A History of Bohemian LiteratureLützow, Francis, hrabe
History
A History of Bohemian Literature
Lützow, Francis, hrabe
Czech literature -- History and criticism
The increasing persecution of all who did not belong to the Church of
Rome finally induced Žerotin to leave Bohemia and Moravia and to retire
to Breslau. It was here that he spent the last years of his life, and
he left his extensive library to that city. Žerotin was, however,
still permitted to visit occasionally his extensive estates. During
one of these visits he died at Prerov in Moravia in 1636. His body was
interred at Brandeis on the Adler, his ancestral home.
Žerotin has left voluminous writings. His correspondence, to which I
have already alluded, was very extensive. Continued, as it was, during
the whole of his life, it is, of course, of the greatest value for the
history of his time, Žerotin has also left several volumes of memoirs,
referring principally to the doings of the Diet of Moravia during
the period that he presided over that assembly. He also wrote a very
curious work entitled _Obrana_ or _Apology_, addressed to George, Lord
of Hodic. It appears that Hodic had blamed Žerotin publicly for having
temporarily retired from political life. This work, written in a pure
but eloquent manner, showing traces of profound study of the classical
writers, is a recognised masterpiece of Bohemian prose. The original
great reluctance of the members of the Brotherhood to enter the stormy
arena of political life had indeed decreased since many nobles and
other influential persons had joined their Church, but traces of this
feeling appear in Žerotin's work. He writes: "You were pleased, my
Lord of Hodic, to remark of me at the meeting of the Estates that
'I act wrongly in stifling the gifts which God has given to me.' By
these words--few and quickly spoken, yet containing much meaning--you
were pleased to attack me sharply and to deal me a severe blow; for
what else is stifling God's gift but refusing to remain in that state
in which God has placed us? And what, again, is not remaining in the
state in which God has placed us but not being as I should be? What
conclusion then can be drawn other than that if I am not as I should
be, then--though I declare that I am a lover of my country, her
true son, an own limb of her body, sharing her wounds--in fact, her
twin-brother, who was born with her and will die with her--my pride
is idle and my word worthless if my acts are not in accordance with my
sentiments. Idle indeed would it be if I could bring nothing forward
and give no proof that I am what I say that I am. Then indeed your
argument would be powerful and your words conform to truth and justice,
and I myself should then agree with them. For it is my firm conviction
that no man is good but he who by his deeds proves that he is good.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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