and the first King of England — was glad to see, and peace from Heaven shall harbor in these gorgeous leaves that beautify this matchless flower.
“Apollo’s heliotrope then shall bow down, and Venus’ hyacinth shall vail her top. Juno shall shut her gilliflowers up, and Pallas Athena’s bay tree shall be abashed despite its brightest green. Ceres’ carnation, in company with those other flowers, shall stoop and wonder at Diana’s rose.”
A heliotrope is a flower that always faces the sun during the day. Ships vailed their tops — that is, lowered their topsail — as a sign of respect to another ship.
Metaphorically, Diana’s rose is Elizabeth. Diana was a virgin goddess, and Elizabeth was a virgin queen.
King Henry III said, “This prophecy is mystical and allegorical.
“But, glorious commanders who serve Europa’s Love — Jupiter, aka God — Who makes fair England like that wealthy isle — the Garden of Eden — that is encircled with the Gihon and swift Euphrates rivers, in royalizing Henry’s Albion with the presence of your princely mightiness, let’s march.
“The tables all are set, and food such as England’s wealth provides is ready to be set on the tables. You shall have a welcome, mighty potentates.
“To finish the preparations for this royal feast, let your hearts be only frolicsome; for the time requires that we taste of nothing but joy.
“Thus glories England over all the west.”
***
Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci.
This is a Latin quotation from Horace’s De Arta Poetica(Poetic Art), verse 343.
As translated by C. Smart: He who joins the instructive with the agreeable, carries off every vote, by delighting and at the same time admonishing the reader.
In other words: Someone who combines education and entertainment earns praise.
***
Copyright by Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
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