Martin." But there was no trace of vanity about him. "Do not call
yourselves Lutherans," he said; "call yourselves Christians. Who and
what is Luther? Has Luther been crucified for the world?"
"The Latin tongue," says Montaigne, "is, as it were, natural to me; I
understand it better than French, but I have not used to speak it, nor
hardly to write it, these forty years; and yet, upon an extreme and
sudden emotion, which I have fallen into twice or thrice in my life, and
once on seeing my father in perfect health, fall upon me in a swoon, I
have always uttered my first outcries and ejaculations in Latin; nature
starting up and forcibly expressing itself, in spite of so long a
discontinuation." "Nature," says Bacon, "will be buried a great time,
and yet revive upon the occasion or temptation; like as it was with
AEsop's damsel, turned from a cat to a woman, who sat very demurely at
the board's end till a mouse ran before her." "A frog," said Publius
Syrus, "would leap from a throne of gold into a puddle." In Froissart's
Chronicles there is an account of a reverend monk who had been a robber
in the early part of his life, and who, when he grew old, used feelingly
to lament that he had ever changed his profession. He said "it was a
goodly sight to sally out from his castle, and to see a troop of jolly
friars coming riding that way, with their mules well laden with viands
and rich stores, to advance toward them, to attack and overthrow them,
returning to the castle with a noble booty." Layard relates an incident
of the party of Arabs which for some time had been employed to assist
him in excavating amongst the ruins of Nineveh. One evening, after their
day's work, he observed them following a flock of sheep belonging to the
people of the village, shouting their war-cry, flourishing their swords,
and indulging in the most extravagant gesticulations. He asked one of
the most active of the party to explain to him the cause of such violent
proceedings. "O Bey!" they exclaimed almost together, "God be praised,
we have eaten butter and wheaten bread under your shadow, and are
content; but an Arab is an Arab. It is not for a man to carry about dirt
in baskets, and to use a spade all his life; he should be with his sword
and his mare in the desert. We are sad as we think of the days when we
plundered the Anayza, and we must have excitement or our hearts must
break. Let us then believe that these are the sheep we have taken from
the enemy, and that we are driving them to our tents." And off they ran,
raising their wild cry, and flourishing their swords, to the no small
alarm of the shepherd, who saw his sheep scampering in all directions.
Hazlitt related an Indian legend of a Brahman, who was so devoted to
abstract meditation, that in the pursuit of philosophy he quite forgot
his moral duties, and neglected ablution. For this he was degraded from
the rank of humanity, and transformed into a monkey. But even when a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account